Chapter 2 Part I

At the House by the Canal, Madam Warakun looked out at the winding waterway. Glimmers of joy had appeared in her eyes after Sakunthara called to tell her the details of her first prenatal appointment. The children she was carrying were perfectly strong and healthy.

Her lips broke into a smile, but it faded and disappeared when she thought of what had happened seven months ago—the beginning of all of this.

7 Months Ago…

Wrinkled hands held a letter; their owner alternated looking down on it with a shaky gaze and looking at the gate in front of the house, waiting for the man whose name was written in the letter to return.

As the evening advanced to night, she remained sitting in the same spot. Her hands still held onto that letter, as he had not told her if there would be a party or that he would return late.

The pain in her eyes grew when she thought back to what she had pleaded for from the person named in the letter and how he had made a firm promise. It was unbelievable that everything had been turned on its head to this extent. Most importantly, she had found out by accident.

A solid black Benz sports car came to a stop in front of the house gate as the alloy gate slowly rolled open in response to the remote control. The car raced inside, but its engine remained completely silent.

A chandelier gave off a soft glow. Within the house, only the living room had its lights on. Madam Warakun was on the sofa, her neck held stiffly up and her back was elegantly straight even though she had been sitting in the same position for several hours.

Pongket had returned to his post in Thailand less than a year ago. Due to his career and position, he had to constantly take up posts abroad. Once his three-year post was completed, he would move back and prepare to take up a new post. Each time, there was a gap of a year or more between posts.

‘Mr. Pongket Siriprapapen, Director of the Tourism Authority of Thailand in Frankfurt, Germany’

The text of the letter clearly stated the position and country where he would be stationed for his next post. This time, however, it was much too fast for a mother to have to be parted from her child once more because the time remaining before he was to take up his post, as spelled out in the letter she was holding, was less than two months. Then there were the three years which he would have to serve in his post abroad once more.

“What is this letter exactly? Would you please explain it to me?” Madam Warakun stood up quickly and handed the letter to her son the moment she heard his footsteps enter the house.

“You’re not asleep yet, Mother?” Pongket replied in a gentle, polite tone with his own question. Once his gaze slid to the document in his mother’s hands, he knew immediately what the matter was. He gave a small, defensive smile.

“I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep if I still don’t get the answer.” Madam Warakun stared at her son without moving. Her eyes still held glimmers of anxiety which were evident even in the dim light.

Although she was able to accompany her son everywhere as a member of his household and reside with him until the conclusion of his posting, she still had obligations and responsibilities in Thailand that she was unable to leave for a prolonged period of time.

One major reason for worry was that her son had now fully reached the age of thirty years. If he returned to Thailand after that and started a family, he would be getting to it very late, and there would also be a high risk of not being able to secure an heir to pass on the family name.

Added to that was his love of freedom and his attachment to his bachelor ways. The longer it took and the older he got, the greater the fracture in the relationship between him and his mother.

The young man’s lips broke into a small, calm smile as he gently loosened the necktie around his shirt collar. He moved closer and laid his suit jacket on the back of the sofa, then looked up to meet his mother’s gaze.

“They’re just orders for an official post. I thought you would be used to them by now,” the young man answered in a steady tone that matched the matter-of-fact statement that had passed from his lips.

“I don’t think I can get used to them.”

“It’s my career, after all.”

“But you promised me that you would stay longer this time. Why is this all so sudden? Once the orders came, you didn’t think to tell me about them at all, did you?” Madam Warakun asked in a cold tone.

“I only knew just a short time before you saw the letter.” His tone was still as steady as when he had first addressed his mother.

He moved, turning as he stretched to his full height, exhaled slowly.

“Is there anything else you want to discuss with me, Mother? It’s just that I have a large number of emails I have to reply to.” He told her what he had to do. The emergency order had come in without warning, forcing him to rush to handle everything as swiftly as possible.

Madam Warakun studied her son’s face accusingly, but she didn’t detect anything out of the ordinary in his eyes. He still maintained his calm demeanor.

“What? It’s this late, and you’re still going to work?” Seeing that he still retained his collected façade, she pretended to have an outburst. With him acting this way, it would be hard to figure out her son’s intentions or what he was thinking.

Over the course of many years, she had witnessed her son running himself into the ground at work to such an extent that he barely had time to see his mother. At times, as of late, his work was merely an excuse he used because Madam Warakun had been highly assertive recently, intentionally matchmaking and setting up blind dates with prospective wives more often than usual. He knew that work was the only way to refuse her.

The young man let out a breath. He was at a dead end as to how to explain his feelings to his mother in a way that she would understand. No matter what excuse he gave, she always had solutions for it. Finally, he was forced to tell her his reason before she gave him any orders, and his reason was work, as usual.

“The former Director of Tourism suffered a plane crash on the way to carry out his duties, so I received the orders appointing me to the position sooner than was planned. I’ll have to travel immediately once everything is ready.”

“We need to have a serious conversation,” Madam Warakun said in a more forceful tone.

“Right.” Pongket turned back to look at his mother. His eyebrows knitted together because he wasn’t quite certain what his mother was actually saying.

“Don’t play innocent. We’ve talked about this issue countless times,” Madam Warakun hurriedly reminded him. Once he heard that, he understood everything.

“If you’re talking about marriage and blind dates to meet prospective wives, Mother, I’ve told you each time that I’m capable of finding a wife on my own. And right now, I’m not ready to have a family with anyone.”

“And when will you be ready?” Madam Warakun immediately asked. With a son who was getting closer to forty, a mother like herself could hardly just wait endlessly like in the past.

“We’ve talked about this many times already, Mother.”

“It’s because we’ve talked about this many times already that I have to keep bringing it up. This is the last time I’m making this request of you, Pong.” Her tone softened and a note of pleading crept into it.

The young man relented once more. He let out a breath in a tired manner. Sometimes, he didn’t want to be an only child who shouldered all the expectations of both his father and mother. Ever since he’d started school, entered university—even when he’d graduated and started working—even up until now, there was no end to the hopes his mother had attached to him.

“Who do you want me to meet now, Mother?” He asked wearily. These days, every time his mother mentioned she wanted to talk to him, it was always inevitably about this issue.

“I want grandchildren!”