In the evening when the doctor is checking the patient, Aom looks over at Kimhan who is sitting not so far away and ask with a stiff voice.

“So how much do we have to pay you?”

The black eyes look back at Aom with a confusing look, that innocent look made her voice become softer.

“For the medicine, how much do we need to pay you?”

“Why do you have to pay me?” Kimhan answers back.

“Be..because….”Aom stutter a bit, “because it’s our responsibility”

“It’s the doctor’s responsibility to help sick people”

“But we’re not Japanese, it’s not the doctor’s responsibility to help us”

“But your grandma is a human being, it doesn’t matter if she’s Thai or Japanese. It’s the moral thing to do for a doctor. As for me…” Kimhan smile at her a bit with profound look.

“I also have the morality from one human to another! Even if you don’t see me like other human being!”

After that Kimhan turns away from Aom and didn’t glance back at her. Aom was sitting there speechless with a stiff neck and red face.

The doctor is finishing up but before he packs up, Kimhan went over and whisper something to him. The doctor nodded his head and turn to ask the petite girl.

“How is your hand?”

Mrs.Orn seems to understand the question and quickly turn to her daughter,

“Honey, you should let the doctor see your hand a bit, it was so swollen this morning”

Now every pair of eyes is on Aom, so she has to unwillingly extend her hand out to the doctor slowly.

“I’m ok…not a big deal…I’ll be ok tomorrow”

“This is bad” the doctor murmur, “Do you feel pain?”

“Not much”

“Hey Doc, I think you should give her a shot” Kimhan said it to the doctor in a serious voice

“NO!” Aom quickly jerk her hand back

Kimhan tried to hold in the laughter and at that moment Aom knows she has been fool. Aom looks at Kimhan like a strict teacher looking at a naughty child, and that playful smile makes her even madder.

The doctor look in his bag and handed her a bottle.

“Rub this on your hand where is hurt, you don’t need to wrap it”

Aom open the cap and smell it, “Eww…this ointment smell bad!”

“Oil…men…” Kimhan try to repeat what Aom said, which made Aom smile a bit

Mrs.Orn laugh and said, “No, not oilmen , ointment”

Kimhan smiles at Mrs.Orn and tilt one’s head side to side, “Hurr…Thai language is so hard”

“I thought you study a lot with Ta Pol, and today you speak fluently” said Mrs.Orn, which made Kimhan laugh

“I did study…but um didn’t speak to anyone….so forgot…today I write down…and try to memorize it… and try to speak it….um” Kimhan snap one’s fingers like trying to think of the word, the petite girl is annoy by it so she help Kimhan out.

“faster…”

Kimhan looks at the petite girl and said, “Yeah…faster, try to say everything faster…so it seems…like I know how to speak Thai”

“You are always welcome here and practice Thai language anytime. Have you ever eaten Thai food before?” said Orn but Kimhan doesn’t seem to understand the last question, so Kimhan turns to Aom for translation. Aom then has to translate unwillingly and very shortly to Kimhan.

“No” answers Kimhan after knowing the question

“Then please come here tomorrow evening for dinner, the doctor too ok?”

Aom looks at her mom but Mrs.Orn still insist and ask Aom to translate what she said.

“Honey, can you translate it for me? Tell them I want to invite them here for dinner tomorrow”

So Aom was force to translate it, the doctor hesitate to answer back but Kimhan smiles, accept the invitation quickly and bow one’s head.

“Thank you very much for your invite!”

That gesture made the doctor bow his head as well. Aom keeps quiet until both of them leave. As soon as they went downstairs, Aom turn to her mom and said,

“Mom, why do you have to invite them?”

“They help us a lot with Grandma, this is the least we can do to repay them”

“But I think…”

“It’s up to you what you think, but for me we should be nice to people who help us. They help us without hesitation or us asking for help. I want to show them kindness, to let them know that we appreciate what they’ve done for us”

Aom knows that when her mom use this kinda voice, she can’t change her mind, so Aom just keep quiet and walk back to her room. Mrs.Orn can’t help but sigh.

“It’s not Aom’s fault you know?” said the old lady while looking at Mrs.Orn.

Mrs.Orn looks back at her mom with a confusing look, “What do you mean?”

“I said the reason Aom is stubborn, arrogant and have so much pride in herself is not her fault. It’s because of you and me, we raise her to be that way. Do you remember when she was a kid? When she cried, you would always tell her to not cry out loud and keep it inside so people would see that she’s brave. This made her to be stubborn and have confident in her own thought. Whatever she thinks is right she would not listen