A proud father suddenly discovered his 14-year-old son was not his own child, but instead a boy his wife got from a woman who was unable to raise the baby - but on Monday the story had a happy ending.
On Sunday, the man and his son went to the Pavena Foundation for Children and Women to seek help tracking down the boy's biological parents. Now that the long-hidden truth was out, the father wanted to adopt the boy legally.
The 52-year-old man, identified only as Ake from Samut Prakan, said his wife was from Phuket. They had been married for 15 years and had only one child.
A few months ago, when his wife was visiting relatives in Phuket, Mr Ake wanted to take his son to get an identification card. For that, he needed the boy's birth certificate - which he found out had been stored in a locked cabinet. After forcing it open, they found a lot more than they bargained for.
On close examination, the papers showed a different name for the boy. The birth certificate was in the name of a boy born on the same day to a couple living in the northeastern province of Sakon Nakhon.
Mr Ake asked his son, who said he had always used the name his mother told him to use. She said not to tell Mr Ake because then she would not be able to stay with him at the house. The boy had followed his mother’s instruction without realising what was behind it.
Mr Ake said he realised the boy might not be his son because 15 years ago he was often away, working in other provinces. His wife had told him she was pregnant and wanted to stay in Phuket. She refused to allow him to visit her during the pregnancy, and told him to come and collect her only after the child’s birth.
Mr Ake did not ask too many questions because he was glad to have a son. They had raised the boy, with the mother taking care of everything. He had seen only photocopies of his son's school reports.
Mr Ake said that after seeing the papers he worried that his wife may have stolen the child from someone else. He asked her, and she eventually told him she got the boy from a friend who already had six children and was unable to care for a seventh. She had done this because she could not conceive and was worried he would stop loving her.
After the truth was revealed, the wife again went to stay with relatives in Phuket. The boy was worried that his father would no longer love him, but Mr Ake insisted he would always be his son.
He decided to seek help finding the biological parents.
Foundation chairman Pavena Hongsakul later contacted the chief of Toa Ngoi district in Sakhon Nakhon, which is shown as the address of the parents on the birth certificate.
District chief Poonsuk Thapaengphan had found the couple, who confirmed they gave their son away when he was born because they were poor and worried that they could not afford to raise him. They were willing to make the adoption legal, he said.
Foundation staff took Mr Ake and his son to meet the boy's biological parents on Monday.
At a teary meeting at Tao Ngoi district office, the mother said she and her husband worked in Phuket in 2002. When she gave birth to the boy, another woman asked for him.
She was so very poor at the time, having only a few baht left each month after caring for her other children - not even enough to pay the water bill.
She believed the boy would have better future with a woman who wanted him. She had not known of his whereabouts since then.
Both parents were happy seeing their son again and agreed to allow Mr Ake to formally adopt him.