SOUTHBESIDETHESKY, Chapter 33: Shooting Star
“So, you actually did it, right?” I asked the person in front of me, in a disheveled student uniform. Tiger had just come to our faculty with copies of Uncle Rati’s fake evidence to show us. I asked for them because I wanted to see what fake evidence he had used.
“Meaning? The eye thing?”
“Uh.”
“Really did it.”
“He’s in the hospital now, right?”
“Uh-huh.”
“He can’t see with that eye anymore?”
“Are you asking this because you feel guilty?” Tiger sat down on the sofa opposite me, Jo spoke up, “No need to feel bad, Phii, it’s my job.” “Uh,” I nodded in understanding. After that incident, it made me think a bit, “If I had stopped it that day, what would have happened?” “I would have gone home to get scolded by my dad for disobeying orders, and he would have sent someone else to do it anyway,” Tiger explained. I nodded again. I realized that even if I had stopped it, it wouldn’t have changed anything.
The fault of using fake evidence to deceive the mafia doesn’t go away just because I tried to stop it.
The reason I didn’t stop it back then was because of this; stopping it would have been futile, my opinion doesn’t matter. Besides, as Tiger said, even if Tiger didn’t do it, someone else would have been sent. “But honestly. Even if you had stopped me, I probably would have done it anyway. I’m asking out of curiosity. Just wanted to know what you would have done.”
“Why?”
“I can’t disobey my dad’s orders.”
“Ha, you’re such a good boy,” Jo teased.
“As usual,” Tiger said before standing up from the sofa, ready to leave.
“Hey, Phii,” I turned to Jo as if I just remembered something.
“What?”
“I heard he was sending people to deal with North?”
“Hmm”
“You should have told me earlier, the wound on North’s face, was that what he was doing too?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, that bastard,” Tiger immediately showed signs of irritation,
“Bullying North affects many people, he doesn’t think before he acts.” Tiger cursed in frustration before walking out of the room. We were now in a private room at a coffee shop near the faculty.
“What does that mean?” I turned to ask Jo.
“Because North is friends with a kid named Duennao, I guess.” “Winter?” I raised an eyebrow, recalling that name from that day. “The kid that Tiger has had a crush on for years, but that’s all there is to it,” Jo shrugged indifferently. Knowing this much, I didn’t feel the need to ask further, looking at the document envelope in my hand and opening it. The forged evidence that Uncle Rati had given them was no small matter. Whether it was cars or land, if these documents were fake as Tiger claimed, they had every right to be angry. It wasn’t just about disrespect; it was also about defrauding their money. For example, if you have one car, you can use it as collateral to borrow one million baht. But Uncle Rati used fake documents to claim he had four cars when he only had one, so he got four million. One million was legitimate because he had one car, but the other three million were essentially borrowed without any collateral.
And when it comes to seizing assets because the debt can’t be paid, there’s no car to seize, and those three million could just vanish. “Let me see,” Jo said. I handed him the documents. He glanced at them briefly before putting them down, “Serves him right, Tiger’s father hates being deceived.” “Can we call them mafia?” I asked.
“Loaning tens to twenty million. It’s not a small-time deal. Only the mafia would lend that much,” Jo said, “I totally forgot to think about it.”
“About what?”
“Even if you tried to stop it, it would be pointless. His wrongdoings wouldn’t disappear because you intervened.”
“Hmm, I know,” I sighed, Jo’s words echoing my earlier thoughts. “If you stopped him and that bastard didn’t do it, what would he tell his father when he got home? Oh, I didn’t follow orders because some guy asked me not to? That would be ridiculous, and worse, the situation could escalate if his father got upset.” “Hmm, I understand, but…then why ask me?”
“He was testing you.”
“Hmm?”
“He wanted to see how you’ll handle it, seeing that you’re new. He probably wants to know what you’ll do in situations like this.”
“And how did it go?”
“I think he’s pleased with you, if you work with him next time, it might be easier.”
“Oh, uh…but I’m not doing it anymore.” “Why?” Jo furrowed his brows at me.
“I don’t really like this kind of work, I’ll probably sell the shares to you,” I said according to my thoughts. This was my first time in business or dealing with stocks. Of course, Jo had been guiding me all along, but once I tried it, I realized it wasn’t something I enjoyed much.
“Is that smart? You’ve been doing well. You’ve made quite a profit in just a few months.”
“Uh, yeah. So, do you want the shares? You can be chairman instead of me.”
“Enough,” Jo said, “I’ve got my hands full already, ask Hill.” “Hmm?” Hill looked up from his sheet and turned his attention to us, “What?”
“Fah wants to sell the company shares, are you interested in being chairman instead?”
“What company?”
“Real estate,” I replied.
“Oh,” Hill was silent for a while, his face showing his usual indifference. In truth, Hill’s father and Jo’s father know each other because they do business together. Hill’s family has a rather large company, and Hill is set to inherit it. As I’ve mentioned before, he doesn’t really want to study medicine; he was forced by his grandfather, who had an unfulfilled dream of becoming a doctor, so he imposed that dream on Hill.
“Might be good, let me see first.”
There were only the three of us in the room now.
I sighed, thinking of Arthit who is currently in California, feeling an indescribable concern. During New Year, we agreed not to contact Arthit until he contacts us himself or, if there’s no sign from him after the tenth, then we would reach out. So, I’ve been trying to handle all the work and legal matters for him.
“Oh, right, the thing you asked for,” Jo said, pulling some documents out of his pocket and handing them to me. I took them immediately, “About Phoon’s biological mother that you asked me to look into.”
After the incident with Uncle Rati, I had asked Jo to help find information on Phoon’s real mother.
“Thanks,” I said, my eyes still glued to the details in the document.
Name: Nakamura, Yuri (Original surname: Yoshida) Original surname?
So, Phoon’s mother remarried then…
“Wow, Japanese.”
“Is the cat half-Japanese?”
“Not quite, his mother is half-Japanese too.”
“So, that makes him twenty-five percent Japanese,” North said, looking at the information about my mother with interest.
…
Typhoon
The day before, Phii Fah came back to the room looking a bit worried, seeming to hesitate for a while before handing me the documents about my mother. The first time I saw her picture, I cried. All kinds of emotions mixed together until I wasn’t sure what they were, but certainly, they weren’t negative.
The document included a photo, her name, both her maiden and married surnames, her birth year, and various details about her life. It mentioned the schools she attended, the awards she received in school, and it said that after my mother finished high school, my grandmother passed away. At eighteen, she came to Thailand, stayed for just over two years before returning to start anew in Japan, working in various jobs until she remarried and had children. “The information is very detailed,” Ter said. We were now at
Daotok’s room because it was a holiday. We gathered here because Ter said that around New Year’s, Daotok had disappeared, completely out of touch, and the last he heard, Dao was going to the New Year count down alone with a mountain of work. After New Year’s, they decided to visit out of concern, fearing he might really be swamped by work.
But contrary to expectations, Dao looked more cheerful than the last time we met. “By the way, Dao.”
“What?”
“You look more cheerful,” I commented. Daotok, who was looking at the document in North’s hand, turned to me with a smile.
“I went on a meditation retreat.”
“…Seriously?” North furrowed his brows and turned to ask the person next to him. Right now, the three of them were intensely focused on the documents about my mother, so they all leaned in to look together.
“Uh.”
“Was it around New Year?” Ter asked.
“Yes.”
“Are you into spirituality or something? I just found out,” North said.
“Not really,” Daotok shook his head slightly, “I not really into that, but last year, I was working too much, to the point where…how should I say it, I was scattered, couldn’t focus on anything, everything was a mess, it made me unable to concentrate on work, so I went to practice meditation.”
“Did it help?” I asked.
“It was good, at least it felt like a break, gave me the energy to get back to work.”
“You’re crazy, no matter how hard I work, I’ve never thought of going to meditate,” North said before turning his attention back to the document in his hand, “Uh, came to Thailand at eighteen, why?” “Because your grandmother is Thai,” Daotok said, “Here. Your grandfather was Japanese, but he passed away when your mom was still a child.”
“Oh, so it’s like coming back to her mother’s homeland, because her dad died young so she probably had nowhere else to go,” North remarked, “But wait, Phoon, how old are you?”
“Twenty.”
“Your mom is now thirty-nine.”
“Uh, she had me when she was nineteen,” I said. After coming to Thailand at eighteen, she met my father and then had me. It’s hard to say, but nineteen isn’t exactly the age to be ready for a child, “I’m afraid I might not be the child she was ready to have.”
“Stop overthinking, or I’ll hit you.”
“Why are you being harsh on me again?”
“Ready or not, she loves you. If she didn’t love you, she would have aborted you, and she still sends you gifts every year. Besides, doesn’t your name and hers have similar meanings?” I couldn’t help but laugh at North’s hot-headed demeanor; while saying this, he didn’t even look up at me.
“Hm?”
“Yuri means lily, Ren means lotus.”
“Oh,” I nodded, I hadn’t thought about it until now. Ren is the name written on the gift box that was sent to me, which we’re now more than ninety percent sure was sent by my mother, and it seems to be the name she gave me before I became known as Typhoon.
“Ren-kun,” North teased.
“You’re crazy with the ‘kun’,” I retorted.
“Speaking of which, your mom was a good student. Look at this.” “North, are you still on the first page?” I asked because my mother’s educational record was on the first page. Had he really been looking at that for so long?
“Yeah, North, why are you looking so intently? There are several pages of documents.”
“Hey, it’s my friend’s mom’s story, I want to know,” North said,
“She was even the class president. She’s no ordinary woman.” “Sigh,” I exhaled for some reason, scanning Daotok’s room. It wasn’t my first time here, but every time I come, I’m still amazed by how grandly the room is decorated. Every poster of Ter is hand-drawn by Dao, and there are plenty of Dao’s work tools. There’s a large desk for drawing, with paints arranged in layers.
“By the way, what do you do on a meditation retreat?” I asked,
“How many days did you go?”
“Three days, nothing much, just observing the eight precepts, chanting, stuff like that.”
“Did you go alone?”
“Yeah.”
“You should invite North next time.”
“Wow…damn, what are you thinking, asking seriously,” North said, sounding annoyed, “And Phoon, are you okay with your mom having a new family?”
“I’m okay with it. She got a new start in life, which is good, and there’s someone to take care of her. Flip to the next page, her son is really cute.”
“You’re so noble,” North said, flipping the page as I suggested,
“Who’s this kid next to the soy sauce bottle?”
“That’s Daiki, he’s eight. I thought he looked like the kid on the ‘Healthy Child’ soy sauce bottle. I don’t know what my mom fed him to make him look so chubby.” “Hmm,” I nodded slightly.
“You have to be careful. If you cause trouble for her new family, you’ll feel guilty forever, Phoon,” North said. I nodded again in agreement. If things went too far beyond me just meeting my mother, it would be terrible. More importantly, I don’t want to hurt my mother’s new family.
Just contacting her secretly should be fine. If my mother isn’t okay with meeting me, I’ll accept that, and I must ensure that her new family doesn’t find out.
“Maybe your mom has already told her new family that she had a child,” North said, “That would be good, then Daiki could really be your younger brother.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“It’s good that you finally know who your mother is,” Daotok said with a sweet smile, “It’s like a New Year’s gift.”
“Yeah, it’s really a great gift.” “By the way,” Dao spoke up.
“What?” I asked.
“Tell us about your father, we seem to be out of the loop,” Daotok said, “Can you tell us?”
“Oh, I can tell you,” I said, because Dao wouldn’t go telling anyone anyway. I started from when North was punched by my father and punched back, then recounted the events in the warehouse that Phii Fah had told me about. When I first heard this story, I was shocked, shocked that Phii Fah was the shareholder of the company, that my father had embezzled three million from the company, and that he had used fake evidence to deceive the mafia.
In truth, I couldn’t help but worry. I recently asked Phii Fah how my father was doing, and Phii Fah had to ask someone else, probably the mafia. He said my father’s condition had improved a lot. All I could do was ask about his condition, hoping he would recover soon and start a better new life.
At least, what I know, not counting his philandering and having many other affairs, he has had three wives and three children. He chose to abandon my mother because of his infidelity, then left Fan’s mother for the same reason, and Aunt Prae ran away because he cheated on her. At least with these three women who loved him, he never thought to cherish them; instead, he hurt them.
If possible, I’d like him not to deceive anyone else, to work and pay off his debts completely, so he doesn’t find himself in danger. Being in debt to the mafia for twenty million is not a good thing; it’s not safe, everyone knows that. With mafia debts, if you can pay it back, it’s fine, but going so far as to deceive them…When Phii Fah told me that my father used fake evidence to borrow money from the mafia, I was genuinely scared, afraid they would kill him. But it didn’t go that far; they just made him lose sight in one eye. It sounds cruel, but in reality, it’s how the mafia deals with things, it’s their world, a dangerous and ruthless one that ordinary people like us shouldn’t get involved with in the first place.
Because of what he did, he had to face this. I can’t say I feel nothing about it. I pity him. I want to be angry at those who did this to my father, but as it’s been said, it’s their way and their duty. If my father hadn’t deceived them from the start, nothing would have happened because they were just living in their own world, and we were the ones who reached into it.
North said it’s like messing with a curse; it’s in its own place. We walked into its territory ourselves, so when it harms us, it’s not really at fault.
I don’t hate or resent how things turned out. I just feel sorry and worried, but I can’t visit him. If I did, I’d likely be sent back. I thought about sending flowers to visit him in the hospital, but he would probably see it as me having ill intentions, because my father never viewed me positively.
All I can do is hope he chooses the right path. That’s all I can really do. I’ve been praying for him to have a peaceful life all along, and I’ll continue to do so because it’s the only thing I can do for him as his son, even though I’ve never received even a shred of love.
“The only thing your boyfriend did was with the shares, right? And he didn’t even withdraw them, did he?” Daotok asked. I nodded in response, “Then that’s pretty kind of him, really…uh, your dad isn’t really trustworthy, is he? With all the money fraud and using fake evidence to deceive them. If he still holds shares with them, however you look at it, your boyfriend has a high risk of incurring significant losses. As I’ve heard, if there’s a risk of loss, they usually pull out their shares first.”
“You know this well,” North said.
“My dad works at the company, really, everything he gets is the result of his own actions.”
“…Yeah, I thought Phii Fah would pull out the shares too,” North remarked.
“Do you hate Phii Tonfah?” Daotok asked.
“No, why?”
“Good, if you hated him, I’d feel sorry for him, he did all this to protect you, had only a few months to buy up the shares, it mustn’t have been easy.”
“…”
“And the one who got hurt has nothing to do with your boyfriend, how could he dare to deceive someone that scary? He’s a mafia, and there’s your boyfriend, North.”
“Huh?” North raised an eyebrow slightly, “Yeah, that’s true, but…how to say, Phii Jo is someone you can’t stop, I’m still scared when he’s angry.”
“Phii Jo was just angry that someone hurt you,” Ter said, “Not only did he hit you, but he also sent people to teach you and Phoon a lesson. That’s really cruel, sending people to teach your own child a lesson, that’s insane.”
“I know, so I never said anything. If it were me, I’d be angry if someone did something to my boyfriend.”
“Have you ever been scared of the doctors?” Daotok asked, seemingly addressing all of us, and surprisingly, we all shook our heads together, “Why is that?”
“It’s…I don’t know, hard to explain, but it just feels like there’s no place safer in the world than here. They make us believe that no matter what happens, they will never hurt us,” I said, making Daotok smile broadly.
“I already knew that, just asking,” Daotok said, “I can feel it every time everyone talks about their boyfriends, the atmosphere around becomes so warm, but since I don’t meet your boyfriends often, I don’t get to sense it much. I’ve only felt it when Phii Hill was with Ter. At that time, my heart felt all fluffy.”
“You can sense it that much?” North raised his eyebrow in question.
“Oh. Didn’t I ever tell you?”
“Tell what?” I furrowed my brows to ask, Ter also looked over with interest. Daotok made a slightly embarrassed face, as if he had accidentally said something he shouldn’t have.
“Oh. I’ll go get the laundry first.”
“Dao, you can’t change the subject like that,” I said.
“Uh…”
“How do you sense it?” Ter asked again, Dao looked even more startled.
“I just said it. Anyone can sense it, right? From the look in their eyes or something like that.”
“Ghost under the bed, are you going to say it or not?”
“Why do you think I’m lying?”
“Because you look suspicious. At first, I thought you had a sixth sense to see ghosts.” “I don’t see them often.”
“…”
“…”
“Shit,” North said in shock, moving away from Daotok. Ter and I were also stunned, “Really? You, bastard, did you see a ghost?” “Uh. I see one right now,” Dao said, staring at North, until North hit him on the head. “I’m not a ghost!”
“…Ouch.”
“You deserved it, playing around at a time like this?”
“North, you shouldn’t be scared of me.”
“Get out, you see ghosts, I don’t want to play anymore.” After hitting Dao on the head, North quickly backed away, and Daotok immediately scowled at North. “I’ll have Mary haunt North tonight.”
“Fuck off, which Mary? Bastard. No way, don’t do anything to me.” North grabbed my arm tightly. As I’ve mentioned before, North is the one most afraid of ghosts, scared to the point of hyperventilating, and apart from that, this three-foot chest guy has never been afraid of anything else.
“So, what’s the conclusion?” Ter asked to steer the conversation back to the topic. I’m not that scared of ghosts. As for Ter, he’s average, scared at a normal level.
“It’s not really a secret. Just didn’t see the need to say anything.” “Uh-huh,” I nodded, listening intently, letting North continue to cling to my arm, his hand sweating again, for God’s sake. “I don’t see them all the time. Just sometimes, if they want to be seen, and then…how should I put it, we’re in sync. Mostly, I feel them more.”
“Feel ghosts?” Ter asked.
“No, no, feel emotions. Like when we first met. I could feel that
Phoon was sad, it was a sadness that almost made me cry.”
“Oh…”
“And then I could feel…the longing of another person, all around
Phoon.”
“…Fan?”
“Hmm, probably. I haven’t seen her, but I can feel it. It’s warmth, longing, concern, and sadness, all the same.”
“…Really?” I bit my lip hard hearing that, “And now?”
“She’s not here anymore.”
“Oh…” I let out a small sigh, feeling relieved. Fan must really be gone now. I don’t have to worry or be concerned about my matters anymore, “And why didn’t Dao tell us?”
“I felt she didn’t want me to.”
“Oh.”
“But now you have nothing but happiness. I can feel it.” “Are you messing with us?” North furrowed his brows, “You need evidence. Otherwise, I won’t believe it.”
“Not believing is fine,” Daotok said with a smile, “But when it comes to fortune-telling, you believe everything.”
“Yeah, that’s right, it’s not strange if Dao has some kind of sense. When it comes to fortune-telling, you believe with all your heart, don’t you?” Ter said, turning to look at North. North let go of my arm and immediately made a sour face.
“You’re accurate, that’s why,” North said, sounding annoyed, “Fine,
I’ll believe it. And here…are there any ghosts?”
“Probably not.”
“Oh, okay, good. It’s like having a ghost scanner. When you have time, check my room for any, I’m scared there might be something.”
“But my senses are very weak.”
“Come on, safety first.”
“It should be fine, remember when North gave me Phii Jo’s birthdate to read, and I said their fortunes complement each other?” Daotok said. North nodded in acknowledgment. So, he even looked at Phii Jo’s fortune…
“That’s right, so the ghost thing isn’t a problem. No one can do anything anyway.”
“Oh, okay, good. Have you guys ever had your fortunes read?” “Ter has, his and Phii Hill’s fortunes complement each other. Do you want to see yours?”
“Huh? Oh. No, better not, I’m afraid they might not match, and I’ll just worry for nothing.”
“Oh, okay,” Daotok nodded and didn’t ask further. Honestly, I wasn’t surprised by what Daotok said, probably because it’s Daotok; even if he could shoot lasers from his eyes, it wouldn’t be strange. We asked Dao a little more about Fan. Daotok said that when I decided to tell everyone everything, and everyone was comforting me not to cry, Fan was there too, and she was also crying while hugging me. Dao mentioned he doesn’t see Fan every time he sees me because sometimes she’s not around. He doesn’t know where she goes, but I think she might go to find our parents. And the reason Fan didn’t want Dao to tell me about her, Dao thinks it’s because she didn’t want me to keep thinking about her, which is true. If I had known at that time that Fan was still around, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything.
“Uh, Dao.”
“Hmm?”
“Do you remember when we had a gathering and video called each other, and you asked who the woman behind Phii Arthit was?” I asked when I suddenly remembered Dao teasing me like that. We had a big discussion about whether Dao was just joking or if it was true, but now it might actually be true.
“When was that?”
“Come on, during the gathering, when we video called, you pointed out the woman behind the person sitting opposite us.”
“…Don’t remember.”
“Damn, you’ve got selective memory, my friend.”
“Uh, but I was probably just teasing.”
“Why?”
“If I really saw something, I wouldn’t tell anyone, afraid everyone would be scared.”
“Uh, well, I’m not scared at all, you bastard,” North let out a big sigh, “I feel so uncomfortable, I’m not talking to you, Arthit, for one day.”
“…Don’t,” Daotok said softly, looking like he was about to cry.
“Hey, I was joking!”
“Oh, North, did you make Dao cry? You bastard, you’re really evil,” Ter scolded, leaving North at a complete loss.
“I’m sorry, I was just playing!”
“Ha!”
“Damn, you scared me, here! Asking for trouble with your dad?” North smacked Dao’s head again in frustration. At first, Dao looked like he was about to cry for real, and North’s face immediately paled.
North is really weak against tears, seeing this.
“You didn’t have to curse.”
“I was startled too, making you cry makes me look like a jerk, aren’t I a big enough jerk already?” North grabbed Dao’s cheeks hard, stretching them back and forth, and Dao frowned and made a sulky face.
“Ow, it hurts.”
“It’s supposed to hurt, you little ghost under the bed, trying to trick me.”
“Ouch, ouch, ouch, help!” Dao called for help and tried to block North’s hands, but he couldn’t match North’s strength. All I and Ter could do was sit and laugh at the scene in front of us.
While laughing at Dao’s attempt to get his cheeks back from North, it made me realize how good it feels when we’re all together like this.
It’s really good to have everyone like this, isn’t it?
After playing around in Dao’s room for a while, it was time to leave. North went back first, followed by Ter, leaving only me, and Phii Fah texted that he would arrive in about five minutes.
“Didn’t forget anything, right?” Daotok asked.
“Hmm. I don’t think so, I hardly brought anything with me.”
“If you manage to contact your mom, let me know, okay?”
“Okay.”
Not long after, Phii Fah texted to say he was waiting downstairs.
“I’ll walk you down.”
“It’s okay, don’t trouble yourself.”
“It’s no trouble,” Daotok said before walking downstairs with me. When Ter and North left, Dao also walked them down. To be honest, I think Daotok is really sweet, taking great care of us.
I walked over to Phii Fah, who was leaning against his car. He immediately gave me a sweet smile.
“Hello,” Phii Fah greeted the person who followed me kindly, and Daotok smiled back.
“Hello.”
“See you,” I said as I got into the car, waving goodbye to the other person. Dao waved back. Not long after the luxurious car moved away, my phone notification sound went off.
From Daotok…
What’s up? We just parted ways a moment ago.
SS: There is no need to look at the stars or sense anything.
Typhoon: What?
SS: Just by looking into each other’s eyes, you can tell.
SS: Between Phoon and Phii Tonfah SS: It’s true love.
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