13
Rebecca POV
Dad and Richie are talking shop as we travel down the spacious halls of the factory.
“-ng Master Nat shook my hand.”
I overhear a conversation with a few lower ranked subordinates that makes me stop in my tracks.
“You’re lying.”
“Why would I lie about that?!? I’m telling you he shook my hand.”
“Becky?” Richie notices I’m no longer following them.
“Bec-”
“Sshh.” I shush him, stalking closer to hear their conversation clearly.
“Well you lied about that girl being your girlfriend.”
“Hey! You know that’s a sore spot for me..”
“Yeah well don’t blame me for not believing you.”
“Hah! Says you. Who’s the one who cheated on his wife?”
“Ow. That’s different. Yha’s beauty is otherworldly.”
“The madam’s beautiful…”
I don’t like how his tone shifted.
There’s only one Madam near Nat.
And she isn’t yours to look at.
“More beautiful than Mon?”
“Ah that’s unfair! Mon is…cute. Like a teddy bear.” There’s a pause and I have a gut feeling I’m not going to like what he says next. “But the madam…she- she’s beautiful like the moon. It’s like- like her looks are timeless. You- if you were there you’d understand.”
I was right.
I don’t like it.
“Oh. Look at him.” Another voice snickers. “Careful, Nop. The madam’s married, y'know. To our boss.”
That’s right. She is married.
To me.
I can’t help my smile at the thought.
“Of course I know! It isn’t like that. The madam is beautiful. I’m just stating the facts.”
My fists clench. I want to argue but he’s right. My wife is beautiful. My wife is gorgeous. I can’t fault the boy for having eyes.
Although…
He could keep his eyes to himself-
“When will you let me meet your beautiful wife ,” Richie complains, crouched next to me.
“Shi- Richie!” I jump, swatting his arm.
“And my nephew? When does Uncle Richie get to meet him?” He teases, rubbing his arm.
“Hopefully not any time soon.” I huff.
“Oi Bec!” He shoves at my shoulder.
“Hey!”
“It isn’t fair that only Mum and Dad met her.”
“Not my fault you didn’t come to dinner.”
“Gasp. I was busy. Unlike some other people here-”
“Oh really-”
“Richard. Rebecca.”
We turn toward Dad who looks as exasperated as ever.
“She started it.” Richie points at me, jogging up to Dad.
“Did not.” I follow, narrowing my eyes at Richie.
“Kids..” Dad mumbles, sighing. “Let’s get back to business.”
“What’s the rush?” Richie strolls ahead, hands in his pockets.
“I have a date with your mother.” Dad flashes a knowing smirk. “And you know she doesn’t like it when I meddle with the ‘business’ too much.”
“You’re supposed to be retired after all.” I quip, bumping shoulders with Dad.
“So what do we do about Gon?” Richie asks, tilting his head back at us.
“We need to talk to Saint.” Dad says with utmost seriousness.
Dammit.
Time to talk to Saint.
Freen POV
A couple weeks pass…
We’re having breakfast when P’Gun arrives, ready to take us to the park nearby.
“Miss.” He greets Becky first then turns to me. “Nong.”
“Mister Gun!” Nat bounces in his chair, nearly spilling his orange juice. “Are you coming to the park with us?”
He nods. “Nat-”
Becky launches into a coughing fit, setting down her mug.
I gently pat her back, concerned. “Are you ok?”
“Eugh…y-yeah.” Becky’s eyes are watery as she stares at P’Gun.
That’s when I see it. P’Gun is wearing a tie with assorted brightly colored fruits. There are cute little faces drawn on them.
“That’s a…new one,” Becky says, gesturing to his tie.
He looks down as if just noticing it.
“It was a gift.”
I bit my lip to restrain a smile.
Nat hasn’t noticed yet, too busy trying to eat and talk. At the same time.
“I see.” Becky hums, looking perplexed.
Once we’re done clearing the table despite Aunt Patt’s insistence we leave it to her, she hands P’Gun a large cooler for later.
“You should bring Sua next time.” She tells him, looking as poise as ever.
“Mhm.”
“And N’Art when he’s free.”
“Mhm.”
As we’re all getting ready to leave, Aunt Patt insists we take a few leftovers from breakfast to snack on.
“OH!” Nat pauses in the doorway. “Mister Gun is wearing it! The one picked out with Mae!”
Becky POV
I’ve never seen Gun wear anything that…colorful in the entire time I’ve known him.
Nat and Freen have him wrapped around their fingers.
I can’t blame him when I’m the same.
“Miss.” He says, sounding slightly exasperated as I gawk at his tie. I bow my head to hide my reddening cheeks, slipping through the open door.
“Thanks P’Gun,” I cleared my throat, stealing a few more glances at the bright cloth.
He shakes his head slightly, starting up the car.
He drove us to a park I used to frequent as a child.
It doesn’t get as much foot traffic with the newer, bigger park built a few blocks away.
Gun drops us off near the entrance in the search of parking. Nat latches onto our hands, pulling us toward the fairly empty play structure.
“Mae! I’m going first!” Nat takes off toward the playground. “You and BecBec are too slow!”
“Ok!” Freen hollers back. She turns to me with a small smile and slight shrug to her shoulders. She’s perfect.
There’s wonderful weather and a beautiful woman by my side. What more could I ask for?
“I haven’t been to this park in ages.” I remark, taking in the freshly cut grass and clear blue skies. “I forgot how peaceful it is.”
Freen scrunched her nose in a smile. God it’s unfair how cute she is.
“I’m sure Nat will drag us here whenever there's free time.”
“I’d like that.”
And I mean it.
Freen links our hands together, swinging them exaggeratedly.
“He loves parks. The grass, the playground. Especially playing his favorite game-”
“MAE! HIDE N SEEK, MAE!” He shouts from atop the highest play structure. How’d he get up there so fast- “PLEASE! Can we?”
Freen tugs on our jointed hands. “Want to play Hide-and-Seek?”
I nod. Afraid if I open my mouth, I’ll say something dumb like
“If it’s you two, I’ll always want to play.”
“Cheesy.” Freen turns away but not before I catch the light blush dusting her cheeks. Cute~
“MAE! BECBEC! HIDE!” Nat covered his eyes with both hands, turning his back to us. “ONE! TWO! …”
Freen squeezes my hand once before letting go. “Good luck.”
“Good luck?”
She smiles slyly, taking off as Nat counts down.
“... TEN!”
I quickly duck behind a large boulder a few feet away from the play structure. Crouching down close to the boulder, I hold my breath. I sneak a peek around the boulder to see where Nat’s gone.
There’s a tap on my shoulder.
“Hm?” I whirl around to face Nat with a wide grin.
“Found you, BecBec!”
“You did!” I hold up my hand for a high five. Nat looks at the hand and grabs it, holding on tightly.
“Let’s go find Mae,” he whispers, looking around for any sight of her.
“Ok.” I lowered my voice, eyes peeled for Freen.
It takes us a good while to find Freen. We only spotted her because another kid at the park asked her what she was doing.
“BecBec’s turn.” Nat tells me seriously, miming covering his eyes. “C’mon Mae!”
“ONE!...”
I shut my eyes, trying to pick out Nat and Freen’s voices from the cacophony of sounds around us.
“...TEN!”
After ten minutes of wandering around the play structure and its surrounding areas, I’ve decided that Freen and Nat are ridiculously good at Hide-and-Seek.
Another ten minutes pass before I subtly ask the other kids at the park to help me find at least Freen.
Or at least I thought I was being subtle.
A hand darts out between two large boulders, pulling me into the small crevice they found. There isn't a lot of space.
“Wha-”
My eyes go wide, blinking slowly.
Our faces are a hairbreadth away.
“That’s cheating, BB.” She playfully narrows her eyes at me, pouting.
“I needed help.” I shrug, the motion bringing us closer as I lift off the boulder behind me. “You…You and Nat are too good at this game.”
Her gaze drops to my lips then back up to my eyes so quickly I think I imagine it.
“I know.”
She licks her lips.
I zero in on the movement, lingering a moment too long to be considered friendly staring.
Her hand gently stroking my arm as she leans in-
“What're you doing?”
Our heads swivel to face a little girl clutching a brown bear stuffie. I let out a sigh I didn’t realize I was holding.
“Playing Hide-and-Seek.” Freen steps out of the hiding spot, kneeling beside the little girl. “Have you seen a little boy in red about your height?”
She looks up thoughtfully, glancing over at me briefly. Then she cups her hands around Freen’s ears to whisper, “I saw him over by the swinging bridge.”
Freen nods seriously, turning to whisper, “Thank you.”
She takes off, bear stuffie and all, waving goodbye to us.
“Who’s cheating now?” I raise an eyebrow, holding my hand out to help her up.
“That was a hint.” She takes my hand, smiling gratefully. We continue our search for him hand in hand. “He’s probably long gone. Nat never stays in one place for too long.”
“Won’t he get caught?” I ask absentmindedly, enjoying the way her thumb gently rubs my hand.
She stops walking to look at me expectantly. “You haven’t caught him.”
“Yet.” I corrected her. “I haven’t caught him yet.”
“Right,” she stifles a laugh. “Not yet.”
…
Around the umpteenth time that Nat finds me, I feel lightheaded when I stand up a bit too fast from my latest hiding spot. Black spots swirling around as I tightly shut my eyes, holding onto my head.
“BecBec! I found you!”
“BecBec, found you!”
The late afternoon sun is blinding and obscures the little girl’s face.
“C’mon! Let’s play another round.”
“BecBec?”
I feel a cool touch against my forehead. A welcome relief to the burning sensation in my chest.
I blink slowly, trying to grasp at the memory slipping away.
“I have to go soon.”
She sounds sad. Don’t be sad.
I try to recall her name. The girl who always found my hiding spot, no matter where I hid.
What was her name?
“BecBec! Let’s play again!”
“Mae! BecBec doesn’t look good.”
“Bec-”
“BB.”
“BecBec?”
“Becky?”
“BecBec, where are you?”
I lift my head and her chocolate honey colored eyes draw me in.
Chocolate honey colored eyes…
“Chocolate?”
“BecBec is hungry, Mae.”
“Freen…”
It feels like everything is suspended in jelly as she slowly turns back to me.
Freen. Whose familiar eyes are boring into me.
The image of the girl who always managed to find me superimposed with the woman before me.
The girl who fell off the face of the Earth.
I’ve found you.
Freen POV
“Yeah, I’m hungry.” Becky smiles brightly, getting up and dusting off her pants. “Let’s eat.”
She effortlessly lifts up a giggling Nat then reaches for me with her free hand.
I lace our fingers together, melting at how perfect our hands seem to fit.
“What are we eating?” Nat asks excitedly, his arms wound tightly around Becky.
“I don’t know.” She answers truthfully, looking around. “Let’s ask P’Gun!”
I follow her line of sight and spot P’Gun standing beside a picnic blanket with a spread of assorted foods and drinks.
“Woohoo!” Nat cheers, slipping out from Becky’s grasp to run toward P’Gun. “Mister Gun! You’re the best!”
She tugs on our joined hands, pulling me forward. “Let’s eat, Freen.”
…
As we’re lying on a picnic blanket at the park, there’s a prickling sensation on the back of my neck. I can’t pinpoint it but this park feels familiar. Like I’ve been here before today.
“Freen.” Becky calls her softly, holding a cut strawberry to my lips. Nat is curled up on her lap, snoring, a blanket draped over his small form.
It’s…probably nothing.
I take the strawberry, my lips brushing against her fingertips. Becky’s ears tinge pink as she looks up to the clouds.
I must just be tired.
…
Becky POV
A knock sounds at my door.
“Can I come in?”
“Sure. Come in, come in.”
Freen tentatively opens the door. “Are you busy?”
I shake my head, patting the couch cushion beside me. “Take a seat.”
“Thank you.” Freen gives me a tight smile and settles on the sofa. “What were you doing?”
She sounds nervous. Why’s she nervous?
I hold up the book in my lap. “Just some light reading.”
Freen raises an eyebrow. And really that shouldn’t be so attractive. I’m not surprised. She’s beautiful when she isn’t even trying.
“General Principles of Thai Criminal Law is just light reading?”
I laugh nervously. If she only knew why I was brushing up on my law books. “What can I do for you?”
“Well…” Freen glances down, fidgeting with her hands.
What if…
What if she wants a divorce? She’s fallen for someone else and wants to break our sham of a marriage.
Or…
What if she knows about Rebecca the Mafia Boss? What if she’s scared of me now? Is that why she’s so nervous?
I can’t help these worst case scenarios popping into my mind.
“Freen-”
“Becky-”
Ah I didn’t mean to talk over her.
“Sorry-”
“Go ahead-”
She smiles and it’s like all my worries disappear when she looks at me like that.
“I’m a bit nervous,” I tell her, putting my book on the side table. “This sounds like it’s going to be a serious conversation..”
Freen’s expression falls, nodding ever so slightly.
Oh. This is serious.
She takes my hands in hers, there’s a slight tremble in her fingers as they tighten around mine.
“I have something to tell you.”