Chapter Text
Phayu is walking his little girl to the entrance of the new daycare center. Dara is excited, so much more than him. He’s unwilling to separate himself from her. Saifah told him this is a good thing, that he can’t be too attached to his own pup. But she is everything he has left from his fiance. Everything inside him, every omega instinct he has, is telling him to take her back home. Logically, he knows he needs to let Dara be with pups her own age, but it’s so hard.
“Are you ready to go inside, little pup?” he asks her gently.
“Yes, papa.”
Phayu smiles. She’s so adorable. Is it too late to take her back home?
A man, close to his age, but still somewhat younger than him, stands in front of the entrance. Phayu assumes that the alpha is there to drop his own pup to the daycare. Something is drawing him in, and he knows that the alpha’s looks are part of that. The alpha is beautiful, and he doesn’t know how to describe it better. Just beautiful . And the scent, although faint, is warm, like warm summer weather, but also, it’s fresh. It attracts his attention, but he is not supposed to check out alphas now. He is here to drop his little pup off, and he really needs to find Rain, the teacher Sky recommended.
“Hello,” the younger alpha smiles at him and Dara. “Are you here for preschool, sweetie?”
“Yes, Khun,” Dara nods, not shy a bit. His sweet little pup.
“You are such a big girl,” the man says with a smile. Then he turns to Phayu. “Are you here to drop her off?”
“Yes. Did you also drop your pup off?” Phayu asks, making small talk.
“Oh, no, I work here. My name is Rain,” the alpha introduces himself.
This is the preschool teacher Sky recommended. Phayu would have never guessed.
“Nice to meet you, Khun Rain. My name is Phayu,” he introduces himself. “Sky recommended this preschool to me.”
The part ‘and you’ stays silent, because Phayu isn’t sure how Rain would react to that. It’s safer to keep it inside of his brain.
“He told me you would be coming today,” Rain nods, before he turns towards Dara. “Why don’t you say goodbye and we'll go inside, sweetie? Your papa will come to pick you up later.”
Dara nods. “Bye, papa!” she says adorably, and Phayu lifts her up to hug her tightly.
“See you later today, little pup.”
He puts her down and watches as she walks inside with Rain. He knows she is safe, he does. But he wants to take her with him. He’s too nervous about letting her go. It’s much different than when he leaves her with Saifah or Prapai. Or even Sky. But now, she isn’t with anyone she knows. She isn’t with anyone he knows and that makes him anxious.
He’ll be here to pick her up later, but for now, he needs to move and go to the garage. He requested a day off from the firm since it’s his little pup’s first day of school, and he wants to be the one who picks her up. Mhok was beyond understanding – the man has pups of his own, and Phayu is grateful he has a boss who gets it.
Finally, he turns away from the school and walks to his car. His range rover is parked near the school, and he took it today because he is driving Dara. As much as he loves his bike, he doesn’t want to take her on a bike ride. She’s too young and too small. Though he would prefer he took the bike at this moment. Riding his bike would help him clear his head quickly and efficiently. Since that is not an option, maybe he can take the longer route to the garage.
Phayu is in his car, still unsure whether or not he should go the longer route. After a few more minutes, he makes the decision. He pulls away from the school and turns down a different road than he took here, but also a different road than the one that would take him to the garage faster. It makes his drive more peaceful and he's grateful for it. He sighs softly as he looks around him at the calming view. When he gets to the garage, he is calmer. He feels calmer.
With a clear head, Phayu walks into the garage reception room where Nui and Aon are gossiping. He greets them both and asks if his brother is here today. Aon confirms and Phayu goes to check what Saifah is working on.
Phayu finds his brother leaning over the hood of a Porsche. He doesn’t recognize the car. It must have been left here today.
“Hello, Saifah,” he says loud enough for Saifah to hear.
“You’re here today?” Saifah asks him the moment his brother notices him.
“I took the day off. It’s Dara’s first day and I want to be there for her. And the race is coming closer, so I should use the time I have and check on P’Pakin’s bikes,” Phayu explains shortly.
“Phayu, are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m completely alright. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Saifah gives Phayu a knowing look. “Because this is the first time you are separated from your pup. And you can’t just call someone to hear her voice. I’m worried about you. The last time you did this, it was after…”
“It’s not the same, Saifah. I’m okay, I am not burying myself in my work again.”
“Are you sure, Phayu?”
Phayu knows Saifah is concerned, but he needs to be left alone. And he has work to do. He’s not hiding behind his work. He never did such a thing. He just has things to do and later he will go and pick his little pup up, and then they will spend the rest of the day together. Yes, that is the plan. A good plan.
“I’m sure, Saifah,” he smiles. It’s just a small smile, but it’s something. “Don’t you have work to do?”
“I’m going, but Phayu, we’re all here for you. Remember that, please.”
“I know that, Saifah. But I’m really okay.”
He’s really alright. Nothing his brother and friends are likely worried about.
The next few hours fly by him while he works on bikes, and soon it’s time to go and pick up Dara. He has enough time to shower and change clothes before going, which is good. He’s not going to go to his little pup’s school in his mechanic outfit.
Once he arrives, he sees a lot of other parents there to pick their kids up. Slowly, the crowd lessens and Rain walks up to him holding Dara’s hand.
“See, sweetie, your papa is here to pick you up.”
“Hello, little pup,” Phayu smiles at the little girl.
“Papa!” Dara squeals. She runs towards him. Phayu lifts her up in his arms and buries his face in her neck, smelling her sweet scent. He missed her so much.
“She was a very good girl today, and very smart,” Rain tells him when he puts Dara down. “See you tomorrow, sweetie. You as well, Khun Phayu.”
“Bye, Kru Rain!” Dara waves to her teacher.
“Bye, sweetie,” the man waves back.
“See you tomorrow, Khun Rain,” Phayu says softly.
He was worried over nothing. Dara is completely safe and she is happy. He couldn’t help his worry though, since she was with a stranger, but he is pleased to see her reacting positively to her new teacher.
“Let’s put you in your car seat, little pup,” he says.
She is perfectly calm as he puts her in the car seat and fastens it.
When they get home, he sees dinner has already been cooked. That must have been Saifah. His brother is trying so hard to help. He’ll thank him later, but for now, his little pup has priority.
“Little pup, did you have fun at school?” he asks her.
“Yes, papa. So fun!”
He smiles. Her excitement is always a good sign.
Dara tells him every single detail she thinks is important, which is almost everything, and he nods along. He’s listening to her, paying attention to what she is saying. What he notices the most is that she keeps mentioning her teacher. Phayu knows what that means – she liked Rain as her teacher. That is a good thing, it means she’s going to enjoy going to school, and that definitely eases some of his worries.
“And Khun Rain?” he asks about her new teacher.
“He’s the bestest. He played with Dara, and with friends.”
That starts a whole other story of the games Rain played with them. He has to admit Sky recommended a good teacher, someone who can easily include her even when she is new. He’s just so happy and relieved that she likes her teacher and the other kids.
****
Rain has been teaching in this preschool for a few years, but not a single kid seems to like him as much as little Dara does. She’s adorable. A very smart little girl too. She has been in his class for a few weeks now and she is a true delight to teach.
All of the kids are with their parents and he is about to leave. He sits in the car and tries to start the engine, but it sounds weird. And it won’t start. What should he do? He has the worst luck with cars and he knows he should have taken it to a mechanic a long time ago, but he just never found the time.
Rain sighs as he gets out of the car. Better to call a mechanic and get his car towed. Does he even have a mechanic’s number? Maybe he can look up a number online – surely, there has to be at least one garage that shared their number online.
“Kru Rain!”
He knows that voice. It’s little Dara running to him.
“Sweetie, where is your papa?”
She shouldn’t be here alone, and from what he has learned, Phayu is a very responsible dad. So, this means she ran from him to get to Rain.
“Papa is with car,” the little girl points towards the direction she came running from.
“Okay, why don’t you take my hand and we go to your papa?”
“But, Kru Rain!”
“Yes, sweetie?”
“Your car sounds funny. You should tell papa. Papa will fix it.”
Before Rain can answer, Phayu comes running over to them. Rain smiles softly at the poor worried man whose daughter ran off. He hopes his smile can calm him down at least a bit, because there are traces of something sour in the man’s scent, something that’s very likely caused by the worry for his daughter. Rain doesn’t usually check on the scents of the parents, but he couldn’t really avoid it now. Not when Phayu’s scent is getting through the scent blockers the man always wears. Rain is a bit surprised by the scent, because it’s familiar to him somehow, even if Rain has never scented Phayu before.
Dara’s voice seems to become more excited when she notices her father.
“Papa!” she squeals.
“Little pup, what did we say about running away without telling me?” Phayu asks.
Rain can see how worried Phayu is, and he wants to reassure Phayu, but he can’t meddle. He doesn’t know how much of a mess he would be if it was his daughter who ran off. Rain would freak out, so he can’t fault Phayu for reacting like this. That’s why he stays silent, watching the interaction between the father and the daughter.
“Not to.”
“That’s right. I told you not to run without telling me. Why did you do it?”
“Sorry, papa.”
The man’s face softens and he hugs the little girl. She still looks a little bit sullen, but then she remembers what she wanted to say.
“Papa!”
“Yes, little pup?” Phayu asks her.
“Kru Rain’s car sounds funny. You can fix it,” she explains.
Rain wants to laugh. This sweet girl is so adorable. But he really doesn’t want to bother her father. He can call a mechanic or maybe ask Sky which garage he uses for his car.
“There’s really no need. I’ll call a mechanic,” he adds.
“No, papa fix. Papa fix cars,” Dara says stubbornly.
“I don’t know why she is this persistent, Khun Rain.”
“It’s alright. She’s just excited because her dad is a mechanic, Khun Phayu. It’s a normal thing, even a good one for kids to be this proud of their parents. But I don’t want to bother you,” Rain says and looks at his watch.
It’s getting late. Maybe he should call Sky to pick him up. And figure out what to do with the car of course.
“It wouldn’t be a bother. If your car is really making weird sounds, it should be looked over. I can call someone from my garage to tow it,” Phayu offers.
“Yes, papa fix,” the little girl insists.
“That would help, but you really don’t need to.”
The little girl looks at Rain with sad eyes and the most adorable pout he has ever seen.
“Papa fix?” Dara asks, with a hopeful tone in her voice.
“Little pup, you should let your teacher go,” Phayu tries to convince her.
“But papa fix cars,” she says, looking sad.
Rain gives in. “Is your papa good at fixing cars?” he asks. He really hates making kids sad, and it really makes no difference to him where the car is fixed.
“Papa is bestest,” she says proudly.
“Then I should let him fix my car too,” Rain says.
“Yes, papa fix!”
The little girl smiles again, happy that she won this argument. Or at least Rain thinks so.
Phayu calls someone who comes to tow Rain’s car to Phayu’s family garage. Rain didn’t try to argue about that, even if not arguing took another pout from Dara, which Rain couldn’t find in himself to resist. On Phayu’s insistence, Rain also got a ride home with them.
Once Rain is inside his house, he thinks about what happened because he is very confused at the moment. He won’t deny that Dara’s father is a very good looking man, but it isn’t normal for Rain to notice anyone. He feels attracted to the man – his looks, the caring smiles he has when little Dara is around, and the faint scent Rain didn’t get a chance to fully take in yet. He wants to, though – he shouldn’t but he does. The only question is why he wants to.
It doesn’t matter, Rain can ignore the attraction. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s noticed someone while working. Now that he thinks about it, the reason he noticed Phayu is probably because of Dara. Otherwise, Rain wouldn’t pay any attention to the parent. He usually notices kids first, probably due to the fact he is a teacher.
Shaking off thoughts of Phayu, Rain decides he should call Sky to check if his friend can maybe give him a ride. They go in the similar direction, if Rain remembers it correctly. If Sky can’t, Rain will call Ple. Either way, he needs a ride now that his car is at the mechanic’s.
****
Phayu comes to pick Dara up. He is a bit tired but very pleased with the work he has done himself. His little pup was completely right, Rain’s car did sound funny, and he spent the last few days doing the repairs after work when Dara was with Saifah, or Pai and Sky, and that had taken time, but he’d done it. He’s proud of the complete repair he has done.
He watches the crowds of the parents, all of them waiting for their little pups. Many of the kids just run towards their parents but Phayu doesn’t see Rain anywhere. Or Dara, for that matter. Neither of them is anywhere. He starts to get worried because instead of Rain, a different teacher walks out with the rest of Dara’s group, and his blood runs cold. Almost everyone else picks up their kids and leaves. There is only one other omega and him left.
“Are you Dara’s and Gray’s parents?” the teacher asks.
“Yes, I’m Dara’s papa,” Phayu answers at the same time as the woman says, “Yes, I’m Gray’s mom.”
“Can you both come with me? There has been a minor incident. Rain can tell you more about it,” the teacher explains, and Phayu can’t help but feel more nervous about that incident.
They follow the teacher into the classroom, and he sees his little pup unharmed. Phayu can see that Dara is in the other room, which helps him relax. He knows where she is. That’s good. Right?
“Thank you, Ple.” Rain smiles at the teacher who brought them.
“You’re welcome, Rain. You owe me one,” Ple, the teacher, winks.
“We’ll settle the score,” Rain smiles.
The other teacher leaves.
“Alright, you both are here. Khun May, Khun Phayu, I’m sure that my colleague already informed you that there has been an incident,” Rain tells them.
“Yes, Khun Rain,” the woman beside Phayu says.
“Good. I have to inform you that the kids got into a bit of a fight, verbal, but there was a bit of pushing as well,” Rain explains.
“What happened?” Phayu rushes to ask. The fact that there was a verbal and a physical fight, no matter how little it was, worries him.
“Little Gray was playing with one of little Dara’s friends, a little roughly, and she defended her friend. It’s nothing too serious, but I wanted to inform you both. The kids are in that room.” Rain points to the room the children are in. “They apologized to each other. You can go and pick them up,” Rain says.
The woman who was beside him goes to pick her son up, but Phayu stays for a bit longer. “Dara was good, right?”
“Yes, Khun Phayu. She was defending her friend. She’s a very sweet girl,” Rain confirms and Phayu nods. “I’ll get her and come back. She’ll be excited to see her papa.”
When Rain comes back with Dara holding his hand, she looks at him and yells, “Papa!”
“Little pup!”
She runs to him and Phayu easily catches her, lifts her into his arms, and spins her around.
“Dara miss papa,” she says.
“Papa missed Dara too,” he replies. “I heard you were a good girl in school today.”
“Kru Rain say Dara very good,” she smiles.
Phayu smiles at her. “Khun Rain told me. You were a very good girl today. We can have ice cream after dinner.”
Since no one is hurt, and she was just protecting her friend, Phayu feels she deserves a reward.
“Papa! Papa! Kru Rain good too. Kru Rain have ice cream,” she says excitedly.
“I’m sure your teacher can have ice cream.”
“No! Kru Rain have ice cream and dinner with papa and Dara.”
Phayu looks around, and sees the flustered teacher looking at them. He’s not sure how to respond to her about this. Of course he can’t expect the man to join them for dinner. Rain must have his own family to go to. “Little pup, we can’t just tell him. Khun Rain might be busy.”
“Papa ask,” she says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
“We can call Uncle Saifah and Uncle Pai and Uncle Sky for dinner and ice cream.”
“Papa ask Kru Rain,” Dara insists.
Rain looks at them, an obvious blush on the man’s face, and he nods at Phayu to ask. Dara won’t let this go.
“Khun Rain, do you want to eat ice cream with Dara and me?” Phayu smiles at the man.
“Kru Rain come?” Dara joins, and Phayu just knows she is pouting to get what she wants.
“I’d love to,” the man says, like he doesn’t want to disappoint Dara.
She beams, clearly happy. Cunning little pup knows what she wants and how to get it. Who did she learn this from? Pai? Saifah? Sky is more responsible than to spoil her further.
Phayu decides to use this opportunity to tell Rain that Rain can pick the car up. Phayu didn’t spend the last few days working on it for nothing. He just hopes Rain will be happy about the way the car works now.
The three of them go to an ice cream shop, letting Dara pick one scoop of her favorite, which is chocolate at the moment. Rain insists that he can pay for the ice cream, but Phayu doesn’t want the man to spend money on him and his daughter.
The night is more fun than Phayu expected it to be. Another thing that surprised him is the way everyone who walks by coos at the little family. It usually isn’t something he would notice, but this time it’s different. Phayu doesn’t really know why, other than the fact that Rain is there with him. Or maybe because of the way Dara and Rain play, making Phayu wish for a partner again. He doesn’t usually have those kinds of thoughts. He hasn’t had any since Dara’s other father. He didn’t have any of those thoughts, not since Dara’s other father. It would be nice to have someone again, but Phayu isn’t ready for that. He might be ready for dating again in the future, but for now, he’s happy with friends and family.
Phayu once again insists he should give Rain a ride home, because he and Dara are the reason why the man isn’t home yet. Rain refuses at first, but he quickly agrees when Phayu insists. All things considered, Phayu can see Rain as a friend, and he’s happy Dara got attached to Rain, because now they can also be friends, which is something Phayu would never even consider if his little pup didn’t make him include Rain in their little family outing.
That’s the story of how ice cream started a beautiful friendship for Phayu. When he tells that to his brother, Saifah just starts laughing. Phayu knows Saifah is happy that Phayu has another person in his life, but he will also get teased a lot. Though, Phayu can always return the favor and tell Oatkheam all about Saifah’s attempts in asking her out before she finally said yes.