Not Me : 🎨 Yok's Tapestry 🔻this Is Not a Yok/Dan story🔻

Twenty Six 🎨

I hadn't seen Gumpa since Danai's memorial. We'd lost touch after the members of ROL had each gone their seperate ways . I remember him reaching out once or twice, but he and Danai had never gotten along. After Danai's passing I wasn't really in the emotional space to seek out old friends. I felt somewhat guilty. Gumpa had been a mentor and a friend.

"Gumpa !, it's been years. How are you?" "I've been better... Considering.." With my foot in my mouth I remember Gumpa had been found with Mae, tied up back to back. "I'm sorry.. how did you get mixed up in all this?... Do you know this guy, how had you gotten tied up with Mae?" "Slow down Yok. One question at a time. My head is killing me..."

Both White, Sean and myself apologized to Gumpa. Only Sammy asked another question," so what put him on your trail Khun?" I could tell Sammy was suspicious. I couldn't blame her, she hadn't known Gumpa. She knew of his relationship with us through her research into Danai, but not how close we had been back then. "Sammy, we can talk later, let him get some rest. " "Sure sure..." "How about I take Mae upstairs to get a change of clothing at least. Mae ? Shall we?"

I knew Sammy was trying to get more information regarding this situation. Her only reason for offering to help Mae was to ask more questions once she and Mae was out of earshot. Before I could object Mae had already agreed and got up to head upstairs. Something about Mae's demeanor caught my attention though. She was extremely tense. That's to be understood considering what she had been through, I thought. I got up too and hugged her, hoping to reassure her. I found her trembling, something was very wrong.

I was about to ask her what, when she laid her hand on my arm, asking for some water. "I had forgotten your Mae doesn't speak Yok, is she coping at all?" Mae's hand tightened on my arm, squeezing it in fact. I got the feeling that Mae was afraid of Gumpa. That's silly I reprimanded myself and yet.... the feeling persisted.

"Yok could I perhaps use your bathroom?" "Of course Gumpa, of course. It's over there, " I pointed in the direction of the downstairs bathroom. As Gumpa moved towards the bathroom I realised he was limping... I was about to ask if he had been injured when something clicked from an old memory...

The night Finn told me about Todd being his brother. The night I almost lost Finn. The night I thought I saw Danai..... When Finn called to me, upset and crying .... And I was turning away from him ... To look at the silhouette coming towards me, coming .... But then turning ..... and running away.... The limp ..... Danai never had a limp ...... That silhouette did ... That limp ... The gait... The gait I recognised....The man that took Mae in front of our house .... The man on the video footage.... Danai long ago dead and buried.... The gait... The gait I recognised.... Tawi's abandoned compound... The underground lair where we found discarded clothing, Danai's clothing..... That wasn't Dan's size, could never fit him, the size... The gait .... The gait that I recognised....

The memories came fast, one after the other.... Danai dead.... Had already been dead for years.... It was never Danai... That limp.... Gumpa ....

Everything clicked into place... Gumpa.... It had been Gumpa all along... Why.... Before I could consider the why of it, I had to consider that the man that held my mother hostage was right here in my house, in my bathroom.....

I hurriedly told Sammy to take Mae upstairs and to lock themselves in my bedroom. "Do not come out under any circumstances unless you recognise my voice and I ask you to come down." Sammy was about to say something more when I told her to be quiet and just listen. "Go upstairs!"

Both White and Sean turned to me, surprised that I was addressing Sammy so harshly. I signalled for them to listen.... I didn't know how to explain any of this to them except to say, " it isn't over. Be on your guard!"

Just then the bathroom door opened. Gumpa was coming back. I looked around for anything I could use to defend myself with, a weapon, something resembling a weapon, anything... I found nothing...

"Yok, I believe I'll have that cup of tea now you offered earlier " "Sure Gumpa, coming right up." I headed to the kitchen hoping to find at least a knife that I could use to defend myself. ... I kept looking around and just before I entered the kitchen....

"Yok..... You've figured it out haven't you?" I turned around to face him. "You've always been the most inconvenient one. Sit when I say stand. Stop when I say go... Date when I say don't. How does it feel knowing your boyfriend brought our whole operation down? Shot you just like that..... And you took him back..."

Sean and White finally realise what's going on. They move towards Gumpa, hands balled into fists. "Stop.... You see this...." He lifts up a small cellphone. "I press this button and we all go kablewy..." mimicking an explosion. We froze

"What do you want Gumpa?" I want Tawi's money!" "You took it, from Tawi's house. You and your minions !" "That was just the appetizer. Where's the rest. Danai had it, I'm sure he told you. The bastard went and died while I was interogating him. Who knew he had a weak heart. Couldn't stand a little torture."

The implications of what he said sunk in slowly. "You killed Danai? Why?" "Because the bloody fool was always interfering. Ever since he figured out I was the one working with Tawi he never gave me a moment's peace. Kept telling me to turn myself in. But I got him good, I said don't move...." He shouted at Sean trying to move in from the side.

Gumpa was so busy listening to his own rhetoric he'd forgotten about Sammy. I had forgotten to tell her to call the police. I could only hope that's what she was doing.

"Gumpa I don't know where that money is. Danai never told me. I didn't even know he was undercover in Tawi's operation. I can't help you. What do you want from me?" "I thought kidnapping your mother would losen your lips...where is she by the way?"

He noticed her absence. I needed to make a move now. I looked at Sean and White and by unspoken agreement we all moved towards Gumpa ...

Hoping we were fast enough to grab that cellphone from him and to knock him out.... Hoping his threatened explosion was just a hoax.... Hoping....