Bold: The characters are speaking in English.
Kazakhstan.
Half past ten at the ‘giraffe farm’, I very carefully tiptoed down from the second floor as a result of the dinner that Viktar had brought up to me in the library already disintegrating into nothingness. The sound of my footsteps were considerably light, however, what was very loud was the sound of my stomach, crying and begging for food to the point where I felt sorry for the enormous mansion which was as quiet as a graveyard…
At the corner of the stairway on the first floor was a group of men in black suits, stood cl.u.s.tered together as they whispered to each other in hushed voices. Every single pair of eyes turned towards me, including Viktar’s. Despite not opening his mouth to ask, the gaze on that ‘dot dot’ face of his held a question mark. Therefore, I answered back with the growling sound of the void that was my stomach. The other party gestured his hand to the kitchen at the end of the east wing. Slipping through the door which was slightly ajar, inside, I found half a dozen or so men in black suits, as well as plenty of food that was more than enough feed an entire district. The appetizing aroma of food urged me to push open the door and join them, however, the heavy atmosphere inside made me rethink my decision.
The kitchen settled down considerably once all the food was sent off to be served. Except, what was most peculiar was… Jessica, gleefully squealing as she cooked with the head chef, the two of them gossiping feverishly to one another.
You think the head chef is some Thai man from the boonies? As if! The chef was a guy in his late forties with salt-and-pepper hair, and he was in the middle of teaching my friend how to make a savoury orange soup. Jessica’s eyes were wide and innocent as she listened to the chef explain, his concentration focused on stirring the soup.
…To hold a conversation this well, so it really wasn’t her first time coming here. No wonder she was so unmoved when they inspected her for weapons. Moreover… look, look, that’s not all, Jessica dipped her finger into the soup for a taste test, only to be slapped on the hand by the chef, sending him a pouty face in return. Hua, and once she stopped pouting, she ladled a spoonful of soup and even (force) fed it to the chef.
And… what were they talking about…? Hearing their amalgamation of German and English caused my brain to start throbbing.
Growl…
The whining of my stomach called their attention as both of them turned to look at me; to which I responded back with an abashed smile.
All in all, I ended up sat in the kitchen with a fragrant orange soup laid out in front of me. It tasted so delicious that I didn"t mind having to put up with Jessica as she chattered away relentlessly.
“So, you’ve been here before.”
“Yeah, about three or four times now.” Jessica confessed. “But I never stayed for long, they were all short visits.”
“Who did you come with?”
“My husband Baum of course.”
“And how is your husband acquainted to Alexey?”
Jessica’s eyes went wide as she clasped her hands over her mouth. “Oops!”
I lowered my eyes slightly, as if cautious. “What now?”
“Why haven’t you figured it out yet? What were you doing in the library all day?” She raised her voice at me, then released a big sigh. “Hua… If I raised a water buffalo instead of raising you, my water buffalo would have graduated with an honours degree by now. They’re friends Petch, including Sasha too.”
But I didn’t stay to be given a big scolding, having already darted back up to the entrance of the library, except, the issue was…
Uh… I couldn’t use the iris scanner. Forced to return downstairs and ask Viktar to come up and open the door for me, this ‘dot dot’ guy of mine made a ‘dot dot’ expression as he scanned his iris.
It seems highly likely now that Jessica’s water buffalo might be smarter than me.
With resentment (?) I headed straight towards the pile of stuff to one corner of the library with a black tarp draped over it. My right hand yanked it off with a swoosh, the tarp flying past my nose accompanied by tiny particles of dust which had me in a coughing fit… Huu, I’m an idiot. What was I trying to act cool for? It was merely a piece of tarp.
In any case, before me, the object which had been concealing itself turned out to be several suspicious cardboard boxes (how the h.e.l.l were they suspicious?), three stacks to be exact, each stack consisting of four boxes, and amounting to twelve boxes altogether. Identically attached to the side of each of the cardboard boxes was a label belonging to some moving service. It read: ‘G.R. Deuerling GmbH Internationale Möbeltransporte’.
FROM/VON: Alexander I. Nazarbayev
DATE/DATUM: 30.11.2006
ADDRESS/ADRESS:
Franklinstr. 50, Frankfurt am Main 60486, Germany
CONTACT/CONTAKT: Izakov M. Gryaznov
TELEPHONE/TELEFON: +49-69-97681968 (Handy)
TO/AUF: Alexander I. Nazarbayev, H.E.
DATE/DATUM: 5.12.2006
ADDRESS/ADRESS:
House of Mazhilis of the Parliament, Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan
CONTACT/CONTAKT: Izakov M. Gryaznov
TELEPHONE/TELEFON: +8-7172-74-64-41
What kind of equation was this? And where should the starting point be? First off, Detective Kindaichi Phachara should start from Jessica. My best friend found love with Baum and they constantly travelled back and forth across the globe between Bangkok and Frankfurt. In the midst of this, they coincidentally made close acquaintance with a gang of Soviet men, eventually meeting Sasha, the hottie, and his three clingy bodyguards…
Let’s just say: (Jessica x Baum) + Sasha + Alexey => Friends + Three bodyguards
Wait, no, this equation was too short. Since there were others who attended Jessica’s wedding, I therefore altered my equation to the following:
(Jessica x Baum) + Sasha + Alexey + Eisbär (Mr. Yeti) + Ethan => Friends + Three bodyguards
With the equation spelled out like this, there were still two more questions.
First… where does Sasha’s wife and kids fit into this equation?
Second… was the curious relationship between that hottie and Ethan still a mystery? Or was it like the equation the below?
Hypothesis One > Two couples are featured in this cast of characters.
(Jessica x Baum) + Sasha, one wife, two kids + (Alexey x Ethan) + Mr. Yeti => Friends + Three bodyguards
Hypothesis Two > However, Alexey said they grew up together–they even wore the same size of underwear–thus the equation should be corrected; for the benefit of my peace of mind as well. Hypothesis one is therefore false.
Let’s just say this is the correct for now.
(Jessica x Baum) + Sasha, one wife, two kids + Alexey + Ethan + Mr. Yeti => Friends + Three bodyguards
But science experiments required supporting evidence, therefore, I decided to rummage through the topmost cardboard box, finding inside a photo alb.u.m with merely the numerals XVI written on the cover.
Was there anything in here that could prove my second hypothesis…?
There…
There…
There… uh… there was nothing inside, the alb.u.m was blank.
Blank… nothing at all.
The book had forty pages… and every page was blank. I quickly reached for the book below it, flipping through to find exactly the same thing… there was nothing inside.
XV
XIV
XIII
XII
XI
X
IX
VIII
VII
VI
V
IV
III
II
I
Finally, something out of the ordinary made its appearance in book I. There were the traces of a knife which had hacked at the pages until it looked messy beyond recognition, starting from the cover to the last page. The cuts were forceful, as if the person had been so intensely enraged that they exacted their emotions onto this small photo alb.u.m. I stared at the final stack of boxes that remained unopened, hesitant on whether I should open it or not.
“What are you doing?” A voice rang out from behind me, along with a dark shadow which overlapped the moonlight cascading through the large ceiling-high window pane. Flinching visibly, I quickly hid the photo alb.u.m that was in my hands.
Alexey strolled directly towards me, preoccupied with unb.u.t.toning his shirt collar and folding up his sleeves, seemingly more relaxed. “The food you left earlier, it’s been sent upstairs.”
Eh…? Oh right, I hadn’t even finished half of my meal earlier. My stomach whined once more as I sheepishly laughed at myself. Since the hottie didn"t look ready to answer any of my burning questions, I casually inquired: “And have you eaten?”
“Just a few bites… thought you were waiting for me.” It seemed Alexey had something else to say, yet held himself back. The tall figure knelt down to sit beside me, asking what I was hoping to find by rummaging through these cardboard boxes.
“Well… uh… well Jessica told me there was something interesting hidden inside them.” Straightfaced and eyes unblinking, I transferred the blame onto someone else. It’ll be fine, there was no way this hottie could get angry at Jessica.
Grey eyes glanced towards the last stack of cardboard boxes which had yet to be opened. His expression hinted again that he had something he wished to say, but brushed it aside once more.
“There’s nothing left in the past that needs recollecting anymore.”
“But…”
“Let’s eat, I’m hungry.” He cut our conversation short, as if not wanting to talk about it, but I held him back.
“Can we eat and talk at the same time?”
Alexey was probably too exhausted to argue back, and so complied with a nod. I walked up to the small table with a bowl of potato salad and warm soup laid out on top, proceeding to drop an armful of books I had rummaged out of the remaining boxes. However, instead Alexey beckoned me with a finger to place them closer. “Come, sit here.”
The orange soup which had been abandoned, cold and unappetizing, was now reheated once more. I happened to notice the slender fingers on Alexey"s two hands, there were a burning bright red, as if having touched something hot prior to this. However, the man in question appeared completely unaffected. On the contrary, he picked up the book on top of the pile and flipped it over to the first page.
Every nerve in my body was strung taut with tension, I almost forgot to breathe.
“Come sit close and I’ll explain it to you.”
“Really?”
“Would you like to know or not?”
My eyes sparkled, a wide grin plastering my face as I spotted the edge of the polaroid photo inside…
Each photo was like a piece of historical evidence belonging to the person who had managed to claim a small spot on this gigantic earth for himself, cherishing them in a box of so-called memories.
Alexey did not mention a single word about who he was… he only answered questions that were not too personal; some questions he didn’t bother answering at all, depending on his mood. More importantly, and to my surprise, the various different stories ill.u.s.trated past the hard pieces of paper hardly contained Alexey in them at all. It was as if his existence was centered around not having an existence. There was no need for a place for himself inside those photos. Thus, the stories I heard were predominantly about Sasha… as well as his close bodyguards. Although they weren’t the things I was most curious about, I couldn’t deny that I took pleasure in them, not realizing that I had settled down on his lap, letting the big warm hands still tinged with red comb through my hair playfully.
“Hua, Isakov’s face looks like a monkey as a child.” I pointed to the gang of five tiny bodyguards in the photo of someone’s wedding that dated back twenty or more years ago. I trailed my finger from person to person. The young man in the black suit who was holding a bouquet of flowers, his face blank and emotionless face… there was no doubt that this was little Viktar. There were two other people I did not recognize.
“Who are these two?”
“That’s Eeyore of course, the guy you went to meet in Astana.”
I recalled the ordeal of having to run around hectically for that paparazzi job, as well as that ex-bodyguard who had been extremely shocked when he mistook someone with a face like me for the new replacement bodyguard.
“And the person to the far right?”
“That"s Leof.”
Leof was very tall when compared to the other little bodyguards with the same age as him. His face was solemn and grim.
“I haven’t really gotten to talk to Leof.”
“His Thai isn’t very strong. But do you know, he can speak Dutch very fluently, more fluent than me even. Albeit, I only lived there for a couple of months.”
Oh my G.o.d almighty…
“So tell me, ever since you were born, how many countries have you lived in?”
“What do you want to know that for?”
I frowned, sat up and fixed my eyes on him.
“Because I always get an earful from Jessica about spending a lot of time with you but never getting to know you at all… and when I ask, you never seem to want to answer…” My voice died down. I wanted to know him better. Currently, my head was full of nothing but Sasha’s vibrant love life which Alexey had relayed to me about in detail, seemingly as if he has kept the desire to gossip about his friend bottled up for a (very) long time now.
“If not counting when I lived at home till age eighteen, I moved to Saint Petersburg for three years, Moscow for three years, Boston for half a year, San Francisco for eight months, Amsterdam for eleven months, Frankfurt for four years, and then the rest I travelled all across Europe before coming to Thailand.”
I was astounded to hear about this very lengthy journey of his across the globe.
“Oh wow, and have you lived in Thailand for long?”
Alexey made sick and tired face. “Long enough to be able to speak Thai with you, to understand why Thai people bicker over getting on the bus, and to get accustomed to news of the parliament dissolving and the city flooding year in year out.”
I laughed sheepishly, faced with the harsh truth. “I thought you said you didn’t remember? You kept every single detail.”
“Blame it on the curious monkey that’s been pestering me.”
“When you were in Germany, who were you with?”
“Sasha… Baum… my bodyguards, and a clingy cat.”
“What’s the cat’s name?”
“Haru.”
“Haru… a j.a.panese cat? Is he cute like the ones on T.V.?”
The hottie chuckled softly. “I don’t know if you"d call him cute, he’s quite annoying sometimes. Call him "Kitty" and he’ll come bounding right over.”
I grinned… warmth spreading in my heart as I became to know him little by little… by accident, my hand knocked one of the books onto the floor. The pages turned to what I had been searching for. “Ah! This photo!”
In the center of the photo was Sasha and a pet.i.te beautiful girl, her facial features well-defined and sharp, surrounded by their friends and family. There was no doubt that this was obviously a wedding. The faces in the photo were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with happy smiles…
Oh… my G.o.d!
If P’Pun saw this photo, he would have had a seizure…
The relatives of the bride and groom stood on separate sides… since there were more than thirty people, each of their faces were considerably small. The ones that really stood out were only the groom and bride, as well as some faces I was familiar with… Baum, Jessica’s husband stood on the side of the groom. Ethan, my soon-to-be model stood on the side of the bride, and… Mr. Yeti!!!
I cried out loud. “Mr. Yeti!”
“Who?”
“This guy!” I stuffed the alb.u.m into Alexey’s hands, my voice unintentionally commanding in tone. “Alexey, what is this person’s name? Eisbär right?”
The (very) large statured man sporting a thick beard was stood beside Ethan. However, he was the only person who did not smile… in fact, he looked quite angry.
“Yes, but there’s no need to keep on remembering him.”
“Of course I need to.” I insisted. “Because… I admire him a lot, I’ve been desperately wanting to meet him too.”
Alexey faced me. “Meaning?”
“I like him.”
Until I realized what I had just said out loud, Alexey had already grown silent for a long while, so quiet that it made me feel uneasy.
“Uh…” All I could muster from my mouth was: “Did I say something wrong?”
“Forget about him.”
“Hua… why?”
Alexey took a deep breath, then answered in a cool voice… frigid… and emotionless.
“Good people like him… don’t exist in this world anymore.”
Now it was my turn to be dumbfounded.
“He’s… dead? And… and… what happened to him? What caused him to die?”
“Sometimes, we people care about others so much that we end up dead, love other people so much that we"re as good as dead… go to sleep, I’ll call a steward to tidy up the room.” With that said, he abruptly got up and headed towards the door.
The profound grey eyes tinged with doubt flashed into my mind… wait… I… what have I said out loud to this man? This man, who despite his exhaustion, kept me company for a meal at midnight… This man, who went to the effort of bringing me travelling all this way here (though I was still curious about what plans he had in store for me).
I hadn’t intended to do anything, but my arms were already restraining him back, wrapping around him in a hug from behind. “Wait, don’t go yet.”
The sharp handsome face craned to meet mine in curiosity… as well as confusion. “What?”
“Stay here for now.”
“…” My bold approach probably made this hottie at a lost for words.
“Cause… cause… cause… if you don’t stay… what will I do if the ghost of Mr. Yeti comes to haunt me at night?”
Don’t laugh!!! I’m legitimately scared. Even if it may be the ghost of Mr. Yeti, I’m scared you know!
“Confess your love to his ghost then.” Albeit, the grimacing expression… slowly unfurled into a gentle smile directed towards me, before turning to a small peck on the forehead.
My cheeks flushed… When the kiss gradually trailed to my soft cheeks, followed by several featherlight presses to my chin, my hand subconsciously clutched at his shirt tight, as if trying to seize more of his touch, closer, and directly. “Wa… wait.”
“Don’t worry… his ghost won’t get jealous of us.”
I hit his shoulder with my fist. “What crazy nonsense are you spewing… I’m really, truly, scared of ghosts you know.”
“Ghosts cannot even touch you… nor kiss you like this.” A firm muscular arm curled around my waist, causing a ticklish sensation. However, the thing which was driving me mad was none other than the misbehaving lips nuzzling beside my ear. Teeth nipped at my earlobe playfully, throwing my thoughts into disarray.
The sofa which I lounged on his lap in as I begged for him to recount stories from his past, now transformed into a place that I laid my back down on, moonlight shining through the large ceiling high window pane cascading onto the body that increasingly had less and less clothes to cover up in. I forgot about Mr. Yeti… about Sasha… about P’Pun… about everything… mind caught up in how our bodies, mine and Alexey’s, embraced each other feverishly… desperate, as if having longed for it for an eternity… But it was also excruciatingly tender, every contact of warm flesh with warm flesh was so intense that the friction could almost start a fire at any moment…
Both of our bodies were a fiery red… melting into one almost… the silhouette of our shadows were animated on the lavish animal fur carpet… their motions… sometimes languid… sometimes urgent… like the silhouette of two dolls dancing together beneath the bright moonlight.
Time pa.s.sed in the blink of an eye… I had no strength left, every drop of energy had been sucked dry by Alexey… I could only lie still in the warm embrace of the other party, who still had enough energy remaining to tease me, nipping my shoulders… biting my earlobes… pinching my cheeks…
“Quit teasing me.” I complained, although lightheartedly… of course… My tiny heart inflated, the sensation as if my chest about to burst when the hottie whispered softly beside my ear.
“Don’t make that face if you"re complaining. Trust me, I won’t hand you over to Mr. Yeti’s ghost or any other ghost for that matter.”
“Hm? What kind of face was I making?”
My nose was pinched lightly. Despite wanting to protest, the glimmering pair of eyes which belonged to the person before me, made me subconsciously let out a smile.
The night before my adventure… although the mystery had yet to be solved… and my questions still laid unanswered… I hazarded a guess…
That in this moment… the equation (Alexey x Ethan) required correcting into (Alexey x Me) instead.
As for the other variables… I’ll consider it some other day.