School hours proceeded as usual. The Grade 12 students were deeply focused, as there were many test subjects to practice. During recess, some students relaxed to clear their minds. At night, they continued with extra private tutoring, While kan was busy at her job.
She carried dishes and cleaned tables quickly, looking more skilled than before; even the owner praised her. Her friendly smile toward the customers was sometimes genuine and sometimes forced human emotions fluctuate naturally. Although she didn't seem very focused at school, it didn't mean she didn't study at home. Even if she no longer felt the same drive or comfort as before, she now tried her best. Even if the results remained the same, she had nothing more to say; staying quiet and working hard was enough.
At 11:00 PM, kan's eyes grew heavy with sleep. She tried to wake herself up by walking back and forth in her room before sitting down again to finish the exercise sheet she was working on. Suddenly, Sina messaged her, making her raise an eyebrow in thought.
"Senior! I heard that during the school Sangkran, you were looking for an earring pendant?"
"How do you know, Sina?"
"I just heard tuna's friends talking about it. I helped look for it too, but didn't find anything. Did you find it yet?"
"Not yet! Thanks anyway, Sina. Don't worry about it, it'll just give you a headache."
"But… was it your pendant? Or did it belong to someone else?"
Kan paused to think. Suddenly, the memory of that day flashed back, making her shiver and waking her up instantly from her sleepiness. She told Sina that during the Sangkran, she had run away from her friends to hide in the bathroom and heard faint groaning sounds from the next stall. When she peeked in, she saw two people having sex. On the other side of the screen, Sina smirked slightly.
"Why were you looking for that pendant then? And you probably didn't see those people clearly, did you?"
"Mmm! You're right, I didn't see them clearly! I don't know, I just wanted to know who it was. Whatever! I just know that person lost an earring pendant, but I don't know what it looks like. If I can't find it, it's fine; I've lost interest. I just can't believe they dared to do that!"
Sina sent a "thinking" emoji. She promised that now that she knew the story, she wouldn't tell anyone. Kan didn't expect much and stopped worrying about it. What she cared about now was money and what major to study. Before going to sleep, she scrolled through Facebook and saw Hana posting more cat pictures, which made kan smile. She also saw Siv posting a picture of Cha spey (fried cabbage) grown in her own backyard. This made kan's mouth water; she felt hungry and went downstairs to the kitchen in the middle of the night.
She fried an egg, made fried rice, and took a cold Coca-Cola from the fridge to drink. While sitting and eating deliciously, she suddenly heard dogs barking. It made her think of her father; it had been several days since he returned from Siem Reap and went back to work. The dogs barked for a long time, which felt strange to kan. She opened the curtain slightly to look out toward the front gate, but she saw nothing.
The next morning, kan arrived at yawning, not having had enough sleep. She had rushed to clean herself up and make her own breakfast before leaving. Along the road near kan's house, if one walked a little further, they would see a crowded commotion. She saw people huddling around and went to look. The person standing nearby was wearing the same school uniform as her; he had seen the news on his phone, but kan hadn't checked her phone cause it's not her habit in the morning, so she didn't know. He had rushed there quickly to see the site. Just as kan arrived, he saw her and immediately reached out to cover her eyes.
"What happened? Who is this? San?" She tried to pull his hand away. It was indeed San. She didn't wait long to look; it was just a police line cordoning off an area. People were staring, and the things that shouldn't be seen had already been taken for forensic examination. Reporters outside were trying to film and interview witnesses. Kan overheard some parts early in the morning, while someone was jogging, they screamed in shock. It was the body of an older woman, about 45 years old. She wasn't from this village (Village 3); she was from Village 2. Kan saw that female police officer ! She smiled and bowed respectfully, then checked the time and hurried away. San took a deep breath; he saw kan looking at him with an annoyed expression.
"Why did you have to cover my eyes? I'm not the type of person to be afraid! Besides, there's no body!" As she said this, she felt a slight chill. Who was it? Village 2 was where Hana lived. They walked to the corner just as Hana came out.
"Oh? Why is San here too?" Hana asked. San asked her back because she looked like she had no idea what had happened. When told, Hana looked shocked; she hadn't heard anything and was a heavy sleeper. She was surprised that so many people were out so early. They walked until they reached the "Soup Auntie's" house and saw a huge crowd. Some people were crying. Kan went silent and then exclaimed, "Or was it her?" Hana and San looked at her face. San mentioned that someone had gone missing from Village 2 and the body was found in Village 3, not far from kan's house. He spoke with a worried face, looking at kan. Among the crowd was a young boy crying, but he was told by his father to go to school first while the father handled things at home. The boy had no heart to go to school. Kan remembered him; he was the Class President of 11F. She had seen his face while checking Facebook profiles before it turned out he was the son of the Soup Auntie. She took a deep breath, making Hana and San ask if she knew that student.
"I don't know him! I've just seen him once. I can't believe he's the victim's son." Hana added, "A few days ago when I went jogging, I always saw the Soup Auntie. She woke up early to make breakfast to sell every morning. I just smiled when I saw her. But lately, she stopped sometimes and sold sometimes. Seeing that change, I decided to go ask her what was wrong, but she just smiled and said nothing was wrong, just that her health wasn't very good. I told her to take care. I haven't been jogging lately because I've been staying up late studying and was too sleepy."
Kan remembered the earlier incident and asked San, "Why did you cover my eyes?" "Fine, I'll tell you. I was afraid that if you saw it, you'd feel uneasy since it's not far from your house." "I don't know why you covered them; I saw nothing anyway. But wait! Last night I heard dogs barking very loudly. I tried to peek outside but saw nothing!" San flicked kan's forehead. "Why are you so brave to peek like that? Lucky you didn't go out. What if something happened!" Hana said they shouldn't just walk past; they should go in and check a bit.
They saw that male police officer again, inside the house. The kids smiled and greeted him respectfully. They realized that today was supposed to be a normal selling day for the Soup Auntie, but… how did this happen? They went to see the student. Kan started first, saying she was with Sina during the New Year and had asked…
"Are you the Class President of 11F?" The boy looked at her and then at Hana; he seemed to recognize Hana and nodded. He looked like he was in no condition to go to school. Hana asked if his homeroom teacher knew yet. He said he had told the teacher, but he didn't want the people at school to know, so he asked the teacher not to tell anyone. He asked the seniors not to talk about it. He didn't believe his mother committed suicide.
"Exactly! If she were going to kill herself, why would she wake up to prepare the soup for breakfast?" "It's my fault for not waking up to help Mom!" kan told him to be strong. When things got better, she and Sina wouldn't forget their promise. She apologized for bringing it up now, as it wasn't the right time. "It's okay, Senior. Just as you said. You guys go to school; I'm not going." "Mmm! Take care of your dad and your siblings!" Hana said, and then they headed to school.
"Before the final exams and the break, I used to eat her noodle soup in the morning; it was so delicious!" kan said. She turned back, wondering, "Why did the police initially conclude it was suicide?" san looked at Kan as if to say she was getting involved in someone else's business again.
Sun mentioned, "There were two or three medicine cans in there, I don't know what kind, and pills were scattered." kan wondered, if she committed suicide, why choose that place? Turning to see Hana was quiet, kan explained that Hana shouldn't feel scared and shouldn't go jogging in the morning anymore because…
"I'm not afraid of ghosts! And you tell me not to be afraid, but kan, you look like the one who is afraid of ghosts!" "That's not true! Fine, let's go to class!" In reality, kan was afraid of ghosts. She was afraid that if Hana went jogging in the morning, she might meet the spirit of the deceased, especially since Hana used to eat at the shop of the woman who died.
Soon they arrived at school, and no one had mentioned the incident yet. Mala came to ask Hana why she was late today. "Oh, I was busy walking and talking, I forgot to check the time." Suddenly, the Physics teacher arrived. Today he wasn't wearing his blazer; he was wearing a white shirt similar to the students. He wrote on the board with his back turned. Kan felt strange; she felt it looked familiar. She remembered the back of the man in the bathroom. When that man arched his back, and now the Physics teacher was arching his back while writing… it was too similar. Recalling the image of the Physics teacher's actions made her shake her head. So scary. He is so polite; how could he act so fast like that? Am I concluding it's him? No, that can't be! She tried to look at his back again. Suddenly, he saw kan looking at him as if observing something, so he called her up to do an exercise. While she was up there, she caught a glimpse of the teacher's hand. Oh my god, it's so similar! But she thought all men have similar hands and backs, so she tried to distract herself and did the exercise. Soon, the recess bell rang, and students rushed to the canteen for breakfast.
Siv saw kan playing with her soup! She asked kan what she was doing and what she was thinking about. This made kan turn back to scoop the soup and eat it immediately, burning her tongue. "Ouch! Ouch! So hot!" "Hey, what's wrong with you?" kan stuck out her tongue and fanned it; Siv helped fan her tongue to cool it down. They saw Hana just staring at her soup. Siv was very confused what was wrong with them? One was stirring soup without thinking, and the other was staring at it blankly.
"Hey! Hana!" "Huh? Oh, kan, what happened?" Hana jumped up to help kan immediately. Kan and siv were speechless did she just see it? "If I had died, would you only just realized I'm dead?" kan teased. Hana took a deep breath and then ate her breakfast like everyone else. They were surprised again when kan ate very quickly and told them she was going down first and not to forget to buy water for her; she'd pay them back in class. She rushed off to follow Hav, who had also just left after finishing his breakfast. Her action of running after Hav was seen by Lin, who had Chhay sitting nearby. Seeing Chhay turn to look, she asked what he was looking at. "The matter isn't even settled yet, and she's still following and asking him?"
Chhay denied it immediately and gave some meat to Lin. He asked, "Why didn't I see your friends coming with you?" "They brought breakfast from home and are eating in the classroom." Lin then asked Chhay if he was looking at kan or Hav just now. "If it was Hav, I'm sorry." She was about to ask more about the relationship between Hav and Chhay, but Chhay smiled, pinched her cheek slightly, and immediately went to buy milk for Lin. "He always avoids the topic whenever I talk about Hav!"
As for kan, she shouted for Hav from a distance to stop for a moment. Hav turned to see her, but he didn't care. "Hey!" The loud voice made everyone walking nearby turn to look at kan and the person walking in front of her. Seeing this, Hav turned to look at her again and stopped. Kan ran up to him, out of breath. "Hey! Right, during the New Year I forgot to ask you! But now that I know don't just say nonsense to the police about Sun again!" "What? Are you hurt? I just told the truth. Is there something to hide?" kan was stunned for a moment and said, "No! It's just that some people are afraid the police will ask and don't want Grandma to know, so they shift the story toward Sun!" Hav just looked at kan's face without saying anything. As he was about to walk away, she asked, "Is your Class President coming?" "Why ask? Want to ask something about the Class President? Is there another problem?" "Oh! Are you worried? Just answer!" "He didn't come." "Why didn't he come?" "I don't know either. The teacher said he's busy." kan now knew the teacher really hadn't told anyone. He must be angry with her.
Back in class, she whispered to Hana that no one in 11F knew about this morning's event. Hana looked at her with disbelief why did Kan have to be so nosey as to ask about their class? "I just wanted to be sure because he seemed very unsettled. So Hana, help tell him that no one knows!" "kan, you really are a nosey person!" Hana teased with a smile. Suddenly, Shiv came back from the bathroom, grumbling that a group of students had made the bathroom a mess with water everywhere and told Hana to go clean it during recess. "They really are daring! Based on what? It's okay, Hana, I've cleaned it already!" Hana got up to help tidy up Shiv's appearance a bit, as she looked messy. She told Shiv she didn't have to do it for her; she'd do it herself. Mala asked Shiv, "Who was it?" Kan and Siv looked at Mala; nearby, Liv signaled "don't tell." He felt that if they told Mala, she would go pick a fight with them and cause trouble. But Shiv was very annoyed with them and said, "It's the 'Pretty Girls' group from classes 12C, G, F, and D. They won't use the bathroom on their floor, but because one member is from Class C, they came to the second-floor bathroom and made a mess."
Having heard this, and since the teacher was coming in, Mala said nothing, waiting for class to end. It was History hour, and it was group work again. Since the teacher didn't want to waste time forming new groups, they used the old groups, which made Mala and kan very tense. Mala, Liv, kan, and Than were in the same group again!