Asnee had been in his office when the call came from May. The news that Santichai had returned home with a woman and a child sent a surge of white-hot rage through him. He threw his phone across the desk, canceled his afternoon meetings, and drove two hours at breakneck speed to Santichai's apartment. When he arrived, he saw exactly what he feared: Santichai leaning through a car window, sharing an intimate kiss with another man.
He waited until the car pulled away, then stepped out of the shadows to block Santichai's path.
Asnee smirked, his eyes dark and manic. "Santichai..."
Santichai recoiled, his heart hammering. "Asnee? How did you even find out I live here?"
"I have my resources," Asnee sneered. He lunged forward, grabbing Santichai's wrist with a bruising grip. "I should lock you up for this." He pulled Santichai roughly into his arms, forcing a hard, punishing kiss onto him.
Santichai struggled, pushing against Asnee's chest with everything he had. "Asnee! Stop! Please... be respectful!"
"Respectful?" Asnee hissed, his face inches from Santichai's. "You dare talk to me about respect after what I just saw?"
"Asnee, we are over. Please, just accept it," Santichai said, his voice trembling but clear. "You can go on with your life now. No one has to know we ever dated. Your parents will be proud of you; you're giving them the grandchild they want. I understand why you made your choice, and I'm not even angry. But please, stop this... this ambiguous love. We both know there is no light at the end of this tunnel."
Tears began to spill over, hot and bitter. "Asnee, please. I'm tired of looking at your back. I'm tired of walking three steps behind you. After ten years, I am just... exhausted. Drowning in your 'love' is a slow cruelty. Every time my boat capsized, you weren't there to pull me out of the water. I had to flip the boat alone, climb back in alone, and save myself every single time. If you have any feelings left for me at all, let me go. Don't imprison me again. I'm suffocating under the weight of your insults and your mother's judgment."
Asnee's grip softened, his expression shifting to a hollow kind of desperation. "Chai, I know I've done you wrong. I know. But I'm working on it. I promise you, from now on, I'll make up for everything. I'll be better. I promise."
Santichai wrenched his hand away, his voice rising to a shout. "Enough! It's enough, Asnee! I've moved on. I don't love you anymore! Do you hear me? I don't love you!"
Asnee shook his head, a delusional smile twitching on his lips. "I don't believe you. I know that deep down, you still belong to me."
Without a word, Santichai pulled out his new phone and dialed a number he knew by heart. After two rings, a sharp, familiar voice answered.
"Hello? Who is this?" Mrs. Siriporn asked.
Asnee's face went pale. He lunged for the phone. "What are you doing? Hang up!"
Santichai stepped back, out of Asnee's reach, his eyes fixed on his former lover with cold, dead clarity.
"Hello, Mrs. Siriporn," Santichai said into the phone. "I'm at the Oceanview apartment complex. Please come and pick up your son. He's making a scene."
On the other end of the line, Mrs. Siriporn's voice erupted in a shrill, piercing rage. "Santichai Kittibun! You dare to seduce my son again? I won't let you get away with this! You evil, ungrateful, white-eyed fox!"
Asnee lunged, snatching the phone from Santichai's hand and hurling it against the pavement. The screen shattered—the second phone Santichai had lost in as many days.
"Why did you call her?" Asnee roared, his eyes bloodshot and manic. "Are you two a team now? Is that it? If all you want is money, Chai, I can give you more than she ever could! What did she promise you? How much is she paying you to ruin me?"
Santichai looked at the wreckage of his phone, then back at Asnee with a look of profound pity. "Your thoughts are exactly like your mother's. You both think the world revolves around bank accounts. You can't even imagine that I just want you gone. I'm done talking to you. Leave. Now."
Santichai turned to walk away, but Asnee's hand flew out. The crack of the slap echoed in the quiet stairwell, sending a stinging heat across Santichai's cheek. Before he could recover, Asnee seized him by the shoulders.
"Listen to me!" Asnee screamed, shaking him with a violent, bone-jarring force. "Keep it in your head and your heart—you are mine! You belong to me, and I will never let anyone else have you!"
"Let go of me!" Santichai yelled, his voice cracking. Every shake sent a lightning bolt of agony through his healing back, the stitches screaming under the strain. He clawed at Asnee's hands, but the grip was like iron.
Suddenly, the night was flooded with blue and red strobes. A police cruiser screeched to a halt at the curb, and two officers bolted toward them.
"Police! Get your hands off him!"
They didn't wait for Asnee to comply. They tackled him, pinning him face-down against the concrete. The sound of the handcuffs ratcheting shut was the most beautiful thing Santichai had heard all year. Asnee was still shouting, his face pressed into the grit, as a second cruiser pulled up.
A third officer approached Santichai, who was leaning against the wall, trembling and clutching his back. "Mister, we need you to follow us to the station to give a formal statement."
"I... I live right here," Santichai whispered, his strength failing him.
"I understand," the officer said, his voice firm but not unkind. "But this is a domestic assault with a witness. We need the statement tonight. Please, follow us back."
Inside the station, Santichai sat at a metal table, his voice low and steady as he gave his statement. Across the building, held in a cold detention cell, Asnee was finally out of reach.
When Santichai finished, the young officer looked up from his notes. "Do you want to proceed with criminal charges?"
Santichai shook his head slowly. "No. I just want him to stay away from my home."
"In that case, would you like me to file a restraining order? It would legally require him to stay one hundred yards away from you, your home, and your workplace."
"Yes," Santichai said. "Please."
The officer slid a paper across the table. "List all the locations you frequent." Santichai picked up the pen and wrote down the clinic, the university, and his apartment. He handed it back, his hand trembling slightly. "Am I free to go?"
"You're free to go, Mr. Kittibun."
As Santichai walked toward the exit, the heavy glass doors swung open. Mrs. Siriporn marched in, flanked by three men in suits. She froze, her gaze cutting through Santichai like a blade. Santichai didn't fight back; he simply stepped aside, fixing his eyes on the floor until she swept past him. Only then did he slip out into the evening air.
Mrs. Siriporn sat down with her lawyer, her voice echoing in the sterile room. "Why is my son locked in a cage while that lunatic is allowed to walk free?"
The officer didn't blink as he handed a stack of documents to the lawyer. "Because when we arrived, your son was the clear aggressor. You should be thankful the 'lunatic' didn't press charges, or your son would be facing jail time for assault and trespassing."
A few minutes later, Asnee was escorted to the table. He looked disheveled, his eyes darting around the room. "Ma..." he rasped. "Where's Chai?"
"Focus on your lawyer, Mr. Siriporn," the officer snapped. "Try to understand the gravity of the situation."
"I didn't do anything wrong!" Asnee shouted.
The lawyer interjected smoothly, "Officer, I will review the terms of the restraining order with my client." Once the police stepped away, the lawyer leaned in. "Mr. Kittibun has filed a restraining order. You must maintain a distance of one hundred yards. Any breach will result in a three-thousand-baht fine, three months in detention, or both. It is valid for six months. Sign here."
"I won't sign it!" Asnee roared. "Chai wouldn't do this to me!"
Mrs. Siriporn shoved the pen into his hand, her face a mask of cold fury. "You will sign it. Your father is so disgusted he refused to even come here."
Asnee's hand shook as he scrawled his name.
When they finally exited the station, Asnee spotted a lone figure sitting on a bench at the bus stop. For a second, the world blurred—he saw a vision of them years ago, two boys in high school uniforms, laughing and fooling around. Seeing Santichai waiting for the bus, so solitary and small, hit Asnee with a wave of delayed realization. He had neglected this man for a decade, and now that he wanted to make it right, the world was pulling them apart.
Asnee took two steps toward the bench, but his mother's hand clamped onto his arm. "Have you forgotten? One hundred yards, Asnee!"
The old bus wheezed to a halt. Santichai stood in line, his head bowed, and stepped onto the vehicle without looking back. Asnee wrenched his arm free from his mother and began to run.
"Chai!" he screamed as the bus pulled away. "Chai!"
Inside the bus, a woman at the back pointed out the window. "Hey, someone's chasing the bus!"
Passengers craned their necks to look, but Santichai kept his eyes locked on his lap. He knew exactly who it was. "Asnee, stop chasing the busy," he whispered to himself. "Silly fool. Stop chasing the bus."
He covered his mouth as tears finally broke free. His mind flashed back to the day he had chased Asnee's car until his feet bled. He remembered the agony of shouting, "Asnee, please stop! I don't want to break up! Please!" He remembered watching Asnee's car speed up, leaving him face-down in the dirt.
Outside, Asnee's legs gave out. He collapsed onto the sidewalk, his hand outstretched toward the receding bus. "Santichai Kittibun!" he wailed, hitting the pavement with his fist. "I never meant to break up with you! Please! Let's get back together!"
But the bus didn't stop. It disappeared into the city lights, leaving Asnee crying in the very same dust he had left Santichai in years before.