Next Life Let Me love you again

Love Challenge

"P'Phayu, do you know about the legend of the red thread?" Rain asked.

Phayu almost choked on his coffee he had just taken a sip of, but managed to keep an outwardly cool appearance. "I may have heard of it. Why do you ask?"

"Well I watched this really good series. In it this couple committed suicide because their fathers wouldn't let them be together. They were reborn and found each other again. They mentioned the legend of the red thread. It sounded interesting so I looked it up."

"People who are soul mates are connected through a small red thread that is attached their ankles or little fingers (depending on what country the legend is from). They are connected even if they die and are reborn. Isn't that a cool legend?"

"Very cool. Now if you will just use the same research skills to work on the assignment in front of you."

Rain rolled his eyes and sighed, "Yes, Phi."

Rain had no idea how to go about flirting with someone. He had never tried to flirt in his life. He was two days into his "love challenge" as he had mentally dubbed it and he decided he needed help. P'Saifah probably knew his twin best so he decided to start there.

"P'Fah could you help me with something," Rain asked shyly the next day. P'Phayu had to work late and P'Saifah was going over paperwork in the office while Rain studied.

"Of course, Rainy Boy."

"How can I make P'Phayu fall for me?"

To his embarrassment, P'Saifah laughed as if Rain had told a funny joke. "Oh, Rainy boy, playing with my twin is like playing with fire. He is far from simple. If you aren't careful you could get burned."

"I have to make him fall for me." Rain hated how desperate he sounded, like a heroine in a melodrama.

"Well if it's flirting lessons you need, I know the perfect person."

Saifah could barely hold back his laughter just imagining the look on Phayu's face when he told him he needed recruit Pai to give Rain flirting lessons.

The three of them had two goals. One was to keep Rain occupied and safe. Two was to make Rain fall irreversibly and completely in love with Phayu. It looked to Saifah like they were more than halfway through accomplishing the second one.

"You want me to ask Pai to do what?!?" Phayu almost shouted. Saifah had been right about Phayu's reaction, he wished he had a camera ready to take a picture of his twin's face. Priceless.

"Give your boy flirting lessons. You know so he can win your black heart." Saifah said sarcastically.

"Saifah, I am not going to have Pai flirt with Rain."

"He won't be flirting with Rain, he will be teaching Rain how to flirt. There's a difference. Didn't you say you wanted a way that Pai could help keep an eye on Rain without being suspicious?"

"But this?" Phayu asked

"Trust me, this is going to be great." Saifah said with a mischievous grin.

"So you are P'Phayu's little boy?" Pai said with a charming grin.

Rain wondered why everyone kept calling him that, "I am Rain, P'Phayu is my senior mentor."

"My name is Prapai, you can call me P'Pai. Fah called and said that you wanted me to teach you how to win over Phayu." Pai thought that Phayu was really going to owe him after this.

Rain nodded but this was oh so embarrassing.

Pai moved the drawing easel over and took one of Rain's markers.

He wrote the following:
7 ways to flirt successfully
Step 1: Be yourself
Step 2: maintain eye contact
Step 3: smile and greet him politely
Step 4: ask him questions, show interest
Step 5: use subtle body language
Step 6: be honest and straightforward
Step 7: give him compliments

"That's it?" Rain asked. It seemed pretty obvious, he thought there would be some secret language that everyone but he knew or something.

Pai smiled, "Easy right?"

Rain took out his notebook and wrote down the seven steps. Once he was done P'Pai started going through the steps one at a time.

"Be yourself, you want Phayu to fall for you, not someone you pretend to be right?" Rain nodded.

"Make eye contact and smile self explaining, Phayu had a soft spot for polite people so always be polite even when disagreeing with him." Rain wrote that down beside step three.

"Ask him questions and show interest in the things he is interested in. You're an architect student and Phayu is an architect so you already have that connection. Phayu also is very interested in cars, motorcycles, and engines. So it wouldn't hurt to know a little about those sorts of things." Rain made more notes.

"Step 5 is a little harder to explain so I will give a demonstration. Saifah can be my victim..... I mean assistant." Pai went over to where Saifah was working and leaned towards him slightly. "P'Fah, will you be my assistant, please?" He raised his eyebrows and gave P'Fah the pleading puppy dog look that had melted plenty of hearts.

Saifah threw a pen at him. Pai laughed, "See it works, he can't resist me." Saifah made a gagging gesture at this.

"Be honest and straightforward. If you want Phayu to hold you hand, hug you or more," he winked at Rain, "tell him so. Communication is key in relationships. No room for coyness."

"Finally last step, give him compliments but stick to being honest. P'Phayu is so handsome, so cool, so smart."

"Sorry, Pai you aren't my type." P'Phayu said from the doorway. Pai only laughed.

Rain thought he couldn't get any more embarrassed than he already was, but having P'Phayu come in the middle of his "flirting lesson" made Rain want to drop through the floor and disappear.

"If you and my brother will excuse us, I will take Rain to dinner. That way I can see if he learned anything."

They left both Saifah and Pai laughing out loud.

"P'Phayu...." Rain started.

"Aren't you going to try out your lessons? I am particularly interested in step six."

You can do this Rain he thought, "P'Phayu will you kiss me?"

P'Phayu froze and stared at him. He studied Rain for a few minutes then moved to him. He put an arm around Rain and pulled him close still looking into Rain's eyes. The air between them was almost electric. Phayu pressed his warm lips to Rain's softly at first as if sampling the taste, then a bit harder. Rain felt dizzy and lightheaded just from this as he forgot to breathe.

P'Phayu stepped back studying Rain's blissful expression. He rubbed his thumb over Rain's naturally pouty lips. "You learned your lessons well."

Phayu's dream that night:

Phayu came in while Rain was studying with the scholars. He loved to watch Rain when he concentrated on his work. He flipped through the rolls in front of him murmuring the lessons he was trying to memorize, using a word game Phayu had taught him so he wouldn't get bored studying.

Pai and Saifah came up behind Phayu as he watched Rain. "Your boy is doing well with his studies." Pai said.

"He is very intelligent." Phayu commented.

Saifah and Pai shook their heads behind him. Phayu was obviously head over heels for the boy.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------NOTES:

So Rain obviously watched Until We Meet Again, which of course is one of me favorite series. 😉