XVI. Defining Us (7)

Nao often decides on impulse.

Whether the decision is good or bad for him, it's a matter of later. If it's good, ok. If it's bad, he can always change the verdict to go his way.

That's how his mind always works and that is how it is when he throws his clothes into the suitcase carelessly. Then his brother, Atsuhiro, walks into his room. "Going somewhere?" he asks. Nao only spares him a glance before he answers it with a hum. "Let me guess. Thailand?"

Nao stops for two seconds before he resumes. "That's none of your business!"

"So now, it's none of my business," Atsuhiro laughs. There's a sense of tragic comedy in his laughter. "But when it was my relationship with Vegas on the line, you meddled until it got too muddy to be resolved."

"You and Vegas didn't belong with each other," he calmly states.

"You think you and Macau do?" his brother shouts. "He has a boyfriend and you are straight, Nao! You are more impossible than me and Vegas!"

"I don't pursue him for a relationship!" Nao shouts back.

"Oh, for revenge, then? Whose revenge? Mine? I don't need it. He and I are fine as we are right now. Quit lying to yourself!"

"I'm not gay!"

"Then what the hell are you going to Thailand for? Do you want to be on Father's radar? If I know, do you think he doesn't?"

Nao decides not to listen and keeps throwing his things into the suitcase. Until words from Atsuka still him.

"You'll drag him with you. An innocent boy. I heard Vegas sheltered him too much so he practically doesn't know anything about the black business side of his family. Do you think a boy like that can survive Father when Vegas can't?"

After that Atsuhiko leaves the room. When the door closes, he hears the sound of glass being smashed to pieces.

***

It's been five days and Porchay hasn't woken up yet. The older brothers are having a heated debate about the method that can be used to make him wake up. Macau forces his feet to move.

There is a secluded small area near where the nurses' station that you can hide in or just breathe in fresh air as you open the small window there. He used to go there when Vegas needed to be 'fixed'.

He, too, is worried for Chay. But because of his age and position in both family and Porchay's life, he doesn't have a lot of say in it. The one who can really pull the plug is Porsche and the one who can really interfere with it is Kimhan.

Kim was threatening to kill anyone who dared to inject anything into his beloved and anyone in the room knows it's not a bluff. After all, Kim hasn't left Porchay's side since minute one.

He wonders if Kai ever feels he can kill someone for Mac. Kai isn't shy from guns and knives, he knows that much. And he joked about all the bodies he had hidden in the closet, but that didn't sound like a joke, so he probably had killed before.

But that's for work, not for personal reasons.

Vegas said killing for business doesn't need emotion. You just aim for the death spots and be done with it. But personal killing hits different and can be overwhelming sometimes. Mac had asked if his hia ever did personal killing before. The answer came in a nod only and a small sad smile.

Just the other day, they discussed who would get the final say in Porchay before what happened in the room today. Vegas said, "Kim of course. Porsche doesn't stand a chance against him. All Kitisawasds are emotional creatures. At a crisis, they can't be trusted. Even Kinn knows that and Kinn also doesn't stand a chance against Kim when he already made his mind up."

"How so?" Pete asks, genuinely curious. He rarely interacted with Kim even in his days as a bodyguard. But he knows how deep Kimhan cares about Tankhun. All those late night visits with chocolate and ice cream.

"Kimhan is built different. Uncle wasn't lying when he said Kim was perfect for the house leader. I've seen it first hand how he can manage to manipulate a big crowd of people for his own gain at 15 and cheated countless of known therapists and psychiatrists. What do you think will happen if Kimhan actually 'talks' to Porsche and Kinn?" Vegas smiles big after saying it.

Vegas said Kim is more efficient than him in terms of killing. He acted like a machine, leaving behind all emotions in locked-up drawers inside his head. "You can tell by the way he tortured a prisoner. If my method is taunting, Kim's is silence. He pressured the prisoners with it while making them scream the highest notes. I've tried that once but it didn't suit me."

Vegas took a deep breath. "I will back Kimhan up in this. The drug they were talking about has undesirable effects. I will help Kim in killing whoever it is injected that thing to Chay."

"I'll guard the door," Pete said with a smile. Easy breezy.

Macau agreed, of course. They wouldn't allow him to help in what they professionally can do, but he was allowed to give mental support. How generous.

That was always the way with his family. Sheltered. Cuddled. Taken care of.

Once Kinn found him being uncomfortably touched by someone associated with his family at a club. Because the person was important to the family, he didn't know what to do. But Kinn stabbed that person's hand with a fork while looking at him in the eyes. "Touch my Nong again, the next time it will be your neck," he said with venom.

Kimhan did the same, except the person was dead at the end of the minute. The person was foreign and dismissed his last name when he wanted to 'mess' him. He said with an expressionless face after the killing, "Let this be a warning to all. Do shit with a Theerapanyakul, you'll face the consequences."

With Kai, the situation is pretty much the same. Maybe because Kai is older. Or maybe because Kai is Kai. He doesn't have anything to compare with as this is Kai's first ever serious relationship. He doesn't ditch Macau after two weeks like he used to.

Kai pretty much lets Macau run free. In his words, "Do whatever the fuck you want to do, I'll support whatever the fuck it is." Exactly that, word by word, on the first month they were 'together' when he pondered about his education.

Kai is also aware that it is not cheap to keep a Theerapanyakul, even though the Theerapanyakul he is keeping isn't exactly asking him anything. Macau still has Vegas and his inheritance for that (which somehow pissed Kai off).

Because of that, Kai has been working harder lately, probably to match whatever expectation he made up in his mind when one going into a relationship with a Theerapanyakul as the more dominant one. Like right now, he is on a business trip to Singapore. Initially, the meeting was in Australia, but he changed the venue to a closer one as he wants to be with Macau in case anything happens.

But that's Kai. He only puts things in words if he knows he can do it.

But sometimes, it makes him feel smaller among these alpha men. Like he can't do anything or achieve something without being helped or compared with them. And, damn, that's hard to swallow.

A ring on his phone pauses him from his thought. Speaking of the devil...

"Hello," the other end says in a rush. "Have you eaten yet, Baby?"

"No," he says in a whisper-like voice, knees weak from hearing his man's voice. It seems Kai has that magic in his voice. He can make anything be swept away from Macau's mind just by his voice.

"Oh, that's not good. My baby will be sick then," he says again, every sentence drips with tease. "Mom said she had made something easy to digest for you. Do you want that? If yes, I will tell someone to bring it over to you."

Macau's eyes brim with tears in hearing it. So, this is what it's like to be loved by someone and his family ...

"Mh," he hums his agreement. "You can bring it over to the main mansion."

"Ok, I'll call Mom then." There is the sound of paper being flipped and then Kai is speaking with someone in English, "I'm talking to my boyfriend right now. No, that can wait. Yes, thank you." Then the sound of the pen moving. "Sorry, Baby," he says to Mac.

"Busy?"

"Mh, just a tad more than usual," his boyfriend answers, "But nothing I can't manage."

"Have you eaten, Phi? Have you got enough sleep? Have you drank enough water? Don't forget your vitamins also, the ones that I've prepared for you."

There's a pause, Macau thinks Kai is doing business again, but the truth is his boyfriend is pausing to give a big smile to the air. "Yes, don't worry about me."

"Take a picture next time, I want proof."

Now Kai is really laughing, open, and free. "Have I told you I love you today?"

"Did. This morning. For like thirty times or so," Macau smiles too.

"Only thirty? How thoughtless I am."

Macau laughs. There is a pause again from the other end. "What?" Macau asks.

"Can I use your laughter as a ringtone for my phone?"

Macau is blushing. "That's cheesy, Chaimongkon! Stop that!"

"But I love your laughter, Theerapanyakul! I hope I always hear it every day until I die."

Now Macau is the one who is pausing. "I love you, Eakasit Chaimongkon. Very much. So much that it hurts sometimes." Macau is saying Kai's words back to him and that gets them silenced for the whole five minutes. Just content in hearing each other's breathing.

***
Macau is walking into one of the Theerapanyakul's buildings. Tankhun wants to see him about something. He is standing in front of the elevator while thinking about what the oldest Theerapanyakun wants to talk about.

Tankhun disliked him and his brother in the past because it was the minor family that kidnapped and tortured him, with the permission of his father. What a twisted parent he got. No better than his own, only different in methods. Well, Korn is a tad better as he seems remorseful about what happened to Khun.

The dings of the elevator make him stand up straighter and walks in when the door opens. The area is so quiet that Macau thinks he doesn't need to wait for anyone. But when the door is just about to close, a hand appears.

A guy with a cap walks in as Macau reflexively holds the door for him. He doesn't think anything until the guy stands too close to him in an empty elevator.

He raises his head and his eyes find the last person he wants to see right now.

Naozumi Hayama.

***

Ps:

Guys, what you called short is 1800+ words. It's longer than the average of chapters from other books in Wattpad, which sometimes shorter than 800 words/chapter. 😄


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