Thanat watched the way Daeng ran away, his mind filled with regret.
He lost track of time as he thought about the past... a memory slipped through his mind.
" On the balcony of the Third Mansion, Thanat was fifteen years old, and Daeng was only thirteen.
Thanat's hands were full of wild flowers. He was calling out loudly from outside, looking up at the balcony.
"Nong... Nong... Nong!"
Daeng heard him from inside and ran out to the balcony. Daeng waved his hands, and Thanat waved back.
They both looked happier than ever. Daeng ran down to Thanat and jumped into his arms. Thanat lifted him up, spinning him around.
Their exploration began there.
Without anyone knowing, they always went on their secret trips together.
One day, shortly before Daeng's seventeenth birthday, they were out on one of their adventures.
"Phi... let's stop running. I'm tired ," Daeng said, panting with an exhausted face.
Thanat looked at him. "Daeng, it's almost your seventeenth birthday. Don't you want a gift from your Phi?"
"Mmm... no. I don't need anything. You can just give me the flowers I like," Daeng said, smiling to make his brother feel more comfortable.
They both sat down in their secret garden.
Daeng was adoring the flowers, while Thanat was only looking at Daeng.
A petal from the wild flowers got caught in Daeng's hair. Thanat slowly reached out to take it. As he did, Daeng turned around and gave Thanat a bright smile.
The wind, the flowers, the garden—everything seemed to stop at that moment.
Thanat quickly stood up. "Let's go! It's late... let's go!" he said in a great hurry.
That night, Thanat realized something he already knew but didn't want to believe. He was sitting on the floor, holding the dry flowers Daeng had given him.
"Daeng... Daeng..." he whispered.
"I can't believe it. No, I don't want to... I really love him. But he is my brother...I... what am I going to do? The more I think, the more it hurts."
Thanat quickly slapped his own face. He slapped himself again and again until his cheeks were red.
"I can't... I can't love him."
He leaned against the edge of the bed, and without realizing it, tears began to fall.
Back in the present, a tear fell as he remembered the memory.
He slapped his face again. "How could you do that, Thanat? How could you? You destroyed everything. Why couldn't you just act like you did every day? Why did you hurt him?"
As he looked at the sky, the tears wouldn't stop. Along with the darkness, his love for Daeng only grew stronger.
Thanat went to his room, where his wife, Kaew, was waiting for him.
She looked at him and said calmly, "I know you don't like me. We both agreed to this marriage for our own reasons, but can't you at least pretend?"
"Khun Thanat, you can sleep on the bed."
"No. You sleep in the room. I am going out," Thanat replied.
He left, feeling heartbroken, his spirit as dry and withered as the flowers he had kept for years.
The next morning started with the crying of little Aung.
"Ahhhhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhh!"
Daeng heard the noise and went down to the kitchen. There, he found Aung covered from head to toe in the ingredients that had been prepared for breakfast.
She was crying loudly. Every servant was trying to clean her, but she wouldn't let them touch her. She just stood there and screamed.
"Let me... let me do it," Daeng said.
Aung stopped crying the moment she heard Daeng's voice.
"Young Master, we can do it. You don't need to—" the servants started to say.
"Let me," Daeng insisted. He began to wipe the food from her clothes and her face.
Then he said softly, "Nong Aung, you are only six. Why are you always running? Look, what if you get hurt? You are hurting my heart."
Daeng looked down and touched his chest like a sad puppy.
Aung hugged him tightly, looking like she really regretted running.
"Let's go," Daeng said as he picked her up and carried her out.
The servants watched them go. "Khun Aung is really lucky to have the Young Master," one whispered.
The head kitchen servant added, "No matter where Khun Aung goes, she is here from morning to night. Make sure no one envies them. Let that bond stay together forever."
They watched the two of them leave, feeling how warm the kitchen felt that morning.
Then, the head servant clapped her hands.
"Oh! Look at this mess. We need to clean! Start preparing everything again!" They all hurried to start over. It was a messy, loud morning.
In the main room, everyone was present. The Lord Thong-Dee, the current head Wichit and his wife, Daeng's father Suchat, his mother Waen, Thanat, and his wife Kaew with her cousin. Everyone was there except for Daeng.
"You can go , and your cousin can live here for now," the grandfather said, his voice wise and clear. "Didn't you say he was planning a new business? Let's see...What I can do for him."
"Thank you, My Lord. We will never forget this," Kaew said, and her cousin thanked him too.
"When is Daeng coming?" the Grandfather asked, sounding impatient.
"I already informed him. He will come," Waen said, her face cold.
Kaew and her cousin walked outside, leaving the main family alone.
As Daeng walked toward the main room in the mansion, he had to pass through a long corridor.
In each part of the mansion, the gardens were filled with jasmines and wild white roses.
Daeng always enjoyed that walk.
He stopped for a moment to look at the garden and enjoy the flowers.
Surrounded by the green plants and the sweet smell, Daeng usually tried to avoid coming to the main mansion. But today he had no choice.
As he reached the main room, he saw Kaew and her cousin leaving. Daeng gave them a quick, respectful greeting and then stepped inside.
As Daeng entered, the silent room was filled with eyes watching him.
"Come here, sit next to me, Daeng," his grandfather asked. Daeng walked over and sat beside him.
"Daeng, take this paper. It is my gift for your birthday." His grandfather handed a document to him.
Daeng opened it, but as soon as he saw what it was, he quickly stood up. "I don't want this. I don't want these assets!"
No one's face changed. They all already knew what Daeng's reply would be.
Suddenly, Waen held Daeng's hand.
"Daeng, you don't need to accept it now, but it will be yours eventually." She looked at him gently. "We are leaving now. Daeng promised he would paint me, right?"
"Khab... Mae," Daeng replied. They both walked out together.
The Grandfather sighed as the room emptied. "Everyone can go back."
He thought after he was alone " It has been eighteen years... I wonder when he is going to forgive us."
He closed his eyes as the family left, everyone struggling with their own thoughts of the past.
Meanwhile, Wichit looked at his wife. "Dear... if I had talked to her that night, we could have saved Bua, right?" He looked into the distance and sighed. "It is all because of me. I am the one who forced Suchat to marry. I only thought about our status... who knew Suchat already loved someone else?"
"It is good that we made her leave the Asawa family," his wife replied. "Otherwise, who knows? She might have tried to kill Daeng, too."
She was Suchat's wife. No woman likes to be betrayed, but that doesn't mean she can try to kill someone. Also she already knew the woman Nong Suchat likes is Bua.
They looked at each other, remembering a past they both wanted to forget.
As night fell, Daeng was not in his room. He was out on his balcony.
The space was a mess, filled with half finished paintings and all the tools he had been using.
There were brushes with half-dried paint and open jars everywhere.
The balcony was covered with white curtains that moved like waves in the wind.
Daeng was wearing his nightclothes—a white dress that allowed the moonlight to slip through the curtains and touch his bare skin.
His chest and hands were covered in paint, but he didn't care.
He was lost in a world where only he and his painting were alive.
Slowly, a shadow appeared. Someone was watching Daeng from behind the curtains, mesmerized by his beauty.
The person stood there, wondering which was more beautiful—the moon or Daeng.