It sounded like a lot of work—there was barely information on our whereabouts to work with.
“So what now?” I asked him.
“Mr. Korn’s not going to leave it like this,” Pete said. “Right now, we’re looking into why they took you and Mr. Kinn up that mountain. Someone’s safehouse might be hidden nearby.”
I nodded. The whole situation baffled me. I’d somehow gotten involved in something much bigger than myself, but I couldn’t figure it out—and neither could Pete.
“And how is he?” I asked quietly, nodding toward the room next door.
Pete broke into a wicked smile. “If you’re so worried, go take a look for yourself,” he teased, giggling at me. I flipped him off.
“Be serious,” I said.
Pete chuckled again. “He got lucky. The bullet didn’t hit anything vital—he lost a lot of blood though. He got emergency surgery at the local hospital, but then Mr. Korn had you and Mr. Kinn immediately transferred to Bangkok.”
I nodded as I listened to Pete, looking around the room. It had to be the fanciest hospital room I’d ever seen. It looked super expensive, so it made sense for Kinn to be here, but for me? A regular room would’ve been plenty.
“Why did I get put in a room like this?” I asked, curious.
“You’re a VIP. Mr. Korn’s orders,” Pete answered casually, turning around to grab a snack. There was a fruit basket and a plate of snacks on top of the bedside table.
“They treat us well, huh,” I said.
“Ha, maybe you. When we get shot half to death, we only get a regular room.” Pete smiled. The more he talked like this, the more confused I became. Mr. Korn had been nothing but generous to me—unusually generous, in fact.
Creak! The door opened once again. I thought it was my brother and my friends, but I froze in surprise when the man I’d just been thinking about entered the room, with his secretary in tow.
“How are you?” Mr. Korn asked evenly.
“Hello, Mr. Korn.” Pete and I both made a wai. Pete stood up and quickly arranged a seat for Mr. Korn and Chan.
“Take it easy,” Mr. Korn said.
“He just woke up, sir,” Pete reported.
“If you’re still in pain anywhere, tell the doctor… It’s good to see that you’re okay. You and Kinn nearly gave me an aneurysm, you hear?” Mr. Korn’s deep voice said gently. I could only smile awkwardly at his serious demeanor.
“Were you stuck in the forest the entire time?” Mr. Korn asked.
“Yes. At first they were going to take us somewhere, but me and that bast—and Kinn escaped and they chased us into the forest,” I said cautiously, trying not to curse. “We were lost in there for three days.”
“It’s good that you both made it out of there… I don’t know who your attackers are, but once I do, rest assured that I’ll do to them exactly what they did to my sons.” I furrowed my brow—sons? Surely he meant just Kinn.
Chan had been silent this entire time, but now he spoke up. “And Pete, you’ve asked Porsche for the details, yes?”
“Yes,” Pete answered. “They were targeting Porsche, not Mr. Kinn. They wanted to capture Porsche alive and shoot Kinn dead.”
“This has escalated into quite a serious matter,” said Mr. Korn. “For now, you and Porchay will stay at my house. You must be careful—don’t go back to your home. They won’t stop coming for you. Pete, you’ll stay with him, won’t you?”
“I…” I trailed off. My unease at not being able to go home must have shown on my face.
“When you disappeared, Mr. Korn had Porchay move into your room on his property,” Pete said, “in case they came back to your place for him. But don’t worry, I’ll look after your brother.” I frowned even more. What the hell is going on?!
“I promised to look after your brother, didn’t I? I will do exactly as I promised. So that’s settled—stay at my house until we can catch the perpetrator,” Mr. Korn said, lightly patting my shoulder.
“Yes, sir,” I agreed, if only for my brother’s safety. If they knew where I lived, it wouldn’t be hard for them to try and kidnap me again. And if anything happened to Chay, I’d take the guilt with me to the grave.
“Hmm, good. And don’t think about resigning your position with our family. Without our protection, those men won’t let you go so easily,” Mr. Korn said. “But don’t worry, I won’t let that happen. And if there’s anything you’re unsatisfied with regarding your employment, you can come to me. I do recall telling you that I see you as one of my own. Let me take care of you and your brother.”
I looked up at Mr. Korn in surprise, but nodded my assent. Since it had come to this, I needed to put my thoughts about quitting on hold—for now, safety was much more important.
Bang! The door slammed open and a tall figure burst through. Everyone turned to look in surprise.
“Sounds of gunshots at the sky! Bang!12” Tankhun sang as he pulled out a toy gun to shoot at the ceiling. I covered my ears. At the sound of the toy gun, Pol, Arm, and P’Jess dropped to the floor.
We all heaved a sigh at Tankhun’s antics.
“What are you doing? And the three of you—why are you rolling around on the floor?” Mr. Korn asked.
Tankhun beamed and walked over to my bed, toy gun in hand.
“Mr. Tankhun told us that we have to fall to the ground when he says the word ‘bang!’” Arm admitted hesitantly.
“And he said if we didn’t, he’d get a real gun,” Pol said, taking his chance to complain about Tankhun to Mr. Korn. Tankhun glared at him.
“Jess! Why are you playing along? Why didn’t you stop him?” Mr. Korn scolded Jess, exasperated. P’Jess slowly pushed himself up, holding his waist. Tankhun’s bodyguards looked pitiful.
“I couldn’t stop him,” P’Jess replied.
Tankhun sniggered and started to sing again. “Sounds of gunshots at—”
“Sir, please, that’s enough. We’re going to pass out if you keep making us drop to the floor.” P’Jess tried to stop Tankhun, who made a face and turned to me, eyes sparkling.
“How was it?! Were there tiger demons13 in the forest?” he asked, laughing. I leaned back against the headboard and rolled my eyes.
“Don’t bother him. You’ve been causing quite a stir at this hospital since yesterday—what do you want?!” Mr. Korn scolded his son, but Tankhun paid him no heed.
“I’m here to say that Kinn’s awake!”
As soon as the words left Tankhun’s mouth, I whipped my head around to look at him.
“Well, how is he?” Mr. Korn asked Tankhun.
“He says he wants to go back into the forest for a couple more days,” Tankhun cheerfully announced with a gleeful giggle. Mr. Korn sighed. It looked like he wasn’t going to get a useful answer out of his eldest son.
“All right. Porsche, I’m going to go see Kinn. I’ll be back later,” Mr. Korn announced. I gave a wai to Mr. Korn in farewell, watching him go.
Tankhun stayed behind, sitting stupidly by my bed.
“How are you? Does it hurt?” he asked me. I nodded.
“You’re okay now.” Arm came over to pat my shoulder, and I smiled at him.
“I have a way to help you recover faster. Pol, give me the mic!” Tankhun shouted. I slid back down onto the bed. Pol looked like he wanted to die, but still handed the microphone to Tankhun. I soon realized what was about to happen. Fuck!
“This song is dedicated to Porsche! May he get well soon. Ahem.” He checked the microphone as Tem, Jom, and Chay came walking in with meatballs on skewers. All three of them glanced nervously at Tankhun.
“Calm down. Mama said you should calm down. Girl, don’t make the first move. Calm down—”14
I turned away and covered my ears with a pillow. Motherfucker! I can see why Kinn wanted to go back into the forest! Fuck! Tankhun’s giving me a goddamned migraine!
“Just bear with it, man,” Pol said as he squeezed my hand, hard.
“Chase him into the room next door for me. I want to sleep,” I grumbled to Pol.
“Bastard! Kinn already chased him into your room!” Arm cried, shaking his head.
“Fuckin’ Kinn!” I groaned. That evil bastard! How can you throw the problem to me, you sneaky little shit?!