You call this self-defense?

Anurak was the only thing Eshin's mum had that was from his late Aunty. She saw him as her own child.

If not for Anurak being a kid when his mother died and his petty father wanted to use him to punish Eshin's mother, she would have taken him in a long time ago. Anurak's father solely blamed Aunty Cahya for his broken marriage and insisted that he wouldn't let his son have anything to do with her.

Now that Anurak was considered grown under the law, and he decided to come to them, Eshin's mother decided to devote herself to taking good care of him. She wanted to do her best to compensate for the years she wasn't there for him.

To help his mother, Eshin had contacted the only influential person he knew in the whole of Bangkok; Sud. He considered it a blessing that Sud was also a student at Sunny-Uni. So he handed Anurak's safety over to the guy.

Who would have known that within the first week of resumption, Anurak would get into so much trouble? At this point, even Sud's influence may not be enough to solve this. After all, Anurak had beaten the two boys up pretty badly.

Eshin already heard from Sud that Anurak had broken at least a rib of each boy and left them with swollen heads. There was no way the boys' boss would let Anurak go.

How was Eshin going to explain this to his mother?

"I went to buy galganla last night when they suddenly crossed me and threatened me with a pocket knife. They took me to a corner inside the car park and I took them out. Where did you get this, Hia?" Anurak explained in shock. He was sure that he was alone last night.

Turned out that he wasn't. What was he to do now?

"I thought I told you to lie low?" New snapped. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you are in right now?"

New shook his head resignedly, then sat down.

The nonchalance in Anurak's tone was annoying him. If he had known that Anurak could be this silly, he wouldn't have prepared that noodle soup for him. In fact, he should have left him in his vomit. New was stewing inside, but on the outside, he just looked a little sad.

"How was I supposed to know someone was recording? I thought I could just teach them a lesson, so they would leave me alone." Anurak frowned like he was being treated unfairly.

"Hum!" Sud chuckled. "So this is what you call a little lesson, Anurak? You broke their ribs and plummeted their faces until their heads got swollen, and you call it a little lesson." He turned to Eshin, "Your brother is crazy… ah ah ah ah." he laughed exasperatedly.

He used the whole morning to think about how to save Anurak but he couldn't find any way out. The people Anurak offended were out of his league. Not just that, the school has its own rules on violence. Even if Sud could help with other things, when it came to the school authority, he was powerless. So all Sud could do was laugh. Before Anurak came in, He and Eshin already decided that Anurak would join Eshin at his school. Sud was very sure that Anurak would be expelled from Sunny-Uni come Monday morning.

"New, please excuse us. I want to discuss something with my brother." Eshin ignored Sud's laughter and spoke to New, who then nodded and left the room.

Once New was gone, silence descended on the room. The three men stared into space for some time.

Anurak huffed. He couldn't bear the silence anymore.

"It can't be that bad, right? They are just fans of P'King, and the fight was in self-defense. You heard them say it. They double-crossed me first. Will the school expel me because of that?" Anurak couldn't think of any worse outcome than this. He read the school rules and regulations. He knew what was coming.

Expulsion! Just like that! His father was going to have a good laugh.

Within a few minutes, he realized that he might be in trouble, and he started preparing his heart for it.

When Eshin heard what Anurak had to say for himself, he was flabbergasted. He flexed his hands and leaned forward, glaring at Anurak. He was close to losing his temper.

"You! Yuuu… where is self-defense? Do you actually call that self-defense? That was attempted murder! Where did you learn this behavior from?"

Anurak was so short and lean that he could be easily overlooked if not for his great looks. It was already great that he could defend himself in such situations, but to be so violent and vicious? Eshin wasn't expecting that and was finding it hard to accept.

One had to know that Eshin doted on Anurak even more than his mother. He was the younger brother he didn't have. But after seeing that video, his image of Anurak was crushed. The boy was supposed to be frail and gentle.

Where did this fierce person come from?

He was still trying to deal with that, only for this small bottle of trouble to start claiming victim and self-defense. Eshin didn't like violence, and he felt that Anurak had gone too far. He believed the school would have the same stance and that Anurak should acknowledge his wrong.

But he was wrong.

Not only was Anurak claiming victim, but he even dared to look aggrieved.

How could this be his soft-spoken brother?

Then something scary occurred to Eshin. His eyes widened in anger and shock as his glare became more stern.

"Don't tell me, you joined your Dad's gang," Eshin asked Anurak in anger.

"Phi!" Anurak glared back at him.

How could he say that? Anurak hated his father the most and would rather die than join a gang in this life. He was pissed off by Eshin's words.

"Calm down." Sud patted Eshin on the shoulder. "Even though he went too far, they deserved the beating."

Sud was yet to ask for the reason Anurak beat those boys up, but when he heard that they were the ones who waylaid him first, he was pleased that Anurak could defend himself. More than anyone else in that room, he knew that had it been that Anurak couldn't defend himself last night, he would probably be fighting for his life right now. So even though he was angry, he was also relieved.

"But he is now in trouble. It's not worth it!" Eshin's voice went hoarse. He was near tears.

Seeing that he at least has one support, Anurak turned to Sud, "Will I be expelled?" He asked worriedly.

"If it's just an expulsion, that would have been good. You can always find another school to attend. Anurak, You have messed with the wrong people." Eshin replied in a pained voice. He was really scared and it annoyed him that his brother didn't get the gist of the matter.

"I don't understand. Who did I mess with? Those boys are just some lousy small fries who tried to bully me using P'King as an excuse." Anurak insisted.

"Anurak, you are a man now, so it's time you know how it works around here. Bangkok as a city is a circus of cliques and gangs. Everyone is connected in one way or the other. You can't just go around, beating people up because they offended you. You have to think of the bigger picture."

Anurak gave him a confused look and Sud signed. Seems like he would have to break things down in detail.

"Remember what I said about the top elite families of Bangkok. Remember I said King's family is one of the top 5?"

Anurak nodded.

"My family is in the top 20 while New's family is in the top 10. For a family in the top 20, we still have to tie ourselves to families in the top 10 who have ties with families in the top 5 who have ties with families in the top 3 who have ties with prominent branches of the royal family. That's how it goes." Sud paused to catch his breath, then continued.

"If my family should get into any trouble and the problem is within the prowess of my connections in the top 10 families to solve, I will use my connections to solve it, or I can seek help from another more powerful family and pay for their services or owe them a favor. Do you understand?"

"Chai, Hia," Anurak replied. He wasn't sure of where all this was going.

"Now, if someone is under me and a third party from another clique messes with them, then it is considered as them messing with me. It is up to me as the boss of the person messed with to take revenge. Not because my followers are important but because despite knowing that they are with me, someone still had the guts to mess with them, which translates to disrespecting me."

The silence in the room suddenly became heavier. Anurak felt his scalp go numb and his airways contracted. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

So that's the way it is, he mused in horror.

"So P'King will target me because I beat his boys up?"

"No. You are too irrelevant to catch King's attention. The problem is not King. The problem is the people under him. The boys you beat up are under someone who is under King. The boys might not be important to King but if the person they are under has a high position in King's clique, then the clique will act on his behalf. King doesn't even need to know about it." Sud explained.

Anurak was already tired from all that workout and alcohol he had this morning, therefore, after understanding the depth of his issues, wariness descended on him.

He suddenly had the urge to sit under a cold shower. Feeling as if his two legs couldn't support him again, Anurak sat on the floor and faced Sud. He knew that since he took his time to explain things to him, Sud might have a way out. He had to.

"So what do I do now, Phi?" He asked humbly. He wasn't one to show weakness in front of people, but right now, his voice was shaky, and his breathing was a little uneven.

Instead of answering him, Sud stood up and entered his bedroom, leaving a bewildered Anurak with Eshin who looked like he was sleeping with his head resting on the back of the couch and his eyes closed.

At the sound of the bedroom door closing, Eshin opened his eyes. They were filled with anger, pain, fear, resentment, and unwillingness. But of all these, the only one directed at Anurak was the fear.

Not understanding Sud's action or Eshin's intense gaze, Anurak asked his brother, "Hia…what should I do now?"