Rain

Rain studiously avoided looking at his friends, but he knew that they were boring holes into him. He refused to look up, pretending to be hard at work on his project. "You do realise that you can't avoid us forever, right?" Ple's tapping foot was clearly in his line of vision. "What?" he asked belligerently, looking up with a mulish pout. "I am not avoiding you!" "Dude, we can see through you from Timbuktu. Are you seriously going that route?" Sig asked. "And Sky told us everything last night itself," Por said. Rain glared at Sky, who shrugged as if he had not thrown his best friend under the bus with zero conscience.

"So? How was it? Is he a good kisser? And how are you able to walk straight? From what Sky said last night, we thought you might need a cushion to sit," Sig said, as Rain stared at him in growing horror. "The fuck Sig," he hissed. "What? We are your best friends; and except Sky, and now you, none of us are getting laid. We should have our ways of vicarious thrills," Por said. Rain and Sky rolled their eyes. "Only Sky is getting laid here. P'Phayu said that we will take that step only after I agree to become his boyfriend," Rain said, sounding smug, even to himself. He was proud of his Phi. He had never thought that the man could show that much restraint. And he had been thrilled to find himself waking up in Phayu's arms.

After their talk, Phayu had led him to his room, made him freshen up, and gave him comfortable clothes, to stay there. "Stay here tonight Rain. It's pretty late, and I can drop you and Sky off in the morning on the way to work," he had said. After that, Phayu had also bathed and gotten into bed, Rain had automatically found himself curling into the warmth and safety of his Phi's arms and had fallen into a deep and blessed sleep. The next morning, he had borrowed Sky's uniform, and true to his word, Phayu had dropped the two of them off before driving away himself. While it was normal for their gang to wait for them as they came in to Uni, today, he was a little nervous by their presence, knowing they had seen him getting down from Phayu's car. Even though Sky had been there, it was Rain who had been in the passenger seat, and the one who had been the recipient of Phayu ruffling his hair. He had seen the dropped jaw of his friends and had, at first, smirked. Then he had realised with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that this was definitely going to lead to some questions, which brought them back to his current predicament.

"At least tell us if he kisses well?" Ple asked, looking up at Rain with her softest pout. "Jeez! What do you think?" Rain asked, not really wanting to say what was actually on his mind; that his Phi was such a good kisser that Rain's brains had leaked out of his head. He had never wanted that moment to end. He had wanted to revel in his newly awakened desires. "Just look at him! He is totally gone! I can't imagine what an amazing kisser P'Phayu must be, that Rain is gone in one shot!," Por said, as all of them, including Rain burst out laughing.

"How happy you look, after getting a wonderful senior expelled," P'Pam, one of Som's classmates, and a member of P'Phayu's fan club said, sneering. Por and Rain, who were closest to Sig, stopped him from getting into the senior's face, but Ple had no such compunction. She laughed out loud. "That senior got himself expelled, and no one deserved it more than him, unless it's you. Don't think that I don't have proof of your culpability Phi. I just didn't release it, that's all. But trust me, there are people who have every single bit of information I could give them. If you don't want to go the same route as P'Som, P'Bank and P'Jack, I would recommend that you keep your fucking trap shut and crawl back into whatever hole that vipers come out of. I don't make empty threats Phi, you should know that," she said, so calmly, that the senior actually paled and stepped back, hurrying away.

"What the hell was that?" Rain asked, noticing that all the others were staring at her too. She shrugged nonchalantly. "I have screenshots of every conversation P'Som had about maligning Rain." "Who did you send them to? As far as I know, we only gave three names to the lawyer," Sky said. "I sent them to P'Phayu, since it was his 'fan club' creating the issue. And plus.. umm.. he asked for it, all the names involved in Rain's defamation," Ple said, as all the boys looked at her in complete shock. "When did you do that?" Por asked. "And why?" Rain asked. "When he asked for it. And why not Rainy? Do you think that I would just sit around and watch all these horrible people just say and do what they like to you, and let them get away with it? If that's the case, then you have another thought coming. My brother behaved the worst with you, and not once did you let that affect our friendship. This is probably the bare minimum you should expect from anyone," Ple said, with tears in her eyes that did not quite fall.

Rain opened his arms out to her and she fell into them as he hugged her close. "It's okay baby. You did what you thought best," he said, running his hand down her back, trying to soothe her, the other three looking on with small smiles on their faces. "But what do you think P'Phayu will do with that information?" Sig asked. "You know what? I don't think we should even ask that question. Let's just consider it one of the many mysteries of the universe and forget it existed," Sky said, and everyone looked at him thoughtfully, knowing that this was probably the best idea in the world. When it came to the Theerpanayakuls, some questions were better left unasked.

Phayu

"Anything?" Phayu asked, watching their team of hackers, let by Arm, working to unearth information about the people who had pointed fingers at him, and had made Rain's life miserable. "Lots. Nong Ple has done a great job. Made life a lot easier for us, I must say," Arm said as information was displayed on screen. "What do you plan to do with them Yu. I hope you know that working as Venice Theerpanayakul is only going to create problems." "But if Vegas Theerpanayakul does it, no one will be able to utter a word," Vegas said, just as Phayu was about to speak up. Phayu looked at his father. "What are you planning Dad?" he asked. "At least 6 out of the 13 names that we have? One or the other family members work directly or indirectly for us. I will take care of it," Vegas said.

"I appreciate the gesture Dad. I really do. But I really want to put the fear of God directly into these people," Phayu said. "Go ahead son. Do things your way and let us do things our way. Even as Phayu Saengtham, you are no less deadly. So do what you need to, to protect our Rainy," Pete said, walking in and putting a hand on his son's shoulder. "Ven, we accepted Rain as our son long before you acknowledged your feelings for him. So there is no way I am going to let anyone stop me from doing what I have to protect him; whether he likes it or not," Vegas said, sounding feral. "I get it Dad. I am not stopping you. But I do want to ask. What about the remaining 7? Out of the 13 you mentioned?" Phayu asked. "Don't worry lu, I have plans for them too," Vegas said, and Arm shuddered at the maniac intensity on his brother in-law's face.

Rain

"Shia! Did you see this?" Sig came running to where his gang was sitting and revising. It had been a couple of weeks since Phayu had started courting Rain seriously, and some moments made Rain blush uncontrollably, but his life felt beautiful. Work at both the firm and the bar were going well, and Uni had been relatively peaceful, and that was what was putting Rain on edge. He was definitely not used to this feeling. Since day 1 in this world, he had lived in a tumultuous and literally edge of the seat life. So this calm atmosphere caused his skin to itch like crazy and made him feel that something was going to happen, something big, something he had no control over!

"What happened?" Sky asked. Sig put his phone on the table and played a video. "Swasdi Kha. My name is Pam Nattapong. My friends and I, who were part of the 'Support Som' club, will be disbanding with immediate effect. But before we do so, we would like to apologise to our Nong, Varain Adulyadej, who has been at the receiving end of several of our slurs and defaming statements. We went so far as to try and even humiliate the Nong in public, for no fault of his. He did not deserve that, especially since he hadn't even done anything to us. We were also members of the 'P'Phayu' fan club, which also closes doors immediately. We now realise that we were simply a mouthpiece for Som, who wished to propagate and perpetuate violence against Nong Varain, and we became inadvertent allies. We are also deeply ashamed of the way we treated P'Phayu, as an object, albeit of our affections. Nonetheless, we were wrong, and we hope that both P'Phayu and Nong Rain will find it in their hearts to forgive us one day," Pam said over the video, and then the whole group bent down deeply in apology. To say that he was shocked would be an understatement. "What the hell did P'Phayu do?" Sky asked, both face and voice mirroring Rain's emotions.

Phayu

Phayu smiled as he watched the video on the big screen that his brother had set up in the conference room. And it was not a nice smile. It was Venice Theerpanayakul's smile; a smile so reminiscent of Vegas's that the whole room shuddered. "That was some apology," Kinn said cautiously. "Yeah.. what did you do Phi Chaai?" Fah asked, looking at his older twin, a worried look on his face. "I hope you didn't reveal yourself Yu," Pai said, sounding equally worried. Phayu smirked. "I have just as much, if not more, power as Venice Theerpanayakul, I will have you know," he said disdainfully. Fah and Pai looked at each other, as did the other family members, and Phayu well knew he would not get away without an explanation. He thought back to his meeting with Pam, one of the people most outspoken about Rain, after Som, and whose screenshots had been the first set to arrive from Ple. "She is the head of it all Phi, but I am afraid it's like the Hydra; you cut off one head and more will grow in its place," she said. "So what do you suggest Nong Ple?" Phayu asked. "You remove the heart Phi," Ple said, her eyes fired with rage. Phayu nodded.

"I am so glad you could make it Nong Pam," Phayu said, as he cordially greeted his junior. He could see her preening under his attention, and he gave her some leeway. After all, she was going to slink away soon, with her tail between her legs. "Why wouldn't I Phi? I mean, you are the most wonderful to all of us. And anything you say is of the utmost importance," she simpered. Phayu wanted to gag, but he controlled himself. It would not be becoming if he threw up all over her. "So Nong, have you started applying for your internships?" Phayu asked, trying to find his equilibrium. Pam nodded excitedly. "Yes Phi. In fact, your company is now my top choice. Before Som told us not to apply there, but now that he is gone, what is stopping us, right?" she smirked.

Phayu couldn't believe his ears. She had literally dissed the person in whose name she was torturing Rain. He pulled out a sheet of paper from the file in front of him and nodded. "I can see that. Your top choice has changed," he said. "Yes Phi! I am hoping you will put in a good word," she said, looking at him through her lashes, trying to go for the sexy look. Phayu laughed inside. He pushed the sheet towards her. "Can you see all the companies marked with red? In this list?" he asked calmly. "Yes Phi. Are these companies you recommend?" she asked. "You see Nong, these are companies whose owners I know personally, or those in which I know someone high-up enough, companies that work closely with the Theerpanayakul group. Have you heard of them?" he asked.

"Of course Phi! Who hasn't?" she said. "Venice Theerpanayakul and I are very, very close; two sides of the same coin, if I may say so. And he seems to have taken an interest in you," Phayu said, as he watched the girl sit up straighter and adjust herself. He was disgusted with her, but he forced himself to continue. "So, he wanted me to make it clear to you that since all of these companies, marked in red, are under the Theerpanayakul purview. The remaining companies can be easily made to go bankrupt, or simply taken over. Then how will you find a job Nong Pam?" Phayu's voice and persona completely changed as he spoke, making Pam cower in her chair and shrink away from him. He grinned, and she could feel the ants crawling up her skin as she rubbed her arms, standing up, trying to rid herself of this feeling.

"I am only going to say this once Pam.. just once. I expect a very formal, very public, and very viral apology to be made to Rain before the day ends today. If you and your clique doesn't do so, you can be rest assured that none of you, not a single one of you, will ever see the inside of an architecture firm your entire life. You would consider yourself lucky to find a job even as a janitor, because that's the power I hold. And I will fucking ruin you!" Phayu said, teeth snapping together as Pam scrambled back, almost falling on her ass. "I will wait till 5 pm today. But I sincerely hope it happens before that. Otherwise my fingers could slip and BAM!" he said and watched as Pam frantically nodded and raced out of the coffee shop that he had invited her to. Well, that was one problem solved!

"Well, since you have started the game, I will go ahead and up the stakes. Why should you all have all the fun?" Vegas said smirking. The others shook their heads. "You both are incorrigible! Do you think Rain will appreciate what you are doing for him?" Pete said. "No one can stop me from doing the right thing for my son, least of all my own son," Vegas said, his nose in the air. "Is that what you also think Yu?" Pai asked. "If I can't even do this much for my partner, how will I ever live up to my own expectations of taking care of him? Rain deserves to be happy without all these silly things spoiling his day and taking up his time when he should be focusing on his studies," Phayu said. It was obvious that, for Phayu, the focus on Rain was single minded. There would be no detours, and he would do what it would take. There would be no stopping him.