If one passed Mrs. Ratana Thanawat on the street, one would dismiss her as any other average loving old woman. But this woman was anything but that. The matriarch commanded the entire household and the vast business empire created by her late husband. The woman's knowledge and power were greater than what anyone could ever dream of. She ordered thousands of people, influential people at that, with a flick of her fingers. Her ability to be sweet and polite when the occasion demanded and to transform into this boss of a lady who never took no for an answer, was what made this woman what she was. Her chubby face and stodgy frame were misleading. The emotions in her golden-brown eyes changed according what she wanted to convey. Although she lacked a few inches when it came to average height of women in the country, she easily towered over both women and men in stature and command. However, many who met her at her party easily mistook her as only a friendly hostess.
But now as she sat in the wooden chair behind the mahogany table, with determined eyes, her salt-and-pepper hair pulled back in a tight bun, her hands folded over her lap, no one could mistake this woman as some harmless old-lady. Her piercing eyes looked through Siri and the young man was squirming, nervousness bubbling within his stomach. Siri had always thought his grandma was not actually against his relationship with Pai, but this discussion didn’t give a positive vibe. Maybe it’s the fact that he is married that had triggered his grandma. But Siri had already made it clear that him marrying was just a formality.
“What did he say?”
The sudden question without any preamble startled Siri. He didn’t understand what his grandma was asking. He looked up and frowned. His grandma stood and walked around the table slowly, just taking a step closer to Siri with each word.
“He, your bitch..”
No sooner had the insult left the woman’s lips than Siri was up, furious, “NANA!”
“What? What will you do, huh? And am I wrong? What else do you call a person who willingly lays with a married man? You are here all miserable and defending a piece of trash, while he…just..”
“Nana! What are you saying?”
The woman snorted, “Tell me first, what did the man say when you went there tonight? I bet he welcomed you with open arms, right? He must have been ecstatic in his heart that he still had a hold on you.”
Siri rushed forward, “No! No nana! He ..he asked me to leave. He looked exhausted and pitiful, like he had not eaten anything or had a wink of sleep, in days. He was all over the place..”
The woman just shook her head, “He sounds like a great actor, but then no one can be that good. Maybe he’s just the biggest coward there is.”
Siri looked at his grandma incredulously. Since the day that Siri had told his dad and his grandma about Pai almost a year ago, this woman had never once said anything bad about his lover. She might have talked about the position that Siri was in and that his relationship with Pai might ruin the company’s reputation, but never once insulted Pai. This was really new.
Siri looked into his grandma’s eyes, “You know his name is Pai, and he is the bravest man I have known..”
“Pairat! Yeah, the teacher! i can see what hes taught you!”
Siri shook his head even as his grandma continued. ‘Don’t you say he’s your happiness, your heart even? Your life?” Siri nodded.
The woman turned away taking a step back towards the chair, “But tell me Siri, can you say for sure you are his?”
Siri held his grandma by the shoulders, turned her back towards him, meeting her eyes straight on, he answered, “Yes. I know for sure I am his everything.”
The old woman swallowed hard, her eyes still stormy with rage as she challenged her grandson in a rather frighteningly calm tone, “Then why didn’t he fight for you?”
“Then why didn’t he fight for you?” The words hit Siri in the heart like a sharp knife and he involuntarily took a shocked step back. This woman in front of him was one of the three people Siri respected in the whole world. He had not expected his grandma to say this. This is why he was confused when his grandma started insulting his lover. This was absolutely out of the blue and it angered Siri to no end. What did this woman expect Pai to do? With who Siri is, Pai had done the only thing he could do, right? Right?Siri was glaring hard at the woman, whose eyes were nothing but challenging.Siri was seething from within, “That’s not fair..”Mrs. Thanawat tilted her head to the side, watching her grandson quiver with anger, “What’s not fair? Huh, Siri? What’s not fair?”“We did, he made a..we ..I had obligation and Pai..”Grandma snorted,
“Nana…I ..I don’t know..”The lady in the chair chuckled, “All you had to do was trust me, but ..well”Siri rushed forward, knelt before the chair and held the woman at her knees. He looked up earnestly, his eyes tear-filled and red, “Nana. I trust you! Trust you with my life. You are ..you have been everything to me all my life! Why didn’t you say anything? Nana..I..”“Why did I have to? Why should I have? You are the one who chose the easy way out..” Hearing the words Siri stood up abruptly, once again feeling the anger rising inside of him. His heart was barely holding it together, the pain was actually physical and the most important woman in his life thought everything was a joke?“Easy? Easy?...There is nothing easy about this, believe me Nana! Nothing at all..”“Is that so? Or maybe you just took the chance to break things off with that man..Good for you the
Siri had been up since five am this morning, scrambling around his files on his laptop as he proceeded to remember every little detail regarding the presentation he was to make this afternoon. This project was being handled by his father since the beginning but his Nana had suddenly decided to hand it over to him a week ago. It was the morning after his wedding, when after the talk in the study his Nana had laid out detailed rules for him and handed him this project. He now had to convince potential investors to contribute for the capital so that Thanawat Enterprises could launch their newest and smartest home automation system.The talk in the study had really frazzled Siri from within. It was that day that the young heir had fully understood the enigma he lovingly called Nana. It felt like even after so many years, he had only scratched the surface of what Ratana Thanawat meant. At the end of the talk though, Siri could only surrender to his grandma and her greater wisdom.
Pai had just finished his second shift at the diner and was returning to his apartment when he noticed a long black unmarked limousine parked outside the building. All the residents were peering through their windows curiously. Some had even come out to stare and gossip about the car and who it was meant for. Pai may have been surprised by such a flashy car being in his dingy neighborhood but being the aloof one, he was not interested in such trivia. He had work to catch anyway. He worked nights at 7/11 around the corner and if he stays and chatted he would definitely be late. However, as he walked further, the back door of the car opened, blocking his way. Pai still didn’t think anything of it and was about to go around the door when a posh voice stopped him.“Get in,” the woman said. That’s when Pai leaned in to see an old classily dressed woman gesturing him to take a seat beside her. The young man had no idea who this was or why she would ask him t
Ratana Thanawat felt a soft smile spread on her face as she watched her grandson elegantly greet all the guests gathered at the mansion for a party to celebrate the production of company’s newest home automation system. Boonsri, slim and sophisticated, stood beside Siri in her classy lilac one-shoulder dress. From afar, they did look good together and she knew many of her guests might be jealous. But only the three of them knew the truth, not even Siri’s dad had been included.It had been almost three weeks and she had seen the young man work diligently for this project and also other assignments. Her grandson thought he was being subtle, but nothing had ever missed the matriarch’s eyes. She knew her conditions, one condition in particular, had been driving Siri to the brink. Her grandson was prolonging coming home, he didn’t want to relax his mind in the least so as to not let it wander. The lady’s eyes overcame with sadness. She could see from
The black limo was once again parked in front of his apartment building, but this time Pai didn’t hesitate. He just opened the back door himself and took a seat beside the old woman. The fact that Siri’s Nana had sought him out again for some reason didn’t even surprise him. After the first meeting, Pai had a feeling that there was a lot of unfinished business between them.This time when Pai bowed, the woman nodded in acknowledgement.The car started, “You are on leave tonight. I already talked to your manager.”“Uhh?”“We have things to discuss and I believe it will take a lot longer than 20 minutes.”Pai swallowed, but gave a small nod. One day of missing work won’t hurt. The rest of the ride was silent. When Pai and grandma Thanawat got out of the car, he realized they were at a small mom-n-pop restaurant. Surprisingly, it was completely empty, except for a middle-aged man and an old w
“It’s past 2:00 am Master. You should leave now and get some rest,” Chati said as he entered Siri’s office, without knocking. He was pushing a small tray-table, which had a bowl of steaming chicken-noodle-basil soup. The bulky man made some space on his Master’s table and placed the soup there.“Eat, master, and then I will take you home.”Siri watched the man, took off his glasses but didn’t make any effort to eat or get out of his chair. He just closed his eyes, leaned back on the chair and sighed.“Master..please, you have to eat something. This is one of your favorites,” Chati said as he pulled Siri out of the chair. Of all the people around Siri, he was the only one who could do something like this and not get reprimanded for it. The security chief pushed the young man towards the bathroom and asked him to quickly freshen up. When Siri came out, he sat down on his chair and reluctantly took a spoon
Pai slumped down on the small bed, without even taking his shoes off. He was so damn exhausted that all he wanted to do was just fall asleep. He had just finished his part-time shift at the diner around the corner. He had been in Chiang Mai for past two months now, with so called internship for the Thanawat enterprises. He started work early and ended his shift almost three hours earlier than the other interns so he could manage his shift at the diner. The stipend that Siri’s Nana had promised was good but not much more than what he was earning previously doing two shifts. He had decided to use the stipend to get some savings started and pay off the debts. He managed his expenses from what he earned from the diner. It was truly tiring.Being the soft spoken and hard-working person that he was, Pai had slowly but surely managed to gain appreciation from his colleagues and superiors. There were many people of Pai’s age in the department but none of them were i