Third person POV:

The next morning found Pete in good health. At some point in the night, vegas had transferred him to the bed fearing that the discomfort of the sofa was going to hinder his recovery.

"How are you feeling now?" Tankhun enquired.

"Healthy as ever!" Pete was full of energy after a hearty breakfast and was ready to rock the day along with Porsche and Tankhun.
By the time pete woke up, vegas had already left for work and even though a part of him was a little sad for not getting even a glimpse of him, a major part was thankful since he had no energy to get into any sort of argument.

But the happiness and enthusiasm didn't last for long, for, his father was at the residence to see him.

"I am worried about my son's health. Poor child got fever on his very first day." Was what he had said everyone.

Pete was alone in his room, waiting for his father to enter when he did, with a big smile on his face, wearing the mask of a loving father. He closed the door behind him and his smile dropped immediately.

Pete's POV:

"Sawasdee khrap pha-" I tried to greet him but before I could complete my sentence, a slap landed on my face. My cheek stung from the impact.

Is my cheek bleeding?
I thought to myself, reluctant to deal with interrogations and worries from the family members that naturally would follow after seeing the cut on my cheek.

But it definitely wasn't, my father wasn't an amateur when it came to hitting me.

There's no way he would've left a mark
I sighed internally. I had absolutely no interest in giving everyone an insider of my life so soon.

"You idiotic son! You were always a trouble maker but atleast you could've tried to stay under control during these days. Do you know how embarrassed I was when I got you know that you fell ill on your very first day?!" He spewed hatred.

He was infuriated. The anger so visible in his eyes made me shudder for once, but thankfully his senses were still working to keep him sane enough to not try and kill me.

He grabbed my face in his clutch hold making me wince internally. The grab was amplifying the sting from earlier.

I felt a lump in the back of my throat and my eyes immediately shot up.

No no no no! I can't be crying infront of him!!
My hands were behind my back to refrain myself from reacting, protecting myself or dodging any hit that was aimed at me. It was something I had been taught to do in presence of phaw since my early childhood.
I begged and cursed myself to not even shed a single tear and when I couldn't think of any alternative anymore, I took out the blade that I had been hiding in my pocket as discreetly as I could and after lifting my sleeve up, pierced the sharp object into my skin but not deep enough to make my eyes tear up.
The pain instantly took over the one I was feeling because of the slap and being reprimanded. I felt the lump dissipating and sighed in relief.

Father chided me for a while more until he had to leave eventually.
"Don't dare to cause any more trouble from now on...you don't know what I can do" He threatened me for one last time.

I do father...I definitely do
The various scars and bruises on my body spoke while all I could do was nod. Nod, nod, nod, was all I could ever do! Never could I protest! Never could I live the way I wanted to, never could I stand up to him! All I could do was NOD A YES!

I laughed at my helplessness and the way I played a victim, I hated myself, more than anyone, I deserved every bit of what I was suffering, my existence held close to no meaning.

I smiled, I felt my eyes going blank as my words came out on their own accord.

"Yes phaw, I'll keep that in my mind" I heard my voice say. It felt like I was sitting inside a hall, watching all the events unfold infront of me. A day of care had completely separated myself from my mind, creating a rift, making my body and mind act as if I wasn't their master, as if I was only a part of the audience with no right to pass any command.

Father glared at me for the last time and tidied up his clothes before leaving the room. I let go of the breath I was holding and slumped on the bed.

"Just 15 minutes with him alone and I'm already so exhausted" I sighed.

Unwillingly though, I had to sit up and treat my cheek to prevent it from bruising up.
"Why can't he just stay out of my life?" I whined knowing very well that it wasn't possible.

About an hour or so later, I got a text from Porsche informing me to get ready since we were supposed to go out.

I sprung onto my feet and was ready in an instant. I was excited about finally getting to go out somewhere.

I wore a white t-shirt paired with my full sleeved cream-coloured jacket and a pair of beige pants.

The jacket worked perfectly to hide the fresh cuts that I had applied medication on.

After half-an-hour more, we all were standing at the front gate all set to have as much fun as possible.

"So where is the special place that you were talking about?" Khun raised his eyebrows.

"Oh? Are you finally interested?" Porsche teased him.

"No, just curious" He tried to defend himself

"Still counts as being interested" Porsche chuckled as he occupied the drivers seat.

"Are y'all ready to see me fight?" He said out of the blue and with no further explanation flew out into the road and then to some place that we had no idea about.

After about driving for 15 minutes, we reached an alley that looked like it was a hub for all crimes. The one where drug exchange and murders usually occur in the movies.

A guy probably the same age as Porsche and I approached us and hugged Porsche before proceeding to shake hands with me and Khun.

Khun was visibly shocked by what he was wearing and I knew that he was secretly judging him already.

"This is my friend Tem" Porsche introduced him to us and soon we all were led to a place below the ground. We passed through a flight of stair and could already hear the cheers before actually entering the place. Instinctively I knew that we were going towards an underground ring...

As soon as the door was opened, a wave of hollers and whistles hit us straight in the face nearly deafening us. We walked through the crowd and reached the front row to get the best view.

After getting ready to fight, Porsche went towards the ring to enter and start with the round and chants of his name instantly overtook all those random chantings.

"Porsche! Porsche! Porsche" The crowd cheered making him smile in ecstasy. The half-naked man standing inside the ring eyed him as if he was waiting to snap him into two like a twig but Porsche seemed confident in his abilities, almost as if he had seen the future, as if there weren't any possibilities of him getting defeated.

For a second I feared that it was overconfidence but the moment I saw him swing his fist, I knew that he was the real deal.

My mouth hung open as I watched him swiftly dodge every blow and land an attack of his own on his opponent. The way his glistening arms moved, the way he smiled proudly borderline mockingly at his opponent, and the way he licked his lips while waiting for the bloodied man to stand up again and continue with the fight, everything screamed perfection and power.

"Oih! I know he's hot but we don't want one more kid crushing on Porsche. Kinn isn't going to like it." Khun chuckled making me feel embarassed for eyeing him like that and causing a misunderstanding.

"I- was just awestruck after seeing his moves" I tried to explain looking all flustered.

"I know I know...you can stop being so tense and formal around me. Let yourself loose a little" He said.

The fight soon came to an end and Porsche came back towards us, holding the prize money in one hand and smiling as brightly as ever.

We all congratulated him and just as we were celebrating among us and deciding what should our next destination be, we heard people screaming and rushing out of the place.

Apparently the illegal fighting ring was being raided which meant we had only two options left, either escape the place by any means or let ourselves be taken away by the authorities. Thus, we chose the obvious answer.

Porsche grabbed my hand while Arm and Pol grabbed Khun and after a single nod, we kicked our feet, activated our flight instinct and ran as fast as our legs allowed us to.

Porsche navigated the way through a number of tunnels and narrow alleys and after a while of running, we could no longer hear the voices anymore. After running through what felt like a maze, we were finally back on the surface after running up an elevation.

We all were panting heavily as we stood there for a while to catch our breaths, even though it was a little dangerous, it felt really exciting to me. The adrenaline rush that I felt couldn't be explained, even though I was previously scared, I enjoyed every second of the new experience.

While we were still panting, Porsche and I looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"That was crazy" I said as I slumped down and he sat down leaning against my left-arm. "Yes" He whispered.

I could no longer wait to see what more we were going to do for the day.