Pete's POV
"Should I be scared?"
"Maybe...you have an assassination order on you."
Jade watches me closely with a defiant smile on his delicate face.
"Are you the one who's going to execute it?"
The point of the spear presses against my skin, making a trickle of blood flow. It stains the collar of my shirt.
"You're very calm for someone who is facing death."
"And you seem particularly pleased to bring death upon me."
"Is it even necessary an assassination order?!"
"Hmm...you tell me"
I quickly grip the spear tightly with my right hand, craning my neck to the side. The movement makes a shallow cut in my neck.
With a kick to the center of the spear, it breaks.
We both draw our guns and aim at each other.
I continue to watch him closely. Jade maintains his cunning smile.
"Just kidding... I'm not the type to get my hands dirty. I don't have your order." Jade redraws his gun.
"Who are you?" I keep pointing my gun at his head. He doesn't show any fear.
"Zhou Yu Ming, 'the Jade Queen'". He makes the movement of the quotes with his fingers. "I inherited my mother's position in the chess room. I've came to Thailand specially to meet you, white Knight."
"Why is everyone suddenly using chess pieces name? Just call me Pete, P-E-T-E, Pete. Should I know you?!
"You seem annoyed...haha"
"It's almost time for Venice's baby food. You better start talking."
"Don't be so moody! I just wanted to know why Lian doesn't want to fuck me anymore, that's all."
"Uh? Who the fuck is Lian? And what do I have to do with you guys fucking or not, kid?! Is this a joke?"
"Of course you know Lian. The tall, handsome guy...to die for...?!"
"Never met. I'm husband is short."
"Hmn...Vegas...that naughty boy...he's not small though"
"You two already..."
Shut up, Pete! Why do you mind asking?!
"Can you keep this secret?! Kim would be mad at me."
He winks at me.
"Consider it forgotten. I only withhold important information. Vegas past lovers don't concern me."
"Your husband is delicious! And about Lian?!Who do you like better? I can't choose...maybe we four could have some fun together..."
"Not gonna happen."
"Tell me! Who do you enjoy more?! Don't be shy...Vegas or Lian?! I won't tell anyone. We are besties now."
"I don't know any Lian! And I would never do any of it!"
"You're not fun! Among so many options, Vegas chose a nun. Curious."
"Yeah, Yeah, among all whore options, he's chosen boring me. Again, who is Lian?
"You really don't know him, huh?!...Lian, the white King. I heard Lian came to Thailand three months ago specially to save your ass. You must be someone special for him." Jade's smile fainted.
"As I said, I don't know your boyfriend. Who issued the order to kill me?"
"I don't know. But I know a couple of things. Little Pete was purchased 20 years ago...Lian family had the right to buy you. Sanya family had the obligation to hand you over."
"Am I a thing?"
"In our world?!...everybody is, darling. And now you have a price tag on your head. A very high one. That's all I know. Considering how easy it was to find you...I would hide myself better If I were you.
"And why are you here again...?!"
"To find out why Lian wants you so badly."
"...any clues?!"
"Nothing. That's odd."
"Why?"
"Your life story has nothing beyond the ordinary."
"I am an ordinary person."
"I could not agree more."
It doesn't seem flattering at all.
"Since you don't know anything helpful, how about telling me where I can find this Lian guy?! Surname...his address precisely...not that chess room meeting bullshit. I shall ask him myself why he generously saved my ass."
"Lian Wang...Taiwan...you can google him." He laughs. "He's pretty famous. However..."
"Keep talking...Venice is hungry..." My index finger makes some pression on the trigger.
"I don't think you'll have time to get to him by yourself."
Jade pulls a greenish chess piece out of his pocket and throws it at me, making me take one hand off my gun.
"You guys don't like to use a phone? I can't use the chess room... I need to pass an inheritance check first...so Sanya said."
"Oh, don't worry about that. You have fully access to the chess room. I checked it myself."
"How?"
"I'm a chess room controller. How I would know all those information."
"You don't seem really suitable to the task. I was waiting for some wise old people... with some ethics to keep secrets."
"In love and in war, anything goes. My family created this whole shit, anyway. We are ancient, what can I say?! I am required to be one. As I said everything about you is odd. You are an ordinary person from an ordinary family...no relevant background. But you have a chess piece registered directly in your name. As all names are unique in Thailand...there are no homonyms...so you are the one and only white knight in the Asian mafia chess room.
"Am I your boyfriend's relative?"
"Stop calling Lian my boyfriend. He's not my boyfriend. And no. I could not find lineage connection between you. Maybe you are just a slave." He smiled evilly. "You were purchased as a kid, remember?!"
"..."
I can't deny this possibility.
"Maybe we could ask your grandparents..."
"Don't you dare getting close to them."
"Chill, man! I don't like talking to old people. I'm not that curious about you, anyway."
Yeah, right. You flew all the way here from China for what?
"Are you going to tell your "not boyfriend" about this conversation?"
"Of course not. I don't want him to be full of himself. I gotta go. See you around, Pete! If you ever go to Hong Kong, don't forget to call me for a chess game."
Jade says goodbye to me like a polite boy from a good family. I keep my gun exactly where it is, following his movements.
He turns back his neck slightly towards me.
"Hey, Pete...I don't know why, but chains seem to suit you. It's your cute face, I guess. It's somehow...appealing." He smiles and leaves.
It's always the freak ones around me.
...
Lian's POV
I walk around my room looking for my lighter. I go onto the balcony to light a cigarette.
I touch my lips calling for a memory and think about who I really wish was in my bed right now.
If I hadn't been kept in the dark for so long...
I take my phone and I look to a particular screenshot:
[chess opponent: "If you kill the knight... the bishop will be vulnerable... and the queen unsupported."
chess opponent: Kill the Knight. I can help with the rest.
Khun Sanya: What's the knight's name?
chess opponent: Pete Phongsakorn Saengtham]
The moment I saw that dialogue everything changed for me.
I see a notification from the chess room on my screen phone: a video call request from the purple king.
I go to my office and access my computer.
"Khun Sanya...Are you alive? I heard you were between life and death in some hospital."
"I told you Vegas wouldn't give me a break. That motherfucker shot me that same morning you texted to Pete in the chess room. If it wasn't for good Samaritan Pete, I would be dead."
"...Pete saved you?!"
Some habits are hard to change, I guess...
"He gave me a special bulletproof vest according to the type of weaponry Vegas uses. And an umbrella."
"An umbrella?"
"Yes...that angry boy aimed me in the head. Because of the umbrella, I blocked his vision and Vegas missed the shot."
"Haha...saved by an umbrella...interesting..."
"I'm glad I'm amusing you..." Sanya smiles at me.
"You're fine!"
"Actually, I was shot several times in my chest when I unconsciously turned. He was aiming my heart, I guess."
"Well, better broken ribs then a spine injury if you hadn't turned."
"Such an optimistic."
"So...you're hiding yourself...are you not coming to the chess room meeting next month?"
"It all depends on my well-being. are you going to kill Vegas soon?"
"Haha...hard to tell...and about Pete? Is he coming?"
"I've done what you asked. Everything I could collect about Vegas activities and Minor Family business was given to Pete. I know he's been talking to assistant Lee for help. But nothing else."
"Pete is smart and patient ... he knows he needs you alive for now..."
"I thought he would be shocked when I told him that someone from the Theerapanyakul family had negotiated the assassination order against him, but he didn't show much reaction."
"...a glimpse of empty eyes only?!..."
"Yes, yes...How do you know?!...Mhmm... something about him...I relate to...is he like me?"
"No, he's not like you...he's not like Vegas...he's something else."
"Haha...so do you think you know him that well?!Better than his obsessive husband?!"
"I don't. I know I do."
"What makes you so sure..."
"I've seen it before...his duality..."
"It sounds interesting..."
"Interesting is the fact that whoever always awakens this in him...It's always someone he loves."
"Do you mind explaining this further? Quite enigmatic."
"None of your business, my fellow purple king."
"Poor Pete...love sucks, apparently." Sanya smirks.
"It does."
"Thank God I will never know what it is"
"Lucky you."
"So...who do you think negotiated the assassination order? If that watermark is not fake, Main or Minor family? And why?"
"The reason, I still don't know. But about which family...It was Minor family."
"Well, well...Is Pete sleeping with the enemy then?
...