When someone bids farewell to this world, it is never just one person who leaves. With them, countless bonds vanish, countless memories fade into silence.
So it was, after Talotkan's departure.
Inside the grandmother's heart, and throughout the house, there lingered a hollow emptiness...as though something had been pulled away from her very soul.
Beside her sat Yim, her head resting in Grandmother's lap, tears flowing without pause. Six days had passed since Talotkan's passing, yet disbelief still clung to them. It felt unreal.
It still seemed as though Talotkan had only stepped outside for a while, and would soon return.
But hearts and souls knew the truth: she would never return.
Grandmother, however, understood what Yim could not. She knew that time was not meant to be spent breaking, but mending. What was gone could never be reclaimed, yet what remained could still be held together.
She placed her trembling hand upon Yim's head, stroking it gently, her voice filled with firm yet tender resolve:
"Yim… hold yourself together, child. Life does not always bring us good things. In chess, we know from the beginning that in the end, one king must fall, and yet we still play the game. So it is with the real world. Not all lives walk the same path together. Sometimes, those who arrive first leave last, and those who arrive last depart first. No one stays together for an entire lifetime.
Talotkan's next journey has already begun. We must let her go, Yim…"
Meanwhile, Phop Rak and Akat were pouring every ounce of their strength into searching for Talotkan. And at last, they discovered a lead.
From a villager, they learned of a girl named Talotkan who lived in a forested area and owned a small cloth-dyeing shop.
Without a shred of doubt, Phop Rak's heart told him...this was no stranger. It could only be his sister. His chest burst with childlike joy at the thought: at last, I will meet Mother.
With no money left after so many days of searching, he and Akat set out on foot without hesitation.
But they were not the only ones moving toward fate. The police had also traced Phop Rak's location. Not just Pranee, but even Akat's parents were searching for them. In the end, all forces decided to head out together.
Preparations were swift. By evening, the journey would begin.
But none of them knew…
what grief, what mourning, what tragedy awaited them in the shadows ahead.