Altered: Win and Team

Remember the Red Thread

Team

Hia felt a little off when I joined them out in the backyard although Maae looked like she had warmed up to him already. At least that was progress coming from my mother who carries a Gemini personality.

They were talking about business ventures when I sat with them. Then it transitioned to school, the meet and gradually about our family. The first whisky bottle was almost empty but there was a second one waiting that Na Ploy brought out with some chicken skewers.

"Ryu's Ah Mah migrated here because of the concubinage system in their region.", Maae told Hia how my grandmother came to Thailand.

She wasn't really fond of her late mother in law but I knew she dearly admired my late grandmother for her personality. Ah Mah got along with Nana Dee due to their common interest in fighting for their rights and I'm starting find the same interest as them.

I sometimes thought about joining the cause whenever I see rallies in the streets of Bangkok but knew that I might be faced with scrutiny. Nobody would welcome a stranger to those types of parties even if I show them that I was still in diapers when I attended my first protest. Times may have changed but it proves to be harsher even with developments.

"To escape an arranged marriage she crossed the seas on a rua to Taiwan and to cover the distance with less trail, she took the same vessel to the outskirts of Cambodia and Vietnam.", I watched Maae pour herself another drink.

"Wasn't that made illegal during the 1950's?", Hia asked about arranged marriage.

"Chai.. but concubinage continued until the early 70's", Maae answered him.

Ah Mah was part of an ethnic minority in China where they weren't subjected to the One Child Policy. Though they were exempted to represent equality and autonomy, it was used to their disadvantage through arranged marriage and concubinage with prominent families who seek male heirs.

"I'll let you finish the second bottle. I need to get my beauty rest now.", Maae excused herself after finishing her whisky with not much help and went to the house.

I was surprised she could still hold her liquor at her age since a bottle of lao kao can disarm four grown men. I guess the rice whisky was watered down because of the endless ice cubes in our glasses.

"It must have been tough for Ah Mah to be in a foreign country.", Hia expressed his sympathy.

I thought that he could definitely relate to that since he'll be leaving for England next year.

"It wasn't really. She met Phu and he made adjusting to a new place easier for her.", I assured him but I wasn't.

Somehow, their story is different from ours. Ah Mah and Phu met because she wanted to escape oppression. Hia and I are going to be apart so he can pursue higher education. Would someone else make it easier for him to be in a foreign country?

"I'm glad they met because if they didn't, then we wouldn't be here now.", Hia smiled at me and took my hand to hold in his warmth.

He was much warmer in the cold mountain air. A comfort that I most welcomed from the pending separation.

"We won't be here soon. You'll be in England..", I didn't want to finish what I was about to say because it would end with the word alone.

I felt him hold my hand tighter in both of his hands as he asked me, "Do you remember the Legend of the Red Thread?".

I nodded. But what I remembered was the tragedy that every couple from various culture faced who had their fate intertwined with the ominous thread.