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Chapter 3 – Home
Freen had been friends with Saint for a while when he started asking her to join his company.
She would constantly refuse his invitation considering she did not see herself taking her acting career as seriously as he seemed to want her to. She had been on a comedy show called 'So Fit', and it had been an interesting opportunity. It made her see the whole process of creating a show and how much it demanded from all parties involved.
Freen was never one to have big dreams. She believed in living each day to the best of her abilities, and it would eventually amount to a good life. But she also believed in signs and forces, beyond science’s theories, that moved the world and flowed around everything and everyone, leading people’s lives towards where they were supposed to go.
That is the only explanation she could find when, one random day, when she was hanging out with her friends after class, Saint – who also happened to be in that class – came up to her and said enthusiastically, straight to the point, not bothering to even greet her or anyone else first: “I’ve got the perfect role for you. She is literally you, Freen. You’ll love her.”
So far, all of the other roles he had mentioned seemed too intense and too demanding. Resulting in her complete lack of interest. But now, the day after she had spent hours telling an old childhood friend about her experience in the comedy set, how she had enjoyed it, and even becoming slightly nostalgic, Saint showed up with a completely different approach from his previous ones. Making an offer that actually sounded appealing for the first time.
She agreed to take the role for his utmost joy. But she had been very clear from the start about prior plans she had to go on a trip with friends during the time the first workshop was due. Saint was completely fine with it, as long as he finally got his friend to join his ventures.
Call Saint a visionary, but he had always thought the ‘Boy Love’ industry was missing its counterpart. He had many friends – male and female – who were openly gay and, therefore, he often heard them complain about the lack of representation in the media. Once he noticed the success the somewhat new genre was making, it was only natural for him to notice the obvious opportune gap in the young and promising market.
Many ideas had been rolling around in his head, none of which had taken any actual form yet, but the moment he met Freen Sarocha, and noticed just how beautiful, naturally funny, extremely interesting – not to mention effortlessly charismatic – she was, he knew he wanted her to join his Company. He still didn’t quite know how to use her talents just yet, seeing as the ‘Boy Love’ genre was a safer bet to start with regarding investments. But something told him she would be a huge breakthrough and a valuable asset to his dream Company.
Looking from the outside, one could think he was being too cold and manipulative, but he just really had a dream to make content that would touch people’s hearts and change their lives.
That had been his goal all along, and the further he invested in this dream, the more it seemed to make sense and the more he felt he was on the right path.
The day Saint introduced Freen to Nam, the two hit it off quite well. He knew they would be great for the comedy aspect of the project he had been working on, and once again, everything seemed to fall right into place, making him sure they had been moving in the right direction. Or so he thought.
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The day of the second workshop would be crucial, because it was the first time the entire cast would be together in the same place. They would focus on building the relationships between all the characters. Activities had been assigned to each team according to who they would play and who they would interact with the most during the show.
For most of the day, Freen and Nam had been assigned to work together. Their schedule was filled with trust-building activities, in-character conversations to develop a sense of familiarity, and bonding exercises to create a feeling of closeness.
Everything was going great there. However, the same could not be said about Becky and her assigned team.
She had been grouped with Surprise, Nutt and Seng. The exercises were similar to Nam’s and Freen’s, but involved more conversations and less touching, such as ‘trust exercises.’ The idea was to bring out the fun side of their group, but also to make the audience believe they were close friends. And it was simply not happening.
Nutt was the only one in the group actually trying to include Becky in most of the conversation whenever he could find an opening to get a word in amidst the fast and constant talking from the other two participants, who kept making jokes she didn’t quite understand – which they didn’t seem to care much about. It all led to an awkward looking group, that mostly seemed divided into two sub-groups. And that was not what the producers were going for.
Noticing the abysmal disconnection between Becky and the rest of her team, one of the assistant coaches informed Saint she was about to call a break and invite Becky for a side talk. However, as the assistant stood up from the corner where the crew was watching the activities play out, Freen – who was supposed to be on the other side of the room performing a ‘funny story’ activity with Nam – suddenly appeared right beside Becky, seamlessly including her in the activity. Making a show of it, as well. She came up, on the spot, with a funny fake story about their childhood dog named ‘bonny’, to which Becky surprisingly responded so intuitively they both made it look like it had been planned all along.
In that moment, while everyone clapped and cheered for the show stealer act the duo had just put together out of thin air, Saint stopped the assistant and told her to let them take a break and play as they see fit to get rid of the tension from the first assignment. In the meantime, Saint asked Chen to join him in his office. They had adjustments to make.
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“Thank you for saving me out there.” Becky said in a grateful tone, finally getting a chance to talk to the girl who had mesmerized her earlier that day.
After their initial meeting, Nam had joined them and told Freen all about how she and Becky had become great friends on the previous workshop, and how she was a Thai-British who had recently moved here from England, but was doing amazing with her Thai. And from then on, Becky got the feeling Nam would take over the remainder of the conversation, making Becky both glad and sad at the same time.
Being an introvert, she had a really hard time making conversation before she got to know someone well enough, but for some odd reason, she felt such a gravitational pull towards this girl she had just met, that something in her just wanted to bring down that inner wall and talk to her.
During the earlier activities, Becky felt out of sorts, not knowing how to join in on the conversation her team was playing out, of which she had understood very little due to slangs and inside jokes, and feeling sorry for P’Nutt who was helplessly trying to include her to no avail. She saw the moment the assistant coach whispered something to Saint while obviously looking at her with a displeased expression. The moment she saw the woman standing up, she prepared for the humiliation of being called out in front of her peers.
But, before she knew it, the beautiful girl from earlier, whom now she knew had the most unique and interesting name – Freen – was standing right beside her, hand on her shoulder, talking to her in a clear Thai, similar to a child speaking word by word, but cute enough that it didn’t become silly or childish. It took Becky by surprise, but somehow, she felt comfortable enough to join the skit as if it were meant to be that way from the start.
“No problem. Those guys can be pretty clueless when they are together. So silly.” Freen said as if what she had done was no big deal at all.
“So... Tell me, Becky. Have you been enjoying Thailand so far?” Freen changed the subject feeling how Becky still looked sad by what had happened earlier.
“I was born here, actually. I have just been away for a really long time. But... I don’t know, I think I’m starting to like it more now.” She didn’t know where the introvert in her had gone. Good riddance! It felt so easy talking to Freen. The older girl looked into her eyes, as if she really cared about what she was saying. The attention would typically be overwhelming for Becky, but surprisingly, it somehow felt just right.
After the short break, the schedule went along as previously planned, more full-group and teams activities played out in the rehearsal room, everyone got to know more about their cast mates and about their characters. Everything went quite smoothly the rest of the day.
With the added factor that, in between activities, Freen would step away from the team she had been grouped with for the day to talk or just to sit near Becky.
During lunch, Freen – who had just learned Becky didn’t like spicy food – made sure to ask the cooking lady for an omelet for her. She even opened her bottle of water, which normally, Becky would refuse, saying she could do it herself. But it felt good being taken care of, so she just let her.
Being close felt so natural that neither one thought twice about it, but unbeknownst to them, a few curious eyes were paying close attention to this unexpected dynamic.
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At 5pm, the workshop was over, and everyone was going their respective ways. Freen was distracted playing with her car keys on her way out of the building when she noticed Becky sitting on one of the cement ornaments around the garden near the entrance.
Without a second thought, she made a U-turn to sit on the ornament beside the young girl.
“Waiting for a taxi? I can drive you.” She said, taking Becky by surprise.
“Oh... Hi! No, I’m actually waiting for my dad. He just ran a little late. But thank you!” She replied with a sincere smile.
“Okay. I’ll wait with you, then.” Freen said nonchalantly, as if it was the obvious thing to do.
“You don’t have to. I think he might take a little while. Traffic is pretty bad, apparently.” Becky did want Freen to stay, but she wouldn’t want to keep her from getting her well-deserved rest.
“Nonsense! I don’t have anywhere to be right now. Might as well be here enjoying the company.” Freen said with a smile, but Becky was taken aback to notice the clearly confident girl was staring down at her own feet. Clearly avoiding Becky’s eyes.
“Oho... Didn’t take you for the shy type.” Becky said, feeling mysteriously confident. But it was short-lived.
“Right?” Freen said with a teasing tone showing a gummy smirk. Her boba eyes finding Becky’s and opening wide as if daring her to call her shy again. “I’m not usually the flirty type either. Wonder what’s going on with me.” It was Becky's turn to get shy and avoid those piercing caramel eyes.
Silence – maybe a little shy, but not really awkward – fell upon the two girls for a second. Neither knowing exactly what was going on, but both clearly enjoying the atmosphere surrounding them at that moment. And their timid smiles didn’t let them hide it.
“Hey, I’ll tell you what...” Freen said, finally breaking the silence and standing up on a jump facing Becky and reaching out her hand to the young girl to help her up once more.
“While we wait, why don’t we go across the street and grab something to eat? I sure that omelet wasn’t enough to keep you fueled.”
Without a second thought, Becky took Freen’s hand and let the slightly taller girl lead her to the convenience store in front of the building. Maybe they were too focused on crossing the street, because both seemed to forget to let the other’s hand go.
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Freen asked Becky to choose whatever she wanted from the store, she said it was her treat to make up for her friends earlier. And despite Becky saying there was absolutely no need, Freen insisted. So, Becky chose an ice-cold coke.
Freen tried to argue that a single drink wouldn’t make her any less hungry, but Becky said her mom would probably already have dinner ready as soon as she got home anyway.
“That is so cute.” Freen said while choosing a snack for herself.
“What?” Becky asked with sincere curiosity. Why would having dinner be cute?
“How your whole family sticks together and helps each other out like this. Your dad drives you here and back, your mom prepares dinner. It’s like a family straight from a movie.”
Freen said it with sincere admiration. But Becky could feel there was something else behind those beautiful eyes.
“Oh, I guess it can come across that way, right? And yes, I am grateful for my family and how we tend to always be there for each other. But it’s not always a sea of roses, you know?” Becky said, hoping if she opened up, maybe Freen would feel comfortable to do the same.
The older girl looked at her with a questioning expression. “Yeah? How so?”
“My parents always put us first, my brother and I. But at one point, they had to accept what they wanted from life was just too different. For a while, they fought a lot, until, one day, they decided to go their separate ways to live their lives in a way that wasn’t hurting each other anymore. They are good now. They are even trying to make long distance work, I think.” Becky let out a humorless chuckle.
“But I know it hurts them to not have the family always together. And I know my brother and I felt it a lot when mom came back to Thailand. And when I came back as well, dad and Richie felt it too. As much as I did.”
Becky didn’t know why she was telling so much of her family’s private business to someone she had met only a few hours ago. But if that could make Freen feel more comfortable to share her own life story with her, she thought it was worth it.
“Woah, Becky!” Freen, who had been listening intently to every word while they walked across the aisles of the store, turned to Becky with a surprised and sincerely worried expression. “I had no idea.”
“How could you? We literally just met today.” Becky said with a smile that reached her eyes.
That story didn’t hurt her anymore, because she understood all families went through rough patches. She was just happy hers was always there for her no matter what.
“Oh... I guess you are right.” Freen said with a sheepish smile. “It almost doesn’t feel like it, does it?” She said looking away, avoiding Becky’s eyes once again. To which Becky noticed that the feeling of extrovert Freen being shy for her was a new favorite.
“Thank you for sharing it with me. Don’t worry, this will stay only between us. I want to know more about you, so this was a very good start.” The older girl said looking less shaken by the complex story Becky had just shared. The look of worry giving way to a beautiful gummy smile.
Becky noticed the other girl had deviated from the topic, which was nothing but understandable. Sharing such personal things wasn’t all that usual when first meeting someone. She didn’t push any further. She wanted to let Freen open up to her at her own pace and if she ever felt like it. Instead, she decided to enjoy the moment with the happy girl who had just taken her hand again and was dragging her to the cashier with two cokes and a jelly bag.
While waiting in line, Freen took videos and pictures of Becky for no apparent reason. But after paying for their chosen items, Freen asked for her Line contact so she could send those to her. And Becky suspected that could have been her hidden motive all along.
Once they were back in front of the office building, the two continued talking about small things, like the workshop and their plans for the week until Becky’s father arrived. Freen greeted him with a polite Wai and tried to introduce herself in a shy English, which Becky couldn’t help but find the most endearing thing ever.
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Once in the car, Mr. Armstrong had expected his daughter would tell him all about her day, as she had done after the previous workshop. However, Becky didn’t say a single word. She just sat there, resting her head against the window and staring at some pictures and clips she had apparently just gotten on her Line chat. She had a soft smile gracing her lips, but he couldn’t see it from this angle.
Worried about his daughter’s previous worries, Robert started a light conversation in hopes of her opening up.
“So, how was your day, kid? Did you have fun?” He asked tentatively.
She hummed a simple agreement, still focused on her phone.
He tried again. “Was that girl, Nam, there as well? Did you two work together like last time?”
“She was, but not really. I was closer to Freen today.” Becky said absentmindedly. Still not quite reciprocating the conversation as he had hoped.
“Oh, I see. Freen was this lovely girl just now, right? She seems nice. Was she also waiting for someone? Should we have given her a ride? Sorry it didn’t cross my mind before.”
Becky finally dropped her phone and looked at him, who stole a quick glance at her before focusing on the road again. He was pleased to notice her demeanor was much lighter and joyful than it had been for the last few days.
“Yeah, that was her. She really is very nice actually. She has a car. In fact, she offered to drive me today, but when I said you would pick me up, she said she could drive me next time, so you wouldn’t have to be troubled by traffic.” Becky said with a smile that reached her eyes, and her father couldn’t be happier to finally see it brighten his daughter’s face again.
With a soft smile of his own, he replied. “Your mom and I will have to talk about it first, and we will have to meet her properly, of course. But I don’t see why not.”
“Thanks, daddy!” The smile grew even brighter.
“Right, hold your horses, kid! Let me talk to mom first.” He teased her clear enthusiasm. “So, does that mean you don’t feel like you need to go back home anymore?” He asked cautiously, mentioning their heartfelt little talk that morning.
Becky looked back out the window, her smile turning into something a little more serious. Not sad, but pensative and... hopeful.
“I don’t know. I think it means that, in time, here might be my new Home.”
The truth is that Robert didn’t mind picking his kid up at all. He had always felt their little chats in the car whenever he drove her places were nice bonding moments. But if this new friend was able to bring back the smile he loved the most, he would gladly surrender these sweet small moments.