[Two Months After Engagement - Wedding Venue Shopping]
Rain and Prapai toured their fifth venue. Each had been beautiful but felt wrong somehow.
"Too big," Rain said. "Too impersonal."
"What do you want?" Prapai asked gently.
Rain thought about it. "Somewhere open. With natural light. Where I can see all the exits." He paused. "That sounds paranoid."
"It sounds like knowing what you need," Prapai corrected. "Your trauma doesn't disappear just because you're happy. It's okay to have requirements."
They found it the next day—a garden venue with an open pavilion, surrounded by flowers and natural beauty. Clear sightlines, multiple paths away, intimate but not enclosed.
"This," Rain breathed. "This is perfect."
"Then this is where we'll get married."
[Dress Shopping - One Week Later]
Rain stood in a boutique with Sky and Pete, trying on suits.
"Traditional or modern?" the consultant asked.
"Neither," Rain decided. "I want something uniquely me."
He found it—a white suit with subtle architectural-pattern embroidery, modern but elegant.
"That's the one," Sky said definitively.
Rain looked at himself in the mirror. The person staring back was confident, healed, happy.
"Yeah," Rain agreed. "This is me."
[Three Months Before Wedding - Guest List]
Rain and Prapai reviewed names. Family, close friends, Rain's professors, colleagues.
"What about Phayu?" Prapai asked carefully.
"What about him?"
"Does he... should he know? He's still technically family."
Rain considered. "No. This day is about us, our future. He has no place in it."
"Okay. Just wanted to check."
"Pai, Phayu is my past. A painful chapter that's closed. You're my future. I don't need his blessing or acknowledgment."
Prapai kissed Rain softly. "I love you."
"I love you too. Now help me decide on flowers."