⚠️ Trigger Warning:
This chapter contains depictions of domestic violence, child abuse, and the death of an infant. These scenes may be distressing for some readers. Please proceed with caution.
MING
"Sir, please... my mother is standing between life and death. I have worked with full dedication, never once turning away from my responsibilities. Please, I beg you, lend me the amount so I can save her."
Tears streamed down Ming's face. That alone was enough to shock everyone .... because it was the first time he had ever shown emotions. Until now, Kirt had often wondered whether Ming was even human... or some kind of machine.
And a mother? Kirt had always assumed he had no one in this world .... no visitor, no phone call, no trace of family. And now, all of a sudden, he was pleading for money to save her life.
"I know you're the best worker I have, but I can't help you, Ming. I'm just a worker like you," the supervisor replied helplessly.
"Please, sir, I have no one else to turn to. Please..." Ming's voice cracked.
Kirt felt uneasy. Something about Ming's begging disturbed him deeply. Without saying a word, he stepped forward, grabbed Ming by the wrist, and pulled him out. Both Ming and the supervisor stared at him, stunned.
He dragged him into the storeroom where they kept their belongings. Once inside, Kirt let go of his hand and crouched down. From under a trunk, neatly packed with folded clothes, he pulled out a small pouch and a fresh envelope containing the salary they had just received. He took out a bundle of notes .... some old, some new, with a few coins mixed in ...and shoved it into Ming's hand.
"Don't ask questions. Just take it. Consider it the help from the God you believe in, and the one I never did."
With that, Kirt walked away, not once looking back, while Ming stood rooted in utter disbelief.
Three years ago
Ming's story was anything but ordinary. Three years ago, he survived an incident he still struggles to believe ever happened. In that story, he wasn't the victim...he was guilty. Guilty of his father, his mother, and little Luna, his delicate, doll-like sister.
Once he had a small family, indeed not a happy one because he had never known the comfort of a father's care. His father, a slave to alcohol and cannabis, only returned home when he needed money...and that money their mother earned for their survival..
His father always managed to get the money, even if it meant stealing or using violence. Whenever their mother resisted, he would beat her brutally.
It was their mother who truly carried the family....working as a cleaner, scrubbing floors, doing anything she could to feed her children. On days when she had nothing left, she resorted to begging.
But the day a man tried to exploit her vulnerability, she swore she would never beg again. Whatever she earned would be only for her children
.....no one else had any right to it.
Least of all the man who was their father, yet had never once acted like one.
One afternoon after school, Ming's mother asked him to stay home and watch over his baby sister, Luna. He agreed, though his heart tugged toward the promise he had made to his friends to join them for play.
As he waited for his mother to return, the doorbell suddenly rang. Thinking it was her, Ming hurried eagerly to the door...only to find his drunken father swaying in the doorway, the stench of liquor heavy on him. Ming's nose wrinkled in disgust, but his ears caught the sound of his friends calling from outside. His mind raced, and a reckless idea crept in.
"Father... will you look after Luna until Mother comes back?" he asked timidly. To his shock, the man gave a careless nod. Relief washed over Ming. He cast one last glance at Luna, sleeping soundly in her cradle, before dashing outside to join his friends.
Hours slipped away unnoticed. By the time Ming returned, the streets had sunk into darkness. A strange unease prickled at him...why hadn't his mother come to fetch him yet? Pushing open the door, he stepped inside... and the sight before him froze his heart.
His father was gripping baby Luna by the neck, her small body dangling in the air, wailing in terror.
"Please! She's only six months old....she'll die! She's your daughter!" their mother screamed, falling at his feet.
Since his mother did not surrender to physical violence, his father devised a new method of obtaining money.
"How do I know she's mine? I'm never here. Maybe she belongs to someone else!" he sneered. "If you want her alive, give me the money."
Her voice broke. "I don't have any. I paid Ming's school fee today.....only ten bahts left. We don't even know how we'll eat tomorrow. Please, she'll die!"
"You're lying!" he roared, tightening his grip as Luna's cries grew weaker.
Ming's mind went blank. His eyes fell on Luna, her tiny body struggling to survive beneath the crushing grip of her father's hands. Panic surged through him. His gaze darted to his mother, kneeling, begging desperately for mercy from a man who had none, not even for his own child.
Something inside Ming snapped. Without a thought, his trembling hands seized the kitchen knife from the counter. Before his mind could catch up with his body, he lunged forward....and in one swift motion, drove the blade deep into his father's chest..
The man's grip loosened instantly. Their mother snatched Luna into her arms while the drunken beast collapsed to the floor....lifeless.
But the horror didn't end. When she laid Luna down, the baby was still, her eyes open but lifeless. The cruel hands that had strangled her had already claimed her fragile breath.
A scream tore from his mother's throat. The neighbors rushed in, followed by the police. Amidst the chaos, she pulled the knife from Ming's trembling hands.
"Listen to me," she whispered fiercely, pressing his hands. "You did nothing. It was me. I killed him to protect my children. Do you understand?"
"But Mother...."
"Not a word. If you say anything, I'll take this knife and end my life here."
The truth died on Ming's lips. He had no choice but to obey.
The police took his mother to jail
As she was being taken away in the police van, her tear-filled eyes silently pleaded with him not to reveal their hidden secret.
Soon afterward, the authorities carried away the bodies of his father and little Luna. His mother was charged with her husband's death, but given his father's notorious record and the marks on Luna's neck, the court sentenced her to only three years in prison.
The landlord gave him a disgusted look and threw their luggage outside the house. One of his neighbors, who still held on to a sense of humanity, bought his luggage to help him and introduced him to the supervisor. From that day onward, he had been living here with Kirt.
Every Sunday, he visited his mother, often spending his salary on fresh food for her, while desperately waiting for the day she would be released.
Today, that waiting finally came to an end.....she was free. But fate remained merciless. On her way to meet Ming, she was struck by a truck. She survived, but was left critically injured.
"Now Ming stood before his supervisor, desperate for help to save the only person left in his world....but the supervisor turned him away.
Help came instead from someone he never expected: Kirt, a person whose presence Ming had never once felt, even when they had stood in the same place."