Rafah had made her cry.
Since the day she was born, Petra had never thought she could be this fragile. She had dated before. She had had fights before. But never once had she ended up sitting there crying just because the person she loved snapped at her or cursed at her that harshly.
Petra did not like this version of Rafah at all.
She liked Rafah when she was calm, composed, and speaking to her in that soft voice, ending her sentences with those sweet little Thai particles, "ka" and "kha." Not this cold, hard version from earlier.
.
"It was just a normal group chat with friends."
"Don't pay too much attention to what Pim said."
"There's nothing, Petra!"
"Just running into Pim already pissed me off enough."
"Can you please stop digging into that woman and Black Eden? I'm fucking begging you."
.
Just listen to every sentence Rafah had said to her.
Anyone could tell that anger was being used to hide something. The group chat. The way Rafah kept saying Petra was overthinking it.
Petra did not believe a single word Rafah said.
Her instincts were screaming at her that there had to be something on Black Eden that Rafah was trying to hide.
As soon as they reached the penthouse and Rafah went off to take a shower, Petra quickly called her best friend.
"Tharin, can you meet me at the usual place tomorrow? There's something I need to talk to you about."
"Okay. Sure."
Once her best friend agreed, Petra hung up with her heart in chaos. Right now, she did not even know where to start. Should she search for the truth Rafah was hiding? Or should she clear things up with Rafah about the way she had spoken to her?
Petra could only stare out at the night view of the Chao Phraya River through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows of the penthouse.
Her relationship with Rafah was just like the river below. On the surface, everything looked calm and beautiful. But deep down... Petra was no longer sure whether she was with someone who made her feel safe, or whether she was leading herself into a violent current ready to drag her under with it.
Why did dating Rafah have to turn her into someone who overthought everything this much?
Petra stood there for a long time.
Until almost half an hour had passed. Rafah, fresh from the shower, walked over to her. She wrapped her arms around Petra from behind, and the soft scent from her body drifted into Petra's nose.
"What are you doing?"
The whisper beside her ear was so different from the voice Rafah had used in the car, it was almost as if she were a different person.
Petra was still angry with Rafah. She did not answer, but she did not resist the embrace either. She only stood there stiffly, letting Rafah hold her around the waist.
"About what happened in the car, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take my mood out on you." Rafah's voice had softened noticeably. "In the car... you were crying too, weren't you?"
Petra froze. She had not thought Rafah had seen.
"You saw?"
"I did."
"If you saw, why didn't you say anything then?"
Petra's voice began to shake. She tried to pry Rafah's hands away.
"Why ask me now?"
But Rafah only tightened her embrace.
"If I'd asked you then, we would've fought again. I wasn't calm either. Talking in that kind of mood never works."
She tried to coax the woman in her arms.
"And now I'm here making it up to you, see?"
Petra frowned hard. She should have ignored this way of making up, but the moment Rafah used this tactic, Petra's heart softened helplessly.
"If you were going to make it up to me, you should've done it then. Not let me cry first and then come coax me afterward."
Rafah lowered her head and kissed Petra's shoulder, then moved along to the curve of her neck, deliberately breathing warm air against her graceful throat.
"I've never been good at making things up to people before..." she said, while her arms tightened as if she were afraid her lover would run away. "I don't really know how."
That made Petra want to roll her eyes at Rafah so badly.
Last time, Rafah had chased after her and coaxed her nonstop. But now, in a moment like this, she had the nerve to say she did not know how to make it up to someone.
"So you know how now?"
"I don't know." Rafah gave a low laugh. "Are you still mad?"
Petra could feel her mood improving, clearly and annoyingly, but she still tried to hold her ground.
"I don't know. I don't like it when you get angry and talk to me like that. And you raised your voice at me too. It felt like you couldn't control your emotions, so you took it out on me. We're girlfriends, you know. I like it better when you're sweet to me, Khun Rafah."
"But in bed, I say much worse things than that. I don't hear you complaining then. You look like you fucking love it."
"Khun Rafah!" Petra scolded. "Don't joke around. I'm serious."
Rafah sighed.
"Okay, fine. I give up. I promise, from now on, no matter how angry I am, I won't raise my voice at you or say awful things to you again. I'm really sorry... Are we good?"
Those sharp eyes that had once looked so fierce now shone with such pleading that Petra could no longer stay cold.
Still, she kept her composure. She gently pulled herself out of Rafah's arms.
"It's late. I'm going to take a shower."
Rafah quickly offered, "Then should I help you wash up?"
"No."
Petra answered clearly.
"You weren't very nice today, Khun Rafah. I'm going to shower, and then I'm going to sleep."
With that, Petra walked away into the bathroom, leaving Rafah standing there looking deflated and pitiful all by herself.
...
That same night.
At a luxury private house in Ari, one of Bangkok's upscale neighborhoods, another of Naphatsorn's private kingdoms, aside from her penthouse in Ploenchit.
The house was grand enough to suit the only daughter of a former Minister of Interior, a man with more power and money than anyone could easily imagine.
And perhaps... too much of it.
So much that society could not help questioning how a politician's salary alone could ever create wealth on that scale, and why one politician could possess that many assets in the first place.
By the private pool, Naphatsorn was wearing a tight red swimsuit. Her slim body moved slowly through the water. She spent a long while alone before swimming to the corner of the pool. She gripped the cold stainless-steel ladder and slowly pulled herself out of the water.
Her long, beautiful legs stepped up the ladder one step at a time. Glittering drops of water ran down her soaked body. The red swimsuit and her very pale skin caught the light around the pool. She looked as beautiful as a queen.
When she stepped onto the edge of the pool, it turned out that Naphatsorn was not alone.
On a lounge chair by the pool, another beautiful woman sat cross-legged, sipping a cocktail with relaxed ease. Her posture was so casual it was almost as if she owned the house herself.
That woman was Pimphisa.
"After a bomb like that, there's no way Rafah and Petra won't fight."
Pimphisa spoke to Naphatsorn with a smile.
"Even if they manage to clear it up, Rafah will never talk about what she used to do on Black Eden. But if I were Petra, I'd definitely keep thinking about what I heard... Maybe even overthink it a little too much."
Pimphisa emphasized the last sentence with a smile.
She expected Naphatsorn to react in some way, but the woman only stood there listening in silence, showing no emotion at all.
"What? I helped you this much, and you're not even going to thank me?"
Naphatsorn looked deep into Pimphisa's eyes, as if trying to read something there.
"No."
She answered.
"Because I'm more curious about why you're helping me."
At that question, Pimphisa immediately gave a cold smile. She rose and walked closer.
"I just want the old Rafah back." She answered with a smile.
"Playing like that, how could it be fun without someone like Rafah? Or don't you think so?"
Pimphisa's tone was teasing.
But Naphatsorn only looked at her in silence, her face still giving nothing away. Pimphisa lifted a brow at her as if trying to provoke her, then took the liberty of touching her slim finger to Naphatsorn's soft lips.
"But honestly, I've missed you too. I still remember when we played together on Black Eden. I think I like women like you more than Rafah, actually. If Rafah hadn't brought you in, I never would've known she had something that good with her."
Pimphisa leaned closer and whispered.
"Don't you miss me at all? Because I still remember the way you moaned. I've used the memory of you from that day... and made myself come so many times."
Naphatsorn immediately slapped her hand away.
"Sex with you on Black Eden was just a game we played for fun. If Rafah hadn't been there, I never would've done anything like that."
Pimphisa smiled at the corner of her mouth.
"Are you sure you did it because of Rafah?" She moved closer. "Or was it because you already liked that kind of thing, so you agreed to it? I think it was your own deep desire. We were all willing, every single one of us. Don't put all the blame on Rafah, Phat."
Naphatsorn glanced at her for only a moment.
Her gaze was empty.
"What happened on Black Eden, whatever I felt about it, has nothing to do with you." She moved closer until her lips were almost pressed to Pimphisa's ear. "Even if I like beautiful women doing things like that to my body, you're still not beautiful enough for me, Pim. So don't even dream about having me."
Naphatsorn gave Pimphisa a teasing smile before leaving her with one last merciless line.
"Sorry. I just don't like Chinese-looking women. Even if you're a pretty, international-looking one. It's not my type."
Pimphisa's expression tightened at once.
This was the first time she had ever been rejected because of her beauty.
In this world... if Mom Luang Pimphisa Watthayathorn was not beautiful, then who could possibly be?
The woman let out a soft laugh, acting as if she did not care about those words, before leaning closer to Naphatsorn's face.
"No matter what you do or how you do it, Rafah is never coming back to fuck you. This isn't a game you can win, Phat."
But Naphatsorn only gave her a cold smile, her empty eyes chilling enough to raise goosebumps.
"Who said I wanted Rafah back?"
She stared into Pimphisa's eyes with bloodless cruelty.
"I just want them to break up."
...
The next morning, Petra woke up to an empty space on the bed.
Rafah had told her since last night that she had a board meeting at a hotel under THE ÉCLAT GROUP, the business on her mother's side currently managed by her uncle.
As for the drama that had exploded between them last night, it was eventually brought to an end in the way Rafah probably knew best.
Making it up with sex.
Petra did not actually like solving problems this way.
But when it was Rafah, she could not deny just how much that beautiful, magnetic face influenced everything that happened in bed. Just a light touch, or one or two coaxing kisses from Rafah, and Petra would always end up softening and giving in to her.
Well... she had already fallen for someone like Rafah.
She was weak for beautiful women. What was she supposed to do?
Petra got out of bed and spent quite a while using foundation to cover the hickeys on her neck before picking up her phone to call her mother, as she usually did. She was not sure whether her mother noticed that this was not Petra's bedroom. Petra thought her mother knew, but had chosen not to ask.
Maybe... her mother was waiting for Petra to tell her herself.
In truth, Petra wanted to tell her mother about Rafah.
But she was not ready yet.
She still wanted to be more certain about Rafah. Or at the very least, she needed to clear up the matter of Black Eden first.
After finishing the call with her mother, Petra walked out of the bedroom and headed for the penthouse reception room. She intended to take the private elevator down to the lower part of the building, but the moment her eyes met the scene in front of her, she stopped.
Anya, Rafah's personal assistant, was standing there waiting.
And it was not only Anya. There were also two or three men and women in black standing in a neat line, their manner so formal it seemed everything had been arranged in advance. Nearby stood a prominent silver clothing rack, hung with quite a number of luxurious outfits. In another corner of the room, shoes and accessories had been arranged with careful precision.
Petra walked over to Anya and whispered in confusion.
"What's all this?"
Anya smiled.
"Khun Rafah asked consultants from several brands to bring outfits for you to choose from." She told Petra. "But Khun Rafah wasn't sure which brands you liked, so she had them select from all of them. For the next seven days, each brand's team will bring clothes for you to choose from every morning at exactly nine. Whatever style, color, brand, or number of outfits you want, you can choose whatever you like."
Anya leaned in and whispered softly.
"Khun Rafah asked me to tell you that she wants to make it up to you."
Petra quickly stepped closer and whispered back, sounding apologetic.
"Khun Anya, but I don't want any…"
Before she could finish, Anya added, "Oh... Khun Rafah also left another message."
Anya paused for a moment.
"Khun Rafah wants you to choose something sexy, but expensive. She said tonight she wants to spend some time admiring it before taking it off you."
And that left Petra standing there with her face burning red, because she had not expected Rafah to leave that kind of message.
...
At a luxurious penthouse in Phrom Phong, one of Bangkok's upscale districts.
Inside the living room, around the large sofa set, several women lay scattered everywhere. Some were sprawled across the sofa completely naked. Others lay on the floor without wearing anything at all.
Women's underwear was scattered all over the area.
On the side wall, a large work of art stood out. It was an erotic abstract painting, depicting the naked bodies of several women overlapping through lines and masses of color without any clear form. Though the details were reduced, the poses and the mood of the painting clearly conveyed them making love.
Suddenly...
Splash!
Ice-cold water from a large glass was thrown directly into the face of the owner of the room, who was lying in the middle of it all.
"What the fuck!"
Pimphisa jolted awake. Freezing water ran down her face and neck. She cursed loudly in English, furious. She wiped the water from her face before looking up in irritation.
And in that second, she froze.
Rafah was standing in front of her with an empty glass in her hand.
"Rafah!" Pimphisa snapped. "What the hell are you doing? Throwing water in my face? Get out right now before I call security to drag you out by the neck!"
Rafah looked at her with a blank expression before raising a keycard.
"I just came to return something you once gave me."
With that, Rafah threw the keycard at Pimphisa.
The keycard fell to the floor.
Pimphisa looked down at it in anger. It was the keycard to her luxury penthouse, the one she had once given Rafah back when their friends-with-benefits arrangement was still sweet and burning hot.
Pimphisa rose from the sofa completely naked. She strode across the pile of clothing and women's underwear scattered across the floor before grabbing a robe and throwing it on carelessly.
"You've returned it, so fuck off. Before I run out of patience and throw water back in your face."
But Rafah only swept her sharp gaze over the messy room and the filthy traces of last night's sex party before turning back to her and saying only one short sentence.
.
.
"Send all these women home. I still have something else to talk to you about... privately."
Hojicha Writer
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