Chapter 28 Sud #2
“That’s right. Your mother and I, and you and Sud, love Mee Noi very much. My point is, none of us are actually related to Noi. You know he has parents.”
“Not good ones,” Ten mumbles. None of us argue about that.
“Well, you weren’t born yet when Noi came to live with us, but Noi was already six years old. Do you remember when you were that age?”
Ten nods. “Sure. I made friends with Oat that year in school.”
“Right. If Oat had come to live with you when you were six, you wouldn’t think of him as your brother, although you might call him family one day.
The same way that six-year-old Sud never felt that Mee Noi was his brother, but he still grew to love him.
But, since Mee Noi was already here when you came into this world, to you, he’s the same as Sud. You see?”
“I think so,” Ten says. “But how can P’Sud’s feelings about P’Mee Noi change?”
Mae takes over. “Because you feel that Mee Noi is your brother, you would never fall in love with him, right? You would never want to, say, date him.”
“Of course not,” Ten says, wrinkling his nose.
I hope Mae isn’t going to say, But you could fall in love with Oat one day. At his age, I don’t think that would be the best analogy.
Mae must realize that, too, because instead she says, “But it’s not the same for Sud. That’s why it’s okay for them to be acting as boyfriends in a boys’ love series together. Brothers would never do that.”
I can tell that Ten is thinking hard.
He looks at me and something clicks behind his dark eyes. “Are you boyfriends with P’Mee Noi now, P’Sud? In real life?”
Holding my breath, I smile at him and nod.
Ten grins. “You scared me! I thought you were going to tell me you don’t love P’Mee Noi anymore!”
“That will never happen,” I promise.
“How do you feel about Sud and Mee Noi loving each other that way, Ten?” Pah asks.
Ten shrugs. “Why would I care? As long as P’Sud still loves P’Mee Noi, I’m good.” He stands up “Mae, can Oat come over?”
Mae only hesitates a second. “Sure. But don’t go into the woods. Not until Pah’s had the trail cleared.”
“And we have another lecture on snakes,” Pah adds. “But after that, it’s important you get out there again. We can live with nature as long as we respect it.”
Ten and I say the last sentence along with Pah because he’s said it so many times in the past, we know it by heart.
“Smart alecks,” Pah says fondly. “Go call Oat, Nong.”
Ten starts to run out of the room, then he suddenly stops and turns to me.
“If you and P’Mee Noi are boyfriends now, what does that make me and P’Mee Noi?” he asks, looking worried.
I smile at him. “Same as always.”
Ten smiles back and runs out of the room.
“That went better than I thought,” I say in relief.
“Your brother is very mature. I’m proud of him,” Mae says. I notice she’s watching Pah’s face, so l turn my head to look at him.
“Pah? Is this a big problem for you?”
“I won’t lie to you. I’m worried about both you and Mee Noi. If this new relationship goes badly, what happens then? And don’t tell me it won’t because you can’t guarantee that.”
“I think Noi and I would do anything we could to save what we have. What I mean is, if we can’t make it as lovers, we’ll find a way to go back to being friends.”
“That won’t be easy,” Pah says.
“I know.” What can I say? Noi and I want to be together, and we’re going to be. We’ll face any problems as they come.
“All right, then.”
“When Mee Noi wakes up, tell him I’m making grilled pork.”
“Okay, I will.”
My parents get up and leave me alone in the living room where I stretch out on the couch.
It’s such a relief to have it all out in the open, it takes me a while for me to calm down.
After a while, I hear footsteps on the stairs and Noi’s voice in the kitchen, talking to Mae. I get up and head that way.
The smile that appeared on my face when I thought about telling Noi that Mae, Pah, and Ten know about us and are okay with it vanishes when I walk into the kitchen to find Noi crying into Mae’s shoulder.
“What happened?” I ask. “Noi?”
Mae strokes Noi’s head. “He’s just overwhelmed. Everything’s fine.”
“Overwhelmed about what?”
“You told them,” Noi says, pulling back from Mae and wiping his eyes with his hands.
“I would have waited for you, but it just seemed like the right time.”
“We asked him outright,” Mae defends me.
“I woke up from my nap and was scrolling through my phone when Ten came in and told me it’s okay with him that you and I are boyfriends,” Noi says, his chin wobbling.
I open my arms to him, and he comes to me, snuggling into my embrace.
“What’s happened now?” Pah asks, stopping short when he walks into the room and sees us.
Mae explains it to him, and then we sit down at the kitchen table and Pah goes over what was said earlier when Noi was sleeping. When he’s finished, Noi’s face is pink from embarrassment. Biting his lip, he nods to Mae and Pah when they ask if he’s okay.
“I just don’t want to talk about it right now, if that’s all right.”
“Of course it is,” Mae says.
***
Later, after we’ve stuffed ourselves with grilled pork and Ten and Oat have gone upstairs to hang out in his room, Mae, Pah, Noi, and I sit on the front porch, Noi sharing a chair with me.
Noi leans his head against my shoulder as we look out at the darkness of the yard.
Pah’s telling us about his latest film project, and Mae’s doing needlework.
“I wish they would give you boys more time here,” Mae said after Pah finishes and we’ve been silent for a while. “Are you going to drive them back in the morning, Thawan?” she asks Pah.
“Yes. I promised Khun Intapong I would have them at the studio by noon.”
“Well, I don’t see how giving them an extra day could hurt.”
“Time is money,” Pah says.
Mae huffs and continues with her stitching.
“I guess if we’re going to be getting up early, we should go to bed,” Pah finally says, standing and stretching.
Noi uncurls from around me and gets to his feet, hugging Pah and then kissing Mae’s cheek. I say goodnight and follow him upstairs.
Ten’s door is ajar, and I peek inside. Ten and Oat are both asleep in his bed, moonlight pouring in on them from the window. I smile because they could be me and Noi not so long ago.
“Let’s sleep in my room tonight,” Noi says from behind me.
“Sure.” I follow him down the hall. His room, which was Mae’s sewing room before Noi came to live with us, is the farthest away from everyone else’s. Is that why he wants us to sleep there tonight?
“Afraid of waking them up?” I ask, smirking at him when he closes the door behind us. When he looks at me, I waggle my eyebrows suggestively.
Noi smacks me in the stomach. “No way. We are not doing anything here.”
“So, we’re going to wait until we get back to Bangkok and then do something?” I tease him.
Rather than getting annoyed, Noi’s smiles at me in that flirty way he’s been doing lately. “Maybe.”
“Stop teasing me,” I say, voice low because I’m getting hard.
“You started it,” Noi says.
Snorting, I turn away from him and strip off my shirt and pants, tossing them onto a chair. When I turn back around, Noi stares at the tent in my boxer shorts.
He bites his lip but doesn’t say anything, just takes off his own clothes and switches off the ceiling light before turning on the dim lamp shaped like a globe on the bedside table.
Under the thin covers, Noi snuggles into my side as has become his habit.
I really want to pull him in for a kiss, but, despite my teasing, I don’t want to mess around when our family is within hearing distance any more than Noi does.
Looking around in the semi-darkness, I take in the posters of various K-Pop groups on the walls that have been there for as long as I can remember, and the shelves filled with books, oddly shaped rocks, and other items Noi has collected over the years.
“What are you smiling about?” Noi asks me.
“Just remembering how you used to sit and read for hours. You were such a geek.” I yelp and jerk away when Noi pinches me. “Ouch! That hurt.”
“You deserved it.”
“That’s boyfriend abuse.”
Noi is silent for a moment before saying, “Why didn’t you wait for me to tell them?”
Sliding my hand into his hair, I play with the soft strands. “They were sitting in the living room, and I could tell Pah had been thinking about seeing us in my bed. The Mae asked me outright. I’m sorry. I was afraid they might be mad at me, and I knew that would upset you.”
“It would, but I wanted to be there for you,” Noi says. “But it’s okay. Another part of me is glad you did it because I’m a coward. Did Pah speak harshly to you?”
“Just a little, at first, because—like I told you—he’d warned me about it. So, he thought I’d ignored what he said and that we were essentially playing with fire. But after I explained to him that we’re serious about each other, he relaxed.”
“I’ll bet they’re worried about us.”
I kiss his head. “It’s our life. We’re the ones who are making the decisions. They’ll adjust.”
“I just don’t want to cause them any trouble.”
Moving onto my side so I can see his face, I say, “Enough of that. You haven’t caused them any trouble.
They love you, Noi. Nothing’s going to change that.
” Leaning in, I kiss him softly on the lips.
He’s warm and pliant in my arms, and I want so badly to move my hands down his back and squeeze that cute little ass, but I don’t dare.
I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to stop.
“Go to sleep,” I tell him.