Chapter 24 - The Surprise Visit Before Graduation

Nanon's POV

"Dad, please, you have to listen to me." We arrived at my dad's house, and heard people yelling from the living room. "No means no. I'm not going to forgive him." I heard dad yelling. We entered the house. I saw dad, pa, and P'Tay. And judging from what I saw (and heard), this is not a happy occasion. "Nanon, you're here." Dad greeted me. I hugged him and pa. I also hugged p'Tay. "What's going on? Why is everybody yelling?" I asked them. "Your precious p'Tay is going to get married with that fucking bastard. Our enemy." Dad turned to p'Tay. "How dare you? How could you do this to us?" Dad was so mad, smoke coming out of his ears. "Dad, New already apologized to you and pa for like, hundred, or maybe even thousand times. Isn't that enough? Please forgive him already." P'Tay tried to reason with dad. "Don't you dare say his name in this house. That fucking bastard tried to manipulate you to stand against us." Pa got mad too. "No one is manipulating anyone. I love him and he loves me too." P'Tay raised his voice. Okay, this is getting scary. "Dad, please calm down." I tried to calm him down. "I'm never going to forgive him. And I don't want him to be my son in law." Dad's so stubborn. "You know what, how about this. Please have dinner with us. Please talk about this in a nicer way. I'm sure once you get to know him, you'll like him. Please. Just one dinner." P'Tay tried to negotiate. "Only one dinner? Okay, then. Fine. Let's make this a family dinner. Invites everyone, including his dad and his family. Let's end this once and for all." Dad and pa left the living room. "Well, at least they agreed to one dinner." P'Tay turned to us. "P'Tay, how can I help?" I asked him. "Hmm. Stay out of it, okay. You and Ohm just have to attend the dinner, that's all." P'Tay ruffled my hair. "Oh, I know. How about I pretend to get kidnapped, and p'New could save me." I gave him an idea. Ohm's eyes widened. "That is the worst idea ever. Haven't you learned anything?" He looked mad. "I'm kidding. I'm not going to do stuffs like that again. Unless p'Tay want me to. Just say the word and I'll choose the kidnapper." I laughed. Ohm and p'Tay just shook their heads. "Okay, I gotta go. Need to plan this dinner soon. Bye Non, bye Ohm." He waved us goodbye. We went to my bedroom. 

"Well, that was something. I never saw your pa yelled like that before." Ohm unpacked his bag. "I know. Pa usually is the calm one. God, I really want to help p'Tay." I frowned. "Maybe I really should do the pretend kidnapping and asked p'New to be my saviour. Maybe that way dad is going to forgive him. Give them the green light to get married." I joked again. "Don't. Your idea is so bad. And you're going to create another chaos by doing something like that. Imagine if your dads find out about that. They're gonna get angrier, that's for sure. And they're going to blame it on p'New." Ohm warned me. "Don't I know that. At least they agreed to go to dinner with them." I shrugged. "Yeah, but judging from your dad's expression and tone earlier, it doesn't look like a good thing." Ohm hugged me from behind. "Well, I hope everything's going to run smoothly." 

Several days later...

We went to p'Tay's restaurant to have dinner with p'New and his family. Everyone attended. Well, almost everyone, except p'Joss who has to go abroad for his business. 

"Good evening mr.A, mr.Lift." p'New tried to greet my dads. They nodded. Well, that's an improvement. We walked to the table, and turns out, there is a seating chart. And on my side of the family, it goes like this. P'Tay, dad, pa, me, Ohm, p'Jim, Sea, p'Luke, p'Mook, p'Namtan. Oh God, I sat right in the splash zone area. Ohm looked at me and frowned. I raised my shoulders and shook my head. Well, maybe p'Tay wanted me to calm pa down if anything goes south. I looked at p'New's side of the family. There's p'New, next to him is his father, and his mother, and who I assumed is his sister. I looked at her, and eeww, what's up with her hair? Why did she style it like that? Her hairdresser must've hated her so much. We introduced ourselves, and I noticed one thing. P'New's little sister looked at Ohm like her eyes is going to pop out of her eyelids. Seriously, she don't even blink. Oh, this is so on. I took Ohm's hand and went to our seat.

"So, New, how much money do you make?" Dad suddenly asked p'New. We were so shocked with his question. Dad really went straight to the jugular. P'Tay choked on his food and coughed. "Dad, stop. Please don't ask about something like that." P'Tay tried to stop him. "What's wrong with my question? I wanna know if he could catch up with you." Dad used the icy tone. "It's all right, Tay. Mr.A, I made around 800k to 1m baht." P'New answered. "A month?" It was pa. Well, to be honest, I almost asked the same question. "No, a year. He could've made more if he could get a promotion, but someone intervened." It was p'New's dad. His name is mr.Pong and he's the captain at p'New's precinct. "Okay all of you, enough with the salary talk. Now, let's talk about something else." P'Tay tried to change the subject. Total silent. ('Insert crickets back sound'). "Where are you guys going to live, you know, if you ever get married?" Dad asked. "Dad, stop it." P'Tay tried to stop him but dad just glared at him. "Hmm, we planned to live at Tay's house." P'New answered. Wrong move. So totally wrong. He just went right to the trap. "Oooh, Tay's house. The one that WE bought for him, with OUR money. That's a little bit of a hypocrite, don't you think?" Okay, that's another jugular moment. Every single persons on the table fell silent. Not even a chewing sounds. Only the crickets back sound. P'New looked dad straight in the eyes. He's not backing down. "Mr.A, mr.Lift, once again, I would like to apologize for things that I did in the past. I know I was wrong, and I would do anything to make up for it." P'New started. Dad and pa stayed silent. "Dad, pa, please forgive him already. He's my happiness. Don't you want me to be happy?" P'Tay begged them. "Mr.A, mr.Lift, my son is a very good person. Yes, he made a mistake in the past, but he already apologized for that. And he made your son a very happy man. Isn't that enough?" P'New's mother defended her son. "Mrs.Yangyi, we understand what you're saying. You know what, how about this, we're going to reconsider this." Dad said to no one in particular. "And yes, we need to consider a lot of things, including the house, the business, and stuffs. If you don't believe me, I'll sign a prenuptial agreement for you. I want to marry Tay because I love him, not because he's rich. Please give us your blessing." Dad looked surprised. Suddenly, p'New's dad spoke. "Hmm. Mr.A, mr.Lift, I would like to smoke on the balcony. Care to join me?" Mr.Pong asked my dads to join him. They went to the balcony to smoke, just the three of them. 

"Nong, your name is Nanon, right? How old are you? What grade are you in?" P'New's little sister asked me. "Huh? Grade? Actually, I'm in my final year. Of college." How presumptuous of her. "Oh, judging from your cute clothes, and from your cute face, I thought you just started middle school." She smiled, mocking me. (And I also can hear Sea laughed from over there.) "Oh, but judging from your clothes and your hair, I thought you were p'New's much older sister." I smiled back. "Haha, very funny." She said with a flat tone. "And you, the handsome one, I assumed you're Nanon's older step brother. You're hot and really love your lil bro so much." She teased Ohm. I was about to say something but Ohm held my hand. "No, actually. This one here is Nanon's older brother." Ohm pointed at p'Jim, who waved to her. "And I am Nanon's boyfriend." He looked at me and smiled. "Piploy, that's enough. Stop teasing Nanon and Ohm." P'New ordered her to stop. I stuck my tongue out to mock her. She looked embarrassed. Score..!

We continued eating our dinner and have some small talk. After some moment, the dads got back to the table and dad said something that shocked every single persons at the table. Jaws were dropping, and I even heard a fork fell onto the plate. "New, welcome to the family, son." Dad and pa shook p'New's hand. Huh? What just happened? "Dad, are you alright?" P'Tay asked. "Mr.A, what the..?" P'New was about to say something. "Ah, don't be so formal. You're going to get married soon. For now, you can call us uncle A and uncle Lift like the other boyfriends and girlfriends." He slapped p'New's shoulder. Seriously, what's going on? Why the sudden change of mind? "Come on, let's continue eating. New, what's your favorite dish? You can order anything that you like." He turned into a different person. I looked at p'New's dad, who just sat there with a meaningful smile. He accidently caught me looking at him and smiled. Creepy.

We finished dinner and went back to the house. "Okay, that was really weird." Ohm got out of the bathroom. "Tell me about it. How can they changed their minds so fast." I'm confused. "Maybe it has something to do with the three of them at the balcony." I frowned. "But the good news is they finally accepted p'New, and that's what everyone want, right?" Ohm joined me in the bed. I nodded. That's true, whatever was happening at the balcony, the result is still good.

Weeks before graduation ceremony...

Ohm's POV

Finally, we did it. We're going to graduate. I'm so happy. After the last exams, plus our thesis and stuffs. We're really done with college. This is exciting and scary all at the same time. What's our next step? I knew Nanon wanted to run a shoe factory, and his dad already gave his green light. Meaning, he already built a factory for his son, and everything is ready to go, they just have to wait for Nanon to graduate first. And he already have the plan for it and all that. Me? I still have no idea what I'm gonna do with my life. Should I just take over dad's company? But, why? Dad is still too young for retirement. Should I open my own company? Hmm, what to do. Suddenly, my phone chimed. It was my dad. I read the text. 

D : son, are you free tomorrow?

O : sure, what's up?

D : can you come to my office?

O : what time?

D : around 3

O : okay, see u then

D : ask nanon to come with you

O : okay

"Nanon, my dad asked us to go to his office tomorrow. Can you come?" I asked him. "Hmm, sure." He sat on his working desk, designing the shoes for his company. I hugged him from behind and looked at his design. He's good. He loves shoes so much, that's for sure. "P'Ohm, what do you think of this one?" He showed me one of his design. "I think it's great." I answered. "Is it too much for everyday use?" He asked again, still not sure. "No, it's not. The design is simple yet still elegant. I'm sure everyone is going to love it." I tried to convince him. He nodded. Nanon already have plans for his new company. There's going to be two divisions. One is for everyday use, made for general public, with an affordable price. This one is going to have ON as its brand. The other one is for sports use, made for athletes, a little bit more pricey, and is going to have NNN brand. Okay, now I need to think of something. I don't wanna get left behind.

The next day...

 We went to my dad's office. When we entered the office, we saw dad, along with uncle A, uncle Lift and grandpa Break. "Ohm, Nanon, come in, sit here." Dad pointed to the sofa. We sat down and they started talking. "Here's the thing. We are currently building a new company." Dad said to no one in particular. "This company is a joint project between the four of us." Uncle A added. "And we want our kids to also be the share holders, along with us." Uncle Lift explained. "Now, here's the case. Ohm, we want you to be the CEO of the new company." Huh? Okay, this is so out of nowhere. "We've discussed about this, and we thought you're the perfect candidate for it." Hmm... "You don't have to give us the answer right now. Just think about it first, okay." I nodded. They continued explaining the concept of the new company, and we just sat there and bobbed our heads. We left the office a while later, still confused as to what happened. 

"Okay,  I'm confused to what just happened." Nanon said. We were in the car on our way home. "Yeah, me too. That was so out of nowhere. I have no idea our dads made a new project. And they never told us about it." And they asked me to head the new company. "And they just told us like it was nothing, not a big deal. They always did this, never told us anything. That was so weird." He shook his head. "Hmm. Weirder than our dads hooking up?" I asked him. "No. Just, different kind of weird. But seriously, they still thought we have no idea about them." He pouted. "Let's just keep it that way. It's better for everyone.  Maybe they don't want to hurt us. It's none of our business anyway." I told him. He nodded. We fell silent. "Non, should I take the job? Am I capable?" I asked him. I started to doubt myself. "P'Ohm, you know I hate it so much when you do that." He pouted. "Do what?" I frowned. "Do this. Doubting yourself. You know you're capable, you know you can do it. You're a good leader. I know it. You know it. So stop it. Stop doubting yourself." He held my hand. I smiled. "Thank you for always believing in me." I took his hand and kissed it. "Now, you still need to think about whether you're going to take it or not. Not because you're not sure you're capable, but because you need to be 100% sure you want this job or not." He gave me an advice. I nodded. I've got some thinking to do.

Nanon's POV

The graduation is near, and my whole family planned to attend the graduation ceremony. We were having dinner with my dads, when suddenly, out of nowhere, dad told me something I never thought he'd said. "Non, I've got a surprise visit today." He opened the conversation. "Huh? From who?" I asked, just to get the conversation rolling. "Your grandpaw." Huh? "And your mom." Huh? "Who?" I had to make sure. "Your biological mom." Pa added some information. "Whaatt..?? The egg donor? Eewww.. Out of every surprise in this world, you got the worst one." I joked around. "What did she want? Money?" I'm not surprised if she wanted that. "No. Umm. Actually, she wanted to go to your graduation." Huh? I dropped my spoon, and my jaw. "Why?" is the only question I can ask. "She said she want to redeem herself. She wanted to right the wrong." Dad explained. "But, you really don't have to say yes, okay. You can say no if you don't want to." He tried to make me feel.. umm.. not uncomfortable. "Can I... umm.. can I think about it first?" He nodded. "Whatever it is you decide, we're going to support you." Pa hugged me. 

Later that night, we laid in bed. I'm wide awake. I couldn't sleep at all. Ohm cuddled me from behind to stop me from tossing and turning. "P'Ohm, I don't know what to do. I haven't seen her in over twenty years." I told him. "Hmm. You don't need to decide right away." He kissed my hair. "But, you know you can just say no. You don't owe her anything. She decided to leave you." He gave me an advice. "Yeah, she sucked so bad. I wanted to yell at her." I told him. "I know, she's the worst." He hugged me tighter. "But.. if you're ready to forgive her, I'll be here for you." I turned around and got into his embrace. He stroked my hair and kissed my forehead. Ohm is the best boyfriend, ever. He still has to decide about the job, but he helped me first. He always put me on the pedestal. "P'Ohm, I love you so much." I told him. "I love you too." He pecked my lips. I closed my eyes and started to doze off. 

The next morning, I thought about what I want, and I came to a decision. I told Ohm about what I want, and he kissed my forehead. "I'll be 100% behind you." He told me. I smiled and held back a laughter but failed. "Why do I feel like Sea is going to jump out of nowhere and yelled 'just like you were last night.'" Ohm realized what I was saying and laughed so hard too.

We went down for breakfast, and I told my dad and pa. "Dad, pa, I've reached a decision." I took a deep breath. Ohm held my hand. "I don't want her to attend my graduation." They stayed silent. "But... I'm willing to meet with her, if she wanted to meet. I want to talk to her. I want to ask her. And if it's possible, I want to yell at her. But I want dad, pa, and p'Ohm to come with me. I don't want to be alone with her." I told them. "Okay, that's a very good choice. We'll talk to your grandpaw and arrange the meeting for you. But I agree with you. She doesn't deserve to be at your graduation." Dad agreed with me. 

Ohm's POV

I thought about what I want. Do I want to take the job or not. I thought harder, laid out the pros and cons. Maybe this is what I need to do. I wrote everything on the piece of paper. In the end, I've reached the decision and I told Nanon about it and he supported me like I supported him. I called my dad one evening. "Dad, I'm ready to give you the answer...."

Extra Scene 1 - The Smokers

This is what happened at the balcony at Tay and New's dinner.

Mr.A's POV

Lift and I rarely smoke. But we know this isn't about smoking. We really want to know what mr.Pong's going to propose. "So, let's get down to business, shall we?" He lighted his cigarette. We nodded. "Mr.A, mr.Lift, I recommend you guys to give your green light for them." I was about to say something when he cut me off. "And you're going to ask why, right?" I nodded. "Here's why. One, if we become in laws, you're going to get a full protection from me and New, that's for sure. Seriously, who's going to investigate the captain's in laws? No one. And that also applied to your other in laws, like, say, mr.Chane, maybe? I noticed his son is dating your son, Nanon." Hmm, interesting. "But, if we only wanted a protection, we can just get that from someone else. You don't think we've made it this far without someone to back us up, right." I challenged him. I wanted to know if he could give me more. He smiled. "I thought you would say that. Let me continue. Two. I'm going to give you one name. Clarice Trader. Sounds familiar?" He asked. I was taken aback. "How do you know that name?" Lift was taken aback too. He really got us with this one. "That's the name of the company that's been giving you a hard time, right? Well, we've got some information." He paused. This fucking bastard. "What kind of information?" Lift's getting impatient. "It's not that important. Just enough to shut them down and send the leader to jail." He winked. "And how can we be sure that you're not just saying things?" I asked. "You know I never play around when it comes to my job. It was just a coincidence." Okay, that's true. "Hmm. Supposed we still say no. What're you gonna do about it?" I want to know if he still has something for us. "Weelll.... you won't like the next one. Three. I know about what you guys did with Chane. Imagine if anyone, hmm, said, your precious son, find out about that, what is going to happen." What the fuck. "How dare you. How did you find out?" Okay, this is bad. "Don't worry, I won't say a thing to anyone. We are on the same team here. This is just a little payback for what you guys did to me. Remember, when you want New to stop snooping around, you guys did the same thing to me, forcing me to stop New's investigation." Hmm, yes we do. We got some proofs of his infidelity. "So, an eye for an eye. Come on, it will be fun if we become in laws. Just say yes already. I'm sure you guys won't regret it." He tried to convince us. "Okay, let's do this." We shook hands. "But mr.Pong, let's make sure this only stays between us, okay." He nodded. An eye for an eye. We went back into the room.

Extra Scene 2 - The Graduation Holiday

Ohm's POV

Weeks before graduation, Perth texted us in the group chat.

P : guys, listen

P : do you want to go somewhere after graduation

P : have some holiday

P : just the 4 of us

N : let's gooo

N : any idea?

P : maybe we could rent a villa

P : somewhere far from here

D : i'm down

D : count me in

O : me too

O : what about this place

O : *sent picture*

N : that's beautiful

O : okay, let's rent it

O : let me book the villa

P : agreed

N : ...........

N : perth

N : can i ask sea to tag along?

P : course you can

P : ask him

P : the more the merrier

N : okay, thanks

P : drake, do you want to ask love?

D : can't 

D : she's busy

N : sea's down for it too

P : nice

P : let's start planning the whole thing

We arrived at the villa and it was beautiful. It has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, so it's suitable for us. The villa is on top of the hill, so you can see a beautiful scenery from the balcony. We planned on having a barbeque party later. For now, we just relaxed and enjoyed life. Suddenly, I got an idea. "Guys, let's play hide n seek." I told them. "Okay, let's play." Drake was the most excited. "Okay, you guys hide, I'm going to count to 50 and start seeking." I told them. They started hiding. I placed my finger on my lips, signaling Nanon to be quiet and shook my head. He knows what I mean. I finished counting to 50, snuck out of the villa, and we biked to the town nearby. 

We got back 2 hours later. Sea and Perth were in the living room. Sea read a book, while Perth was playing with his phone. They saw us and shook their heads. "That was so mean, what you did. Luckily, I saw you guys head out so I stopped hiding." Sea complained. "Yeah, but you didn't tell me. I hid for like, 20 minutes before I realized what's going on." Perth complained too. I laughed, and Nanon just smiled that innocent smile. "Wait.. where's..." suddenly, Drake entered the room. "Ohm, what took you so long. I waited for so long for you to find me. Was my hiding spot too hard to find?" He looked excited. "Yes. Yes it was too hard to find. I gave up. You win this round. Wanna play another round?" I joked. "Come on, let's play another round. I'll do the seeking this time. I'll count to 50." Perth joked around too. "Oh, you won't be able to find me." Drake started running. "You guys are so evil." Nanon pretended to hold his chest but smiled so hard. "Come on, let's play some board game." Sea laid out the board. 

To Be Continued...