LoVeLG23
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- Parts 35
[COMPLETED]
The reunion was a flurry of shared laughter and quiet observations. They sat in the kitchen, the sunlight streaming through the windows, as Poon recounted his life in the city. He talked about his professors, his research into the legal history of human rights in Southeast Asia, and the small garden he had successfully established on the rooftop of his apartment building using Off's orchid seeds. He didn't talk about the Sangngern name, and he didn't mention the prison on the outskirts of the city. In this house, those things were ghosts that had no power to speak.
As the afternoon faded into a long, golden twilight, Gawin and Poon walked through the garden. Off had outdone himself; the orchids were in full bloom, a riot of purple, white, and deep, velvet crimson. The yellow lilies were gone, replaced by a row of sturdy, blue-flowering hydrangeas that seemed to thrive in the mountain shade.
"I visited the library last week," Poon said suddenly, his voice taking on a more serious tone. "The National Archives. I was looking through the original filings of the Sangngern bankruptcy. I found the documents you mentioned, Ayah. The ones about the 'Transaction'."
Gawin felt a momentary tightening in his chest, the old instinct to protect, to shield, to hide. But he forced himself to stay still. "And?"