Him and I

Of futures and fiancés - 1

Yihwa groaned as she straightened from the table. The group had been working hard on their final projects and time had flown out of the window. "Guys, I can't believe this is our very final project as Architecture students," she said. "I know, 5 years ran away like they were 5 minutes ago," Nut said. The group stood smiling, as they recalled all their past, from the moment they had become friends, until now. The 6 of them were the pride of their faculty, and most of them had already been handed golden internships on a platter. Only Nut was not interning, leaving for the US soon after final exams to attend his sister's wedding and then he would continue his studies in Management from there itself. But since it was just a couple of years, he would be back pretty soon.

"It has been a wonderful 5 years though. I can't imagine my life without you guys anymore you know?" Sig said. "Seriously though. And can you imagine? P'Phayu and P'Pai are doing their Masters and interning in their hospital as well. They must be really busy no?" Por asked. "Well yeah, no time to breathe even. We hardly get to see them ourselves," Sky said. "Even though we are living together, I feel Sky is more my boyfriend than P'Phayu," Rain threw his head back and laughed at Sky's disgusted expression. "You guys have been dating for 5 years now no?" Yihwa asked. Rain and Sky nodded. "So which one of you plans to get married first?" Sig asked. "Hey no talking about getting married. Not till I am back from the US. No getting married without me," Nut whined, and all of them started laughing.

"P'Rain Kha?" one of the juniors stood at the door of their room. Rain looked up. "Khap Nong? What happened?" he asked, smiling. The girl's heart skipped a beat. Many of the juniors who had joined this year were not aware of Rain dating anyone, and they all had major crushes on him. They found him hot, and cute. "A.. A.. Ajarn Wang is calling you," she said, stuttering. "Thank you Nong. I will come," Rain smiled encouragingly. The girl waiied and left, literally running from there. "Thank God P'Phayu is not in this campus anymore. He would get a fit in knowing how many people follow you around!" Yihwa said, giggling. Rain rolled his eyes as he left the room.

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"Come in!" a voice called out as Rain knocked on the door. "Swasdi Khap Ajarn. May I come in?" Rain waiied after he opened the door. "Come in, come in my boy," Ajarn Wang said. "Please sit Varain," he added. "Khap Ajarn," Rain said as he sat down. "Varain, do you remember the term end project that you had submitted for the competition at the National University of Singapore couple of months ago?" Ajarn Wang asked. "Yes Ajarn?" Rain looked puzzled. "You won that competition my boy!" Ajarn Wang said. "What?" Rain asked, shocked. "Yes Varain! You have won the competition, and have become the first student from this University to ever win it! You have received complete scholarship to study Master of Science in the field of Integrated Sustainable Design, a one year programme at the University! Congratulations Varain!" The teacher looked like he was going to cry with happiness. But Rain sat shell-shocked. He could not believe what he was hearing!

"So Varain, we need to give them a definitive reply by the end of this week, so I hope you can speak to your family and get back to us. Since only one candidate is given this opportunity every year, they will need to find a replacement if you decide not to go, okay?" Ajarn Wang said. Rain nodded, still reeling under the shock of the news. He waiied to the professor and left the room, unable to process the news. If it had been 5 years ago, he would have leapt at this opportunity, especially since it would have been a wonderful proof of his achievement in front of his father. And Sky would have gone with him. But now, it weighed like a stone on him. Leaving behind Sky, who would not leave P'Pai (and he would not even ask him to), leaving behind the Theerpanayakul family, who had become his biggest pillars of strength, and most importantly, leaving behind P'Phayu, the man who had taught him the true meaning of love, taught him to trust his own heart. What would he say to all of them?