The Kingpin's Possession

86: Unwanted Confrontation

Kit:In the couple of days that followed, Kit did not dare let P’Kim out of his sight; he stuck to his lover like a shadow. He feared that if he looked away for even a second, something might happen to him or everyone else.

Even though he had managed to talk himself out of being convinced his nightmare was a premonition, the fear was still there.

When P’Kim had to go out for work, Kit would usually stay in the living room or his own bedroom and refused to leave the mansion. He wasn’t foolish enough to keep following P’Kim around, of course. He was satisfied with keeping his eyes on him while they were at home, but the outside world was a different story.

Kit had called and talked to Earth later on. Their conversation had not been anything out of the ordinary as they hadn’t fallen out or anything, and in a matter of a few exchanges, they had already sorted out whatever differences they might have had the last time they met.

But Ben… He was a different story.

Whenever Ben called or texted him, Kit would start to feel… off, was the right term. Uncomfortable. Whenever Ben would reach out to him personally, there was this heavy feeling in his chest, like an elephant had sat atop him or someone hooked a hundred-ton anchor into the muscle of his heart.

None of that was on purpose. He still loved Ben as a dear friend, but now that he knew Ben had feelings for him, it became awkward for him to keep the conversations flowing as easily as it used to be.

He felt guilty doing what he did, but he couldn’t help it—he would end up giving curt replies or ending their calls early with one lame excuse or another. He knew he wasn’t being subtle about it, and it was clearly hurting Ben more. But try as he might, he just couldn’t!

And try he really did; he ended up lasting almost a whole ten minutes before interrupting Ben, saying P’Aawut was looking for him.

“Really?” he muttered to himself, smacking his forehead with his palm after the call had ended. “P’Aawut? Not even P’Kanya or N’Som? Ai bahHe hated pushing Ben away like this, but he really didn’t know how he was going to face Ben again after all of this was over. After all, Kit still hadn’t been able to come to terms with what he found out about Ben’s feelings for him.

It was just plain awkward, and Kit was not good with awkward.

What’s worse was that Ben didn’t know that Kit knew, so he was probably beating himself up, wondering what he had done to offend Kit.

“Ah, shiaMoreover… the day that they all had to go to Chiang Mai was nearing, and soon he would have to face Ben eventually.

Why in hell did Kit have all these problems to deal with in one go? He was not the fates’ strongest soldier! Time was slowly dwindling down as weeks turned to days, and there was no stopping it.

Even though Kit spent the entire time rotting at the mansion, time had never gone by faster.

At long last, the day finally came when Kit had no other choice but to leave the house and buy essentials for their trip to Chiang Mai. The cowardly part of him wanted to bail and ask P’Aawut to do it for him instead, but he also knew it was also the day his father would meet up with him at the mall, and no doubt Ayan would find it suspicious if he didn’t show.

Ah, damn that man. Kit had always hated his father for being absent and neglectful, but he didn’t know it was possible that such hatred could go even deeper, until now. The man had faked his own death while still trying to drown his family in debt! Could there really be a worse person on the planet?

P’Kim and P’First had both briefed him on what to say, what not to say, and how to act in certain extreme scenarios, but even as he committed those things to memory, he still felt like no amount of briefing could prepare him enough for the actual confrontation.

Needless to say, he was still scared.

Having no choice but to finish what had been started, he entered the store at the mall anyway, blood rushing in his ears as he tried to act nonchalant. If he showed too much nervousness that might sound some alarms.

He went around, basket in hand, pretending to look for items he would need and putting them in his basket. At first, things were relatively calm, and it had been so peaceful that Kit was beginning to doubt if his father would even appear.

Then, as he approached a more secluded corner of the store, he was suddenly pushed against one of the shelves in the aisle he was in, his stomach pressing against an object that wasn’t really sharp, but dug into his skin and bone anyway.

And that was how he knew his father had found him.

Ayan once again, for the second time in this lifetime, pressed a gun against the back of his own son. “So?” he asked. “Did you manage to get some useful information yet? Remember, I don’t take no for an answer. I’ve given you plenty of time.”

“I… I do,” Kit said, just as they had practiced, but his heart pounded against his ribcage in fear. He really didn’t want to fuck this up!

“Then?” his father urged. “Tell me right away.”

Kit shook his head somewhat defiantly, but he could not hide the tremble in his voice as he said, “You have to promise me first that you won’t hurt my friends if I tell you.”

Suddenly turning him around, his father slapped him across the face. The sound would have echoed in an empty room, but the store was crowded and noisy enough that no one except them could hear whatever occurred now.

Kit was shocked at his father’s heartlessness. His cheeks stung and his eyes watered, but he held in his emotions as best as he could.

“Do you really think you are in any position to negotiate with me?” he demanded. “If you don’t tell me whatever the hell is going on, then one of your friends will get a taste of your consequences by tonight.”

Kit gulped. It was one of the things P’First told him to do: “Show fear. He’ll have his guard down if he thinks he’s got you wrapped around his thumb.”

Well, it didn’t take Kit significant effort to do so, because he was honestly pretty scared right now without having to pretend.

“P-P’First and P’Kim t-think that you will follow me and my friends to Chiang Mai,” he managed to stutter. “S-so they plan to follow me there, too and catch you in the act.”

Ayan smirked at that. “Go on,” he said, putting more pressure on Kit’s stomach with the barrel of the gun. “Tell me more.”

“They’ll be ah, staying at a villa near the one my friend’s family owns,” he admitted some more. “But it’s just that, I don’t know which villa it is, so I can’t give you specifics, but it shouldn’t be difficult to find…”

Ayan grinned, finally relaxing his hold on the gun. “You are a good dog,” he said, stepping back. “Now, go and be on your way.”

He had a cunning smile as he said, “Enjoy your trip to Chiang Mai. It might be your last.”

Kit shuddered at his father’s words and crumbled to the floor as soon as Ayan walked away. Kit wrapped his arms around himself to stop the shivering, but it didn’t help, and neither did it have anything to do with the cold.

Kit didn’t know when Ayan slipped away, but when P’David finally found him in the aisle about twenty minutes later, he was still curled up on the floor with his back against the rack, still reeling from the aftereffects from his encounter with his father.