“Didn’t you trigger an alarm or whatever? Shouldn’t he have come running by now?”
Prin glanced at Scott. His indignation was weirdly attractive. “You might be surprised to learn that Elliott isn’t the most responsive.”
“Now that is a shocker,” Scott replied. His frown dissolved into a grin. “Sorry. Patience has never been a gift of mine. How about you tell me your story? To pass the time.”
“Me?”
“Yes. You’re a man of mystery. There must be something going on.”
Prin shifted in his seat. He’d never been comfortable telling the world about himself. He supposed it came from a life of hiding the real Prin Lum.
“Not sure where to start,” he said. “I’m twenty-seven. I have a feeling you already know that.”
Scott clutched his chest. “As if I would use my access to employee records to snoop.”
The innocence was not very convincing.
“Very well, I believe you,” Prin said. “I came to the UK eight years ago to study in Leeds.”
“Why the UK?”
Prin sighed. “I wanted to see what it was like to be myself.”
“Gay?”
“Yes.”
“Isn’t Thailand quite open?”
“Thailand isn’t so bad. My uncle, on the other hand, is.”
Understanding dawned on Scott’s face. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“My parents died five weeks before my tenth birthday. Uncle Decha took me in. He’s very conservative.”
“Not a good thing for a gay child?”
“Nope.”
Scott moved carefully on the toilet roll seat he had created. Prin felt guilty he had commandeered the chair immediately. Still, he needed access to the computer.
“Have you stayed here since?”
Prin shook his head. “No, I went home when I graduated. He and my father built a tech company in the nineties. The plan was for me to eventually take over.”
“What happened?”
“Something awful,” Prin said. “That I won’t go into. Just to say, my uncle insisted I leave Bangkok. I managed to get a visa for England and here I am.”
“Prin, that’s awful. And you’ve been here since then?”
Prin nodded. “Just over a year. I’m due a visit home. My nanny rang me at a crazy time this morning just to tell me.”
“Nanny?”
“Uncle didn’t have time.”
Prin did not want to continue this conversation. The conversation with Nanny had unsettled him. His uncle had banished him, but what if he was ill? Prin would never forgive himself if something happened.
