When the Rain Clears ✓

One

He wasn't sure how he got himself into such a position. Nightmares were a common occurrence, especially after the loss of Phayu. But this was a different nightmare - one his mind never wondered about. Looking at the girl sitting across from him, he took a deep breath.

"How did you know?" he asked. He tried so hard to hide it - to make his change as natural as possible, yet here he was – sitting across from someone who claimed to know his secret. He was sceptical in the beginning. Until she confidently blurted out what he was so desperately trying to hide; that he had travelled back into the past.

She didn't know the details (of how he took his own life). But she knew nonetheless that he came from a much further future. It was strange and unsettling. Both of the fact that she knew of his biggest secret, and about the idea that he time-travelled.

Even in the current moment, he, himself, still had troubles comprehending his situation. So many emotions had rippled through him when he first awoke. He thought it had been a cruel joke at first, only to realise his prayers had been heard. He didn't know why he was chosen out of the millions who probably died with many regrets.  But it wasn't a chance he was going to throw away just because part of him thought of it as a fever dream.

"Rumours. They gave me an inkling of a feeling that you were like me," she started. "According to some people, your personality seems more tamed after summer vacation. And...your eyes, once I caught a glimpse of it," the haunted look of someone who had been through hell whenever he was left alone, "I knew I wanted to take the gamble."

She took a bite of her mango flavoured pudding, "I'm glad it's not wrong. Last thing I want is for people to label me as crazy."

"I don't think they ever will, N'Cloud," Rain said truthfully. It was probably near impossible to taint her reputation. Cloud - the goddess of the school; number one beauty and in the top three for academic achievement. Just like Phayu, she held little to no flaws. Her personal life remained a mystery, but one thing people knew for sure was that she would do volunteering at shelters on the weekends, further upping her status and painting her in a way that was deemed 'harmless'. 

He was one of the many (despite her being a year below him) who would try and get a glimpse of her in high school, but from what he heard, she hardly ever associated with guys.

By the time he graduated, she went offgrid. Nothing was heard from her, leading some people to speculate she went overseas, while others suggested she was sick and taking a break despite having only a year of high school left.

He assumed the same would happen, so it took him by quite a surprise when she cornered him after school and asked to hang out with him. It wasn't like he was a man of big ego, but there had been a split second where he did think she was going to ask him out. Parts of him would've preferred that being the case, as it would've allowed him to reject her, and move on from the event. But this, the fact that they shared the same experience, he knew they were going to be tied for much longer. And it terrified him how much more was going to change moving forward. Butterfly effects weren't always the prettiest.

"You returned too, huh?" he asked the obvious, mentally slapping himself. He blamed the teenage mentality that he reverted back to, and his body's old habit of not being able to control his own mouth.

She nodded after giving him an amused smile, "A year ago."

He scrunched his brows, looking at her in confusion. "A year? Not five months?"

She shook her head, "No."

She looked him in the eyes, making his body tense up instinctively. He remembered the younger him was never good with eye-to-eye contact, especially with good looking people (though it's fair to say Phayu helped him become immune to other good looking people-stop, Rain, don't think about him.)

"So it's only been five months for you, huh," she mumbled to herself, scrunching up her face and putting on a thinking expression. "You're the only returnee I've met so far so I can't say for sure...but it's possible we've been sent back to a time that's related to whatever we wished for." She pointed to herself, "I guess you could say I wanted to enjoy my youth. What about you?"

He swallowed. Clenching his fist as he remembered the thoughts that ran through his head during his final moments. "I...I wanted to change something..."

Seeing the look in his eyes (one she can say she was familiar with), she nodded, not wanting to pry anything further. "Do you think there's other people like us?" Rain found himself wondering, after they took a couple minutes to eat in silence.

"I don't know," she said. "I really hope not." And he agreed. Because the last thing he wanted was for Phayu to remember and track him down. He wasn't sure if he could stand a chance against the raging storm that was his boy - ex-boyfriend. He gave a bitter smile.

It can be said he can't even call Phayu his ex since a relationship that technically never happened can't be said to count. But he hoped he wouldn't have to deal with a confrontation from Phayu.

Because the current him would break and fold in an instant from the mere sight of the man alone. And he knew better. He had to know better.  He begged for a chance, and that chance was here. His selfishness has to be thrown away.

"Hey, P'Rain," Cloud spoke up, giving him an awkward smile - one he had often seen on her whenever someone confessed, or teased her when it came to her love life, or lack of. He hadn't known if she dated or not. "Would you like to make a deal with me?"

He raised his brows.

"A deal?"