Imagine there was a young beautiful girl. She came to you. You slept with her as you slept with any other woman. There was no difference. With a lot of alcohol in your brain, you couldn’t see any difference. You did it exactly as you had done it a thousand times before.

But for her, it was her very first time. You just realized when you woke up, there was blood in your bed. What would you do?

I’m a businessman. My father is a businessman. What kind of other job do you expect me to do? Once your father is a businessman, you have to become a businessman. This is a ridiculous family tradition. Nobody can change it. And it became the slogan that we always said to foreigners: You don’t come here to change Cambodia; after two years Cambodia will change you.

I had just gotten back from France. I missed the perfume of the French girls. But I missed home too, especially my Mum. She’s the most beautiful mother in the world. I couldn’t make her wait for me again and again.

After 7 years in France, I came back to take over my father’s business. I was 25 years old. He gave me an office, a car and two bodyguards. I never liked the idea of having those guys around. He insisted. He said it was necessary; when you are rich in a poor country, you could be the target of a kidnaper for money. I believe him. I don’t know how much I hate this; but I still help my father do business. It’s like the story of “The Godfather”. We have families and a lot of people’s lived depend on us. Since you live your life for others, it’s rare for you to get a chance to live your own life. But there’s nothing for you to complain about. At the end of the day, there’s always a way to live your own life.

Our company runs all kinds of businesses: hotels, banks, restaurants. We serve as business consultants and set up companies. We welcome all investors who want to do business in Cambodia. We help them with all the administrative, regulative and legal issues. They just come, sign a contract with us, transfer the money into our account, and tomorrow they have their company. We share the benefit. That’s what I admire about my father. He built the connection. In country like this you got to know people. You give them what they need they give you back what you need. The rest is the money.

I’ve watched “Scarface”, but I’ve never imagined that those things are really true. It was just only The American Dream, until Malai came to my life. It was exactly like Tony said: “This country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the women.”

Malai came to me with her own will. I don’t know how long she’d been watching over me. I often have business dinners at the club where Malai works, however I’ve never paid any attention to her. One night she came and sat next to me while I was having dinner with some Koreans who had just come to Cambodia and were looking to do business with us. I wanted to entertain them a little bit. I could not believe what heavy drinker they were. There were just four people and me. We finished four bottles of Whisky, and they still could walk.

They kept saying:
- “Kampae … Kampae …” (meaning “cheers” in Korean)

I said back to them:
- “Take care your own girl! So that she doesn’t walk away from you.”

I was drunk. When I woke up I saw a girl sleeping next to me. It’s just an ordinary thing in this world. There’s nothing strange about it. It always happens to me. Most of the time, I don’t even remember whom I’ve slept with the other nights. As usual after a night of heavy drinking, I feel thirsty after waking up in the morning. My insides are burning. I need some cold water to cool me down. I got up, turned on the light and went to the fridge for a cold bottle of water. As I was walking back to my bed, I saw the beautiful figure of a girl's body, coverd by a thin blanket, sleeping comfortably on my bed by the look on her face. She was still in a deep sleep. Maybe she was dreaming of something. She looked so young, I started to realize. I sat down in the bed as I looked at her face closer, she looked so lovable. I pulled off the blanket. I wanted to see the mystery of the world.

She woke up, pulled herself away from me to the other side of the bed. Then she quickly covered herself and hid back under the blanket. She might be shy I guessed. I smiled to her and said:
- “That’s OK! I am just kidding.”

I got up wanting to go to the bathroom but then I started to realize something. There was something on the bedsheet that she just moved, something was red as blood. I believed it was blood. I asked myself where the hell that blood came from. My body was shaking, sweat cover my body. I swear to god, I’ve never been as scared as that morning. I felt like I had fallen down from the sky.

I started to remember what happened last night. I brought her here to this room. I took a bath. I also asked if she wanted to have a bath together. She said no. I thought this girl might be shy. I left her alone and she took the bath just after me. I remembered I went to knock on the door of the bathroom many times. She kept me waiting so long in the empty bed. Finally she came out but she really didn’t know where to start.

I wondered:
- Are you sick or something?

She said:
- No,

I didn’t understand why she had to react that way. I asked:
- Then why? You don’t want to do it?

She asked me to turn off the light. I was the one who started everything. I started to remember. The more I thought, the more my body was trembling.

I asked her many times:
- What is this? What is this?

I asked her so many times as I became more scared. It was coming deep inside me. I felt like I had done something very wrong. It was terrible. She moved quickly to hide the blood with her blanket. I was waiting for her answer. She had to say something. I was completely depressed and impatient.

My heart beat so fast, I asked her:
- Is it your first time? How old are you?

She remained calm; her silence was totally killing me. Luckily it didn’t last too long.

She started to give my life back when she said:
- 18, I was 18 yesterday…

I said:
- 18? You got an ID? What’s your name? You work in the club, right?

She said:
- No, I don’t have ID, but tomorrow I can make one if you want…

I continued:
- OK, So you work in club right? What’s your name?

She looked down and told me her name:
- Malai …

I continued:
- Malai, what are you doing? What are you doing here …?

I couldn’t find the right words to say. It was more than words; there were no words to express exactly how I felt at that time.

- Don’t worry! I know what I am doing (she replied).

I quickly replied:
- Oh, you know what you are doing. You know it? Are you sure you know what you are doing? Oh Jesus Christ!

I was in a panic and I just laughed. I don’t know why… I laughed a while so that my fear dissipated.

I thought she might need money, I asked her:
- What do you want from me?

She looked at me with her gentle eyes and said:
- Nothing,

I couldn’t believe it, I said to her:
- Nothing? You do this for nothing? Come on! How much do you want?

She looked away from me and said:
- I don’t want to go home.

I asked:
- What happened? Why don’t you want to go home?

She answered me with her sad voice:
- I hate my brother, he hit me.

I started to be curious about what happened to her, I asked:
- Why did he hit you?

She continued:
- He needs money … he needs money for buying drugs, pills … gambling. I don’t want to see him anymore. I am scared.

But she might not know how much I was scared at that time. I told her:
- Well… You make me scared too…

She looked at me. She started to stare at me and I liked her when she stared at me like that. I felt something. There’s nobody who stared at me like that before. She seemed a little bit happy when she saw me panic.

I couldn’t let her be happy like that, I asked her:
- What you want me to do?

My question stopped her definitively from smiling. She started to look seriously at me. She was about to say something but she hesitated. She was about to talk but she couldn’t speak. I remembered that look. It was exactly the same look in my mother’s eyes when I left her to live in Paris. But how this girl has such sentimental feelings for me? I've just met her. I just knew her yesterday.

That look told me that she had many things to say to me. But why she didn’t say anything? I couldn’t understand. I waited for an explanation.

But she finally gave up everything. She didn’t say a word, she just asked:
- Can I live here for a while?

I didn’t really get what she meant. I asked her back:
- You mean in this room? You want to stay at this hotel?

She replied:
- Yes, Can you pay for me?

If it was only that, she saved my day. I told her:
- Sure, sure there’s no problem, you can stay as long as you want.

I waited to hear if she would need something else. But she didn’t ask for anything else.
I asked for her confirmation:
- That’s all?

She replied with an expression as if ignoring me:
- Yes, that’s all.

I insisted on asking her:
- That’s all? You don’t want to see the doctor or something?

She forced herself to smile and replied:
- No I am OK. Can I go to the bathroom? I want to go to the bathroom.

I knew I couldn’t make her stay any longer, even one more minute. I told her:
- Sure, sure… go ahead.  

Continue