Stories of LITA 2

II - The Lucky Charm (4. Moving in and Moving on)

The following weekend, 5 university students, 4 boys and 1 girl, stood in front of Sky's dorms. "I can't believe this is real. I am so excited," Ple squealed with excitement. The four boys laughed. "Okay, let's get started. Since it's on the ground floor, we don't have to worry too much about lugging stuff so far," Por said. "True. Let's try to get done by 1? So that we can get lunch?" Rain said. Everyone nodded, and they all took their stuff to the respective rooms. Rain and Sky had the corner room, so it was slightly bigger than the other too, which is why they had decided to use the extra space to meet for meals and studying. Rain and Sky were both inherently neat people, unlike Sig and Por, so they were fairly quick in setting up stuff.

"Sky, did you order that extra shelf that we needed for our manga?" Rain asked, as he paused in the process of unpacking the box that contained their beloved collection. "Yep, but it will be delivered only tomorrow," Sky said. "Then I am not taking this stuff out yet," Rain said, closing the box and keeping it aside. "Yeah. We will do that tomorrow. Are you almost done otherwise?" Sky asked. "Yeah. Should I order the food? The others would also be done by now," Rain said. "Go ahead. I will go call them," Sky said. Rain nodded and picked up his phone. "I seem to have a message from an unknown number," he said, looking at Sky.

"See who it is," Sky said, stopping his work and looking at Rain. "It's P'Phayu," Rain said, looking quizzical, as he stared at his phone, missing the look Sky gave him. "He wants to meet us? I guess?" Rain said. "Why do you sound so doubtful?" Sky asked, still looking at Rain and trying to gauge his reaction. "I don't know. Here, look at the message," Rain said, giving his phone to Sky.

Unknown

"Hi Rain, this is Phayu. As per our discussion from last week, and my chat with my fellow alumni, there are a few changes that need to be made to your proposal. Can we meet on Monday afternoon?"

"Why do you sound so doubtful?" Sky asked again, wanting to know what Rain was feeling. "Why did he message me? You are the Council President. As far as I know, and understand, you should be the point of contact. So why me? And how did he get my number?" Rain asked, sounding puzzled. Sky was about to answer when there was a knock on the door. "It must be them. Order the food. We will talk later," Sky said, as he went to get the door. "Rain got a message from P'Phayu," Sky said, without preamble. Por, Ple and Sig looked at each other and then looked at Sky and Rain. "What? Why are you giving me that look?" Rain asked, confused. "Rain, do you remember what you told me when I told you about Gun?" Sky asked. Rain nodded. He would never forget the day Sky had told him about his ex. It had been one of the most devastating moments of Rain's life, knowing about what Sky had gone through. Later, Sky had told their gang too, finding only love and acceptance, just like he had found with Rain. "You had said that what happened with me was worse than a nightmare. But I could overcome it, and even could move on. I just had to keep my mind and heart open," Sky said. Rain nodded again.

Rain nodded again. "Rain, what happened with you was also something out of a nightmare. But do you think what happened to you was as bad as what happened to me?" Sky asked. Rain immediately shook his head. "Absolutely not Sky!! Why would you even ask me that?" Rain said, looking horrified. "Then please listen to me. I am going to ask you to do what you asked me to do. Keep your heart and mind open. Don't let the hatred of your past choices colour the opportunities that are likely to come your way," Sky said. "I can do that. But why all of a sudden?" Rain asked, a confused note entering his tone. "Because we saw the way P'Phayu looked at you during the meeting cutie!" Ple said, smiling. "Huh?" Rain asked. "Rain, we are pretty sure P'Phayu is interested in you. And I think you should give him a chance if he asks you for it," Sig said.

Rain sat and looked at his friends with a sad smile. "What if..?" he trailed off. "Just trust us Rain, okay? Somehow, I feel that this is going to be different," Ple said. "Did any of you actually like P'Stop?" Rain asked, looking around shrewdly at his friends. He nodded when they didn't say anything. "Why didn't you guys tell me?" he asked. "Honestly? Because we were not sure if you would listen to us," Sky said, and then immediately raised his hand as Rain started to speak. "Hear me out, please. I know you trust us, and love us. I also know that you know how much we love you. But Rain, we all could feel that need for so much more in you," Sky said. "To be honest, we never thought he could go to this limit, but it's just that.. well.. he always seemed a bit smarmy. It just didn't fit with the persona of whom we wanted for you or what we thought would be right for you," Ple said.