Love is a game (Love in the air collection)

Bell in the night

Rain curls up on a patch of grass near the water and falls asleep. When he wakes there is a surprising warmth pressed to him. Rain sits up and looks straight into the green eyes of a pure black panther, this one looks to be a half-grown cub.

“You’re not going to eat me, are you?” Rain asks.

The panther lets out a huff and puts his head back down. Rain smiles at how the cat looks curled up next to him. “You are so pretty,” Rain says, reaching out a shaky hand and scratching the cat behind the ears. There is a deep rumbling in the cat’s chest and Rain is pretty sure he is purring. Rain isn’t even sure if big cats like this can purr but it’s what it sounds like.

There is a sound behind them, and a boy comes into the clearing where they are, “Phayu,” he says, “mae has been looking for you.” The cat gets on his feet and stretches lazily.

“His name is Phayu?” Rain asks. “Is he your pet?”

“He’s my brother.” The boy says, “Who are you?”

“I’m Rain.” Rain gives the boy a polite wai.

“Rain, I am Saifah, and this is Phayu. Are you lost?” Saifah ask him.

Rain nods at this.

“Come home with me and meet my mother, I will let her know I’m going to lead you out of the forest.” Saifah tells him.

“Okay,” Rain says, happily. This boy is nice to him, unlike the other children.

The boy leads him to a small roughly built hut where a woman is picking herbs from a small garden. She stands up and dusts her hands off when she sees the boys.

“Saifah, who is this?” She says.

“This is Rain, mae. He’s lost and I was going to show him the way out of the forest.” Saifah says.

She nods and comes over to examine the boy. Rain resists the urge to hide his wrist behind his back that will only draw attention to it. To his horror the woman does take his wrist. She glances at the mark and her eyes widen for a moment, but she doesn’t say anything. Instead, she examines the bruises that Stop left tutting over them.

“Let me put some cream on those for you,” she says.

She goes to the hut and comes back with a jar of sweet-smelling cream. She kneels down next to Rain and gently rubs them on the bruises, immediately they begin to feel better.

“Thank you, auntie.” Rain says. She gives him a sweet smile.

“Rain, Saifah will lead you out of the forest, but I need you to do me a favor. Please don’t tell anyone you met us here. It’s for your own safety. Can you do that for me?” The woman says.

Rain nods, he will keep their secret. “Can I come back?”

“As long as you are careful, and no one knows.” The woman says.

“Okay,” Rain smiles.

“Saifah, take Rain to the edge of the forest near the village, but don’t leave the forest. Make sure no one sees you.” The woman says.

“Yes, Mae.” Saifah says and Phayu also gets up to go with them.

They take Rain to a spot in the forest where he can just see the village through the line of trees.

“I will be at this spot tomorrow morning if you can come, just make sure no one sees you.” Saifah says.

Rain thinks that won’t be hard; the other children will probably stay away from him. This morning that thought would have made him sad but now he is glad about it. He can easily come back and see Saifah and Phayu.