thinking about how jane’s final breaking point wasn’t her own abuse but seeing one of her students go through the same thing and being unable to protect her, and how that encapsulates the difference between the two sisters: rung sees her history of abuse as reason to make others experience the same pain that she did, while jane sees it as proof that no one should suffer like she has
I'm not surprised Rung is the killer, I'm just feeling sad for Jane when she had to go through hell and back and her love ones see her as nothing more than a stepping stone for them to advance
Rung is pure evil, she sold her sister for her own gain and killed Jane to cover up her crimes
As a sister myself, I can't imagine my sister or myself doing that with eachother no matter what
There're many parallels between relationships/characters
Jane and Bun are strong, stubborn and fighting hard for justice, therefore they get in trouble easily. The difference is Tan genuinely loves and protects Bun while Pued were selfish and betrayed Jane
The siblings contrast: Rung killed Jane when she claimed that she loved her sister while Por and Tan brotherhood is dysfunctional, they at least see eye to eye in this episode
The social issues are so real: authorities abuse their power for their own gains, human trafficking, drugs, sexual and emotional abuses, gas lighting, etc...
The real Mafias have nothing to do with the sex ring while the authorities that we supposed to trust and respect are the real ring leaders
I haven’t written anything in years, so apologies if this is terrible. This is set in alternate universe where Jane doesn’t die and none of the characters are involved in sex trafficking.
Part 1
“Wait, you know him?”
Tan’s voice cut through Jane’s thoughts and she glanced up from her phone. “Hm?”
“Did you just say that you know the doctor?” He leaned closer to her, eyes wide and eager.
“Oh, yeah,” she said, tucking her phone back into her purse. Pued was calling her. Again. And she was ignoring him. Again. “He used to live here when we were kids. We were best friends.”
She and Tan had been holed up in the back corner of the only coffee shop in Viangpha Mork for the last twenty minutes, under the guise of “grading papers,” but so far neither of them had gotten much work done. Tan had seemed distracted since the arrived, fiddling with his pen and shuffling papers around and not saying much at all, until suddenly he’d looked up and said, “Did you hear that the hospital hired a new doctor? I saw him at The Mist last night.”
“Of course,” she said, wondering why he was bringing this up. “Bunn and I go way back. He—”
She was cut off by her phone screen lighting up, alerting her to yet another phone call from Pued. What was it? The fifth one today? Why hadn’t she blocked his number yet? She really needed to block his number.
Pushing her ex to the back of her mind and refocusing on the conversation at hand, she watched as Tan’s eyes seemed to grow brighter with excitement as she explained the childhood connection she and Bunn shared.
“No shit? You guys are friends? That’s great!”
She squinted at him suspiciously. “And why is that?”
Tan paused, considering his words. “He…kissed me. Last night at The Mist. He was absolutely wasted and he stumbled into me and…he kissed me.”
“Oh?” said Jane, raising an eyebrow. She’d always had her suspicions about Bunn’s sexuality. He’d never seemed interested in girls back in their middle and high school days, but she’d never asked him about it and then he’d moved away and they’d lost contact. “And how did you feel about that?”
“Um, have you seen him?” Tan asked. “How do you think I felt about it?”
She tilted her head, considering this. “I didn’t know you liked boys.”
Now it was his turn to raise an eyebrow. “You got a problem with that?”
“No!” she exclaimed. “No, of course not.”
Tan was a bit of an enigma. Despite the fact that they had been friends for several years now, sometimes she felt like she knew close to nothing about him. He never talked about his personal life. And then there was way he could shift from an earnest, almost innocent sweetness into someone downright intimidating and dangerous – she didn’t fully know what to make of him most of the time.
“Okay, great,” Tan said, leaning back in his seat. “So it’s settled then.”
“Huh? What’s settled?”
“You’ll introduce me to him! Officially.”
“I don’t remember saying I would do that.”
If it was possible for a person to actually make the pleading face emoji expression in real life, Tan was currently doing so.
“Jaaaaaane,” he whined. “Please. I really think he might be my soulmate.”
She looked at him in disbelief. “Your what?”
“I know that sounds crazy but hear me out. I’ve met him before. Well, not really ‘met,’ per se, but…had a run-in with. It was like eight years ago, back in college. He dropped some papers and I helped him pick them up and then he hurried off before I could introduce myself or get his name or anything and I’ve always been pissed at myself for not chasing him down. We had this connection, Jane, I swear we did. I can’t explain it, but I saw him and something…clicked. That sounds stupid, I know. But I’ve never been able to get him out of my mind. I’ll be having sex with someone and I’ll close my eyes and I’ll see his face. That has to mean something, right? A guy I said three words to years ago having that much of an impact on me? It has to mean something.”
Jane stared at him, completely caught off guard. He’d never opened up to her about something so personal before.
He buried his face in his hands and groaned. “God, why am I even telling you all this? You probably think I’m crazy.”
She reached out, taking one of his hands in her own and pulling it away from his face. “I don’t think you’re crazy,” she said, though that wasn’t exactly true. She quickly racked her brain for something positive to say about the situation. “I think…I think you have good taste. Bunn is the best person I know. I’m not surprised someone would spend eight years pining for him.”
Tan smiled slightly at that. “He’s really handsome,” he murmured.
Jane shook her head in disbelief. She had never seen him like this. “Well, I assume he’ll be at the party tomorrow night. I can introduce you there.”
“The party?”
“The hospital director’s birthday party! Tan, don’t tell me you forgot. You promised you’d be my date.
“Oh…right…”
He had definitely forgotten.
“Don’t even try to back out. You brother is going to be there. And my sister. I cannot face them alone, Tan. I really can’t.”
If there was one memory Jane wished she could erase from her mind forever, it was the sight of Pued and Rungtiva, together in bed. Even now, thinking about it, she felt sick to her stomach. But she couldn’t stop replaying the events in her head. Finishing up work early and deciding to go to Pued’s place to surprise him. Walking in on them. Letting out a shocked scream. Watching them spring apart. The look on Rung’s face, slightly smug, as she dressed and slipped out the door without a word to Jane. Pued’s tears and frantic apologies. “Jane, I’m sorry. I can explain. Please. Just listen to me. I’m so sorry. I love you. Please don’t leave.”
But she had left.
She sent him a text later. “We’re done,” was all it said. He hadn’t stopped calling her and texting her since. She really needed to block his number. Why couldn’t she bring herself to block his number?
Deep down, she knew why. Because he was the boy she’d loved for nearly her entire life. Her childhood friend who had finally turned into something more a year ago. She had truly believed she would spend the rest of her life with him, had truly believed he loved her and only her. But he had betrayed her. Tan thought that Bunn was his soulmate? What the hell did that mean anyway? Soulmate? Pued was her soulmate and he’d fucked her sister. It seemed to her that the whole concept was overrated and meaningless.
Wow. So there it was. She, Janejira Sookyod, the girl who loved fairy tales, the girl who cried watching cheesy rom-coms, the girl whose favorite holiday was Valentine’s Day, had become cynical and jaded.
“I’ll be there,” Tan said, pulling her from her thoughts. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “And I’ll kick Pued’s ass if he comes anywhere near you.”
**
Tan had stayed true to his word on that one. And unfortunately, he had to walk away from a conversation with Bunn to do so.
“You shouldn’t have done that, Tan,” she said quietly, as he drove her home. “You should have kept talking to Bunn. I can handle Pued on my own.”
Tan stared straight ahead, jaw clenched, hands gripping the steering wheel a little too tightly. “He hit you, Jane. You think I was just going to stand by and let him treat you like that?”
“I said some hurtful things to him,” she muttered.
Tan turned his head, the disbelief evident in his eyes. “He slept with your sister. Of course you said some hurtful things to him. Anyone would. That doesn’t excuse him putting his hands on you like that. Are you seriously defending him?”
“No, no, I just…” She trailed off, her head spinning. All she wanted was to change out of this dress into her comfiest pajamas, burrow under the covers of her bed, and stay there the rest of the weekend. “I just never thought he’d do something like that.”
“I’m really sorry this happened to you, Jane,” Tan said softly, seeming to recognize that she wasn’t in the mood to say anything else on the matter.
They drove the rest of the way home in silence.
**
Over the next week, Jane did her best to avoid thinking about Pued at all costs. Luckily, his attempts to contact her had stopped, besides one text he’d sent her the morning after the party that simply said “sorry.”
Sorry.
One word.
As if one word could possibly be enough to make up for what he had done.
She shook her head, as if she could shake the thought of him right out of her mind. This wasn’t what she needed to be focusing on right now. She was heading to the hospital to have lunch with Bunn and she was taking Tan with her. Mostly because he’d begged her to when she’d mentioned her lunch plans. But maybe this could prove to be a good distraction for her. Her own love life was in complete shambles, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t help out her friends with theirs.
She watched as Tan’s eyes lit up as soon as Bunn rounded the corner, and she smiled, really smiled, for the first time since the incident at the party.
Perhaps she hadn’t become completely jaded and cynical.
“I thought you were coming alone,” Bunn said, as he reached out to hug her.
“I was going to, but Tan was desperate to see you,” she murmured in his ear as he pulled her close, hopefully quietly enough that Tan couldn’t hear her.
Bunn pulled away, and she a saw a small, pleased smile dance at the corner of his lips before he cleared his throat and rearranged his features into an expression of disinterest, as if anyone was going to buy that. He was the one who’d kissed Tan, after all.
She grinned. The two of them were going to make the cutest couple.
**
An hour later, she and Tan were heading back to her car when she heard someone shout her name.
They both turned, and Jane was surprised to see a doctor running towards them. She recognized her, but she didn’t know her name. How did the doctor know hers?
“Sorry,” the doctor said, coming to a stop in front of them. “I hope I didn’t startle you. Your Ariel keychain fell off your bag.”
Jane let out a little gasp. “Oh my god, thank you so much!” she exclaimed, as the doctor handed the keychain over. “I would have been devastated to lose her.”
“It’s really cute. I love the Little Mermaid,” the doctor said with a smile. “I’m Fai, by the way.”
Fuck Rungtiva. Fuck Por. Fuck that fucking judge, that fucking commander, that fucking captain. Fuck everyone involved. Fuck everyone who knew about it and didn’t do anything.
Jane was the only one that ever dared to go against all the evil shit in Viangpha Mork and she’s the one that had to die for something to happen. And I may hate the way Pat sticks his nose everywhere and steps on privacy like a Welcome! doormat but at least he had the balls.
And from the looks of the teaser, Rungtiva doesn’t feel enough remorse from pimping and killing her own sister to properly pay for her crimes.
Welp. At least we’re at the home stretch now. Last episode, folks!
You know it's really sad that the two closet people to Jane who both Jane and many other people thought would have her back were the exact two people who put her through the hell she went through and ruined her life for their own personal gains, Jane I am so sorry you had to go through what you did and you deserved so much better.
