...How To...

Chapter 3

The Light That’s Too Bright

Pimploy and Pailin woke up in the morning. The two of them entered their daily routine mode. The mother got dressed for work, while Pailin prepared her things to sit and play at Aunt Im’s shop. Once everything was set, the mother and daughter chattered sweetly as they walked downstairs. Aunt Im had just opened her shop. Pailin claimed her personal space, and the morning unfolded in peaceful tranquility.

By late morning, Pailin discovered that today was a little different. It seemed like there were an unusually high number of walk-in customers at the shop, and the number of people asking to take selfies with her was oddly high as well. Pailin sat there, confused. She believed she heard people say, “It’s that kid. It’s that kid.” When she turned to look, she found that they were people she had never interacted with before.

What do they mean by ‘that kid’ or ‘this kid’? Since she was born, she had never stolen anyone’s things before. They shouldn’t point fingers at her and gossip about her at this close range, as if she were some kind of bird or tree. She became angry when she thought about it. Just then, someone walked up to ask for a photo with her, so she pretended to make a grumpy face at them.

“Aah, so cute.”

What?!! Pailin snapped her head around.

Being born good-looking was truly a problem. Even with a scowl, she still looked cute and good-looking. But even though she said that, the little girl was quite proud of it.

Two big sisters walked into the shop and started asking about their student uniforms that they had sent for laundry service. Aunt Im made a confused face before saying, “It’s not due date yet, dear.”

“Oh? Really? I must have gotten the day wrong—how terrible.”

One of the female students clutched her chest and exclaimed out of shock. Her demeanor was so exaggerated that it couldn’t be called acting.

That was such a high-pitched ‘Oh.’ Pailin let out a small chuckle.

Even from Mars, she could see the sign of excuse. She wanted to suggest that they go take lessons again, but she had to act innocent.

“Oh my, is this your niece, Aunt? She’s so adorable. Can I take a picture with her?”

Aunt Im smiled kindly and nodded as a permission. After taking two photos each, they secretly handed her some snacks. Pailin raised her hands to perform a wai like a little child and accepted the snacks onto her lap. Once the two students got what satisfied them, they left the shop.

The sofa was now covered with dangerous snacks unsuitable for a child’s health. However, regardless of what people have her, Pailin still happily accepted them all with a smile. Some items, upon inspection, didn’t meet the safety standards and had to be put in the trash bin behind the shop when no one was around.

‘Surely, something had happened.’ She narrowed her eyes as she unwrapped a box of Pocky to eat it.

Pimploy was having lunch in the dining hall on the lower floor of the company, together with a group of column writers. This week, the young woman had been assigned to assist the magazine’s column writing department.

Being labeled as ‘assisting job’ meant helping with photocopying, coordinating, or even reading articles that people had submitted for review. The articles selected for publication had to be original, never-before-published pieces with interesting content. For the past days, Pimploy was buried in these things.

“Oh my, whose child is this? She’s adorable.” One of the older people sitting at the same table as Pimploy spoke up. This senior was quite an expert in entertainment industry gossip, had a hobby of scrolling through celebrity Instagram accounts, and seemed to be an admin of the news page ‘Under the Shadow of Entertainment.’

“Which kid is cute? Dakarnda’s twins?”

“Oh, Big Sister Noi, people have stopped looking at Dakarnda’s children. She’s been posting pictures three times a day—after every meal—since birth up until the child turned one. At first, I liked it, Big Sister Noi. I gave a heart to every single post. But over time, I figured my time was better spent watching series. Did you watch last night? Gentleman with a Heart of Stone. The slaps and kisses. The new actress did quite well, actually. The struggle scenes were so satisfying.”

“Such nonsense, Bhim. What kid you’re talking about? Let me see it.”

Bhim swiped her screen, clicked into a post by some photographer she herself didn’t know, and then handed her phone to Big Sister Noi—the head columnist and her boss.

Miss Noi, a middle-aged woman who was the head of everyone at the table, took the phone and scrolled through the images one by one. She let out mmm sounds and nodded slightly.

“She is quite cute. Must be mixed-race. A celebrity’s child?” Miss Noi asked.

“I’m not sure either, Big Sister. I saw people sharing it last night.” Bhim replied, taking her phone back. Others at the table made voices and asked to see as well, so she passed it along willingly.

At the farthest end of the table, Pimploy was engrossed in reading one hundred and fifty articles. Naturally, she didn’t hear any of the conversation at the dining table…

Another day had passed. Pailin stored her snacks at Aunt Im’s shop to keep as provisions for the following days. Today, there were many customers, and the piles of laundry overflowed to the front of the shop. Aunt Im walked in and out multiple times, leaving no gap for her to secretly use her phone at all.

She sat waiting for her mother to pick her up for a while before her mother finally arrived. Even though the weather was hot, Pimploy was still wearing a long-sleeved black shirt, with another folded jacket draped over her arm. Pailin could only complain in her mind that the corporate culture of this company was quite strange.

Late at night, Pailin opened her eyes in the darkness. Lately, the little girl had been firmly insisting on sleeping on the bed with Pimploy. Pailin took a small bolster pillow and placed it in her place, then covered it with a blanket before slowly sliding herself off the bed as quietly as possible.

People never know what they look like while they sleep. Some toss and turn, some grind their teeth, some wake up easily, and some are deep sleepers. As for Pailin’s mother, she had a trait of someone who slept so deeply that, on one day, even a fire alarm blaring didn’t wake the young woman up.

And this was the reason why... Pailin’s late-night activities came into existence.

Pailin tiptoed along the dark path. By the window, there was a small low table tucked into a corner beside the partition dividing the two rooms. The girl carried Pimploy’s compact laptop over and placed it there. She opened the screen and pressed the power button.

The screen lit up brightly. The girl quickly dimmed it using a shortcut key, then peeked over to check on Pimploy and saw that she was still fast asleep. So, she withdrew herself back into the blind corner as before. The laptop slowly booted up to the desktop screen.

The room was silent, with only the periodic hum of the air conditioner. The glow from the screen cast onto the little girl’s face, resembling a scruffy-haired ghost child crouched in the corner of the room.

The tiny hands tapped on the touchpad, clicking into Google Chrome icon. She switched to incognito mode before logging into Facebook using Passorn’s ID. In the search bar, she typed the name of the photographer uncle who was a friend of her mother. Remembering someone’s Facebook name was not something hard that beyond her capability, as Pailin often pretended to casually poke Pimploy’s phone. She had already read through all the chats.

It might sound like she was a nosy child, but this was a daughter’s right. While she was searching for her father, anyone trying to get close to her mother would have to go through this Pailin first!!!

Nawadol’s profile was opened.

Scrolling down his timeline, everything was just as she expected. The photo had been shared nearly ten thousand times in a suspicious way. It was just a picture of a child; it shouldn’t have been shared to such an extreme degree. There had to be a reason. Pailin continued tracing back through the share history.

‘Oh, so this is why.’

The whole thing started when a popular male idol, who had risen to fame through a teen drama series, shared Nawadol’s photo album.

This male celebrity had just graduated from Z University, where Nawadol was also studying, and where Pailin’s mother was also studying as well. Therefore, Pailin—who spent her days sitting and sleeping in the dorm near Z University—became an unmoving target that was very easy to find.

She clicked into the most shared and most liked post, which belonged to that male celebrity.

Pete Patiphat Buraphan

If I want a daughter like this, what kind of mother should she have?

Below was the shared album, with tens of thousands of likes, along with the celebrity’s post that had been reshared. Pailin clicked to see the comments. Most of them were teenage fans who came in to express their opinion animatedly.

Miss Chaotic Channel Three Actor Fangirl: Aahhh. A gray-eyed baby is cute.

Lookyee Amornphun: Marry me. Our kid might not be cute, but the mother is cuddly.

Redy Powerfull: Those eyes are gorgeous. Whose child is this? Why do I feel the urge to see the parents’ faces?

Princess Ostrich: How many lifetimes do I have to die and be reborn to have a kid with this face?

Raweepan Niyomthai: I’ve seen this kid before. @Namthip Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts Kid

Namthip Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts Kid: @Raweepan Niyomthai Is this the one? (Attached picture)

Pailin looked at the image in the comments. It was a picture of her with that older girl—the one who had asked about her unfinished student uniform at the shop. Scrolling further, there were even more selfies of Pailin with various people.

She scrolled down to see the comments in amusement until a secretly taken photo caught her eyes, one with a public park as background. It was a picture of Pailin being carried by Pimploy, with a young photographer trailing behind them. There was a caption being added to it.

Fiery Girl Gong Yoo Oppa Fangirl: The other day, I happened to be at a meeting in that area. I saw them at the park. Her mom is so pretty.

Supannika Rertsri: I’ve seen them beforeeee. Near the dorms at Z University.

Etc.

Pailin smiled. This was excellent. This was what they called a miracle shot. Not just anyone could go viral overnight. She owed a big thanks to that male idol. If she ever got the chance, she would be sure to return the favor properly.

Now that the curiosity that she had been having all day had been resolved, Pailin started feeling sleepy. After carefully checking she had deleted her history, Pailin shut down the device, put everything back in its original place, and silently tiptoed back to the bed. She slipped under the blanket, hugged the stuffed rabbit her mother had bought as a birthday gift, and drifted off to sleep.

The following days, everything started to return to normal. The number of people secretly coming to see the overnight-famous girl decreased. The little one’s life returned to the cycle of eating and sleeping—until one evening on the weekend, when Nawadol called Pimploy. Pailin was sitting beside her, flipping through a magazine.

“Hello, Dol. What can I do for you?” Pimploy spoke in a clear voice.

“Oh, Big Sister Pim. Don’t say it like that. How could you ever be the one serving me? Haha,” Nawadol laughed heartily, being in a good mood.

“You know… These days, everywhere I go, people say hi to my daughter. Aunt Im said she can’t keep up with the customers anymore,” the young woman complained about the aftershocks of Pailin’s viral photo, which had drawn an endless stream of customers to use the ‘Imjai Smooth Ironing’ shop’s service.

“It can’t be helped. It’s your fault for having an adorable child.”

“Haha, but it’s fine. Once she grows a little older, people won’t recognize Little Pailin anymore. Kids grow up so fast,” Pimploy said as she put the phone on speaker and placed it on the table.

“That might not be the case, Big Sister. Actually, I called to ask you something. Someone reached out to me—they want Little Pailin to be a model for kid’s clothes. It’s a well-known and reliable brand. They’re offering a contract until she turns three. Are you interested?” the young photographer explained.

“Hey, have you become Pailin’s manager now? But why such a long contract? Why not just shoot on a case-by-case basis?” Pimploy asked. A one-and-a-half-year photography contract—why is it so long?

“I believe they will have to shoot at various ages, the period when a child is growing. Anyway, if you’re interested, I’ll arrange a meeting for you. I’ll let you think about it first. Please call and let me know by tomorrow. Bye,” Nawadol quickly ended the call—truthfully, he was afraid Pimploy would quickly reject it. He wanted her to try thinking about it first. The mother and daughter lived alone. Naturally, they had to spend money. You won’t be poor if you are not picky with work.

Pimploy hadn’t even had the chance to reply before the other end fled. Actually, she did want the money. It was considered earning it as an education fund for her daughter. But she was afraid Pailin would get too exhausted. The young woman turned to look at her daughter and saw the little one flipping through the magazine, her eyes sparkling as she looked at the pictures of beautiful young models posing.

‘Maybe her daughter likes this sort of thing.’

Pimploy gazed out the window. The sky was darkening, the orange glow of the streetlights flickering on. The number of pedestrians on the sidewalk was dwindling, and the atmosphere was eerily quiet.

In her life, she only had a daughter. She didn’t have much life stability. Before long, Pailin would be starting school, and Pimploy would need a lot more money. She had no family, she didn’t know who she could ask for advice. She could only think things through alone. When there were problems, she would solve them just to get through them. 

Pailin saw that her mother had become still, her beautiful face seemed gloomy. The little girl closed the book in her hands, crawled toward her mother, and wrapped her arms around her in a hug.

Seeing this, Pimploy embraced her little kid in return, rocking her—just as she had done when Pailin was a newborn. Then, she mumbled in a soft voice.

"Let’s fight this together, my daughter."

In the blink of an eye, more than a year had already passed…

"Time is like a mysterious river—when happiness arrives, it rushes forward; but in times of hardship, it dries up and vanishes."

A certain literary writer once said this in a play that Pailin had performed in her past life. Its meaning was a metaphor—when one suffers, time passes so slowly, but when joy comes, it passes so quickly, like the water of a river that we can perceive it. When we see that it flows past our eyes, even though we wish to grasp it, we cannot stop it with our hands…

But whether it be river water or mountain water, the water that Pailin loved the most…

…was lychee juice!!!

Just like how hot it was last year, this year was just as scorching!!!

Slurpppp.

Pailin sipped her lychee soda until only ice remained, only to discover it was not enough to quench her thirst. In a country where the outdoor temperature reached as high as thirty-seven degrees Celsius, what kind of shop had the audacity to sell drinks packed full of ice?!

“All gone already, daughter? Why did you drink it so fast?” Pimploy asked.

The mother and daughter were seated under a large umbrella in the middle of a grassy field, within the sports grounds of a suburban university. It was the filming location for the music video ‘Still Remember’ by a certain male singer.

The current shooting queue belonged to another boy who played the young version of the MV’s male lead. Right now, he was juggling a soccer ball with his feet on the bleachers. According to the scene, the boy would make a mistake with the juggle, twist his leg, and tumble down two steps. Pailin, playing the young version of the female lead, would have to step in to help him. The two would then become friends. Over time, they would grow close, until one day, the little girl had to move away. They made a pinky promise that one day, they would meet again in this very place.