The Red Thread of Destiny

Chapter 21: Cleansed and purified

"Let the (R)ain wash away the pain of yesterday. Let the sun shine on today's happiness."

Chula Uni, Dance Room, Monday morning –

The whole gang was in the practice room that was reserved for them. Rain had texted on their group chat on Saturday night and asked them to meet earlier than their usual time. Since Rain rarely made requests like these, the group was only to happy to do it. P'Pai had dropped Rain and Sky to college. After all the revelations over the weekend, P'Phayu had been so emotionally and mentally drained, that he had slept through it. Not wanting to disturb him, even though he had said he would drop Rain, both the boys had quietly left with P'Pai. If he did not have practice, and he had not missed classes before, Rain would have preferred staying with his Phi, knowing he was still a little raw and vulnerable after everything had transpired. But he was after all a Freshman, and he did have his responsibilities. And he had to unburden himself to the most important people in his life.

His friends had rejoiced at Sky's news, knowing he was a bit wary of relationships, and glad that he was giving P'Pai a chance. However, all of them had broken down multiple times, as Rain recounted the drama that had unfolded. He knew very well that his friends were vaults, anything he told them would go to their graves. So he felt confident in sharing his innermost thoughts and fears with his support system. "What a fucking bitch!" Yihwa raved. "I swear I would have killed her, had she not already been dead." "I second that! Like what the actual fuck bro?" Sig was literally up in arms. "But you know what? I am seriously surprised at P'Phayu. With all that Mafia blood and bravado, turns out he is a sucker for love," Nut snickered, eliciting laughter from his friends. "You know Rain? I am sure you were right," Por said thoughtfully, after the group had subsided.

"Right about what?" Rain asked. "She knew who they were. Both of them, her brother and her," Por said. "Why do you think that?" Sky asked. "Because, 1) their surnames were different when they stayed there and 2) P'Phayu and P'Pai are spitting images of their Dads. They exude confidence and power and an aura like no other. No one would believe that they both are normal, ordinary folk. They are too conspicuous. Even if P'Amy and P'Lhong didn't know who they were exactly, it was obvious to anyone that they don't fit in the local world of Chiang Mai," Por elaborated. "Exactly my reasoning," Rain said. "I have a question though," Yihwa asked. "Hmm?" Rain looked at her. "Why did P'Lhong come to meet you that day? What did he want?" she asked. "Oh yeah! Fuck! I had forgotten about that," Sky said. "He didn't end up saying anything to you, right?" he added.

"No, he wanted to, but by that time Pa called, to talk about Gampy. So I just apologised and left," Rain said thoughtfully. "I am pretty sure that he was upto some mischief though," Sig muttered under his breath. "Let's discuss that later guys. We have class now, we shall talk when we are here for practice," Nut said, and everyone stood up, nodding in agreement.

Post lunch, the group was making way to the practice room, when they were stopped by P'Prince, one of the sweetest seniors they had. He was in 4th year, but he often came to meet them when they were practicing, and made sure that Rain and his friends were always comfortable. He was also Rain and Sky's code line mentor. But the others also knew him of course, since he was their senior. They waiied to him. "Rain? May I take a minute of your time?" he asked. "You guys carry on to the room, I will send him in a jiffy," he added. "Khap Phi," the others said in unison, as they went ahead, surprised, but not worried. "Khap Phi? Is everything okay?" Rain asked. "P'Phayu is worried about you Rain. So he asked me check-up on you," Prince said. "You know P'Phayu?" Rain asked, puzzled. "Khap. I am dating one of his good friends. And he knows that I am in this faculty, so he just wanted me to find out if you are okay. He didn't want to call you and disturb you, because he knows freshmen have more to do and also that you are preparing for a performance," Prince said as he smiled. Rain smiled back. "Thank you Phi. Thanks for coming. You can tell him I am okay," Rain giggled. "You are really cute Rain. No wonder P'Phayu waited for so long to date someone," Prince said.