Kong, Phiwit: Phiwit comes out, goes mute

Feeble Mum gets a double-dose of bad news in the Channel 5 soap, Tomorrow, I’ll Still Love You.

Phiwit has come out to Kong’s Mum, declaring in a double-whammy that he is brother-in-law of the woman who killed her daughter; and that he is gay and loves her son.

Kong’s Mum takes the news poorly, as you can imagine.

‘How can you come here? Even if Kong accepts you, I can’t!’ she says upon hearing the brother-in-law news.

Reason abandons her altogether when Phiwit declares seconds later that he loves Kong and will never leave him.

‘So...you’re...you’re...! she gasps.

Yes, dear. Gay.

Mum gets faint, falls back on chair, starts to scream, and tells Phiwit to clear off. Fat ladyboy helper and her whippersnapper-sidekick try to hustle him away.

That was Wednesday’s episode. By last night’s episode, relations between Mum and Phiwit have improved.

Mum entrusts Phiwit to Kong’s care, but under the guise of a different person. Kong, as we know, has lost his eyesight. He has also banished Phiwit from his presence, as he doesn’t want to burden him with his blindness.

Mum introduces Phiwit to her son as ‘Sak’, a carer she has hired to look after him.

‘He has hardly any Thai,’ she says, meaning that to maintain this pretense, Phiwit will have to be mute.

Later, she explains to Phiwit that she is trying to protect her son from getting hurt.

Phiwit is grateful, and doesn’t seem to mind the fact that he will never be able to talk to his boyfriend again.

Earlier, Phiwit turns up at Kong’s place. The household help tries to stop him getting in.

Meanwhile, Kong, who has lost his eyesight, is grasping around for the telephone but comes across an up-ended knife which some clumsy person has left, just where he can do himself harm.

Mum comes down the stairs, spots the knife, calls out. Phiwit makes a heroic dive to get it out of his boyfriend's way but ends up getting cut himself. Kong hears him exclaim in pain, and demands to know who else is present.

Mum spins a lie, and introduces Phiwit to her son as carer Sak. In the picture, she is guiding Sak’s hand to Kong’s own, so they can meet.

In their final scene, Kong shows Sak his pyjama top. He has done it up the wrong way, because he can’t see. 'I don’t imagine there’s anyone who wants to help me with this,’ he jokes.

Sak – oops, Phiwit – does it up for him again, because he loves him.

Kong grabs his hand and guides it to Phiwit’s face. Moment of danger...will he recognise this face as that of his banished gay lover?

The moment passes without incident. If Kong knows that it's really Phiwit standing in front of him, he doesn't let on.

Phiwit puts Kong to bed, but lingers in the bedroom a while, thinking about what could have been.

A preview of the next episode on Monday shows Kong taking a swing at Phiwit.

By then, the secret is out. Kong knows ‘Sak’ is not his new carer at all, but really his gay lover, whom he had banished. ‘Get away from me! Leave!’ he says.

Watch Wednesday’s coming-out scene here. Last night’s drama unfolds here, and here. The preview for Monday’s episode is here. Mercifully, the series ends next week.

New slum friend aka R the carer

R's stand sat just beyond this alleyway, which points towards the 7-11 

Walking home through the slum section opposite our place, I came across two men drinking.

I had seen one of them before, so sat down for a chat.

I was to spend the next three hours in their company, as a small chat turned into a marathon session.

‘R’ sells Thai liquor made with herbs and spices.

It tasted like honey, and rivalled in strength the store-bought whisky I pulled out of my bag.

The third man present, apart from R and me, was Uncle, a man in his 50s who sells fish.

R and Uncle sell their goods at the end of a quiet street which doubles as a small fresh market during the day. The market sits on the edge of a vacant piece of land which I cross to get home.

From soi Armorn looking backwards towards the alley

Uncle was drunk, and couldn’t stop kissing, hugging, and massaging me. A former muay Thai boxer, he wanted me to reciprocate his interest by admiring his arm muscles.

He flexed his arms, and asked me to take a free feel.

‘Uncle used to box, but had a motorcycle accident, so was forced to give it up,’ said R.

‘Look...my leg!’ said Uncle, pulling up his shorts leg. Half his calf muscle was missing.

Uncle, who was wearing a trader’s apron over his clothes, tried to give me money. R stuffed it back in his pouch.

‘Don’t give it to the farang...he only deals with large currency. He doesn’t know how to use 20 baht notes,’ he joked.

'Actually, I am not paid that much,' I said.

About midnight, as our session wound down, R walked Uncle back home. He lives nearby but needed an escort, as he could barely walk straight.

R was born in the North, is aged 22, and has a slight physique, similar to my boyfriend. I reckon R looks Thai-Chinese, but he denies it.

'My grandmother was Chinese, but I am all Thai,' he said.

'I live down there,' he said, pointing down one end of the street.

'...And my mother-in-law lives here,' he said, pointing to a place opposite us, 50m from the other place.

Two children, aged under 10, emerged from the mother-in-law's place to help R pack up shop.

'I have seen you down there. You look so intent on the task at hand,' he said to me, referring to my visits to the 7-11. 'When you go about your business, you rarely stop just to look around,' he said.

The end of the street where we drank, pointing towards the junction with soi Amorn

How true. I have probably passed R many times, but not seen him.

We had chatted here a few days before, when I was taken by his friendly manner and his smile.

My new friend R is a thinker, and a carer.

‘I know you like me, but I am married,’ said R, who likes to tease. ‘Destiny brought us together...but as friends.’

R’s wife turned up just before I left, to help him pack up his stall. A big girl, she sells goods in a department store.

‘Do you and R want a family?’ I asked her.

‘At the moment, we are saving. But if destiny wills it, then we will have kids.’

There was that destiny word again.

As I cut across the vacant plot, I turned to wave goodnight to my new friends. They live just five minutes away; if I want, we can meet every day.

Destiny may have brought us together, just as he says.

Kong, Phiwit: Phiwit makes no headway

Kong has lost his eyesight, and is still trying to drive boyfriend Phiwit out of his life.

In last night’s episode of Tomorrow, I’ll Still Love You, Kong’s shaky eyesight finally fails him altogether.

He tells Phiwit to leave, as he doesn’t want to be his burden. Phiwit retreats to his car for a cry.

Kong is in the garden with Toon, a fat ladyboy who acts as the family help.

Later, Phiwit reappears by Kong’s side, but chooses not to tell him he’s there.

At Phiwit’s prompting, Toon starts a conversation with Kong.

‘I hope you can get back together with Phiwit...why can’t things go back the way they were?’ she asks sadly.

Toon does not want to see Kong and Phiwit break up.

‘We can’t be together. It’s just impossible,’ says Kong, who is just as unhappy that their relationship has to end.

Phiwit can’t talk, or Kong would know he’s there, so writes messages to prompt Toon as she is talking to Kong.

‘But what if I want to care for him?’ he asks in one message.

Kong gets sick of talking about it, so the scene ends without a resolution.

See more stills at Bee Boa’s fansite here. The series continues tonight.

Green curry duck, user Thais, Kong, Phiwit: boredom sets in

Chef Maiyuu s pulled a large duck carcass out of the fridge yesterday, and like a professional butcher started cutting it up.

The meat went into the casserole. I thought he was making it for Golf - his friend with the pet Chihuahua – but in fact it was for us.

Golf, who regularly orders dishes from him, pays Maiyuu for the ingredients.

He makes meals and bakery dishes, which she takes home to her family. 'Mum likes duck...can you make duck?'

We pay for the electricity, gas, water, and anything else we haven’t bought the same day to prepare her dish.

Forget the coconut milk? Never mind, we’ll use our own!

Forget to buy wrapping plastic? No worries, we have plenty in spares.

Maiyuu also donates his labour and cooking skills, which I find upsetting. It’s not an ideal arrangement, but they are friends.

Golf does, however, have the good sense not to appear when our money is running short.

She usually visits us around payday, when we are still flush with cash and presumably don’t mind indulging her wishes.

Dear Golf, why don’t you and your Mum cook something, and invite Maiyuu around as your guest some time?

Friendship is a two-way thing. No one likes a leech.
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Kong looks in danger of losing his eyesight after his road accident in Tomorrow, I’ll Still Love You.

His eyesight is fine one moment, fades to blur the next.

In last night’s episode, when he realises he might go blind, he picks a fight with boyfriend Phiwit.

‘Don’t come back here...I don’t want to see you again,’ he says by the front gate. Phiwit is shocked, as they were getting along so well.

Moments before, they were teasing each other playfully in the kitchen, as Kong whipped up a quick meal.

Kong heats his cooking oil for a weary 10 minutes as he and his boyfriend exchange playful banter. ‘Sssss...’ goes the oil, raising this viewer’s tension levels.

When will Kong stop playing around with his mate, and get on with cooking?

As Kong’s oil bubbles away restlessly, Kong tells Phiwit to get a haircut, as his hair is too long.

‘Shall I cut it all off, and go skinhead?’ asks Phiwit.

‘No...I don’t like that,’ says Kong. He wants his boyfriend looking good, not like some bald-headed bodgie on a bike.

Phiwit leaves the kitchen, Kong’s eyesight fails again. Fade, blur, shaky cam.

Kong stumbles around his cooking space. Scary close-ups of the sautéed chicken and the angry wok follow.

Will he wear the cooking oil, and in a delicious helping of tragedy heaped upon ill-fate, end up facially disfigured as well?

Phiwit re-enters just at the right moment. The spatula has gone on a quick airborne journey across the kitchen, but apart from that, no drama has transpired.

Cooking-oil crisis averted, he asks if Kong is okay.

‘I think we’d better get you back to hospital!

Sitting in the garden, Kong commiserates with his sister and the household help over his likely fate as a blind man.

His Mum overhears them talking; she is shocked to discover that her son reckons he might lose his sight.

Oh piss off, woman. Your family keeps you in the dark, and you are too stupid to figure out what’s going on. You stopped being credible long ago; now you are just a pain.

Cut to the front gate. Phiwit has bought in food from outside. He gives it to the household help.

Kong presents himself at the gate and tells Phiwit to leave his life.

Unspoken, dramatic sub-text: If he does go blind, he doesn’t want Phiwit to have to carry the burden.

Kong picks up a hose and turns it on his boyfriend, trying to shoo him away.

Phiwit wrestles it off him, gets cross, and storms off.

‘When you’re ready to talk sense, call me,’ he says.

‘But you’re all wet. Hurry inside and change, or you’ll get a cold,’ he adds.

Gakkk. Director’s message to increasingly impatient audience: Phiwit and Kong are sweet, caring and protective of each other, no matter how many crises beset their lives.

Where most straight characters in the show have long ago abandoned any decorum as the pressure heaps on, Kong and Phiwit can still be decent to each other, despite the occasional fight or misunderstanding.

It’s this tender stuff which gets viewer fans of this gay coupling so excited.

Later, Kong and the household help (Toon, a fat ladyboy inserted for comic relief) turn up at the racetrack where Phiwit, a hi-so type, races cars.

As they watch from a distance, Phiwit is talking to a handsome young man who could be mistaken for his next gay wife.

Kong watches Phiwit, but doesn’t let him know he’s there.

‘How could you have found a new wife so fast!’ he’s thinking.

Kong’s eyesight fails again, so Toon hurries him away. I could go on, but by this stage I was sick of the show's melodrama, and was busy with other things.

Boyfriend Maiyuu and I jeered as we watched it.

It airs again tonight. I will carry on writing brief summaries, though to be honest I can’t wait for it to end.

Whatever gay promise that the Kong/Phiwit coupling once held has been dashed against the rocks of credulity. It’s just another ‘saow Y’ fantasy (girls who like to fantasise over gays). Anyone who tells you differently is a member of the ‘saow Y’ generation herself.

Here’s a definition of saow Y (เด็ก ตัวน้อยใสซื่อ) supplied by a denizen of the Pantip webboard:

สาว Y = สาวน้อยน่ารักใสซื่อไร้เดียงสาที่ชอบจินตนาการจับคู่ชายหนุ่ม A กับชายหนุ่ม B ให้เป็นแฟนกัน (แม้ที่จริงพวกเขาจะเป็นชายแท้ก็ตาม) ถึงแม้จะจินตนาการอย่างนั้นแต่แท้จริงหัวใจพวกเธอล้วนบริสุทธิ์ดังนางฟ้าตัวน้อยๆ

An expensive stomach

‘That’s an expensive stomach,’ said Maiyuu, giving my belly a disapproving prod.

‘No, not expensive...we just have to invest in it often,’ I said, referring to my large appetite, and the fact that I like to eat.

The day before pay day, our money has run out, as it usually does at this time.

‘If you sold it, you’d probably never get the investment back,’I added.

‘We could chop you up and sell it as kuay teow neua nam khon (beef noodles),’ suggested Maiyuu.

‘You could only sell it the once – once it’s gone, that’s it,’I replied.

‘Yes...but it would last all week,’ said Maiyuu.

Roll on pay day!