Anyone But You [PhayuRain] [Love In The Air]

5: BRIDGES BURNT

Somehow Rain got through the long break and his internship at the Architectural Firm.

Not just got through, but excelled as he threw himself in with both feet, a desperately needed distraction from his heartbreak. He also didn't have anything else to do with his time now that there was he didn't have anyone special to spend it with.

Of course, his friends tried to cheer him up, get him to go out, and have fun, advising him that the best way to get over someone was to get under someone new. Spoiler Alert: There was no rando rebound, he couldn't even entertain the thought. He had also learned the hard way that Sad Rain + Alcohol = Bad (drunk-texting) decisions. So he wisely avoided going out as much as he could.

Luckily, he loved working at the Architectural Firm. Even though he was only an intern, he learned a lot, getting to do project planning, design modifications, budgeting, and site observations. He volunteered to help with some complex projects and stayed late to complete everything with attention to detail and ahead of schedule.

He focused on learning as much as possible from the associates and architects, knowing that his career was likely to be the main focus of his life moving forward.

***

The new school year started - his 5th and final year - and the numbness and denial that he felt for the last few months finally started to recede.

However, the breakup became even more painfully real as classmates learned about it and became shamelessly hungry for details given Phayu's high profile.

Rain tried to ignore the snide comments and vicious speculation, but some didn't bother to be discreet about him overhearing, they were more than happy to put him in his place.

According to them, the break up was of course inevitable as Phayu was way out of his league since his family was super wealthy, and he was an incredibly handsome heir, destined to be a powerful CEO one day. Rain was nothing more than a temporary fling, a situationship, Phayu was clearly slumming it.

Rain did his best to disregard the hurtful comments knowing that many had been stunned and jealous when Phayu picked him, a boy with no pedigree, from a working-class family. Both men and women were peeved that they missed out on such a rare catch.

Despite putting on a brave face in front of others, Rain felt the pain of every one of those conjectures and snide arrows. And in the dark of night, in his lonely bed, he acknowledged that the reason it felt so raw and hurt so much was because there was a ring of truth.

***

By the time his final semester rolled around, he had gotten offers from several prestigious Firms including the one where he had interned.

8 months had gone by since the breakup and Rain was no closer to fully understanding what had gone wrong, what mistakes he had made, or what signals he had missed.

His love was still there buried in his heart, a deep ache, a missing limb making its presence known through its ghostly throbbing.

There was a part of him that refused to think that it had all been fake. He re-played all the moments they had together and tried to focus on the happy ones - of which there were many- when he had felt loved and adored. Phayu may have changed his mind about wanting Rain in his future, but it couldn't have all been imagined he told himself.

It was the only thing that gave him comfort and kept him from completely falling apart.

It was a Monday and he came into the city to accept the job offer at the company where he had interned.