Hello! I'm sorry guys for my long hiatus. So, after three (almost four) months, here is an update with my rusty writing skills (if I have some). So... Get your notes and magnifying glass because here we are again \(~.^)/

 CHAPTER: RULE-BOUNDED RAIN

                Sometimes, I found myself looking at the window, watching little raindrops fall from the sky even when the Sun is still there. I don't know why I found it as a sight worth watching for. Maybe because, it fascinates me how it sadly imitates that part of my life…

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We will be arriving at Incheon International Airport in a short while…

                 A voice from the airplane’s speaker resounded throughout the plane. But that sound fades for a certain blonde girl sitting near the window, letting her eyes roam outside. 

                 Her friend beside her might think that the view outside is spectacular to caught the blonde girl's attention but no, she knows that it isn't. She knows that the girl's neck might be stinging already, since she has been staring outside the window as soon as the ground has been visible from above, but she knows that paint too couldn’t be compared to what she feels at that moment. So she remained there, sitting, not speaking a word, just waiting for that announcement that they can get off now.

                Meanwhile, the blonde girl who just chose to remain quiet while letting her hands touch the rounded-box shaped glass window of the plane, is watching a marathon, on the back of her eyes, of what happened the last time she has stayed on this land. Now that she's going back to the place she used to think as her dreamland, which actually got to be the opposite of it, as it has been a stage of one of her nightmares, she does not know if she would let that fire in her heart burn everything or she should let those pool of tears she had kept in. She thought she had decided before.

                She had. That's why she is back.

                 It has been years already but she still feels like that small girl she is before, unable to do anything but cry, beg, pray and run for her own life. Somehow, she knows then how to leave promises, and if that could be the only thing she could be proud of in her past life, then she can go back with her head held up high. However, that isn’t something that can be proud of unless she has fulfilled and kept it. (Has she ever kept it?)

                And if she could tell a story someone might find awesome, then she had one. If she could, she would gladly narrate this story wherein in this land, she witnessed the last breath of someone dear to her with her own eyes. That could have been a story that would make people listen to her with full attention. But she couldn’t.

                She was told not to.

                It is against the rules.

                 But with all of this things eating up her thoughts, somehow, with the pain throbbing on her heart she feels excited. Excited, because perhaps she could now completely stand up from falling, move on, and be bigger than herself. But for her, to move on does not only mean being able to walk and get to distances, rather, moving on also means getting those pieces of her back from that place and time she had fallen, and somehow, using it to patch that broken part of her life. But the thing is, are those pieces still waiting for her.. or they have flown already to somewhere she doesn’t know.

                 “We’re near.” A tall girl beside her whispered. She is busy preparing her things that she doesn’t even look at the person she’s pertaining that sentence to.. or probably she jsut chose not to look at her. “I hope you know that this could turn into a war.”

                 Nevertheless, the blonde girl knows that the girl is talking to her. She returned her gaze back outside the window without giving a response. She looked down and exhaled the waste filling up her lungs. She wished she could let out all the stress she had just like that, but she knows she cannot. Her eyes sadly roamed at the streets that seem to be familiar to her. She noticed how the buildings and the other architectures have changed. Somehow, with the big amount of change, it still gives her the same vibe.

                "Yes, we're near." She told herself.

                 She is back in the place where they staged her nightmare cloaked in a soft fancy dream.

                She is home.

                  “I know.” After some seconds, she replied for the girl beside her. “I know it is not that simple… because going back here means letting that nightmare envelope us again. It means running towards our death.” She deeply inhaled again before continuing.

                  “Aren’t I partly dead anyway?” She sarcastically asked the girl who just rolled her eyes in response.

                  “Would you stop being so emo about the past? I thought we are here so we can move on.” The tall girl replied as she slings the bag on her shoulder. “And, let me remind you that you are not the one who died. It’s the other one.” She directly said as if she is so used saying that.

                  "Anyway, get up. We're here." The tall girl stood up from her seat and began getting their small bags.

                  She hummed in response while she regretfully tore her gaze from the window, took her bag and followed the taller girl.

                  Her heart is beating faster than it should as she makes her way down the stairs, set up for the passengers. She could feel it. She knows it is not because she is frightened from seeing the distance between the metal thing supporting her feet and the ground, but because any moment from now, she might be running for her life again.

                  She snapped out of her thoughts when she bumped at the taller girl’s back. The girl in front of her seems to stop walking. She was about to asked why but the taller girl beat her out of it. Without looking at her, the girl spoke.

                  "We'll talk about our plans at the hotel. First, we have to make sure that we're going to be safe here. And remember, you're still Jung Yerin here. You have to make yourself stronger."

                  Yerin gulped, letting her eyes roam at the vast land that awaits them. On the far side, she could see the clouds darkening. She slowly smiled. Isn’t the sky so welcoming that it let her see what might be coming?

                  "I understand, Sojung-unnie."

                  There are a lot of people inside the airport. It is literally buzzing with the sound of people talking, merrily, welcoming the people who just arrived, while some immediately talking about their life on the other land. That is the opposite of her and the tall girl she is with. A word has not still come out of their mouth. Actually, after getting their luggage, she just kept on following the tall girl wherever the other goes. She felt like a little kid now following her mom. But a thought crashed that feeling as she questioned herself.

                'Well, did I even grow up?'

                  She wanted to say that she isn’t someone who is easily surprised, but the taller girl suddenly spoke that it made her jump a bit. "Yerin, remember why we came here. You must remember that... and the rules coming with it."

                  With her hand still on her chest, she just nodded at her, gripping the handle of her bag harder.

                  "Good. As long as you know."

                  "Hey! Over here!" A loud voice boomed on the entire hall coming from her overly excited friend who is waving a large banner for the two of them. Then followed fans screaming out of nowhere. She laughed as she heard Sojung asked the ground to swallow them up because of embarrassment. She is not surprised anyway that her friend would shout like that. Thought, honestly, It is not that long since they haven’t met each other.

                  "What are you shouting for?" Sojung asked when they are infront of their friend. "It's not like we'll be lost in here. We can read."

                "And you're an idol. You just practically blowed up our cover." Sojung said as she looked at the fans from the far side with their cameras.

                  "Oh, come on, Sojung-unnie. I've been standing here for HOURS already." The loud friend whined. "And I missed my Yerin-unnie." She added before jumping on her, hugging the older girl tight.

                 Sojung rolled her eyes before breaking the two girls’ moment. "Alright girls. Time to go. Stop being gay for a moment so we could get home earlier." Sojung said getting all the bags that she can get. Did she ever told you about how she liked walking the catwalks? If not, then she loves it. If you could find a better word than love, then that’s what she feels about catwalks.

                  "Let's go, Yuju." The blonde girl, Yerin, said gently moving away from the hug of the younger girl.

                  "Isn’t she tired of walking and acting like everytime and everyday is a fashion show?" Yuju asked, looking at their model-like friend who is now walking as if there are cameras directed at her, all ready to put her picture infront of a magazine. (Well, there are cameras but they aren't for magazines.)

                  Yerin chuckled before answering, "Nope. She won't." She said.

                "She's naturally like that, maybe it’s the genes working? Honestly, if I'm not really loyal to her I would pursue Sojung-unnie."  She turned her head to look at her younger friend, ending her sentence with a wink. She laughed, throwing her head back a little when she saw that her friend weirdly looks at her, like she's still surprise with her gayness.

                   “I’m just kidding. Come on.” She took the other’s hand as she ran to catch up with their taller friend.

                  "So…” Yuju started out after a minute of walking in silence. “Mind telling me what are we going to do here?”

                  Yerin looked at the taller girl.  “Find a home?” She answered, shrugging her shoulders.

                  “What? I thought we’re just here for a break.” Yuju asked in surpised.

                  Sowon raised her eyebrows at the lost younger girl beside her, before she turned her head and looked at Yerin meaningfully. “Well, for you it is, if you wanted to. I thought the phrase ‘going back home’ means really going back and staying there. I thought that is what it means when I asked you. I’m sorry if I did confuse you.”

                  “What about Yerin-unnie?” She asked, sticking her head lower so she could see the other girl on the other side.