[Three years ago - Before the storm]
Rain had always believed in fairy tales.
Not the sanitized Disney versions, but the old ones-
where love was complicated, where characters struggled, but ultimately, good prevailed.
He believed that everyone deserved a happy ending, that kindness would be rewarded, and that real love, would find him someday.
He just never expected it to come in the form of a mafia family heir..
They met at an architecture exhibition.
Rain was admiring a model of a sustainable housing project when he felt eyes on him.
Turning, he found himself locked in the gaze of the most intense man he'd ever seen-
tall, sharply dressed, with eyes that seemed to see straight through him.
"You appreciate sustainable design?" The man's voice was smooth.
Rain nodded, suddenly shy.
"I... I think architecture should heal, not harm. Buildings should give back to the earth."
The man smiled, and Rain's heart skipped.
"A romantic view. I like it. I'm Phayu."
"I'm Rain."
"Like the rain that heals the earth?"
Phayu stepped closer, and Rain caught the scent of expensive cologne.
That first conversation lasted three hours.
Phayu was intelligent, charming, seemed genuinely interested in Rain's ideas.
He asked questions, remembered details, made Rain feel seen in a way he never had before.
"Can I see you again?" Phayu asked as the exhibition closed.
Rain hesitated only a moment before saying yes.
The courtship was like a dream.
Expensive dinners, thoughtful gifts, long conversations about everything and nothing.
Phayu was attentive, protective, passionate.
He introduced Rain to a world of luxury Rain had only seen in movies.
"What do you do?"
Rain asked one evening, three months into their relationship, suddenly realizing he knew very little about Phayu's work.
"Business," Phayu replied smoothly, tucking a strand of hair behind Rain's ear.
"Boring corporate stuff. Nothing as creative as what you do. Tell me more about your latest project."
And Rain, flattered by the attention, let it go.
The first red flag came subtly.
"Who was that guy you were talking to?" Phayu's voice was casual, but his grip on Rain's hand tightened.
"Just a classmate. We're partnered for a project."
"You smiled at him a lot."
Rain laughed nervously. "He was telling a joke, P'Phayu. It's nothing."
Phayu pulled Rain close, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. "I know, baby. I just... I don't like sharing your smiles."
Rain found it romantic at the time.
Possessive, yes, but wasn't that how passion looked? Wasn't that proof of how much Phayu cared?
He didn't recognize the cage being built around him, bar by invisible bar.
Six months in, Phayu had a key to Rain's apartment.
A year in, Rain had slowly stopped seeing most of his friends-
it was just easier than dealing with Phayu's moods afterward.
Eighteen months in, Rain's phone had Phayu's tracking app "for safety."
"I love you so much it scares me," Phayu would say, and Rain would melt, not seeing the warning in those words.
By two years, Rain felt like he was drowning, but couldn't remember how to swim to shore.
He didn't know that the worst was yet to come.
He didn't know that Phayu's "boring business" was actually an empire built on power and violence.
He didn't know that in Phayu's world, what Phayu claimed, Phayu kept-by any means necessary.
And he definitely didn't know that Phayu's family had already begun watching him, evaluating whether this gentle architecture student was worthy of their heir, or simply a liability to be managed.
Rain stood on his small balcony that night, looking at the Bangkok skyline, feeling the cage even if he couldn't yet name it.
Theerapanyakul Main Estate -
Phayu sat with his fathers and cousin, discussing business.
"The boy," Kinn said carefully. "Phayu seems... attached."
"No. Obsessed," Vegas corrected, his cold eyes assessing. "There's a difference."
Phayu's jaw tightened. "He is mine. That's all that matters."
Prapai, sitting quietly in the corner, said nothing.
But he watched his cousin with growing concern, remembering his own father's words:
"The line between love and possession is where monsters are made Phayu..."