Arin listened to Rafah and could only let out a long sigh.
"God... why is it that every time something like this happens, the man who started it always gets to walk away untouched? Your family ended up like this because of your father. I don't want you to be angry at your mother. Hating your father the way you already do should be painful enough."
Arin's voice softened.
"But I'm not a doctor. I'm not a psychiatrist. I don't really know how to make this easier for you."
Rafah drew in a breath, then let it out heavily.
"It's fine."
Arin glanced at her, hesitation passing across her face for a moment before she finally asked,
"Does your mother know about Khem?"
Khem.
Khemika.
The name Arin spoke made Rafah freeze. Her slender fingers tightened around the wineglass, as if she were trying to suppress every emotion rising inside her from all directions.
"I don't want to hear her name right now."
Arin kept her voice even.
"You don't want to hear it, but one day you'll have to talk about her anyway. You can't keep running from the truth about Khem."
Rafah lifted her chin slightly, her eyes glittering with hatred before she spoke each word clearly.
"And what then? You want me to accept my father's latest mistress as family? To me, someone like that is nothing but a cancer eating away at other people's lives."
"But you should tell your mother about Khem and your father, Rafah."
Arin tried to reason with her.
"It's gone this far already. Are you really going to keep your mother in the dark? Maybe if she knows, she'll finally agree to divorce your father."
Rafah smiled mockingly, the corner of her mouth trembling slightly.
"You think I don't want them to divorce?"
She let out a bitter laugh.
"But how exactly do you think I should tell my mother? That after my father got my kindergarten teacher pregnant back then, he later took a woman his daughter's age as his mistress, and then that damn child was born too?"
"Rafah... the child has nothing to do with any of this."
"I know," Rafah answered shortly, but her voice trembled. "But I can't stop hating him."
Silence covered the table.
Arin looked at her friend with sympathy. She wanted to comfort Rafah, wanted to say something, but found only emptiness in her own thoughts.
Rafah lowered her head. Her eyes, hidden beneath her lashes, trembled. The hand resting on her lap slowly clenched until her nails dug into her palm, as if she needed the pain to keep herself grounded.
Then she lifted her face and forced a cold, broken smile.
"Tell me, Arin."
Rafah's voice was soft, but it sounded shattered.
"If you were me, how would you feel... having a younger brother born to your father and your own ex-girlfriend?"
...
The next morning.
Today was Petra's first day working with the Suphakiat Wildlife Foundation, and she had a meeting with Rafah scheduled for the afternoon. She stood leaning against the balcony railing of her high-rise condominium near the skytrain line. The morning breeze drifted gently, carrying the faint warmth of sunlight against her skin.
Petra stretched lazily a few times, then picked up her phone and made a video call to someone as part of her morning routine.
The screen lit up, revealing her mother's smile as she sat in an old wooden kitchen, while the sound of a cat meowing came from somewhere nearby.
"What are you doing, Mom?"
"I'm putting out that new brand of wet food you ordered for Dim Sum. He really likes this one, you know. He cries for it every day."
Dim Sum was the scruffy, ugly little stray cat Petra had once taken in and left in her mother's care. He immediately appeared on camera with a bright "meow."
Petra laughed.
"Then I'll order more, Mom."
"Oh, you spoil him too much. These days, he won't even touch cheap cat food anymore. He only eats the expensive stuff."
"If he likes it, just let him eat it. I'll order more."
Her mother laughed fondly before holding the cat's face up to the camera.
"Little Dim Sum, did you thank your big sister Petra yet?"
A "meow" answered as if he understood, making Petra laugh. That morning was filled with laughter and the familiar warmth she knew so well.
"So when will you come home again?"
"Probably for Dad's memorial day, Mom. I've been really busy with work lately."
"Is work tough?"
"A little, Mom."
"I told you you should take the civil service exam and become a teacher like me. Teaching is hard too, but at least it's stable."
"A kindergarten teacher like you? Mom, you know I don't like kids. I can't be a teacher like you."
"But if you became a teacher, at least you'd have a chance to transfer back and work in our home province. The work you're doing now means you have to stay in Bangkok, and it has no stability."
Petra shook her head with a smile.
"Come on, Mom... does stability even exist? No career is truly stable. I've seen workplaces lay people off out of nowhere, calling them in one day and telling them to leave the next. Besides, someone like me, who has no teacher soul at all, shouldn't become a teacher. Have mercy on the children, Mom."
"Okay, I won't talk to you about this anymore."
Petra immediately joked,
"I've waited my whole life for you to say that."
The laughter of mother and daughter mixed with the morning wind, warmth passing through the screen as if the distance between Bangkok and their hometown had shrunk to nothing more than an arm's reach.
"Do you remember Kookkai? Yesterday, Kookkai came home and brought her girlfriend with her. Pretty, too."
Petra frowned slightly.
"Which Kookkai? Don't tell me you mean Aunt Thongkham's Kookkai, the one who bullied me when we were kids?"
Her mother laughed.
"That's the one. Kookkai just brought me her wedding invitation. She's getting married. And she's marrying a woman too."
Petra froze for a moment, then laughed.
"Oh my God. I always thought Kookkai liked men. When we were kids, she used to tease me for being a tomboy. I told her I wasn't a tomboy. I just liked women. Besides, wearing T-shirts as a kid doesn't make someone a tomboy, okay?"
Her mother smiled with fondness.
"With you, I only found out you liked women when you brought your girlfriend home to meet me."
"Ex-girlfriend, Mom. Please update your information. I'm very single right now, waiting for some beautiful, kind older woman to come flirt with me."
"I feel sorry for that woman already."
The two of them burst into laughter again.
But then Petra's mother shifted into a more serious tone.
"Oh... I've been meaning to talk to you about this. Actually, I've been retired from teaching for three or four years now. I just stay home, live on my pension, and do nothing except take care of the cats and grow vegetables in the backyard. I was thinking... if I took a rubber tapping job for Aunt Thongkham, I might be able to earn some extra money to help you pay off this house. The house still has several years left on the mortgage, and you also have to pay rent for Tharin's father's condo. Even though he gave you a special discount, if I had some income to help, you wouldn't have to be so tired."
But Petra did not agree.
"Rubber tapping is hard work, Mom. You're already over sixty. I don't want you wearing yourself down like that."
"But I can still do it. Your father... he did it alone."
The moment she heard the word father, Petra's expression dimmed.
She lowered her head, looking at the floor as if she were looking at something far beyond her reach.
Her father had been gone for many years now...
But the loss from that day still left something behind.
"No, Mom. I don't want to lose you too because you worked too hard."
Her voice trembled slightly, even though she tried to hold it in.
"Petra..." her mother said softly.
Petra swallowed the feeling down with difficulty, then quickly cut the conversation short.
"That's all for now, Mom. I have work to do."
...
At last, the time for Petra's appointment with Rafah arrived.
Inside the office of the Suphakiat Wildlife Foundation, afternoon sunlight streamed through the large glass wall. Rafah sat behind her desk with her legs crossed, while Petra sat across from her and opened the laptop she had prepared. Presentation slides slowly appeared on the monitor connected to the laptop.
"Based on the plan I've prepared, I think the interview content should be divided into three parts."
Petra began explaining.
"The first part will help readers understand the importance of wildlife. It'll cover poaching, the decline in animal populations, and the direct impact that eventually comes back to humans. The second part will focus on the Suphakiat Wildlife Foundation and introduce Khun Rafah in your role as Director of International Communication Strategy. The final part will present cases of wildlife the foundation has helped, along with visual materials, to increase the article's impact."
Rafah nodded, then shifted her gaze from the monitor to Petra's eyes.
"I agree with your idea. But right now, I think we should produce video interviews alongside the articles and release them across every social platform, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. We can adjust the format and length for each channel."
Petra frowned at once.
"But what you're talking about... the video scope is much bigger than what we agreed on at first. We only discussed articles at first. If you want video content too, I won't be able to handle all of that alone."
Rafah met Petra's eyes.
"You don't need to worry about that. I'll have Anya find a production team to support you. But I want you to oversee the entire project for me..."
In the end, the discussion about the scope of work concluded smoothly. Over the past several hours, Rafah had behaved professionally. She was not inappropriate. She did not cross any boundaries. Petra guessed it was the result of the conversation they had cleared up in the car that day. She had made it clear that she would give Rafah a chance only when it came to work, and Rafah had kept her word.
At least... in terms of behavior.
"The full scope of work will be based on what we discussed today. I'll send the interview questions to you through Khun Anya tonight. As for the production team, I'll discuss the details with Khun Anya myself."
Petra summarized the work in the most polite and formal tone she could manage.
"All right," Rafah answered shortly.
Petra nodded, then took her leave.
"In that case... we're done for today. I'll be going now."
She packed up her things quickly, like someone searching for the fastest way out of the room. Rafah noticed every movement. She could tell at once that Petra was building some kind of wall between them.
Just as Petra was about to reach the door, Rafah's voice came from behind her.
"I haven't eaten anything today. It'd be nice... to have someone join me for dinner."
Petra stopped and slowly turned back.
Rafah's gaze had softened in a way that felt strangely unexpected. It was not the gaze of a hunter like that night. It was the gaze of someone... asking her to stay a little longer.
But Petra still chose the safest path.
"Khun Anya, your assistant, should be free. Why don't you try calling her?"
"I don't want to have dinner with Anya."
Petra turned back fully this time.
Now she met Rafah's eyes without looking away. Her voice was serious and cautious at the same time.
"You want to have dinner with me... is that what you mean?"
Rafah was silent for a moment before letting out a small sigh, as if admitting what Petra had said. Normally, she was not someone who liked explaining herself over and over. More than that, she was not someone who asked things of other people.
But now... it seemed she was truly trying to lower some part of her pride.
"I just want to get to know you again... at least as someone I work with."
Rafah's voice was full of sincerity.
Petra raised an eyebrow slightly.
She smiled, not accepting immediately, but not rejecting her either. Then she deliberately spoke in a tone halfway between teasing and testing Rafah's patience.
"Then try asking me nicely, Khun Rafah."
"Petra..."
Rafah went still for a moment.
But in the end, she gave in to Petra anyway.
"Have dinner with me, Petra. At least... you might make it taste better."
It was a request that sounded unexpectedly straightforward and sincere.
Petra looked at Rafah.
It was clear that this Rafah was no longer the same person as before. She was no longer someone trying to control her or use power to conquer anyone.
Maybe...
This could be a good new beginning between them.
...
Inside the luxurious black Jaguar, the soft hum of the engine filled the air as Rafah drove Petra toward her favorite French restaurant. Streetlights cast alternating shadows into the cabin. A comfortable atmosphere settled between them for a while before Rafah was the first to start a conversation.
"How long have you been working freelance in the conservation field?"
The question surprised Petra slightly. She turned to look at Rafah's profile, then answered honestly.
"About two or three years."
"Since you graduated?"
"No. At first, I worked at an agency as an Account Executive for a while. But I realized it wasn't a good fit, so I quit and shifted my focus fully to this field."
"And the income from this kind of work... is it enough to live on? Freelance work in this field probably doesn't pay that much."
Petra simply smiled. She was not angry at this kind of question anymore. She had heard it countless times and always had an answer prepared.
"To be honest, I'm still trying to prove myself to my mother. The income from my work isn't exactly high, but I also take translation jobs and write articles on the side, so I manage to get by. In the future, if I have more time, I'd like to start a page that educates the general public about endangered wildlife. I want people to become more aware of its importance."
"You seem very invested in this field."
"I am. Because it's something I love too."
"With your looks, you could've become an actress or an idol."
Petra laughed, her smile relaxing a little.
"Some people invited me to auditions before, but I never went. I'm not interested in that path."
"Why not? I think the income would be good."
"I just don't like it. I know myself well enough. I'd rather stay behind the camera."
"And how do you see your life five years from now?"
Rafah's question made Petra let out a small laugh before she asked back in a teasing voice,
"Khun Rafah... do you realize you're asking questions like this is a job interview?"
Rafah smiled faintly.
"Sorry. I'm not very good at small talk."
Petra could sense Rafah's effort to approach her. She no longer felt as wary as before. Now... what remained was only a reasonable amount of caution.
"When you asked me that just now, did you mean work or life?"
"Whatever you feel comfortable telling me. I just want to listen."
Petra fell silent for a brief moment.
"To be honest, I've never really planned that far ahead. I just live day by day, stay content with what I have, don't suffer too much over problems, and don't get too carried away by good things either. Because in the end... everything passes."
Rafah gave a small shrug.
"You don't seem very ambitious."
"If everyone were ambitious, the world would probably be even more chaotic than it already is. I'm just trying to live quietly without competing with anyone, and even that feels overwhelming sometimes."
"That's true," Rafah replied calmly.
Petra smiled faintly before adding jokingly,
"I forgot to tell you. When I was in university, my friends gave me the nickname 'Sloth.'"
Rafah raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
"Because I was so slow and lazy that they started calling me Sloth."
A soft laugh slipped from Rafah's lips at once.
Petra paused slightly, then glanced at her in surprise. This was the first time she had seen Rafah laugh so openly.
So Petra asked her a question in return.
"What about you, Khun Rafah? Where do you see yourself five years from now?"
"As long as I'm not dead... I'd say that's good enough."
Petra burst out laughing.
"I didn't know you knew how to joke."
"Why? Do I look that cold?"
"Well... yes. Has no one ever told you?"
Rafah gave a small shrug.
"People can see me however they want."
She paused in thought for a moment before turning to meet Petra's eyes.
"And you? What kind of person do you usually like being around? I mean, someone you feel comfortable with."
Petra frowned.
"Your questions are getting a little strange, Khun Rafah."
"Strange? Not really. I think it's just a normal question."
Petra immediately shot back, her expression sharp with understanding.
.
.
"Khun Rafah, are you trying to trick me into telling you my type?"
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