Together With Me (Thai Novel Fan Translation)

Special Edition Chapter Part B

Editor's Note: This one is pretty short, but it packs a serious emotional punch. Get your tissues ready!

"You were gone for a freaking century!" Na whined when he saw me walk through the classroom's door.

"I was trapped by the rain!!" I scolded as I handed him the sketchpad.

"Er, yeah, right." Na shook his head.

I recalled the enjoyable time I spent chatting with Korn as we waited for the rain to pass, so I asked, "Hey, Na."

"What?"

"You didn't get along well with Korn?"

Na looked up at me, startled, when he heard my question. His face had turned as pale as a sheet.

"What... what are you talking about, Knock?" Na stammered.

"I'm asking, did you not get along well with Korn? The classmate named Korn. I bumped into him when I was avoiding the rain at building B just now and we had a talk. I asked him to come up together but he said you wouldn't be happy to see him."

"Knock..." Na called me softly.

"What?" I looked up to him.

"Your memory... you still haven't gotten it back... have you?" I saw sweat starting to bead up on Na's forehead. He must be referring to the car accident I was in about a month ago; that rollover caused me to lose some of my memory and I still didn't have any idea which part was gone.

"You... this is going to be hard for you to take in." Na swallowed loudly, .

"What is it? Get to the point already." I said impatiently, but a knot was starting to form in my stomach that seemed like the unmistakable feeling of dread.

"The Korn you mentioned, he's a close friend. That's what you've forgotten."

I was stunned when I heard it. "Then why didn't you tell me?!" I stood up, about to bolt back down the stairs and go search for Korn, but Na grabbed my hand tightly.

"Knock! Korn passed away on the same day your accident happened!!" I could only stare at Na in total shock

Na took a deep breath before he repeated,"He passed away on the day you had the accident. When he learned that you rolled your car, he rushed to the hospital by motorbike. But it was raining heavily and the roads were slippery... he got also got into an accident, and he died on impact..."

"What..." My throat had gone dry; it felt like someone was choking me. I couldn't breathe. My legs shook, I could hardly even stand firmly.

Why... Why did this happen?

"Do you understand, Knock? You lost the part of memory about Korn. You didn't mention him and no one could bear to bring it up to you. We knew it was going to be extremely painful."

My legs collapsed out from underneath me and I landed on the floor with a deafening thud. Tears welled in my eyes so suddenly that it felt like they were burning. All of sudden, a cacophony of memories flooded back into my brain all at once, as if a dam had broken. There seemed to be one in particular that was shouting to be heard over a multitude of other bits and pieces:

"I won't dump you like Pleng did."

"Really..."

"Really! You know how important you are to me. So important, that I'd still come back to you even if I died, as long as you're still in my heart."

"Damn it, that's really creepy."

"I didn't mean freak you out... To be honest, I love you so much, I want you to always remember me."

A tortured sound of raw pain escaped my throat while tears steamed uncontrollably down my cheeks as all the memories came back to me, paralyzing me with grief. My reputation or what anyone thought of me no longer mattered at all.

"Korn... Korn..." I kept repeating his name, my body wracked with uncontrollable sobs. My chest ached, my heart was broken into so many pieces it felt like it would never be whole again.

"Knock, try to get ahold of yourself. His spirit is at peace..." Na hugged me, squeezing my shoulders tightly. Even though the pain was nearly unbearable, I took a deep breath and opened the origami paper star that Korn had given me. There was nothing to be afraid of...

The message on the paper was precise.

But that just made the sobs start all over again, my breath was stuck in my throat. I felt like I was suffocating.

I love you!

"Fuck, why did things turn out like this!!!" I growled, my head throbbing with headache so strong it felt like my skull was going to explode from the force.

"Aw!" I scratched at my head in a panic, Na shook my shoulders, repeatedly calling my name.

"Knock!!"
"Knock!!!"
"Knock!!!!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Ahhhhhhh!!!

I was jolted awake abruptly by someone  shaking my body, and my eyes flew open at the sound of my name being shouted. I was drenched in sweat, while the guy who'd been shouting my name had leaned over me to see if I was okay. I gasped in surprise since he was so close, our faces were almost touching.

"Korn......"

When my eyes finally focused and I saw who it was that was trying to wake me, I was dumbfounded. I found that I was curled up in his lap, clinging to his waist. Korn seemed by pretty surprised by my actions, too.

"What on earth is wrong with you? You said you were gonna sleep, then suddenly you were struggling like you were being attacked by something, that was scary!"

"Damn it... I had a nightmare!!" I swore, the aftermath of the nightmare had left me feeling really upset. What a horrible and dramatic dream! Damn, that was so scary!!!

I hugged Korn's waist tightly, buried my face in his belly. Korn chuckled and stroked my hair reassuringly. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"I had a nightmare." I said again, my voice sounding strangely nasal.

"What was it about?" Korn asked.

"You'd died in an motorbike accident." I said, "I was terrified and heartbroken."

Korn snickered loudly, and I buried my face in his belly again in annoyance and embarrassment.

"It's not funny! I was so scared!!!"

"It's a good dream, that means I'm going to live a long time. Did you know that the person will have longevity if you dreamt that he'd died?"

"Really?" I peeked up at him suspiciously to see if he was laughing at me again.

"Really! It means I will get to grow old with you." Korn smiled warmly down at me.

Just then, it began to rain heavily outside. The rain pattered heavily on the window pane and ran down the glass;  the sound of rain beating on the roof was deafening, but strangely comforting at the same time. Both of us tuned to look outside.

"What do you think about the rainy season?" Korn suddenly asked as we stared out the window.

Then I thought of that dream...

I'm not sure why, but I changed my usual answer. I threaded my fingers through Korn's, and squeezed his hand tight.

"I think I'm starting to like the rainy season."