Chapter 2 : The Bad Boy's Heart

It had been over a month since Tian had returned home to recuperate and thanks to the nutritionist and the proper exercise under the guidance of the physiotherapist, Tian's body was now much stronger than before. Sweat runs through his short, trimmed hair, revealing a face as fresh and handsome as his freshman year.

Tian has been alternately walking briskly on the treadmill for more than half an hour in his gym clothes, if it was any other time, he would have passed out in less than ten minutes.

The air-conditioned glass room, originally filled with DVDs and video games, has been fitted with brand new equipment and has been temporarily transformed into a small gym, so that anyone who walks in can still feel the grandeur.

The handsome and elegant young man with his boxy glasses, shaking his head, has a touch of wit. He leaned forward and looked at the time panel on the treadmill screen from behind, ripping off the headphones Tian was listening to a moment ago and telling Tian it's time to stop.

"It said here: don't exercise more than half an hour a day, he waved Tian's recovery schedule.

"Phii Tay." Tian raised an eyebrow, surprised that Tay was here. Tay was the head of the medical school at his university and the son of his father's chief of staff friend.

Tay reached out and pressed the stop button on the treadmill, "Exercise in moderation, it doesn't take two days to get stronger, you just got a new heart, all the more reason not to overdo it."

Tian shrugged and stopped. He pulled off the towel around his neck and wiped the sweat from his face." Did mother ask you to come and see me?" Although Tay was his age, he was now chanting as if his mother was looking after her child.

"Even if your mother hadn't said so, I'd still like to come and see you." Tay is interning at a hospital in the provinces, so it's hard for him to find the time to come back to Bangkok.

"How many days has Phii Tay been back? Take me for a walk tomorrow, I'm bored to death at home." If it wasn't Tay, he didn't want to bother anyone else, Tay was a talented medical student who his mother admired and trusted, she wouldn't let him go out, for fear he would get infected again.

"I've been off work for a couple of days because I've changed shifts, let me ask your mum first." Tay replied affectionately. In fact, how long had it been since Tian had been back to normal? For the past two years she hadn't had the chance to talk to the person in front of her for more than a minute, her eyes, which had been so beautiful and slender, were nothing but melancholy and despair for life.

"Are you here alone?" Tian heard Tay's reply as he unscrewed the cap of his water bottle and drank it.

"No, I came with my father, I saw that he had brought important documents and tagged along."

"What's the matter?" Tay shook his head, frowning in confusion, "I don't know but why should we know?"

"Just asking." He pretended not to be interested, although it was easy to guess that Tay's father was here for something important, because no matter what the problem was, he didn't show up easily. Even bailing him out of the police station ten times in a year.

"I'll take a shower and get changed, then we'll talk...." he said, changing the subject quickly before Tay could notice.

"I want to talk to you too, see you in the garden pavilion later." Tay called out to Tian who was walking away, Tian heard him wave in response.

With a handsome face, he politely pampers his mother and with a little help from Tay, he finally gets her to agree. The next day, Tian goes out for the first time in two months, Tian wears a pair of biker jeans and a printed oversized T-shirt, short, styled brown hair and is in a good mood.

The blood on his handsome, motherly face shows that he is healthy now, Tian smiled at himself in the mirror, his new life is starting unexpectedly, a knock on the door lets him know that his appointment has come to pick him up, he picked up his backpack and gets ready to go, Tay opened the door and urged him, "Are you ready? Come on, your mum's going to change her mind again."

"Ready, let's go." Tian reached out and grabbed Tay's arm and pulled him quickly out of the room, because he was afraid he wouldn't be able to escape the 'prison' later.

Finally, he got into the car like a doll and asked Tay to take him out for a walk. They had lunch in a posh shopping centre in the city centre and Tian went into clothes shops, designer shoe shops and swiped his credit card to buy lots of things.

The new white and red leather sneakers were really cool and he wanted the limited-edition Armani belt which was only available this spring.

Tay carries a pile of expensive stuff and shakes his head dotingly. Tian rushed into another Ferragamo shop, tried on light-coloured sunglasses that match his face, then turned to Tay and asked his opinion.

"Does it look good? Phii Tay." Tay felt like a dad with a hot girl on a shopping trip. But the difference is, this hot girl is rich and turned to him and asked if he wants to buy these things?

"Nice...", Tay gives a-thumbs up and gives a definite answer.

Tian immediately said, "waiter, pay the bill. Phii Tay, are you sure you don't want to buy anything? You've worked so hard to help me escape from home--" he joked.

Tay laughed softly and said, "I don't want to buy, you can buy it for me at the flea market."

"Are you being sarcastic? But come on, I don't care, all I have is money." Tian shrugged.

"I know you've got money...", Tay held up various bags in his hands and said, "But stop throwing money at designer shops, I'll take you to do some good for underprivileged children sometime"

"I'd rather donate some money, it's hot as hell there, who wants to go see them...." said Tay as he signed a credit card slip for 20,000.

Tay looked at the son of a former army officer in front of him and didn't want to blame him, because that's how he was brought up.

"Doesn't doing good deeds mean more than this?"

"I don't want to talk about it anymore." he looked up haughtily, "Phii Tay, don't talk about it anymore, no matter what, I don't believe in such things anymore, what have I gotten for what I've given before?"

Tay threw up his hands in surrender, changed the subject, "Are you hungry? Want to go get something to eat?"

"Japanese food."

"Okay, then let's go to our usual place, this meal is on me but first I have to go to the fourth-floor shop to pick up the books I ordered."

Tian nodded, accepting easily, as he felt hungry even talking about food. When he arrived at the large bookshop, he had to carry his own shopping bags, he chose to leave his things in a corner and stood near the wall of books reading magazines waiting for Tay.

He kept browsing until he came across a bi-weekly magazine that collected gossip about high society and celebrities. A large print headline read about a shop that had opened branches all over the country. The son of the owner of a goldsmith's shop across the country had been killed in a car crash two month earlier, a story that had been hushed up because of money and power.

The pictures of the accident are blurred and even the face is not visible, as if deliberately for the public but when he sees that the victim had donated his heart to someone, he quickly grabs the magazine and opened it to read more details, the further down he looks, his face turned white, his forehead is covered in sweat, his heart is in a state of anxiety.

As Tay's hand gently tapped on Tian's shoulder, Tay saw that Tian's face was as pale as white paper like his brother's, inwardly he was shocked and frowned.

"Are you uncomfortable? Or are you tired from all the walking? You haven't forgotten to take your medication, have you?" Tay, a future doctor, asked a series of worried questions.

Tian stood still for a moment and said to Tay, "I'm going to the bathroom." He didn't wait for Tay to react, he put the magazine in Tay's hand and walked away swiftly.

Tian rushed straight into the nearest bathroom and quickly locked the door. He picked up the phone and swiped through his friends list, calling their friends who were closer than anyone else in the gang before.

A few moments later, a familiar hoarse voice comes through.

"Asshole?" said Tian.

"Yeah, how've you been? I'm sorry, I didn't get to see you, my father controlled my every move and sent me abroad, I only got back to Thailand three days ago."

"I'm fine now--" Tian was quiet for a while, he asked the question that had been on his mind "Do you know about Wisanu's car accident?

"I know, I was racing on the road but I wasn't as unlucky as he was, he killed someone." The voice disappears from the other end of the line and the memory of that day begins.

"I remember you had to go home that night, so Wisanu took your place, you have to thank him, because if you hadn't gone, you could have been the one who ran over someone...", Tull joked, not realising that the person listening had a bolt from the blue and was about to faint in the toilet.

The big pieces of the puzzle start to fit together.

Tian pressed his temples as if they were about to burst, "Where can I find out more about this?"

"Eh?" Tull questioned." Why are you curious about that?"

"I have something to do, can you help me?"

"Tian knows Tull can help him, because Tull has a lot of contacts in the grey areas, no different to his family in the club and gambling business.

"Okay, you've always hidden my whereabouts from my parents, I'll volunteer to help you this time." Finally, Tull accepted Tian's request." No later than tomorrow, I'll get you the information." thank you very much."

Hanging up the phone, he lifted his hand to his chest, annoyed at the stupidity of the decision.

What if the truth had been known, what would have been done!

There was no answer in the silent air, only the pounding of his heart.

Too impulsive.

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