Misun sat in the middle of the clubroom at her university, swiping through her phone as people moved all around her. For the past forty five minutes the various club members had been talking and joking with each other, not really doing any work. The theater club had a performance in two months, but not much had been done since the play had been cast. Misun didn’t really like being in front of an audience, so she was there as the main costumer and makeup artist. For the past year, she and her best friend Sooyeon had been in the club together. Sooyeon had made a lot of friends with the other members of the club and Misun was happy for her. She deserved to have as many friends as she wanted.

“Alright everyone, I think we’re done for today!” The club president announced, making Misun sigh in relief. She stood up and grabbed her bag before moving to stand by the wall to wait for Sooyeon.

Sooyeon came up to her friend with an excited look in her eyes while her bleached blonde hair bounced with every step. “Hey, you can just leave without me. I’m going to go hang out with some of the other club members!” Misun looked behind her and saw several male and female students waiting by the door for her friend.

Today was a Thursday. On Thursdays the two of them used to stay up late to play video games and talk until they fell asleep. Apparently that wasn’t going to happen this week. Again. While Misun could have asserted that she wanted to spend time with her, it just wasn’t worth it anymore. This had been going on for too long.

“Okay, have fun.” Misun’s face didn’t change from the blank expression she had as she turned and walked out the door. On her way, she didn’t make eye contact with the other students as she passed them. That would have only ticked her off more.

Misun was halfway down the hall and anger was starting to bubble up inside her. Then she heard someone call her name. She stopped and turned around. A dirty blonde haired boy was running up to her. She recognized him as Daehyun, someone she knew through a mutual friend. Though now it seemed like he was Sooyeon’s friend, too. “Hey, do you want to maybe come along, too?” He asked, flashing a dazzling smile at the girl.

After getting over the small surprise she felt at his request, Misun shook her head. She brushed her fingers through her long black hair to push it away from her light brown eyes. “I’m not really good in crowds. Thank you for the offer, though. See you later.” She bowed and left quickly, wanting to get out of the building before she lost her temper. The boy continued to stand there for a moment longer, watching her leave. His ego was hurt that she had turned him down. That never happened.

As she stepped out into the rain outside, Misun’s mood grew even worse. She had given her umbrella to Sooyeon this morning because her friend had forgotten her own. Turning on her heel, Misun walked quickly back inside and to the gym on the other side of campus. Most of the students had gone home by now, so hopefully there wouldn’t be anyone around to bother her. Dropping her bag by the door, Misun didn’t even change out of her school clothes. Instead, she walked up to her favorite punching bag, which hung suspended from the ceiling in the corner of the gym room.

After pushing her headphones into her ears and pressing play, Misun began to work through the emotions that were swirling inside her. She punched the bag, hitting it with alternating fists as she bounced on the balls of her feet. She began to move around the bag, adding kicks in with every few hits.

She had just made it around the bag four times when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She jumped and stopped, looking up at her intruder. “Oh, it’s just you.” She said, pulling her headphones out as she caught her breath. She sat down and leaned against the wall and looked up at her only other friend.

“‘Just me’? Wow, okay, I see how it is.” Himchan said, smiling as he walked over to sit next to Misun. “And here I thought I was special. Here I thought I was someone important to you.” He feigned hurt, but Misun had known Himchan long enough to know that he was fine.

“You’ll get over it, I’m sure.” She replied, trying to hide her smile.

“Aish, this kid…” He shook his head and finally gave up, laughing until Misun laughed along with him. “Are you almost done? I want ice cream.” He pouted, using his aegyo to persuade his friend. His recently dyed black hair made him more confident in his aegyo, even though it actually wasn’t any better than before.

Misun rolled her eyes but nodded. “Yeah, I’m done. But it’s raining outside oppa, why do you want ice cream?” She asked as they stood up and gathered up their things.

Himchan slung his arm across Misun’s shoulders lazily as he guided her out of the gym. “It’s never a wrong time to have ice cream, Misunnie. You should know that by now.” Misun grinned in agreement as she let the boy steer her toward the school’s exit. At the door, they paused as Himchan took his umbrella out of his bag. As he unfurled it, he looked at his friend in confusion. “Where’s your umbrella?”

“Sooyeon forgot her’s this morning. So I lent her mine. She probably still has it.” Just like that, Misun’s emotions had gone downhill. Himchan caught onto her subtle tells and sighed.

“Well you’ll just have to walk really close to the most handsome guy in Korea if you want to stay dry.” He said, grinning as he held out his hand.

Misun wrinkled her nose. “No thanks, I think I’d rather get drenched.” Himchan just stared at her, his jaw dropped as if he couldn’t believe anyone would ever turn down such an offer. Misun chuckled and gave in, wrapping her arm around Himchan’s and standing closer to him. “I’m teasing, you dork.”

“I knew that.” He replied with a grin as the two started walking, leaving the campus in the rain.

They walked at a leisurely pace along the sidewalk as Himchan talked. His friend Yongguk had had a new girlfriend for a month before telling him about it. As Himchan spoke to Misun about this, he became more agitated.

“Why wouldn’t he tell me?! I’m supposed to be his best friend.” He glared at the pedestrian stop light as the two of them waited to cross the street.

“Oppa, I don’t think he meant to hide it from you. You know he’s shy; maybe he just didn’t know how to approach the subject..?” Misun offered, looking up at her friend. She had only met Yongguk a handful of times and so far liked him a lot. However he was quiet and sometimes seemed a little ominous, so she didn’t approach him unless Himchan was with her.

Himchan sighed and looked down at the ground. “Yeah, I know you’re right..” He said, still clearly deep in thought.

“Maybe you should get a girlfriend and then hide it from him. That’ll teach him a lesson.” Misun suggested as the two of them began to cross the street. Himchan held onto her arm tighter until they safely reached the other side before replying.

“Oh yeah, that’ll show him.” He laughed, shaking his head. “You know I wouldn’t be able to keep that kind of thing a secret. I would want to show her off to the whole world.”

Misun shivered dramatically. “Ew.”

“Hey, when you find someone you like, you’ll feel differently. Trust me!” He continued smiling as he opened the door to the ice cream shop. He held it open for Misun to go in first, but she stopped in the doorway. Abruptly, she turned around and walked back out, not even watching where she was going. “Yah! Misun!” Himchan called out her name but when she didn’t turn around he glanced back inside to see Sooyeon with a big group of people. Daehyun and Youngjae were both there, which surprised him. They weren’t usually the types to hang out with girls like Sooyeon.

“Oh, hyung!” Youngjae looked toward the door and waved, causing the whole group to turn and look at him.

“Hey..” He waved before glancing back in the direction his other friend had gone.

“Misun isn’t here.” Sooyeon said, flipping her hair off of her shoulder. She had heard him yell when he first opened the door.

“I’m aware of that. Okay, nice chat, bye.” Himchan left without looking back at the perplexed group. He began to make his way to the park, knowing the likely places Misun would go when she wanted to avoid something or someone. Sure enough, the girl was sitting on the swingset while kicking her feet in the mud below her. Her hoodie was completely soaked, as well as her hair.

Himchan sighed before slowly walking toward her. He stopped behind Misun, shielding her with the umbrella. He knew that she knew that he was there.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked in a careful voice. He didn’t want to interfere in other people’s business, but if it was making her this upset, he wanted to know about it.

Misun was silent for several minutes before she finally decided on what she wanted to say. “Theater club is getting tiring.”

“Yeah? Why is that?” Himchan asked, giving the girl an awkward one-armed hug from behind.

“I don’t know anyone there anymore.”

“You know Sooyeon and Daehyun.”

“I used to know Sooyeon.” Misun corrected, causing things to make more sense to Himchan.

“Did something happen between you two?” Himchan asked, coming around to kneel in front of his friend. It hurt to see her this upset. She had only cried once in front of him, but that was a couple of years ago. Even now, she wasn’t crying. But the expression in her eyes was one of intense hurt and desperation.

“Nothing specifically happened. Maybe it’s because of that; because nothing is happening in this friendship unless I put in all of the effort. She only wants to meet up when she’s available. She spends most of her time with the boys in the theater club. I’m just a convenience friend now.” Misun explained, not looking directly into Himchan’s eyes, but instead at his shoulder.

“I see… Come on, we should get you out of the rain and dried off before you catch a cold.” Himchan said, pulling his friend up by her arm. He kept the umbrella over Misun so she wouldn’t continue to get wet, even though she tried to push it away several times.

Pushing the umbrella handle firmly towards Himchan, she protested. “Keep the umbrella for yourself, oppa. I’m already soaking wet.”

“Yeah, you look like a wet dog.” He said, grinning slightly.

“Yah!” She pushed him, causing him to run right into a tree. Himchan dropped his umbrella and was immediately drenched as the rain was still falling pretty hard. “That’s what you get, punk.” Misun stared at him for a moment before a small smile tugged on the corners of her lips. The grin didn’t reach all the way to her eyes, but it was a start.

Himchan straightened up and laughed good-naturedly. He reached out and held her hand as they walked to her apartment, giving her some confidence through his touch.

~~~

Ay, what's up? If you liked this please let me know. My ego could use the boost. Lol jk. But really, I hope you like it so far. The next few chapters are already written up, but I still have to proofread them like five more times.  
So until then, jaa mata ne~
-S