The Middle

The following day my boyfriend called me to ask me about my weekend. After hearing that, he got mad. I should understand why. His ex had said the same thing and she got an affair with her boss. He assumed I must be the same. I hated when he acted like that. I wouldn’t explain anything as long as anger overwhelmed him.

He said he wouldn’t contact me again. I said fine but I told myself he’s just in a rage. And if he wasn’t calling me, I would call him – I got his number. Normally, he called me because he knew I didn’t have a cellphone and staffs were not allowed to use office phones for external calls. But the following day some pickpocket took my wallet on the way to my work. His number was in it.

I didn’t love him but I liked him. Between us there’s no intimate relationship. Still, each day I was waiting for him to call me. My waiting started from one day to one week, one month, one year and three years. My endless waiting came to an end when another guy told me to give myself one more chance with him. He was my second boyfriend. We broke up three years later.



That’s when I started looking for Frawco again. I knew not many things about him and it’d been six years since we separated. I remembered the area name where he lived. But it’s not his property and he might have moved out. I had nothing to lose. I used to call his home once or twice so I started looking for familiar numbers in a phone directory. Years ago the phone directory was thick because it contained all fixed-line numbers in Bangkok.

I turned on each page patiently just to look for familiar numbers and make a call later. But nobody knew him. I turned on the last page but I had not found him.

Remembering that he was a member at a sports club at a luxury hotel not far from his office, I called the hotel for help. The receptionist was a girl. She was extremely nice to me and impressed with my story. She wished she could help but my ex’s membership expired years ago and the hotel did not keep his record.

He used to tell me he knew a manager at a bank. I contacted the bank to put me through to the woman. But it’s against the bank’s policy. I was telling my co-worker about this when a female manager happened to hear our conversations. She came to me saying her friend worked for the bank and she would ask for help.

I finally got the manager’s direct number. She was a manager six years ago but when I called her she’s a director. I told her why I was calling. She said she wished to help but she did not remember she had ever known my ex. I had no luck but I didn’t give up.

I did not know what inspired me to write to a column in the Bangkok Post. It’s a long letter but I had no anticipations. I just knew that I must try every possible way to find him. A week later while I was working, my mobile rang. I answered the call. A foreigner said he read my letter and was so impressed that he must call to wish me the best of luck by himself. I was still confused. He told me to buy today’s copy of the Bangkok Post.

After this line about 10 lines came in and lots of SMS’s. I don’t know if I was unique but all of them had never found someone like me. They said mine was a wow story and they would help me look for the man.

One thing I wasn’t sure about my ex was whether or not he’s still in Thailand. If not, I should try some newspapers in Italy. I didn’t know Italian but they should know English. I selected a few newspapers in Italy and e-mailed them without realizing that they were sports newspapers.