Hi everybody. Although part 5 was supposed to be posted after the Chinese New Year Holidays, I have decided to finish part 5 and then take a good break for the New year before finishing part 6. I hope that you all would enjoy reading it and I would like to wish everybody again Happy holidays and a Happy Tiger New year!
The story unwraps.....
“You better tell me the truth what was going on!” Mr. Thaphorn’s voice boomed at my ears.
Mr. Thaphorn pointed at the phone. I realised that he had scanned through my phone and spotted some of the short messages that were sent between Mr. Ng and I.
“Tell me who Mr. Ng is?” Mr. Thaphorn demanded for an explanation.
“He is a regular customer in the pub. He spends a lot of money in the pub so I entertained him longer. Didn’t you teach me how to handle different types of customers? I have to be friendly to him so that he would keep coming,” my explanation seemed logical in Mr. Thaphorn’s ears.
“I don’t see you entertaining Mr. Chua or Mr. Tay and their friends that much. They are regulars in the pub who also spent decent amount of money. I did not see you being close to them as with Mr. Ng,” Mr. Thaphorn was obviously not convinced with my explanation.
“Fine, I have my own way to handle the customers ok? After all, your pub business is doing very well partially because of me. When I made a comeback after resting for 2 months, your business was much better. I am very tired, I need to sleep,” I did not care about how Mr. Thaphorn reacted to what I said as I turned my back against him and slept.
Mr. Thaphorn did not say a word as he went out of the room.
It was nine in the morning as the ringing tone of my phone shrilled the room. As I groggily tried to grope for my phone, I wondered who called me in the morning. There was no caller ID and I hesitated for a while before picking it up.
“Hello Tassa, your father is in the hospital, he is in critical condition. Is there any way for you to come back here to see him? He needs to see you urgently!” my mother’s voice spoke immediately when I picked up the phone before I could even say a hello.
I immediately woke up from my semi-stupor as I expressed my worry over the phone.
“I would be there as soon as I can. Tell father I would be there as soon as I can,” all I wanted was to fly back home as soon as I can, not caring about anything else.
As I rushed to locate Mr. Thaphorn, he was up and about at the study room.
“Mr Thaphorn, can I go back to my home town? My father is critically ill. I need to see him, please,” I pleaded, hoping to get a positive answer.
Mr. Thaphorn seemed nonchalant. He shook his head without even giving a reason.
“I really need to see my father, he might pass away anytime. Please, I beg you,” I knelt down in front of him as I cried pitifully.
The silence seemed long as I was anticipating an answer.
“I give you three days to come back,” Mr. Thaphorn’s answer came as a sign of relief.
I managed to book the earliest flight in the late afternoon, as it felt like eternity before I could see my father.
“Papa, what happened to you?” I dashed into the ward as I literally ran into the hospital and into the ward that he was in.
“I am ok, I miss you so much, I have not seen you for nearly 4 months,” his voice was feeble as his coughs interrupted his words.
Arthit and my mother were by his bedside as I rushed over to hug my mother.
“I miss you so much, my dear daughter. You looked tired. You must be stressed by work,” her words were punctuated by her pats on my back as a tear trickled down her tear.
I learnt that my father had developed liver cancer and he did not realise that he had developed it until at the last stages.
“Why didn’t you tell me that he was suffering all these while? You knew that he was ill when you wrote the letter to me,” my premonitions were confirmed true as I recalled the letter that my mother wrote to me.
“I did not want you to worry as I want you to concentrate on your work. I heard from Arthit that you are very busy working in Singapore and so I did not want to distract you. It was our idea to keep you in the dark,” my mother’s explanation brought tears to my face.
“My precious daughter, I got something very important to tell you, come here,” my father beckoned.
He took out from his wallet a few slips of paper. It was remittance slips stating the amounts of money which were actually meant for Mr. Thaphorn.
“The villagers were very kind. They lend to us quite a sum of money and I returned a small amount to Mr. Thaphorn. That was 4 months ago. When you sent over some money about two months ago, we managed to clear the debts with Mr. Thaphorn once and for all. Mr. Thaphorn was very kind. He waived all the interest that I owed him for the four months. I am grateful that he helped our family when we were down and out back then,” he indicated with his finger the dates and the amount in the slips.
As I stared at the slips, I could not believe what I was seeing. Just three nights ago, when I was doing my duty as Mr. Thaphorn’s mistress, he told me that I had only three months more as his mistress, before I can be free to make my choice. Little did I realise that the debt was cleared two months ago. My parents only knew that I worked for Mr. Thaphorn as a singer in his pub, and not being his mistress to clear my father’s debts.
“Papa, excuse me for a while,” my tears uncontrollably came down in torrents.
As I sat at the corner of the hospital premises, I felt very foolish and stupid. I should have checked with my father about his debts with Mr. Thaphorn. I felt worse than a prostitute, letting Mr. Thaphorn satisfy his lust and desires as and when he likes and not even paid for. As I looked down from the third floor of the hospital building, I felt very shameful for I could not face my parents anymore. What if they found out that I was Mr. Thaphorn’s mistress? My parents would never forgive me.
“Are you alright?” a voice distracted me. It was Arthit’s.
I nodded my head as I tried to avoid eye contact. I looked horrible with my swollen eyes as I turned away from him.
“I know you are upset about your father’s illness. But you need to be strong now. I don’t think you want your father to see you in this state. You don’t want him to worry about you at this point of time, am I right?” Arthit grabbed my hand and put his arm round my shoulder to comfort me.
As Arthit was about to lead me into the ward, my mother came out of the ward screaming, “Get a doctor quickly! Your father is not breathing!”
As a doctor came quickly with a few nurses, we were told to wait outside the ward. Time seemed to tick very slow as I was very anxious, praying that the worst would not happen.
“I am sorry, we have done our best,” the doctor came out as he shook his head.
My mother slumped on the floor as she fainted, not being able to take the news. Arthit and I helped her to the chair. As I felt dizzy, I sat on the chair beside my mother to rest as Arthit asked a doctor to help my mother to rest in a ward.
Three days had passed very fast as I prepared for my father’s funeral. I recalled the times when my father used to come home every evening with lots of food, and we would sit down to have our meals together without fail. When my father lost his job, I had no choice but to help my family to make ends meet by singing in my mid-teens. Now at the age of twenty-five, I felt a sense of achievement that I could be able to give my family a much better life by working in Singapore but my father was not able to live long enough to enjoy my fruits of labour.
“Tassa, its been four days since you have last called back, what happened?” Mr. Thaphorn’s concerned voice hardly moved me.
“My father had just passed away and if its not for my father, I wouldn’t have known that you cheated me all along!” my sadness turned into anger.
“Tassa, what do you mean?” Mr. Thaphorn feigned ignorance and it seemed to be obvious even though I only could hear his voice.
“My father had already settled the debts long ago, but yet you bluffed me that my father had not settled my debts and continued to make me your mistress even though my father had finished paying the debts off, you are in despicable,” I hissed at him as I tried to find whatever vocabulary I could to scold him.
“Don’t forget the contract that you had signed. You would not get a single cent if you cannot complete your remaining 3 months or so in this pub, I give you three more days to come back to Singapore. If I do not see you, I would take it as you are not interested to work for me anymore,” Mr. Thaphorn avoided the topic on the debt issue as he seemed to have planned everything before hand when I was away.
Most of the money that I had remitted was already used to pay off the debts, my father’s hospital bills and other miscellaneous things. I had to negotiate with Mr. Thaphorn. I decided that I must fly back to Singapore to have a good talk with him. I knew I had to work something out fast as the money left in my hometown would be finished soon.
“You have arrived sooner than I expected,” Mr. Thaphorn’s nonchalant tone some how irritated me.
“My father has cleared the debts two months ago. I should not be your mistress anymore. I would just be your singer working in your pub and that’s all. There should be nothing else that I should be doing for you,” I came prepared with what I wanted to tell him.
“I knew that your father had cleared what ever he owed to me back then. If I told you back then, would you still be with me? You are my favourite singer, and I really like you a lot. I want you to be by my side for as long as I can,” Mr. Thaphorn tried to cajole me as I folded my arms unconvinced.
“I want money,” I claimed as I stared at him.
“Well, of course I know you need money. You satisfied me very well not only in bed but also as a companion. I would be fair to you, here is three thousand dollars,” Mr. Thaphorn was cool-headed as he took out the money and put on the table.
“I was your mistress for the past 4 months or so is to pay off my father’s debt, but my father had already returned all of what he owed you. You don’t get it, do you? You were deceiving me all these. How do you expect me to believe you again?” Out of a blind rage, I took the money and threw at him.
“Fine but you do not really have a choice right now. You do not have much money left and you have 3 more months before your contract ends and then you would receive your salary. Judging from your performance and if you are consistent for the next 3 months, you should get at least another thirty thousand dollars. If you don’t believe me, you can go back home and earn your meager wages as a singer in your hometown. Even if you travel to Bangkok, you would not earn as much as that of in here. It’s your choice,” Mr. Thaphorn persuasion seemed logical as my anger subsided as I slowly thought through.
“No matter what choice you make, you have to come with me to the pub to meet somebody tonight. He might be able to change your life drastically for the better,” Mr. Thaphorn continued as his stern look set me aback for a while.
Well, that's the end of part 5. What would Tassa do? who is this person whom can turn Tassa's life around? Find out in part 6. Till then, hope you all have enjoyed reading it.
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