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

9: WINDS OF CHANGE

The thing that Rain loved about the man who was standing next to him at the crowded bar was his laughing eyes and the easy grin that always lit his face.

There was a joy and lightness about him that had attracted Rain immediately, at a time when he felt like he was unendingly weighed down by the gloominess of his shattered heart.

And that was not his natural disposition.

He was by nature a light and happy person, except for those few months - almost two years if he were being honest - after the break up happened.

He was getting tired of it and that's when this man came into his life. He wanted that lightness back in his life.

So when the warm, happy smile kept being patiently directed at him at each of their meetings he had started slowly smiling back and looking forward to that lightness.

*

The man was wealthy. Like billionaire-wealthy.

Which in reality, Rain could care less about except that it enabled the man to travel to wherever Rain was on his private jet whenever he wanted or whenever Rain wanted some company.

His family had made money in Real Estate all throughout Asia, investing in Commercial and Residential properties before the masses caught on as each country started to develop and prosper.

Back when they first met, Rain was a Junior Architect - having started working 6 months earlier.  Rain was assigned to help build a luxury house outside of Bangkok that was an investment property for him.

They ended up spending a lot of time together throughout the design and construction. Rain had even eventually opened up and shared his heartbreak with his new easygoing friend and ultimately, throughout many conversations, he helped Rain come to terms with that part of his life.

Two years later, while Rain was living and working in Singapore, this friend asked him to design an authentic Thai-style house in the hills of Los Angeles in collaboration with his locally licensed California Architect, further solidifying their relationship with more time spent together.

While this man was unashamedly flirtatious and probably willing for their friendship to progress to something much more intimate, somehow it never happened.

Rain had been too raw as they were getting to know each other to want a physical relationship and they had become too entrenched as friends by the time he was ready to date again.

So they found a kindred spirit in each other appreciating architecture, travel and just laughing together. And instead of becoming lovers, they became the best of friends, dedicated to being the perfect wingman for each other when needed wanting nothing more than the other's happiness.

*

Rain had heard about the Rabbit Hole, from his colleagues so he had made it a point to walk past the place to check it out during one of his many meandering routes through the city, otherwise, he wasn't sure they would have found it.