Work Text:
The clock ticks closer to five in the afternoon. A few of Nont's coworkers have already left, ready to enjoy their weekends free from the watchful eye of Khun Lilly. Another one passes by and wishes him a good weekend. Nont waves goodbye as he wills time to move faster.
He has filed all the documents in their correct folders. All the executives have been happily caffeinated—well, over caffeinated, since that’s what really makes them happy. He answered his last phone call a few minutes ago, directing the caller to another colleague who worked in their public relations department.
Khun Lilly passes by his desk without sparing him a glance. Her hair is in its usual slicked-back style, her outfit is smart and sophisticated, and her tall, thin heels stab the floor as she heads to the elevators. Usually, Keen follows wherever Khun Lilly goes, but he's off-site at a meeting.
Nont usually spends more time at work than anywhere else because Keen’s here. Nont loves stealing a few moments in the bathroom stall together. Just pushing Keen up against the wall and taking as much as he can from him before someone walks in. They were getting reckless, though, and Keen was worried his mother—their boss—would catch them. Khun Lilly had eyes everywhere, and it would not surprise Nont that she had some in the men’s bathroom.
So, Keen had rented a hotel room for the weekend, in a shady part of Bangkok someone as elegant as Khun Lilly would never dare to go, so they could have all the time in the world.
Which Nont loves, because while Keen likes their sex fast and rough, Nont prefers taking his time, feeling every single part of Keen, until he unravels under him with moans that only Nont’s ears are meant to hear.
Not that others haven't heard them. His neighbors have already complained about their noise, so they can’t always do it at Nont’s apartment. The hotel room may be shady, but at least it’s private.
By the time five rolls around, Nont is already vibrating with excitement. He grabs his bag and heads down the hallway to the elevator. He presses the button and waits for the elevator to come. In less than thirty minutes, he’ll be with Keen. In less than thirty-five minutes, he'll be getting off one way or another.
“Big weekend plans?” His colleague Charlie asks with an amused expression on his face. Nont must look eager. He can’t help it. If Charlie went five whole days without having sex with his girlfriend, Nont would never hear the end of it.
“Just taking a staycation.”
He figures that’s the safest thing to say. No one at the company knows Nont and Keen are a thing. For one thing, Keen’s mother—and Nont’s boss—is terrifying, and she has strictly forbidden her sons from dating. For another, everyone at the company would start treating Nont differently, trying to suck up to him to suck up to one of the beloved sons. And finally, Khun Lilly is Nont’s boss. Nont likes his job. It’s low stakes and super easy. He doesn’t want to find one where actual work is expected of him. As he told Keen, he hopes to be a house husband one day, tending to a garden and making Keen elaborate meals.
You better have a good dowry, Keen had said.
Isn’t Khun Lilly going to bankroll us? Nont had joked.
But not really. Khun Lilly was loaded. Surely once Keen had the approval to get married, and he introduced Nont as his partner, Khun Lilly would support them. She was Keen’s mother—she wanted the best for him.
Nont never got an answer to his joke because Keen had kissed him so hard that all thoughts of marriage took a backseat to the raging hot desire of needing Keen inside him as soon as possible.
That happened, and it's going to happen again tonight.
“Sounds like you’re going to have a great staycation,” Charlie says. “We’re here. The elevator has been dinging open and close for a solid minute. I thought I’d just watch you to make sure you didn’t hit your head or something. But I know that look. When Sammy wants to get it on, that’s how I get too. Have fun with your girl tonight!”
Nont doesn’t bother to correct him.
Nont arrives at the hotel room first, as Keen had texted him he was running late. So, fine, he’s not getting laid thirty minutes after work, but Nont is nothing but patient, and he’ll make Keen give him extra attention to make up for this delay. He throws his overnight bag on the bed before throwing himself on it. The bed is hard, and the sheets look grey when they should be white, but Nont doesn’t care. Wherever Keen wants to be, there Nont will be.
He turns on the television though it’s seventy-five percent static. He likes the noise, though. Nont grew up in a large family where silence meant someone was sick or dying. He goes to Pattaya to see his parents and the remaining siblings—some have gone abroad, others north or south in Thailand—and though he has asked Keen to come, his boyfriend always comes up with an excuse.
Maybe, says a voice sounding suspiciously like Khun Lilly, he’s not that serious about you.
Nont shudders and turns the volume up on the television. He needs to spend way less time at work if he’s hearing his boss’s voice like some sort of devil on his shoulder.
He gets why Keen is hesitant. He does. They’re relatively new, about half a year into seeing each other, and Keen has so much family baggage that it slows him down. Nont should be more cautious, more discerning, but he’s always worn his heart on his sleeve. He falls fast and hard and never wants to get up. He’ll go at Keen’s pace, though. Because if he moves too fast, he’s scared he’ll leave Keen behind. Nont will take his hand and walk with him, no matter how long it takes, because Keen is worth the wait.
A knock on the door, and then Keen enters the room. His waist looks so huggable in those tight pants that Nont can’t wait to take off. Keen throws his bag down on the ground, crawls on to the bed, and hovers over Nont.
“Hi,” he says.
Nont leans forward and kisses him. He can only be so patient.
And then there’s another knock at the door, and a very handsome waiter says he has room service, but there’s no room service at this hotel, and Nont’s confusion only deepens when his boyfriend pulls out a fucking gun and takes the waiter hostage.
And then not even five minutes later, a gun is in Nont’s face, and he’s the one taken hostage.
Life is funny like that, but Nont is finding it pretty hard to laugh.
Actually, he does end up laughing.
The waiter—okay, no, not a waiter. Nont can follow that Keen’s brother is the one with the gun and the guy who pretended to be a waiter is his boyfriend. Keen’s brother’s boyfriend—Style, though Nont thinks he may have misheard that—pushes him through the hotel’s hallways and down the stairs and out the exit.
“One wrong move and I’ll shoot,” he says, but he sounds so unserious, and even though he did kick Keen, the guy reminds Nont of a baby giraffe, and so yeah, maybe he does end up laughing so hard he snorts, and then Style frowns and grumbles, “What the fuck are you laughing at?”
It all comes crashing down on Nont as Style pushes him into the back of the Jeep.
“I’m being kidnapped,” he says while Style zip-ties his hands together in front. Style also puts his seatbelt on, which is nice of him. Probably less out a concern for Nont’s safety and more of an avoid-the-cops strategy.
“First time?” Style quips.
“I mean, yes? Do people get kidnapped a lot?”
Style shrugs. “I’ve only been kidnapped once. Well, maybe now twice? I don’t know if what your boyfriend did really counts. He just brought me into a room. I feel like kidnapping involves moving locations.”
“You moved from the hallway to the hotel room,” Nont says. “I think if you want to count it as two you could.”
“I should. More bragging rights. Kant’s only been kidnapped once.”
“Style,” Keen’s brother says, barely turning his head from the front seat. “Stop it.”
“Stop what?” Style sounds like he knows exactly what he should stop doing, but he gives Nont an overexaggerated wink before walking over to the driver’s side of the door. He leans in and kisses Keen’s brother’s cheek. Nont should really figure out this guy’s name, especially if he wants to report him to the police. Though, he doubts the police will help. These guys are professional criminals. Well, not Style. But Keen’s brother, definitely.
And Keen.
Style hops in the front seat and blasts some music straight from an American ‘80s movie. Keen’s brother steps on the gas, and they’re out of the parking lot faster than Nont can blink. As Style yaps and Keen’s brother nods along, Nont thinks about Keen.
He feels so many steps behind. Nont had no idea Keen even owned a gun. There was one night, maybe a month or so ago, when Nont’s neighbor’s apartment had been broken into, and Nont had asked Keen if he should get a gun. Keen shot that idea down. You don’t need that, he said. Your neighbor was just unlucky. Besides, you’re more likely to hurt yourself than any thief. Nont suggested going to a shooting range, to which Keen said, Why don’t we do something more fun instead? They had sex for hours. Nont had to admit, he liked that much more than shooting a gun.
But who was that Keen in the hotel room, who held a gun so surely in his hand, about to shoot first, Style, and then, his own brother?
Nont couldn’t imagine threatening to kill his siblings, let alone threaten them at gunpoint. No matter how much they teased each other, barged into each other’s business, or squealed on their activities to their parents, in the end, they loved each other. Whatever the issue is between Keen and his siblings, it’s serious enough to kill over.
Mother will trust me once she sees what I can do.
Do you love him more than your mother?
Does Khun Lilly know how much her sons hate each other? Nont has seen the other brothers coming and going at the office, though he never figured out what they did. When he asked Keen, his boyfriend said they dealt with security issues.
Turns out, Keen does, too.
Nont has always felt so safe with Keen, and now, he’s in danger because of him. An hour ago, Nont would’ve said Keen is the person he knows the best, but it turns out he doesn’t really know him at all.
They take him to an abandoned swimming pool in a part of town that Nont would never have thought about going near under normal circumstances. Even the cheap hotels he and Keen meet at are in nicer neighborhoods than this. Keen’s brother grips one arm and Style the other, and they drag him out of the car, down past the empty pool, and into a storage closet.
“Can you check in with Kant and Bison?” Keen’s brother asks Style. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t have the chance to escape.”
What’s pathetic is that Nont hasn’t even thought about escaping. He probably had chances at several red lights on the way here, but the thought never crossed his mind. Nont just can’t stop thinking about Keen. About the hotel room and the gun and the hands that held the gun that also hold Nont’s hands. How the Keen he knows and the Keen he saw in there could ever be the same person.
“Sure.” Style studies his boyfriend’s face for a few moments too long. Nont feels like he’s intruding on something. Then again, they did kidnap him, so any intrusion is their fault. “Fadel, be nice.”
Right. Fadel. Nont had known that, at some point, but fear and the fact that Keen's brothers barely come into the office had made him forget.
Before Fadel can even open his mouth, Style adds, “It’s not his fault.” Style looks right at Nont before his eyes flicker back to Fadel. “When we fall in love, we don’t know the consequences.”
With that, Style leaves with his phone up to his ear, and Nont is left with Fadel. Honestly, this is the first time he’s actually scared. Despite Style’s earlier threats, Nont hasn’t felt like he was going to be hurt. Style is nice and funny and has a decent taste in music. Not all kidnappings involve a great soundtrack, so Nont feels lucky in that regard. Now Style is gone, and yeah, Fadel is scary.
Style might have been the one to grab him, but Fadel was the one who threatened him. When Keen had begged Fadel not to hurt Nont, Fadel said it was for Keen to decide. Do you love him more than your mother?
Fadel doesn’t speak to him as he surveys the closet for—well, Nont can’t guess what he would be looking for but whatever it is, Nont doubts he’s going to like it. His wrists are already chafing under the zip ties. He doesn’t know how long it will take for Keen to find the information they want—or, that Khun Lilly sounding voice in his head taunts him, whether Keen will even try to get Nont back. He could throw Nont to the wolves to save himself. Before an hour ago, Nont would’ve never believed that, but Nont isn’t sure what he believes anymore.
“I won’t go anywhere,” Nont says. His voice comes out thick and broken. He hasn’t spoken for a solid hour, so it’s not a surprise. He’s more surprised he was able to say anything at all. “I promise. You don’t even need to tie me up. I’ll just, I don’t know. I’ll just be here.”
He is pathetic. Truly, deeply pathetic.
“I don’t trust you,” Fadel says.
“Well, yeah, you shouldn’t.” Another inner voice—this one sounding like Keen—scolds him for being so honest. “But you have two guns, Style’s kind of a badass, and I just found out my boyfriend is like, what, a hitman or something, like an hour ago, so honestly, I think a little alone time in here isn’t the worst thing in the world.”
But his words don’t stop Fadel from grabbing a paracord he finds on a shelf and tying Nont’s feet together. So now he can’t even walk. Great. He’s going to have a ton of back problems after this, and he’s not too sure he wants Keen to give him a massage. He’s not sure he even wants to see Keen.
“Keen didn’t tell me anything,” Nont says, almost pleading. “And after all this, you won’t have to worry about me. I promise.”
“If you had any intelligence at all, after all this, you would leave Keen, leave Bangkok, and never look back.” Fadel finally looks at him. “Loving Keen will only kill you.”
Fadel’s words hit Nont like a punch to the gut.
“If I hear you scream even once, it’ll be the last noise you ever make.”
With that lovely promise, Fadel leaves, and the door shuts behind him with a click and a lock sliding into place.
But.
Nont may be hallucinating since this is turning out to be the worst day he’s ever had, but he’s almost certain Fadel was just on the verge of crying.
Nont is bored. Turns out, being kidnapped consists of vague threats that likely won’t be followed through, aching wrists, sore ankles, and continually shifting one’s body to find a position that’s not totally uncomfortable. Then, it’s a whole lot of waiting. He’s not sure how long it’s been since Fadel left. It could be anywhere between thirty minutes to thirty hours. What’s time anyway but a perception of reality? Stuck in this closet, the only thing he knows is that there are fourteen pool noodles, five buckets, one pool vacuum, and a box of chlorine tablets on the shelves he’s staring at.
He could try to inch-worm his way across the room, lean up against those shelves, and then count the items on the shelves he’s currently sitting against.
That sounds fun.
So, he does. Turns out the other shelves have ten towels, a deflated dinosaur floatie, and a faded sign that Nont can’t read.
Nont stares up at the ceiling and realizes there’s tiles. He starts counting those.
He does not think of Keen.
How could he, when there are so many tiles to count?
Nont has counted one hundred and forty-two tiles. He may have counted some twice. Math has always been a safe subject for him. He remembered his high school classes and how he avoided being bullied by tutoring some of the scarier kids in his class. They wouldn’t beat up the only reason they were somehow passing. Nont likes numbers. He likes formulas. He likes plugging in one thing and getting something that makes sense.
So how did he plug in a sweet and caring boyfriend who wouldn’t even let Nont kill a spider in their shower and get a hitman?
He does not wonder what Keen’s doing. He does not think about the look on his boyfriend’s face when Nont was dragged out of the room. The fear that flashed behind his glasses. The tightness of his jaw. The way he reached out and missed Nont’s arm by what felt like a meter. Nont can’t stop his thoughts from going down these paths even though they only hurt him to dwell on it.
Do you love him more than your mother?
Will he come? Will he not? Is it bad that Nont is no longer so certain?
Two knocks on the door startle Nont from his downward spiral. Nont hesitates—does he say something like come in, or will speaking mean Fadel will follow through on his previous threat? He doesn’t know the proper kidnappee etiquette. Khun Lilly hadn’t included that in the employee orientation.
“Nont? Are you alright?”
Style.
Nont feels a sense of relief that it’s him and not Fadel, but he still doesn’t know whether he should speak. He spends so much of his time being quiet. At work, it’s safer to listen to what his colleagues say rather than speak up. When Khun Lilly is around, everyone is quiet, not just Nont. In his family, he lets his siblings bicker with each other. With Keen—well, he doesn’t want to think about the nights cuddled in bed together. Keen would ask Nont about his thoughts on the latest book he read or the movie they watched or something that happened in the news, and Keen would listen and give Nont the space to talk.
The door opens, and Style sticks his head in the closet. He looks where Nont had been sitting, frowns deeply, and then turns his head and he meets Nont’s eyes. He lights up with a smile. “Oh, great! You’re still here. And not dead. Both very good things in my book.”
Nont smiles weakly. Despite Style’s light mood, he has dark bags under his red-rimmed eyes. It’s very clear he’s been crying. Nont hopes Fadel and Style didn’t break up. He barely knows them, but they seem happy together. Not every couple can pull off a successful kidnapping. That has to mean something.
“Are you alright?” Nont asks.
Style’s eyes widen, like he hadn’t expected that very basic question, and then he shakes his head. He walks into the closet and sits across Nont against the shelves with the towels and the old sign.
“There’s one-hundred and forty-two tiles.” Nont doesn’t know why he said that, but he did, and Style just raises an eyebrow. “Sorry. I think I’m kind of losing it.”
“When Fadel kidnapped me, he made me drive from Bangkok all the way down to Phuket, without stopping, by the way, even for the freaking bathroom. He fell asleep like, ten minutes into the drive. We hadn’t even left Bangkok yet. So, I started counting how many other Jeeps were on the road because if I didn’t, I think I would’ve drove us off the road from sheer boredom.” He pauses. “So, yeah, I get it. Sorry about what I said earlier. I was just trying to show off. I wouldn’t have shot you.”
“I kind of figured that.”
“I meant what I said to Fadel, too. This isn’t your fault.”
“It’s not Keen’s fault either.” Those words come spilling out of Nont’s mouth before he can stop them. “I don’t know what this is all about, or what’s going on with Keen and Fadel, but Keen wouldn’t hurt anyone. He’ll stop his motorbike to let rats cross the road because he doesn’t want to hit them. He always remembers to buy me a coffee in the morning because he knows I’m too busy making them for the executives. He’s not a bad person. He’s just…Keen.”
Style has this soft look in his eyes. Nont isn’t sure if it’s pity, but he does feel pretty pathetic right now. Defending the man who put him in danger? Nont’s dignity, apparently, has also been kidnapped.
“He tried to kill me,” Style says.
That would explain why Style kicked Keen and said, “that’s for shooting me.” Nont had heard those words so many hours ago but at that point, everything was so chaotic that he barely comprehended them.
“But he didn’t.”
Style has the audacity to actually snort. “Only because he’s a bad shot. And then Fadel kicked his ass, and he ran out of the store with his tail between his legs. Also, he tried to kill me and Fadel not even two hours ago. Until I kicked his ass.”
Style sounds way too happy about that. Also, how has it only been two hours? It all feels like an eternity.
“And then you pointed a gun at me and kidnapped me. Does that make you a bad person?”
Style only smiles slightly. “I think we’re all just people, Nont. Not good, not bad. Just figuring it out. The person to blame is Lilly. What she did to Fadel, Bison, and Keen, it’s not fair. They never had a choice. Parents dead one day, adopted by a psychopath the next. And the fucking person who adopted them killed their parents. Killed Fadel’s boyfriend.”
Right. Nont remembers Fadel saying their mother had killed their parents. He remembers the hurt darkening Keen’s face. The disbelief.
Style stops speaking. He rubs his eyes, and a few tears come out. “Sorry. It’s been a long day.”
“You’re telling me.” Somehow, Nont is able to make a joke. With his kidnapper. This is the weirdest day of his life.
“It’s all so fucked, you know?”
Nont just nods, because yeah, it’s pretty fucked to be taken from his boyfriend, dragged into a closet, tied up, all to realize that that aforementioned boyfriend is a hitman and his brothers are hitmen and that his boss—and his boyfriend’s mother—is certifiably evil and likely also a hitman.
“So, Nont, tell me more about you. How’d you fall in love with Keen? Give me the details. I love a good love story.”
Nont and Keen met at work, but that’s not how they fell in love.
Nont’s first few weeks at the company were so chaotic. One executive would tell him to do one thing and then another executive would tell him the opposite. He ran around delivering files to different offices. By the end of his first month, he was wondering if this job was worth it. His parents had asked what the company did, and he didn’t know what to tell them. He hadn’t even met the CEO yet. Everyone whispered about Khun Lilly as if she was some sort of sacred figure.
Man, if you ever see her, walk—don’t run—but walk in the opposite direction, Charlie had told him. And no matter what you do, do not talk to her sons.
Nont had seen glimpses of them, though he still didn’t know their names. He gave them nicknames: the young one and the scary one. Now, he knows they were Bison and Fadel. He only saw them a few times throughout his first month.
The other son comes back today. Keep your distance. Charlie left for a meeting, and Nont had wondered about this mysterious third son. But then his supervisor stopped by his desk with files that had to be run up to the fifth floor and he had forgotten all about him.
At the end of the day, Nont had to drop something off at Khun Lilly’s office. Usually, her door was closed and the lights were off, and Nont would just drop the paperwork in the plastic holder outside of her door. But that day, the door was slightly open. The light was on. Nont’s curiosity won out over his sense of self-preservation. He peeked inside, wanting a glimpse of this woman everyone spoke of in whispers. Sitting at the desk was not Khun Lilly. It was the cutest guy Nont had ever seen.
Keen.
Keen was bent over reading some document, his glasses falling off the bridge of his nose, some of his hair covering part of his face. Nont stared at him, transfixed, though he didn’t really know why at the time. Keen straightened up as he stretched his arms above his head, and then he made direct eye contact with Nont.
And that was how they met.
A few days later, Nont and Keen were talking on their way to the elevator. No one else had gotten into work yet. Keen was so animated as he talked about a poetry reading he had attended that previous weekend. And once they got to the elevator, Keen had asked if Nont wanted to go to the next one.
I could use a friend, he said.
I’m happy to be one, Nont replied.
Keen entered the elevator and Nont wished him a good day. The second the doors closed, Charlie popped up behind him. Why the hell are you talking to Khun Lilly’s son?
Nont had thought Keen was just another executive assistant.
Nont ended up going to that poetry reading, though. And another one. They grabbed bobas after work. They watched a few movies together. Texted every single day. Two months later, Nont woke up in the middle of the night and realized he wanted Keen in his bed with him. The next night, he invited him over. They had the best, most mind-blowing sex of Nont’s life, and that was that. Nont was not just dating the boss’s son. He was head-over-heels, deeply, madly in love with him.
And by the end of their fourth month together, when Keen whispered into Nont’s hair that he loved him as they were cuddling after their second round of sex, Nont felt like he held all the secrets of the universe.
Apparently, Style met Fadel by rear-ending his car while he was texting and driving. He had a body in the trunk. I had no idea. I just thought he was hot as hell. And scary. I almost pissed my pants when he brought the car to the garage.
Bison met Kant at the bowling alley. Which is a nice and normal meet-cute, except then they had a one-night stand, and then Kant was blackmailed by a cop to get dirt on Bison, Fadel, and Khun Lilly.
Nont had thought dating the boss’s son was scandalous, but now he thinks he and Keen have the most normal relationship in this group.
It feels like hours since Style has been in the closet. He had left to go check on Fadel, but before he did, he untied the rope around Nont’s ankles and cut off the zip ties on Nont’s wrists. Get some sleep, Style had said. Keen will come for you in the morning.
Somehow, Style had more faith in Keen than Nont. He keeps thinking about what Fadel told Keen back in that hotel room: Do you love him more than your mother?
Keen had always talked highly of his mother. He wanted to make her proud. Nont would reassure him that Khun Lilly was already proud of him. Keen never seemed to believe him. And to be honest, Nont could see that Khun Lilly would brighten when Bison and Fadel came to the office, ignoring Keen despite—or because of—his constant presence. Nont had secretly thought Khun Lilly took Keen for granted. Before all the hitman stuff came out, the scariest conversation Nont was planning to have with Keen was about his mother. He was going to suggest that Keen deserved better. Keen had better. He had Nont. With Nont, Keen was always the first choice. With Khun Lilly, he was the third.
Is Nont Keen’s first choice, or is Khun Lilly?
The door opens again, no knocks this time, and Nont has a flash of fear that it’s a pissed off Fadel ready to make good on that threat to shut him up forever. Two people come through the open door; actually, one is carrying the other who has their legs wrapped around the taller one’s hips. They’re making out, and Nont looks away, because he feels like he’s intruding on a private moment.
“Fuck, Kant,” the one being held says and then his mouth kisses the neck of the taller man. Nont recognizes Bison. Which means the taller man is Kant.
Nont is frozen to his spot. He doesn’t know if he should make a noise so they know he’s there. Maybe they already know. Is this incredibly graphic display of affection a form of torture? To rub it in Nont’s face what he’s missing because Keen fucked everything up? If so, it’s pretty clever, and worse, it’s working, because Nont is growing angrier at Keen with every second he’s forced to watch these two go at it.
Because Nont should be laying in a shitty hotel bed right now, well-spent from many rounds with Keen, and not kidnapped and held in a closet.
Kant’s back hits the shelves with the towels, and a few of them fall to the floor. Nont frowns because he was going to use them to make a bed. And the pool floatie. He figures he can blow it up. If only Kant and Bison weren’t blocking his access by basically having sex in front of him.
“Harder,” Bison moans. Nont can’t take it anymore. He covers his ears with his hands. They win. This is the best torture method he’s ever seen. Someone needs to tell the Thai military that you can break anyone down by making them watch this in person.
“Fuck,” Kant says—and then he stares right at Nont. “Fuck! Bison! Fuck!” He almost drops his boyfriend but grabs his back at the last second. Bison looks over his shoulder and his mouth drops open.
“Oh, shit,” he says.
“Hi,” Nont says weakly.
“Fuck,” Kant says once again. Nont gets it. That’s usually the only word he says when he and Keen are having sex, too.
Bison untangles himself from Kant. “I’m getting Fadel. Hold on.”
A few minutes later, after Kant has calmed himself down and Bison has come back with both Fadel and Style, the five of them sit on the floor in the closet. Apparently, Style had been unable to reach Kant or Bison, and so he left a voicemail that said to come to the pool. They took advantage of some more alone time, ended up in the closet, and discovered that Style and Fadel had kidnapped someone.
As they’re talking this out, Fadel grabs the rope and moves to re-tie Nont up but Style stops him with a hand on his shoulder. “He’s not going anywhere. At least let him get some sleep.”
Fadel rolls his eyes but lowers the rope. “You always see the best in people. It’s annoying.”
Kant interjects, “What I don’t understand is how you went from trailing Keen to kidnapping his boyfriend. What the hell happened?”
Hearing Style tell the story, it was an epic battle of wit and guns and a daring kidnapping to ensure Keen got the dirt they needed on Khun Lilly.
Fadel just says, “Style and I kicked Keen’s ass,” and Nont admits that’s a pretty accurate summary. Fadel had told Style not to worry about being shot back in the hotel room. That Keen wouldn’t do it. His boyfriend may be a hitman, but it sounds like he’s not a very good one.
“Shit, guys, what if Keen doesn’t come with the information?” Kant asks.
“He will,” Style says confidently. Nont wishes some of that confidence would rub off on him. How can he be so sure? He doesn’t even know Keen.
“And how do you know that?” Fadel asks the question burning on Nont’s tongue.
“Power of love, baby. Power of love.”
“That might have worked for us, Tie,” Kant says, “but that doesn’t mean it works every time.”
“It will,” Style says, his chin raised, coming off so certain. Nont has to hold back a smile. He’s amused by this conversation, and Style in general, but he’s also sort of hoping this group chat will break up soon so he can get some sleep. Being kidnapped is exhausting.
Bison runs a hand through his already-messed up hair. There’s a giant hickey growing on his neck. Nont doesn’t mean to notice. He just wishes he also had sex. “Keen’s more likely to run off and save his own ass than go against Mother.” Style makes an offended noise and gestures in Nont’s direction. Bison gives Nont a tight smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “No offense.”
Nont is so out of his depth here, he doesn’t even know if he should be offended or not. At least Style is offended on his behalf. “He’ll be here. I know it. You should’ve seen him when we took Nont. He was begging Fadel not to hurt him! He’ll come for him, we’ll get our information, and then Nont can go.”
“And if not, what? We just shoot him?” Kant asks. He looks like he’d rather be anywhere but in this closet dealing with a kidnapping he didn’t sign up for. Actually, if Nont had to guess, he probably wishes he didn’t get blue-balled by Bison just like Nont got blue-balled by Keen. Nont feels a strange sense of connection with this man he hadn’t even met before five minutes ago.
Fadel shrugs. “He knows too much.”
Nont doesn’t like the implication of those words because he doesn’t know anything.
“No!” Kant and Style say at the same time.
Nont helpfully adds, speaking for the first time since everyone came into the closet, “I really don’t know anything. Honestly. I didn’t even know Keen was a hitman.”
Style says, “Been there and get that.”
Kant suggests they could make a club. The My Boyfriend Is A Hitman Club. Style loves the idea. Fadel and Bison, not so much.
“I’m not going to be in a club with fucking Keen,” Fadel says.
“You wouldn’t be in the club,” Style shoots back. “Because you are the hitman.”
They bicker for another few minutes until Style yawns and they decide it’s time to sleep. Fadel doesn’t tie Nont’s wrists or ankles, but the glare he hits him with has enough of a threat behind it that Nont isn’t going to try anything.
Nont lays on a half-inflated pool floatie and covers himself with several towels. He keeps the light on in the closet. Not that he’s afraid of the dark or anything childish like that. But he’s slept next to Keen for months, and if he keeps the light on, it’ll be like he’s waiting for Keen to come home from a long night at the office. When they’re at Nont’s apartment or at a hotel, they don’t turn off the lights until they’re ready to sleep. Until Nont pulls Keen’s body to him and nuzzles his nose into the crook of Keen’s neck. Until their fingers intertwine and Nont feels the warmth of Keen’s palm. Nont brings his own palm up to his face and stares at it, empty, alone, waiting. Hoping.
Pointing a gun right at Fadel, Keen had said his mother would trust him once she saw what he could do. That turned out to be getting Nont kidnapped, so he doubts Khun Lilly will be too impressed. But what if Keen goes to Khun Lilly to burn Fadel and Style? What if they team up to take the other brothers down?
Fadel had asked Keen if he loved Nont more than their mother.
Nont is scared to learn the answer.
Nont tosses and turns for what he assumes to be the entire night. He finds himself counting the ceiling tiles over and over and over until they show up when he closes his eyes. It’ll be over soon, he tells himself. And he’ll know the truth. What hurts is that no matter the answer, whether Keen shows up or not, Nont can’t stop loving him. Even if a bullet goes straight through his skull, his last thoughts will be about how much he loves Keen, and that love is worth dying for.
Two knocks on the door, and Nont slowly sits up as he tells whoever it is to come in. For a second, he hopes it’s Keen, but he quickly tells himself that doesn’t make any sense. His sleep deprived brain just wants comfort, though, and that means he wants Keen’s arms around him.
“Good morning, krub!” Style chirps as he comes into the closet. He’s carrying a plastic bag in his right hand. “Your Prince Charming is on his way! He texted Fadel this morning. I wanted to make sure you got some breakfast though. I don’t think you ate yesterday—sorry about that.”
Nont takes the bag that Style offers him. There’s a hard-boiled egg, a few slices of toast, and a coffee drink. “Thank you,” he says, and he means it. If Style wasn’t here, he would’ve lost his mind. Then again, if Style hadn’t been at the hotel, Nont wouldn’t have been here at all. But then he’d never know the truth about Keen. The truth about Khun Lilly. It all hurts his head, especially since he barely slept.
Style turns to leave, but Nont has to ask what has been bothering him since he was kidnapped. “How did you know Keen was coming?”
“Because if the tables were turned, and if you were the one kidnapping me, Fadel wouldn’t stop at anything to get me back.”
“But—”
But he wants to say, that’s Fadel and Style, not Keen and Nont.
“Remember when I told you Fadel kidnapped me?” Honestly, Nont does not, because he barely can remember yesterday with his sleep deprivation. “Okay, judging by the look on your face, no. That’s okay. You went through a traumatic situation, so memory loss is totally normal. Anyway! Fadel kidnapped me last week—”
“Last week?”
“Yeah, yeah. It’s old news. Anyway, he brought me here, too. Tied me all up and everything; honestly, I was pretty fucking scared but also, it was really hot and totally kinky.” Nont can’t stop himself from cringing. “Okay, okay, too much information. Sorry, sorry. Anyway, Fadel has the gun up to my head and he’s all like tell me who you really are and I’m all like I love you, Fadel, and then he made me drive us all the way to Phuket to go find Bison and Kant—and by the way, Bison also kidnapped Kant and almost drowned him but that’s another story—”
Nont isn’t sure he’s keeping up with any of these stories.
“But before we found Bison and Kant at the island—which by the way, you and Keen should totally come to because it’s awesome—we stopped at this love motel and I kept putting the moves on Fadel and he kept being stubborn and shooting me down. He kept saying he was going to kill me, and to be honest, I kind of believed it. I really thought he would. I even cried myself to sleep about it. Fadel didn’t even comfort me! So, yeah, I thought he didn’t love me anymore and would kill me because of the whole date him for a car thing—”
“What?”
“Oh, yeah, it’s related to the whole Kant being black mailed by the police thing.”
Nont thinks these guys are going through way too many things.
“But my point is, until Keen shot me, I thought Fadel and I were done. But he tried to kill your boyfriend for trying to kill me, and then I walked into the ocean and Fadel forgave me because in the end, love always wins.”
Nont feels like there’s a few events missing between Keen’s attempted murder and Style walking into the ocean but at this point, he figures he really doesn’t want to ask.
“Love always wins,” Nont repeats instead.
“That’s right! Love stopped Bison from drowning Kant and Fadel from shooting me. It’s why I know Keen’s choosing you over Lilly.”
Maybe Style is right. Keen is apparently coming with the information that Fadel wanted. He chose Nont over his mother. Nont isn’t sure he can totally believe it until he sees Keen, but hearing Style’s conviction about love, well, he wants to believe in love always winning, too.
“Thanks, Style.”
“No problem! Enjoy your breakfast.” Before he leaves, he adds, “And I was totally serious about that club, by the way.”
“If I get my phone back, I’ll add you on LINE.”
“Yes!” He says, for some reason, in English.
Bison is the one who comes to bring Nont to the handoff. Is that what it’s called? Maybe it’s an exchange. Nont isn’t sure. It’s not like he had time to read up on proper kidnapping terminology before Style and Fadel took him from the hotel room.
The whole night, he’s gone through a roller coaster of feelings, from the lows of doubt to the highs of love. When he sees Keen standing there, all Nont feels is relief. Keen is okay. He’s here. He chose Nont over his mother. And is that not what love really is? Choosing someone even if it means sacrificing something else?
The exchange itself barely registers with Nont as he’s so transfixed on every single part of Keen. They’ve only been separated for one night, but it had felt like a lifetime. Nont never wants to part from him again.
Fadel had told him to run from Keen, hell, run from Bangkok, and never look back. But if there’s anything Fadel, Style, Kant, and Bison have shown him, it’s that love makes someone stronger, and that no matter the obstacle, love will win. Nont just has to believe his and Keen’s love will be like theirs, too.
Besides, they’ve been dating longer than either of those couples. If Style and Kant could be kidnapped a week ago and still love their partners, well, Nont’s holding on to what he has, too.
And then before he knows it, he’s in Keen’s arms. His boyfriend checks him up and down for any bruises, but besides some redness and soreness around his wrists, the only suffering Nont has is from the lack of sleep. Keen hugs him, and Nont melts into the embrace. No matter who Keen is or what he’s done, he loves him so much. He can’t imagine ever being with anyone else.
As they leave the others behind, Keen whispers over and over again, “I’m sorry,” almost like he’s praying to Nont. He keeps saying those words as they walk to Keen’s car. The look on his boyfriend’s face is so pathetic, so heartbreaking, that Nont puts a hand over his still-moving mouth.
“All that matters is you chose me.” He replaces his hand with his lips, and he puts all his love into his kiss. “I love you.”
“Always. It's you, always. I love you. I do. I hope you didn’t think—I’m sorry if you ever thought—you’re everything to me. Never doubt that.”
“I never did,” Nont says, and the lie feels light on his lips. Keen doesn’t need to know the truth. He hid quite a bit from Nont, after all, and so Nont is entitled to some secrets, too.
“There’s so much I need to tell you. I should’ve told you earlier. I just—I didn’t know how—”
“It’s okay,” Nont says, a truth this time, and presses another kiss on Keen’s lips. “Let’s go home.”
In the end, Nont would rate his first kidnapping a two out of five stars. Not horrible, but with definite room for improvement. He could’ve done without the constant threats from Fadel. He could’ve skipped the full-on porn he was forced to witness from Bison and Kant. But he did get a new friend out of Style, and that’s a win in Nont’s book. Keen even bought him a new phone.
He finds Style’s LINE and asks—so when is the My Boyfriend is a Hitman Club meeting?
And when he goes back to Keen, his boyfriend is waiting for him in bed, where they should have been all along.