609 Bedtime Story (English Version)

Chapter 01

Oh, where are my manners? Apologies for not introducing myself earlier.

My name is "Mum." I'm twenty-eight years old and I'm the owner of this room number "609" where I'm brushing my teeth in its bathroom. It's one of the almost-two-hundred rooms in this low-rise condominium in the Kaset-Nawamin area.

I also own a little bar and restaurant named "Halo," and one of the reasons I spent half of my savings on the down payment for this room is that it is located diagonally across the street. It takes less than ten minutes to get there by foot. I can even see it from the window of my room, actually.

And, yes, I'm walking there, but not before I put on this pair of light denim trousers with holes at the knees and this short-sleeve shirt.

By the way, this bar doesn't belong solely to me. I think I have to make a clear statement before you guys mistake me for being rich. I have a partner who is also my old friend; his name is Game.

It's that one, who seems so focused on a laptop screen right now, at a wooden table by the window.

He's my best pal. We both are from Khon Kaen. We went to the same school from primary to senior high. We only got to separate for quite a while when he passed the exam and got accepted into the Faculty of Business Administration of a university in Bangkok. Then just earlier this year, I came here to visit my sister and ran across him.

Friendship really never dies. We reconnected pretty instantly though our lives were so at different levels like heaven and hell... Yes, I was the one in hell, certainly. See, he had a good job in a famous company and I was just a freelance singer, hopping from bars to bars in our hometown. I spent my time during the day sleeping like I was practicing dying.

While I was still in the city, a bar and restaurant where Game always went to regularly was about to end its business for good, he bought it without hesitation and asked me to join him. He has always wanted to be an entrepreneur, and I have always been a bar hopper and spent a lot of money on this shit. Result: owning a place for a chillout has then become our new profession.

I just said that I spent half of my savings on room number 609, right?

The other half was invested here.

"What ho!" Game shouts out to me as I push the glass door to get inside. "You're all good?"

"Not yet. I'm here for some special meds." I reply and drop myself on the couch opposite to him. I turn to Nook, an employee who's busy getting the counter clean and ready for customers, and not so long after she notices me, she comes back with a tall bottle of whiskey and a glass filled with ice cubes.

Wow, don't she deserve a raise for this?

"This fuckin' golden potion, ya mean?"

I raise my brow, wanting to retort something to him, but my brain is too foggy to think of anything good. I hope a sip of this amber drink will help.

"You didn't tell your sissy that you'd come here, did ya?" Sounds like a question, but it is not. He knows that I sneaked out, so he continues, "I bet you'll get guillotined once you get home."

"Come on. Shouldn't I get praise for coming to work even though I'm sick?"

"Fuck you, man!" Instead of praising me, he's dissing. "You didn't come here for work. You just need some drinks. And you're too horny to hold it back, 'cause you haven't fucked any chick last night. That's why you're here, mofo. I know it. I know you too well."

See how he sees me through? I'm so paper-thin to him.

Of course, I can argue nothing as all he said is true, so I just give him a dry smile.