Title: Last Smile Under The Rain
Genre: Romance
Author: KAY
@MysteriousAlien 'Love to Taste Blood'
Disclaimer: 
This is a work of fiction, Names, Characters, Business events and incidents are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead or actual events is purely coincidental. 
Beware of the grammatical errors and typos ahead!
PROLOGUE 
The air was heavy, not just with the impending rain, but with a thick, suffocating silence that pressed down on the two figures standing near the desolate, fog-kissed port. Elaine clutched her worn, blue jacket tighter, her knuckles white against the fabric. Her eyes, usually a sparkling hazelnut brown, were clouded with unshed tears, reflecting the gray misery of the sky.
"So, ito na 'yun, Saintly?" Elaine's voice was a shaky whisper, barely audible above the rising wind. This is it, Saintly? She tried to sound strong, casual, but the tremor in her chin betrayed her.
Saintly didn't meet her gaze. He was staring at the choppy, dark water, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his trench coat. The usual confident, almost arrogant swagger in his posture was gone, replaced by a defeated slump. He looked like a man about to confess a crime he couldn't undo.
"Elaine, please... don't make this any harder than it already is," he finally said, his voice rough, strained, like grinding gravel. He still spoke in English when he wanted to put a barrier up, when he couldn't bear the raw, honest vulnerability of their mother tongue. "I need to go. It's the only way."
And then, the heavens broke. It wasn't a gentle drizzle. It was a torrential, angry downpour—a buhos that instantly soaked the concrete and plastered Saintly's dark hair to his forehead. It was the universe mirroring the devastating storm in Elaine’s chest.
"The only way for who, Saintly?" she challenged, stepping closer, the rain immediately drenching her hair and running cold down her neck. She didn't care. "The only way for you? Kasi you're scared? Kasi you can't handle the pressure? Don't you dare tell me it's for us!"
He finally turned, his eyes—that familiar, intense shade of emerald green—were full of pain and a stark, terrifying resolve. "It is for us! Look at our lives, Elaine! You're thriving here. Your career is taking off, your family is here... and I'm stuck. I'm drowning! I need to chase that opportunity abroad, 'yung pangarap ko, before it's too late. I need to prove I'm worthy of you, of this love."
A bitter, heartbroken laugh escaped her lips. It was a sound full of venom and sorrow. "Worthy? Saintly, I didn't fall in love with your future paycheck or your potential success! I fell in love with you! The struggling musician, the one who cooked me instant noodles at 2 AM, the one who would sing harana outside my window sa gitna ng hatinggabi! You were already worthy!"
She reached out, her soaked hand landing on his rain-drenched chest. She could feel his heart hammering—a frantic rhythm against her palm. "You're breaking my heart just so you can fix your ego!"
"Stop it, Elaine! Stop trying to guilt-trip me!" he pulled away sharply, his movement echoing the finality of their conversation. He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving under the soaking coat.
"I'm not built for a long-distance relationship, you know that. I'll get jealous, I'll be miserable, I'll end up holding you back. This way... we can both move on. We can both be happy."
Happy? The word felt like a slap. Elaine’s control finally shattered. The tears she had been desperately holding back merged seamlessly with the icy rainwater streaking down her face. She didn't even know which was which anymore.
"Fine," she choked out, her voice cracking. Her entire body was shaking, not from the cold, but from the magnitude of the loss. "Go. Run after your ambition. Run away from me. But Saintly... don't you dare come back."
She took a slow, agonizing step back. Then another. And another. The distance between them was growing, amplified by the drumming rain that washed away the last traces of warmth.
Saintly watched her, his own face contorted with regret and despair. He opened his mouth, perhaps to call her back, to beg her to stay, to admit he was wrong. But no sound came out. The sacrifice he was making was too large to allow for a moment of weakness.
As Elaine turned her back completely, ready to walk away into the blurring, rainy street, Saintly’s heart seized in his chest. He knew this was the last time. The last image.
"Elaine!" he called out, the name a desperate plea against the noise of the storm. She paused, freezing in the downpour. She didn't turn around.
He took a stumbling step forward, his voice softened by a deep, agonizing tenderness—the voice she knew and loved. The voice of the Saintly who was her everything.
"I... I will never forget you," he whispered, knowing she could barely hear him, but needing to say it anyway. "You are my last smile under the rain."
He expected her to walk away. He expected the harsh, final slam of a door. Instead, Elaine slowly lifted her hand to her cheek. She wiped away the mixture of rain and tears, and then, slowly, painfully, she curled her lips into the saddest, most beautiful smile Saintly had ever seen. It was a smile of acceptance, of deep pain, and of final, unconditional love.
Her last gift to him.
She held the smile for one brief, eternal second. Then, without a word, without looking back, she dissolved into the gray, water-soaked landscape.
Saintly stood there, alone, the rain washing over him, a cold, empty hole expanding where his heart used to be. He closed his eyes, the memory of that last, melancholic smile burned forever behind his eyelids. The only sound left was the relentless, unforgiving rain.
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A/n:
New story alert! Warning: may contain typos and grammatical errors, bare with me! Hope you enjoy reading this heartbreaking tale of love and sacrifice. >⁠.⁠<