(IND - ENG) - Lovely, New Year Gift (END)

(ENG) Chapter Four - Secretly Crushed

That day Pha's Ramen shop was crowded as usual, Pha was taking the customer orders near the glass window, as he accidentally saw a sedan from a few days ago, stopped in front of his shop and a middle-aged man walked out from inside.

Looking at his face and appearance, it seems he is not Thai, Pha thought. But the face was very familiar in his memory.

Even more surprising, the old man walked into his shop. So after finishing note the order, Pha immediately handed over the notes to his employees and went to greet the special guest.

"Welcome, the favorite menu in our store is Tomyum Ramen, and we also have a lot of new menus and a new year menu set, please take a look!" Pha showed the menu book to him and introduced some of his shop's special dishes.

Pha had a few questions in his heart, he wanted to know who the man was what is his relationship with his mom and what his purpose was to come to his home on the other day.

The old man looked at him straight for a few moments making Pha become uncomfortable.

"Er...sorry sir, you don't speak Thai?" Pha asked in English. "You can look at the menu to order..."

"Hangug-eoleul hal su iss-eoyo?" He asked whether Pha could speak Korean.

Pha widened his eyes in surprise, even though he had never studied Korean, he could understand by listening to it, however, he could not reply.

"Jogeum..." a little answered Pha. "Geuleona...yuchanghajineun...anhjiman, yeong-eoleulhaneun...geos-eul seonhohabnida....." he said to the point that he was not fluent in Korean and preferred to speak English.

The old man smiled and finally, he spoke in Thai. "I understand, actually I can speak Thai, and I used to live here..."

Pha looked at him sharply at once. "You ever lived in here? Let me guess, for business?"

"Yes, and personal reason..."

"Personal?" Exclaimed Pha. "Do you have friends here?"

"I have a family here..."

"Family? So you were marrying a Thai woman?"

"I was." Said the old man and invited Pha to sit on the chair in front of him, he then scanned the entire shop for a moment and admired it. "The business is pretty good, are you managing all this by yourself?"

"How could that be possible? All employees here have contributed to developing this shop, for me, they are the real owners..."

The old man nodded again. "Your way of thinking is very wise, you will be a success in the future, I am very happy to know about it..."

Pha narrowed her eyes and was confused. "Have you met your family?"

"I have, it's just ..."

"There is a problem?"

"I've not seen them for nearly twenty years..."

"I see..." commented Pha. "May I know why you left them?"

"Whatever the reason is, leaving them is my biggest mistake, but I don't regret..."

"Then why are you looking for them again now?"

"When you are at my age and have a child, you will understand..." the old man sighed. "Worked hard to collect treasure and conquer the world for the rest of life, but if in the end, only live alone without the person we loved by our side, then a lifetime is meaningless..."

Pha's eyes widened in surprise at the phrase that sounded familiar.

The old man then took out an old photo from his wallet and showed it to Pha which was a photo of a boy around 6 years old.