The Falling Rain

Chapter 15

Rain hadn't anticipated how much he would enjoy being Phayu's official boyfriend. He felt giddy every time they referred to each other as hubby or wifey. Anytime he spent the night with his lover, Rain was sure to be woken up with gentle kisses and soft hands rubbing his arms.

Everything had been going too perfectly for weeks, he had even managed to line up a short term apartment until the school year started up again. Phayu, as well as Saifah and Prapai even, had argued that Rain should just stay with his boyfriend, Sky had offered to let him come back to his hometown, and Rain's aunt had tried to convince him to come to Korea for the summer, but Rain was determined to have his own space and be responsible for himself for the couple months that he would need to be. He explained to Sky that he was so used to doing everything for himself so, whilst he loved his friends caring so deeply for him and his boyfriend wanting to make sure he was cared for, Rain felt like people thought of him like they did a child and he wanted to reaffirm that he could, in fact, take care of himself.

Sky didn't like that his best friend felt that way but did his best to understand that it didn't come from a place of anything negative, just an adjustment Rain was still making to having people care about him so openly. It did make him nervous though, he and Prapai had been juggling the idea of living together but neither wanted Rain to be on his own so they felt it best to delay it. Sky wanted to see how the summer went before breaching the subject with his friend.

Phayu had been keeping up a steady argument against Rain living alone, it made him nervous and they'd been bickering about it almost every day. Rain had actually told him to leave him alone for the day to give him time to calm down because all the nagging was grating on his nerves.

The moment he stepped into the cafe for work, Rain immediately regretted telling Phayu to give him space. He walked in to see tables and chairs knocked over and thrown every which way. P'Hom appeared to be unconscious behind the counter and he didn't see anyone else inside so he ran over to check on her.

When he got to her, he dialed for emergency services because he could see her head bleeding, it looked like she had knocked it on the corner of the baked goods case. He told this information to the operator and was about to give them the address but, as he was turned away to look for something to stop the bleeding, he heard a crunch and turned back to find his phone crushed under the foot of that asshole from the race.

"What are you doing? What did you do to P'Hom?" Rain shouted.

"You know, I wanted to get back at you for your attitude and that damn mechanic for his cheating but never did I imagine I could kill two birds with one stone! All my research and I find out that you're his bitch? This is too easy, too perfect!"

Rain didn't want to leave his boss alone but knew he couldn't help if he was caught so he made a break for the kitchen to leave through the back. He thought he was in the clear until suddenly an arm was in front of him and hit him right in the throat.

Rain fell to the floor, coughing and holding his neck, trying to regain his breath, when he felt a foot hit him on the back and press him harder onto the ground.

"You won't get away with this." He said in a voice so hoarse that he wasn't sure he would be understood.

That earned him a hit across the face and his vision blacked for a moment before coming back. He then felt a foot kick him hard in the side.

"You really think you can continue to disrespect me and come out on top?"

Rain looked up at him with disdain and defiance.

"Yes, yes I can because you are nothing more than a spoiled child who…"

He never got to finish his sentence because something hit him in the head hard and the world went black.

Later in the day Phayu was getting nervous. He had tried to text Rain a few times but got no response, he knew he was supposed to give him space but wanted to clear that air. When his texts went unread, he tried calling but it kept saying his number was unavailable. Finally, after getting too worried to be able to cope, he decided to leave work and visit him in person.

When he got to the Cafe he immediately noticed the door was broken and he could see the tables in disarray from outside. He got inside and found Hom leaned up against the counter.

"Phi, hey are you okay?"

"Phayu…Phayu that asshole took Rain! I didn't see where they went but it showed it on the security camera!" She held up her phone to show him the video of three men leaving the cafe, two of whom carried a very unconscious Rain.

"Fuck!" Phayu said, slapping the floor in frustration.

"It's that little prick from the race event, the one who threw a fit here earlier that day. Why would that spoiled little brat take sweet Rain?"

Phayu had a feeling that Stop, that was the asshole's name, had taken Rain as a way to get back at all of them. He must have found out about them somehow.

Phayu started to freak out, he needed to think of a way to help his boy but he had no idea where they took him. He didn't even have anything to go off of since the camera didn't see what kind of vehicle they got into.

He sat with Hom until an ambulance showed up to take care of her and he assured her that he would get Rain back safely. He then rushed to Rain's dorm, praying that Sky and Pai were there.

When he pulled up he saw Prapai's bike parked in the lot and felt a small weight come off him, he'd be able to rally the troops, so to speak, to help him.

He ran up the stairs to their floor and began banging on the door, praying that they answered quickly.

"What in the world is going on? Someone better be dy…" Sky cut himself off seeing Phayu at the door, looking incredibly disheveled.

"The bastard took Rain! He took Rain!" Phayu nearly shouted.

Sky gently guided him into the dorm, Pai had wandered into the living room upon hearing his friends frantic words.

"Who took Rain?" Pai asked.

"That little rich bastard from the race, the one who tried to fight me because you beat him!" Phayu felt trapped between wanting to beat the little shit's face in and sobbing out of worry for his boyfriend.

"What have you done so far? What should we do? I can call the cops!" Sky sounded frantic. He was supposed to leave in a few days, he and Rain had been packing to move out of the dorm for the break and he was already at wits end with the stress from that, but now his best friend was missing!

"No." Prapai said. He sounded more serious than Sky had heard before. "Call Chai, Phayu. Call and give him all the information you have and see if Pakin will help. We don't have anything to go on but they might. I'll call Saifah and let him know what's going on too."

Prapai easily took control of the situation, seeing that his best friend was losing his grip on rationality. He couldn't blame Phayu, he didn't even want to think about what he would do if someone took Sky from him. He wanted his little friend back just as badly as the rest of them and he was prepared to help rain down fire on anyone who may have hurt him.