As Ae and Pete walked out to the car, there was a sudden pop of sound. Ae went down silently, dragging Pete with him because they were holding hands. Pete cried out involuntarily, uncertain of what exactly had happened. Cassie streaked out of the truck and grabbed Ae in a fireman's lift while Nigel covered Pete with his body and practically melted the two of them off to his car. There was a sudden volly of gunfire as two parties seem to be exchanging blows.
Finally Flyboy's voice came over the com as having shot the perp but being unable to detain him. Donnie thought, was on his tail and seemed to be confidently following him.
When it finally dawned on Pete what had happened, he was already in the car currently racing after Ae's truck as Cassie drove like a demon.
Pete fumbled for his phone and hit up the detectives because he had them on speed dial at this point.
"Pete?"
"Ae's been shot. I'm fine. Cassie is driving his truck currently and is taking him to the hospital. I'm following in my car and I believe that my father is following in his."
"I see. What else do you know?"
"Ummmm>" Pete let out a shaky breath and tried to focus. "Flyboy shot at the person. They had a shoot out really. Donnie streaked out on his bike. You'll have to talk to Nigel but he's driving right now. Thalia is not with us. We left her combing through the last place our... issue, um, was residing at."
"Pardon?" Ling seemed to be taken aback and for some reason it put Pete on edge and he started shouting.
"Just come to the hospital because I can't think right now! I need you to just come or send someone or something because I really don't know what the hell is going on!" Without thinking he cut him off and called Ma.
"Ae was shot today. We just left Nana's house when someone fired at him."
"Ok. Tell me where to go and what to do."
"We're heading back to that hospital. Can you call everyone on the usual list because I called to police and that didn't go so well."
"Ok. Sweetie. Did you call your mom?"
"I'm going to do that now though I think my father already did that."
"Good. Call her anyway. You need to hear her voice."
"Ok." So Pete called his mom and burst into tears the moment he heard her voice.
"Sweetie. Are you hurt?"
"No. Just Ae mom. He. He just dropped and he was looking at me so I know he was hurt but it all happened so strangely. There was a pop and then he went down and he never made a sound. I don't know what to do. I don't know what that means. I have never seen Ae in this much pain. So much pain that he couldn't make a sound!"
"Don't panic. How far away are you?"
"We're arriving at the hospital right now. Someone is waiting. they are taking Ae away." Again, Pete put down with out thinking and raced our of the car before it stopped.
"Where's Pete?" A strand and handsome doctor was asking for him by name.
"I'm Pete." He said and stared at the man expectantly.
"Follow. Forth called me. Phana Kongthanin. I'm the ER surgeon available right now. Take the documents from that nurse. Is he allergic to anything we're about to administer?"
"No. He only has a mild latex allergy. That's the only one we know of."
"Ok. Great." Pete looked down and saw Ae gritting his teeth but staring at him with determination.
"I called you mom and she's handling until I can. Don't worry Ae. I believe that this will not stop you either. I love you ok!" Pete watched them go through the door then turned to the nurse who was waiting with the necessary forms. The police and his mother arrived at the same time.
Pete knew the importance of answering the forms so he asked the officer to question him as he worked. The man didn't look to pleased and would have yelled at Pete except Dami suddenly showed up and ushered him away.
"As usual, I will be recording his for our records."
"Yes. Of course." With many things to do, Pete suddenly felt calmer. He gave a detailed run through of everything he knew. At some point, Pond arrived and stood by his side. He even helped Pete complete some of the forms as he listened. Thalia also arrived and began speaking with Ling. She looked very frustrated. Pete assumed that it was because she had never had her prey evade her for so long.
"Thank you Pete. I'll be over there talking with Thalia. Ok?"
"Yes. That's fine. Pond, where's ChaAim?"
"She's getting food. Some of us need the fuel. Donne was able to capture the guy. The police and him and bringing the guy back to the station. Donnie says he's not any of the people that we know and he's currently not saying anything."
"I see."
At that moment, Dami came back holding his phone with a photo. "Do you know this person Pete?"
Pete looked down and for a second was dumbfounded. "That guy is Jell. He was the person who introduced me to Trump. We were casual friends and one day Trump came to meet him and also met me. I do believe that it was a set up. Jell was supped to feel me out. I'm not sure what clues I gave them but I apparently did because they set me up so Trump could extort money from me."
"Right. This being the man that actually brought you and Ae together?"
"Ah well a car accident did that but he's the person that ensured Ae and I kept running into each other." At that moment Forth and his entire family, including a dressed down Beam carrying a fairy princess, rushed in. They were leading ChaAim who was pushing a cart and Mae pushing another.
"Sorry but I couldn't help myself and had some things delivered. even I admit that hospital food isn't always the greatest when your hungry." Beam said to everyone. He glanced around and saw Pete just as his daughter did. She wiggled down and rushed up to hug Pete's feet.
"Handsome prince! You were late to my party!" Shay said with a big smile and Pete couldn't help but give her a soft one back. She was very precious.
"Actually we were on our way there but than Ar Ae got hurt so we had to come here instead."
"Is he ok? Papa had a tiny heart attack and he had to come here. Dad was really upset and he cried even though he didn't want us to know." Shay whisper shouted and had many looking away to hide their laughter.
"Well you see where you love someone and they get hurt, you feel really sad. You get really worried about them and you don't want to lose them."
"Do you want to cry? I can hug you. It's ok." Shay said bravely and now had everyone in tears. Pete went down on his knees because he found he didn't have the strength to lift her.
"Thank you very much for your kind offer. I cried a little already but I can really use that hug."
"Ok. I like hugs a lot too." They hugged for a long time before Pete pulled away and smiled.
"I think I feel a lot better. You know what? When Ar Ae can get visitors and hugs, I think you need to give him a hug just like that too."
She nodded sweetly and took Pete's hand as he stood, and kept holding his hand no matter where he went or what he did. It was oddly therapeutic and even Beam just smiled and disappeared. When he did come back some time later, he pulled Pete and Pond aside.
"I'm going to quietly let everyone know. Ae was hit in the shoulder and the bullet did lodge. They removed it and Pha says they are worried about his brachial plexus, the nerve bundle dealing with motion. Luckily it was his non-dominant side. The person was probably aiming for the heart since he hit him on the left side."
"Isn't it smarter to aim for the head thought. Just saying." Pond defended himself when he got a look.
"You are correct. Surviving a bullet to the head is usually by sheer dumb luck. I assume the bullet to the heart was to send a message? I mean I don't know but if I use my imagination, I can think of millions of reasons why, considering your situation, they would aim for the heart."
"They want to break my heart?" Pete questioned softly.
"Or Ae's heart. I mean imagine having to be separated from you again. Only permanently this time. My thing is, if your going to take that shot, you have to be confident that you'll succeed right?"
"Yeah or why risk it?" Beam pondered. Pete went pale.
"Because we moved. Our hands were swinging and then Ae shifted to avoid the dog drop in the driveway. It wasn't there when I came in and I came in after Ae. It was there when we were going out which means they walked Pennie while we were inside. Call Simmie and ask her of she noticed anything wile she walked the dog. She would be the only one besides Nana who is allowed to walk Pennie."
Beam summoned an officer and they relayed the information.
"Why is Simmie the only person who walks Pennie?"
"Because she's the one who gave Pennie to Nana. She found her lost and abandoned on her way to work. She told Nana right away and Nana took one look at the mix and declared her name would be Pennie and Simmie would help her raise it. She's getting old now and Simmie is the only one who can coax her out for walks besides Nana."
"Do you think Simmie would have noticed anything?" Pond asked. Beam was now off telling the next group of people about Ae's current situation.
"No but what's the harm right?"
Pond nodded and stuck by Pete's side.At some point Par Jiew came with a bag and Pete disappeared with Beam only to come back changed and ready for the long haul. Roughly 5 hours after surgery, Phana came out.
He spotted Forth and Beam immediately and nodded to them before turning to Pete and Those at his back.
"First I must say that the surgery was a success in the sense that Ae is fine. We do have some concerns. He was hit in the shoulder and his left clavicle took a lot of damage. We had to do some serous bone repair and I cannot guarantee that we got all the minuscule pieces out though we tried. That took up quite a bit of time. Also the bullet didn't stop there. My biggest fear was that it would affect the_ well in basic terms, the nerves that affect motion in the arm. Ae may find that his range of motion with that arm will be affected. We simply wouldn't know until he's fully healed, how badly things are."
"Would therapy help? Are there any measures we can take if he's willing?"
"Yes. Once we ascertain the severity of the damage, we can make decisions from there. Next, we have to worry about the psychological effects of this."
Mae and Mom were nodding at the same time as Pete assimilated. He had recently been in a car crash and still had the occasional nightmare and even a bit of cold sweat when he was in tight traffic. Ae had been shot.
"I'm going to have to convince him to go to therapy."
There was a sound in the background and they all turned to Oh who was making a face. He had come with his mom but had stayed quietly in a corner, just taking everything in and trying to come to terms with everything that was happening. Strangely, Pete saying he would have to convince Ae to go to therapy was the thing that brought him back to the here and now.
"Do you go to therapy?" He asked Pete calmly. He didn't seem to mean anything by it but Pete wasn't good at reading this older brother. He wasn't like Ae. He was easy going and very calm. Everything ran deep with him.
"I'm thinking about it now. I didn't think I would have to worry about my own brain. I thought, it was an accident and I survived. It happened already. Today_" Pete blinked as he realized he was still in the same day. "Today, I had a small freak out in heavy traffic. Everything was too close. Everyone was just a piece of steel away. I thought, not even a tank will make me feel safe again. I was going to talk to Ae about it tonight."
Oh nodded and said something Pete was already thinking. "Ae's not going to do well in therapy."
Pete closed his eyes and nodded because he had already come to that conclusion.
"Don't worry." Someone said from behind and suddenly Sun was there, walking towards them with Dear and someone Pete hadn't seen in a long time. He had to think about his name and realized he hadn't seen this guy since he and Ae first got together. Hadn't he been in America?
"Manx?" Even Pond was shocked so that meant this was a surprise visit. Ae had 4 close friends but only Pond, Sun and Dear had remained in Thailand. Only this person had left after their first year o college and gone off to the US with his father.
"Yo. What the fuck is happening? Ae and Pete are like dream couple. Who the fuck is messing with them?"
"Come this way. I'll tell you all about it." Pond pulled him aside so Pete could finish speaking with Phana.
"Sorry about that. You were saying?"
"It's ok. It's great that Ae has such a large support base. Together you all can discuss what's best for him. Ultimately though, it will be your decision. Ae has you listed as his next of kin medically and has left instructions that you will make the major decisions for him."
Pete nodded. Then in terms of the physical, we will see what happens as he heals. As for the psychological, I think I have the right people to help me deal with that."
Phana nodded. "Good. He's a strong young man and I would hate to see him lose that vitality." Phana went over to Forth and the two began talking. Pete went over to where Pond was with Dear, Sun and Manx. He could see that the guy had changed a bit. He had been the unofficial leader of this group of boys who were the popular rebels in school. They were the flower boys but of a different colour. Then one day Pond had found himself facing a college gang out to kill him for having sex with one of the boy's girlfriend.
In the end, it wasn't one of his friends but Ae who had been around and saved him from the words beating ever. They had taken one look at Ae's size and assumed he couldn't handle himself. That was their first mistake. still, the outcome of that fight was never determined because security had interrupted and Ae had dragged Pond away. By the next day, Ae was the newest member of the group because Pond insisted that he was to be included and the others decided Pond was right.
Of all of them, Manx was the most extreme. He did everything hard. He wasn't that good at understanding his limits and Ae was always concerned about his drinking and smoking habits. Looking at him now, Pete thought he looked healthy so he must have abandoned those habits and found others because he could see a newly healed wound on his hand when his jacket pulled back.
"So someone either wants to get rid of Pete or Ae, we're thinking Ae, because of today, and we don't know who they are?"
"We have suspects but no proof to tie them in. However, today was a surprise so I'm wondering if we're dealing with one element who's pulling people out of AePete's past, multiple elements, of a player who just went rogue."
That one caught Pete by surprise.
"What do you mean?" He asked Pond, interrupting the conversation.
"You said it was Jell right? If it's him then Trump is somehow involved in this. Do you honestly think he wouldn't steal the chance to take Ae out at the first opportunity?"
"Even after_ Never mind. But Trump isn't patient. He's not good at biding his time and waiting this long. He's reckless and impulsive. The wanting to kill Ae today part makes sense but the waiting this long to do it doesn't."
"So. Wait. Your saying that It would have made more sense if Trump had done this say, two or more years ago? Closer to the time when Ae beat the shit out of him?"
"Yes. Trump was released on a technicality. Ae beat the shit out of him and messed with evidence int he process. It became an even bigger issue because of my status. That's why Dad was able to intervene and use this to control us a bit later."
"Right. I understand that part. So, are we sure that Trump hasn't tried before?"
That made everyone pause."
"Huh?" Dear had reached maximum capacity."
"He means what if Trump had been trying to kill Ae this entire time and this is his first time at hitting Ae successfully," Pete explained softly. "Can you four think of any incident where Ae would have been hurt by proximity or something like that?"
"Incidents around Ae?" Dear was computing. "Like the fire in the bar? Or that time he was close to an accident that happened with the truck driver who was sleeping at the wheel. Or that time he was supposed to go on that flight for that client and missed it then they had to change planes because the tiny thing turned out to have a fault. They wouldn't have noticed if Ae had gotten on the flight on time, because Ae told me that was a narrow escape. Oh and the times he had brake trouble. That was twice I think and the second time, he literally had to crash himself into a pole. Remember?"
As Dear spoke, the room became quieter and quieter. Everyone was now staring because hadn't been whispering.
"Wait. The tank." Forth suddenly remembered. "When we were doing some diving work, Ae said his tank felt funny on him and he didn't like the air when he used it so he had his changed. He even admitted to feeling a little sick after. And that time the both of us were almost run over in Italy. It felt innocent enough because the persons were driving a Maserati. But it happened twice and both times Ae was ahead of me."
"The day of my messed up engagement, Ae booked the limo and when he called that morning to make sure everything was ok, they told him the booking had been cancelled the day before. He actually went in and spent a few hours getting the matter cleared up. He even changed my pickup location because he though Sun had pulled a trick on him and we intended to get you back. If I remember correctly, the booking was under his name in order to fool Aim."
"So this entire time, Ae has been a lucky fucker who just missed death by accident over and over?" Manx said as he looked around at the silent room. "How the fuck is that possible?"
So in my many readings of the novel I remember there was one other guy mentioned who drank a lot. However, for some reason I never wrote down his name which I should know better because I suck with remembering names I don't write down. Now I need to find his name and I can't of course because I also realized that I didn't save that book to my library. Hence Manx is born until I can find the version I read which included the scene where Ae became friends with Pond as mentioned above. Once I find the name (Or if any of you know it and can tell me) I will change it because I want to stay true to certain names in this story. Jell is a purely fictional character to my knowledge and he don't really matter at this point.