EXTERN
Chapter 3
"You look exhausted, Bee. How was your shift last night?"
I looked at her beautiful face and the high nose she still insisted hadn't been surgically enhanced. Overall, she was exactly the kind of woman most men would find attractive. Looking back, I'd once considered myself lucky to have her as my girlfriend. I'd imagined we'd graduate, start our careers, build a family together...
Now, I wasn't so sure.
"My shift actually finished at midnight. The professor let me leave early."
Her eyes widened for the briefest moment before she frowned ever so slightly. A second later, her usual sweet smile slipped effortlessly back into place.
"I see... So, how was praying with your mum?"
Heh.
You must've been completely absorbed in your prayers.
That love bite on your neck is still impossible to miss.
The mosquitoes at that temple must be enormous.
"After the prayers finished, I went straight home. There were so many people, Bee—mostly elderly people. Don't get jealous, okay?" she said with a cheerful laugh before taking a sip of water.
Meanwhile, I absent-mindedly prodded the orange fish on my plate.
I didn't even want to breathe the same air as her.
What a liar.
"Here."
She smiled brightly and held a piece of sushi towards my mouth.
"Actually... Kan went to Z Club last night."
Clink.
The piece of sushi slipped straight from her chopsticks.
"...!"
The colour drained from her face. Her eyes widened, and tiny beads of sweat formed across her forehead.
Heh...
No matter how hard someone with a guilty conscience tries to hide it, their face always gives them away.
"I... I just stopped by to pick something up from a friend..."
She couldn't even finish the sentence.
Her hands tightened around the chopsticks before she slowly lowered her head.
"...I thought I saw someone who looked a bit like Fah. But it couldn't have been her, because the woman I saw was kissing another man... and Fah was supposed to be praying with her mother."
"If... I... When..."
She stumbled over every word.
Was she trying to explain herself...
...or think of a convincing lie?
"Does Fah really think I'm that stupid?"
"Kan..."
The moment she said my name, I realised I couldn't stay with her any longer.
Just looking at her face...
Those lips...
That body beneath her clothes...
Every curve I'd once known so intimately...
It all disgusted me.
Right now, I felt like a dog that had been marked by another. Should I fight the dog that did it... or simply walk away and find somewhere else to call my own? Either way, the place I'd once thought belonged to me didn't feel like mine anymore.
Without another word, I stood up, placed three thousand-baht notes on the table—even though the bill couldn't possibly come to two thousand—and walked straight out of the restaurant.
"Kan!"
She hurried after me.
We were on the third floor of the shopping centre, surrounded by shoppers.
Don't make a scene, Fah.
"..."
I didn't even slow down.
I was exhausted.
Sleep-deprived.
All I wanted was to go home and sleep.
"Kan!"
Grab!
She caught up to me, seized my arm and forced me to turn around.
"..."
"You can't do this to me, Kan!"
"And why did you do that to me?" I shot back, my voice rising despite myself. "Do you really think you're that important? Did you honestly believe I'd be so hopelessly in love with you that I'd forgive anything?"
People around us were already starting to stare.
The trouble with arguing in public was that, when you were a man, people almost always assumed you were the one in the wrong.
"Are you really leaving me?!"
Our raised voices quickly attracted a crowd, all of them wondering if things were about to turn physical.
"How can I stay with you?" I shot back. "The woman I loved let some bastard treat her like a sex toy. Do you honestly think I don't have any other options? You're wrong. I've got plenty."
Slap!
My head snapped to one side as the woman I'd once loved struck me across the face.
"So you slept with me, and now you're throwing me away?!"
"Damn it!" I glared back at her. "Do you really think I only broke up with you because we'd slept together?"
People gasped around us.
Without another word, I turned and walked away, leaving her to scream after me.
At last...
I was free.
I'm not a good person.
But believe me, I'm not a bad one either.
I'm just somewhere in between.
Neither black nor white.
Grab!
Before I knew what was happening, someone grabbed my arm and yanked me backwards with enough force to make me stumble.
"Who did this?"
Blinking in surprise, I found myself staring into the stern face of a man I'd only seen briefly the night before.
Per.
He still looked ridiculously handsome in his blue engineering jacket embroidered with the Horse Gear emblem—a horse formed from interlocking gears, the symbol of the fourth-year engineering students. Beside him stood a petite girl, tilting her head curiously as she looked between the two of us.
"Let go."
I spoke calmly, trying to pull my arm free from his iron grip.
"Who did this, Kan?"
The warmth that usually filled his eyes had disappeared. Instead, he was glaring at the bright red mark on my left cheek.
"I'm your senior. Just because we're in different faculties doesn't mean you can manhandle me like this."
I'd barely slept, I'd just broken up with my girlfriend, and today had already been one disaster after another.
"So what if you're my senior?" he replied without missing a beat. "You're my wife. It's my job to look after you."
"...!"
The girl beside him stared in shock before hurrying over.
"W-What's going on, P'Per? What do you mean, 'wife'?"
I twisted my arm again, trying to free myself from the delusional engineer. Yes, what happened last night had been... suspiciously wife-like.
That didn't mean my feelings had changed.
"Go home first, Kookkai," Per said without even looking at her. "I'm not in the mood to watch a film today."
His eyes never left me.
They were so fixed on me it was almost as though he intended to swallow me whole.
Before I could protest, he dragged me towards his car.
"Let go! I drove here!"
"What kind of husband lets his wife drive herself? Stop being stubborn."
I shot him a murderous glare.
The nerve of this man.
Since when did he get to decide what our relationship was?
"P'Per!"
Poor Kookkai came running after the sleek black Porsche.
"Oi, little chick! I'm with my wife! Mistress, move aside!"
The poor girl's face froze in utter disbelief.
I almost felt sorry for her.
Imagine finding out you're supposedly the mistress of a gay man.
What an achievement.
Meanwhile, I sat in the passenger seat with my arms folded, legs crossed and a permanent scowl on my face as we crawled through traffic.
"So... you broke up with your girlfriend?"
"Yes."
To be honest, I hadn't wanted to tell him anything.
But that persistent snake kept pestering me until I finally gave in.
"How does someone manage to get slapped while breaking up with their girlfriend?"
He burst out laughing before I'd even answered.
"Haha! You deserved that!"
You're enjoying this far too much, brat...
I'm older than you, you know.
"I'm going back for my car."
I turned to him, speaking as flatly as I could.
"Come and sleep at my condo instead. It's close by, and you're exhausted, Doctor. Driving back and forth in this traffic isn't safe. I'll go and collect your car later this evening."
I fell silent.
He had a point.
It was New Year's Day. The roads were packed, and the traffic wasn't going anywhere fast.
More importantly...
I could barely keep my eyes open.
"I'm not staying the night," I muttered, covering my mouth as a huge yawn escaped me. "I'm just taking a quick nap."
"Just lie down and get some sleep, Doctor. Nothing dangerous is going to happen."
The venomous snake turned and flashed me a grin that immediately made both my eyebrows and my toes twitch.
"You're the dangerous one."