Chapter 67 From The Bottom Of His Heart

Santichai had just finished his homework when the phone rang. He looked at the screen, it was Decha. He picked it up.

Decha said, "Ai Chai, come out and meet me."

Santichai said, "Frank where are you?"

Decha said, "I'm at the community gate, but the security guards wouldn't let me in."

Santichai stood up from the table and said, "Wait, I'll come right now."

Santichai quickly jumped on his moped and rode to the community gate. He saw Decha standing by his car. Santichai parked his moped next to the mopeds of the two guards on duty. He went out to meet Decha.

Decha smiled and mocked, "How is your rich life?"

Santichai shook his head with a smile, "You know very well that I don't belong here."

Decha looked at Santichai and asked, "Then why are you still here?"

"I'm dating KK right now," Santichai said.

"Who wouldn't want to date a Suwannarat," Decha joked.

Santichai said, "Do you think I'm dating him because he's rich?"

Decha said, "Isn't it?"

"Don't look down on me. Honestly, I don't care if he is rich or poor, KK likes me for who I am, and when I'm with him, I feel safe and wanted." He knew that being with KK people would look down on him, but he is not afraid to face people's gossip because he is trying to fall in love with KK. "Unlike your best friend, he never loved me."

Decha asked, "How do you know he doesn't love you?"

Santichai said, "Do you need to ask? You can see for yourself how he has treated me over the years. How many times have I borrowed your shoulder?"

Decha sighed and said, "Ai Chai, sometimes, there is more to what the eyes can see."

Santichai knew that Asnee must have sent Decha here. Over the years, whenever Asnee wanted Santichai back to him, he would send Decha to fulfill his dirty needs, because Asnee knew that Decha was a good friend of Santichai. Santichai said irritably, "Ai Frank, if you're just here to talk about Asnee, I don't want to hear. I don't want to know anything about him. If Asnee sends you to talk to me, you can leave."

Decha said, "He didn't send me. I came on my own. I told you the last time we talked, you and Ai Nee would never see each other again." He threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stepped on it. "Even if one day you want to see him or talk to him. He'll never see you or call you again."

Santichai was surprised by Decha's words. Santichai asked, "Really"

Decha smiled wryly, "Yes, really. He's back in Bangkok. I was talking to him a few days ago, he told me that he's glad you've finally found someone who loves you."

Santichai knew it was a lie because Asnee would never bless him other than forcing him to be with Asnee. He looked at Frank strangely, "Frank, Asnee would never say that. The Asnee I knew would never bless me. He was fighting KK just the other day."

Decha said, "He really gave you, his blessing. Chai...I'm going back to Bangkok, but can you stay with you for the night before I leave?"

Santichai asked, "Why do you want me to spend the night with you? Asnee is there, isn't he?"

Decha said, "Are you afraid of him?" Santichai didn't answer. "Ha…don't be afraid." He took out his phone and dialed Asnee's number. "Ai Nee."

Asnee asked, "What do you want?"

Decha said, "Let's go have a drink, shall we?"

"I can't...I'm going to have dinner with Tip and Ma," Asnee said.

Decha said, "Let me talk to auntie."

Asnee said, "Wait a minute."

Then Mrs. Siriporn answered the phone. She asked, "Frank, come and have dinner with us. If you are coming, we'll wait for you."

"I'm not coming. I'm waiting for my father," Decha said.

Mrs. Siriporn said, "Tip asked me to ask you if you're going to the wedding?"

Decha said, "Since I have nothing to do, I'll be there. Oh, my father is here. I have to go. Goodbye auntie." He hung up the phone. He looked at Santichai. "You see, Ai Nee is in Bangkok."

Santichai took out his phone and called KK, but KK didn't answer, so he sent a message that he would hang out with Decha before Decha returned to Bangkok. He walked back to the two guards and asked them if he could leave the moped there. Since the guard knew that Santichai was from the same household as KK, they did not refuse. He walked back to Decha and got into the passenger seat. Decha started to drive his car away.

Along the way, Santichai didn't speak much because Decha didn't speak either. He noticed that they had been driving for nearly an hour and the road had gotten narrower. He looked at Decha and asked, "Frank, where are we going?"

Decha turned to Santichai and smiled. "You'll know when you get there. Don't worry, Asnee isn't here. I promise."

Decha drove past many houses, but he didn't stop until he came to a small dirt road where he slowed down and exit on the dirt road. He parked the car at the gate. He looked at Santichai and said, "We're here."

Santichai looked at Decha and said, "Frank, this place looks familiar to me."

Decha smiled, "Really?"

"I think I've seen this place before," Santichai said. Santichai stepped out of the passenger side and walked towards the gate. He stared at the boulder that stood next to the gate for a long time. The stones neatly depict the afterglow of the sunset over the sea. "Welcome to our dream home" is written on the sand. He turned to Decha. "Frank is this your house?"

Decha laughed, "No, it's my friend's." He opened the door. "Chai, I'm going to drive in the car. Lock the gate."

Decha rushed back to the car and drove to the front of the house, while Santichai closed the gate. Santichai locked the gate and walked to the house. He knew he had seen the house before, but he couldn't remember when. The details of the house were familiar to him.

Decha got out of the car and said, "Chai, go to the back of the house."

Santichai asked, "We are not going through the front door?"

Decha said, "No, just sit and talk and watch the sunset. Also, I don't know the passcode to the house."

Santichai said, "Okay." He slowly walked with Decha to the back of the house.

The house by the sea is beautiful and simple, nothing fancy, but the house bothers Santichai because he knows he has seen the house before, but he can't remember when because the road to the house is unfamiliar to him, only the house is familiar to him.

Decha looked at Santichai and asked, "Chai, it's just you and me here, can you honestly tell me that you don't love Ai Nee anymore?"

"I've made it very clear that I don't love him anymore," Santichai said.

Decha said, "What about your boyfriend? Do you love him?"

Santichai said, "I like him, but I haven't fallen in love with him yet, he understands. He is willing to wait for me."

Decha scoffed. "He must like you very much," he said.

Santichai said, "He was the reason I slowly forgot Asnee and the pain he caused me. Frank..."

Decha said, "Huh?"

Santichai said with a smile, "I'm really happy right now, I don't want to lose KK, and I don't want to lose the love he gave me."

Decha smiled and shook his head, "I didn't want you to break up with your boyfriend, don't worry. Even if you go back to Asnee now, he may not want you."

"He never wanted me," Santichai said. "He didn't want to lose me because of his pride. He didn't want me when I was fully devoted to him, but suddenly he wanted me back when he knew I was trying to fall in love with someone else."

"Asnee he…never mind," Decha said. "That's good that you have something to hold on to, and maybe one day, when you know the truth, you might not be too sad."

Santichai looked at Decha, "Frank, you're acting weird today."

Decha turned around, trying to hide his tears from Santichai. He quickly wiped away his tears and said, "I... I feel sorry for my friend."

Santichai asked, "Asnee?"

Decha said, "No, my friend who built this house."

Santichai asked, "Where's your friend?"

Decha said, "She um…she's dead."

Santichai said, "I'm sorry Frank, I didn't know."

Decha asked, "Ai Chai, do you want to know how she died?"

Santichai said, "If you don't want to tell me, it's okay."

"I want you to hear it," Decha said. "I think if I don't tell anyone, it's going to eat me alive."

Santichai said, "I'm all ears."

Decha said, "My friend... um... my friend..." He sobbed softly. "She... um..." He cleared his throat. "In order to fulfill her promise to her boyfriend, she not only hid a lot of secrets, but also secretly saved a lot of money over the years to build her boyfriend's dream home."

"No wonder the stone next to the gate says, 'Welcome to our dream home'," Santichai said.

Decha said, "Remember when I told you my girlfriend who had stomach cancer?"

Santichai said, "Yes."

Decha sobbed quietly, "It turns out that to build this house, she has to give her all. She lives a double life. To make sure her parents don't find out she's making money. She'll sneak into those illegal underground fights. Fight for money." He burst into tears. "We've been friends for so long, she could have asked me, but she refused."

Santichai took Decha in his arms. He comforted Decha, "Ai Frank, I'm sorry to hear this."

Decha said, "Ai Chai, did you know. Once upon a time, there was a couple on the edge of a cliff. The husband held her hand to prevent her from falling off the cliff. The husband tried his best to hold on to the wife's hand, and then he slowly let go of her hand, she fell to her death. When she got to heaven, she met her husband, she was angry, so she challenged God why her husband who was supposed to be burning in hell was also in heaven. Until God brought her back to the moment of the accident that day, she saw that at that time a large snake had wrapped its tail around her husband's waist. He loved her from the bottom of his heart, and he held onto her hand until his last breath."