Listening to the Heart

Chapter 9

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Third Person POV

Cooheart had never been to the River Kwai before and was excited to see it with Title. This might be his only chance for a very long time to go see the historical bridge over that river. He excitedly said yes to Title's invitation.

"My cousins and I will pass for you at your house tomorrow at seven to beat the Sunday morning traffic," said Title.

"Yes, yes, I'll make sure to be ready by then," Cooheart said excitedly.

"See you tomorrow then," Title said.

"Good night, my friend," said Cooheart and cut the call after which he ran to his mom's room to let her know that he was leaving early tomorrow morning to visit the bridge over the River Kwai with Title.

"What about your agreement to have lunch with Kao tomorrow?" Mrs, Namwirote asked her son.

Cooheart slapped his forehead. He had totally forgotten about the rain check that he and Kao had agreed upon during dinner. Kao had said that if their lunch date did not happen tomorrow Cooheart would forfeit his rain check.

Even before Cooheart spoke, Mrs. Namwirote already knew what Cooheart's decision would be.

"I'm sorry, mom," Cooheart said, "I will have to forfeit my rain check with Kao."

"You better tell him before he goes to sleep if you're gonna be leaving before he wakes up tomorrow," Mrs. Namwirote suggested.

With a guilty half-smile, Cooheart kissed his mom good night and proceeded to Kao's room.

Cooheart knocked softly on Kao's room, hoping that Kao would not take it against him for choosing to spend tomorrow with Title instead of him.

Kao went to open his door and showed surprise when he saw that it was Cooheart who had knocked.

"Please don't tell me that you have changed your mind about tomorrrow," Kao said before Cooheart could even open his mouth to speak.

"You must be psychic," Cooheart declared.

Kao's face fell in disappointment.

"How about I treat you to lunch after your classes next Saturday?" Cooheart offered, feeling guilty at seeing Kao's downcast face.

"What is my guarantee that you're not gonna ditch me again?" Kao asked, sounding doubtful.

"You have my word on it," Cooheart said firmly.

"I'm not too sure about that," Kao said gloomily, "I will believe you when it actually happens."

"Sorry," Cooheart said, "Good night, Kao."

"Have fun on your date with Title tomorrow," Kao said before closing his door.

Cooheart wondered how Kao knew that he was going out with Title tomorrow. He must really be psychic, Cooheart thought.

Cooheart woke up to the sound of a heavy downpour. And then seconds later his alarm rang.

He got out of bed and shuffled his way to the bathroom, wondering whether he should suggest to Title to postpone their trip to the River Kwai.

At exactly seven, Cooheart's phone rang. It was Title to let him know that he and his cousin and two other friends were outside his house.

"Are we really pushing through with this trip?" Cooheart asked.

"Yes we are!" Title said, "are you ready to leave?"

"I'm on my way out the door," Cooheart declared, slinging the strap of his shoulder bag across his left shoulder.

Before nine that same morning, Rose had laid out a breakfast of crispy strips of bacon and vanilla waffles and a platter of scrambled eggs. She set a separate plate of poached eggs for Mrs. Namwirote who always had her eggs either poached or hard boiled.

"Good morning, Rose," said Mrs. Namwirote as she walked into the dining room.

"Good morning, ma'am, shall I knock on Kao's door to let him know that breakfast is ready?"

"You don't have to," Kao spoke from behind Rose which made Rose jump because she had not heard Kao's footsteps.

"Good morning, Mrs. Namwirote," Kao said as he walked closer to the table.

"Good morning, son, come, let's have breakfast."

Kao's heart jumped. It was the first time since he first came to be Mrs. Namwirote's tenant that she had addressed him as 'son'.

After Kao sat on his usual chair, Mrs. Namwirote closed her eyes and clasped her hands together. Kao did the same to say a silent prayer of thanks over the food.

"I don't understand why Cooheart and his friends would insist on pushing their trip in this rainstorm," Mrs. Namwirote said, shaking her head as she poured a small amount of maple syrup on her waffle.

"Where are they going?" Kao asked, doing the same.

"They're on their way to the River Kwai," Mrs. Namwirote informed him.

"That sounds a bit dangerous to me," Kao said, "especially in this weather."

"Sometimes I wish that Title would not bring Cooheart along on dangerous trips like the one of today. I have noticed that Title has an inclination towards exciting but risky adventures," Mrs. Namwirote said with a slight shake of her head.

"I'm guessing from their pictures on the wall that Title is two years younger than Cooheart," said Kao, "maybe Cooheart should try to influence Title not to do dangerous stuff like what they're doing today."

Mrs. Namwirote shook her head once more. "I'm afraid, between the two of them, Title tends to take the lead, even if he's the younger one."

Mrs. Namwirote covered her ears as a strong clap of thunder suddenly reverberated around the house.

"Are you alright?" Kao asked, himself getting a little unsettled by the loud sound.

"Yes, yes, I just got startled. I didn't expect the sound to be so close," Mrs. Namwirote said, looking very worried.

After breakfast, Mrs. Namwirote proceeded to the living room where she turned on her television set to watch her Sunday morning talk show. Kao who didn't have anything planned for the day, asked Mrs. Namwirote's permission to sit beside her on the couch to watch TV with her.

"Of course," Mrs. Namwirote replied.

Kao was pleasantly surprised at himself for enjoying the talk show that Mrs. Namwirote was watching. He had been expecting it to be a boring program.

Suddenly, the show was interrupted by a breaking news flash.

Two cars had skidded on the road beside the River Kwai. One had hit an electric pole and the other had skidded right into the river.

Mrs. Namwirote gripped Kao's wrist so tightly that her knuckles went white.

"Please don't let it be them. Please don't let it be them," she whispered over and over and over.

The news camera crew trained their lenses on the two unfortunate cars.

Kao's face went deathly white. He recognized one of the cars to be Title's. He had seen Title drive by him a few days ago when he was walking home from the university.