Prapai's pov

These last few days with Sky sick made me think a lot. I had Venice's words in my head, but I also had a lot of questions. I wanted Sky; I didn't just want his body; I wanted everything, trauma included. It honestly took a lot of self-control to not ask Venice to look into his past and find out who hurt him this badly.

When I saw him having that nightmare, turning around in bed, pushing the sheets away from him, and then just being defensive about everything, I understood that I should wait for him to tell me. If I want this to work, we need to be on the same page, and that wouldn't happen if I knew everything there is to know about him.

Right now, I'm partially cooking and partially looking at him. He is focused on the TV, enjoying the show. He looks relaxed and invested in the show. It is peaceful to watch him; it is so perfect just to be there. His hair is a mess, and his face has regained some color; he even smiles from time to time. It's refreshing to see him like this. It makes me smile.

I'm cooking ramen, and he seems like the type of person who likes ramen. I'm just assuming that because of the collection of Japanese things in his room, I could be wrong, but I hope not.

It takes some time, but it appears that the anime he is watching is really interesting, as he doesn't seem to notice anything else. After almost an hour, everything is ready, and I go to him with two bowls of ramen.

"Well, maybe it was a bit stereotypical of me, but with the amount of manga you had, I just thought you would be a ramen fan." I say, trying to charm him a little.

"You know how to make ramen?"

"I didn't until three hours ago, but I think I did pretty good."

"You learned how to make ramen?" He asks, and I think I saw his eyes sparkling a little

"I did. It's not the best, but I hope you like it."

"Thank you. You could have just done some fried rice or something simpler."

"I could, but I wanted to make you the happiest I could, and fried rice wouldn't do that." I say, and I watch as he puts the bowl on the table and looks at me with a serious expression.

"P'Pai, sit. I think we need to have a little talk. I don't know what you saw in me or why you are persistently trying to make me like you, but I think I should be crystal clear with you. I don't have a nice past. I have a lot to unpack, and... What I'm trying to say is that I'm a difficult person to open up to. You make me want to relax my walls and let you in, but at the same time, and even after everything you did for me, I don't know if I can trust you." He says looking at the food, but that thing that got stuck in my head is that despite his hard past, he wants to open up to me, but he doesn't trust me yet, so I need to change that

"Trust is one of the most fragile things in the world. It can easily be broken or bought." I say, looking at him. "Do you want to trust me, Nong Sky?"

"I do, but I can't." I need to find something to change this answer, and I need to do it fast. This is my chance, and I'm going to grab it.

Trust isn't easy to give, but it's easy to lose. What scares people the most? Having their secrets outed? The judgment of others? Being left without anything If someone broke my trust, they would be dead in seconds, but that is not what would happen in Sky's case. He would have to deal with stares, rumors, and a bunch of unpleasing things. To change that, he needs to have all the control. I know what to do!

"Give me a chance to prove that I'm worth trusting." I get up, go to the desk, grab a piece of paper, and start writing, "I, Prapai, declare that if I ever break Sky's trust, he is entitled to a fine of a million baht and the right to order a restraining order against me, as well as anything he shall see fit at the occasion, that can include not permitting me to see him ever again." I write as I say, being careful to leave my last name out of it, not because it would change anything in the contract, but because I don't want him to know who I really am until he trusts me for real. "Here. I'll send it to my lawyer and have him make all the arrangements to make it valid, and then send you a copy." I say this after signing the paper

"You're serious?"

"Of course. I'm giving you something to prove that you can trust me. Something legal that protects you in case anything happens. Not that will happen; as you'll see, I'm very trustworthy. You just have to sign it." I say serious and focused

"I'm serious." I say, I need him to know that I'm not just here for the night or that I'll make him sign this and then leave. No, this is bigger; this is me being all in. If before this I had doubts, then they have all vanished now. I know what I want; I've known for some time now that it won't be easy. Where would the fun in that be!? "This is just proof of how serious I am about this. If you want to add something, feel free to."

He looks at the paper but signs it, and then I take a picture and send it to Venice. I'm not just going to send this to my lawyer without explanation; he would call my parents, so the safest way to avoid being bombarded with phone calls is to send it to my dear cousin.

"Let's eat, shall we? Before it gets cold." I smile as I say this, and then I start eating

I don't push it too much because I know that now Sky needs time to process and accept everything that just happened. His head is probably going at one thousand an hour, and I should let him be, but after I had to remind him of eating and how silent he is, I couldn't keep myself quiet.

"Did I make you uncomfortable?" I ask because this much silence makes me feel a bit insecure about my actions. "You've barely said anything since I had the idea of a contact. If you don't like it, I can think of something else, I..."

"I was surprised." he says

"You're thinking." I say, and I watch him take a step forward.

"Probably not, as I'm about to do something real stupid." he says and puts his hands in my chest. Gosh, I missed his touch so much. "We made a deal, so we should seal it with a kiss; it brings good luck." he says, and I need to confess I wasn't expecting this. My last-minute plan was to sign the contract and then wish him a good night. Tomorrow I would make him breakfast, convince him to go on another date, and maybe I was considering kissing him. Not that I'm mad with this outcome; I'm actually very happy, so when I hear his next words, I do as I'm told, "Kiss me, P'Pai." and I put my lips on his

Truth be told, I wanted to savage him. I wanted to kiss him forever, but I knew this wasn't the moment for that. I took it slow, savoring every little corner of his mouth and appreciating the way he moved his tongue away from mine. It was simple, but it had its own dose of erotica, if you know what I mean.

"I missed your lips." he says

"Don't push it. This doesn't change the majority of things."

"So, it changes some things; that's what you're saying." I say it with a smirk

"I'm saying it does change some things..."

"Like what?" I ask as I get closer to him, putting a little pressure on his hips

"I'll maybe start replying to some of your messages now, and maybe I'll start picking up the bouquets from P'Joy." That is more than good

"You'll let me take you on more dates?" I ask, pulling him a little closer to me

"Probably, but I don't have that much free time now." he says, and I smile

"Thank you for giving me a chance."

"You worked for it." he says, and he even gives me a little kiss. I think my heart is going to melt. "P'Pai, can I ask you something?" He asks, looking a little shy

"Anything."

"Can you hug me?" This is definitely not the question I was expecting

"Of course, Sky. I'll give you as many hugs as you want." I say this and wrap my arms around him

I make sure it's a tight hug, one of those hugs you give to someone you haven't seen in a long time or someone you love and want to give comfort to... He puts his head against my chest, and I feel him relax a bit; his shoulders are lower, and his breathing is steady and almost soundless. He really needed a hug, and I'm happy to give him one. I'll be happy to give him hundreds of hugs, whatever he needs.

"You okay?" I ask as I start to pet his hair

"Just a couple more minutes, please."

"Take your time."

"I'm okay. It's late; we should go to bed. I think it's too soon for us to share a bed. I want to do things properly, and even if we have already slept together..."

"It's okay. I'll sleep on the big chair. It is rather comfy, if you ask me. We'll take one step at a time. You're in charge of the rhythm. It's entirely up to you." I say with a smile, merelly stating the truth

We brush our teeth and then go to sleep. We're obviously not in the same bed, but I'm happy just to be in the same room as Sky. My brain begins to travel around what happened today. A lot happened, I realize. Sky is opening up, and that's good. It was great to kiss him again and to hold him; my body is still shivering in the places he touched. My chest is particularly warm tonight. I'm feeling good, but I know this is just the first step. Both Sky and I have a lot to unpack for each other.

My head drifts to my parents and everything they have done for me since the beginning. Ever since that day, I have been Prapai Theerapanyakul, and I'll be that until the day I die. I don't remember much of who I was before that, but I know that Pa and Dada saved me from a lot of things.

I take a deep breath and raise my head a little to look at Sky. He is sleeping soundly, and that makes me smile. I lay back again and can't help but take my fingers to my lips as a smile escapes them. I'm happy. The world around me is a little on fire, and the underworld is definitely going crazy with everything, but tonight, I think I can let go of all of that. Tonight, I can be Prapai, just Prapai. I can smile stupidly in the corner of a room that is not mine while I lay in a big chair and just hear my boy sleep. Tonight, I'll let myself do all that. Actually, I'll let myself do that whenever I'm around Sky.

I wake up with the sun hitting my face, and when I look at the bed, Sky is not there, so I'm up automatically. As I walk past the door, I see Sky sitting at his desk with a bunch of papers and a bowl half full of rice and some eggs. I lie against the door and look at him.

"Hey, love." I say, and he doesn't even flitch; he is so focused that he didn't hear me. "Sky." I say it a bit louder, just to get his attention, but nothing. He is completely focused on whatever architecture thing he is doing, but he is also sick and should be resting. I smile at him; even if he isn't seeing me or hasn't noticed my presence yet, it's clear that he loves what he is doing, and that's good.

For a long time, I wondered if I would be one of those people who would grow up to hate their job. I was raised as a mafia heir, and I didn't have that much of a choice or as much freedom as Venice; he could do other things. Running everything was my job. Fortunately, I grew up for this; I loved the planning, the cunning, and the playing around. Of course, some days were better than others. Hell, some weeks were better than others, but I was practically born for this, and if I didn't do this, I honestly don't know what I would do.

"P'Pai?" I hear Sky call me with a little smile. "Have you been there for long?"

"Not as long as you." I say and also smile. "Are you sure you should be studying? You are still sick."

"It stresses me to just lay around all day. I have so many things to do, so many projects, and a bunch of things to study..." he says

"I was always a bit on the arrogant side when it came to studying. I just believed I would always be the best. I also spent a lot of time locked in my room studying, but nerves or stress weren't really that big of a problem for me." I say this knowing that I'm damn lucky that that type of thing doesn't affect me. "If you want to study, you should at least eat your breakfast properly and take your medications so you get better faster."

"You're not going to get mad at me for studying?" I look at him a bit confused, but at the same time, I try to make sure that my face doesn't look like I'm judging him for the question.

"I don't have the right to be mad at you." I say calmly, "I would obviously prefer if you were resting, but if you want to study, it's not going to be me that will stop you. As long as you eat properly and try to sleep properly."

"I'll try." he says. "I know I seem a bit destructive, but I care about my health."

"Then, I say we eat breakfast without books in front of you, and then you can continue studying, and I'll do a bit of work until lunch. How does that sound?"

"It sounds really good." Sky says getting up slowly.

I prep my breakfast and he reheats his; we eat peacefully; we don't talk much; there isn't much to talk about; I think we are both trying to figure out how to act with each other after last night. My plan is to wait for Sky to initialize anything. I don't want to overstep or push over in any way.

The rest of the morning is spent in silence as Sky studies and I do some work, message my parents a bit, and make sure both Venice and Rain know that Sky is feeling much better.

When Sky starts to look around, around midday, I know it's lunch time.

"Are you hungry, love?" I say, and then I curse myself. I don't want to put any kind of pressure on him, and calling him pet names doesn't help that.

"I could eat. But if you still have work to do, I can also wait. I just want to rest for a couple minutes." He says this as he comes and joins me on the couch.

"What do you want to eat? I can make anything, or we can order something. Whatever you want really." I say this as I finish some emails.

"I don't know; I don't want something heavy, just something to give me energy."

"How does omelette sound?" I ask, and he gets closer to me, little by little, until our shoulders are touching. "Do you have something else in mind?"

I look at him; he is looking at me, and I can see that he is getting closer. He is looking into my eyes and then at my lips. He gently closed my computer before kissing me. I wasn't expecting it, but I welcomed it and pulled him to me after putting the computer on the floor.

We kiss—a hungry and messy kiss. He is devouring my mouth, and I'm letting him be in charge of everything as he puts his hands in my hair and pulls it while his tongue ravishes me. I don't think I have ever been kissed like this.

When Sky stops, I catch my breath, and so does he. I'm a bit at a loss for words, but I'm not complaining; very much the contrary.

"What was that for?" I ask, getting closer to him with a smirk.

"I was in the mood for something like that." He says, dangerously, with his hands going to my neck

"Are you in the mood for more?" I ask, and he gets a bit closer

"Right now, I'm in the mood for an omelet." He says that and gets off me

I look at him; my brain is still processing everything, but the thing that most stuck with me were his eyes. How fierce they were, how they have the power to just lock me and make me look only at them.

I make lunch with Sky's help; we are both hungry, so we eat in silence, and then we each continue their respective work. Sky is feeling better, and that is good, but that also means I don't have any reason to stay here anymore. That and the fact that tomorrow is Monday and I need to go to the office and do some proper work.

A lot of things are still fresh. The underworld is still a bit on fire, and I honestly need to take care of that. Our investigation didn't yield any results, so whoever killed that stupid man was a professional. There has been some talk that his family has some enemies, but that is just a lazy thought. We didn't stay at the top all these years by listening to gossip and taking chances.

I take a deep breath, and I look at Sky. Every time my head is in mafia and I look at him, I can hear a little voice in my head asking if this is really the type of life I want to bring him into.

I think about Pa Porsche; even if he wasn't himself in the mafia, he always had ties to it because of that uncle of his who gambled. Uncle Pete chose that path himself. Rain has been trained since he was little, just like me and Venice. Now, Sky, he just has a normal life, with a lot of trauma, but normal.

"Sky." I call, and he looks at me and says, "Are you feeling alright?"

"I am. I feel much better." I look at him, and I can't help being sad. "You need to go, don't you?" He asks, "I know you have an important job, and tomorrow is Monday, so you need to leave."

"Not for a couple of hours. I'll still eat dinner with you and spend the rest of the evening with you. I just need to be at the office tomorrow." Sky smiles

We continue to work until it's dinner time, and then we eat dinner. I stay for as long as I can, but eventually it is time to leave. My phone is already buzzing with messages asking where I am or why I am late.

I give Sky a hug, and he gives me a little peck that makes me smile like a teenager in love as I go to my car.

I drive as fast as I can to the house, where the family is waiting for me.

When I arrive, I go straight to the meeting room, where they are already. I walk in and sit next to Pa Porsche in front of Venice. Pa Kinn is at the head of the table; at his right is Pa Porsche, and then me; at his left is Uncle Vegas, followed by Venice, then Uncle Pete, and then Rain, who looks a little stressed to be afar from Venice. Uncle Thankhun is in the middle of Uncle Kim and Uncle Chay, and in front of them are Arm and Pol.

"Well, now that we are all here, let's start." Pa Kinn says, "How's the Underworld Vegas?"

"They are feeling some change, and it's like everyone is waiting for something, but besides that, there isn't anything new. Some tried their luck with us, but they all ended up dead." Uncle Vegas says

"Kim, how are things generally?"

"If you mean the investigation, there isn't much to be done. The videos have been analyzed; there isn't anything there. I went to the place and left not even a footprint. Whoever did this knows what they are doing." Uncle Kim says, not very pleased with himself.

"So we just came to this meeting to talk about all the things that we don't know?" Pa Porsche says, looking around

"No, we came to talk about what to do next." I say, "What's the big plan?" I ask, looking between Pa Kinn and Uncle Vegas

"We don't have one." Pa Kinn admits, "We are trying to find out what's happening, and at the same time, we are keeping everyone on high alert."

"I need a drink." Pa Porsche, and I couldn't agree more.

"That is no different than normal."

"What do you want us to do, then?"

"I want a race in two weeks instead of just next month. We need to know if they are coming back or if it was a one-time thing."

"That's too risky." Pa Kinn says

"That's just another word to describe life."

"Prapai, we are not sending the two of you somewhere when there is a killer on the run." Pa Porsche says

"Why not? We don't even know if he is after us."

"Prapai." Pa Porsche says with a not-so-happy voice

"Pa, we are always going to have people that want us dead, assassins, and all sorts of people. This isn't a good enough reason to stop doing something that we all know is the right move." I put my hands on the table. "We need to do something. We need to move first. There is no time to analyze or try to rethink. We need to move to show people that we are still commanding. We can't stop." Everyone looked at me, but after Pa Porsche tone, no one said anything.

No one said anything for minutes; it seemed like everyone was playing their little mental chess game, and I was just waiting for one of them to talk. I looked at Venice; he nodded at me, and I knew he was with me. He didn't talk much in these meetings; he never did, but one look at his face was always more than enough to tell me what he was thinking, and in this case, he agreed with me.

"Be ready for a race next Saturday." Pa Kinn said

"Kinn!" Pa Porsche says, not very happy

"They are adults Porsche; they are older than we were when we started to run this. If he thinks that's the best move, then I'm going to trust him." he says, and I smile a little. "But beware; I'm trusting you, and if this all goes to shit, you can be certain there will be consequences."

"Yes, father." I say now with a serious expression

"Anyone has anything they want to add?"

"I'll be there." Uncle Kim says, and everyone turns to him. "I have to make sure I'm not out of practice." he says with a dry smile

"Can I get back to my series now?" Uncle Tankhun asks, and Pa Kinn just nods

Slowly, people start to leave the room, but it's probable that everyone will stay at the mansion today, either talking or just because it's late and there's a bunch of rooms here.

Pa Porsche looks at me with an expression that says, "We'll talk later," and I know he is just worried, but I need to step up. I already have big enough shoes to fill, and they need to see that I'm ready.

In the end, it's just me and Venice in the big room. We are always the last ones to leave. Everyone knows that, and we both know it. I don't get up, but I look at him as he goes to grab the bottle of borbun and two glasses.

"You're feeling the pressure?" he asks

"Always. There hasn't been a day since I turned 18. I haven't felt that pressure."

"You think this is really the right move?"

"It's bold. Bold isn't always good, but in this case, I think it's our best option. I know they are afraid of what could happen to us, but this is our life, and we can't live with fear."

"That is indeed true. You don't think there will be another attempt, do you?"

"No. I think that whatever happened was an isolated affair. If there was something else, they would have struck again. I just... something is off in all of this. If we put all the cards on the table—the attack when I was abroad, the attack at the last race, how things just shiffted—there is something missing." I say and get up to grab the chess board and put it on the table in front of us

I look at it. I look at handmade pieces and how well they were sculped, but there's just something that draws me to the Queen. I grab it and look at it.

Pa Kinn and Korn used to play on this same board every time something was bothering them. Pa Kinn used to tell me how Korn used to make him play without the Queen because he hadn't found his yet. He only started playing with all the pieces after Pa Porsche became his bodyguard.

"You're thinking about Sky?" Venice asks

"No. Not this time; my mind was completely elsewhere."

"Don't you think it's strange that Uncle Kim is going to be there?"

"No one knows what really is going on inside his mind. Uncle Kim has always had his own agenda and his own way of doing things. But after being away for so long, I do wonder: What does he know that we don't? Because if there is someone who knows things, that person is Uncle Kim." I say, "He's on our side, and that's what matters to me, so I won't worry too much about it. I also doubt we'll even know he's there. Uncle Kim hasn't made a public appearance in years."

"That is indeed true. Rain will be there, fully equipped. If something happens, he'll act."

"You're finally putting your baby assassin to work?" I ask, trying to make the mood lighter

"Well, I'm hoping that with his help, Pa Pete will finally start to trust him a little."

"He'll have too. Rain is family now."

"Pa says he will only consider him family once we marry, and that won't happen for at least a couple of years. But that's enough talk about me. How were your last two days?"

"I think Sky and I have a thing going. We didn't discuss it properly, but we have something; there is no lable to it yet, but I think he'll come around and admit he fancies me. Little steps."

"You're happy about it. I can tell just by the way you talk about him." Venice says, and I smile

"I would prefer if we had talked and decided on what we are or are aiming to be, but I suppose that given everything that was happening, this is pretty good." I say and look at Venice, who is focused on the board again.

"We are being obligated to play white. I hate playing white," he says as he moves the pawn in front of the king.

"Let's hope we are indeed playing white and not playing black without knowing." I say that and put the Queen on the board.

Let the games begin. 

Author's note: Hello, beautiful people! This chapter took a little longer than I was expecting. Last week, I was volunteering and teaching programming to children. It was amazing, but also very tiring. Now, about the chapter. I haven't written in Prapai's pov in so long, and I have to admit that it's more difficult to quote his pov than Sky's. There is a lot in this chapter—a lot of little hints, of little things hidden—that we'll come to dysplay in the future, but until then, I let you wonder and make your own theories.

I do hope you enjoy this, and if there is anything that feels off, please let me know. I'm always open to criticism.

Feel free to comment and tell me what you think. Stay hydrated and until next time :⁠-⁠)