Ploy Rattanakorn's Arc

Chapter 5 of 3

Thirteen years passed. The video Raven held never surfaced. Elliot married Ploy instead of Ava. Now Ploy stood inside a bright science camp with painted rockets on the porch. She had taken a counselor job here for one reason. Ava worked here too. Every morning they signed the same clipboard, and every morning Ploy smiled like it cost her nothing. Ava arrived with two kids and a cousin trailing behind. Ava still wore soft floral things, still spoke in bursts. "Morning. So, the telescopes are set up. Because the kids want stars." She never once looked Ploy in the eye. Ploy hated her more for that. Ava's daughter, Riley, walked at her side. Ploy knew the girl was Elliot's too, from before. That fact sat in her chest like a stone. Sofia slid up beside Ploy at the sign-in desk. Ava's cousin had followed Ploy for years, pink sneakers and all, still hungry to please her. "I heard something," Sofia said, flat. "Ava's been leaving the little kids alone by the pond. Maxwell. Her son." Ploy's heart jumped. This was it. Proof Ava was a bad mother, in front of everyone. "Show me," Ploy said. "Today." At lunch, Sofia led Ploy to the pond deck. Maxwell sat alone at the water's edge, throwing pebbles. No adult near him. Ploy pulled out her phone and filmed. "See?" she whispered. "She left him. I'll send this to Elliot." Then Riley stepped in front of the camera. The girl's boots planted wide. "Stop," Riley said. "My mom told me to watch him. She's getting bandaids. He scraped his knee." Riley pointed at Maxwell's leg. A thin red line ran down his shin. Ploy lowered the phone. Ava came back running, a bandaid in her hand, breathless. She dropped beside Maxwell and pressed it to his knee. Then she saw Ploy's phone still up. "You were filming him," Ava said. Her voice shook, then steadied. "So this is what you do. Still. After everything." She stood. For the first time in thirteen years, Ava looked Ploy straight in the eye. "I know you married Elliot. I don't care anymore. But you leave my kids alone." Other counselors had stopped walking. They watched. Sofia had drifted back, saying nothing, protecting only herself. Ploy stood holding a phone with nothing on it but a boy and his sister and a bandaid. The camp director called Ploy inside that afternoon. A parent had complained about a counselor filming children. Ploy was suspended from the pond duty and put on notice. Ploy walked to her car alone. Her plan to shame Ava had flipped and cut her instead. But Sofia caught her at the gate, quiet and quick. "Elliot," Sofia said. "He still doesn't know Riley is his by Ava. Use that." Ploy stopped. A new, colder idea took root.