The Falling Rain

Chapter 10

Rain had been having the best week! He and P'Hom had worked out what they would serve at the catering event and were now just getting everything prepped and ready. She was even teaching Rain how to make some of the treats and showed so much patience when he didn't get something right away.

He was almost done with a project he had to turn in on Monday, and he had been texting P'Phayu in-between work and classes.

It had started small, Phayu had sent him a text to see if Rain got home okay after their dinner. He had assured the older man that he had, then told him a funny story about how he almost fell going up the stairs, because of course he'd be the one to fall going up and not down, and had bid the man goodnight. The next morning he had woken up to see a good morning text from P'Phayu, as well as a text from Saifah telling him that he'd put a stop to the texts if Rain wanted him to, he's really become a big brother and it was very amusing.

Rain had been working extra shifts this week to help P'Hom get everything ready for Saturday, they only had a few days of prep time left and needed everything to go perfectly. He hadn't even realized he had been skipping most meals until P'Phayu showed up at the cafe.

"Hello, P'Hom! Am I able to steal Rain away for a little bit? I wanted to make sure he eats something."

P'Hom looked up and the clock, horrified, and began shoving Rain towards the front.

"Oh my! Go, go, go! Nong Rain you cannot let me work you into an early grave! Really, boy, you came here right after class and it's so late already!

"Phayu, take this boy out of here. I can't have my best customers mad at me for working Rain to the bone." She winked at Phayu as Rain stumbled around a table she had almost pushed him into.

"P'Hom, it's okay! I really don't mind helping, this is important to you!" Rain protested, while giggling at his boss's antics.

"No. Nope. I refuse, you get out of here and go eat something. Honestly, you're small enough as it is, I don't think you can afford to lose any more weight!"

She continued her speech about how Rain needs to eat more as he gathered his things and they left the cafe. Rain was chuckling lightly and Phayu seemed to be observing him and, possibly, trying to decide if he agreed that Rain was too small.

"Phi, I appreciate you coming, but what are you really doing here? There's no way you knew I'd forgotten to get lunch today."

"Actually, Rain, earlier Prapai and Sky got a hold of Saifah to see if he could take you dinner because they'd noticed you hadn't been eating enough the last few days. My brother was busy so I offered to take you to get something."

"Oh, that was kind of you." Rain said, feeling slightly embarrassed that he'd caused people to worry.

"Well…kind may not be the right word. It's entirely self serving since I'd been looking for an excuse to see you again and this one fell right into my lap."

Rain laughed, feeling more at ease now that he knew the other man had wanted to spend time with him and didn't just feel obligated to do so.

"So," Phayu continued, "where would you like to get dinner?"

"Oooh, could we get Korean food?"

"Korean food? Really, don't you already look Korean enough?" Rain laughed at the comment.

"Well, Phi, I look Korean because I am Korean." He could help but continue giggling at the look on Phayu's face. "My father is Korean and my mother is Thai."

"Oh, I had no idea!" Phayu looked genuinely interested and, as they drove to the restaurant, asked Rain to explain more about his family, this led to him talking about the languages he knew and his favorite places he'd been to in Korea.