Only Happy When It Rains

Chapter 8

In a strange way, Tin should almost be grateful to the Medthanans for once.

Since they had announced the date for the official coming out ceremony for the newlyweds, Tin had had an excuse to interact with Can a bit more – and the last two days had been the happiest he had ever had in this mansion as a result.

There were still two more days to go before the party, two more days of shared meals with Can, and his guarded, but still gentle smile, and his random stories about movies he had watched or places he wanted to visit one day, now that he could afford to go there.

The awkwardness between them hadn't actually disappeared, Tin was still very aware of his own resolution to protect Can from the Medthanans and make everyone, including Can, think their marriage was nothing more than a glorified business agreement. But he also needed to make sure Can knew what he was walking into at the party – so Tin suddenly had a lot of excuses to talk to Can about his family, and surprisingly, Can had turned out to be a very good listener.

It was treacherous, too, talking to Can about the layers of games his family was engaged in, all the double-meanings, the social masks, the metaphorical poison in a seemingly nice smile or the insult in an apparently generous gift, and hearing Can's outrage over it.

"I'm sorry, Tin. I just... never knew," he said, after another of Tin's stories, "This is horrible, how did you survive this long? I thought your entire existence would have been one stream of constant happiness until you were stuck with me. I thought you resented me for pulling you out of your perfect world. I never knew it was so... bad."

The gentle smile that greeted him after these words was so enticing that Tin nearly leaned over and kissed him until he forgot who he was.

"But I'm with you now, Tin, I promise. I don't care how much you don't want me to be with you... I'll protect you. Because... everyone in your position deserves that, at least."

No... no, this was all backwards.

It wasn't... Can shouldn't have to protect him. Tin was lost, anyway. It was his job, Tin's, to protect Can, not the other way around.

As much as Tin was tempted even more to kiss him, hold him, never let him go and allow him to protect him, as if he deserved it... he couldn't.

And Tin had to make sure he didn't get more attached – so, he purposefully steered to conversation into less treacherous waters.

*

There was a new reason for Can to cry himself into sleep, as their coming out party as the newest Medthanan power couple approached: compassion.

And anger; on Tin's behalf.

Part of Can resented Tin for the sudden openness, now that their first official event as a married couple was just around the corner; because Can knew Tin was only talking to him now to make sure the event went smoothly.

Keeping up the façade was very important for Medthanans, after all.

But the more Tin had talked to him about the colossal dumpster fire this family was behind closed doors, the more Can felt for Tin, ached for Tin, and he wanted nothing more than to be able to save him from the abyss he must have fallen into, growing up in this hellhole.

Every story of double-crossing, scheming relatives, two-faced family members and business rivals, had gotten Can more worked up inside.

He was still deeply confused about Tin's cold behaviour towards him, while his entire body language during their talks screamed out to him... but Can wasn't just yearning for Tin to share his nights with him once more, because he felt lonely and missed the warmth of his family. He was now longing for Tin to be with him to keep Tin safe, and to heal him from all the hurts he must have suffered at the hands of his family over the years.

In a way, this burning heartache was even worse than what he had felt before, because while he had just missed Tin for his own sake before, he was more and more convinced that Tin needed him back just as badly.

If only he could find a way to convince Tin to give him a chance.

Before Tin had started to talk to him about the Medthanans, Can had thought the family was just a little eccentric, but essentially harmless. After all, they had supported Can's family and made a lot possible for them on the sole grounds of a prophecy, spoken by a monk 22 years ago – and they had been unwavering in their belief in the prophecy, even after Lemon had died and Can had taken her place.

Can hadn't had any reasons to distrust or hate them, so far – if anything, for his family, the Medthanans had been more reliable and trustworthy than anyone else they had known.

But now that Can was technically a Medthanan himself, and he had heard Tin's side of the story... he could see how disturbing it actually was.

If he looked at it from Tin's perspective – even just the parts that Can knew for a fact – it was all messed up. The Medthanans had been willing to sacrifice a large part of Tin's future before he had even been born, on the basis of a prophecy that had only threatened the source of their money and influence, not their lives or anything.

It meant, on the flipside, that for Tin's parents – and, uncomfortably, for Can's parents as well – the continuous power and might of the Medthanan Real Estate Group had been more important than their sons' and daughter's freedom to choose their own destiny.

No matter how much sugar they put into the poison – this choice had condemned Can's entire family to an ignorant life in the shadows of the Medthanans, it would have shackled Lemon in there for life, if she had survived, and it had now uprooted Can, and thrown his lot in with Tin more deeply than either of them could fully comprehend.

But the choice had also condemned Tin to a half-live as a singularly valuable asset to the conglomerate, rather than a person to be loved and supported. Can was pretty sure by now that Tin had been sent to school in England to keep him away from the threats of potential rivals, who might have messed with him to prevent him from fulfilling the prophecy, if they knew about it.

And just like Can had been roped into this marriage on less than even a minimum of need-to-know, Tin had been equally kept in the dark.

It didn't help at all, that Tin's half-brother Tul had been the lead in his own personal drama, being brutally abused by their grandmother, and taking it all out on Tin, who had apparently been grandma's favourite, the prophesised saviour of the family fortune. Since nobody had every talked openly and clearly about the prophecy and basically everything else, every member of this cursed family was suffering from unnamed traumas, neglect, and abandonment.

Can didn't care about the others, though.

All he wanted was to save and protect Tin, because fate had tied them together – and if that idiotic prophecy was to mean anything, Can was sure he was meant to save Tin.

As much as Tin wanted to pretend this marriage was just an annoying business contract he had to fulfil because of his parents' superstition – the more Can knew, the more he was convinced that their marriage was destined to be more than that.

And maybe... the Medthanans had misunderstood the prophecy, like prophecies tended to be... and the survival it was talking about wasn't about the economic prosperity of the conglomerate at all... Can had had to marry Tin to make sure he survived, and by what Can could see in his eyes, Tin treated himself as if he was already dead.

Thinking these thoughts finally made Can's tears dry up, in the night before the big party.

He knew his purpose now. He knew why he was here – and no matter how coldly his husband would treat him, Can would make sure he survived.

Or, was revived, more accurately.

For the first time in a long time, Can fell asleep with a smile on his face.