Under My Protection

Chapter 7

Rain opened his bedroom door smiling with thoughts of how they might spend the day, but instead, came face to face with his night bodyguard.

He bowed quickly to the guard after recovering from his surprise and then his embarrassment at having opened the door in just his boxers.

"Um, where is P'Phayu?"

The bodyguard bowed back, "Good morning Master Rain, I don't know where he is. I received a text about two hours ago to fill in for him until he returned."

"Return? From where?"

"My apologies but I have no further details. Did you need something from me this morning?"

Shaking his head, Rain leaned over and picked up his breakfast tray.

"That sure is alot of food for one person. Do you actually eat all of that?" the guard asked, gesturing towards the food. Then realizing his error, "My apologies, I should not have spoken out of turn."

"Oh, um, yes, well, I've just been extra hungry lately," Rain responded before kicking the door shut behind him.

Rain slammed the tray down on his table and fell into the sofa nearby. Where was Phayu? He hadn't mentioned not being here this morning. Was he sick? Maybe he should check on him. But, if he was sick, wouldn't he have texted him? He hadn't texted. Did that mean he didn't want to see him? Or maybe he didn't want Rain to see him sick. Or maybe he wasn't sick. The guard had said "until he returned." Does that mean he left? He's not here? Did he need to run an errand? Visit a friend? But, wouldn't he have told Rain he wouldn't be here if it was something like that? Did he leave suddenly? An emergency? With his family maybe? A friend? Did Rain's dad call him away suddenly? If it was that, was Phayu in danger?

Rain began randomly shoving food into his mouth as his thoughts left his mind, running around the room causing chaos at every turn. Swallowing a particularly large bite, Rain grabbed his phone to message Phayu. Where are you? He waited while continuing to eat both his and now Phayu's food. He continued to stare at his phone, willing a response to come. But none came. Was Phayu unable to respond? Or did he not want to?

Rain's mind began thumbing through each moment of the day before, trying to find a reason Phayu might ignore him. Had he said something wrong? Something to upset Phayu? He had thought Phayu would be the type to tell him straight up if that were to happen, but maybe he was worried about upsetting Rain? But then, this was more upsetting than Phayu calling him out on his own bullshit.

Hearing a knock on the door, Rain threw his phone on the sofa, running to open the door.

"P'Pha...... Oh, hey Bun Ma," Rain managed to say, mood quickly shifting from a strange mixture of elation and anger to disappointment.

"Good morning Master Rain. Can I take your tray? Since Phayu isn't here, I thought I'd check in to see if you needed anything from me."

Rain shook his head and tried to smile, knowing it wasn't Bun Ma's fault he was irritated.

"Master Rain, are you okay? You don't look well."

"Oh, no, I'm fine. I just, well, do you know where P'Phayu is? He didn't tell me he'd be gone and I guess I'm worried. Is he okay? Is he sick?" Rain whispered, gripping his hands tightly behind his back while trying his best to look unbothered.

"I'm sorry, Rain. He told me had somewhere he had to go, but he didn't tell me where. I think he was picked up about two hours ago," Bun Ma responded quietly, understanding Rain's silent request that they not be overheard by the guard. "Have you tried texting him?"