What If

chapter 1

There are 2 types of people in the world, those who love living in the city and those who don't. I am a city boy, I love the fact that there is always something happening. Its true when they say the city never sleeps and that's what I love.
Don't get me wrong I love visiting the beach, the mountains, the forest and the countryside but I love the noise of the traffic, the bright flashing signs, the busy markets and the constant movement of people even more.

My name's Tum, I was born in Bangkok and had no desire to ever leave, there was always something to do, some new place to visit or explore, but you could also disappear, you could walk around and no one would even notice you because everyone was busy with their own lives.

When I was 8 years old my parents divorced and we moved to live with my grandparents in a small village outside of Chiang Mai.
To begin with I liked it, freedom to explore and experience new things but life was too quiet and I missed Bangkok. I used to go back to the city during the school breaks to visit my father but he was usually working so I was left to my own devices. Which as I'm sure you can guess means getting into trouble. I blame my grandfather because he always used to tell me that life was to short to spend it wondering 'what if'.
Unfortunately I always decided to test out 'what if'. For example what if I jumped out of the tree? What if I ate 3 chillies I one go? What if I threw that rock?

I did well at school and got good grades but I drove the teachers crazy with all my questions, I always needed to know the why.  In the end I was given a note book and told to write down any questions and on a Friday hand the book to the teacher and she would write all the answers for me over the weekend and give it back on Monday morning.

My mother found it harder to cope with me as I got older, hormones are not your friend! I found myself getting angry all the time and got into fights constantly, the solution was to send me to live with my father back in the city. So when I was 14 I moved back to Bangkok. I was actually happy to go, I loved my mother but I knew she would be happier without my dramas all the time, without the phone calls from the school about another fight, without me hitting walls and slamming doors when I got frustrated.

Obviously moving didn't stop the fights and the frustrations but my father always just dismissed it as part of growing into a man.
He also insisted that I take up sports, that actually helped because it gave me something to focus my energy on, I would swim on Monday, play football on Tuesday, basketball on Wednesday, badminton on Thursday and rugby on Friday.

So that was basically my life, I was usually exhausted by the weekend so spent most of it sleeping and catching up with my homework. I would have probably continued my life the same way if I didn't wonder what if one day.

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"I'm not leaving until you get dressed and come with me Tum." Said Jane.

"You don't need me to come with you, you can go by yourself, I'm too tired." I said as I pulled the blanket over my head. I knew she wouldn't give up that easily. Jane is my cousin and lives with me and my dad, she's like a little sister to me which means she is annoying but I'll always give in and give her what she wants.

"Na, na, na, na, come on Tum, just this once. The author is going to be there and I really want to meet her" I knew I had already lost this battle because she started pouting, I always give in when she pouts, I need to toughen up!

"Fine! I'll come to the damn bookshop with you". I threw off the blanket and climbed out of bed "go and wait for me downstairs, I'll be 10 minutes."

I walked into the bathroom and looked at my reflection, the bruises had almost gone but I still looked a mess. (In case you're wondering no I didn't get these from fighting, this is what can happen when you don't see 4 rugby players running towards you!)
I took a quick shower and put on a t-shirt and Jeans before heading downstairs.