In Love With An Idiot
Chapter 19: Begin Again
“...And the next time the Medical Council turns up to inspect your hospital, don't bother wondering who reported you! IT WAS ME!”
Achitphon was so furious that he shoved his older brother aside, then grabbed the wine bottle and drank nearly half of it in one go. That amount of wine wasn't going to get him drunk. Right now, he simply needed to do something to stop himself from punching his older brother in the face once or twice.
“Erng, let me ask you something seriously. Couldn't you see that Pei never thought about his own future? All he wanted was to stay with you forever. You were his entire world. And then, one day, you told him to leave.”
“Did you honestly think he could live on his own? Did you think he was capable of handling something like that? He didn't even have anywhere else to go!”
“And from my experience, people in that situation tend to be emotionally vulnerable and easily influenced.”
“Did you ever consider the possibility that Pei might not want to stay in that condominium?”
“What if seeing you again was too painful for him? He might have disappeared and never come back.”
“What if he'd fallen in with the wrong crowd? What if he'd ended up putting himself in danger?”
“Did you ever stop to think about any of that, Erng?”
Tycoon Achi sighed and sat down. He had to admit that his younger brother had a point. From Erng's perspective, believing that Pei didn't love him, he'd naturally wanted Pei to be happy and start a new life. And Achi himself had been wrong to interfere. But everything he'd done had been out of genuine concern.
“That's precisely because you didn't know Pei loved you, Erng. You hadn't considered any of those possibilities, so I had to think about them for you.”
“I never intended to make Pei suffer over the debt. I'd already written him a cheque. The debt was simply a commitment. After three years, everything would be over.”
“And the job I gave him was perfectly appropriate. He needed to learn what working in the real world was actually like.”
“What would you have done, Erng? Let him sit around doing nothing?”
“What if you died one day? How would Pei support himself?”
“And if the two of you broke up again, at least he'd have a job and a salary. He'd be able to take care of himself.”
“I know that from your perspective, what I did probably seems cruel to Pei. But that's not how I see it.”
“Pei is like a younger brother to me too. He's part of the Araya family, and I have a responsibility to look after him.”
“As for the debt, if I'd really wanted to force Pei to shoulder that burden, I could've done it years ago, when his father stole those diamonds.”
Achitphon sighed as he listened to his older brother's explanation. Some of it made sense. Not all of it, but enough that he forced himself to suppress his lingering anger and sit back down opposite him.
“Then why did you have to make everything so complicated, P'Eurn? You made it so bloody difficult that I genuinely nearly lost Pei!”
“Because I wanted both of you to understand just how important you are to each other.”
“I wanted you to remember what happened, so that in the future, you'd never forget what it felt like to be separated.”
“What it felt like to live without each other.”
“That way, when you face difficulties again, you'll know to hold each other's hands even tighter.”
“Erng, you need to stop treating Pei like a child and making decisions for him.”
“If you've chosen Pei, you need to see him as your life partner.”
“Talk to him when something happens. Ask him how he feels. Explain things to him.”
“Don't just make decisions on his behalf until he ends up believing he's nothing more than your kept boy.”
“And Pei needs to become more confident too. He needs to learn to speak up instead of being so terrified of making you angry that he keeps everything bottled up and overthinks it all on his own.”
“That's not how life partners should behave towards each other.”
“Haah... I understand.”
“See? Can you finally appreciate how much your wonderful older brother cares about you?”
“And you still had the nerve to resign!”
“Go back to work! Stop sulking!”
“If the employees find out, they'll all be in shock!”
“And now there are all those rumours about a three-month bonus. Do you have any idea how much of a headache you've caused your lovely older brother?”
“P'Eurn is the one who behaves badly! You're the one who gives everyone headaches! Don't you dare scold P'Erng! Waaaaah!”
The sudden voice of a third person made both Achi and Achitphon freeze. They turned to find their little Cabbage standing there in tears. Beside him stood another resident from the same floor, who happened to be an executive secretary at Chofa Bank.
“Pei, why are you crying?”
“Pei's angry with P'Eurn! Waaaaah! P'Eurn was mean to Pei! P'Eurn's horrible! Waaaaah! I hope you choke on a cabbage!”
I'd woken up to go to the toilet when I heard P'Eurn and P'Erng arguing through the LINE call we'd left connected. Ever since I'd come to live with the Araya family, I'd never seen the two of them have a genuinely serious argument. Usually, it was more like playful bickering, just to add a little excitement to their lives. Could P'Eurn and P'Erng really be fighting... Because of me?
The way P'Erng was speaking to P'Eurn was completely different from anything I'd ever heard before. P'Erng had never once let me see him this angry. What should I do?
What if they started hitting each other?!
My worry and anxiety eventually got the better of me, and I decided to rush over to P'Erng's flat. I couldn't quite make sense of what they were saying, but I thought it might have something to do with the contract. I'd heard Khun Ta's name and my own, though I couldn't make out everything clearly. Were P'Eurn and P'Erng arguing about that?
But what did P'Eurn have to do with it?
“Little Pei, can't you get into the flat?”
While I was standing there hesitating over whether to go inside, P'M came out of his flat. He was another one of our neighbours on this floor. There were only four flats on the entire floor, so everyone knew one another. P'M looked completely different from the way I usually saw him. Normally, he was always dressed impeccably in his work clothes.
I'd never seen him wearing a T-shirt and long pyjama trousers before!
“Pei doesn't dare go inside. I think P'Erng and P'Eurn are arguing. But... I'm worried about them too. I'm scared they might start punching each other. Hehe.”
“Don't worry too much. Brothers argue sometimes. They won't stay angry with each other for long.”
P'M spoke as though it were the most normal thing in the world. Maybe it was because I didn't have any siblings that I couldn't really understand. But it was genuinely worrying!
P'Erng had never been this furious before.
“If you're worried, go inside. Just let them argue and sit quietly, little Pei. Once they get bored, they'll stop fighting on their own.”
“Tycoon Achi loves provoking Khun Erng, but he never wins anyway.”
“Really? How does P'M know that?”
“My boss and Tycoon Achi have been friends since they were children. Tycoon Achi is the sort of person who enjoys being a nuisance.”
P'M folded his arms, leaned against the wall, and winked at me. His relaxed attitude made me feel a little better. And I completely agreed with him!
P'Eurn really was incredibly stubborn!
P'Erng complained about him all the time. Sometimes I got annoyed just listening to those complaints. How could someone be sooooo stubborn?
And he absolutely hated managing the business!
“Then... maybe it would be okay if Pei sneaked inside. If they really do start punching each other, I might be able to stop them in time.”
“Go on, then.”
I must have looked so anxious and indecisive that P'M either felt sorry for me or took pity on me. He offered to come inside with me, just in case anything serious happened and someone needed to intervene.
“Thank you, P'M!”
“And if the tycoon gets murdered, I'll be there to help you dispose of the evidence.”
P'M continued making jokes about P'Eurn with the faintest smile on his face. I was certain P'Eurn must have done something to annoy P'M in the past!
He absolutely must have!
Otherwise, P'M wouldn't keep saying that P'Eurn was such a nuisance. Sneaking into the middle of the Araya brothers' war meant I ended up hearing P'Erng shouting at P'Eurn. I didn't catch everything, but it had something to do with me having to move out and being saddled with three million baht of debt. I still didn't really understand what was happening. Not until P'Eurn started explaining his side of the story.
And then... Everything turned out to be completely different from what I'd imagined!
Khun Ta hadn't been involved at all!
Nobody had been stealing money. Nobody had been plotting to separate P'Erng and me. It had all been P'Eurn. P'Eurn had simply wanted the two of us to spend some time apart. I understood that P'Eurn had meant well.
But... But it made me so angry!
I was angry, sad, touched, and confused all at once. There were so many emotions mixed together that I couldn't even begin to untangle them. Altogether, I was fairly certain I was furious!
I was angry with P'Eurn. Angry with P'Erng. And angry with myself!
If P'Erng and I had simply talked to each other from the beginning, P'Eurn wouldn't have needed to interfere in our relationship. And once P'Eurn got involved, everything became even more complicated!
As P'Eurn had said, P'Erng had been making decisions on my behalf. And I hadn't been brave enough to ask him anything. We'd both behaved exactly as P'Eurn described. But P'Eurn hadn't been honest with either of us!
He'd made everyone miserable!
I'd spent an entire month crying myself to sleep!
And now P'Eurn had the nerve to scold P'Erng as well!
“Pei, why are you crying?”
P'Erng immediately stood up and pulled me into his arms. I was devastated. I was heartbroken over the time I'd lost with P'Erng. What if things had worked out between him and Milan?
How on earth would I ever have managed to get P'Erng back?!
Stupid P'Eurn!
P'Eurn's ridiculous plan had given P'Erng the opportunity to open his heart to someone else!
And the other person was incredibly cute too!
Milan was the cutest person in the whole world!
“Pei's angry with P'Eurn! Waaaaah! P'Eurn was mean to Pei! P'Eurn's horrible! Waaaaah! I hope you choke on a cabbage!”
The more I thought about it, the harder I cried. Was it possible to feel jealous about something that had already happened?
Because I hadn't been jealous at first!
But now I was!
I didn't even know why I was jealous. I was confused too!
But I was so terribly upset!
All the thoughts and emotions swirling around inside me were like clouds of PM2.5 dust, the kind of air pollution causing problems all across the country lately.
“Pei, I'm sorry. But I really did have good intentions towards you and Erng.”
“P'Eurn is so mean! What would Pei have done if P'Erng had fallen in love with Milan back then?! Waaaaah!”
“P'Erng, you're not allowed to go back to work! Let P'Eurn suffer until his head explodes!”
“You can start a new company instead, P'Erng! Make it a competitor to Araya!”
“P'Eurn will definitely go bankrupt!”
I could hear P'M quietly laughing, along with P'Eurn grumbling under his breath. But the clearest sound of all was P'Erng's voice comforting me. Actually, P'Erng might have wanted to cry just as much as I did. But I'd already cried so much and made such an enormous fuss that there wasn't much room left for him to have his own breakdown!
I couldn't help it. I was heartbroken!
“Let's make up, Pei. I promise I won't tease you or Erng like this ever again.”
P'Eurn walked closer and stroked my head. It was definitely P'Eurn's hand because P'Erng still had his arms wrapped around my waist.
“Hic... Pei's really upset.”
“In that case, I'll give you that three and a half million baht. You can keep it. Let's make up, all right?”
“Y-You're really giving it to Pei? You're not allowed to take it back, okay?”
The mention of three and a half million baht made me stop crying without even realising it. It wasn't as though I'd actually been thinking about the money. But the moment P'Eurn mentioned it, I suddenly felt as though I'd won the lottery!
I completely forgot about crying. It was like buying a lottery ticket hoping to win the two-digit consolation prize, only to discover you'd won first prize instead!
“You greedy little Cabbage. Go on, keep it.”
“Consider it my gift to help you start your married life together. Think of it as a wedding dowry.”
“Just marry that bloody Erng already. He's been waiting long enough.”
“M-Marry... Er... Marry what?”
I looked back and forth between P'Eurn and P'Erng. The two Araya brothers frowned and stared at each other for a while. Then P'Eurn cleared his throat.
“I think I might be drunk.”
“Anyway, we've made up now, haven't we? I'll take you out for cabbage again sometime.”
“Come along, Khun M. Take me home, would you? I'm feeling rather dizzy.”
P'Eurn staggered towards P'M, who immediately shifted out of his way. I was starting to think P'M really did find P'Eurn irritating!
At that moment, I found him irritating too!
But I wasn't irritated anymore. Because I'd just been given three and a half million baht!
“Come on. Let's go to bed.”
“Pei's confused, P'Erng. Can't you explain everything to me again first? I still don't understand what just happened.”
“All I know is that Pei's really, really angry, but I'm also really, really sad!”
“And I think I'm jealous too!”
“It's like I understand some of it, but there's even more that I don't understand!”
“We'll talk about it tomorrow. It's almost four in the morning.”
“Please, can we talk now? Pei wants to know\...”
“I want to know why we separated in the first place.”
“Pei remembers everything so clearly, just like P'Eurn said.”
“I remember exactly what it felt like when P'Erng wasn't there anymore.”
“I was so unhappy!”
“I never want things to be like that again!”
“Pei wants to hold P'Erng's hand really tightly.”
“I don't ever want to be without P'Erng again!”
“Waaaaah!”
The moment I remembered those days without P'Erng, I started crying all over again. And when I thought about how it had all happened because of P'Eurn, my sadness doubled!
Actually, it should've tripled. But since he'd just given me all that money, I felt a tiny bit better. Those days when I'd been nothing but a miserable, battered little Cabbage had been so terribly difficult. It had taken so much effort just to get through them. I didn't want to wait anymore!
“Please tell Pei everything, P'Erng. Please...?”
In the end, P'Erng told me the whole truth. And I carried on crying until six o'clock in the morning!
I cried so much that I eventually got hungry. So we had to take a break from my emotional breakdown at five o'clock to cook instant noodles with cabbage. P'Erng and I each had a bowl. Once I'd finished eating, I went straight back to being miserable. And the more P'Erng tried to comfort me, the harder I cried!
I kept crying until P'Erng finally fell asleep, his arms still wrapped around me. When P'Erng and I first separated, I'd cried endlessly like this too. But this time was different. Because mixed in with all that sadness was happiness. I'd finally discovered that P'Erng had never had anyone else.
He'd never been in love with anyone else. He'd only ever loved me. And now that I knew the truth, I should've been the happiest person in the entire world!
But then Milan's face would pop into my head again, and my heart would sink. Milan... It was all so contradictory that I felt completely overwhelmed. Of course, I missed work that day. Because the next time I woke up, it was already midday!
P'Erng had dark circles under his eyes like a panda. And my eyes were swollen like two watermelons!
P'Erng was probably irritated about not getting enough sleep. But he must have taken one look at my pitiful condition and realised I was in an even worse state. So he had to hide his irritation and comfort me instead. There I was, sitting in front of the television like a completely wilted cabbage. My head hurt so much!
“You're not allowed to cry anymore today, okay?”
“Pei can't get over it, P'Erng...”
“The thing with Milan.”
“I know P'Erng didn't like Milan that way, but I can't stop thinking about what would've happened if you'd fallen in love with him back then.”
“Would we ever have been able to be together again?”
“I feel as though I've been cheated on.”
“But the truth is, P'Erng never cheated on me at all!”
“And Pei was even planning to buy a man to sleep beside me so I could cuddle him!”
“So I'm angry with myself too...”
“Pei doesn't know how to deal with all these feelings.”
“Everything's all tangled up inside me, and it makes me feel horrible.”
“Then... why don't we start again?”
P'Erng moved closer and sat down on the floor in front of me. The exhaustion was written all over his face. But he still smiled at me.
“If you can't sort out your feelings right now, that's okay, Pei.”
“Be angry with me.”
“You can be angry with me about Milan.”
“Because there's nothing I can do to change what happened.”
“You don't have to force yourself to forgive me yet.”
“There's just one thing I'd like to ask you...”
“Please give me another chance.”
“We can take things slowly, one little step at a time.”
“I can wait.”
“I'll wait until you feel more comfortable about us.”
“Pei, I really can wait.”
See?
This was exactly what P'Erng was like!
He was so kind!
No matter what happened, he was always kind. He'd never once been cruel to me. So how on earth was I supposed to stay angry with him?!
What sort of ridiculous person thinks someone doesn't love him anymore and still goes out and buys that person a condominium, a car, and all sorts of other things?!
The only reason I'd ever thought P'Erng was being cruel was that P'Eurn was!
We'd both suffered just as much as each other over this whole situation. And yet P'Erng was still willing to let me be angry with him!
“Waaaaah! P'Erng really is Pei's precious golden cabbage!”
I threw myself at P'Erng and wrapped my arms tightly around his neck. I hugged him so enthusiastically that he toppled backwards onto the carpet!
Having P'Erng was even better than getting three and a half million baht from P'Eurn!
P'Erng wasn't even the tiniest bit angry with me. Even though I'd secretly considered buying a man to cuddle at my cabbage farm!
P'Erng was the most generous person in the entire world. I was the only narrow-minded one. Because I was still jealous of Milan!
“I can be anything you want, Pei. As long as I belong to you.”
“Mmm!”
“Please wait for Pei a little longer, okay?”
“Pei just needs some time to sort out my feelings first.”
“P'Erng, please don't get tired of Pei!”
“I'm not very good at this.”
“It might take me a little while.”
“But Pei loves P'Erng more than anyone else in the whole world!”
“I love you too, Pei.”
“Nggghhh! Say it again...”
“I love you.”
“Say it again, please!”
“P'Erng loves Pei.”
Nggghhh!
I'M NOT SELLING P'ERNG ON THE ORANGE SHOPPING APP ANYMORE!
THIS MAN BELONGS TO PEI AND PEI ALONE!