Chapter 4 - Ba Bump
Ba-bump, bump, Sakorn's heart pounded against his chest. So many years had gone by and not even a trace of her existence. On the dresser before him is Sakol's beautiful face glowing at him.
"Mommy, mommy, I made you cereal!!"
Sakorn turned towards the sound of the kid, he looked about 4 years old. His face resembled that of Sakol. His lips so plump and his eyes so big. His hair as black as black can be. The bowl crashed to ground and broke into pieces, cereal and milk splattered all over the hardwood floors. "Where's mommy?" the kid asked in horror.
Sakorn's jaw dropped and his throat dry. Unable to make a sound. He wanted to tell the kid that he doesn't know. He wanted to ask the kid who he was in his panic.
Suddenly, a woman rushes into the room. She wore a big oversized 7up t-shirt. Her hair slightly strawberry blonde. Her skin milky. She bent down and grabbed a hold of the kid. "What's wrong Moo Lek?" The kid turned and looked at Sakorn and points.
"Sakol!" Sakorn blurts out.
She turns to look at Sakorn and quickly grabs her child's hand and looks at him. She tells the kid to get out of the room and go make another bowl of cereal for her. He nods his head and run out, looking back at Sakorn one more time before disappearing from Sakorn's sight.
Sakol walks over to the scattered clothes on the floor. Sakorn clears his throat and keeps his eyes on Sakol. "What happened? Why am I?..."
Sakol finishes picking up the last sock and tosses it on the bed at Sakorn. "If you think we did something last night, you don't have to worry. Just hurry and get dressed and leave."
"Why?" asked Sakorn. Sakol places her hand on her hips and stands at the end of the bed. She clearly wasn't wearing a bra and Sakorn could see her nipple pressed against the cotton tshirt. She hasn't changed one bit. Still as beautiful as ever. "I didn't mean to bring you here, but I didn't know where you lived. So my friend helped me carry you here. Now that you're fine, just go."
Sakol turned to leave, but Sakorn asked her, "Where have you been?"
"Don't worry, you'll see more of me soon. Just go for today. I need time to think," replied Sakol.
Sakorn grew furious. He should be the one angry. She left him. Then she appears suddenly and acting as if they didn't mean anything to each other. He had longed for her return. When he finally almost lost hope, she reappears again. But acting snobby. "Did I do something wrong? You shouldn't have left that way! You have no right to act like this. We need to talk and figure things out!" shouted Sakorn.
The little kid rushes in and grabs a hold of Sakol's t-shirt, looking up at her. "Mommy, this man is scary. Why is he yelling at you?"
Sakol grabs his hand and tell him that it's okay. She pulls him to her and his head rests against her side. Sakorn looked at the kid and the kid's eyes looks at him suspiciously.
"Just get dressed," states Sakol one more time before walking out of the room.
Once dressed, Sakorn walks out of the bedroom door. He notices the kid is sitting on a bar stool and Sakol across from him smiling. She looks so happy. Then something crosses his mind. "Can this kid be his?" He starts to walk towards them but they both stopped laughing and turn towards him. The smile disappeared from Sakol's face and she points towards the door behind Sakorn. "The way out is over there." She walks towards him, then passes him to open the door. Sakorn walked towards the door, hoping to at least get some words out of her. Some sort of explanation. But, it doesn't happen. He brushed passed her, the hairs on his skin rose up. She makes him nervous. Like, when they first met.
"Just go for now," says Sakol. "I'll fill you in on things later. I'm not going anywhere anymore. I just didn't expect to run into you before I planned to."
Sakorn walked down the stairs. This was all shocking to him too, so he figured he'll get his answers soon. But something in his heart made him question whether she really will stay. Especially now that he knows her whereabouts again. Maybe she'll run away again. "But she wouldn't," thought Sakorn. "If she plans to, she wouldn't have stayed. She could've left and left me hanging wondering why I was naked in her room."
Sakorn turns to look up at Sakol one more time and she turns quickly to walk back in and unintentionally slams the door shut behind her. Sakorn stood staring at the door. His brain just remained blank, like a robot. He subconsciously walked to the end of the street and tracked down a taxi.
"Home please."
The Next Day
"Thima, wake up!" cried Pin. "Go get the medicine!" she shouted at the maid.
Kaphon was about to leave and head for work, when he saw the driver carrying Thima's lifeless-like body towards Pin's car. Kaphon opened his car door and rushed towards the chaos. "What's going on?" he shouted.
Pin ran out of the kitchen, nearly tripping on the steps in her heels as the maid handed her a purse. Her cheeks flushed and her eyes red with tears. "I asked what's going on?" asked Kaphon once again.
"It's her heart, she felt dizzy this morning, I should've known something was going to happen. I usually remind her to take her medicine. But I was so occupied with making sure your Father had everything he needed for the school today." Her speech was so slurred and fast that she could hardly catch her breath.
Kaphon helped his mother into the car next to her friend and he told the driver he will take them. He quickly pushed the driver out of the way and jumped in the drivers seat. He reversed quickly and stormed out of the driveway. Towards the gate where the security guard already had it propped open for their exit.
Meanwhile, Sakorn looked out his bedroom window. "Ha!" was the way he responded to situation. "That kid is going to be late to work." His heart cold towards the ailing Thima.
In London
Kaneung dropped the phone to the ground. "Hello?" said Kaphon. "Kaneung, are you there?"
Kaneung ran upstairs and started grabbing her things. She ran into Nong Lynn's room and started grabbing clothes and piling it into a smaller luggage. She grabbed her keys and rushed out the door to pick Lynn up from her piano lesson.
Wilamorn University
Bang! Sakorn banged his hands on his maple desk. His forehead furrowed with anger. "They didn't fire him?" He couldn't believe that they didn't get pissed at him for being late to work. 4 hours late.
Knock, knock "Who is it?" Sakorn shouts out of anger.
One of the student employees open the door looking shocked at how he responded. Sakorn lifted his hands and wiped them on his suit. He cleared his throat and smiled. "Sorry, I was just practicing my lines for when I visit the drama class"
The student eased up a bit and smiled. "Headmaster, today you have a visitor. A new teacher that just accepted a position this morning. Umm, a dance teacher. She's due to come meet you before she starts tomorrow."
His heart pounded. "She? Dance?"
The Hospital Earlier In the Day
The ICU doctor walked out of Thima's room. "She still has some tachycardia. But, it is slowly resolving. I told her last time she came that she needed to rest some."
Pin grabbed hold of Kaphon's arm. She wondered if what the doctor is saying means that Thima is stable now.
"She is stable for now, we're carefully monitoring her," said the doctor. "If she makes it, we hope that she will be in as little stress as possible."
"What do you mean, if she makes it?" asked Kaphon.
"Her heart is working so hard to compensate for the oxygen that her body needs. That's why her heart is beating so fast. She skipped her medication this morning and something is making her stressed," stated the doctor.
Kaphon quickly called Kaneung in London to let her know what is going on with her mother. Kaneung dropped the phone on him, but picked it up minutes later. She cleared her throat and said, "I'll be there soon." And she hung up and rushed to back to Bangkok.
After a while, Pin convinced Kaphon that she is calm now and that Kaphon should head to work. He is late and this is not good when the school board reviews his absence. Kaphon told his mother he isn't worried because the most important thing is family. His career can wait, but family is more important to him.
"Then why do you always fight with Sakorn?" asked Ami, wheeling towards them in her manual wheelchair. She could've gotten a motorized chair, but she prefers exercising her arms. "You don't have to answer little brother. Just go to work and I'll stay with mom here."
Kaphon smiled and went over to hug his sister firmly. "You didn't have to come P'Ami." Ami responds, "She's mom's best friend and she's been so good to our family. Once I heard what happened, I had to make my way here. Just because I'm in a wheelchair, doesn't mean I'm weak."
Kaphon apologized to Ami and headed to work. He called Jade and informed him that he is on his way and will accept all responsibility for being late. Jade told Kaphon that it's the first day and everyone is running a little behind anyways. Plus what he did is more important than standing at the entrance welcoming students back to school.
Once at the school, Kaphon went and apologized to all the members of the school board. He gave them his reasons and offered his apologies. He told them he accepts any punishment. Yet, they all told him that this will not be a strike against him. The rest of the day, he spent shadowing the vice president. Student came up to greet him and they commented on how he looked so much like the headmaster. Some knew they were siblings, others didn't. Most commented on his height. He laughed it off and gained many fans at the school.
End of Day
"It's not some modeling agency for fans to follow a professor around," whimpered Sakorn. He walked out for some fresh air and led an assembly to welcome freshmens earlier. All of that tired him out. What tired him out even more was being unable to sleep because of Sakol, trying to finish up work in prep for the first day of school, and now just being pissed at Kaphon for being well received by everyone here.
Sakorn looked at his watch and sees that it is 4 pm. His brain wanders and thinks how it'd be so relieving to go home in an hour. Then he looks at his watch again and jumps. He has to go back to the office to meet up with the new dance teacher.
Sakol sat at the desk waiting for Sakorn to arrive. She turns to look at him and smiles as if she does not know him.
"Hello," says Sakol. "I'm here to turn in my contract. I'm going to teach dance here once again. I miss this line of work. Dancing became second in my heart when my son moved to first. I just want you to know that I'm ready for dance and my son to be tied in my heart rather than loving more than the other."
Sakorn walks over to his desk chair and sits down. He boldly mouths, "Is that kid my son?"
Sakol hesitated a response. But eventually sighs, "Yes."
Later that evening
Sakorn couldn't sleep. He couldn't help but think about his son. Suriya. Then another thought, "She raised him all on her own for 4 years."
Sakorn gets up from his couch and walks over to his bedside table. He reached for his phone presses "1" for Thida.
"P'Sakorn, what's up?" asks Thida. Sakorn begins, "Sakol came today," He began to explain what had happened in the office.
"P'Sakorn, I don't have kids, but how can she be so selfish?" asks Thida. "What do you mean?" asks Sakorn. "Isn't your kid supposed to be number one, always? Plus, how can she keep him from you for so long?" continued Thida.
Those words burned his brain. He thanked Thida for the talk and ended the call. Sakorn went to shower and put on his pajamas. He decided to go downstairs for milk. It was getting late and he had skipped dinner pondering about everything. All the maids are asleep by now.
Sakorn walked straight to the refrigerator without noticing a little girl sitting on the bar stool. Her legs dangling and kicking in delight. Her hair were up in two little buns and a smile spread across her face, chewing happily on her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She noticed Sakorn and thought about how much this man looks like her dad, but way shorter.
Sakorn finally realized he wasn't alone in the kitchen and sticks his head out from the fridge and saw the little girl sitting there. He squinted his eyes and rubbed them thinking he might be dreaming. There are no children living here. He wondered why he's seeing things.
"Are you okay Mister?" asks the little girl.
Sakorn closes the door and walks towards her. He folds his arms and leans against the counter top staring at her. His face full of confusion, "Are you really here or am I seeing things? Who are you?"
The little girl responds, "I'm Lynn."