Author Notes: *Evil Laughter*
FLASHBACK.
Nanon was so blind. He was so blind that it was stupid. How could he think that Ohm Pawat could ever feel anything for him? How could he think that Ohm would ever reciprocate his feelings? Obviously, he thought they were good friends. Nanon had been so so stupid.
Which is why he had decided to step away from the industry all together. He could not continue the fake/pretend fanservice with Ohm, nor could he break the pair and work with someone else. He did not have it in him to ever feel the same way about anyone else, so he left.
As sudden as his decision had been, the extraction process was painstakingly slow. For Nanon, it was like chewing on nails, for P'Kwang, he saw, it was worse.
Every now and then, either she would have to get them to talk to each other forcefully or actually physically separate them before things came to blows. It broke his heart every time Ohm walked away from him, but he told himself it would get better.
This went on all throughout the blur of fake smiles and contractual obligations, till Nanon was finally set free of his misery. Now, at least he did not have to see Ohm every day. Yes. They frequently ran into each other at the GMMTV building or at events, perks of working in the same office, but mostly decided to keep their distance.
If you ask Chimon about his opinion, he would have called the 'distance' bullshit and he had his reasons.
One day, when Nanon was sitting and moaning about how Ohm had forgotten about him, he had his weak moments after all, Chimon just showed him the clip of the GMMTV Starlympics. And man was Nanon embarrassed. It looked like that both of them were trying so hard to not look at each other, that they almost broke their neck, looking at each other
Nanon knew it was confusing, but that's just how Ohm and him had been. So, he just told himself to get a grip, and stop pining.
But it was like God was testing him and testing him thoroughly. Just when he had managed to convince himself that he did not care about Ohm, Ohm met with an accident on his stupid death trap of a bike.
To be honest, Nanon had never liked that thing and always told Ohm that it was dangerous, but Ohm was absolutely besotted by that thing. Mentally Nanon had termed the bike his true archrival. And apparently, he was right.
Nanon was in the recording studio, when P'Mix had rushed in to give him the news. Ohm had been on his way to the GMMTV building on that stupid death trap, when it skidded across the pavement, dragging Ohm with it and onto the pathway of a bus. Luckily the bus driver had spotted him and pulled the breaks in time. Ohm had suffered a few scratches and a wound across his leg due to the friction from the road. Since, it had been almost outside the GMMTV building, P'Earth, who had also been on his way, had brought Ohm to the company's little medical facility.
All in all, Ohm was okay, but Nanon was not.
Tears sprung to his eyes just as P'Mix finished his part and without giving it much thought, he just made a dash towards the med center. Nanon had ignored everything and everyone on his way, in his desperate attempt to see for himself that Ohm was okay, displaying to the entire GMMTV family how pathetic he actually was.
Now that he looked back in retrospect, he could recall a few pitying looks, but in that moment, all Nanon could see was Ohm.
He reached the center and P'Earth was standing outside, looking disheveled and concerned. Nanon had run past him, throwing the door open, ignoring everyone around him, and focused his gaze on Ohm.
He was okay. He was actually okay. His leg was now covered in a long white bandage, there was a small band aid on his cheek and a shameless grin on his lips, as P'Kwang was ripping him a new one. He had looked up, from his conversation with P'Kwang and so did she, when Nanon had suddenly burst into the room.
On his way, he had decided that he was going to kill Ohm for putting everyone through things like this, but when he had the chance, tears of relief choked his throat, and he was unable to say anything. Most probably, his emotion was so strongly visible that even Ohm was at a loss of words and just sat their staring at Nanon.
It was an eternity of them gazing into each other's eyes, as if in a trance and no one else in the room dared to break it.
That is until, Leng rushed in, looking very concerned.
Nanon took that as his que to leave and then ignored everyone who called his name and went back to the recording studio. Only Chimon and P'Mix knew that he had proceeded to cry for hours after that, reminding himself that it was not his place anymore with Ohm, and they consoled him.
P'Mix told him that if he really cared about Ohm this much, they should genuinely sit down and talk, but Nanon refused. He told P'Mix that there was nothing left to salvage.
But as stubborn as P'Mix was, that was the moment he had decided to bring them back together.
END OF FLASHBACK.
***********************************
PRESENT DAY.
"Non..." The makeup artist, P'Aim, was barely able to control her laughter. She was putting on layers of concealer on the hickeys Ohm had left around his neck.
"Who did this to you Non? Was it Ohm?" came P'Kwang's curious jab. She was looking unnecessarily amused, milking this opportunity to mock Nanon.
"Phi...." Nanon whined, "Let's not talk about it. And why do you think it was Ohm?" P'Kwang gave him an all-knowing smile.
"Nanon, sweetie, you both have been mooning over each other for years now. I thought now that you are living together, you may have had the balls to do something about it," she said and Nanon turned a nice shade of crimson.
She really knew them very well. But what she did not know was that it was just Nanon mooning over Ohm, all throughout the years and until now. Ohm on the other hand, especially given by his reaction last night, did not feel much. Yes, they had kissed but it could be pinned to a momentary lapse of judgement on Ohm's part. He had in fact walked out after that. On both him and Neo.
Well to be fair, only on Nanon, because Ohm did come back. He had come back for Neo.
Nanon was in the middle of crying himself to sleep on the couch, because his own room seemed too empty and, in the nursery, he may end up disturbing Neo's sleep. So, he condemned himself to the living room and prayed to God that he would get at least a few hours of sleep or P'Kwang would pull his ears for the dark circles in the morning.
But sleep evaded him as he kept thinking about the events that had just transpired.
Okay confession. He had lied about Chang Ma. He just wanted to get a reaction out of Ohm after he refused to talk about what had happened that night. It was true that he met Chang at the airport and that they had gone out for a drink, a momentary lapse of judgment on Nanon's part, but he had shot down all his advances. In the end, he even walked out saying that his husband was waiting for him at home.
And boy, Ohm was waiting. But it frustrated Nanon to another level that the man was not even his boyfriend, let alone husband, so he lashed out and lied. In the end, he did get what he wanted but the situation was now even more fucked than before.
Nanon, unconsciously touched his lips once again. That was the best kiss of his life. He had just kissed Ohm.
It wasn't like they had not kissed before, obviously they had, but this time it was not Pat kissing Pran. It was Ohm kissing Nanon and Ohm was so different from what Pat had been like. Pat was gentle, understanding, accommodating and a bit hesitant. Ohm on the other hand was dominating, possessive, knew exactly what he wanted and was not afraid to take it.
Call Nanon crazy, but he preferred Ohm over Pat. But that is all that had been. Just a kiss.
He couldn't believe what had just happened. He could have expected Ohm to walk out on him, this would not be the first time after all, but he never thought that Ohm could do that to Neo.
Even when things were not okay between them, he always knew that Ohm loved Neo to death. In fact, Nanon had always been low key jealous of their bond. Yes, it was true that since Nanon had started focusing on his music career, he comparatively had more time that he could spend with Neo and Neo and him had always shared a special bond.
But no matter how hard he tried, Neo would always prefer Ohm over him. If it was a walk, Neo wanted to go with Ohm, if it was food, he would often reject Nanon's attempts and eat quietly when it was Ohm who was feeding him. It was like Ohm had a magic formula to contain all of Neo's tantrums. To be fair, credit should be given where credit was deserved, and Ohm had been an amazing father till now. His biggest reward should have been Neo acknowledging him as his 'dada', but instead he freaked the fuck out and ran. Nanon did not know what to think.
That's when he heard the door open, and Ohm entered the apartment. Nanon pretended to sleep in order to avoid any other confrontation for the night and remained on the couch in the dark. Ohm thankfully, did not notice and walked straight into the nursery, not closing the door behind him which Nanon thanked God for because otherwise he would not have heard what heard.
"Hi Baby, look Dada is here."
That made Nanon, get up and sneakily peak over the back of the couch and into the open door of the nursery. Ohm's back was to Nanon, so he still could not see him, but it was clear that he had been crying. Ohm gently picked up a sleepy Neo into his arms.
"Sorry Dada freaked out earlier. He loves you so much Neo, he could never walk out on you." Neo opened his eyes and was now giving Ohm a beautiful gummy smile.
"Your actual Daddy gave you to me so you are mine and I am sure he will be happy about this."
Oh, this is what Ohm had been worried about. He was worried that he was replacing P'Earth in Neo's life. Nanon could understand that. He had gone through his own crisis initially, but then understood that someone had to take the responsibility. It was not replacing them, if they themselves had given Neo to him and Ohm. They had wanted this and now it was Nanon's job to ensure that Neo did not grow up without parents.
It had taken him some time, but it looked like Ohm had come to a similar conclusion.
Nanon breathed a sigh of relief. Now he could actually try to sleep peacefully, after all he had been worried about Neo the most. His own heartbreak did not matter as much. He could take it; it was not the first time anyway.
He had a look at the nursery again, only to find that Ohm had now settled on the rocking chair, with Neo in his lap, who was once again asleep.
Nanon would eventually clear up his mess with Ohm and then they could co-parent Neo. There had to be a way to do that.
His thoughts were interrupted by P'Kwang once again, who was still looking amused.
"Well Non, you did not answer my question. Was it Ohm?" Nanon blushed again.
Why was Ohm such a dog?
"No Phi, it was a mosquito." Just as he said it, Nanon realized how lame his response was. Both P'Aim and P'Kwang snorted at that.
"Yeah, and was that mosquito named Ohm Pawat?"
Nanon sighed. This was not going to end.
*******************************************
After the shoot, Nanon picked Neo up from the day care, the highlight of his day honestly and went back home.
Thinking about last night, he had even considered moving out at some point. It was clear that Ohm did not want him there, but he had decided against it ultimately because he had seen how spilt households could mess children up. So, he had to suffer through the humiliation of staying in the house of a man, whom Nanon had begged for love, and he still did not love him back.
He was okay to go through this for one and only reason, his Neo. The moment Neo burst out into a gummy smile on seeing Nanon at the day care, that was the last nail in the coffin and Nanon was ready.
As he entered the apartment, with Neo on his hip, he realized that the door was already open.
How careless could Ohm be? Nanon had left the house before Ohm even woke up, so it was his duty today to drop Neo at the day care and lock the house. They were going to have a long talk about this.
This was another thing, living together meant that he could not just avoid Ohm for the rest of eternity. Nanon sighed and resigned to his fate.
He put Neo down on the living room carpet and deposited himself on the couch. It had been a long day and he was tired. Worst of all, his phone had run out of charge in the middle of the shoot, because he forgot to charge it after last night's chaos, so he had not even been able to check his messages. Avoiding getting up again, he just stretched out and pulled the charging chord towards him, which was thankfully connected to the plug point nearby.
He had three new voice messages, one from Nonnie and two from Mr. Mark, the lawyer and seven missed calls from Ohm. Ohm, he was not going to answer because he was still mad.
Okay Nonnie's he understood. His family was very happy and supportive about his decision regarding Neo and checked up on him at least twice a day. More than that, Nonnie always wanted a picture of her nephew. Sometimes he felt Nonnie loved Neo more than she loved Nanon. Well, Nanon could not blame her.
However, he had not been expecting Mr. Mark to contact him. It was not too long ago thankfully. Nanon had just missed it by fifteen odd minutes. It must have been something important. Something good he hoped and played the message.
"Nanon..." Mr. Mark's voice seemed very serious on the phone, and this immediately concerned Nanon. Moreover, the ever-professional Mr. Mark, never called him by his first name. It was always Mr. Korapat.
"Nanon, DO NOT GO HOME. I REPEAT DO NOT GO BACK TO YOUR APARTMENT. Earth's brother, Korn, contacted me, and he wants all the property to be transferred to his name. Since I refused, I am afraid he is going to go after Neo. He told me he already had the address. I am calling the Police, in the meantime PLEASE DO NOT GO BACK HOME."
All color drained from Nanon's face. So that's why the door had been open.
Before he could grab Neo and run for his life, he heard a chilling voice from behind him.
"Well, now that you know what's up, there is no point in hiding huh?"
Nanon almost broke his neck as he turned around and saw one of the most intimidating men he had ever seen in his lifetime. It was clear that height ran in the genes of P'Earth's family, but this guy was bulky, as opposed to P'Earth's lean yet muscular frame. The features, however, were chillingly similar.
"Ohm Pawat has a beautiful bitch I must say. If I were not here to kill you, I would have had some fun."
Nanon eyes blew wider than he thought they ever could. He slowly rose from the couch, with hands up in a placating gesture and started nearing Neo, so that he could grab the baby and run when he had the chance.
"What do you want from us? We'll give it to you. Just let us go." Offered Nanon.
"Oh no no, don't try to be generous with me. I am here to take what's already mine." Korn replied menacingly. The manic glint, clear in his eyes.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I am P'Earth's real brother, not Ohm." Korn's volume was rising, so was the anger in his eyes.
"Earth always spoke so highly about him that it made me jealous. That was okay, I could have pinned it to some sibling love bullshit, but then he named Ohm Neo's godfather. Can you believe that? My own brother!" he scoffed, the continued, "And now that him and his little bitch are dead, I got nothing, no money, no property, no baby...HE EVEN GAVE THE COMPANY TO OHM! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?"
"Korn...Korn please calm down. I understand that, but what will you get from harming Neo. He is your nephew. Look we can talk this out." Nanon, once again tried to offer some placation, but it was in vain, as now Korn, pulled out a gun from the back of his waist band.
"I am not here to harm Neo. No. I am here to destroy Ohm Pawat and for that if I have to kill you and this baby, then so be it."
With that, he pointed the gun straight at Neo, who did not understand much about what was happening, but could sense the tension in the room. He was looking to Nanon for comfort and whimpering.
Nanon had to do something and do something quick.
Suddenly he had an idea, it was lame, but it was his best bet.
He pointed right behind where Korn was standing and said, "Ohm I did not know you were home," That gave Nanon a chance to take advantage of Korn's distraction, pick baby Neo up and run for his life.
Nanon clearly had not thought this through, because the minute Korn realized it was a distraction, he looked back at Nanon and started shooting. His first instinct was to cover Neo with his back and keep running. Luckily Nanon dodged most of the bullets aimed his way, until the last one grazed his shoulder.
Now there was good news and bad news.
Good news was that the bullet had not hit any vital organs, piercing clean through his shoulder and by the sound of it, it seemed like Korn had run out of bullets. The bad news was that Nanon was losing a lot of blood and quickly. He knew that at this pace, he had only a few minutes before he lost consciousness, so he prayed for more strength.
Another problem had been that Korn was standing, blocking the exit of the apartment, so he had not been able to run out, instead he had run in. So, just as Korn was cursing his gun for running out of bullets, Nanon found the door to the closet and without thinking, locked himself and Neo inside.
This was one of Nanon's worst phobias, but he would do it for Neo.
Since Mr. Mark had mentioned that he had already called the police, Nanon guessed, it should not be long before they showed up and Neo and him will be rescued. He just had to hold on for a bit longer. He could sense that Neo was tense and wanted to cry, but Nanon had a gentle arm, covering his mouth, not even letting his whimpers out.
He had to do this for Neo and for Ohm. He could not even imagine Ohm's reaction if something happened to Neo. Nanon would never forgive himself. So, he decided, that even if he had to die today, Neo would be okay. Nothing and no one could touch his baby till he was alive.
"YOU LITTLE BITCH! COME OUT OR I WILL COME IN AND IT WILL NOT BE PRETTY!" Korn had found their location, well obviously, it was not that difficult in the little apartment, but Nanon kept up the pretense and did not reply. Not even when Korn started banging the door of the closet mercilessly.
"I was going to be kind to you both, but now that you have done what you have done, I will first take you apart and claim you in front of that stupid baby and then kill you both slowly, with my bare HANDS! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"
Tears escaped Nanon's eyes. He was not even in the condition to fight him off. He prayed some more, as Korn kept banging the door.
Suddenly, there was bang, and from his experience Nanon could tell that it was the front door.
"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY FAMILY!"
That was Ohm. Oh, thank God! THAT WAS OHM. He was here. Neo and Nanon would be okay.
He quickly whispered in Neo's ears, "Baby Dada is here, we'll be okay." As much as he wanted to step out and help Ohm, he knew he had to protect Neo first and more than that, he was in no condition to fight. He would only slow Ohm down.
"Ah Ohm. I was waiting for you, now I can finish all three of you off in one go."
Even though Nanon could not see anything from behind the door, he could almost sense the sinister pleasure Korn had at that thought.
For the next ten minutes or so, all Nanon heard was chaos, grunting and skin on skin contact, as punches were being thrown. He hoped Ohm would be okay. At least the gun was out of picture. He shook his head wildly, in a desperate attempt to stay awake himself. The blood loss was taking its toll.
Just as his eyes were about to close, he heard the door bang once again and then, "STAND BACK AND HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM," That was the police.
God bless Mr. Mark.
Two minutes later, once again someone was at the closet door, at least that is what Nanon could make out, now on the verge of collapsing. The knock was gentle though, unlike the last one.
"Non...baby it's me. Please open the door."
Ohm. That was Ohm, even in his haze, Nanon would recognize that voice anywhere.
Carefully, he got up with Neo in his arms, who was openly crying now. He stumbled a bit but did find his balance. His inner voice constantly told him that he could rest once he ensured that Neo was with Ohm. Ohm would keep Neo safe no matter what.
He opened the door to a very concerned looking Ohm. He was in his formal clothes, must have ran back from the event, but his blazer was missing, and sleeves were rolled up to expose his forearms. A look of relief crossed his face as soon as Nanon opened the door.
Nanon just jumped into Ohm's arms, his free hand going around Ohm's neck and the other one still holding Neo. Ohm caught them both, and held them up, like the strong pillar that he always was.
"It's okay Non, it's okay baby I am here." His first words were for Nanon and then he took Neo from Nanon's arms, to take the weight away and held him up on his own hip, kissing the crying baby's forehead.
"Dada is here Neo, it's okay."
Ohm was here. Neo was with Ohm. Neo would be okay with his Dada. Nanon could close his eyes now.
The last thing Nanon felt was falling into a firm chest.
Author Notes:
*More Evil Laughter*