[2086] Web of lies [final chapter]

4th November, 2088

There was nothing left of Huren. Not in the clouds, not in any local storage.

Levana survived the gunshot wound, but she was not the same woman. Malee messed with her head, taking her memories out for editing and inserting them back in, adjusting them until she was pleased with the results.

The public only knew that Levana resigned from Langka for medical reasons, and although Langka’s people suspected Malee had something to do with it, Malee made no move to seize control of their business, so they left it at that.

To most people, Levana simply wanted to enjoy her early retirement. She would be moving to Shin-Yokohama in a few weeks. Before that, Malee had to check her memories one last time for consistency.

Malee put her gloves back on as she watched Levana leave.

“You will watch over Apaimanee as well, right?”

“Yes, I will.”

“You will never betray me.”

“I never will. You’re my family!”

Malee smiled ever so slightly.

“Good. Have a good rest of the day.”

“I’ll get back to work now. I’ll make sure the acquisition plan goes smoothly.”

Walee, who was drinking coffee outside, watched Levana leave, then entered Malee’s room.

“Still working on expanding your network into Japan?”

“Of course. Everything is going as planned.”

Walee swirled the liquid in her cup, a habit she picked up from Suwan.

“You can’t control everything. You need a backup plan for when things aren’t going the way you want it to.” The investigator sat down on Malee’s work table. “I’m worried that…”

“It is fine, I have the backup plans. Besides, I trust in my people. If I overlook something, they will help me patch up the holes.” Malee massaged her temples. “Speaking of plans, do you have any dinner plans tonight?”

“What’s your backup plan if I say I already have one?”

“I could invite you another time, or…” Malee giggled. “Take you away by surprise.”

“No, thanks. I happen to be free today.”

“How about a laid-back dinner at my house? We can invite others along, including your boss.”

Walee thought of a conversation she had with Suwan years ago. He told her that she should talk to more people outside of work, and look at how far she got. She wanted to know what love felt like minus the physical aspects, and this was it.

She once thought Crystal’s boss would not be interested in having relationships, but Malee surprised her.

“It is in human nature to want to love and fall in love. Being able to love is proof that you are still human.”

Chan and Su made plans to visit Sin at Koh Kaew Phitsadan. The twins started prepping for the trip since late July, right after the Huren mission. Sud wanted to visit his mother, and Suwan wanted to take a long break, so they were on board. Nil declined, since they got a new job sifting through Levana’s memories and answering life’s big questions.

It was smooth sailing to the island. Sud wanted to stop for a swim, so they stopped the boat. The boy jumped into the water while Chan stood on deck to supervise.

Suwan came with a drink in hand, nodding to Chan who was wearing swimming trunks.

“Nice tattoo. Dual tigers, for protection and strength of mind, and the other one’s the nine peaks, for invincibility, right?” He gestured to Chan’s back. There were two striped tigers glaring at each other, surrounded by ancient text, and above them was a pattern with nine squiggly lines.

“You sure are knowledgeable, investigator. I had a monk do it for me. He was famous for his skills in tattooing cyborgs.”

“I did not know monks do that nowadays.”

“They’re just tattoos for my own peace of mind. Looks nice though, don’t they?” Chan absentmindedly touched his back, his mind drifting to his brother on the island. “Sin wanted to get a tattoo as well, and I told him that it’s his own skin he’s inking, so think carefully about it. He couldn’t just strip them off like how I change my artificial skin.”

“What did he say?”

“He showed up the next day with a yaksha on his back, that young man.”

Suwan laughed as he watched Sud splash about, imagining himself as a father.

“To be honest, I’m very nervous about meeting my nephew. Who would’ve thought? I’m such a social butterfly, and Sin was nice to me the last time we met.”

“Maybe you’re nervous about how he’d changed throughout the years.”

Suwan thought about the new Apaimanee. They talked regularly through the chat, but they were no longer brothers.

“Maybe. I still want to meet him, though.”

When they reached Koh Kaew Phitsadan, the Old Master came to greet them and asked them to stay at his house on the hills. The guests wanted to see Sin as soon as possible, but the old man stopped them.

Sin showed up the next day. He grew even bigger and tanner, and Chan joked about how his baby brother became a full-fledged fisherman. Suwan was just happy to see his nephew, although they barely knew each other.

“Where’s mom?” Sud tugged his brother’s arm. There was an obvious discomfort on the older sibling’s face.

“She’s not feeling too well, so she’s trying not to see people, in case she got something contagious.”

“Holy smokes, is this the start of a plague? Are we going to be the ones taking the germ back to mainland?” Chan raised a brow, then pulled Sin off to the side, away from others.

“Sin, be honest with me. She isn’t really sick, is she?”

Seeing his former mentor’s eyes, Sin cracked.

“She… I guess you can come see her. Only you. Not Su. Not anyone else.”

Chan came to Apaimanee’s old house, where Sin lived. He tried to hide his surprise when the nameless woman who was Sud’s mother came out to greet him.

“Sin, that’s…yours, right?”

The young man simply nodded. He was not ashamed, or proud. He just accepted it.

Chan did not know what to say, and so pulled the woman inside and closed the door, leaving Sin out.

“Sister, did you consent to this?”

“I…” She shuffled her feet under his intense stare. “I did consent. He explained what consent was and I gave it. I feel alright about all this.”

Chan pushed the door open and dragged Sin off to the side.

“Sin, that woman is your father’s former wife. She gave birth to your half-brother. How, Sin? How could you?”

“My father is dead. What’s the big deal?”

“Sin…” Chan ruffled his own hair. “Oh, dear gods and angels, Sud absolutely cannot learn of this.”

“Learn of what?”

“Sud?!” Chan jumped.

“Sorry. I followed you here.”

“Uh, I kinda followed him here as well.” Suwan emerged from the bushes with Su perched on his head, and Chan almost fell to his knees.

“Everyone, out. We’re going back to mainland. Now.”

“What? My mom is in the house…”

“Now.” Then, Chan shot Sin a sharp look. “You and I, we’ll talk about this later.”

Sin watched the group leave.

Chan circled back and dragged Sin to a rock on a quiet corner of the beach. It was under a banyan tree that offered them shade, the very same rock Sin came to sulk on when he learned that Apaimanee was going to marry the nameless girl. “Do you even love her, papa?” That was his exact question.

“Why, Sin? Just why?”

“I love her, and I found her first. Just because the man who gave birth to me gave her some kind of illusion, does that mean I have to live with the heartbreak forever?”

“Sin…I don’t think her love for Apaimanee was an illusion. Can you actually say that what she feels for you right now is different from what she felt for him?”

Sin was silent.

“Maybe she’s just someone that goes with whatever the people around her says.”

“Are you calling her a mindless, passive woman?”

“I guess…she’s doing this for her own interests as well. Having a family is beneficial for her kind of lifestyle. But…are you really happy doing this? Sin, this looks really wrong to me.”

“Then don’t look. Chan, thank you for all the lessons you’ve given me so far. Thanks for being family when I didn’t have one, but I can make my own decisions.”

Chan bit his lower lip, his fingers twisting the cord from his collar.

“Alright, Sin. I’m still on your side, but…gosh, I need to sort my thoughts out.” He slowly got up. “How should I talk to the others?”

“I don’t mind of Sud knows. It’s his mother.”

“Are you sure? Alright.”

“Hey, Chan?”

“What?”

“Do you hate me?”

Chan stared at the side of Sin’s face, memories of their time together flashing through his mind.

“No. Nothing can make me hate you. Not even this.”

“Did my father hate me, though?”

“No. He’s…” Chan was momentarily at a loss for words. “You know him. He’s not…in the best shape after finding out what really happened between him and that woman. He later told me that he regretted not being there for you.”

“I see. I think it’s for the best that he deleted himself and removed me from his new life. I was a mistake. I’m the living reminder of his trauma. This love of mine is a mistake as well.”

“You’re not a mistake… You’re my family.” Chan was a full cyborg and could no longer feel physical pain when he got emotional, but at that moment, he felt an unexplainable ache in his chest.

“Hey, Sin…you’re going to be a father.”

“Uh-huh.”

“That’s a wonderful thing, no?”

“I guess. I want things to be different for her and for my child.”

“Never forget what you just said.” Chan got up and saw a figure running towards them.

It was Sud, and before the boy could rush at Sin, Chan intercepted and threw him down to the ground.

“Why are you running with a knife in your hands?”

“How could you?! She’s my mother!”

Sin sat still through all that. Even if Sud stabbed him, Sin would still be staring quietly at his half-brother.

“How could you?! Sin, I thought you…I thought we…”

“It is what it is.”

“You’re just like dad! You don’t feel anything anymore, and you’ll just leave! Forget it! I’m taking my mom with me!”

“Sud.”

“What?!”

“Ask your mom where she wants to go. If she wants to go with you, I won’t stop her.” Sin remained sitting on the rock.

Sud threw the knife down at the sand and stormed back to the house. Chan picked up the knife and turned it around in his hand.

“I’ll…come visit with Su. Maybe Suwan or Khun Malee will come as well. We’ll bring gifts. I guess…I’m becoming an uncle.”

“I can’t be like my father. I can’t cut you all off for her sake. Maybe I’m too weak.” Sin mumbled.

The woman chose to remain on the island with Sin, and Sud had a feeling that it would be a very long time until he got to see her again.

Days later, Su received contact from Malee en route, instructing them to go back as soon as possible.

“She said Apaimanee ran into memory problems in Neo-Tokyo and had to be recalled. We have to get our asses back ASAP. Wakul is already on her way to pick him and Levana up.”

“What happened? Is he remembering his past self?” Sud pulled one of the bird’s tail feathers.

The bird did not know much more than that, and kept saying ‘chirp, chirp’ until Sud gave up trying to extract more information.

Chan stared out at the ocean the entire time. Suwan patted his shoulder.

“What’s on your mind? Are you thinking about Sin?”

“Yeah. You’re so calm, though. That’s your brother we were talking about.”

“Am I calm?”

Chan glanced at the other man from the corner of his eyes before continuing.

“I was just thinking. If we can be edited just like Apai, what’s the point of us doing anything? We could just shove a memory of him winning the music festival at Neo-Tokyo and he’d be perfectly happy for the rest of his life. We could inject a memory of him getting along with his wife and son. Does it even matter that they’re just memories? To him, they’re the absolute truth.”

“I don’t know. I wish I was a part of his life for real, though.”

Both of them stared at the horizon, where they could see the silhouette of the Bangkok metropolis where Apaimanee once roamed. 

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Hi there. Thanks for reading to the end. I had fun writing this.

Last year (2022) I made a mistake and forgot to upload the chapter titled "Not the Time". It's not an essential chapter to read, but it patched up how Suwan and Walee escaped Malee's house. Anyway, thanks again for reading.