Ring. Ring. Ring.

"Hello. What's wrong? Why are you crying?....... I'll be right there."

Arthit hung up, and drove straight to the hospital like a maniac in Kongpob's Range Rover. The call that he has always been afraid of getting one day has finally come. Tears blurred his vision as he cut across the freeway. Luckily, there were minimal traffic at this hour, but the hospital is still across town, and far from where he is. So he stepped on the gas pedal not caring for the speed limit.

When he arrived at the hospital, he quickly ran up to the registration desk.

Arthit: Miss, please tell me where Ploy Juntapun is?

Nurse: Let me check. She is in operation room 4B. Please sign your name for a pass. Take the elevators on the right to the fourth floor, and then make a left. Follow the signs upstairs.

Arthit quickly signed in, and rushed to the elevators. When he reached upstairs, he frantically looked for signs to tell him where to go. He turned left, and saw a sign pointing down the hall for operation rooms.

He quickly ran down the hall almost knocking over a nurse passing by.

"Sir, please be careful."

Arthit turned around the corner, and saw his sister with her face in her palms, and elbows on her knees.

"Krystal!"

Krystal looked up to see her brother. She quickly got up to go to him.

"Arthit."

Arthit wrapped his arms around his sobbing sister.

"How is mom? Tell me what happened."

"Dad was drinking again....hic.... and mom was trying to stop him. He slapped her, and took a bottle to go upstairs.....hic...I tried to stop mom....Mom went after him, and....somehow mom fell down the stairs....she hit her head.....hic....on the banister. Dad was so drunk....hic....he didn't even realize mom had fell....he came down....and kicked her. I tried to block his kicks....but mom still ended up with internal bleeding. The doctor said they should be able to stop the bleeding."

Arthit took a better look at his sister. Krystal arms were covered with bruises and scrapes with crusty dried blood. He has no doubt that her back is covered in bruises too.

Arthit clenched his fists together. His father has gone too far this time. His heart ached for his mother and sister, but there was too much anger at the moment for tears.

"Where the fuck was Kohl? And where's dad? Did you guys call the police on him?"

"Kohl came back, and he beat dad because dad was a maniac. Dad wouldn't stop kicking and fighting....hic.... So, Kohl beat dad until he passed out. He told me to take Mom to the hospital....hic....so I don't know how they are now. I told Kohl I'm here though."

Arthit and Krystal sat outside of the operating room. Krystal held onto her brother's hand. She hasn't seen him for at least four months now. They've messaged and talked a few times over the phone, but life just got busy day by day.

Krystal really wants to leave home, but she can't leave her mother. She was offered a very nice job inside the city, but she chose a much smaller company because it's closer to home. She needed to be there when her father gets drunk, and he beats her mother. Sometimes, the beatings were severe. There was a time it got so bad that she couldn't walk for weeks. Krystal wished everything can go back to the days when they were little, and before her father got fired from the police force. She hates how Kohl drove Arthit out of the house, but she is happy for Arthit because he no longer has to stay in their suffocating home. She studied his warm hands, and looked at his face. Even though Arthit was upset at the moment, he at least looked healthy.

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

Krystal pulled out her phone, and walked away to take the call.

Krystal: Kohl, are you coming?

Kohl: How is she?

Krystal: She has internal bleeding, and they are operating on her now. The doctor said it's not too severe, and they should be able to stop the bleeding.

Kohl: Good. Dad has gone mad. He is knocked out, and I've locked him in his room. He has been getting worse. I don't think you should come back. It's not safe.

Krystal: Well, I will stay here at the hospital with mom.

Kohl: No. I mean you two should leave. Keep mom away from dad. I will try, and see if I can find a safe place for you two.

Krystal: But you know mom won't agree to leave dad.

Kohl: I can't watch him kill mom. I can't come home one day to find her dead.

Krystal: I will talk to Arthit about it.

Kohl: Is he there with you?

Krystal: Yeah, he has been here for about an hour now.

Kohl: Good. You're not alone. How is he handling it?

Krystal: He is upset of course, but he is looking good.

Kohl: I didn't ask how he looked.

Krystal: I know you want to know.

Kohl: Since he is there with you. I will come in the morning. I'll pack some of your stuff for you and mom. Let me know if anything happens.

Krystal: Okay.

~~~~~~

Kohl leaned against the wall, and slid down to his feet. He looked at his hand that is now swollen with red knuckles from punching his dad out. This is like a recurring nightmare for him, but today is the worst of them. He literally had to hold his father back from beating his mother to death. He doesn't know how much longer he can take this before he breaks.

Kohl is the eldest, so he is stuck with the responsibility to take care of the family. His father is an alcoholic that beats his mother when he is drunk. So, he must always be around to keep his father from over drinking in order to protect his mother. His mother refuses to leave his father, and he doesn't know what to do. He can't leave her to die. And as much as he hates his dad now, he used to idolize his father like a hero. How did their family get so messed up?

It's true, he finds homosexuality unnatural and maybe wrong. But he secretly does care about Arthit. He wished his little brother wasn't gay. He kind of had a hunch even before Arthit came out. He had only hoped to live in blissful ignorance until one day he moved out. That way he wouldn't have to reject his own brother, but his so-called best friend Ian screwed everything up. Kohl knew Arthit needed to get out of their house before their father killed him. Their father is not only homophobic, but he is hateful against all gays and lesbians. He was beating Arthit even when he wasn't drunk, he couldn't imagine how bad it would have gotten if he were.

So, he gave Arthit more reasons to leave home by being cold to him. He knows his brother looked up to him growing up. So, being the big brother, he let his little brother live freely. He gave Krystal all his savings that he made from his part-time jobs to give to Arthit when he left home. He made Krystal promise to never let him know that the money was his. He didn't want Arthit to look back.

Sighing. He can't blame his ex-girlfriend for leaving him after dating for seven years. He has nothing good to offer her. He doesn't want to marry her, not because he doesn't love her, but because he does. She deserves a life that's better than this. She shouldn't have to live in the same misery like him.

Kohl got up, and went to pack away some daily essentials, and some change of clothes for his mother and sister. He needs to find a place for Krystal and his mother to stay after they leave the hospital.

He can hear his father yelling in his drunken state inside his room.

Before Nawin Ronajpat lost his job, he had it all. Many people envied him. A promising career, and a beautiful picture perfect family. However, it all changed one day when he made one bad decision. They had been trying to catch a drug lord for many years. This guy was crippling all the towns nearby. When they finally got their hands on him, he was desperate to get him behind bars. When he heard that they might not have enough evidence on the scumbag to charge him, he did the unthinkable. He planted evidence on the bastard, and he was found out by his partner. He was good friends with the chief of police, and he had served for over twenty years in the force, so they let him off easy. They let him resign, and he was able to keep his pension.

He opened a small local store near their home with their life savings. And just when he was getting his life back together, he finds out that his second son is a homosexual. He was beyond disgusted. How did his career and his family get so fucked up? He tried hard to reason with Arthit that being gay was unnatural. It's even against biological evolution because same sex cannot procreate. But Arthit wouldn't listen, so he had to beat it out of him. He can't let him bring shame to their family, and crumble what's left of it. He tried to get Arthit to date a friend's daughter, and let him see the light. However, that ungrateful thing spouted more nonsense, so he had no choice but to beat him.

He was so tired of looking at his nagging and crying wife. So the only way he coped with his miserable life was to drink himself into oblivion. However, he hates himself when he sees what he has done to his wife the next day. His beautiful wife that married him when she was eighteen, and against all odds gave him a home. He was so ashamed of what he has become that he doesn't want to be sober anymore.

~~~~~~

"Krystal, call the doctor. Mom is crying. Maybe she is in pain." Arthit instructed his sister.

Krystal pressed the call button, but no one answered, so she ran out to get someone.

"Mom, are you okay? Can you hear me? It's Arthit. I've missed you so much." Arthit held his mother's hand against his teary wet cheek.

Ploy's heart has been broken into a million pieces already. Her beautiful family has been shattered for years. She has been desperately trying to mend it, but things keep getting worse. She is a simple woman that wanted only simple things. Her first and only love has now become a monster that she fears everyday. She has prayed, she has begged, and she has cried a river. She misses her second baby so much that it hurts to breathe. She hasn't seen his dimple smile for so long that her heart ached. Of all her children, Arthit looked like her the most.

Her husband had burned all the pictures in the house that had her baby Arthit in it. She cried so hard trying to tell him it took her 9 months, and almost her life to birth him, how can she just forget him? But her husband just went ahead and burned everything. So all she has now, is one little family photo album that Arthit made in school when he was nine, hidden behind her closet.

Many have asked why she won't leave her husband, but deep down, she wants to believe that her husband will change. They have vowed to be there for each other for better or worse. So she is living up to her vows, and she is in for the worse. She also doesn't know where she can go. She doesn't want to be a financial burden to her kids. Especially Arthit when he is all alone out there already. She has tried to go visit him secretly, but her husband caught her, and beat her until she couldn't walk for over a month. She doesn't know what she has done in her past life that she, and her family needs to suffer like this. If she can give her life in exchange for their happiness, then she would gladly do it.

Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep Beep

"Doctor! What is happening?"

~~~~~~
AN: Sorry for the delay in updating this story. I have been busy writing my new KongArt Christmas story 'All I Want'. Check that out if you have time. I promise a happy ending.

My heart is very heavy after writing this chapter. 😢 I'm going to go read some fluff now. See you soon.