Chapter 19. Confrontation
Khaotung was sitting on the couch, woken up, as if he had slept at all. He was waiting for Jack to arrive.
Jack... Khaotung really didn't know what his actual motives were. What did he actually want to do? Wasn't he the one who brought Khaotung the case in the first place? Didn't he want to seek justice for his sister's husband?
Then why was he doing that? How come? How come he changed so much? 4 months... It's been 4 months, almost 5 since the investigation over that case started but if you think about it, overall, nothing had really changed. The only difference made before the case and after was First. Which even though it was a big difference... at least to Khaotung, it was still not enough.
As for Jack, he had been acting strange... oddly strange since the third month of the investigation. Though Khao didn't think much of it at first, as he was already too busy with his own problems, including First, he had recently been observing that behavior.
When First told him about Jack's involvement with the case and the bar or maybe even Aon, even though he was surprised... no, taken aback, he had to believe it because it was not totally impossible at all.
Khaotung might have seemed to know a lot about Jack and his family but truly, he still had pretty much no idea about Jack's motive or personality. He could be calm but pushy. And why did he bring that case to him in the first place? Did he want justice? Revenge? Or was simply curious to know how that happened?
Those were thoughts Khaotung couldn't wave away. The ignorance he had over Jack had gathered together to dump him into a trap yet he didn't want to believe so about Jack maybe being the reason for the whole thing. Maybe it was a trap?
Overthinking? Yes. Simple human habit. Especially for someone who was currently not stable, mentally or physically.
By the time he kept thinking, Jack was standing in front of him, scared, probably knowing what was going to happen.
Seeing his scared face, Khaotung stood alarmed. Maybe he had been too aggressive on the phone earlier. "Come to the office. Right now!" He had yelled on the phone. He could be very scary and intimidating at times. Especially when he was mad and he indeed was at the time though after he felt a bit guilty.
"Sir... you called me?" Jack stood in front of Khao and asked. Clearly intimidated by the glare Khaotung had on him, His eyes looked down at his shoes.
"Yes. I need to talk to you about something," Khaotung said and got up from the couch, making his way to his desk. He opened the first drawer and Jack followed after, standing in front of the desk.
"What is it, sir?" Jack asked, looking surprised. It was 8 in the morning. Khaotung never really called anyone in the office so early. Jack usually started coming to the office around 10.
Khaotung slowly took out the drug packet out of the drawer. He put it on the desk and slid it to the other side of the desk, in front of Jack. "What is this?" He asked, already sounding quite shaken and pissed.
Jack took the packet in his hand, quietly observing. His face showed no feelings, as if he was trying to hide the fact that it was his. "A drug packet..," He murmured but somehow looked scared all of a sudden, realizing where that was going.
"I know it's a drug packet but where do you think I found it?" Khaotung asked again as he pressed his hand on the table and brought his face closer to Jack's. He raised an eyebrow.
Before Jack even attempted to reply, Khaotung spoke up once again, probably knowing that Jack was not going to reply. "It was in your jacket's pocket! Mind to explain?" Khaotung's voice got louder. He didn't know why he was more pissed. Because he was betrayed? Or because by the person who brought this case to be solved in the first place?
"I..." Jack quieted down. He knew he had neither much to say nor to explain.
"You what? Why did I find the address to that school in your pocket?" Khaotung asked, his voice rising slightly with each sentence as Jack stood there silently, listening to all the yell, maybe accepting the consequences to his actions.
"Explain, damn it!" Khaotung's voice raised its loudest. Though he looked scary at times, he was never taught to raise his voice at all. Maybe because he knew how it felt like to be yelled at. His voice calmed down, as if about to break. "How... How could you do that? To me? To your own sister?" He hit the table harshly as if he wanted to hit Jack but he knew he would or could never do that.
Khaotung stepped back from the table and walked to the other side to stand in front of Jack. He tapped Jack's shoulder gently and asked for the final time, "Why did you get involved with him?"
With a shaky voice, Jack finally calmed down and learnt to explain what his mind actually was thinking at the moment. "You... were taking a long time to solve and I..." Jack paused, knowing what he was going to say would probably be really disappointing to Khao. "I thought I'd be able to do it myself so..." He gulped. "I went there and mistakenly became his target."
"How did you know about Aon?" Khao continued to question his suspicion. He wasn't wrong... at all. Both Khaotung and Jack had the same intentions but Jack chose to go through the wrong path.
"I use drugs and I got to know about Aon by that. I had a suspicion over him so I... made a wrong choice by getting involved with him," Jack explained. It was expected but however, Khaotung didn't really expect or understand Jack would take such a big move that could destroy both his and his relatives lives in danger with such ease.
Khaotung took a deep breath as he tried to understand Jack yet it still didn't make sense. What he did was huge. Huger than he might have thought but in the end, people learn from mistakes. He's still young but it didn't matter however it was, Khao couldn't handle it anymore. He needed a break. He needed peace.
"Jack..." Khaotung took another deep breath before nodding slowly as if apologizing in advance, knowing that was pretty much the best solution according to him. "You're fired," Khaotung murmured, slight guilt already evident in his face.
"Sir..." Jack's face showed regret, love and guilt when he finally looked up at Khaotung for the first time during the whole conversation. His eyes flowed with tears as if asking for forgiveness but his heart knew he deserved it so he didn't say anything.
In the end, Jack sighed and wiped the tears from his cheek, grabbed his jacket and silently left, leaving no signs of him in the run.
To Be Continued.....
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