SOUTHBESIDETHESKY, Chapter 32: Achluophobia
Tonfah
I glanced at the face of the person who had just fallen asleep; his breathing was even. I reached out to gently stroke the white cheek, red around the eyes indicating he had cried a lot. Before this, about half an hour ago, Phoon was in my arms, crying while recounting his story to me.
Initially, Phoon seemed reluctant to talk much, which was expected; it’s not something Phoon would want to discuss. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have remained a secret until now.
But I talked to Phoon until I understood that his attempts to protect him no longer meant anything. Phoon told me everything from the beginning, his voice breaking with sobs, about the possibility that he might not be a legitimate child, which I had somewhat anticipated, but honestly, I didn’t want it to be true.
And something I didn’t know was about uncle Rati’s new partner, named Prae, and her daughter.
Looking at the small figure sleeping soundly, I felt an indescribable pain. Everything Phoon had told me was swirling around in my head, from childhood when Phoon was strictly disciplined by his uncle and aunt. I used to think it was because they cared, but in reality, it was just neglect.
I reached out to turn on the bedside lamp and turned off the main light in the room. Nowadays, Phoon can sleep with the lights off as long as I’m close by. His fear of the dark is quite severe; as soon as it’s completely dark, his whole body starts to go numb, his pulse and heart rate increase, and he can’t control himself. Since the last time the power went out, I realized I shouldn’t leave Phoon alone at night. The reason Phoon fears the dark and confined spaces so much is because of him.
I let out a quiet sigh to calm my anger. Knowing all this, I’m not sure if I can talk to him calmly tomorrow.
The only reason this situation is so complicated is because he’s Phoon’s father…If it weren’t for that reason, there’s no way we would try to be this calm.
Suddenly, my phone rang, and I saw it was Jo calling. I checked the time; it was about 9 PM. I slowly moved off the bed, but as soon as I removed my embrace, it seemed to wake Phoon up.
“Mmm.”
“Sorry, did I wake you?” I asked softly, and the small figure shook his head in response. “No, is something wrong?”
“It’s just Jo calling, I’ll be right back.”
“…Okay.” Phoon, still groggy, answered. I gently stroked his head before walking out to the balcony to take the call.
“What’s up?” I asked into the phone as soon as I answered.
(I am not waiting until tomorrow afternoon now.)
“Why?”
(They said he is sending someone to teach North and Phoon a lesson.)
“…Is that true?”
(Yeah, he really ordered someone.)
“Uh, where do we meet tomorrow?”
(Tomorrow, go out with North.)
“Why?”
(North is worried Phoon might be angry about him punching your dad.)
“Oh, Phoon won’t be angry, that’s fine, Phoon with North will keep his mind off things.”
(Then meet at the mall, at 1:00 PM, bring Phoon along.) “Okay.” And then the other party hung up. Listening to it, it seems like no one can stop Jo now. He said he’s going to send people to hurt North and Phoon…
Hurt?
His own child, really?
With that man…we probably can’t talk it out anymore, can we? So, I didn’t try to stop or question Jo. By now, Jo must have already instructed someone to take action, which means tomorrow, we won’t be sitting down for a meeting like I had planned.
“…Phii Fah,” Phoon called my name softly while sliding open the balcony door, his face showing concern as he looked at me, “Are you okay?”
“What do you mean by ‘okay’?”
“I mean…about my dad.”
“Okay in what sense?” I asked back.
“Phii Fah,” Phoon called my name again, furrowing his brows with a troubled look. In truth, I had told Phoon everything, about all the preparations I had made. Phoon didn’t say anything against me; he’s very kind, one of the kindest people, but he doesn’t see the world through rose-colored glasses, he sees it as it is. So, Phoon understands why things are like this, “Tomorrow…what’s going to happen? It will be just talking, right?”
“It won’t just be talking anymore.”
“…”
“Because he hurt North and you understand me and Jo, right?” I gently stroked the other’s cheek and hair. I had said before that the hardest thing was Phoon’s feelings because he’s his father. I asked again, but I knew Phoon understood well; he nodded slightly.
“Can’t it be, Phii Fah?”
“Huh?”
“I understand that this is what he deserves because it’s the result of his actions. In truth, North is the last person in the world he should have hurt.”
“No,” I said, “Phoon, you’re the same. The last person in the world he should have touched.” My words made the person in front of me look up at me, then slowly come to hug me gently. I reached out to embrace the small figure.
“…Thank you.”
“Hm?”
“To protect…”
“Yes. It’s okay, and about what I said earlier?”
“Well…can’t it be, Phii Fah? If something violent happens…” Phoon spoke, leaving the sentence unfinished, but I understood immediately,
“Can’t it be, Phii Fah?”
“Yes, I understand,” I agreed, “but…”
“But?”
“I won’t stop it.”
“…”
“Is that okay?”
“Yes, I understand,” Phoon nodded slightly. He must have asked that because he didn’t want me to be the one to hurt his father, but if it was someone else, Phoon understood. It was a consequence of his own actions.
“Tomorrow, go out with North.”
“Hm? Me and North?”
“Yes, go to the mall.”
“Ah…okay,” said Phoon. I guess Phoon wasn’t too comfortable with what Jo and I will do, but there was nothing to be done about it now. If it had just been me, it wouldn’t have been so severe, at most we would have followed our plan, but once Jo got angry…it wouldn’t end easily.
It’s his own doing, isn’t it…
…
I dropped Phoon off at the mall as arranged, where North and Phoon were going to watch a movie together before Jo and I dealt with this matter. I drove following Jo to a place I wasn’t very familiar with, a large area full of warehouses. As soon as we got out of the car, men in suits came out to greet us, bowing as we passed before we stopped at the door of an inner warehouse where someone opened it for us. Nothing was too surprising. Inside the dimly lit medium-sized warehouse, with light coming only from above, was surrounded by bodyguards. In the middle, a man was bound, kneeling with his hands tied behind his back. Even though he was unconscious and had his head down, you could tell he had been beaten badly without even looking closely.
“Surprised?” Jo asked as he sat down in a chair in front of the man.
One of the bodyguards gestured for me to sit in the chair next to him. “Not much, I expected it,” I said honestly. I wasn’t surprised or shocked to see Uncle Rati in that state; he must have been beaten until he passed out, but probably not for long, maybe just two hours.
Looking at the wounds, they weren’t minor; his temple and eyebrows were cut by something sharp, his face was bruised all over, and although not visible under the cloth, judging by the state of his clothes, he must have had more than a few wounds. His nose and mouth were bleeding enough to choke him.
I glanced at the person next to me, who lit a cigarette and exhaled gray smoke.
“You’re smoking again?” I asked, remembering he was supposed to quit when North asked.
“North gave me a smoking quota,” Jo said. You could tell he was trying to calm himself down, “Seems like we have a little problem.” “What?” I asked.
“Well…the people that bastard borrowed money from.”
“Hmm?” I raised my eyebrows slightly at Jo. I already knew about him borrowing money; after all, I was behind it, “They’re not happy, huh?”
“Uh, not surprising,” Jo said. I nodded in understanding, “But there’s a slight problem.”
“Who?”
“You’ll find out soon,” before Jo stood up from his chair, pressing his cigarette against the forehead of the man kneeling, using it like an ashtray. The man screamed loudly in pain, his eyes wide with shock.
“What?”
“Aaahh! You…who are you?!!” The man on his knees shouted after screaming in pain from the cigarette burn, his face pale with fear. Asking who Jo was suggested that Jo had just arrived too. Then he turned to see me. “Khun…Tonfah? Tonfah, help me, these guys kidnapped me…” That face twisted and cried for help, but strangely, it didn’t make me feel any pity.
“What do you want! Are you their leader!! Do you know who I am, huh?!!” He tried to threaten back, but Jo just sneered and looked at him with disdain before lifting his foot and kicking the man’s face hard. “Ahhh!!”
“Watch your words.”
I had warned that if Jo was angry, no one would dare to stop him.
Heavy breathing came from the person in front of me.
“F…Fah,” Uncle Rati looked at me as if seeking help again,
“What…what is this?”
Before I could say anything, the warehouse door opened, and someone new walked in. He was wearing a black jacket, hands in his pockets, looking rather displeased.
This guy…if I’m not mistaken…
Tiger…
“Why schedule today, don’t you know I have business?” the newcomer said immediately, scanning the room without surprise, walking closer and stopping his gaze on the man sitting there. “Wow, you’ve messed up my debtor pretty badly.” Ah…so this is the guy Jo was talking about.
“Get to the point,” Jo said.
“I have two reasons to be here,” Tiger said with a bored expression, “One, this bastard is my debtor. I can’t let you do whatever you want with him. Two, it’s about the company.”
“Annoying,” Jo grumbled, looking at me with slight disapproval. “I told you he’s trouble.”
Uncle Rati, who seemed not to know Tiger, looked between the three of us before forcing a smile.
“Uh, you’re the son of the person I borrowed money from, right? You have to protect me! If something happens to me, who will pay you back?! Go on, deal with them, and I’ll give you the money, more, aaaaah!!” Tiger kicked the back of the head of the man sitting on the ground, then stepped on his head when he fell, pressing down hard until the man screamed loudly.
“Aaah, let…let go, let go, please, uh, I beg you, eeeek!” Before he let go, I heard that he wasn’t very good at his job behind the scenes, which must be true.
“You talk too much,” Tiger remarked.
“Watch your words, this isn’t your place,” I warned when I saw the man in front of me about to speak again, his lip already split, having been dealt with by both Jo and Tiger. Why does he still think he has the right to say anything? Uncle Rati’s face turned pale, and more tears flowed, perhaps because he saw that even I, an acquaintance, wasn’t going to help him.
“Sniff, sniff, what, what is this all about?!” His voice trembled with fear, looking at me with shaking eyes while trying to speak loudly to mask his cowardice. I sat back, observing him, my hands clasped and elbows resting on my knees.
“Where should we start?” I said, looking towards Jo. He turned to grab some documents from a nearby bodyguard and handed them to me. “Let’s start with this.” I tossed the documents to the floor, letting the man kneeling there look at them in confusion.
“What…what, what is this?!” The first document I showed him was evidence of him embezzling money from the company he worked for, and of course, the person recently appointed as the new chairman was me.
It took just over a month, with Jo’s connections helping, to buy up the company’s shares, and now I am officially the chairman. “You embezzled three million baht from our company. As the chairman, I’m firing you and taking legal action. After this goes to court, you won’t end up well,” I said in a calm tone. Hearing this, Uncle Rati looked even more shocked.
“Huh, Ch…Chairman?? Tonfah? How…how did you become the chairman?” His split lip bled as he spoke, so much blood that several teeth must have come loose. “So…so the call yesterday…”
“Yes,” I smirked.
“Because of this, you had me brought here then?!” “No, because of the person you hurt yesterday, don’t you understand?” “…Ty…Typhoon?!”
“You might not know…that he’s my lover,” I said. It seemed that Uncle Rati couldn’t handle this level of shock very well. “Including the other person you hurt.”
“You’re quite bold, daring to touch someone else’s important person,” I said with a chilling calm, his face full of fear and tears still flowing, probably understanding now that he shouldn’t have meddled with anyone, “Are you going to teach me a lesson, then?” “No…no. Not that. Not what I meant…hey, hey!! stop, what, what are you going to do, stop it!!” He protested when Jo looked at the bodyguards, two of whom approached to untie the ropes. Despite his resistance, it was futile; they pulled his hands forward, and Jo stepped on them, crushing them hard.
“Aaah, aaah!! ugh!! uh!!!” He kept looking at his hands being crushed, screaming at the top of his lungs, unable to pull them away. I lowered my eyes slightly before letting out a sigh, hearing the sound of bones moving under the pressure. Even though I wasn’t very surprised, this was the first time I’d been here, and the person being tormented was someone I knew.
“You won’t be able to use your right hand for a while, in exchange for punching my boyfriend and planning to send someone to teach them a lesson,” Jo said with a tone of indifference amidst the loud screams of pain, releasing his foot to see the hand trembling and slightly twisted. I guessed that the bones in that hand were definitely broken; at least he wouldn’t be able to use his right hand for several months, “Make him shut up.”
“Ah!” One of the bodyguards slapped the man who wouldn’t stop screaming, sending him flying to the side. Without any chance to recover, he was bound again.
“I feel a bit bad for you,” Jo turned to me, “You shouldn’t have seen this.”
“It’s fine,” I said honestly.
“Okay with this, huh? At least he’s your father-in-law.”
“No, do whatever you want.”
“I thought you’d try to stop me a bit.”
“I won’t do anything, and I won’t stop you either,” I said, recalling what I had discussed with Phoon last night, that no matter how violent things got, as long as it wasn’t because of me, it was okay.
“Oh.”
“If he dies, who will pay back the debt?” Tiger, who had been silent for a while, spoke up, having been seen playing on his phone earlier, likely chatting with someone, looking quite relaxed in such a situation, which was believable.
“So, you’re here to protect him?”
“Phii Jo, Phii Fah…I have to work, Dad sent me.”
“Have you Mister Tiger become tame for your dad?” Jo’s mocking words didn’t seem to affect the listener much.
“I’ll pay back three million,” the soft voice of the man who had just been forced back into a kneeling position rose, accompanied by heavy breathing and sobbing, “…uh, we’ll fight this in court, won’t we? You should let me go then, huh? You have to protect me. Otherwise, you’ll never get back your twenty million.” He looked towards Tiger. Of course, the person being spoken to didn’t look pleased, but he just shrugged helplessly.
“It’s true. I’ll have to ask you guys to stop. If he dies, the money he borrowed to start the company will be wasted. Then I won’t get either the principal or the interest,” Tiger said, trying to remain calm. I nodded in understanding because Uncle Rati had borrowed money from this kid’s father’s company to start his own.
“Exactly! I was about to become the chairman of a big company! Being fired, so what? Being sued, so what? You guys will definitely get it back from me!”
“You’ll never build your company if I withdraw my shares. You’ll just be a bankrupt man with debts over twenty million, facing a lawsuit for embezzling at least five million from the original company. No one will do business with you anymore. Not even a job will be available for you,” I said with the calmest and coldest voice possible, causing the arrogant man’s face to pale again.
“Withdraw shares? Withdraw shares, huh, are you crazy?! You have shares in my company…” Then he fell silent as if he had just realized something, “Or…or you…”
“Yes,” I smirked, “Behind all the shares you thought were supporting you, all of them are mine. You, who thought you had so much power, all of that is mine.”
“…”
“Aren’t you surprised at all why your partners were so supportive of you building a new company and suggested you borrow twenty million? Didn’t you wonder at all why the loan company would lend money to someone like you without any collateral?” My explanation left the man in front of me stunned, his face shocked to the point of nearly fainting.
The story began with gradually buying up the shares of the company where Uncle Rati worked until I became the chairman. Initially, I didn’t plan to fire him, just some small things like if he wanted to do anything, we could control him because he held a high position in the company. No matter what, he wouldn’t willingly give up that position. By chance, we found out he had embezzled nearly three million from the company, leading me to wonder what he was doing with that money.
It turned out he wanted to save money to build his own company, which made things even easier. Jo sent some people to help with this investment, and all the partnership money was mine, even though my name wasn’t on it. I held more than half of the shares in the new company Uncle Rati wanted to build.
Building a company requires a lot of money. Of course, Uncle Rati didn’t have enough. We told him if he wanted to be the chairman, he needed to own more than half of the shares. That’s why he decided to borrow money. Naturally, someone like him without any collateral wouldn’t get loans for millions anywhere, except with a guarantor like Jo, and borrowing from where Jo had arranged.
I told you if he behaved well, it would be good for him. We would continue to invest as shareholders in the company, and he would get everything he wanted, including us profiting from that investment, meaning the business would run smoothly. But if he did something bad, we would just pull out our shares. The result of pulling out the shares would be his company going bankrupt. As the chairman, he would be responsible for everything that happens, all the assets we had his mortgage would be gone, and he would be left with nothing but almost thirty million in debt. Not to mention his reputation or social standing. He wouldn’t even be able to work as a regular company employee because of the fraud case hanging over him. Moreover, the creditors are not that kind-hearted, especially since he borrowed from quite ruthless underground lenders. If he doesn’t pay back quickly, one can easily guess what could happen; he might be forced to find the money somehow, in the worst case, perhaps by selling himself or his organs.
I told you, it’s all because of his own actions…
“You! you!. It’s you all!. You tricked me into borrowing money, made me use my house, land, car, everything as collateral!. You’re evil!. You tricked me!! uh.”
“We only advised, if you had stayed apart from Phoon, things wouldn’t have ended like this.”
“Typhoon, huh?! Ha!! that kid again, huh?! bastard!!” Before he could finish speaking, Jo ordered the bodyguards to silence him immediately. I took a deep breath to suppress the anger rising within me; if I let him finish talking about Phoon, I would find it hard to bear.
“You promised Phoon you wouldn’t do anything, right?” “Uh,” I nodded slightly.
“Did you hear that?” Jo asked, Uncle Rati, who could only open one eye, slowly looked up, “Thanks to Khun Phoon. Lucky that Phoon asked for this. Do you know what? If you weren’t Phoon’s father, I wouldn’t let you out of here breathing anymore.” Jo’s words had an effect; he clenched his teeth to suppress his fear and resentment, feeling his dignity trampled upon, having to rely on Phoon for protection.
“Uh, sorry. I’m sorry, please…let me go, I give up, I give up everything, uh.” He bowed his head to the ground, apologizing, realizing he had nothing left, what we were witnessing now was just the end of an arrogant man intoxicated with power, “Sorry, uh. I’m sorry, don’t do anything to me.”
“The person you should apologize to isn’t us,” I said, looking at him with pity, “It should be the one you’ve been hurting for years.” “Uh, uh,” he sobbed, but it was meaningless now, “I’m Phoon’s father. I’m his father, don’t do anything to me…uh.”
“So that’s what a father is?” I gritted my teeth to suppress my anger. Why is this man so despicable? He only calls himself a father when he needs to save his own skin. “Pathetic,” Jo swore in frustration.
“Huh…I’ll do anything…please, don’t do anything else to me, sniff, don’t withdraw the shares, please. I have nothing left, sniff, sob. I can’t pay back twenty million.”
“…”
“Sniff, you…” He turned to look at Tiger with tears streaming down his face, “Please, help me. If I don’t continue with the company, you won’t get your money back either.”
“…Sigh, that’s true,” Tiger sighed and then turned to speak to me, “If you withdraw the shares, he won’t be able to make money, my company will suffer a huge loss. Even if we sell him or his organs, it would take forever to get the money back, my father would kill me.
Plus, I can’t threaten his son, right?” “Yeah,” Jo answered.
“Are you satisfied yet?” I asked Jo, who shrugged slightly. “Then let’s make a deal.”
“…Sniff, sob, go on, say it.”
“All of this is a lesson for messing with our boyfriends,” I said, eyeing all his injuries. After being beaten like this, he’ll be in the hospital for a long time, and his right hand, which was stepped on, might never function the same. “I won’t withdraw the shares if you agree to stop bothering Phoon.”
“Uh…sniff, sob, okay, okay. I won’t bother him anymore.”
“Divorce Prae, and stop interfering with her and her daughter too.”
“…Mmm, okay. Agreed.”
“Apologize to Phoon for everything that’s happened. I know you can never be a good father, so the only opportunity you have now is to apologize and disappear from Phoon’s life. After that, I’ll take care of him myself.”
“Mmm, sob, I…understand, and…then, can you let me go now, sniff?” I looked at Jo for an answer.
“Yeah, I’m okay now, he’s been taught enough,” Jo said. It should be satisfying enough, having beaten him almost to death. “Only because he’s Phoon’s father. Otherwise, this wouldn’t be the end.”
“Th…thank you, thank you…sniff”
“Yeah. We’re done here, right?” Tiger spoke up.
“Uh, the shares won’t be withdrawn,” I answered.
“Okay, so that means the first reason I came here is settled, but I have another reason.” “What?” Jo asked.
“Well, it’s about the creditor and debtor issue,” Tiger reached into his shirt pocket, pulling out a crumpled piece of paper, unfolding it to look at it before placing it in front of Uncle Rati. As soon as he saw the paper, his crying intensified. “Sorry, I…I can explain, please.”
“You were quite bold to use fake evidence to deceive us,” said the man with a cold smile, Jo raised an eyebrow slightly.
“He used fake evidence?”
“Uh, most of the evidence used for the collateral is real, but this one is fake. Do you know how angry Dad was? If we didn’t teach you a lesson, you wouldn’t learn what happens when you deceive us,” Tiger said, slightly raising his eyebrows, “That was an order.” “Uh, uh, sorry. I’m sorry, please…don’t do anything to me, I beg you.”
“Really asking for trouble,” Jo muttered with a hint of pity. I sighed before standing up; this was no longer my concern. Using fake evidence with underground creditors known for their ruthlessness, it’s no wonder he provoked such anger. It’s no different from insulting them.
“Hey, is he Phoon’s father?” Tiger turned to ask Jo.
“Uh.”
“Is Phoon close with Nao?”
“Probably not.”
“Oo…kay,” before Tiger let out a playful smile. I secretly felt a chill run down my spine, seeing him borrowing a knife from the bodyguard beside me. Once the knife was in his hand, the person facing the blade’s edge cried even harder, panicking, “Phoon can save you from these two, but he can’t save you from me.”
“No…no, uh, you…you, what, what are you going to do?” “Leaving one eye to see is enough. Don’t worry, I won’t gouge it out; I find it too disgusting.” “Please…please, I beg you, please.”
“Will you stop me? Seeing he’s your wife’s father,” Tiger said, glancing at me. Beside him, there was someone sending a desperate look, pleading for help with all his might.
“Fah…Fah, please help your me, I beg you…I’ve already done wrong, please…I’ve realized my mistake…please, please, I beg you, sniff, sob.”
“If you don’t stop him, this bastard will definitely be blind,” Jo said in a calm voice. Even without saying it, I knew Tiger wasn’t just bluffing; because Tiger didn’t know Uncle Rati like we did, to him, he was just another debtor. Plus, Tiger had said it was an order earlier, and going against that order would bring significant trouble. I looked at the person begging with an indifferent gaze. I understood well that in this situation, stopping it would be meaningless. He was dealing with the mafia, fully aware of how dangerous it was, and what could I do to help? Would his wrongs be forgiven just because I intervened? No way. The question Tiger asked was rhetorical. I felt it was a question that didn’t actually require an answer, just asked for the sake of asking.
“Do you know Phoon is afraid of the dark?”
“…Sniff”
“Because of you.”
“…Sniff, sob”
“You should try it too, maybe you’ll understand how scary the darkness can be.”
With those final words, I turned my back and walked out of the warehouse. The horrifying scream echoed from behind, but I paid no attention, walking out to my car and immediately calling someone. (Yes?), the cheerful voice from the other end made me smile involuntarily.
“What’s my little one doing? Have you eaten?”
(Just finished watching a movie with North, haven’t eaten anything yet.)
“Then I’ll come pick you up. Tell North that Jo is coming too,” I said as I saw Jo following me out.
(Okay, I will wait.)
“Yes.”
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