After applying the ointment, the master closed the tin, put it back in his pocket, and left, leaving Khem in a state of confusion, his face still flushed and his lips tightly pressed together.
The master was kind to him again...
Khem shook his head, pinching his own thigh to prevent himself from feeling more than he should, because soon the master would likely revert to his cold, indifferent self as usual.
Yes, absolutely no self-indulgent thoughts.
After slapping his cheeks to regain his composure, he stood up and walked towards the stairs on the left side, intending to take another shower before bed.
Unbeknownst to him, Jett was hiding behind a jar, biting his fist to stop the tears, while Chan sat beside him, patting his shoulder in comfort.
The two had intended to tell Khem that they wouldn't be returning to their room to sleep tonight, and that he should lock the door properly. But seeing that Khem wasn't in the room, they came looking for him and witnessed the whole scene, choosing to hide behind the jar out of fear of being noticed.
"The master has feelings but doesn't say so. If he finds out later that I encouraged Khem to move on with Phii Pong, I'm sure I'll be put in a pot and thrown into the water." Jett lamented. Chan shook his head.
Not denying the thought that the master might have feelings for Khem, which anyone could see, but shaking his head at Jett's unfounded fear. How could Chan be the one to get dunked in a pot? Besides, the master wasn't that irrational.
"Crazy." Chan seemed to mutter to himself more than anything, causing Jett to turn towards him because he didn't hear clearly.
"What did you say?" Chan adjusted his glasses and gently swatted a mosquito off Jett's knee.
"Can you get up now? I've been swatting mosquitoes for you until I'm tired. Why do you wear shorts anyway?" Jett glared.
"Let's get up then, you're getting more and more annoying by the day!"
By morning, the village chief, who had heard the news from the master the night before, came to the master's house to take his son to the hospital for further treatment. Father and son paid their respects to the master before leaving.
"I've had someone investigate. It seems Klaa knew that Jett and Pong were going to the temple fair together, so he set up an ambush, hoping to harm Pong to prevent him from boxing against him. Unfortunately, we couldn't catch him due to lack of evidence. Plus, the people at the scene couldn't even remember what happened last night." The village chief said, frustrated.
Pharan listened quietly without responding, as it seemed the village chief just wanted to vent his frustration. Without evidence, they had to let it go.
The reason the people involved couldn't remember wasn't because they forgot; it was more likely that they had been under some form of magical influence from the beginning.
"..."
"I warned him not to go far from home, to listen to the master's advice, but he was stubborn and had to go out. I apologize for him disturbing you at this hour." The village chief continued, giving his son a stern look.
However, Pong's eyes seemed to be constantly searching for someone.
Pharan looked at Pong, then set down his coffee cup and nodded, replying calmly, "Don't worry too much, Subdistrict Head. It's just a common illness now. Take him to the doctor quickly."
The village chief thanked the master for his help before leaving with his son to the hospital.
Pong wanted to say goodbye to Khem and get his phone number before leaving, but it appeared Khem wasn't around. He didn't dare ask Pharan for it. In the end, he had to bow to the master and leave without fulfilling his wish.
After they left, Jett, Khem, and Chan returned from the forest behind Pharan's house, carrying a large bag of oyster mushrooms.
At first, Jett didn't understand why, out of nowhere, the master wanted chicken tom yum soup with oyster mushrooms that morning, sending them into the woods to fetch some. Fortunately, they didn't encounter any wild boars or spirits of the forest, as they didn't have to go deep to fill the bag.
Upon returning, they saw that Phii Pong's car and the village chief's car had just left, missing each other by mere minutes, and suddenly everything made sense. Jett was left with his mouth agape at the master's genius...
But Khem, who was unaware of the situation, upon seeing that Pong had already left, expressed his regret. He remembered how Pong had held his hand to run away from the trouble last night, realizing he hadn't even thanked him yet.
"Phii Pong has already left. I went through all the trouble of cooking rice thinking I could make some congee for him to eat."
Jett, who was washing mushrooms in a basin beside him, made a face of disappointment. He wasn't sure if the master, who was reading the newspaper at the dining table behind them, had heard, so he quickly changed the subject with his close friend.
But there was no way the master didn't hear.
After finishing their meal, the master called Jett, Khem, and Chan into the storage room to help sort through the old toys in the large glass display cabinet that were still in good condition. They placed these toys into plastic crates to be donated to representatives from the orphanage who were due to visit the village that morning.
These toys in the cabinet were bought by Pharan's grandfather, but young Pharan didn't much enjoy playing with typical children's toys, preferring to collect them instead of playing with them, which meant many items were still in excellent condition.
He had been contemplating what to do with these items for years, whether to donate them, feeling they were a keepsake from his grandfather, and he felt an attachment to them after keeping them for so long, but he also didn't want to be overly attached to material possessions.
And finally, he decided it was time to donate them.
"Do you guys want to donate anything as well?" The master asked. Chan remembered he had some blank notebooks and a new stationery set he hadn't used yet. He decided to donate these too, since he had forgotten his old notebooks and pens at home and bought new ones for emergencies, but now he had no need for them.
Jett had several old phones he used for gaming, but brought only two with him. Lately, he hadn't been playing much, so he followed Chan out to get them.
As for Khem, he had eight round toy figures he won the previous night; he planned to donate seven and keep one for himself. Decided, he ran after Jett.
Soon, all three returned, placing their items into the crate with the master's toys.
Pharan looked at Khem's seven chubby toys with a blank expression before closing the crate and having a disciple take it downstairs.
At that moment, the village chief's pickup truck pulled up in front of the house, as the master had called ahead to arrange for someone to pick up the donations. The master sat in the passenger seat, while the three kids, after loading the crate, agilely hopped into the back.
When they arrived at the village community hall, the master, in a dark gray long-sleeved collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up, revealing the five-line yantra tattoo on his left arm and the diamond-shaped yantra on his right, wore a black stone bracelet on his left wrist and a tiger skin scroll amulet left by his grandfather.
And something that couldn't be missed were the sunglasses. Many might wonder why the master always wore them when leaving the house. There were two main reasons: one, the master's eyes were sensitive to light, possibly due to his irregular sleep schedule; the other, he didn't want women to look into his eyes because it often led to trouble.
There was even an instance where someone tried to climb into his house, Jett swore this wasn't made up.
Upon entering the pavilion, the master handed over donations to the representative from the orphanage, along with a sum of money, just like many times before. The orphanage representative only came to collect donations from the villagers here once every two or three months.
Then, they took a photograph, with the photographer being someone from the orphanage. Even though they had asked the master to pose for photos every time they came, they wanted to take another one, seemingly to add to their gallery.
Jett, Khem, and Chan were called to join in the photo. Jett, seeing the master standing still, pushed Khem into place next to the master. Khem, caught off guard, accidentally bumped his nose lightly against the master's arm.
"Sorry." Khem closed his eyes, expecting a scolding, but the master merely glanced at him and told him to stand properly. Khem then shot Jett a
glare and stepped on his foot, causing Jett to nearly yell from the pain, but Chan, standing beside him, quickly covered Jett's mouth, just as the photographer snapped the picture...
After that, the four of them walked to visit Grandma-Si at her house.
Upon arrival, they saw Grandma-Si baking sweets in the kitchen, the sweet aroma and white smoke of palm sugar sweets wafting out to the front of the house.
The master, Khem, and Chan waited outside while Jett went to call Grandma-Si. Not long after, Grandma-Si came out, with Jett carrying a tray of freshly made palm sugar sweets.
"Come in, come in, sit in the house, let's cool off with the fan and have some sweets." Grandma-Si said in the Isan dialect, gesturing for them to enter. With her permission, Khem and Chan took off their shoes and followed the master inside.
Pharan sat on a plastic chair that Jett had brought over, next to Grandma-Si. The others sat around a low wooden table on the floor, with a tray of appetizing palm sugar sweets in front of them, their aroma filling the air.
"Grandma made these sweets just in time, thinking of sending them through the village chief for you all to eat at your place. What brings you here?"
The master, who had taken off his sunglasses and tucked them into his shirt collar, responded in the same dialect with a gentle, deep voice.
"I've brought some donations for the children, and heard you weren't feeling well. So I brought these folks to visit."
Grandma-Si nodded, her cloudy eyes seeming to sparkle with delight. As an elderly woman without children or grandchildren to look after her, a visit showing concern was something to be happy about.
"I'm much better now. No need to worry, old people are like this, Master.
Come, eat." Grandma-Si said, reaching into the tray to hand the master a plate of palm sugar sweets she had set aside for him, so the children could eat after him.
Once the master had taken a piece, Khem and Jett, who were waiting, smiled and took some for themselves. Chan, however, ate his food more reservedly.
Then Grandma-Si started talking to the master about other things. Khem couldn't keep up with Jett's pace and only managed a few pieces before they were all gone. Pharan glanced at Khem for a split second before turning
back to answer Grandma-Si, then quietly moved his own plate, still with many pieces left, in front of Khem without looking.
Khem pressed his lips together, glanced at the master, and quickly looked down, mentally steeling himself. Jett, seeing this, tried to grab a piece but was met with Khem slapping his hand away and moving the plate out of reach, warning him like a hissing kitten,
"This is for you!" Grandma-Si laughed fondly, telling everyone to wait a bit longer, that another batch was almost ready and she would pack some for them to take home.
Khem's warning had done little; they ended up sharing anyway. Khem chewed on the sweets until his cheeks puffed out, thinking he had never tasted sweets as delicious as Grandma-Si's.
Pharan, catching sight of Khem's cheek bulging like a rabbit, felt a strange tickle in his chest and decided to look away. When he met Grandma-Si's gaze, he quickly put his sunglasses back on, saying he would help finish weaving the basket she had left outside before they left, and then he stood up to sit on the bamboo bench in front of the house.
Meanwhile, the others intended to help sweep and mop the house, refill the fridge with water for Grandma-Si, and then head back.
Once they were done, Grandma-Si called Khem into the kitchen, handed him a bag of sweets, peeked outside, and then turned back to Khem to say,
"Listen to me, my dear, it will surely do you good..."
Khem's face flushed red and hot with embarrassment as he listened.
After returning home, Jett noticed that Khem was acting unusually quiet.
He was also frequently sneaking glances at the master, and once they were in the bedroom, it seemed like he was constantly thinking about something.
Finally, Jett couldn't contain his curiosity any longer and asked,
"What's wrong with you, Khem? You've been acting strange since we got back." Khem looked at Jett and eventually decided to tell him about everything from last night to what Grandma-Si had said.
Khem couldn't bring himself to give up on the master, whether it was in the past or the present.
"Jett, don't judge me." He said, looking glum, prompting Jett to get up from his bed and sit next to Khem on the bed, gently patting his head to comfort him.
"I won't judge you, you can't clap with just one hand. Last night, I saw that the master made the first move!"
Khem's eyes widened, and he playfully punched his friend's leg, his face turning red.
"Peeping, huh? That's not a good trait, Jett!" Chan, who was chanting and paying respects, wanted to kick Jett out of the room, feeling like he had been insulted too.
"Forget about last night, let's talk about what Grandma-Si said. I was a bit surprised that Grandma-Si understood this kind of thing." Jett referred to the love between two men.
Grandma-Si had asked Khem if he loved the master romantically, then advised him to do this:
Jett knew that Grandma-Si loved the master like a real grandson and was worried about him because even now he hadn't married. Perhaps she didn't want the master's later life to be like hers, so she encouraged Khem to do what he wanted to do, say what he wanted to say, so he wouldn't regret it later like she did when she lost her beloved when she was young.
If the master had someone to look after him, Grandma-Si could die in peace.
"Should we go for it? I'll keep watch nearby, don't worry."
Khem's eyes welled up with tears, grateful that Jett understood and didn't judge him for not being able to let go of his feelings for the master. He nodded, determined to follow Grandma-Si's advice.
Chan felt uneasy, wanting to advise Khem against it, but he didn't want to go against anyone's belief. In the end, he just went along and stood behind the same pillar as Jett.
It was quite late now. Khem thought the master must be asleep, so he walked to stand in front of the master's bedroom door, clasped his hands together, and recited the spell Grandma-Si had given him:
"Ya Metta, Mo Karuna, Buddha Pranee, Tha Yindee, Ya Endu, Dua Namoputtaya."
Then, Khem took out a can of cooling powder from his underarm.
Normally, Khem would use regular baby powder, but since it was out, he used the cooling powder instead. He poured some into his left hand, used his other index finger to swirl the powder in three circles, took a deep breath, and blew towards the priest's room door.
Unfortunately, at that very moment, the bedroom door opened.
The master's face, already pale, became even paler. Khem stood there, frozen like a stone, hearing Jett's voice faintly telling him, "Hey Chan, run!"
Khem stood there with his eyes wide for several more seconds before slowly turning around.