Chapter 5 – Chapter 5
The morning after the concert, Amnad's chauffeured Mercedes pulled up into the forecourt of the Hua Hin palace. Lars handed Amnad into the backseat and Amnad slid over as the chauffeur put their luggage in the trunk. They were going back to resume the work on the staging for the Rigoletto performances at the Bangkok Opera before Lars returned to Germany.
Other than viewing them from afar during a triumphant Chopin concert the previous evening, Lars hadn't been close to or talked to either Krit or Somsri since the last sexual encounter in their hut. He'd given the previous night to Amnad, who was dancing on the clouds from the success of the concert, and whom Lars rewarded by fucking him in four different positions of the male Kama Sutra, something that Amnad, totally unaware of the sexual tension drama that had been storming around him, indeed considered a reward. As far as Amnad was concerned, Lars had been there solely for him.
As Lars was about to fold himself into the backseat of the Mercedes beside Amnad, he hesitated, seeing Somsri rushing at him from across the expanse of grass in front of the palace's Thai-style wing. He walked away from the car and met her several paces onto the grass. He grabbed her waist and held her at arms' length as she approached to prevent her from flying into his arms and becoming a spectacle for speculation by Amnad, who was bending down and peering at them from inside the Mercedes.
Somsri had been crying, and she was in a state of dishabille—which, Lars had to admit, was quite sexy for anyone moved by a beautiful woman in distress.
"Lars, I don't care, I—"
"Shush," Lars muttered. "Keep your voice down, or I'll have to go back to the car instantly."
"Lars, I don't care," she repeated in sotto voce, with a sob, "I don't care what you and Krit do. I don't care what Krit does. I want to be with you. Don't leave me."
"I'm only going back to Bangkok," he answered, his mind cranking at high speed, seeing a glimmer of hope for his mission. If dissonance didn't work on Krit's clutching at harmony, how centered would he be in this musical fantasy of Somsri and him if Somsri wasn't there? If, for instance, she was in Germany until Krit gave in and appeared there too?
"Just to Bangkok," he repeated. "I will be there for a couple of weeks, working on Rigoletto. We needn't stop seeing each other, if you want."
After placating her, Lars entered the Mercedes far happier and more confident that he'd been last night. He waved to Somsri, now smiling and her eyes gleaming through teardrops, and looked past her and across to the steps up to the Thai-style pavilions, where Krit now stood.
As the car pulled out of the forecourt, Lars looked back and his confidence took a little hit. Krit had come down the steps and encircled Somsri in his arms from behind, and she'd leaned her head back into his shoulder—looking entirely too content for Lars' liking.
When the Mercedes had pulled out into the road, Lars leaned over toward Amnad, encircled him with an arm and turned Amnad's face to his for a kiss-while his other hand found Amnad's basket. The chauffeur eyed them through the rear-view mirror. Lars was well aware of both men, choosing the refined approach with Amnad and something far rougher with the chauffeur. Both seemed to enjoy what they got, though. It was just this versatility in a smashing package that had prompted Heinrich Heller to send Lars to Thailand in the first place.
Coming out of the kiss, Lars said to Amnad, "I've been thinking of your offer to move to your house while we work on Rigoletto. I think it would be better for me to keep my hotel room. Our encounters then could be so much more arousing and sensual—illicitly delicious."
Putty in his hands, Amnad innocently moaned his agreement. The chauffeur smiled and returned his attention to the road. No, he thought, that's not a man who wants to be pinned down too much by one man. Truly a man of dissonance rather than harmony.