Chapter Text
When Kaphrao decides to work for P’Nam and P’Lada in their new hotel, she doesn’t expect them to literally treat her like a sister.
Sure, she is Fai’s girlfriend — God, she can’t believe she gets to call Fai her girlfriend for the rest of her life — but the first time they had met her, Fai had been an asshole, calling her ugly and a guinea pig and Khun Akanee’s mistress right in front of them and the second (and last) time she had met them, she had unceremoniously left the venue early and ended up being harassed by men and having to be saved by Fai, who no doubt would have shared her heroics to her cousins and cousins-in-law as soon as they reached the hotel they were staying at at the time.
So, no. Kaphrao doesn't think she’s made a very good first impression or a second impression. Memorable? Absolutely. But not good.
So when Lada straight up hugs her when they meet at the Hua Hin Airport baggage claim with the brightest smile gracing her face and vibrating on the spot with the energy of restrained golden retriever, Kaphrao can’t help but be surprised. Behind them, even P’Nam is smiling at her with a welcoming smile.
Lada extracts herself from the hug and then picks up the lightest bag and then bounds forward. She really is a golden retriever on steroids.
“Come on, N’Kaphrao. I’m going to show you around Hua Hin. You’ve never been here, have you? Well, except for the inauguration ceremony,” Lada speaks, basically to no one, as she walks ahead rapidly.
Kaphrao grabs the biggest bag and picks up the pace to catch up to Lada. “Um—”.
Lada cuts her off, turning around to grab her hand, halting their movements. “OH MY GOD.”
“What’s wrong?” Nam asks, shocked at Lada’s sudden change in demeanor.
“Serious question, Kaphrao. Answer me honestly,” Lada says, her voice low, narrowing her eyes. Somehow, Kaphrao feels like she’s in trouble and she hasn’t even spoken a word yet. Kaphrao, subconsciously, holds her breath. “Do you like caves?”
Nam sighs, exasperated at her wife’s antics. Then, almost inconspicuously, she grabs the bag that Kaphrao had put down and starts walking, shaking her head.
“What? This is an important question, P’Nam. Our first stop has to be Lub Lae Cave,” Lada insists, looking at Kaphrao insistently.
“Stop pestering the poor girl, Lada. Let’s get going before the sun sets. I do not want to be driving when it is dark out.”
Kaphrao has never been more grateful for someone’s existence because how is she supposed to tell them she has a deep-rooted fear of dark and narrow spaces, courtesy of childhood Fai traumatizing her, and a fear of caves, courtesy of Aunt Panee, as a result of her twisted-up love for Fai.
“Okay, fine.” Lada concedes. “But, you’re not off the hook, Kaphrao. We’ll continue this conversation in the car.”
“No, we won’t,” Nam says, opening the car door. Lada pouts.
Kaphrao wonders if she’ll ever get to pout at Fai again. She gets in the car and leans her head against the window, staring out wistfully.
Lada gets in beside her but one look at the girl’s weary countenance has her clamming up. Nam gets in the passenger seat and locks eyes with Lada.
Kaphrao doesn’t see the concerned look they share.
—
2 months go by, and Kaphrao is doing…not well but sufficiently okay. She wakes up every morning missing the sound of Fai’s heartbeat in her ears, Fai’s chest under her head, Fai’s arms wrapped around her waist, Fai’s warm breath hitting her neck. And she goes to sleep every night with the sound of Fai’s voice in her ears, Fai’s face on her phone screen, Fai’s sleepy face etched behind her eyelids as both of them fight to not succumb to sleep first.
(Fai loses the challenge more than Kaphrao does and Kaphrao spends minutes, maybe even hours, just staring at Fai’s face, hoping that there wasn’t 6.5 hours worth of distance between them.)
—
Nam and Lada have taken to accommodating her like she always lived with them. Nam is stricter when it comes to enforcing chores routines and cleanliness, not that Kaphrao has a problem with those — manners was something that was ingrained in all children at the orphanage.
It’s surprising how well she gets along with them.
Some days, she comes down the stairs at 4 in the morning to Lada sitting at the kitchen table, eyes red-rimmed and unfocused. She silently takes the seat next to Lada’s, waiting for the older woman to lay her head on her shoulders, and feels her heart clenching as Lada’s tears soak her shirt. Nam finds them hours later, in the same position.
Kaphrao learns about Lada’s past and so Kaphrao learns 2 things about herself in the time she lives with them.
- She has official younger sister duties now, and;
- She will throw hands the day she meets Phat.
—
The day starts normally. She wakes up to her phone dead. She plugs it in. She goes through her morning routines. She eats her breakfast. She chats with Nam and Lada about an upcoming event at the hotel. And then she leaves for work, 30 minutes earlier than them because she is on greeting duty today,
She is behind the counter, opening up their guest system when a man comes waltzing in like he owns the place.
Kaphrao’s hackles rise. Something in her warns her to stay away. But Kaphrao is nothing if not professional and this very well, might be a regular guest. Highly unlikely, but Kaphrao decides to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“Hi, can I help you?”
The man removes his sunglasses. Something about his eyes seem so familiar to Kaphrao but she can’t quite place it.
“Do you work here?” The man asks back. Kaphrao doesn’t miss the way he avoided answering her question. So she doesn’t bother answering him either.
“You’re standing in the lobby of a 5-star hotel, dressed in all black, looking awfully out of place. I really don’t think you’re in any position to be asking questions.” Kahrao doesn’t even know where she’s getting the courage to talk to a man about 2 heads taller than her but something about him rubs her the wrong way. And she’s learnt to trust her instincts since living with Panee.
The man is visibly rattled. He huffs, then, “Do you know where I can find the owner of the hotel?”
Kaphrao is even more on edge now. “No.”
“No? Do you not work here?” The man says, getting in her personal space. Kaphrao doesn’t move an inch.
“You need to leave. Now.”
The man’s laughter echoes through the hallway. Her colleagues shoot them a dirty look, before Khun Preem walks up behind the man.
“Khun Phat. What are you doing here?” Preem asks, her voice cold.
The name makes Kaphrao feel something so visceral. She needs to get the man out of there before Nam and Lada gets to the hotel.
Are you on the way, she texts Lada.
Yup, we stopped to get some cupcake, about 15 minutes out, comes the immediate reply.
And then a picture of chocolate smeared across her face as she kisses Nam’s cheek flashes across Kaphrao’s phone. They are both smiling wide and Kaphrao vows she won’t let that smile falter today. She gets out from behind the counter and places herself in between Preem and Phat.
“How dare you show your face here after everything you have done?” Kaphrao asks, her voice and hand trembling with barely controlled rage.
Phat laughs again, more subdued this time but it irks Kaphrao just the same. Even his laughter sounds condescending. And after what he did to Lada, he doesn’t get to laugh.
“So you do know who I am. I’ve never seen you around. Are you new?” He asks, almost conversationally.
“Shut the fuck up and get out.” Kaphrao points at the open entrance, her teeth gritted.
“Hmm, I don’t think I will. In fact, I will wait right here until Lada gets here. Surely she’ll have to come in at some point today.”
“Get her name out of her fucking mouth, you asshole.” Kaphrao is practically screaming now.
“Why are you getting so defensive anyway? What are you, her lover? I thought that was Apo. Did they break up?”
“Lover?” Preem asks, mirth evident in her voice. “Worse. Say ‘hi’ to your new sister, Phat.”
Phat scoffs, turning to face Kaphrao again. He runs his eyes over her body, sizing her up. It makes Kaphrao’s skin crawl.
“New sister? Honestly, I don’t even care. Where is Lada?”
“Oh, you’re going to care, Phat. You know why?”
Phat looks disinterested and his voice reflect that as he asks her, “Why?”
“Because I made a promise to P’Lada once. That when I see you…” Kaphrao steps into his physical space, staring straight into his eyes, unblinkingly. “...it’s on. Fucking. Sight.”
She watches the light fade from his eyes as he registers her words and then, without waiting for him to reply, she knees him in the stomach. He doubles over, wheezing for air. She brings her hands together and hits him on the back. He sprawls across the floor, back on the ground, hand still clutching his stomach. Kaphrao pushes his hands away as she squats over him, one hand clutching his collar and the other balled into a fist. And then she starts raining punches on him.
Punch. “This is for making P’Lada infiltrate the Watinwamit hotel.”
Punch. “This is for making P’Lada poison the food that Chef Ian cooked.”
Punch. “This is for stalking her at the resort.”
Punch. “This is for hiring people to hurt P’Nam.”
Punch. “This is for blackmailing P’Lada with her mom’s safety hanging over her head.”
Punch. “This is for telling your bum of a father about their love.”
Punch. “Speaking of your father…”
Punch. “You can take his punches too.”
Punch. Punch. Punch. Punch.
—
“Kaphrao! Kaphrao, stop!” Nam and Lada are both yelling as Lada grabs her waist and Nam grabs her shoulders and they yank her back, away from her punching bag. Kaphrao’s knuckles are split open, her hand coated in blood — both his and hers. Kaphrao’s chest aches; from the injustice Lada had to face, from the anger coursing through her veins. She can’t breathe.
Kaphrao fights against them anyway. She’s so angry, she could kill him. She should kill him. He hurt her sisters.
Nam and Lada’s hold on her don’t falter as they drag her back, back, back, and she finds herself in the elevator with her back against Nam’s chest and Lada is pressing the stop button. The elevator comes to a halt.
Kaphrao collapses in a heap, exhausted. She wants to cry but she doesn’t even have energy for that. Nam lowers her down as gently as she can.
“Kaphrao,” Nam taps her cheek, gently. Kaphrao still flinches. ‘It’s just me, honey, Talk to us. What happened?”
“I—” she hesitates, glancing up at Lada. Kaphrao might be her sister through Fai but the man she hurt was her biological brother. What if Lada hated her now? The thought makes Kaphrao nauseous.
“You what, Kaphrao?” Lada asks, kneeling on the cold, hard floor, with her dress barely covering her knees. It has to be uncomfortable but she’s looking at Kaphrao with so much love and affection and worry that Kaphrao feels her eyes well up with unshed tears. She blinks them away rapidly as Lada takes her chin in her hand, so fucking gently, and rubs at her cheeks.
Kaphrao doesn’t deserve this. She hurt someone. She hurt someone who hurt someone so doesn’t that make her exactly like him? A monster?
“I heard his name and I lost it,” she says, her voice barely a whisper but it echoes through the steel walls of the elevator all the same. “I don’t know what came over me. I just saw red. I didn’t even stop to think. He— he hurt you. I wanted to fucking kill him. What does that make me?”
Kaphrao’s eyes downcast as she wallows in her guilt. Nam turns her face towards her, her eyes shining with pride. “That makes you a younger sister. Did you know that Lom once shot a guy for P’Din?”
Kaphrao shakes her head. “She did?”
“She did. And Fai killed two guys for Lom, did you know that?”
Kaphrao shakes her head again.
“It’s a younger sister thing, Phrao. Your older sister being in danger is the worst thing that could ever happen to you. It doesn’t matter if the danger has passed. Your brain associated him with danger and so your body reacted when you learned who he was. There is nothing wrong with that, darling. He’s still alive anyway,” Nam says, and then adds, “Unfortunately.”
Kaphrao chuckles as Lada hits Nam on the arm.
“Are you not mad at me? I hurt your brother,” Kaphrao asks, her voice sounding an awful lot like a little kid in trouble.
“Of course not,” Lada scoffs. “You know how long I’ve wanted to do that for? Since I turned 4 and he made me climb a tree and then removed the ladder from under me. I ended up staying up there for hours until my mom found me.”
Lada says it casually, rolling her eyes, but when she looks back at Kaphrao, the girl’s eyes are shining with renewed rage.
“Uhh,” Lada stammers, looking to Nam for help.
“You know what? Let’s get out of here and get your knuckles bandaged up and then we are all leaving for the day. Let’s go out and eat together. We should celebrate this occasion. Phat getting his ass handed to him on a silver platter calls for a five course meal,” Nam says, getting up and brushing the dust off her clothes before offering her hand for Lada to get up.
Lada gets up and promptly does the same for Kaphrao. Kaphrao smiles as she takes the offered hand in hers.
—
That night, when Fai calls her right before bed, she starts with “I heard you beat Phat up. I always knew you had it in you. Maybe we should swap names, You should be called Fai, my little fireball.”
And Kaphrao’s guilt vanishes.
She is a sister now and that is a responsibility she takes very seriously. She shouldn’t feel guilty for making assholes get a taste of their own medicine after messing with her big sister.