Chapter 10

[10. Cheque Leaf]

Dae opened his eyes to see himself in Phet's arms. Phet was at the verge of tears. The whole crowd was still standing there but Aroon and the four guys were not there.

"Dae...are you okay ?" Phet asked shaking Dae's head.

"Y..yes..I am alright. Phet..are you okay ?" Dae asked examining his friend and touching on the dark red spot below his eyes. His face was whole red from the punches he received.

"I am...okay, Dae..get up, let's go" Phet said helping Dae up. Then they walked out from the circle of students, Phet pushing past people to make way. Most of the students were looking sadly at them while some were murmuring things.

Once they reached the restroom they both washed themselves out of the sauce and the blood. Phet's eyes had turned dark. His lower lip was bleeding. Dae was not that hurt. But still tears were finding their way down his cheeks, not because of the pain from the punches he received but because of the guilt that he is the reason for what had happened to Phet.

"Phet...what actually happened after I passed out. Did they again hurt you?" Dae asked as he helped phet to wipe the blood off from his lips.

"No..they didn't hit me after that. That guy stopped punching you when you fell unconscious on the floor. He then turned to me and told me that I will be in great trouble if I try to help you. Then they just walked away. Dae..tell me.. what's all this? Who is he? Why is he doing this to you..? what is this..? Just explain" Phet nearly shouted in anger and confusion.”

“ Phet, why did you fight them ? You shouldn’t have punched them. Ahh..Phet you put yourself in trouble. Do you know they are third year seniors from Engineering faculty ?”

“ What !” Phet exclaimed in shock.

“ Yeah. You will have to see them again. They are gonna be your direct seniors. You messed with them.”

“I don’t care. What if they will be my seniors. What can they possibly do to me ? If they touch me, then will face the consequence. And Dae, what else should I have done ? How dare he pour sauce on my head. I can’t bear such acts. They have no right to do that. And they were simply trying to pick up a fight with you for no reason. And who the hell is he ? I need to know. You earlier said he is your Brother.”

"Phet..I am sorry. It's all my fault. I ruined your first day. I am so sorry. Phet. Leave me, you will get more hurt if you continue to be my friend. I don't want you to get hurt because of me. So Just..stay away from me" With that Dae started crying, fat droplets of tears leaving his eyes one after another. Phet couldn't help but hug the boy infront of him. The sight was heart breaking.

"Dae..shh..it's okay...don't cry..look, I am okay." Phet whispered in the boy's ears and he somehow calmed down. " Dae..I am not going to leave you, no matter what. I am gonna fight for you." Phet said and again hugged the boy.

"No Phet...don't.."

"Shh..now tell me everything. Who is he?"

"Phet..ahmm..I- I can't...yeah okay, I'll tell you but promise me you won't tell anyone." Dae said. He wanted to tell everything to atleast one person. And he felt like he can trust Phet even though he met him only an hour ago.

"Ok..I promise you. You can trust me. Tell me now. "

"He is my step brother and he hates me more than anything." Dae started.

" Oh..! " Phet's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. " Dae, this is a big story I guess. We can't finish it here in the toilet. Come let's go to library or something." He said and grabbed Dae's hands. Then they walked out the toilet and towards the library. 

Somehow they found the library. College Library was a single building of three floors. They went to the second floor, which was almost empty and quickly settled down on a desk.

" Okay..tell everything clean and clear." Dae nodded a bit reluctantly. Anyway he decided to tell his story.

" My Dad died when I was 3 and a half. My Mom then married Aroon's Dad. Aroon liked me so much. But After he turned 11, he started hating me all of a sudden."

Dae then started explaining the things clearly, how Aroon threatens him and how he is making him live in fear and how his Dad still know nothing about that. Phet listened everything carefully.

"Dae..but..why can't you just tell this to his Dad. He loves you and he can definitely do something about this, right ?" Phet asked after patiently listening to all Aroon had done to him.

"Aroon will only hate me more if I do that. Do you know Phet.., once we were like best friends. He loved me so much. But everything changed suddenly. I don't really know why he started hating me. But I still love him. I don't want dad to hate him. I want my old Aroon back. I hope everything will change one day."

"But..Dae..I don't think he will see you as his brother. I think it's better if his Dad knows everything. And Dae...why he started hating you all of a sudden. You really don't know?"

"It started one day. I was 9 then. My mom was also alive then. It was morning and we were getting ready to go to school. suddenly we heard dad shouting. A cheque leaf which he signed the previous night and put in the locker was found lost. I don't know how much was the amount written on it. but it was a big amount. The locker was actually not broken or anything and the keys were also in place. We don't know who took it. First we thought some servant's stole it. Dad cheque everyone. But couldn't find." Dae paused and looked at Phet.

" Then what happened? Aroon stole the cheque or something ?" Phet asked.

" I don't really know. Me and Aroon then went to school. We were in primary school then. At noon, mom and Dad came to school. Teacher's told that, they found a cheque leaf in Aroon's bag with a huge amount written on it."

" So he did !" Phet exclaimed.

" But I wonder why he would steal a cheque leaf." Dae said.

" Okay...then ?"

" Dad scolded him in front of the teachers and he felt really humiliated. He said that I was the one who took the cheque and put it in his bag. But Phet..I really didn't do anything."

" okay, I understood. He just said to save himself. Then what happened?"

" Anyway Dad didn't believe him and beat him in front of the teachers. He didn't talk to anyone for days. After that incident, he started hating me. He didn't talk to me for a long time. But he didn't hurt me or anything. He would just show his hate towards me in front of everyone. But two years after that incident mom died of a heart attack all of a sudden." Dae paused and stared at his toes. They sat silent for a minute before Dae looked up and spoke.

" After that Aroon started hurting me whenever Dad leaves us alone at home. He would ask servants to leave and make me do all the works. He won't let me study. But he would only beat me rarely until last year. Last year something happened, which made him hate me more. After that he starter slapping me often."

" What ?"

" Aroon had a girlfriend, Beam, Dad's business partner's daughter. She was his first crush, first love and everything. She has come home many a times and knew me well. Aroon didn't like her coming near me or talking to me. One day, when she came, there was no one at home. Only me and him. He asked me to get them juice. So I went to the kitchen and got juice from the fridge. But when I came back to living room, Aroon was not there. I put the juice tray on the coffee table and was about to leave. But Beam asked me to bring it to her. I took a glass and stretched it to her. She then grabbed me by my collar and pulled me to her and kissed me. Right then Aroon came down the steps."

" Oh shit ! So that girl liked you ? What happened then ?"

" Don't know whether she liked me. I have never seen her after that. They broke up. Also Aroon made Dad cancel the partnership with Beam's Dad. That day Aroon was extremely furious. He yelled at me and slapped me, bet me a lot. After that hitting me and beating me became one of his hobby."

" Dae, he doesn’t t-touch you, right ?" Phet asked grabbing Dae's hands and looking at him in worry.

" What ! No, never. He is not a person like that. " Dae immediately shook his head.

" Uhmm.." Phet nodded relieved. He understood Dae really likes Aroon no matter what.

" But Phet. I actually didn't do anything bad to him. I don't know why he is behaving like this to me." Tears started once again leaving the edge of Dae's eyes. Phet lightly squeezed his hands in an attempt to console him. Dae blinked away the tears and looked at Phet.

"Dae..I know you didn't do anything. But why actually did Aroon stole a cheque of that much huge amount ? If he had some need for money, he could have simply asked his Dad, right? Or he could have simply stole some money, but why a cheque ?"

"Phet...I also don't know why he took it. Maybe he did it for fun. He liked doing pranks. Maybe he did it to prank all. He won't have thought things will go this wrong."

" oh..uhmm.." Phet nodded.

" Anyway Phet, keep all these things secret. Nobody should know I am Aroon's step brother. If his friend's happen to know I am his step brother, he will kill me. So please don't tell this to anyone, okay ?"

"No..I won't Dae.." Phet assured giving a close lipped smile. Dae smiled back in return.

They skipped two periods like that, talking in the library. Dae felt a very big mental connection with Phet. He has never met someone like Phet before, a person who is ready to do anything for him. Phet also found Dae special. It's not even a day since they knew each other's name. But both of them felt a strong bond already forming between their hearts.