Stories of LITA 1

III - The Holiday Exchange Part 1

Rain watched in devastated horror as P'Mhok was congratulated by everyone on his promotion and his engagement to P'Jeed. A promotion that Rain's hard work had gotten him. Three years! For three years, Rain had worked overtime, correcting each and every one of Mhok's work, adding what he could to enhance it, shaping it and reshaping it, till it was perfect. He never complained, even when Mhok didn't give him credit for work done. But he was okay with that. For him, he held the promise a forever in his heart and put himself up, making sure that Mhok would get the promotion. Only then he could propose to Rain. What a fool he had been. He had helped Mhok to organise this party, thinking that this was the night. Mhok had proposed, had announced his engagement. But the person on the receiving end had not been Rain. It had been Jeed, the daughter of the company owner. He had decided to let Rain go, oh so easily, because he had been promised better things.

Rain slipped out of the party, not knowing what to do, where to go. Going back alone, to an empty home, when every single person was celebrating the festive season, was like a thorn pricking his side. He had wriggled out of going home for Christmas, hoping that he would be taking his fiancé for New Year, but well, that bubble had conveniently burst. However, Rain could blame no one but himself. After all, he had been the one with his head in the clouds. Sky, his bestest friend, had told him to watch out. But Rain had been too much in love. When he had dreamily told Sky how Mhok wanted to wait till they were engaged to have sex with him, Sky had immediately labelled Mhok an asshole and a pervert. "No normal man can stick around with no sex Rain. He is playing you for a fool. And you are enabling him," Sky had barked out in his no-nonsense tone. Now, Sky's words were coming back to bite Rain in the ass. He trudged towards Sky's house, not wanting to go home just yet. He knew Mhok would invariably come home, with a plethora of excuses, and Rain did not want to hear them right now. All he wanted was Sky and his sharp, sassy tongue, giving him a lashing he would not forget.

The moment Sky opened the door, he understood exactly what had happened. And although he was a master of the 'I told you so' refrain, right now, he knew Rain needed something else. The rest could come tomorrow. He pushed Rain into the shower, quickly making him a cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream and a lot of sugar, just the way Rain liked it. He made a cup of chamomile tea for himself and was just putting it down on his coffee table, when Rain walked in. If he was taken aback by how frail and tiny Rain looked in that moment, he kept it to himself. This was not the moment for platitudes. This was unburdening time. "So, what happened?" he asked briskly, as he pushed the hot chocolate in Rain's hands. "He proposed," Rain said, dully. "Huh? Then why do you look like something the cat dragged in?" Sky asked. "I said he proposed. I didn't say to me," Rain said. "He asked P'Jeed to marry him, in front of the whole office, while celebrating the promotion he got because of me, during a party that I helped organise for him, the audacity of that bastard!" Rain's voice had risen in octave as he went from zero to sixty real quick before collapsing back. "What do I do Sky?" he wailed. "What do you want to do?" Sky asked practically. "I actually want to go away," Rain said. "Where?" "To Bangkok," Rain said, looking sheepish. "What??" Sky asked, shocked!