Risking The Hate

Chapter 6: A stupid dinner date

"Oh come on. I can just drop you home." Sarawat unlocked his car from a distance.

"I don't need you to.."

"Just get in Tine. Stop being so stuffy all the time. " He pulled me by my hand, shoved me in passenger seat."

Tine is irritated.

"SARAWAT--!" Before I could say anything else, he had closed my side of the door and jumped on the driver's side.

"Where do you live Tine?"

"You know you are only wasting your time right? I could have easily taken a taxi"

Sarawat was beaming at me with a big smile. "I don't think I am wasting my time at all. Now — where do you live?"

I sighed. "Prius Heights. I'll put the location in the navigation system."

Lucky for me or for Sarawat, there was hardly any traffic this late in the night and we reached home in just ten minutes at the most. Sarawat stopped his car right at the entrance and looked up at my building.

"That's a pretty good building... and its close to the office as well. It looks like new construction and well-maintained."

"I guess? Its not a bad place to live. Though nothing compared to your mansion."

"I already told you Tine. Its my parents' house, not mine. I am only living there for now because I came back to Thailand just a month ago."

"But where did you go? All those years? You never even showed up to any of the alumni meets." It seemed like I had asked that question on a whim, but to be honest, that question had lingered on my mind for way too long.

"Awww... did you miss me? Were you hoping I would show up at those alumni meets?"

"You know what? Forget I even asked." I tries to open my side of the car door but Sarawat locked it before I could pull the lever.

"No, wait. I am sorry. It was a stupid joke... Listen.." I turned towards him only to realise he was looking right back at me with a serious face this time. "I was.. I was running away. I was hoping that running away would erase all the mistakes I have made in the past. The ones I remember and the ones that I don't even remember. So, I just travelled from one country to another hoping to some find some peace." He shrugged his shoulders

"And.. did you erase those mistakes while you searched the world for something else?"

"No.. No I didn't. Instead I realised that I can't change the past and I can't even forgive myself for making mistakes that I don't even remember."

"Is that why you stopped running and came back?"

"Yeah. I guess. You know I never thought I would join dad's company. I only did my MBA because he forced me into it. But here I am working in the so called 'family business' — And I am actually beginning to like it.. a lot."

"Do you-- do you regret coming back?"

Sarawat leaned in on his steering wheel, staring intently at me. "No.. no. Not at all. In fact, I have been beating myself up for not coming back sooner."

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It was almost Friday afternoon, we were supposed to finish a major campaign by now so I could take the rest of the day off and pack for my conference in Phuket over the weekend. But instead, I was still stuck in office, with the team sitting around me in the meeting room because the campaign was still not finished in any way.