STORM CHASING [Love in the Air | PayuxRain]

seventeen

Rain stood in front of the house. The wind was blowing in gentle gushes, as if caressing his cheeks. The leaves on the trees and the sound they were making from the wind were like welcoming whispers in his ears.

He closed his eyes. Just listening to every minute sound surrounding him. Just soaking the feel of the golden setting sun, so gentle and warm on his face.

"...?"

Rain opened his eyes and turned to his mother who was holding his hand.

"The stream..." Rain whispered. "I can hear the water from the stream... but it's broken..."

His mother smiled at him, gently patting his cheek before looking back at the still closed gates before them.

Rain wondered what his mom was seeing. Was the house as pretty in his mom's eyes as it was in his?

"Well, Payu fixed it..."

Rain quickly pulled his hand out of his mom's hold, pushed open the gate and ran towards the main entrance of the house.

He could hear his mother shouting for him to slow down and be careful. But all he could focus on was the way he could feel the pebbles even past the soles of his sneakers. The sound the rocks made as his weight made them shift underneath his feet.

He pressed the pin on the door pad and kicked his shoes off as he ran to the hallway leading to the house's garden. Slowing down finally, he tried to first catch his breath.

With small steps, he moved forward, pausing first by the sliding doors, gently peeking through the white curtains.

"..."

He released the door's latch and stood under the porch. The stream's surface was moving.

The fishes animatedly swam towards Rain's direction as if asking where he had been.

The colorful pinwheels on the side were circling in tune with the wind. Some of those that were stuck before were also answering to the wind's current.

"..."

Rain pressed some of the buttons on the wall and the garden lit up with the random colored light bulbs scattered around the garden. The colors weren't as clear as the setting sun was still bright. But Rain could see. He could confirm. Every single one of them was working, bright, and strong.

"..."

Rain slowly moved down the porch, barefoot on the smooth pebbles that surrounded the stream which circled the back garden.

There were barely any dried leaves around. The swing that had a tinge of yellow and dirt from before was a pristine white. So in contrast with the deep brown of the tree trunk and the green leaves. The bushes on the side and all the plants were neatly kept.

Everything-- the stream, the plants, some of the dead fairy lights around the trees, the small trinkets Rain had placed on the huge boulders on the side of the waters-- every single thing in the garden was alive again.