Noi can’t argue with that.
Reaching for him, I pull him closer so that we’re snuggled together. I like having his body against mine. I can feel his heart beating beneath his thin cotton pajama top, and I can smell the sweet scent of his skin.
“I should probably go back to my room,” he says reluctantly.
“Stay just a little bit longer,” I say sleepily.
I should have let him go.
Chapter Twenty-seven: Mee Noi
The sound of the door shutting wakes me. Raising my head, I look around blurrily. I’m lying half-on, half-off Sud, our bare legs entwined. Another couple seconds and I remember where we are. I meant to go back to my room last night, but I must have fallen asleep. I sit up and look at the door. Did I really hear it shut or was that a dream?
Beside me, Sud’s face is slack with sleep, his chest rising and falling slowly. Sliding out of bed, I quietly leave the room and go to the bathroom. After relieving myself and brushing my teeth, I pad downstairs and follow the delicious smells to the kitchen.
Mae looks up from where she’s cooking at the stove.
“Good morning,” she says, smiling warmly at me.
“Morning, Mae,” I say after kissing her on the cheek. “Can I help with breakfast?”
“Thank you, sweetheart, but I’ve got it under control. Pah’s having his coffee on the porch. Why don’t you join him?”
I pour myself a cup and step out onto the covered porch. The sun hasn’t been up for long, and it’s still relatively cool out.
“Mee Noi. You’re up already?” he asks.
I nod, taking a seat near him.
“Did you have a nightmare last night?” he asks.
Puzzled, I frown. “No, why?”
“I hope you’re not ashamed to tell me,” Pah says. “I believe you when you say you don’t remember what happened at Kaeng Krachan, but I’m aware you still have nightmares because Sud told me.”
Pah had explained to me that I had freaked out that day when I thought Sud was lost in the woods, but until that moment I hadn’t put it together with my nightmares of running though the dark woods looking for Sud. At the same time, thankfully, it clicks why Pah is asking. He must have been the one I heard shutting the door to Sud’s room.
“I do still have them,” I admit, not meeting his eyes and hoping he takes it as shame at having lied about having one during the night that drove me to Sud’s bed because I don’t think I can lie to him outright.
Sounding relieved, Pah says, “Maybe they’ll taper off and you’ll be rid of them now that you know why you have them and that Sud wasn’t really lost that day, but safe with Mae.”
I nod, staring into my coffee cup, praying he’ll drop the subject.
Ten runs into the room. “P’Mee Noi! Sud won’t get up. I tried to wake him. I want to show you the treehouse before breakfast!”
Chuckling, I set my cup on a table and stand, glad for a reason to escape this conversation with Pah. “You can show me now and then show Sud later,” I say.
Ten’s grin is huge. “Okay, let’s go!”
“Don’t take long,” Pah says as we slip on our shoes. “Mae will have breakfast ready soon.”
We promise we won’t and Ten tugs at my hand, leading me down the stairs and onto the lawn. The thinner, outer part of the woods is dappled in early morning sunlight. Leaves and sticks crunch under our feet as we walk into the woods.
“This has gotten really overgrown,” I say, looking at the familiar path that leads to the treehouse.
“Pah hasn’t had time to clear it lately,” Ten calls back. He’s moving quickly, ahead of me now. A couple of very noisy Asian Koels cry out above our heads. The moment is so reminiscent of the many times Sud and I walked this same path together, I can’t help but smile with happiness.
“Right after you and P’Sud left for university, Pah helped me and Oat paint the outside of the treehouse a dark brown so it really blends in. Like camouflage,” Ten says.