Rain the IT-guy [Phayu x Rain] (Love in the Air)

Chapter 3

“Good morning, sunshine. Isn’t it a glorious day?” Sky chirped from the other side of the room. He ripped the curtain aside without any remorse.

“Ow, why do you hate me so much?”

“Who said that I hate you? This is how I show my love.” Ow, ow, surely Sky did this on purpose. He couldn’t help himself making another agonizing cut through Rain’s frontal lobe, could he? “I bet Prapai would love to know that,” Rain quietly muttered into his blanket.

“What did you say?” Sky glowered at him, throwing clean clothes next to him.

“I said. It’s good to know that.” Rain collected all his willpower and rolled off the sofa. With Sky clucking around him like a mother hen, they managed to get dressed and ready for work in less than twenty minutes.

At work, Rain kept fiddling with his borrowed shirt. It was a bit big, and Rain felt like everybody could tell he had been drunk the night before. Maybe there was a sign stuck to his forehead.

Eager for a little nap, Rain slid into his chair. Next to his screen was a little clock that showed the time. It was 7:50 am—still plenty of time to take a little nap. Maybe even the throbbing in his head would decide to calm down by the time his co-workers turned up.

When Rain opened his eyes next, the little clock next to his head had turned 9:10 am. Crap! It hadn’t been his intention to sleep this long. Hopefully, nobody realized. Rain quickly patted down his hair and flattened the creases in his borrowed clothes.
There was a water bottle right next to his mousepad. Some merciful soul, probably Sky, had left it there with a sticky note attached. Rain picked up the bottle and turned it around in his hands, ‘Can you forgive me?’

Aw, Sky was such a good friend. Of course, Rain would forgive him. Only good people leave their suffering friend’s water bottles when they need them most.
Rain unscrewed the cap without wasting another second and downed half the bottle. Ah! So much better.

Sufficiently hydrated, he plucked up his courage to look over his screen furtively. The office was bustling with activity by now. Rain looked around the room and stopped dead in his tracks when his eyes met the dark ones of Phayu. Oh no! The bastard was looking right at him. Rain glowered—the stupid man with stupidly thick and luscious eyebrows. Rain had to stay strong. It wouldn’t do for Phayu to believe that he had forgiven him.

But, Phayu, bastard as ever, just smirked at him mockingly. As much as Rain liked a man with self-confidence, this sucked. This man sucked. Rain would love to have him suck—really?!

Quickly Rain lifted the bottle of water to his lips and drank. He needed a distraction, and drinking was as good as any.

Why didn’t his brain work properly around the guy? It was driving Rain nuts. While swallowing, Rain made the mistake of looking over at Phayu. Unfortunately, the man had chosen precisely that moment to lick his lips and playfully take the lower one between his teeth.

The gesture surprised Rain so much that he almost choked. He spurted water out of his nose, spraying it all over his notes and screen. “Son of a …” Luckily, he had the good sense to trail off before he could finish the sentence.

“Are you ok, Nong?” P’Tania hurried over and offered an array of tissues to mop up the mess. “Let me help you.” Together they managed to contain the damage.

“Ah! I see. Phayu has taken my advice and apologized to you.”

What was that woman saying? Confused, he looked over to where she was holding up the sticky note that had been attached to the water bottle.

“Oh, the note. No, that’s from Sky. He was a little mean this morning,” he said, but P’Tania shook her head. “No, Nong. This is Phayu’s writing. Yesterday, when you stormed out of the office, he felt bad about what he did.”

“Did he say that?” Rain asked incredulously.

“No, deary. Phayu doesn’t say these things out loud. You must know by now that he is a man of few words. He just sat behind his desk, looking at the list he made about you with an expression that could curdle milk. I told him that one cannot force love, and if he ever wanted a shot with you, he should probably start by apologizing.”

“What? Which list? Why would you tell him that? Phayu isn’t into me.” He said, alarmed. Was P’Tania mad? She didn’t look mad.

“And you are not into him either, I assume?”

“Of course not!” He shrieked half an octave too high for his liking.

P’Tania chuckled. “Come here, sweety. I am going to tell you a secret. But you have to promise me not to repeat it to anyone, ok?!”

A secret about Phayu? This was delightful. Rain quickly sat down next to P’Tania. When she started to talk, Rain’s eyes went big like saucers. “What? Seriously?”

“You can imagine my surprise.” She chuckled. “The picture-perfect Phayu. Deary, a word of advice. This man is like a dog with a bone. He is not going to let you go lightly. You better figure yourself out before he does.” With a wink, she turned around and went back to her desk.