Forgive Me Please

Chapter Six - Old friends, New Rain

Aurora and Rain walked towards the new facility in silence.  The new building looked so modern and shiny, especially when they compared it to the older buildings on the campus.
"It looks new but classic" Rain said suddenly, his friend murmured her agreement. To be honest, she had a lot on her mind.  Today was the first meet and greet of all the new students and staff at the international facility and Rain would be meeting his friends again, alone.  She was worried, not because of his friends, but because of Rain.  The last 12 months have changed him, for the better.  At the core he is still the same Rain, chatty, innocent and headstrong.  But the heartbreak and new experience's have made him mature - but in a good way.  He also had good mentors, Paul and Matt, they were seniors that had set up a guidance team.  Rain was matched with both of them, and the three of them used to talk about problems, emotions, human nature and just bout everything.  Sometimes she used to join them in debate, discussions and, yes, heated argument's on different views.  Though these friendships, Rain developed maturity, understanding, knowledge and a feeling of self-worth.  Rain had a better understanding of who he is and what he could achieve.  He is a long way from who he used to be, but his friends.........Aurora was afraid that they were expecting the same old Rain.  What if they could not wrap their heads around the fact Rain had evolved.  She prayed that they could accept him for who he is now.

"I will be fine, Sunny" Rain said as he interrupted her thoughts. He used her nickname for full effect.  Aurora's father was a history buff and he was an expert on Roman Gods and Goddess, so when his daughter was born at the crack of dawn, he named her Aurora after the Roman Goddess of Sunrise.  She only allows the people closest to her to use her nickname. "You need to stop worrying"

They smiled at each other, "Cant help worrying about my big bro!" there was three weeks between their birthdays, Rain was born fist so they always referred to him as the big brother!

They stopped outside the main entrance, "look my facilities is opposite yours, I will not be that far away" Rain said "just promise me that you will enjoy this day and make lots of new friends" he laughed as he patted her head! "Get off idiot" Aurora wacked his hand away "Look just text me when your meeting is over and I will meet you"

Rain signed, "you don't need to babysit me, Sunny"  He looked towards his facility "I will have to meet him sooner or later" Again he placed his hand on her head "I am a big boy now, I will handle it"

They looked at each other, they truly loved one another and they will always want to protect each other, because that is what family does. After a big hug, they part ways and Rain walks towards his facility.   He meets up with the head of the facility and after a small discussion Rain is sent to the room, where his friends were.  They had no idea he would be attending this meeting to plan the welcoming day for the first years.  They were already in discussion when Rain opened the door, Ple looked up, blinked and then screamed "Rain!!!" she jumped up and threw her arms around Rain.  The group quickly followed her lead, except Sky.  He had his back to the door and was in a state of shock so he hung back.  The group knew that these two needed space, so they announced that they were going to get snacks to celebrate the return of Rain.

Once they had all left, the two friends just looked at each other.  Rain smiled and said, "you can hit me if you want"  That broke the spell Sky was under and he grabbed Rain and started to shake him.

"Where did you go? Why did not not let me know? Why did you not contact me at all? Did you hate me? Did you blame me?" All the hurt, guilt and doubt spilled out of Sky.  He stopped shaking Rain, instead he threw his arms around him and cried.

Rain stroke his friends back, tears filled his eyes. "Shhhhh" he kept whispering "None of this was your fault"

"But Phayu, thought you cheated on him because of those photos" Poor Sky, guilt had eaten him up alive.  He thought it happened because of the make over he insisted on having that day.  He regretted not acting on his gut when he first could not get hold of Rain, why did he wait 48 hours??

"Sky, none of this has anything to do with you at all, do you understand" Rains voice was stern.  Sky was surprised to hear this tone from Rain, "This is not your fault"

The two friends sat down and hugged, Rain explained further, "This happened because of Phayu behaviour and my immaturely to hand a relationship problem.  Sky looked into his friend's eyes and he could see the reassurance and love that Rain was projecting towards him.  "I ran away from that problem, instead of staying, and I did not let anyone know because I was a coward"

Sky looked at his friend and smiled, "You have changed, I like it"  Rain laughed as he hugged his friend, "I will promise you I will never do that to you again"

"You better not" Threatened Sky, the two friends waited for their group to come back.  Once they were, it was so noisy.  First Rain explaining that he had been in the UK, and spoke about this life there, everyone updated him on their last year.  Then they got down the the task at hand.  Everyone noticed the change in Rain, it was brought up a few times during the day but Rain just smiled.  Even Sig tried to get a rise out of Rain, only for Rain to manage the situation with his normal good humoured way.  Soon it was the end of the meeting and the friends agreed to go to a local pub so that can continue chatting.  Rain asked if he could bring Aurora and no one had any objections.  Rather they was wondering of the nature of their relationship.

Rain text Aurora and asked if she wanted to go along.  She text back yes straight away and that she would meet them in front of his facility.  P'Pai called Sky and asked if he could pick him up.  Sky let him know that they were going out, "Is that P'Pai?" asked Rain, Sky nodded.  "Why don't you invite him to come?" P'Pai overheard Rain and told Sky, "Phayu is with me"

Sky just looked at Rain, unsure on what to say. "P'Phayu is with P'Pai" he explained, Rains hear jumped his chest, to was beating so loud he was sure everyone could here.   He took a calming breath, looked at Sky and said "If he wants to tag along he can"   Sky relayed the message. Phayu who had been in the car, could not believe his ears, Rain was ok with him being there? He looked at his friend and said "I will go too"  "We will meet you at the pub in 15min" P'Pai said.

Aurora had just walked up to the group and she greeted them all politely.  Rain updated her on the added guests, She was not happy.  She would never be a poker player - her face gave away her feelings.  "Behave" was all Rain said

The group found an outside area of the pub that had beanbag as seats.  The first round was brought by Rain as punishment for making his friends worry.  They were all chatting and laughing with each other when Sky suddenly cried out, "P'Pai"  the group looked up at the two new comers.  Rain raise his head and found himself staring straight into Phayu's eyes.