The ride and flight to the motherland are filled with worry. The lunch is untouched.

Vegas had said he might be exaggerating by bringing them all home just because there was no movement from Chay all morning. But he also stated that he had been worried for days now, as Porchay displayed some abnormalities in his behavior but wouldn't say anything or confide to anyone.

He just likes to think for the worst and good thing happens then to think for the best and bad things happen.

Macau doesn't say anything during them. He lets Kai hold him and does the conversation with Vegas and Pete in his state.

Vegas has just got off the phone and his face has worry to death written all over it. Even Pete moves in discomfort. "He didn't touch his lunch. Dean had asked around. A maid brought it back."

"So is there confirmation from the main house?" he hears Kai asking Vegas while he is sleeping on Kai's lap. His hands don't stop brushing Mac's hair and caressing his back.

Vegas shakes his head. "Chay has never been like this. No one in the house can come into his room. Tankhun, Kinn, Kim, and Porsche are all out."

"Khun Noo?" asks Pete, surprised that his former boss is going out of the house.

Vegas nods. "He wants to launch a fashion brand. Kim agreed to fund it and said he could go crazy on it. It's a good thing. It's been years since he confined himself in that house."

"Can we authorize someone to open it?" Pete asks again.

Vegas shakes his head. "Unless you want Kim on your ass."

"Well, can he authorize someone to open it?" Pete sounds frustrated.

"You know how paranoid Kim is, especially when it comes to Porchay. He rather have Porchay locked up in his room until he gets home than let someone in his boyfriend's personal space."

"If the London thing happens again ..."

"He doesn't know about London."

"Well, maybe you should let him know!"

Vegas sighs and is on his phone again. "He doesn't pick up."

Pete lets out a frustrated breath. After a minute, he too picks up his phone. "Hello, Khun Noo? Where are you? Can you go home this instant? Yeah. I need you to check up on Porchay. Yes. We're already on the plane. We'll arrive in Bangkok in about an hour or so. Ok."

Vegas looks at him, asking without a word. "He's on his way. But Bangkok in this hour is a bitch."

Then Vegas's phone dings with a text. "Kim is out of the meeting. I think he heads home." All the people on that plane sigh a relief.

The plane finally touched down. As soon as his feet hit the land, bad news comes. "He's unconscious. Kim has already rolled him in."

Macau bursts into tears and buries himself on Kai's chest, asking for solace and comfort. He stays like that for a good five minutes, wrapping himself around Kai until he comes down. "He's gonna be ok, Baby. Don't worry too much."

Macau nods, but in his heart, he knows Porchay is far from ok. He regrets not checking on Chay for the past week. He knew something was off when he invited Chay to come with him to Japan and Chay refused, saying something about Kim being a clingy baby. His laugh and body language weren't the same. He should've insisted. That way he can keep him safe with him.

Then Kai's father calls and asks him to come home. There's an urgent matter that his father needs him to be there. Macau doesn't want Kai to go and leave, but he knows he can't be selfish.

Kai kisses him repeatedly, with selfless and non-heated kind kisses with a promise to be by Macau's side again as soon as he can. Macau nods, hands still clinging to Kai's shirt for dear life and not wanting to let go. Kai directs him to the car, sits with him, and kisses him again. He nods to Vegas and Pete and goes on his way.

Then Macau's mind goes blank. The only thing he remembers later is he's telling Kim and the doctor about that time in London.

Macau's mind is swallowed by fear. He fears that Porchay will leave him for good this time.
***
Kai wraps up the meeting as soon as he can with a satisfactory outcome that makes his father nod his head. "Are you going to eat dinner here?" his mother asks.

"No, Mom. I have to go see Mac."

"Oh, has he come back from Japan?"

Kai reluctantly nods. It still feels foreign to talk about his love life or his beloved with his parents. "Do tell him to eat dinner at our house this weekend, ok?" his mother smiles lovingly. "I'll cook his favorite food."

"Probably not this weekend, Mom. His best friend just fell ill all of a sudden. That's why I'm going to see him now."

"Yes, you do that, keep him company. That's what a boyfriend should do. You need to start taking responsibility for him from his brother, Kai. I hope you guys get married as soon as possible."

Hearing his father saying that Kai feels both happy and uneasy. "Pa, he's only twenty," he reminds his father.

"So what? Your mom married me when she was nineteen. I like that kid. Your mother loves him to death. I think even more than she loves you," his mother laughs hearing it, "He gets along well with your siblings. If you let him get away, you're a fool."

Kai sighs. "I'll try."

"What do you mean you'll try?" Pa frowns.

Kai hesitates, but he decides to just speak it out. "Pa, what do you know about the Hayama?"
***
Kai walks into the room full of Theerapanyakul with hot chicken porridge and starts looking for his boyfriend. When he finds him, Mac is in Pete's embrace, but he detangles himself when he sees Kai. Arms stretch out, Kai walks into Mac's tight hug and lets his boyfriend cry again.

"He keeps crying," Pete says in a low voice, "Won't eat anything. I'm afraid he'll be ill." Kai nods his understanding and Pete walks away from them with a smile, back to where his constipated-looking lover is, and tries to soothe him.

He sits Mac down and opens the lid of the porridge cup. Macau shakes his head when he offers him a spoon. "C'mon, baby. You have to eat to be able to cry again." Macau glares at him. Kai clicks his tongue and wipes the ongoing tears with his hands.

"This porridge is from a famous place. I have to get in line to buy it, you know. Imagine. Your boyfriend, Eakasit Chaimongkon, who never got in line for anything in his life before this, did it just to get this porridge for you. So please, eat it, yes?"

Macau imagines how out of place Kai must be, in line with other people. "Are you sure it was you and not your driver?"

Kai looks like Mac has insulted him. He raises three fingers, "Promise!"

Macau smiles through his tears and nods. Kai begins to spoon-feed him patiently, opening a bottled drink for him, and talks about work-related things with Macau just to keep Macau's mind off of Porchay. There are some other business ventures that he and Ash want to take, also the others seem to want to join. Only Vegas is reluctant, saying money can ruin relationships if not managed well.

Sometimes Macau pitches on the business problem, giving advice from his generation's point of view and surprising his boyfriend.

"Hia is right, you know. But I also know how solid you are despite looking like a sporadic and ununified group. If you guys are serious, make some kind of law-biding contract where everyone has to have a say in it and make it completely and strictly business with a little touch of love. Like 20% of leniency or something. You guys know each other well, so I'm sure you know what to do. Oh, and make it a separate company from your existing ones."

"Mh," Kai hums his agreement. He and Ash already talk about it and have a similar conclusion. "Last spoon, Baby," he says. Macau takes it obediently and then puts his head on Kai's shoulder. "When he is healthy again, I'm gonna take him bar hopping," he absent-mindedly says as Kai entangles their hands.

"That's a recipe for getting spank, Baby."

"You think I'm scared of getting spank?"

Kai smiles with his teeth fully displayed. "Oh, you're not?"

"You spanked me a lot of times during sex, Phi!"

"That spanking with punishment spanking are two different things."

"Tch," Macau chuckles, "Just say you want to do kinky shits with me."

"True," Kai nods, "I wanna do kinky shits with you." It seems quite inappropriate to talk about it in this situation, but Macau needs to be distracted, otherwise he'll cry again. Kai fears he indeed will be ill at the end of tomorrow if he keeps this up.

And, also, he wants to know.

Their sex life is amazing. Nothing in Kai's past can compare to what he experienced with Mac. His boyfriend is not afraid to play it rough. But Macau is still yet to want to step out of his comfort zone and tries completely different things with Kai, something he is totally new to.

Macau stays silent for a moment and Kai thinks it will be a while longer to get him on board to try things out. But then Macau hums. Afraid to misinterpret it, Kai asks, "What?"

"Maybe next time. Or the next next time. Starting with lighter things. It's not like we do vanilla sex only, so why not? But I don't want full things like my brother."

Kai thinks his mind just blows out. He quietly parroted, "No full things. Ok." He gets excited just thinking about this. Damn. He secretly practices his breathing technique to calm himself down.

Not in a hospital, Kai. Totally inappropriate.

They enjoyed the chaotic environment around them for a while. Until Macau speaks again. "I feel terrible being so happy and content with you while he's like that." Tears fall again from his eyes, unable to be held.

"Don't be. I'm sure he doesn't want you to."

"I know. He's a kind soul. He took back Kim almost in a heartbeat when I knew how tortured he was because of him. Foolish boy."

Kai doesn't know what to say. Now that he experienced love, he knows that the thing about love is complex and never one-dimensional. What you think is right or wrong about love, doesn't mean everyone else will view it the same.

If he were in Kim's shoes, he also would do what Kim did. To hell with other people. To hell with what Macau feels and thinks at the moment. Kai is sure he can win Macau's heart back. Macau probably won't take him back in a heartbeat like Chay did Kim, but he will. The only matter is, that he will.

"You know someone cool, kind-hearted, generous, and rich enough to be introduced to Porchay?"

"Have to be rich?"

Macau nods. "I don't want him to suffer financially. He needs to start shopping without looking at the price tags."

"Like you?" Kai pokes Macau's nose playfully to ease his lover's heavy heart.

"Hey, I've told you already that I'm high-maintenance!"

Kai laughs. "Bring the bills on, Baby!" he says. He sees Macau smile finally and his own heart soars. "What about Kla? He's rich, young, pretty good-looking, and absolutely kind-hearted."

"I don't think Phi Kla can survive Phi Kim."

"Yeah, he'll be gone in three moves," Kai pauses to think. "Then no one as guys I know can't survive your cousin. Any of them, let alone Kim."

Macau sighs. "In London, he woke up after a day and a half. What if right now it will take longer? What if he will never get up? What if he leaves me behind without saying goodbye, Phi?"

"Hey," he takes Macau's face in his hands, "Stop thinking like that! You need to send positive energy to get positive feedback. Ok?"

Macau pouts but he agrees. He puts his head on Kai's lap and stops talking again. Kai lets him be as he brushes Macau's jet-black hair. "How's Mae and Pa?" he asks quietly.

At first, when Macau asked about his parents with that name-calling for the first time, it surprised Kai how easily Macau accepted Kai's parents' demand to be called 'Mae' and 'Pa'. Although it was awkward at first, the transition happened so smoothly and seamlessly. But then he remembered that his boyfriend was a social butterfly. These social kinds of things are easy for Mac.

Right now, that kind of thing is the one that makes him happy without reason. He likes that Mac gets along well with his family. At least he won't get a headache in that department.

"Fine. Ma wants to invite you for dinner. But I've explained this to her. She probably wants to talk about my cousin's birthday, getting you color-coordinated clothes or something. God knows I won't do that even for her."

Macau giggles. "It'll be funny, indeed." Kai smiles at him lovingly. Then he thinks about the conversation he had with his dad regarding the Hayama. It takes away his smile a little bit, but it makes him even more determined to be with Macau.
***
Meanwhile, in Japan, Nao can't seem to enjoy his victory party. His mind kept drifting to someone and how they were parting with each other. He plays the scene over and over in his head, ignoring his surroundings.

Right now, no amount of beautiful sexy women can drag him out of his thoughts.

No. Instead of women, he rather enjoys himself thinking about Mac, of how the way his eyes look or the way his lips twitch in annoyance.

Of how the way he left in Kai's embrace.
***