FreeFall |18

Chapter 1:The Ghost Routine

The apartment in Bangkok is massive, quiet, and suffocating.
Dr. Naravit spends his hours drowning in the trauma ward, his hands stained with blood and antiseptic.

He treats patients who mean nothing to him, because saving strangers is infinitely easier than facing the failure waiting for him at home.
High above the clouds, Captain Phuwin Tang spends thirty thousand feet in the air, staring out the cockpit window at empty skies, feeling entirely invisible.

The distance between them isn't just measured in miles or altitude—it's the silent, crushing weight of a marriage falling apart in slow motion.

When Phuwin finally returns from a flight where a severe cabin pressure drop nearly caused a disaster, he is shaking, pale, and desperate for his husband. He needs Pond to anchor him. But before Pond can even wrap his arms around him, the hospital pager screams. An emergency aortic dissection.

Left alone in the dark apartment with the adrenaline still crashing through his veins, Phuwin stares at his phone screen at 3:00 AM, driven by a wave of hollow exhaustion, and posts a photo to his Instagram:

apparently it's useless to have a husband 🍷
Within minutes, the comments under the post turn into a digital circus:
@chen_rcj: Bro?? Are you okay?
@dunknc: PHUWIN DELETE THIS OR AT LEAST ANSWER YOUR PHONE OMFG

@santa_pp: Do you need us to beat him up? 🥹
@fourth.ig: Holy shit, everyone stay calm, Pond is literally in surgery—Satang, call him!!

@satang.ks: I'm calling, he's not picking up, he's in the trauma ward. Phuwin, baby, please pick up.
Simultaneously, the private chaos crew group chat explodes into full-scale panic:

Santa:
Okay, the comments are starting to blow up. Half our mutuals are already screenshotting this. Someone take my phone.
Dunk:

I tried calling him three times straight to his cell. Straight to voicemail. He's completely ghosted all of us.
Satang:
Should one of us literally drive over to their building right now? What if he does something reckless? Or drinks the whole bottle?
Fourth:

We can't just show up at 3:30 AM, Satang, we'll look like a cult. Plus, Pond is still locked in that emergency surgery at the hospital—he has zero idea his husband is broadcasting a marital breakdown to the whole internet.
Joong:

Wait. Let me handle Pond. I'm sending him the screenshot directly right now. When he finally checks his phone between surgeries, he's going to have a heart attack.

Santa:
Do it. Wreck his life, Joong. He deserves it for leaving Phuwin alone after that terrifying flight emergency.

Dunk:
God, I hate seeing them like this. They used to be so solid... What happened to us getting old together in peace? 😭

Hours later, as the morning sun begins to hit the Bangkok skyline, Pond finally steps out of a grueling, multi-hour surgery, wiping his tired eyes and grabbing his phone. He sees Joong's DM with the screenshot attached, and the blood drains from his face.

Oh, shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
I've fucked up again.
Pond panics, ripping off his scrubs, changing into street clothes in record time, and speeding back to the apartment, desperate to fix this and hold his husband.

But when he bursts through the front door, chest heaving and ready to apologize, the apartment is dead silent. The bed is empty, cold, and neatly made. Phuwin's flight uniform and bags are gone.
A single notification lights up Pond's phone screen:

Phuwin:
Take care of yourself at the hospital today, Dr. Naravit. Don't worry about me.
Setting: Suvarnabhumi Airport / In Flight
Time: 6:30 AM