Chapter 21: Moments of Reflection. 

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"Fight for those 

who keep you 

even on your 

worst days."

-perry poetry-

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| I N D A H |

Going to the province has always been the highlight of my year. I really liked that place. It was calm. No wonder his mother loved it.

Kirun may be someone I don't get along with, but I still admire the guy. He was so small when his mom passed away and the way he is with Krystal shows how much of a good guy he is. I met Krystal when I visited the Huxley Christmas Banquet with Kanak's family. She was an amazing girl. I didn't expect her to be so down to earth and easy going. Not when you have seven boys at the tip of your fingers like she does. But the boys love and cherish her like the little girl she is. And K, he treats her like his own child despite the 5 year gap.

"You okay there?" I was snapped out of my trance by Krystal's voice. She smiled at me and I nodded, sipping on my coffee.

"So how's school?" I asked her and she groaned, running her hands through her thick brown hair. Kirun and her have the same hair colors. This makes me miss my old hair.

"School is......... tiring" she said and I chuckled, crossing my right leg over the left.

We were sitting at the small café of the resort, sipping coffee while K ran some random errands. I knew he went to the Banyan Tree in the town center and I respected his decision to leave the two of us behind. He has this fascination with that tree.

"Come on! It is just high school" I said and she groaned.

"Please tell me college is better. Please" she begged and I laughed again.

"I wish. Engineering is not hard. It is challenging." I replied, sipping on the coffee again.

"Ah. I want to try civil engineering." she said, sitting up straight and leaning forward on the chair.

"That is so nice. IUST?" I asked her and she laughed.

"Of course. I have no where else to go"

"Ah sure. I will tell my juniors to look out for you" I told her and she grinned.

"So you and my brother?" she asked me and my eyes widened.

"Your brother and I what exactly?" I asked her, biting the tip of the straw in between my front teeth.

"Come on Indah. I know he really likes you" she said and I shook my head.

"He doesn't like me that much" I muttered before sipping my coffee. It was almost finished.

"That much? Have you seen how he gets when you are around?!" she asked me incredulously and I leaned on the chair, smiling at her.

"No. I don't. Because there is nothing between us" I replied and she sighed deeply.

"Oh how I wish there was" she whispered but I heard it alright.

"Why?"

Her green eyes met mine and she grinned brightly.

"It would be nice having you around. Plus I know you make my brother happy. Also......." she said and I raised an eyebrow.

"Also?"

"That t-shirt looks nice on you" she winked and I swear I was crimson red. How did she-?

"Ah.... he and I got the same ones from LA two years ago" she said and I chuckled nervously.

"Still say you both have nothing going on?" she asked me, leaning forward on her crossed legs.

"Uh yeah" I muttered and she smirked.

"That cardigan-"

"Is his. I know. I got it a few weeks ago when I was over at-" I stopped dead on my speech. She doesn't need to know that.

"Over at his dorm. Yes I know that too"

I stared at the girl in front of me with my mouth ajar.

"Is there anything you don't know?" I asked her and she shrugged, sipping on her drink.

"As P'Kirun looks out for me, I do the same. Even though I don't keep tabs about him like he does on me, I know everything that goes around him. I just want my brother to be happy, P'Indah" she said and I smiled at the girl.

"You are really brave, you know" I told her and she scoffed, smiling slightly.

"I am far from brave. I was and still am, under my brother's protection and shade. He never let me face anything alone. He even opted to start school late for me. Dad insisted him to go ahead with his education because he has to inherit the business. P'Kirun made sure I was safe all the time. I still remember him staying home from school just to take care of the sick me. He took over the mother role after mom died" she told me. By now, her eyes were glistened with tears. I smiled at her tearful form.

The bond between the two siblings is so amazing.

"And I want you to know, your brother would always be there for you" I told her and she gave me a small smile.

"I wish he would. No matter how hard I try to keep things from him, he'd know. And unlike most brothers, he won't pester me about it. He'll just leave it until I cave in and tell him" she said and I chuckled.

"Kirun is like that I guess. He won't tell you what he exactly feels until its all too much for him to keep"

"Exactly. His emotions can be a little over whelming when he finally opens up after a long time."

That is when it hit me.

He hides it all until he can't take it anymore. He would blurt it out-

"It is a thing of his. He blurts it out upon instinct when he can't take anymore of things" she explained, smiling.

My mind was reeling. He kissed me, because it was instinctive. His crush, I don't even know if I can call it that, on me is not a recent thing! It has to be gradual because Kirun never does anything impulsive. I know that much about him. I know that he bottles up his thoughts and emotions until he can't take it anymore and thats when he blurts it all out.

Like he said he liked you.

Suddenly, I felt lightheaded. This was all too much for me. I haven't even fully recovered from the Ace incident- which reminds me. I turned to Krystal and she raised an eyebrow at me.

"Do you know Ace?" I asked her and her happy expression dropped.

"Ace as in?"

"Ace Phanigawan" I said and she heaved a sigh.

"Oriace Phanigawan" she corrected me and I raised an eyebrow. "His name is Oriace Phanigawan. He is uncle Phanigawan's only son"

"You know them?"

"His father and my mother are siblings. We never got along. Especially since we were frowned upon for having no mother nor governess." she said and I frowned.

"How does that have to-"

"In my mom's family, it is frowned upon if you have two or more children without a governess. There has to be someone looking after the children apart from the mother and father. Since mom was sick and P' Kirun looked after me while the nurse looked after mom, dad didn't bother hiring a governess. We always had extra people here to look after us. So because of that, they frowned upon us. Mom has only one sister and only one brother. My mom's sister visits us some times but mostly stays away from the family drama. Dad doesn't want us to be in that drama so we hardly visit them. That is why we are mostly with Isy Mom" she explained and I nodded, understanding where she came from.

I never had a governess though. I was with mom all the time. Of course, that meant I had been travelling since I was a baby but I'm not complaining.

"So you guys don't like Ace?" I asked her and she shrugged.

"Not necessarily but in a way, yes. He did pretty nasty things to us when we were kids. P' Kirun has a scar from the fight of theirs till today" she laughed and I raised an eyebrow.

"It was the summer after my first grade and we were so excited. I was excited to spend time with Ophelia, Ace's little sister. She was my good friend that time. So we went over to their place and while playing, Ace accidentally pushed me into the pool. I knew how to swim but I was not perfect at it. My brother being the hot headed person he was, he punished Ace after he pulled me out of the pool. Ace and him began fighting and Ace threw the garden rake at P' Kirun. The rake was of iron with sharp pointy edges on one side. The same side hit his back" she winced and my eyes widened.

"What?!"

"Yup. P' Kirun didn't do the same back though. He simply gave Ace death glares until his mom came and that too, blamed my brother for initiating it. Isy mom was so pissed at them that day. But since then, we never went to their place."

I frowned looking towards the pastry in the glassed counters.

"That is so bad"

"Yeah"

"Anyway, I am hungry. Where is your said brother?!"

| Snippet. |

The most eligible Bachelor of Thailand, the man who had it all, the youngest most successful businessman of Thailand; were some things that Tanawat Arthit was called.

He was seen as a model for many and envied by some. He was loved by women and their mothers while the fathers tried to keep their daughters away. Not because he was a Casanova, no. But because he was harsh. He was known to break hearts with his straightforwardness.

That was until he fell in love.

He was on a business trip to Canada where he saw the most beautiful woman. The woman he instantly knew would be perfect for him.

But of course, that came with the price of being slapped publicly. That was some news, the fans of Tanawat Arthit would never forget.

This was Kairah Charlerm, a landscape artist. She had black hair and a pale skin that complimented her green eyes. The same eyes Tanawat fell in love with.

With persistence, he married the woman of his dreams and began his life with her. Kairah wasn't like any woman he's met before. She was fierce and outspoken, an activist for feminism and a great landscape artist. She had a fiery of passion and persistence, something Tanawat admired.

Their life was going happy until she gave birth to Kirun. The couple was more than happy with a beautiful son of their own until Kairah began getting sick on random occasions. It started with small bouts of lethargy and fever until it became serious where she began to lose consciousness momentarily.

The couple consulted the best doctors from around Thailand and the world, only to find out that she had Leukemia, blood cancer. By the time they had confirmed it, she was already pregnant with Krystal and upon finding out the risks of chemotherapy on the unborn baby, she refused treatment altogether.

By the time Krystal was born, Kairah was in the last stage of cancer. Her husband and son devoted their time to her, built memories with her and eventually, saw her to the last breath.

Kirun wasn't there to see her take the final breaths but he had beautiful memories of her.

The promise he made to his mother of keeping Krystal forever safe and happy, became his priority and he prayed to any deity above that he carries out the promise until his last breath.

To this day, Tanawat never remarried and each night, when he sees the moon and stars, he misses his Kairah. He tells her about her children and how beautiful they had grown up to be, about how he hoped she'd be proud of them too and how he was proud to call himself their father. He would cry, wipe his tears and put up a strong front.

Because to Tanawat Arthit, his children are the symbols of Kairah and his love and he would stand as a protective wall in between them and the harsh world.

His children are his everything. His and Kairahs.

A love that never faded away.

A love that forever remained.

Etched in history.

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CALL IT A CHRISTMAS SPECIAL GUYS! :) 

| R C V |

Xx,

 -aalihha-