Akirame 2.4 - 愛想笑い(formal smile)
Rebirth
Kowloon - Wake Up
Aisowarai(formal smile)
- a tentative biography of Nicha Rapheephat (draft 0)
{ENDING}
The Rebirth of Nicha
I
There was a way for Nicha to run away from the Rapheephats. She had to get herself into a prestigious high school in Bangkok befitting the daughter of a powerful diplomat. This way the Rapheephats would have something to brag about, and she wouldn’t have to live with them.
A win-win situation.
In school, instead of talking or listening to anyone, Nicha did practice problems for the entrance exam. After school, instead of going home, she went to cram school, staying there until late at night. Being busy made her numb, and numbed was all she wanted to be.
A year later, Nicha was standing in front of a huge stadium in Bangkok. The place has been rented out to host the entrance exam for this school. More than ten thousand students were fighting to get in. Nicha didn't understand the hype. It's just a school with a difficult entrance exam——a mere illusion of prestige.
Nevertheless, she knew failure wasn't an option.
II
The exam was so easy for Nicha that she felt cheated.
But she didn’t tell anyone.
She wasn’t going to tell anyone anything anymore.
She acted excited when she got the acceptance letter, but that’s only because the Rapheephats were excited. She acted sad at the airport, but that’s only because the Rapheephats were crying.
“How could they have the gall to act sad?” she thought.
“Karma, right? You reap what you sow. You reap what you sow.”
III
After sorting all of her belongings in her new apartment, Nicha took a bus headed to Chinatown.
As she watched countless cars and tall buildings pass her by, it suddenly occurred to her that she was now a stranger to the city she once called home.
Bangkok was almost scary. The mountains weren’t there to watch over her anymore. Only the strange overcast sky went on forever.
She had planned to visit the private elementary school but decided against it after learning that Mr. Henrik had moved back to Norway.
All the ties to her past here had been severed.
The bus had arrived at her stop.
IV
Her mother’s cremated remains were stored in a small metal box inside a wall of a Chinese temple.
She didn't know what candle to light or what ceremony to perform.
She just stood there, smelling a burning incense from an altar.
“Your daughter’s back, Mom. Aren’t you proud of her?”
The smell of cigarette smoke reached her nose.
“She’s been a mean girl, honestly.”
“Biting the hands that feed her…”
“She just couldn’t help but hurt them, you know?”
“That’s just how she is——who she is. But who even is she?”
“She’s been Nicha Rapheephat for so long… too long.”
“Nicha Rapheephat is dead. She fell off the building and died. Only I survived.”
“And who am I supposed to be?”
“I’m a piece of rag that has once again been dropped into a bucket of white paint. Happy birthday to me.”
{END}
Nicha read the manuscript with a grin, giggling now and again.
After putting down the papers, she turned to look at the mountains beyond the ice cream shop’s windows and began tapping the table.
tap, tap…
tap, tap, tap…
tap, tap…
tap, tap, tap…
“So what happens after the end?” she asked.
“Nicha lives happily ever after.”
“We both know that’s not how it goes,” she laughed.
“That’s how things should have gone.”
“After all she’s done to escape, that girl’s still living in the shadow of the dead.”
“Perhaps she’s drawn to shadows,” I said.
“Like a moth to the flame,” she added.
“Isn’t it time you finally tell me what’s going on inside your head?” I asked.
Nicha smiled.
“Finish what you started, why don’t you?” she said.
Author’s note
We’re finally done with Nicha’s stuff. Yeah! Yeah!
Hopefully her story makes as much sense for you as I hope.
I once asked a teacher how I should make the dialogue for male and female character different, but he didn’t give me any helpful answer, so in the end, every character I write talks in the same awkward way! What a shame.
Like, there’s literally nothing making Nicha female, and that’s fully due to my lack of understanding of the opposite sex and of human in general.
I really should go touch some grass, huh?
Well, let this story be a testament to my incompetence.
See you again soon when I’m done writing the next arc.