STORM CHASING [Love in the Air | PayuxRain]

sixteen

"..."

For a moment, joy, relief, came flooding inside Payu's chest.

For a moment, Payu thought everything was alright.

Until he saw the streaks of tears on Rain's face. 

Until he saw the defensive stance of Rain's arms as if he was protecting himself from everyone. 

Until he saw the wide eyes filled with fear as Rain looked at him.

Why... why was Rain looking at Payu that way?

"Rain?" Payu called.

Rain pushed himself deeper into the corner, as if by doing so he would disappear and get to escape.

Payu took a step into the room and Rain sobbed and fell on his feet.

"Go away..." Rain whispered.

Such a tiny, broken whisper. But it was the loudest in Payu's ears and the most hurtful thing Payu ever heard.

"It's okay..." Payu whispered back as he tried to get nearer.

But Rain just turned into a ball in his corner, shaking, as if begging for Payu to not come any closer.

"Don't come here, I don't want to see you."

That made Payu stop. And all his senses, his mind, his very heart, freeze. 

"But--"

"Why did I wake up?" Rain whimpered on the floor. "I don't want to wake up. I don't want to be here..."

Every single word coming out of Rain's mouth was a stab over and over Payu's chest. He wanted to run towards Rain and hug him. Shield him from everyone. 

But how could he when it was him Rain was running away from? 

One of the doctors on the other side walked closer to Rain, tiptoeing and careful. It only registered to Payu the syringe that the man had in his hand.

The doctor grabbed Rain's wrist. Weak and exhausted, no matter how Rain fought, he lost the battle and the injection found its way on Rain's arm.

The fear, the anger, the sadness. All of those things came swirling in Rain's eyes before they slowly fluttered shut.

"..."

Rain was asleep again. The doctors were moving in a patterned chaos. And Payu could only stand there still hearing Rain's words reverberating in his head, feeling the same stabs of pain in his chest again and again.

Payu raised a hand over his face, to his mouth, his breath shaky. Somehow, the mere minutes that happened didn't feel real. The expressionless doctor in charge of Rain then turned to Payu and ushered him outside.

"Don't take it to heart," the doctor began. "This is normal from coma patients slowly coming around. Some are violent, confused, and hysterical when they wake up."

"..."

"He's still slowly bearing consciousness and he may be confused about which was the dream and reality."

"He didn't seem so confused when he said he didn't want to see me..." Payu whispered. 

The doctor was silent for a very long time before patting Payu on the shoulder. The man didn't say anything after that and just walked away, leaving Payu to drown in the dread that he was feeling inside him.

When Rain was put back on the bed, quiet and small and looked completely broken, Payu pushed himself to sit on the same seat he always used to sit on.

"..."