Koon Chai Cafe

Chapter Two - The Arrival

Kopter

American passport control terrifies me.

I guess it must be the combination of my brown skin, dark hair and dead eyes that always gets me pulled over for 'random' searches. You try looking anything but dead after a nineteen hour flight, it's harder than it looks.

When I finally got to see the light of day, or night as it turned out to be, an hour and a half had already passed since the plane had landed. I looked down at my phone to see seventeen missed calls. No prizes for guessing who those were from.

I walked over to the small crowd still milling around the baggage claim carousel. There were only three bags left, spinning round and round like a sad merry-go-round. I hoisted my black wheelie bag into the air, narrowly missing a disgruntled looking pilot, and began walking across the speckled grey plastic floor towards the exit. 

On the other side of a red velvet rope I could see my uncle as he anxiously searched for me on his tippy toes. I caught his eye and waved enthusiastically. 

"Nok!" I yelled as I ran over to him, my bag clipping my heels. I could see the wave of relief rush over him as I pulled up beside him.

"Sawadee Krup-" I began. He pulled me into a tight embrace while I was mid-bow, causing me to headbut him firmly in the stomach, temporarily winding him.

Once he'd regained his breath and waved away my fifteenth apology, he straightened up and clasped my shoulders firmly on either side.

"I've been pulling my hair out with worry, I thought I was gonna have to get a new identity to escape your mother!" He joked, but his eyes gave away how serious he was.

He moved his hands upwards and cupped my face in his palms. This felt a little awkward considering I was almost twenty centimetres taller than him now. He looked just like a male version of Mom, small with beady brown eyes and glossy, curly brown hair tinged with grey.

"Let me get a good look at you, look how tall you are!" He exclaimed, scanning every inch of my face like it might disappear at any moment.

"Uhh, thanks?" I mumbled through squished cheeks.

After much squabbling, I let him take my bag from me and resigned to follow behind him as he led us to the parking lot, speaking animatedly of his apartment in Manhattan.

"-And your room has its own bath too," He grunted, hoisting my bag into the boot of his silver Porsche. "I've stocked it with all sorts of smelling salts. I wasn't sure which you'd like so I got you one of every."

He turned to me, red and out of breath but smiling nonetheless. "We're going to have so much fun this year! Just us boys."

I smiled weakly back. Nok had this uncanny ability to act as though the last time we had seen each other was a few days ago, not almost six years ago on my twelfth birthday. But I must admit, he was making me feel a little less nervous.

"Let's get you home," he said, slamming the car trunk. "I bet you're dying for a nap and a shower."

---

Nok's apartment was everything you would dream of from the upper east side. Everything looked like a cliche of a wealthy person's home, from the abstract, paint-splash modern art pieces hanging on the walls, to the sweeping views of Central Park down below. I walked over to the window and pressed my face onto the cold glass, admiring the view below. What seemed like a thousand twinkling lights danced as cars and people alike went about their night time business.