[2073] The flower girl

Mid 2073

Sin would be turning eight soon. Recently, he made a new friend. She was a teenage girl selling champaks arranged in cones made from banana leaves.

Sin regularly asked Apaimanee to buy out her flowers, so that they could sit there and talk across the fence.

Butterfly disapproved of this friendship, so Sin usually went out when she was sleeping or was not home. Apaimanee noticed that his son turned red every time they talked. He had an idea of what that was all about, but pretended to not know.

“I told you to put on sunscreen.” He tossed the bottle of cream to the little boy, sitting in the sun.

“Can she put the sunscreen on too?”

“Sure.”

They shared the sunscreen. It was the first time Apaimanee heard his son laugh so loudly and happily.

Sin caught a cold the next week. The girl sat there and waited for him to come by, while peddling her yellow flowers. Apaimanee felt bad for her and went out to talk.

There was something about her innocent, sincere smile that touched his heart the way Butterfly’s hard smiles never did. It was probably because his feelings for Butterfly ran dry, or maybe because he saw her more as a mentor than a wife.

The young girl blushed and stumbled over her words. She wanted to repay him for buying her flowers.

“I can spend the night with you.”

That made Apaimanee choke.

“I don’t really want to do it with those other people, but I think I’m okay if it’s you. You’re always so kind to me.”

“Do you spend the night with people often?” He furrowed his brows.

“Yes, and they give me money for it too. That money makes my family very happy. But you don’t have to give me any money. I can’t take money from people that I owe gratitude.” She fidgeted. “Is it alright?”

“I…I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come in. There are other people in the complex.”

“Okay. If you say so.”

He continued to talk to her daily, buying her flowers and supervising his son’s conversations, joining in frequently.

“I wish you were our family.” Sin said, sniffing the champaks. “Then we can be happy every day. My mom doesn’t love me and she never talks to us. I thought people in the same family should talk to each other.”

“Mom is busy.” Apaimanee mumbled.

“I can be your mom.” The girl said.

“I don’t want you to be my mom!” The little boy argued.

“What do you want her to be, then?”

“I want her to be my girlfriend!”

That declaration surprised both the girl and the father.

“Sin… you’re too young for this.”

“But…”

“This conversation is over, alright?”

Sin ran back to their room.

“Did I do something wrong?” The girl asked.

“No, he was just being a kid…” Apaimanee sighed. “I’ll talk to him later.”

“Being a girlfriend means that we can get married, right? Then, you…” She blushed and failed to finish the sentence. Apaimanee knew what she meant. He wanted to say yes, and he wished it was that simple.

“I’ll give you money.” Apaimanee said. “Don’t sleep with anyone tonight. Treat yourself to a good meal. Buy proper shoes.” He tapped his watch to send money to her merchant account, just like how he bought her flowers. “I’ll see you later.”

“Thank you so very much! Can I come back again tomorrow?”

“Sure. I’ll make sure Sin doesn’t say anything funny the next time we meet.”

Her eyes lit up and she smiled, blushing. His heart felt tingly, so much so that he had to place a hand on his chest.