I feel sure that’s the most Noi has ever said at once to his parents. Their stunned expressions tell me I’m right.
“You ungrateful brat,” Noi’s mother says sharply. “Your father and I have always done what’s best for you.”
Pah is texting me back, asking for more information, and I’m trying to give it to him while still following the conversation at the table. Consequently, my texts are short and full of typos.
“So, leaving me with strangers when I was a little kid was the best thing for me?” Noi asks. “Granted, being with the Chanthaphans turned out to be wonderful, but you didn’t know that was going to happen. They could have beaten me for all you knew or cared. You dumped me with them because you didn’t want me around.”
Mee Noi’s father looks apoplectic. “That is enough, Wichai,” he growls, using Noi’s formal name. “We are your parents, and you will respect and obey us.”
Noi shakes his head. His voice no longer trembles as he says, “No, you’re not my parents. You are two people who accidently gave me life. The Chanthaphans are my parents because they’re the ones who have always taken care of me and been there for me.” At the shocked expression on Somchai’s face, Noi pins him with a look. “You don’t remember telling me that, do you? That I was a mistake. I was only nine years old. But I’m adult now, and I don’t want you in my life anymore.”
“And who is going to pay for your tuition?” Supaporn asks like she’s pulled an ace out of her sleeve. “Will you sponge off the Chanthaphans, whom you claim to respect so much?”
I want to slap her smug face.
“I’ll pay for it myself,” Noi says.
“Out of an allowance that Thawan Chanthaphan gives you? You think he and his wife kept you because they love you?” She laughs derisively. “We have paid the Chanthaphans well to keep you all these years.”
My eyes dart to Noi’s shocked face before focusing on my phone again, heart turning over. I send a rapid text to Pah as Somchai says something I don’t catch.
Were you and Mae PAID to allow Noi to live with us?
Noi stands up. “I have earned my own money. This is the last conversation we’ll ever have. I don’t want anything to do with either of you.” He turns and walks away.
My phone starts to ring as I scramble to follow.
“I told you it was a mistake to let him go to school in Bangkok,” I hear Noi’s mother say as I move away from the table and hurry after Noi.
Outside, the clouds have cleared and the sun is out. It must have rained in the short time we were in the restaurant because steam rises from the hot pavement as I catch up to Noi and we walk to where I parked my car.
I shouldn’t be surprised that Noi’s parents planned to send him away. Their interest in him has always been about control—that was obvious when they refused to allow Pah and Mae to adopt him. Now that he’s at university, making a life for himself, they can’t stand it.
“Do you really have enough to pay your tuition?” I ask. We received our first check from Rainbow TV recently, but I’m not sure how much tuition costs. “If it isn’t enough, I can help.”
“It’ll be enough for this semester. I’ll work it out.”
“Are you okay?” I ask him when we’re in the car.
His phone starts ringing.
“It’s Pah,” he says dully, staring at the screen.
“I texted him when things got ugly,” I admit.
He doesn’t look at me, and he doesn’t answer the phone.
Gently, I take it from his hands and answer it.
“He wants to speak with you,” I tell Noi.
Noi’s lower lip trembles and he bites into it before taking the phone from my hand.
“Hello, Pah-khap.”
I listen to Pah’s voice as he talks at length to Noi. When tears begin to roll down Noi’s cheeks, my own eyes become damp. I’ve always known that Somchai and Supaporn provided money for Noi’s expenses, but Somchai said theypaidmy parents. Is that true? I can only imagine what Noi is thinking. My parents have always told him that he’s a part of the family. If they took money beyond his living expenses to have Noi live with us, that feels different.
Since Pah isn’t finished speaking, and Noi has begun giving him short responses, I start the car and head back for theapartment he shares with Bua and Peach, determined to get him moved in with me tonight.