The Love We Long For

Hope

"What does this mean? How do you close the case? A person is lying on a hospital bed and is struggling between life and death. How is it possible to close the case without catching the culprit? How can we trust the police if we are left like that?" Phaya shouted angrily, standing up suddenly and banging his fist on the table. He could not believe what he had heard. He came in a hurry to the police station hoping that they found out something, as little as possible to tell Tharn and help him wake up but all he heard was *the case will be closed*?
"Kun, we can't sit on a case all our lives, there are very serious cases waiting!" The policeman said trying to keep his composure. It was not the first time that he had to close a case and in no case was it the first time that the members of the victim's family jumped on his head. It wasn't as if they wanted to close the case, but they had no evidence, they had no starting point and the higher ups ordered that the case be closed.
"And this case is not serious? Sir! an innocent person was almost killed. And what do you do? Move on to the next case?" Hearing the words *serious cases* Phaya feels like he's losing his temper even more. Tharn was lying on a hospital bed and the policeman in front of him was saying what? that it was not a serious case?
"Hear me out ..."
"No, you listen to me, it won't stay like this"
"Kun..." The policeman tried to calm him down, but he couldn't find the words. It wasn't like he wanted to stop investigating the case, but what could he do?
"If you are not able then I will do it with my own hand"
"What are you going to do? Huh? Do you think that if it was possible we wouldn't do it? Kun, the accident happened in a place where cars didn't pass, there were no surveillance cameras and there were no witnesses. We tried all the possibilities but we didn't find anything. We can't waste any more time, there are a lot of cases to solve"
"That's why you didn't manage to do anything, because you considered it a waste of time"
"Kun, we did all we could..."
"Very well, from now on I will..."
"Kun!?" The detective shouted unsure what Phaya was going to do. Whatever he said seemed to backfire on him.

Slamming the door behind him, Phaya stormed out in exasperation.
"What now? What should I do? How do I make Tharn wake up?" Phaya said standing down on a step in front of the police station and putting his head in his hands not understanding what he should do now.
"Phaya?! Someone called his name, unsure and Phaya raised his head making the boy smile but his smile disappeared immediately giving place to concern.

"What happened? You don't look well at all? Where's Tharn?" The young man asked, looking around and not seeing any trace of him.
Usually the two were inseparable so it seemed strange that even though Phaya looked very bad, Tharn wasn't there.
"He..." Phaya tried to speak but stifled his sobs. He felt desperate, he didn't know what to do. He desperately felt that he was disappointing Tharn deeply.
"Nong, what happened? Where is Tharn? Why are you here?" The young man said worriedly. Something was off.

"He is in the hospital. Tharn is in the hospital. It's my fault, if I had stayed with him then nothing would have happened.
If i hadn't left him alone..." Phaya said between sobs. That afternoon Phaya had been caught up in an emergency meeting and sent Tharn home alone. Even though he knew how dangerous he was, he still did it. He didn't think even for a moment that anything could happen, their apartment was not far from the office. Still,  he couldn't understand why Tharn was so far from the house? Why had Tharn ended up in that forest? What was he doing there ?It was in the opposite direction.

"Why is Tharn in the hospital Phaya ? " The young man asked shocked.
"He had an accident" Phaya answered trembling in pain.
"And what did the police say?"
"They will close the case ."
"They, what ??????" The young man was surprised even if he didn't know if it was really a surprise or not . It was not the first time when police closed the case without finding a culprit. They were calling them cold cases.
"Phi , please help me out. I need to find out the truth. " Phaya said desperately.
"Calm down Nong , I will help you . " The young man said grabbing his shoulder to calm him down ."Everything will be ok , don't stress yourself , we will find out the culprit "

The words "we will find the culprit " gave him assurance so he calmed down.
"I need to enter for a while in the police section to discuss a case . Can you wait for me at the caffe nearby? I will be back fast"
"Ok Phi. " Phaya answered and the young man left .
"Phi Yai!?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you " Phaya said and the young man smiled tenderly.
Yai was a lawyer renowned for his intelligence. He does not leave any case unsolved no matter how difficult and unlikely it may have been so Phaya felt he had hope again.