A TWIST OF FATE

DRUNK AGAIN

New Thitipoom

"Tay?? Tay??" I shook him while he seemed lost in a different world.
"What happened between the two of you? What revenge?"

I had never seen him like this. I am not saying I know him very well but at least I knew that he was not the kind of a guy who would get easily shaken up by anything. It must have been something very big. The question was would he trust me enough to tell me everything?

"It's a long story Newwie."

"You keep saying the same thing whenever I ask you something. I am not like you Tay, that I will follow you around until I find out what's wrong, the way you did when I went to Nam's house. But I worry and get anxious when I see you in such a state."

"You worry about me???"

"Of course, shouldn't I? I think we are friends now. Can't you share it with me?"

"The word 'friend' scares me and the words 'best friend' scare me even more. After all these years, one thing I have learnt, never share your weaknesses with anyone, because you never know when they will use it against you."

I saw him gulp some more from that bottle. I finally snatched it away from him while he protested weakly .

"Why can't you just sit and drink with me? Give me company...." He muttered.

"One of us has to be sane." I started to get up when he grabbed my hand and pulled me down on the couch.

"Newwie.....sit.... please..."

"Don't you trust me Tay? Do you think I will use your weaknesses against you? Moreover, I don't think you are weak........"

"I trusted him too. We were like two peas in a pod. Always together, did everything together, played, studied, partied together. Just like Pluem and Chimon. We were neighbours. Earth was naughtier and would often get detentions. His parents thought he would be disciplined if he was sent to a boarding school."

"So? Was he sent away?"

"Hmmmm....he was. I cried my heart out because we would be separated. I begged my dad to send me along with him. Finally, he agreed. My parents, specially my mom is overtly protective where I am concerned."

"All moms are......."

"No....my mom is a bit extreme. She behaves as if someone's gonna snatch me away from her🙄. Though Plu is younger I am the favoured child. My parents were very reluctant to send me away but I begged them to let me go. I chose a friend over my family. I was such a fool."

"How old were you?"

"Twelve..."

"You were a kid, you were not a fool......you were just being a kid."

"No, I was dumb.....always too trusting, too naive to see through people's true intentions."

"What happened Tay? I still don't understand what revenge? If you were so attached to him.....then....?"

"Both our dads were good friends too. Earth's dad was a hotelier. But due to some wrong decisions his dad suffered huge losses in business. He asked my dad for help."

"So did he help?"

"Yeah he did. Some kind of merger between the two companies happened and it was going on pretty well, until one day, Earth came to me and said that his dad was being thrown out of his own company. He begged me to talk to my dad to find out what was going on. I remember him telling me 'Your dad always listens to you Tay please ask him to make things right for my dad' I remember him crying. I felt so terrible seeing him like that."