Deceit [การหลอกลวง] (gaan Laawk Luaang) - Part 1

Hi everybody. I am back again with another story. This story is quite long and it would be broken down into a few parts. The protagonist in this story is a female singer from Thailand. Although it is not the first time that I am writing in the "shoes" of a woman, the nature of this story is very challenging unlike the previous few that I wrote. When I first wrote this story, I had to re-edit it twice and I hope that the first part of the story would make you all read the subsequent parts. Once again, thank you very much for spending time to read my story in advance. The story unfolds......

As the lights blinded my vision momentarily and the clapping sounds droned into my ears, I closed my eyes momentarily to try to connect to the emotions and feelings of the song. When I felt the complete sync between my inner self and the song, it was just in time for me to start to stretch my vocals. As I sang, the rhythm from the musical instruments filled my mind with an output of the melody from my mouth. As I looked down from the stage to the audience, I could not see their faces clearly but I could feel their devoted attention towards me. As I pulled a high key near the conclusion of the song, the audience stood up and gave me a standing ovation. The initial low monotonous clapping sound slowly turned into a high-pitched loud and synchronous beat. My eyes scanned the audience and I spotted a lady who was the only one who held firmly on her seat. She was my mother. When I scrutinised every detail on her face, a tear came out of my face with momentarily jerks in its trajectory. When the song came to an end, I just stood staring at my mother’s direction. My smile reflected against hers and with it attached the past…….

“Go back to your room!” my father shouted vehemently.

“But I just want to play with them,” my sobs were in between words as I felt a sharp pain on my arm as my tears dropped into my wounds inflicted by the rattan cane.

My words were punctuated with the slamming of the door as I sat down feebly on the bed not knowing what to do. I was very terrified and my mind went blank totally. My hunger seemed to be overshadowed by my sudden thoughts which poured into my mind now. Should I escape? Where can I escape? How do I do that?

The incessant tapping of the window panel interrupted my thoughts. I peered outside and saw an unfamiliar figure. As it was in the night, I couldn’t make out the features of this stranger clearly, but he seemed to be middle-aged.

“Hi. I have a good opportunity for you to sing and let you make a lot of money, but you must leave your country for Singapore. I can arrange that for you,” his whispers were hardly audible.

“Why must you do that?” I was cautious even though the opportunity seemed too good to be true.

“Your singing is so soulful and touching. You are a talented singer but you cannot make much money singing in these villages in here. After every performance, your father would take the money and leave little or none for you. Sometimes he would even ill-treat you by giving you little food,” his knowledge of me and my family astounded me.

“My father needed the money to cure my sick mother, he is under a lot of stress and he earns very little as a farmer too…,” my defence for my father seemed to fall on deaf ears.

The figure vanished into thin air and left me a note on the window panel.
I was torn between filial piety towards my parents and the desire to have a chance to make a name for myself. The constant scolding and ill-treatment of my father rattled my mind only to be soothed by the praises of this stranger. It was a gamble to believe this stranger and uproot myself and my family out of poverty. Thinking about my mother’s ill-health with barely enough money for treatment any week, my father’s brink of insanity to try to make sure that our very basic needs are met, his debts which were always increasing due to default of payments and my long hours of singing on the stage nearby for the villagers every day with little pay brought me closer to this big gamble, to make a change and difference in my life and more importantly the lives of my family.

“This is the only way to help your father,” my mum’s voice came from behind.

I was quite shocked as I thought my mum had fallen asleep.

“You heard everything?” I whispered, afraid of letting my father know.

“I didn’t exactly hear everything, but I understand you too well,” my mum’s voice quavered as she approached me and looked at the note.

“But I don’t want to leave you two to go to a far away place, I love you ma,” my reply was in between sobs and the salty tears dripped onto my mouth as I tasted them unwillingly.

“Your father would understand and he would always love you,” my mum’s last words to me rang in my ears as she left the room.


“Welcome to Singapore, we are here to nurture your singing,” a chirpy voice projected out towards me.

I was in awe when I saw the large studio with sophisticated equipment, something which I could only dream and fantasise back in my hometown in Thailand. I felt that I was entering a dream and I was determined to work hard to make my dream come true. The stranger, Mr. Lee, kept his promise to pave my path towards my dream to be a professional singer.

The long hours of training of vocals and such were difficult. On top of that, I had to learn a foreign language which was English. Even though I knew a little English, I have to learn a lot of new words everyday. Although I can take the hardship, it was the difficulty of bringing my singing into a higher level that brought me to the brink of tears. Sometimes when I sang certain songs, the lyrics reminded me of my family. My secret escape to a faraway country would have upset deeply my father, but I prayed hard that I could soon be able to earn enough money to give myself and my family a much better life.

“Wake up! Its past midnight already,” a male voice droned into my ears as I did not realise that I fell asleep on the chair in the studio.
I woke up with a blurry vision at first, not being able to see clearly. As I rubbed my eyes, Mr. Lee was squatting down in front of me as he waved a packet of food in front of me.

“I guessed that you are hungry, so I bought something for you to eat,” his chirpy voice never failed to wake me up completely in a short period of time when I fell asleep at night during work.

As we ate at the table, I noticed that Mr. Lee was taking glimpses of me as I ate. Feeling abit uneasy, I turned and look at him and he smiled. I remembered the first time when I saw him outside my home, the dark image was a far cry to the person I was seeing right now. Maybe the perception at that point of time was in tandem to my mood. At that moment, I was happier and being able to see him in the light, I felt more comfortable with him.

As he sent me back home, I could see from the corner of my eye that he was looking at my direction whenever the car came to a stationary position. When he reached my home, he leaned over towards me and I turned to face him. I froze at that position as he came closer to me. As our faces intruded our respective intimate spaces, he raised his hand over my head and grabbed gently a strand of my hair just above my eyebrows. My heart pounded faster as I did not know how to react. He showed me his fingers.

“There was a small leaf on your head all these while, I did not notice it until just now,” he chuckled as he showed me the small leaf between his finger and thumb.

I gave a silly smile as my heart beat went down a notch or two.I gave a bigger smile to myself as I went home to carry on my beauty sleep.

________________________________________________________________________

“Hey Tassa, you dropped your earrings,” Keith tapped on my shoulder as he knelt down to pick it up.

I smiled as he looked awkward kneeling down with the guitar slung behind his back.

“Thank you very much,” I tilted my head a little and observed Keith closely.

All these while, when we were practising in the studio, I never noticed Keith. Gary who played the piano was a weirdo and the way he crept up to me at times when least expected gave me the shivers at times, but Keith is different. He was quiet, kept to himself and he took care of me at times. When I was thirsty or hungry, he would come in at the right time to give me what I wanted.

It was not long when we were given a chance to perform in a small pub, singing a mixture of songs alternating between English and the Thai languages was quite a challenge. Although the theme was consistent, performing in front of a group of fifty people in a pub was a different feeling to that singing in the villages in Thailand. Sometimes when Keith sang along in a few songs, the pressure of singing in front of so many unfamiliar people eased. In between songs, I took a quick glance at Keith. His smile seemed to offload my worries of not performing well on the stage as I did not want to disappoint Mr. Lee in my first public performance.

After the performance, a lot of them clapped and smiled at me. I felt a sense of achievement that I managed to cross the first hurdle. I heaved a sign of relief as I felt as if my breath was held for the entire performance and my lungs felt like exploding out.

As we went off the stage, Mr. Lee tapped on my shoulder and gave me a thumb up. “Please meet Mr. Thaphorn. He owns this place,” my face turned white as the movement of Mr. Lee’s mouth ceased.

“Nice to meet you, Tassa.” his eyes sparkled with a deeper meaning.

“Hi, Mr. Thaphorn. Nice to meet you too,” I lowered my head as I avoided eye contact.

As Mr. Lee and the others were in front, Mr Thaphorn purposely walked along with me. As he put his arm round my waist, his other hand subtly brushed the side of my right breast and I knew it was on purpose, but I did not want to offend him.

“Your father cannot pay off what he owes me till today,” Mr. Thaphorn spoke softly in Thai not wanting the rest to know.

“We are very poor. I am here to make money and once I made enough, I would return you back the money that my father owes you,” I rebutted back in Thai as I refrained from being too offensive.

“I got an offer for you. You can be my mistress for just 6 months. I would let you perform in here and during your off days, you can accompany me,” Mr. Thaphorn’s voice had a dash of sarcasm as he moved his hand up above my waist.

I was fuming mad, as my body seemed to be boiling from within.

“I would think about it,” my reply came in a no-nonsense tone.

As we went back to the studio, I went to a dark corner and cried. It seemed as if that the steam from within due to anger condensed into sadness and despair as my torrents of tears flew freely out of my cheeks.

“I heard bits of the conversation, I can understand a little of the Thai language,” Keith’s voice seemed to interrupt the flow of my tears.

I turned around as Keith wiped my tears delicately, I froze on the spot. As my mascara was mixed with my tears, I felt a little embarrassed and I looked quite a horrible sight. At that time of point, I felt vulnerable. As I got up, I did not realize that my right side of my spaghetti strap of my bareback mini dress slipped off. My gaze at Keith seemed to be blurred due to my tears as I unknowingly went closer towards him to have a clearer picture of him. As I went closer to him, I could feel his nose against mine and our lips were just a shy away from the imminent contact. His right hand felt my right arm as his left hand was put behind my back. I closed my eyes and…….


Caught ya! Part 1 has ended.
Well , wonder what Keith is going to do next? This is just the appetiser, the main course would be served to you soon! Once again, hoped you enjoyed my story. Thankie!!