29
MY Aontakarn
Bang!
I drag Puth to the fire escape for a private conversation. We, brother and sister, are staring at each other, and no one is backing down. In the end, I think of both our scenes in my head and turn another way. I argue with him without looking at him.
"You saw the clip?"
"What clip do you meannnnnnn."
My brother uses an annoying, teasing voice. It makes me feel more embarrassed. But I'm at the point of no return.
"Don't act like you don't know. You know. You've seen it. Otherwise, you wouldn't have said that to Earn."
"Earn and I talk about a lot of things."
"Right... A lot" I smile from the corner of my mouth for a bit and look him in the eye, like someone who knows each other's cards. Puth, who acted as if he had the upper hand, frowns when he sees how I look at him. He knows me well.
If I didn't have winning cards in my hand, I wouldn't be arguing with him like this.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Do you really think that you're the only one who sees Aontakarn and me during our activity?"
"Ah, you admit it... Geez, rascal. You acted all cool when you said people in the same company shouldn't date. Yet you got naked and ate at the office. Did I block all the men that came into your life too much? Are you with a woman to get back at me? Since when do you like women?"
"None of your business. Butt off."
"No wonder you tried so hard to get in the way when I said I was going to hit on Aontakarn. You wanted her for yourself. You shameless sister."
"You also got naked at the fire escape, bro."
"What? What are you talking about?"
When I show my card, the handsome guy with a tiny mustache's eyes become wide open. But he continues to argue through his fear.
"What did Earn and you do here yesterday?"
"You..." The shameless guy, whose face I thought was thicker than his sole, starts to blush. "Since when were you here?"
"From the start!"
"I don't believe you."
"Do you want me to describe all the positions... You pushed her against the wall, you lifted her with your two strong arms, and you unzipped your pants like the upstanding citizen that you are..."
"Greeeeeeeeeed. Stop."
"Did you just scream?"
"If you were here, why didn't you show yourself?"
"I'm not as shameless as you. Who would dare get in the way?"
"No... I don't believe it."
"You moan, mother..., in the end."
"Greeeeeeeeed. F***" Puth covers my mouth with his hand, like someone who couldn't stand to face the truth. "I believe that you saw everything, sis. You sicko. Ouch! Why did you bite me?"
"Your hand is very salty. What did you touch before this? Ew." I spit at him after my mouth was free. I rearrange my clothes as I continue to talk. "You were a sicko first. Instead of talking to me, you teased me in front of Aontakarn. From now on, when I'm with Earn, I will call her mother, mother, mother!"
"I give in." Put raises his hand above his head and sweeps his hair to the back. "I was annoyed. Geez... don't date your coworker, yet you separate your legs and let her eat you up."
"Mother."
"I'm sorry, sir."
We both go silent and look at each other. Damned. It's the most uncomfortable I've ever felt in my life. Why do I have to talk about things this intimate with my brother?
"Let's pretend to forget it all."
"Okay. Nothing happened." Puth quickly agrees. "You... don't have a problem with Earn, do you?"
"If I do, will you break up with her?"
"I was just asking."
"I don't have a problem with someone who can make my brother moan, mother."
"F***... You said nothing happened? Good, it's so good..."
"F***..." This time, I'm the one to bare my teeth at my brother. I immediately understood what it felt like to be teased like that. "Okay! We will never talk about this again. Nothing happened. It will be our secret."
"Okay. It will be our secret."
"Give me the clip."
"I deleted it."
"Bullshit."
"I'll kick your ass. I said I deleted it. I'm not a brother who keeps a clip of his sister to blackmail her. Seeing my sister moan like that is nothing pleasant."
"Mother."
"I'm sorry, sir."
We split up after we left the fire escape. As soon as I come out, I have to pause because I see Aontakarn and Earn talking merrily. It's totally different from yesterday, when they didn't seem to like each other's faces. All four are looking at each other knowingly.
"Let's split up."
I say that as I put my hand on Aontakarn's back to nudge her to walk forward. The sweet-faced woman glances at me a bit before she smiles, satisfied that I'm coming out, and somewhat announces our relationship. When Puth sees what I did, he does it too by wrapping his arm around the new hire's waist and winking at me.
He won't back down!
In the end, Aontakam beats us all. She smiles at Puth and gives him a thumbs up as she compliments him loudly and clearly.
"You're so hot."
Puth drops his jaw and gives Aontakam a thumbs up in return.
"Same to you."
After that encounter, we avoided each other all day as we could not quite handle the situation yet...
Again, we don't have fixed working hours. I only go to the office when I need to shoot a clip or do editing work. So Aontakam and I leave the office and go to Aontakarn's house. Part of the reason is that we don't want to face Puth just yet because we're still very embarrassed.
"Isn't Kam embarrassed to say that to Puth?"
The sweet-faced woman glances at me after she sits down on the sofa and laughs.
"I just wanted Puth to know that I see what he did too. He's not the only one who saw us... You should stop being so embarrassed as well, Chris. Act normal."
"How can I act normal? He's my real brother. I saw me... Argh, I'm deeply wounded." I look like I'm about to cry. I lean my head on the petite one's shoulder out of strength. "I will not do anything that adventurous again. Or I have to make sure there aren't any cameras nearby."
"There are no cameras at my place."
Aontakarn winks at me naughtily. That makes me laugh. I rub my head on the beautiful woman's shoulder to ask for tenderness before I stand up.
"We have to find some activity that we can do together. If we do this every time we see each other, well get bored one day."
"Chris will be bored of Kam?"
"Chris liked Kam before Karn liked Chris, you know."
"Really? Kan was the one who always flirted with Chris. Karn was the one who made the move in Japan as well."
I try not to smile, as I'm very shy right now. I don't know what to say because if I tell her that I'm Apple, I'm not sure if Aontakarn will be disappointed.
"Let's say that the result is the same, no matter who made the first move. And we still like each other a lot."
"Just like?"
"Just like. Because Kam never confessed your love to me."
The sweet-faced woman lifts her chin and acts as if she didn't hear me. No matter how many times I bring this up, she won't say she loves me. Never mind... If she thinks that actions speak louder than words, I will have to let it be.
"Oh. I remember now. Aside from making out, there is another activity that we can do today." Aontakam changes the topic. That makes me smile slightly.
"What do you want to do?"
"I've been wanting to do a big clean. Since you're here today, we can do that. I've been sneezing every day recently because I'm allergic to dust." The sweet-faced one wriggles her nose. I agree to help.
"Okay. I'll help you with it."
"You're so cute. Love me for a long time. please."
"Let's see who will love the other person longer."
We change from making out to cleaning the house. The petite one says that her motivation is from a book she just read. It's about reorganizing the house with a "throw everything out" policy. Aontakarn really has a lot of stuff She said that she would donate her old clothes and change her style to a minimalist style that could be worn on every occasion. It is also more friendly to her wallet.
"My mother used to scold me for buying so many clothes. I thought she was just babbling because I felt I didn't have anything to wear until today..."
We both look at the pile of clothes that the petite one separated out. I look at it understandingly and nod.
"Us women are like this. Our closets are full, but we say we don't have anything to wear."
"The closet is much neater now." Aontakarn looks at her closet proudly.
"Which room next?"
"The living room. There aren't many rooms in this house." The sweet-faced woman pauses a bit when she glances at a door that's never been opened. I look where she's looking and can sense that the room is very important and meaningful.
I don't have to ask to know that it's her mother's rom.
"Have you ever cleaned that room?" I ask. The petite one shakes her head. There are tears in her eyes, yet she tries to smile.
"No."
"Why not?"
"I'm a coward."
"Are you afraid of your mother?"
"I'm afraid that I would be sad like the first day she passed away." The petite woman bites her nails. As I adoringly observe her, I am compelled to remove her hand from her mouth.
"Don't bite your nails... Don't be afraid. Let's create a new memory in that room together." I pull Aontakam by the hand and lead her to that door. For some reason, the room feels familiar to me. It's as if I've been in the room before. "You have to tell yourself that the room doesn't make you sad. It's a good place. It's your mother's room."
"Chris..."
"Let's give it a try. You don't have to go in. You can just stand at the door."
I don't wait for Aontakam's permission. I go on to open the door and push it wide open. The room is full of dust and has a musty smell, but it's very organized. The bed is covered with a clean, white bedsheet. There are very few pieces of furniture in the MOM.
"I think I know why Karn has been sneezing. It must be from the dust in this room. We need to clean it."
"No... Karn doesn't dare go in."
"When was the last time that you stepped foot in the room?"
"The cremation day... Since then, I never go into this room."
"There's no picture of your mother even in this room?"
"Yes. I put them all away."
"Chris has never seen your mother's picture. When will I get to know her?" I tease as I laugh. "But I need to clean this room. I don't want you to get sick."
"But I don't want to go in."
"You don't have to. Go wait downstairs. I will vacuum and mop the room. Don't worry, I won't steal anything or snoop around. I won't make a mess of the room, I promise."
"I'm not concerned about that. I just feel bad to ask you to clean the room for me."
"…"
"Okay, I will not feel bad."
When the petite woman sees me go quiet, she can sense that I was unhappy to hear that she didn't want to bother me because it made me feel like we weren't close. After the sweet-faced lady goes downstairs, I drag the vacuum cleaner into the room and vacuum every corner of the room. Aontakarn probably hasn't been in this room for years. The dust is as thick as bathroom tiles.
I vacuumed the room for around thirty minutes. Next, I clean the furniture with a wet towel. I can't keep my promise because I want to know what kind of person Aontakarn's mother was. There should be some traces of her or some photos left in some drawers. The sweet-faced woman said that she put all the photos away because she doesn't want to see them, so she probably doesn't keep them with her.
She probably kept them in this room. And I am right... I found a picture of her mother. "With your permission, Mom. My name is Chris. I'm a very very close friend with your Aontakam..." I pause when I pick up the picture frame and look at it. "Guidance Counselor?"
I say that to myself because I'm shocked. The photo is of my guidance counselor at my high school. Though we didn't talk much, we walked past each other often. To be honest, I don't even remember her name. But I can remember her face.
Suddenly, tears streamed down my cheeks... Damned, what's going on?
I put the photo down and sat beside the bed. I sob nonstop. I don't know why I'm crying. Aontakarn's mother was my guidance counselor. She's making me cry. Is there anything that could be more weird than this?
As I cried, I accidentally put my hand under the pillow. I touched something. When I pull it out, I see that it's a letter addressed to...
'MY Aontakarn.'
What's this? MY Aontakam?
"Chris... what is it?"
I look up. Aontakam is at the door. I guess that my sobbing was so loud that the petite one, who was downstairs, probably heard it and ran up to see what happened to me. Tears are on my face as I lift the letter from under the pillow to show it to her.
"A letter."
"W... what?"
"Chris found a letter... It's addressed to MY Aontakam."
"No... Put it back. I don't want to read it."
It seems like Aontakarn already knows about the letter. The petite one still doesn't want to enter the room. She avoids eye contact, as if she doesn't want to acknowledge what's in my hand. I bring myself to her and put the letter in her hand before I pull her in and hug her. My voice is shaking, leaning towards sobbing, as I beg her.
"You have to read it... MY Aontakarn."