Partners

Chapter 2

Pang took a deep breathe in as he stepped out of the departure gate. It had been 5 years since he had stepped foot in his home country, Thailand.

---5 years ago---

"Pang...on behalf of the government, we have decided that you should leave Thailand for the time being." Ms Darin calmly put forward the government statement.

"Wait...for how long?" Pang was in disbelief. Not long ago he was in the state of nirvana after releasing the altered sound waves to the public. He had finally achieved the goal of equality he was striving for 2 years. He was so looking forward to finally living a life free of burdens, and he could perhaps enjoy a University life with Wave. But now the government is telling him to what..move?

"That's not confirmed, for now we are looking at 5 years."

Pang was flabbergasted. "What if I don't move?"

Me Darin flinched, it was a question she knew Pang would ask but she didn't want to answer. "If you don't, we would have no choice but to hinder your friends progress."

Pang inhale sharply hearing those words. The government sure knows how to push Pang's buttons.

"We can make it such that Claire will never be on national television. Mon will never be able to participate in the national team. Namtarn and Ohm will never make it to any local universities and Wave-"

"OKAY!" Pang raised his voice, but softened it later, "okay, you can stop now."

Nobody continued after and they were left in complete silence.

Pang glared at Ms Darin, "You will be missing out, they are extremely talented people."

"Well, after you release the altered sound waves, we will be having many more talented people am I right? And if you choose to go overseas, they won't be harmed."

"I never imagined you to be like this."

Ms Darin stared at Pang with cold eyes, but behind that there was guilt. She always had the students interest first, and never want to threatened Pang. But she had to follow orders, that's her job.

"You should not tell anyone you are leaving and after you leave Thailand, you should not make any contact with any of the gifted students. You will always be tracked by the government, so consider yourself being warned."

"Are you crazy?! They will be even more suspicious if I leave unexpectedly." Pang was at the tip of the ice berg, this close to tipping. He was seriously questioning the government methods, first they asked him to leave Thailand by using his friends as leverage, fine, he can understand it to a certain extent. But now they forbid any contact with them? He was confused and then all the pieces just clicked.

"Is the government that afraid of me?" Pang scoffed.

Ms Darin eyes avoided Pang, and that was when Pang knew he had hit the mark. Ms Darin understood why the government was so afraid of Pang. They were scared that Pang would continue exposing inequality of the government system. So they decide to strip Pang's hands and legs, which is his friends. However, the tilting factor was the fact that Pang was idolised as a hero (a god even) after the release of the sound waves to the public network. Whereas the public had a negative impression of the government. They were seen as inadequate for letting a kid do the exposé on the gifted school or worse, seen as having hidden intentions for not giving everyone equal chances to be gifted. Their position was becoming unstable due to a student. They felt threatened that the public would take the words of whatever this student say over theirs, hence they decided to ship him out to remove this "obstacle" and reclaim their rightful place.

A/N: I didn't explicitly explain why the government would not want Pang to explain why and when he left. Yes Pang is right that it may arouse suspicion. However, I would like to believe that the government was just paranoid that any little conversation between Pang and his friends would threatened their position, because Pang to them was someone who could destroy their dictatorship, so they want him gone asap. So I guess it's an oversight on their part. And it will also make Pang look like a dick head for leaving like that. 🤷🏻😂