Two Years Earlier - Nakhon Nayok

"Mom, it's my last day house-sitting for Auntie. Tomorrow morning I'll be back in Pattaya. I'll call you when I'm home. I'm going to check out something strange on the roadside," said Somchai.

"Don't check on anything! People set up scams to get you out of your car and rob you!" 

"It's nothing like that, I gotta go, I love you, bye." 

He disconnected the call and made a U-turn. He saw the odd moving lump. He pulled over and got out. As he approached he realized his initial instinct was right, it was a human being. 

He pulled his phone out to call the police when he heard a sound. The person on the ground moaned. Somchai noticed fingers moving as well. Kneeling, he tapped the person on the back gently.

"Hello? Are you okay?" The moment he spoke he realized how ridiculous his question was. "I'm calling the police for help, give me a minute."

"No!" It wasn't loud but it took all the man's strength to say it. "No police, please." This wasn't as loud but it was clear. 

"I can't leave you here. You need to see a doctor as soon as possible!" 

"I'll pay you but please, my father can't know I'm alive. He's the reason I'm like this"

Somchai rubbed the back of his head, then sighed. "Fine, I'll help you. I have to get you into my car and have no idea where you're hurt. I don't want to cause more injuries or pain."

"I'm already in pain. Even if it hurts, the hospital can fix me. I have money, I'll pay you to give the hospital a fake name for me."

Somchai said nothing although he now worried he was in over his head. Why would someone have beaten this man if it wasn't to rob him?  

He went to the back of his car, pulled out a towel, and covered the back seat. He returned to the man on the ground.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Whatever you want it to be," said the injured man. 

Somchai gave up and concentrated on getting him into the car. It took almost ten minutes as the man was too weak to help. After pulling the stranger into the back seat Somchai drove to the closest convenience store. 

"Wait here, I'll be right back."

"No police, please!"

"Don't worry, I'm not calling the police. I'm getting water for you because you're dehydrated." He left the car and returned a few minutes later. 

He opened the back door and held the man's upper body up. Gently, he pressed the bottle to his lips. 

The stranger drank so quickly that it scared Somchai. "You need to take it slow. I know you're thirsty but you'll vomit if you try to drink too much at once." 

He leaned forward and grabbed a napkin from his front passenger seat. Using some of the water he gently daubed the man's face, removing the blood and dirt. 

There was a cut on his forehead and several deep gashes on his back that would need stitches. As he cleared away the grime the man began to look familiar. 

"Lom, is it you?"

"Huh?" The stranger gasped and looked at Somchai.

"Lom? It's me, Somchai, from high school." He felt the stranger's body relax.

"Somchai, yes, it's me. Don't tell anyone who I am, my father had a hit out on me." 

He remembered Ton Saetang, Lom's father. Most people avoided Lom because his father was a chao pho. Somchai had never cared as he'd been too attracted to Lom. 

He never knew how he found the courage to approach Lom back then. The way Lom looked at him made him believe they shared the same orientation. 

One day in the locker room he stared at Lom and smiled. Lom smiled back, his gaze never wavering. Somchai walked over, complimented Lom on his physique, and pointedly gazed at his crotch. Minutes later they were kissing and groping each other in a shower stall. 

They'd lost their virginity to each other and had a hot, passionate affair. He fell hard for Lom and planned to ask him to move in together after graduation. 

Unfortunately, he invited Lom over while his mom was in Nakhon Nayok visiting the aunt for whom he was currently house-sitting. Happy to have the place to themselves they bought some beers. 

They challenged themselves to finish the box of condoms before the sun rose. They tried as many positions as they could think of until they couldn't go on. 

They passed out on the kitchen floor with Somchai's head on Lom's shoulder. Several hours later Somchai's mother returned home. She stood at the kitchen door staring at her naked son and what appeared to be his lover.  

Used condoms were strewn about and a bottle of lube lay on the kitchen table. Beer bottles littered the counters and clothes hung over the furniture. A shirt hung over the photo of her dead husband. The shock of what she saw was too much. Mentally unhinged, she screamed.

Lom's eyes flew open. It took him a few seconds to realize where he was and who was yelling. He stood, pushed past the wailing women, and ran naked out the back door. 

For months Somchai tried to contact Lom but his calls and texts went unanswered. A year later he cornered Lom at a restaurant. All Lom would say was he thought they were having fun, he had no idea Somchai thought it was a relationship. Somchai stood there, stunned, as Lom apologized and left. 

Somchai remembered how he felt that day as he looked down at the bloody, beaten man in his car. 

Maybe his father found out he was gay and that's why he wants him dead. Or maybe he slept with somebody he shouldn't have and got his father in trouble, thought Somchai. 

He realized he was being unfair because during the months they were having sex Lom had never said he liked him. It had always been Somchai calling and texting him, Lom had never sought him out. Pushing these thoughts out of his head he returned to the driver's seat and drove to the hospital.

Several hours later, after he'd completed the paperwork and lied that Lom was his brother they wheeled Lom out of surgery. The doctor said his right ankle and thigh had been broken as had many of his ribs. 

Lom had stitches on his head, shoulders, back, and stomach. His left hand and wrist were broken as well and they'd had to pry something out of his right hand. 

The doctor motioned to the nurse who brought over a small plastic bag with a necklace that had AHAW on it. Somchai made a wai and put the bag in his pocket.

 He'd called his mother to say he'd stay another day or two. When she became too inquisitive he hung up. For a week he remained by Lom's side at the hospital and brought him home to his condo in Pattaya once he was released. 

Over the next few months, Somchai took Lom to daily physical therapy sessions and weekly doctor's appointments. As a freelance web designer, his work afforded him freedom. While Lom slept or went to physical therapy Somchai met with clients.