Chapter 3

Two Stubborn Souls

The freshly made khao tom mat, stuffed with sweet ladyfinger bananas, sat quietly in its clear plastic bag. Patsasika held it up to eye level, musing over her decision. This shop was known for its delicious treats, but whether the man named after the snack would actually eat it was anyone’s guess. She’d bought it, so she might as well offer it. After all, he had been kind enough to let her take Tonmai out for ice cream.

She knocked three times before entering. Mongkutmook was still fast asleep, looking surprisingly peaceful compared to her usual fiery, tantrum-prone self. Boramat briefly glanced up from his tablet to acknowledge the nurse’s presence before returning his focus to the numbers on the screen, barely noticing anything around him. But when he sensed something hovering in front of him, he looked up again.

“What is it?”

Was that a question or just him being difficult? Could he stop posing and drop the aloof attitude for two minutes?

“Khao Tom Mat. It’s really good.”

“Hmm.”

“Won’t you…take it?” Patsasika held her ground, hoping he’d accept so she wouldn’t feel awkward.

“For me?”

“Yes, for you.”

“Huh.” The young man chuckled softly, amused by the whole situation. Usually, if women brought him food, it would be something ridiculously expensive and extravagant, like Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, red-cooked shark fin, premium bird’s nest soup, or cordyceps tea. And all these pricey offerings would inevitably end up in the stomachs of Pongpai and Ganthorn, instead of his own.

…This woman’s different, but it's good. It actually made him feel more human, not some deity constantly worshipped with gourmet offerings by women.

“Khao Tom Mat?”

The nurse started to lose confidence in herself. Being with him for just one minute felt like ten years.

“Yes, just an ordinary Khao Tom Mat.”

“You bought it just for me?”

"Uh…" How was she supposed to respond now? He had to ask so many questions instead of just accepting it. “No, actually. I didn’t buy it for you.”

“Hmm. So, it’s for Mook then?”

“Um, well...Tonmai wanted you to have it.” Internally, the young woman gave herself a thumbs up for thinking of an excuse.

Was it really from Tonmai, or was it the big sister buying it herself? Not the most convincing excuse, and sorry, miss… but you’re a few years too late to fool me!!

“But if you don’t want it, that’s fine.” Honestly, Sor, buying something so mundane—it doesn’t suit the recipient one bit.

“Did I say that?”

“Well…”

“You bought it like you knew I hadn’t had breakfast yet.” The young woman remained silent, and Boramat reached over to take the bag from her. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d eaten khao tom mat. “Thanks very much.”

The room fell silent. Patsasika didn’t know what to say or do next. If Mongkutmook wasn’t asleep, she might have found something for her patient to do just to avoid the awkwardness she felt under her brother’s gaze. Fortunately, the chair next to the bed was empty, so she took a seat there, making it her base for the time being. She had no idea when Boramat might snap back into his usual prickly mode. The bag of khao tom mat still rested in his hand—he had mentioned not having eaten anything since morning, but he still hadn’t touched the snack she’d bought for him.

“I’ll be heading back to Bangkok this afternoon. Please keep an eye on Mook; she can be a handful, so feel free to manage her as you see fit. Don’t worry about offending anyone,” the young man said, giving her a long list of instructions.

“This afternoon?” The young nurse glanced at her watch, seeing the hour and minute hands both pointing to twelve.

Standing up to his full height, the tall figure picked up his tablet in one hand and held the bag of khao tom mat in the other.

“The Khao Tom Mat you brought…or rather, the Khao Tom Mat that Tonmai supposedly left for me, guess I’ll be having it at the airport.”

“Excuse me!”

Boramat paused, raising a thick, questioning eyebrow.

“Tomorrow morning, I’d like to take a half-day off. I have some personal matters to attend to,” she felt relieved after saying that. It would have been better if she had told him this morning. “But don’t worry, I’ve already informed the head nurse, and she’ll be covering for me.”

“So, this Khao Tom Mat,” he glanced down at the treats in the bag, “was actually a little trade-off?”

“No, I bought it for you because you were kind enough to let me take Tonmai out for ice cream today.”

“So, who bought it then, you or Tonmai?”

“Well…” She wasn’t a good liar, something she’d often been told, and he seemed to confirm it once again.

“When I get back, I’ll treat you to lunch as thanks for the snack,” his black eyes glanced at his sleeping sister. “I’ll treat you myself, and it’ll have nothing to do with Mook.”

Patsasika was left gaping, too flustered to come up with any retort, even after the tall figure was gone. That comment about it not being related to Mongkutmook—clearly, he’d aimed it at her for using Trapruek as an excuse.

…He’s impossible!

A small cluster of pale pink bougainvillea lay delicately in the vase in front of the gray stone stupa bearing the name of the owner. The cool morning breeze rustled the flowers, sending petals fluttering gently. There was no particular scent in the air, yet the one sitting there felt a sense of lightness, a refreshing calm washing over her.

A proud smile graced her face as she sat there in her nurse’s uniform. The sorrow from eight years ago, when she lost her father, the only source of support, had gradually faded with time. Now, whenever she thought of her father, there was no sadness, only the memory of him in each breath she took.

“Daddy, I offered alms for you today. It’s filled with all your favorite dishes.”

Every time she came to the temple, Patsasika prepared her father’s favorite dishes, rotating them from time to time. She believed he would be happy, though she also trusted he’d moved on to a good place, as he never once visited her in her dreams.

“P’Sor/ P’Sor/ P’Sor.”

‘P’Sor’ turned towards the voices and saw the three Suwanmek children approaching, lined up in a neat row: the youngest boy in front, followed by the middle sister, with the eldest girl bringing up the rear, just as she’d seen them many times before.

Each child held a small bouquet of marigolds. When they reached her, they placed their flowers beside the vase of bougainvillea, bowed deeply in front of the stupa, then looked up, beaming at their honorary big sister.

“Alright, kids. Now that we’ve paid our respects to Uncle Dab, let’s get going.”

“Mommy said you have to go back to work and can’t have lunch with us, right?” Kanisa, the eldest, asked.

“Yes, little Tonkhao, you’ll go home with Mommy and Daddy, okay? But I’ll come visit on Friday.”

“Oh, yay. P’Sor, you can stay with me. We have a new Nemo blanket—Daddy just bought it for us.” Pratchaya’s eyes sparkled with excitement. Whenever P’Sor stayed over, there were always stories and fun times to look forward to.

"Don't want it, P’Tonkem, I want P’Sor to sleep in my room," the family's little troublemaker began to pout.

"In that case," the children's favorite hugged all three of them close, with Trapruek perched on her lap. “Why don’t we all sleep together?”

“Good idea/Good/Great.”

“Alright, let’s head home now.” The young woman stood up, taking Pratchaya’s hand in one of hers and Kanisa’s in the other, while Kanisa held Trapruek’s hand, forming their usual lineup. This arrangement was always the same since Patsasika trusted that Kanisa would never let go of her younger brother’s hand.

“P’Sor, can you carry me?”

“You’re trying to charm me again,” Patsasika looked at the little one, who leaned out of line. Of the three siblings, Trapruek was definitely the most skilled at pleading—and it usually worked.

“Walk with me, Tonmai. You’re getting so heavy. P’Sor can’t carry you, you know. Look at Tonkem; she’s walking on her own.”

The little boy blinked rapidly, but finally conceded, afraid his oldest sister might scold him again. Patsasika smiled. Kanisa always knew how to handle her brother, and one of the greatest joys of Patsasika’s days was hearing their laughter, seeing their smiles, and watching these three grow. She loved them with all her heart and knew they felt the same way.

“Get out! Get out of here. Leave me alone.”

“Goodness, what’s the problem now? I don’t know how to please you,” Palin placed a hand on her hip. This patient was impossible to care for. She wouldn’t allow her to help with a sponge bath, didn’t want the pork and rice porridge, so she’d gone out of her way to bring fried rice instead, only to have the patient refuse it because it had shrimp. Talk about picky!

“If you can’t please me, then don’t bother. I don’t need you fussing over me anyway.”

“What’s going on here, Lin?” The newcomer could guess what was going on, having heard the loud commotion before entering.

“Oh, so you’ve shown up after all. I thought you were going to shirk all day.”

“I already cleared my absence with the patient’s brother and let P’Chor know too. I thought P’Chor would be here. Why is it you, Lin?”

Palin let out an exaggerated sigh, rolling her perfectly mascaraed eyes toward the ceiling, then down to her patient with poorly veiled irritation.

“P’Chor asked me to take over,” the young woman twisted her words, deviating from the actual events. In truth, she had volunteered to take care of the patient, hoping to impress and potentially replace Patsasika as the private nurse. But the situation had spiraled out of control. “Now that you’re here, you can handle this yourself.”

“Fine, go do whatever you need to.” If it were anyone else, she might have thanked them, but with this friend, there was no point. She knew better than to bother.

“Well, get betttteeer soon!” Palin mockingly stretched out her words. “So you can finally go home and stop burdening everyone else.”

“What kind of nurse are you, with no care for others? Did you buy your nursing license?” Mongkutmook shot back, her frustration evident. Even a child could see that this nurse didn’t actually want to take care of her and seemed to have some hidden motive. And now, with her fiery resistance, she had practically jumped out of the room.

"Look at this! Take care of your patient, Sor." Palin stomped around as if she was possessed. She wanted to scold the patient but directed her irritation toward her fellow nurse instead.

“Just go. I’ll take care of Ms. Mook.”

“Go away, and don’t come back.”

Palin didn’t waste another second. She strode out on her three-inch heels, barely dodging a pillow Mongkutmook threw at her. The privatenurse simply raised a hand to her forehead, exasperated.

She knew Palin well—straightforward to the point of insensitivity and lacking any real compassion for her patients, just as Mongkutmook had said. Sometimes, she couldn’t even understand why Palin had chosen to become a nurse. As for Mongkutmook, though they hadn’t known each other long, Patsasika could sense she was used to getting her way and seemed to carry deep-seated frustrations, causing her to lash out at every opportunity. But behind all that anger, there was an undeniable vulnerability.

“Nurse Sor, b…blood. I’m… bleeding.” Mongkutmook’s face turned pale as she lifted her arm, showing the IV needle that had dislodged. The girl looked at the nurse with desperation, her body suddenly feeling weak and breathless.

“Ms. Mook!”

“Help me.”

Patsasika immediately grabbed the clean hospital gown that the housekeeper had left in the room that morning, which Mongkutmook had yet to change into, and went to the bedside. She used it to press against the blood seeping from her arm. The IV had undoubtedly come out when she threw the pillow at Palin.

“Take a deep breath, Ms. Mook. I’ll have the housekeeper bring fresh clothes and sheets in a moment.”

“I…I’m scared.”

“There’s nothing to be afraid of. Just stay calm.”

Patsasika rubbed the young girl’s back, gently comforting her as she picked up the room phone to call in an attendant. Afterward, she called the front desk to have a nurse on duty bring a fresh IV kit.

Within twenty minutes, she had reinserted a new IV needle, changed the hospital gown, and replaced the bedsheets. By then, Mongkutmook’s breathing had calmed, and her panic had faded.

“Are you scared of blood, Ms. Mook? I didn’t realize you were that frightened before.”

“Of course I’m scared.”

“Really?!”

“Well, last time, I pulled out the IV myself. I meant to, you know? So it didn’t bother me then. But this time, the darn needle slipped out on its own, and when I saw that much blood, yeah, I was scared.”

The listener couldn’t help but smile. That was one way to look at it.

“Are you hungry, Ms. Mook? It’s almost one o’clock,” Patsasika rolled over the tray table with a delicious-smelling meal the kitchen staff had just brought.

“I am. I haven’t eaten anything all day.”

“Didn’t the morning nurse bring you breakfast?”

“She brought pork porridge, but I didn’t want it—I eat that every day and I’m sick of it. So the ‘crimson-lipped’ nurse brought me shrimp fried rice instead, but when I told her I couldn’t eat shrimp, she kept trying to make me eat it anyway. You saw her—she’s always giving me trouble.” Just thinking about that nurse made her irritated every time. Nurse Sor was so much better, by far.

Patsasika held back from saying more. In truth, she thought the two were evenly matched, with neither willing to back down, which was why it escalated to a bloody incident, but perhaps she should speak to Palin since this wasn’t the first patient she’d had issues with.

“Didn’t you say her name sounded like ‘monkey’?”

“It’s Palin, nickname Lin.” Patsasika wasn’t sure if Mongkutmook would find a new name for her too, since ‘Palin’ had already become ‘Monkey’ in her book.

“Same difference.”

“Alright, so you’re allergic to shrimp—I’ll remember that. Today’s meal is braised chicken with shiitake mushrooms and stuffed eggs. It looks tasty, so eat up.”

“That’s more like it.”

The slender hand took the spoon from the young nurse and quickly finished her meal, accepting her post-meal medication from Patsasika without a fuss.

“Would you like to go for a walk, Ms. Mook? I can take you.”

“I can go?” Mongkutmook turned, looking hopeful. She was beyond tired of lying around like a vegetable on the bed.

“Of course. There’s a garden area on this floor. It’s not raining, and the sun isn’t too strong today. The weather’s perfect.”

“Anywhere but this room. If I’m cooped up here until I’m discharged, I’ll wither away.”

Patsasika brought the wheelchair beside the bed, but their impromptu outing was cut short when Mongkutmook’s phone began ringing.

“Here we go, the same old Mafia Matt.”

The young girl blew a puff of air from her little mouth that lifted her bangs.

“Just ignore him. Let’s go for a walk, Nurse Sor.”

“Go ahead and answer. He’s probably worried about you, Ms. Mook.”

“Sigh.” A loud sigh escaped her before she reluctantly answered the call, annoyed by the persistent ringtone. “What is it, P’Matt?”

“Starting trouble again, I hear?”

“Heh, poor Mongkutmook, huh? That’s the perfect greeting for your dear brother. Sounds so full of concern.” Look at him. Rather than asking how she was feeling, he just went straight into scolding her and making her feel even worse.

“You’re always causing trouble, every day. Even in the hospital, you can’t stay still. Is it so hard to behave?”

“What? Who tattled to you this time?” The one who told him definitely wasn’t Patsasika, who’d been with her the whole time.

“Where I got the info doesn’t matter. But fighting with a nurse until your IV line falls out? You call that behaving?”

“Have someone tailing me again, do you? Why not just lock me in a cage if you’re so worried about me? That way, I’ll always be in your line of sight.” There wasn’t a single day when he didn’t make her feel like a prisoner. Even when he wasn’t physically present, he always left his spies behind—whether it was Pongpai or Ganthorn, it was always one of them keeping tabs on her.

“Well, would you let yourself be locked up? Honestly, calling you a rabid dog might even be unfair to the dogs.”

“Did you just compare me to a dog, P’Matt?” She punched her pillow in frustration.

“Dogs are cuter than you.”

Cuter than her? Really…

“Let me tell you something. I don’t want a brother like you. I don’t want you meddling in my life. Just leave me alone.” The young girl ended the call abruptly, tossing her phone aside, where it teetered on the edge of the bed, and then lay down, turning her back on her private nurse.

Seeing this, Patsasika felt the tension as well. If anything, Boramat had a knack for stirring up conflict.

“Ms. Mook, let’s go for a walk. It might lift your mood.”

“No, I don’t feel like it anymore. Not in the mood to admire flowers today.”

Both siblings were equally stubborn and fiery—like ginger and galangal, both strong and sharp. In the end, she had to deal with both the ginger and the galangal, didn’t she?