Bad Boyfriend

Crossroad

He had him at hello.

Rain first met Prapai in the former's freshman year during which Rain hadn't even fully realized his preferences just yet.

He was a naive boy who tried his luck in the architecture department after seeing the awe-inspiring work of one of the students (namely, Phayu) and miraculously passed. But once he got in, he learned just how much he was in over his head.

Unlike his friend, Sky, Rain wasn't some genius who got in on an academic scholarship. And time and time again, he had been publicly called out for not grasping the lessons. It was humiliating.

And at one point, he wanted to quit.

But then, Prapai came along.

Rain was practically in tears while sitting on the bleachers one afternoon. He had fallen for architecture and yet, it would seem he wasn't a good fit for it. And just his luck, he was only trying to breakdown in peace when he heard someone yell 'watch out' right before his eyes zeroed in on a ball that was rapidly coming his way.

But instead of moving out of the way, Rain froze up. In his defense, you always think you'd react a certain way until you're actually in that situation. And unfortunately, his flight mode didn't activate.

He thought for sure he would get hit. No one would be able to do anything with the way things were going.

Or so he thought.

One player ran across the field, not stopping even though the odds of intercepting the ball seemed pretty low. Then right before impact, he leaped off the ground with an arm outstretched and...tipped the ball just enough that it lost momentum and missed Rain by a hair strand.

After nearly suffering a heart attack, Rain breathed out in relief. But that was quickly replaced with guilt after he saw that the said player had crashed into some chairs. Not only that, but when Rain approached him, he noticed there was blood on his fingertips.

"Phi, you shouldn't have bothered." He said in a small voice. But at this, the other told him, "T'was a long shot. But you won't know unless you try, right?"

Then, he held out his uninjured hand and, as if he didn't just almost die, he said with a bright smile, "Hello, I'm Prapai."

Rain didn't use to believe in all that crap about the world spinning slowly and getting butterflies in your stomach when you like someone. But that moment proved it actually does happen.

And it was in that same day he decided he wouldn't quit. If he failed and got kicked out, well, that was a different story. But just like Prapai, he would try his very best until the bitter end.

Plus, he had a new reason to stay.

And every single one of their encounters ever since had been just as pleasant; Prapai never once disappointed him. It wasn't like one of those crushes you get on some stranger only to find out shortly that they're an ass.

He was kind, friendly and had no business paying attention to some freshie that was hardly passing his classes, yet he did.

How was class?

Don't space out when watching soccer practice from now on, okay?

Do you need help with anything?

And Rain had steadily grown more and more infatuated with him. By the time Prapai had stepped into his senior year—and was still very much single—Rain promised himself he would confess.

It's a long shot. But he wouldn't know unless he tried, right?

But then, things went to shit with his letter landing on the wrong hands. And what was even worse than shit happening is the part that he has yet to tell anyone—the part where his accidental relationship has been going better than he expected and that he is slowly but surely having specks of feelings for Phayu.