Phrajan Tem Duang: Samtang Ako May Kinabuhi Pa (พระจันทร์เต็มดวง)

Chapter 12

Mattu went from being angry to being incredulous as Pawana's startling disclosure lingered in the air. The realization that his son, Thana, was the biological father of Nita's child caught him completely off guard. The only sound in the room for a brief period was the distant roar of thunder.

Mattu spoke with a low voice, almost in a whisper. "Pawana, are you sure about this?" Pawana nodded, tears beginning to form in her eyes. 

"Yes, Mattu. I only found out recently. Nita confessed it to me." Mattu raised his eyebrows and asked, "Does your daughter know about this from her words? I'm sure she hasn't told you."

Pawana paused, realizing that Nita had not told her. Mattu ran his hand through his hair, trying to process the information. Almost to himself, he said, "This changes everything."

Something clicked and Pawana's face lit up. "You didn't know, did you?"

Mattu gently shook his head. "No, I had no idea. Thana never told me anything about this."

Pawana felt her heart soften somewhat at Mattu's sincere astonishment. She could feel the pain in his eyes despite their stiffness. "I'm sorry, Mattu. I didn't mean to lash out at you like that. It's just...this situation is overwhelming."

Mattu let out a deep sigh, his shoulders drooping with the realization. "I understand, Pawana. We're both caught off guard by this."

The rain continued to fall outside as the two of them stood in the doorway. Their shared concern for their children brought them together despite their differences.

With a hint of urgency in her voice, Pawana stated, "We need to find them."

Mattu gave a nod of approval. "Yes, we do. Let's go look for them together."

With that, Pawana and Mattu ventured out into the soggy night to find Thana and Nita and face the truth of their predicament head-on.

The sun, a harsh observer of fleeting moments, daubed the harsh light of reality onto their skin. With their young love entangled in the thorns of consequences, Thana and Nita huddled together in the remains of an abandoned hut, holding one other tightly in an ephemeral embrace. Holding Nita, half-bare, a symbol of their stolen desire, Thana's touch was like a feather against the tempest that was building within her.

Cloaked in the innocence of her school uniform, his hug provided Nita with a flickering spark of comfort against the gathering darkness. Thana's fingers wandered, a delicate yet frantic caress as he stirred in his sleep, heavy with the weight of their entangled existence.

He paused, the quiet dense with hidden anxieties, "I know," he mumbled, his voice scratchy with the grit of unspoken facts. "Things haven't gone the way we planned." "But you, me, and this little miracle growing inside of you—we're in this together," he said, his voice getting louder.

His speech portrayed a picture of an unknown but intensely cherished future with a mixture of anxiety and tremendous determination. "I wouldn't trade this, not for anything in the world," he said, his voice falling to a hoarse rasp. "My mistake was not in loving you wrongly, but in loving you too much. Maybe it will be scary, maybe even unexpected," he admitted.

His promise-filled, devoted stare was fixed on her. His voice was rough with emotion and ended on a note of desperate hope, "I love you, Nita. And I can't wait to meet you, little one." "You'll be a wonderful mother," he whispered, his voice thick with emotion, "and I..." he faltered, the weight of his responsibility settling on his young shoulders, "I'll do everything I can to be there, for you, for our children, for our future family. Every step of the way. I love you always...even I'm still alive."

With the warmth of his words, Nita's heart began to thaw and she opened her eyes. Even if his voice might have been muffled, she could still feel his love because it was there. The weight of their circumstances weighed heavily on her at three months pregnant, yet in his embrace, she sensed a glimmer of hope and a promise murmuring against the storm.

The shaky calm was broken abruptly by Thana's urgent voice. He emphasized, "We have to get out before they discover us."