Love Upon a Time | ENG TRANS |

Introduction

The year 2021* had been the time when science and technology were so developed that voyages were planned to take humans into space. However, there was still one thing that had never disappeared over time, something that opposed science. This was the belief in all things invisible, including superstition and astrology.

(*Buddhist year 2564.)

And now I was faced with an expert on the subject.

“Oh, your zodiac sign coincides perfectly with your date of birth. Your fate is marked by an unlucky star.” announced the slightly hoarse voice of an elderly woman dressed all in white. After writing down his date of birth and scribbling down a few digits and numbers on a sheet of paper, her bleary eyes carefully scanned my face. Meanwhile, I tried my best not to accidentally sigh as disrespect, but inside I thought every second: Why do I have to sit here?

“At first glance, you must have been through a lot. In your destiny there is also an accident.”

“Yes, auntie, a lot of bad things have happened lately. Last month, his phone disappeared. A week ago, he was almost hit by a motorcycle. So, what’s wrong, aunt?” he hastily asked the person next to me: a golden-haired young man in a scruffy school uniform. I looked furtively at my best friend and noticed that his eyes seemed more serious and attentive than mine, which was the subject of that question.

“It won’t be intense pain, but looking at astrology, it seems that something very serious will happen soon. It’s like karma from the past. However, it is inevitable. For now, continue going to the temple to make merit, pray, meditate and spread kindness. It will help ease the burden.”

“All right.” I replied in a low voice. After that, I sat down and listened to my best friend ask my fortune teller aunt about various things about the future. Personally, what a psychic told me went in one ear and out the other.

My name is Nakhun Phatthanathada and I had just turned twenty, about a month ago. I was a third year student at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, specializing in English at a well-known university in the heart of the city. Before, my life had always been normal, I only had good friends, regular learning and my grades were satisfactory. But after my twentieth birthday, my luck seemed to have waned for no apparent reason.

It all started with losing my phone. My literature midterm exam results had just been released, and it looked like I’d gotten the multiple choice boxes wrong. My analysis report that I had sent to the professor had been completely torn to pieces and there was nothing good about it. I stumbled constantly and often hurt myself. And, as my friend had said, I had almost been hit by a motorcycle while crossing campus the week before.

I didn’t believe at all in that horoscope or karma story from my past that the lady fortune teller had predicted. It was all due to my negligence. I had almost been hit by a motorcycle because I hadn’t looked carefully. I had lost my phone because I accidentally left it in a public restroom while washing my hands. The low grade was due to the headache I had had that day, which left me unable to concentrate on the exam.

But Thithat, or Thi, my best friend who believed in superstitions, didn’t think so. He believed I was unlucky and so he had tried to drag me along to make merit and predict the future. Of course I didn’t want to go, but I had finally been tricked into a meeting with a fortune teller under a tamarind tree at the temple.

“Let’s go back, I’ll take you to the dormitory.” After the mission of having the fortune teller fool me was complete, Thi had turned to invite me home with a big smile that made his eyes narrow.

“You’ve been saying you’d take me to the dorm since you arrived. Is my dormitory here in the temple?” I looked at the person next to me with slight resentment. My dormitory was on the same street as Thi’s house. If on any given day we had finished class at the same time, we would have taken his car and gone back together. But today, or at least initially, I had intended to study in the university library and then return in the evening. However, Thi had insisted on accompanying me.

I wasn’t worried at first, until we passed my building. At that point I started to suspect something, but Thi said that he was hungry and that we would go to the mall to find something to eat. Then suddenly he had taken me to the temple. I knew right away that he had another one of those strange ideas in mind. As soon as we arrived, he immediately dragged me to the fortune teller’s table, paying the fare for both of us as if he were a wealthy person, even though I had no intention of doing so.

“Oh, I was worried because I saw the period in which the horoscope fell, so I brought you to check your future. And I was already planning on coming to see mine. Do not be angry with me.”

My best friend smiled and pressed his shoulder lightly against mine, trying to ease my resentment.

Thi knew very well that I didn’t really believe in horoscopes and superstition. I believed in my own actions. It was my life. I chose what to do or not do. I had come across many things during that time, probably due to my own mistakes, not fate. But Thi hoped to help me and had decided to take me to solve the problem his way. When I thought that my friend was so worried about me, I couldn’t be angry.

Besides, I hadn’t paid for it, so I’d let him.

“But just listen and don’t think about it too much. I think this person is not trustworthy.” Thi said as we walked back to the car in the hot sun.

“Why? Why did she say that Pan still doesn’t trust you?” I looked at him carefully. Pan was a younger student that Thi had been trying to win over for over a year, but Pan still didn’t seem willing to open his heart and accept him as his boyfriend. Maybe it was because of my friend’s appearance, which seemed a bit like a playboy, and this probably made Pan suspicious.

“Shh, you already know.” The taller boy shook his head slightly, unlocked the car, climbed into the driver’s seat, then the silver Audi pulled out of the temple and onto the main road.

“Wait a minute, I’ll take you to see the specialist my mother always sees. She is always right.”

“That’s enough, I’m not going anywhere.” I replied in a serious voice. As much as he insisted, I didn’t agree with him.

As I had said, I believed more in my actions, in things that could be tangible and proven more than in conjectures, and I thought that going to a fortune teller would not solve the root problem. I just had to be more careful with my life, take care of my health and study more.

And one more thing: fortune tellers were expensive. My family was middle class. I wasn’t rich, I didn’t have a business worth hundreds of millions of baht like Thi’s family. I definitely wouldn’t spend my money on that kind of thing. Better to save to pay for the dormitory.

“See you tomorrow.” I waved goodbye to my friend, unbuckling my seatbelt as the car stopped in front of the dorm.

“You really don’t want to check your horoscope? This person is really precise.” Thi tried to convince me again.

“No, and if you say one more word, I will curse you and make Pan hate your face.” I raised my finger and pointed at his face. Sensitive to superstitions and curses, his reaction was to stare at me so intently that his eyes almost turned green.

“Son of a bitch, hurry up and get out of my car before I kick you.”

Without saying anything else, he had indeed raised his foot. I quickly opened the door and got out of the car. Entering the dorm, I glanced at the silver Audi receding into the distance, chuckling softly at having managed to tease my friend.

Thi and I had considered each other best friends since college. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was the first friend I had made or his super friendly nature that he immediately made me feel at ease with. Although our personalities were quite different: I was a short-tempered type, unlike Thi who was a mediator. But anyway we had lasted until the third year and I hoped to remain friends with him.

I stopped to buy food and snacks at the convenience store under the dorm before returning to my room. I hummed a song in my throat as I waited for the elevator to go up to my apartment floor. The dorm I lived in was off campus. The price was quite high, but it was close to the university, the rooms were spacious and there were also many students living in that dormitory.

Since I was an only child and my family was quite wealthy, I was willing to spend for comforts, but I didn’t just wait to receive money from my family. I had also found work as a model for an online clothing store. It was enough for daily expenses and eased my parents’ burden to some extent.

I had dinner, showered, put on a t-shirt and shorts, and sat down to do my homework. The life of a third year student could be described as difficult compared to that of previous years. After classes, I had to sit and write reports, there were tests and exams. On Saturdays and weekends there was a line of dresses to photograph. I was so busy doing homework, reading books and working that I hardly had time to visit my parents in another province.

Buzz.

The phone vibrated on the table, attracting my attention, which had previously been focused on translating the article on the screen. A wide smile suddenly appeared on my lips when I saw the name on the screen.

Mom!

“How are you doing, ma’am? You call suddenly, do you miss your son?” As soon as I answered the call, I immediately started the conversation.

“Exact! Are you addicted to young women or what? You don’t care about your parents at all.” A plaintive voice came from the other end of the line. My mother was a senior district official in Chachoengsao Province. She was a philanthropist who liked to go to temples and make merit. She was a very touchy middle-aged woman. If I didn’t call home for a week, she would get offended like it had just happened.

“I am not dependent on girls or boys. You are dependent on the prosecution. I’m sorry, ma’am.” I said hastily and heard a sigh on the other end of the line.

“You’re studying a lot, right? Are you tired these days? Forgot to eat rice? Don’t forget it or you’ll get a stomach ache.”

“I don’t forget, mother. I eat three meals a day.”

“And do you go to sleep late? Get some rest, darling. You’re in a windy, dry place, it’s bad.”

“In this period I am not going to sleep late. Mom, don’t worry.” I reassured the worried lady. Even though I was in my twenties, no matter how many years had passed, in my parents’ eyes I was still a kid running around in the yard. Their concern hadn’t changed, and that made me feel comfortable not having to deal with the anxiety of growing up and becoming an adult like I had when I was a child.

“Well, anyway, get some rest. Be careful, darling. When Nong Thi told me that you were almost run over, I was very shocked, you know?”

That phrase from my mother made me think of my best friend’s bad mouth.

The other day my mother called me while I was eating in the university canteen. Thi was sitting next to me, then he opened his mouth and said I almost got run over, leaving my mother shocked. So I had been scolded for not being careful, even though it really wasn’t a big deal, I hadn’t really been hit.

Thi liked to make small things bigger.

“Ah, are you free this Saturday and Sunday? Monday is also a public holiday. Will you come home?”

Luckily, my mother had changed the subject, which made me feel a little relieved that I hadn’t been scolded again.

“Yes, I’m free. I want to go back and eat mom’s cooking.”

“Well, this week is also Luang Ta’s birthday, so we can go and make merit at the temple. When are you coming back?”

“I’ll probably be back tomorrow afternoon. I finish classes at 2pm. After studying, I will take the bus home.”

“Alright then. I’ll prepare dinner for you. What do you want to eat?”

“I want to eat curry shrimp and pan-fried sweet and sour fish. Oh, can you make me some fried egg too?”

“Okay, I’ll do it for you. Have a nice trip home, see you tomorrow son.”

“Okay, ma’am, good night.”

The other end of the line disconnected the call, so I put the phone back on the table as before. Thinking of returning to my family, the corners of my mouth raised a slight smile. As convenient as the capital was, the terrible traffic jams and all the chaos I passed through made me appreciate the atmosphere of my orchard and the empty streets of the neighborhood where I had grown up.

I continued to think about home, I raised my hand to straighten the glasses I used to work in front of the computer to focus again on translating articles to send to the professor.

I never expected at the time that that visit home would bring me face to face with something I never believed in my entire life and never dreamed could happen to me.