STORM CHASING [Love in the Air | PayuxRain]

seventeen

Rain held on to the chain and slowly sat on the swing, just watching the stream and how the same yet different the garden was.

It was as though he was seeing everything for the first time again.

"..."

After some time, Rain's mom appeared in the porch, a gentle look on her face.

"Instead of resting when we were taking turns at the hospital, Payu was actually here," she said with a shake of her head. "You can see what he'd been up to all this time."

"..."

His mom watched the stream for a few seconds more before bringing her attention back to Rain.

"Don't stay out here for long. It's getting a bit chilly. We don't want you catching a cold, okay?"

Rain nodded and watched his mom slowly disappear into the doors.

"..."

He stared for long at the gentle stream in front of him. The surface was calm, clear. So different from the dam inside his chest on the verge of collapsing, holding all the emotions inside him.

He was overwhelmed. Overjoyed. Engulfed in a whirlwind of feelings that he almost had forgotten.

"..."

He pulled his phone out of his track pants, swiping blindly to the one name he knew by heart.

It only took one ring.

"Hello, Rain?"

The sound of the voice against Rain's ear sent a sweet current to his spine. It was warm, much warmer than the setting sun on his skin. It warmed his soul as he listened to the voice he knew so well.

"You were looking after me every night," Rain began. "And in the mornings, you weren't sleeping all that much. Tinkering all over the house's garden... what were you thinking?"

There was a soft chuckle in the other line followed by a sigh.

"I can't sleep all that much. I figured... I can just do something for you while you were asleep..."

"Still..."

"Don't worry about me. I took breaks when I needed to. I'm good."

Rain looked around the garden and gently rocked the swing he was sitting on.

"Is this a gift for me?" Rain asked, warmth in his chest spreading like wildfire.

"In a way... yes."

"You shouldn't have," Rain whispered. "But thank you. Everything is so... different... new."

"..."

"Maybe because it had the Genius Payu's touch?" Rain kidded although his voice very obviously broke in between.

"It's nothing," Payu replied softly, caringly. "I intend to do lots and lots of things for you, Rain. You cannot stop me even if you try."

Rain smiled, looking up at the tree, towards the skies through the gaps of the leaves and branches.

"Thank you, Phi. Thank you for fixing everything that's not working in the garden."

"I wish I could see your face when you first saw the garden though," Payu said with a hint of impatience in his voice. "But here I am stuck with the lawyers."

They let the sound of the stream fill in the short silence between them. Rain could hear a faint man's voice in the background, a woman's the next. He could even hear Saifa's voice somewhere in the muted conversation that Payu had excused himself from obviously to answer Rain's call.