When The Spring Arrives (Ohmfluke)

7. Love story from past

"On a serious note, P' Ohm, if you ever fall in love with someone, please be brave enough to make them stay by your side. Don't be a coward like P' Kao. Please." Dream requested.

"P' Kao isn't a coward. He just fell in love with the wrong person." Boun defended his elder cousin.

"No. Right person, wrong time" Dream corrected Boun.

"You think his ex-wife was the right person for him? Are you nuts?" Boun couldn't help but ask.

"I am not talking about her. P' Kao had never really loved her. He has only loved one person wholeheartedly and that is his first love. The one he couldn't be with."

"P' Kao's first love? Who is that? Never heard of it." Boun was intrigued.

"Dream, do you know something? Spill it." Ohm found the topic interesting as well.

"Actually, I don't know the full story or who it is. I only know a part of it that I heard while eavesdropping on Mom's and Pa Jane's conversation" Dream began narrating the story. "Do you guys remember Yay [1] Dumpling, our Yay's best friend from her hometown?"

"Yeah, I remember. She used to make amazing soup dumplings for us whenever we visited her. Wasn't it you, Boun, who came up with the name 'Yay's Dumpling'?" Ohm asked

"Yeah, it was me. I forgot her name." Boun nodded.

"Everyone called her Yay Dumpling. Now let me continue. P' Kao's first love was her grandchild." Dream revealed.

"Yay Dumpling's grandchild? How did they even meet? P' Kao rarely went back to Chiang Mai." Boun was shocked.

"P' Kao and that person were very close to each other since they were young. Later, when he realized his feelings for the other party, he found it inappropriate and decided to keep his distance. That was why he rarely went back to our hometown."

"Inappropriate? Why did he find it inappropriate?" Boun leaned in closer to Dream.

"He found it inappropriate because of two reasons. One, the other party was a guy and two, he was almost ten years younger than P' Kao. He felt like he was robbing the cradle." Dream explained Kao's dilemma.

"Nowadays, who cares about the age gap or gender in a relationship?" Boun felt agitated for his cousin.

"Exactly. But our P' Kao was young back then. He cared about it." Dream agreed to Boun.

"Does that mean that P' Kao never really confessed his feelings to his first love and kept running away from him due to these silly reasons?" Ohm felt equally agitated.

"No Phi. Listen to the full story first. In order to forget his first love, P' Kao tried dating women after he entered university. But none of them lasted. The one that lasted the most was Shelly [1]. She too dumped him when the company was in crisis and he had to resign from the post of CEO"

"That was around a year before they got married, right? I remember that he went on a solo trip those days." Boun added.

"Yes, he went on a solo trip and the trip ended in Chiang Mai where P' Kao met his first love again. And the other party, let's call him 'A'. A had just started high school. They reconnected. Soon A confessed his feelings for P' Kao. But our stupid phi rejected him. But A didn't give up. He kept hitting on P' Kao and made him say 'yes' to their relationship"

"Oh? If they were already in a relationship, then why did they break up?" Boun asked.

"Because of that bitch Shelly. It had only been a few months that they were into their relationship when Shelly showed up in front of Yay and Pa Jane claiming that she was pregnant with P' Kao's child. Things started going south from there. Everyone forced P' Kao to come back and get married. He ended up breaking up with A."

"Tragic. Just tragic" Boun sighed and shook his head.

"How about we play Cupid for them? If we can resolve the misunderstandings, then can't they get back together? P' Kao is now single, right?" Dream suggested.

"If he was a high schooler then, he must have graduated from university now! There is a high chance that he has moved on. He may even have a new boyfriend." Ohm analyzed.

"But there is still hope. We could give it a try. For the sake of P' Kao's happiness." Boun retorted.

"And how do you plan on doing that, P' Boun? We don't know who he is, where he is now, and how he is."

"We just have to go back to our hometown. He may not be there but his family will be there. We can get his details from there?" 

"We can't P' Boun. There is no one left in his family. Everyone in the family except A died in an accident. It was around the time P' Kao got married. We can only imagine the pain A had to go through then. He lost his whole family over and the only one whom he had, left him. I am one hundred per cent sure that he needed P' Kao by his side. Luckily, A got adopted by one of his friend's family. I heard that they work abroad. Anyway, they have already moved from our hometown."Dream said in low spirits. 

"I think we should drop the idea. Pa Jane is emotionally blackmailing P' Kao to remarry for Art's [2] sake. She even tried to set P' Kao on blind dates. P' Kao doesn't go back home anymore because of this. He rarely hangs out with us too. " Dream said sadly.

"He has buried himself in work. I think it has been about a whole year since I saw him last." Ohm added

"True. It has become a complete workaholic. He doesn't care about anything other than the company and work." Boun sighed.

"Dream, how did you know that Pa Jane is pressuring P' Kao to get married?"

"I heard her ask mom for help in persuading P' Kao, saying that Art is still young, he needs a mother. Blah blah..." Dream was fuming mad at her aunt.

"What did mom say then?"

"What to say. She said nothing. Trying to put sense into Pa Jane's head would be a waste of breath and energy."

"In this matter, if anyone can do something, it is P' Kao. He will have to make a stand. Even if we intervene and try to sort things out, his decision will be the final straw." Ohm concluded.

"I don't want to see this tragedy repeat. Especially with you, P' Ohm. I don't want you to be heartbroken." Dream patted his shoulders.

"Oh! Dream, do you only care about your own phi? You don't care for me. I'm so sad." Boun wiped his non-existent tears.

"It is not that I don't care about you, P' Boun. I know you will not get your heart broken. Because you will be the one to do that. Last month you slept with one of my friends and you have been ghosting her ever since. I have to run away every time I see her nowadays."

"I slept with one of your friends? It must have been a one-night stand. I don't have the habit of remembering the people I slept with."

"Exactly"

The three cousins burst out laughing.

[1] Shelly- Kao's ex-wife
[2] Art- Kao's son
Yay- grandma