EXTERN

Chapter 30

 

I didn't know whether the heavens hated me or fate simply had it in for me, but somehow I'd ended up secretly falling in love with my own friend.

 

And of all people, it had to be someone like Kan...

 

Of course, anyone could fall for him easily after seeing his face or meeting his eyes, whether they were a woman or a man. Otherwise, he wouldn't have become the legendary university moon everyone still talked about.

 

And because he was kind-hearted and such a gentleman, people were constantly falling all over themselves for him.

 

As for me, I always seemed to be the one who stumbled across the schemes those people were plotting behind his back.

 

It started with that little bitch Mayo, who hurt Per. I caught her and accidentally taught her a slightly harsher lesson than I'd intended.

 

And now there was Pleng.

 

I'd felt there was something strange about her from the very first time I saw her, which was why I'd been keeping an eye on everything she did. And tonight, the stupid girl actually slipped something into a glass of wine while I was standing practically right beside her!

 

Did she think she was starring in a bloody film?

 

There were people everywhere. Did she seriously think nobody was going to see her? 

 

At first, I was only wondering who she intended to drug. Then everything clicked when she went over and started coaxing that idiot Kan.

 

Initially, I'd thought my beloved friend might possess at least a little common sense when he said he'd go upstairs alone to get the CD and even locked his bedroom door.

Unfortunately, that little bitch Pleng was one step smarter.

 

She fucking had a key to his room!

 

This was insane!

 

It was obviously planned.

 

Whether Kan’s mother knew anything about it, I had no idea.

 

What I did know was that this was wrong.

 

I remembered frantically searching everywhere for little Per, but I couldn't find him.

In the end, I had no choice but to deal with it myself.

 

Pull!

 

"Kan!"

 

The moment I opened the bedroom door, I found exactly what I'd expected.

 

That brat was straddling my friend's lap, doing her absolute best to seduce him. And my idiot friend, the one who'd only ever seen me as a friend, was actually playing along with her.

 

I was furious.

 

More than that, I was furious on Per's behalf.

 

But even if that kid Per had walked in and seen them himself, he probably wouldn't have dared do anything to Kan or Pleng anyway.

 

Knowing him, he'd either sulk or turn around and run straight home.

 

SLAP!

 

I'd already been angry enough to lose control, so I finally let my vicious side loose. I yanked the girl off my friend's lap and swung my hand across her face so hard her head snapped sideways.

 

"Natcha..."

 

I barely paid attention to my friend's hoarse voice.

 

Right now, all I wanted was to teach this girl exactly what she'd been messing with. And whoever might have been pulling the strings behind her...

 

This ended tonight.

 

Because I was going to deal with it myself!

 

"I'm dealing with this little bitch. As for you... what do you think your husband is going to do when he sees you like this?!"

 

Without waiting for my best friend to answer, I dragged the girl, who was only slightly shorter than me, downstairs to where the mothers and my friends were sitting around playing cards.

 

THUD!!!

 

"AAAAH! What the hell are you doing?!"

 

I threw the battered-looking girl onto the floor in front of everyone, leaving the whole room stunned.

 

From the corner of my eye, I saw Per heading upstairs to look for Kan. Even though I loved Kan, at least now I was certain he'd found someone worthy of him. Someone who loved him more than enough.

 

"Auntie, shut your mouth!... And please listen to what your daughter has to say."

 

"..."

 

I turned a razor-sharp glare towards the older woman.

 

I'd spent almost the entire afternoon digging up information on this mother-and-daughter pair because neither of them had seemed remotely trustworthy.

 

"Go on! Speak! Or would you like me to help jog your memory?"

 

I looked down at the girl trembling and sobbing at my feet as though she were about to die.

 

Hah!

 

I'd have been much rougher with her if it weren't for the fact that there was another life growing inside her.

 

"Natcha... I think—"

 

Kan’s mother, who genuinely seemed to know nothing about what was going on, tried to intervene. But right now, she was the one who needed to listen to me.

 

"I said TALK!"

 

My voice rang so sharply across the room that even Pleng's friends, who had been drinking and messing around outside, came rushing in to watch.

 

"I-I'm sorry, Auntie... hic!"

 

"Pleng!"

 

"Shut up!"

 

I cut off the girl's mother when she tried to stop her daughter from speaking.

 

"I... hic... My mum is having problems... We're drowning in debt and we don't know what to do... so I wanted to marry P'Kan."

 

"Oh, sweetheart..."

 

I immediately pulled an exasperated face when my best friend's mother seemed more inclined to pity them than be angry.

 

"I'm giving you exactly three more sentences to tell the truth. If you still don't tell me, I promise whatever comes out of my mouth next might send you straight to hell."

 

My voice was ice cold as I folded my arms and looked down contemptuously at the younger woman. She stared up at me in terror before hurriedly pressing her palms together and blurting out the truth.

 

"Hic!... I-I'm pregnant..."

 

"What!? HUH!?"

 

A wave of shocked voices and whispers swept through the room, making the girl cry even harder as everyone openly gossiped about her right in front of her face.

 

"What did you say!?"

 

Kan’s mother looked ready to faint.

 

Luckily, Kan’s father was beside her to support her.

 

"I'm pregnant by my boyfriend, but he refuses to accept that he's the father. And because my family has financial problems, I thought Auntie's family would be the best way out."

 

"Pleng!"

 

I smiled coldly before turning and dropping onto the sofa beside one of my friends, who was staring at Pleng in complete disbelief.

 

She deserved every bit of this.

 

How dare she get pregnant and then try to trick my friend?

 

At least all the time I'd wasted digging into her past had paid off.

 

I'd gone through her friends, Facebook, even information about her ex-boyfriend, and after talking to a few people I'd managed to pick up rumours that she might be pregnant.

 

Then I'd noticed the anti-nausea medication she carried, the kind that could be taken during pregnancy, and how she kept disappearing into the bathroom to throw up.

 

If I'd had just a little more time, I'd probably have investigated the antenatal clinic as well!

 

"In the end, this stupid girl came up with the brilliant plan of drugging Kan, raping him, and then pretending the baby in her stomach was his... This is straight out of a Thai soap opera."

 

I turned towards my best friend's mother for the last part.

 

"I don't know whether you knew anything about this plan, Mum."

 

She immediately shook her head, looking genuinely unaware. So she didn't know about the scheme… But she'd still been deliberately creating opportunities for her son to be alone with this girl.

 

"Hic! I'm sorry, Auntie."

 

Pleng sobbed miserably while her mother wrapped her arms around her. I supposed it was pitiful. But if someone had actually fallen for this ridiculous scheme, they wouldn't only deserve pity. They'd deserve to be called a fucking idiot too.

 

"Oh! If you were having money problems, you could've talked to me. You shouldn't have planned something like this."

 

Kan’s mother still seemed to sympathise with them.

 

I could feel my temper starting to boil all over again.

 

"Mum, with all due love and respect, from everything I've seen since I've known Kan and this family, I know both you and Dad are reasonable people who can understand things easily."

 

I paused.

 

"That's why Kan has never questioned any decision either of you has made. But what you're deciding for him now... I don't think there's any reason or logic behind it at all."

 

"..."

 

"If I ever had a son of my own, I don't think I'd simply look for any random daughter-in-law as long as she happened to be female... without caring about anything else."

 

I glanced disdainfully at the mother and daughter embracing each other on the floor before turning back to the older woman standing silently beside her husband, her face growing increasingly stiff.

 

"Because in the end, I'd trust my son's judgement. I'd trust that whoever he chose was the person he wanted in his life. And no matter how much we tried to keep them apart, all we'd accomplish would be creating resentment between us."

 

"I don't see how anything good could come from that, other than destroying the relationship between mother and child."

 

My close friend Mai-ai quickly pinched my waist, silently telling me to shut up because apparently I'd gone a little too far.

 

But this was something a mother needed to understand. And it was the only thing I could do to help my best friend and his boyfriend.

 

"I'm sorry if I've upset you, Mum. But this is something I need to say on my friend's behalf."

 

"Yes... I understand now."

 

The middle-aged woman gave me a gentle smile, as though some weight had finally been lifted from her heart.

 

At least maybe today she was beginning to understand things from somebody else's perspective...Rather than only her own.

 

"Kan loves you very much, Mum... He's probably been uncomfortable and stressed out of his mind because he feels guilty for disappointing you."

 

Kan’s mother seemed lost in thought.

 

Around us, everyone appeared to have fallen into their own silent contemplation.

 

Because in the end...

 

What exactly was wrong?

 

A mother loved her son and wanted what she believed was best for him...

 

Was that wrong?

 

A son loved his mother and became so stressed and pressured because he'd disappointed her...

 

Was that wrong?

 

Or was the fact that two men loved each other...

 

Wrong?

 

Or perhaps, in the end, nobody was actually wrong at all. Perhaps the only thing wrong was the lack of understanding...And the refusal to accept one another.

 

Natcha's Part

 END

 

"What happened last night?"

 

I turned to ask Great, who looked as though he was about to head out for a walk and take some photographs in the garden.

 

It was already late morning. My lower half was still sore from last night's activities, but fortunately today, Monday, was a holiday.

 

"What?"

 

Great raised an eyebrow and answered my question with another question.

 

Why the fuck are you wasting saliva just to piss me off?

 

"Because everything seemed weird. When I came downstairs, nobody was passed out drunk anywhere. Wasn't last night's party fun?"

 

Well, I had fun.

 

Hahaha.

 

Just thinking about the person still asleep in my bed upstairs made me feel embarrassed.

 

Per had completely worn himself out too. As for me, maybe I was simply too accustomed to surviving on too little sleep. I genuinely couldn't stay in bed any longer, so I had to come downstairs and get some morning sunlight.

 

"Last night, your friend dealt with your mum."

 

"Huh!?"

 

I stared at Great like a stunned chicken. What happened to my mum? And which friend?

All you fuckers are standing right here!

 

"Natcha gave your mum a full lecture entitled, 'How to Be a Mum in the 4.0 Era.' That's why the party died."

 

Four-point-fucking-zero, my arse! Explain properly, Great! My brain was already foggy enough this early in the morning.

 

"What happened?"

 

"Well, you know. Natcha publicly exposed Pleng's plan to rape you so she could trap you into becoming her husband. Then she gave your mum this sarcastic sermon about how she keeps trying to pair you up with literally anyone as long as they're female."

 

"Shit! What did my mum say?"

 

I really wished I'd been there to see it.

 

If I hadn't been... occupied with another important responsibility, obviously. Actually, that explained why nobody had come upstairs and interrupted the relationship-building activities between Per and me from last night until this morning.

 

"What could she say? Your friend is fucking terrifying! Natcha psychoanalysed your mum until she finally surrendered."

 

"Woooow~"

 

"Isn't she mentally ill and planning to become a psychiatrist? Fucking perfect career choice."

 

I immediately nodded in agreement with my best friend. Great actually had a point. If patients met a psychiatrist who was this mentally unstable herself, they'd probably have no idea whether they were supposed to stay sick or recover and start treating their doctor instead.

 

"What did you two just say!?"

 

"We said Natcha's a psycho who really deserves to become a psychia—SHIT!!!"

 

Great didn't even get to finish his sentence.

 

The two of us lifted our heads towards the third voice and found the very person we'd been referring to in the third person.

 

Or, to put it simply...

 

The person we'd been gossiping about.

 

She had appeared directly in front of us wearing such an icy smile that both Great and I recoiled in horror.

 

Then we immediately put our legs into top gear and ran for our fucking lives.

I've got a bad feeling againnnnnnnn~