October Rain

October Rain Playlist

Dancin’ in the Moonlight by Toploader

Breathe by Michelle Branch

Stunning by Madtown

Chapter I

South Jeolla Province, South Korea,  October 2009

“Rain!”

The loud, boisterous voice of Rain Kim’s mother echoed throughout their simple yet cozy home in the countryside. This had been a typical scene in their household. His mom cooking up a storm for him and his younger brother Rick who is six years his junior, his father is a noodle shop owner.

A head suddenly popped out of the covers and turned to look at the time. A small groan came across his lips.

 It’s just five thirty in the morning.

“Rain!”

Another boisterous call from the woman downstairs stormed up.

“I’m up! I’m Up! I’m Up!” Rain said whilst trying to untangle himself from his comforter.

He really doesn’t know why but he can’t seem to get used to wake up this early, and he’d been doing it his whole life. He turned to look at the moist mirror in his room and looked at his disheveled appearance.

“Yep. Good morning to you too Rain…” He greeted his reflection with a sigh as he left his room.

He descended down the creaky wooden steps of the staircase and was greeted by the cold October air. “Mom, what’s for breakfast?” He asked.

“Fried eggs, fried rice, and kimchi.” His mother replied as she placed the utensils on the table before beckoning her son to help her with what she was doing. Rain walked toward the table and began to help set it up.

“By the way, Son, do you mind helping out with the groceries for the noodle shop?” Mrs. Kim asked her son.

“No, I don’t mind it mom.” He said politely as he resumed what he was doing.

He felt a pinch on his cheek. “Such a good son.” A beautiful laugh came across his mother’s lips and he felt himself laughing as well.

As soon as they finished eating breakfast, Rain decided to take a bath first before leaving for his errands on this cold blistery October morning. After doing so, he put on some warm, comfortable clothes, perfect for the weather and hopped on his bike so he can finally start his day.

 As he was busy pedaling along the street on the way to the market, he turned to look at young students as they got ready to go to school. He felt his throat constrict a bit because he felt a tinge of jealousy.

Rain had always been a diligent student; he was an honor student at that. But bad things happened all at the same time and he wasn’t able to get into college. With visceral force, it all went back to him in one swift blow.

He remembered how he was ostracized by his teachers when they accused him of cheating during the final exams. Truth be told, he never even cheated, he was just at the wrong place at the right time. He never really found justice in his disqualification for the bid to valedictorian—heck he didn’t even have a place in the honor roll during graduation, his teachers said that he was lucky enough to graduate instead of being expelled. This broke his heart dearly and he is sure that it broke his family’s heart even more. Their eldest son barely even graduated and was not able to go to college the next year because of one stupid and unjustifiable allegation that turned his whole life upside down.

His parents never said a peep to him about the whole incident but he knows that they were both very disheartened because of the way society treats the little people. He remembered when his only choice for college was the local university and they turned him down because of what happened when he was in high school.

Rain has been branded a “cheater” even though he didn’t do anything wrong.

Now, he is busy helping his parents in their noodle shop and balancing the two part time jobs that he has. Though it takes a toll on him those two part time jobs helps to pay for their bills considering that the noodle shop hasn’t been doing well. During the day, he works at the local super market as a stacker and in the afternoon, he tutors three snobby rich kids who can’t even spell their names properly to save their lives.

He sighed as he was taken back to reality and began pedaling once again. He stopped by Mr. Park’s store to buy a variety of fruits and then he headed straight to Mrs. Lee for some flour, salt and red pepper flakes.

As the basket of his bike was filled with groceries, he decided that it was time to go home since he already bought everything the noodle shop needed. He was about to round the corner when a puppy intersected him.

Everything happened so fast that he didn’t even know what hit him. What he did know is that everything in his basket flew out and landed on the ground, he felt his body jolting and basically spewed out of the bike and landed on the hard ground.

A sharp, stabbing pain came about on his right shoulder as he landed.

“Oh gosh….” He heard a soft voice.

Rain’s vision was starting to blur as he felt someone shake him to get him back to his senses.

 

Then it was completely and utterly dark.

 

 

“Nghhh….”

“Don’t move too much…” A girl’s voice said as Rain started to regain consciousness. As he slowly opened his eyes, his blurry vision began to steer clear.

He rubbed his eyes so he could focus them on his surroundings.

As he tried to sit up, he felt a painful stabbing sensation on his right shoulder. He wheezed through it by gritting his teeth. Closing his eyes once more, Rain waited for the pain to subside.

“Where am I?” He asked the stranger sitting on a plastic chair next to his bed side.

“The hospital.” The girl responded, her voice seemed worried.  

Rain opened his eyes and looked at the girl. He felt his throat tighten at the sight of the young woman facing him. She was wearing a school uniform with a logo of Joella-Do Women’s Academy—A fanshy-smanshy school for snobby rich girls.

The girl had waist length hair, pinkish cheek, fair skin, rounded eyes and thin lips. Rain was too tongue tied to even speak.

The girl seemed to oblivious of Rain’s scrutiny as she spoke/ “You were on an accident awhile ago, a stray dog came darting out of nowhere you lost you balance and somehow, you flew out of your bike and landed hard on the ground.

Rain distinctly remembered jerking his bike away from an intersecting dog before flailing away from his bike and felt searing pain on his shoulder before knocking himself unconscious.

“I was the one who called 119 and since you didn’t have an I.D. with you I decided to stay here until you regained consciousness.” She informed him.

He looked at the girl again and pointed at his shoulder. “Why am I wearing this?” He asked her worriedly because he really didn’t have the time and the money to gain an injury.

“You tore your rotator cuff when you landed on the ground.” She told him sadly.

.

He may not be a med student but he does know how serious this kind of injury is. He remembered Danny Nam—the school’s top swimmer tore his rotator cuff and was never able to swim ever again.

“The doctors told me that you may need to have surgery…”

“A surgery?” Rain looked at the girl with wide eyes.

She nodded. “I don’t know why but they told me that if the pain worsens, surgery might be necessary and it should be done as soon as possible.”

Rain looked at the girl and smiled sadly. “Where are my manners,” he paused. “I’m Rain Kim, the stupid biker who got injured thanks to cute little puppy.” He said as he tried to lighten the dampen and dark mood inside the hospital room.

“I’m Dani Yoon, it nice to meet you.” She smiled at him warmly as she extended her hand.

With Rain’s free hand, he shook the warm, soft hand of the girl in front of him. He looked around the room once more before it dawned to him that he was in a private room—a private room that he shouldn’t be in because he didn’t have the money to pay for it.

“Miss, why am I in a private room?” he asked in an embarrassed tone.

She looked at him and smiled. “No worries, my dad’s the chief doctor here and it’s A-okay since I told him you’re a friend.”

Rain looked at her squarely. “Um, I’d like to check out now…” He said as he began to remove the IV that was attached to him.

“I don’t think you should be doing that…Rain…” Dani said worriedly.

He turned to face her. “Look Miss, I appreciate that you helped me but I can’t afford this room and I certainly can’t afford to stay in this hospital…thanks again but I gave to go.” He began to search for his clothes and when he saw them at the couch near the bathroom of the place he was in, he bolted for it and went inside the bathroom to change.

When he got out, the girl was there with a blank expression on her face. “By any chance, have you seen my bike and my groceries?” He asked as he tried to put on his coat but struggled because of the sling of the sling he was wearing.

She looked at him and nodded toward the window. “Your bike is there outside but as for your groceries, I’m not sure where they are now.”

Rain’s palm met his face. “Great….Rain you are so stupid.”

He turned to look at the girl a forced out a smile. “Look, I don’t want to be rude but I’ll have to leave. Thanks again.” He said as he stormed out of the room. When the door slammed shut, the girl winced. A few minutes later, she saw the boy…Rain outside rashly getting on the bike and pedaled surly away from the hospital.

“I hope you’ll be okay…Rain…”