-chapter one-

Rain was falling from the sky, turning everything into a gray, monotonous mass. The swings that were usually gleaming in happy, colorful greens and yellows looked washed out, the red seesaw seemed to be overcast with a misty shroud. Even the usually healthy, green grass that kids loved to play soccer on looked more brown than green.
The same thing happened to you, your hair that was usually a pretty, dark brown turned black due to the rain that it were completely soaked in by now.

You've been sitting on a bench on this playground for quite a while now, the white of your eyes had turned red, the hazel had fallen into a dark, sad black. You have been crying for something that felt like hours now, your terrible mood just being spurred on by the rain and the gray surrounding.
How could this be? How could this happen?

“Sojin-ah, I don't think this is gonna work out. I think we should move on.” your lips moved on their own, whispering these words.
“Yugyeom.. what do you mean.. move on?” still whispering to yourself you run your hand through your soaking wet hair. You couldn't stop yourself, you've been repeating the conversation over and over since early in the morning, trying to understand it, trying to apprehend how he could've done this to you, after all these months of you two dating.
“Sojin, you have to understand, I need to move on. You understand, right?” No, you didn't. This came completely out of the blue for you.
“Why? Jagiya, you're joking, aren't you?” But he wasn't. Oh how you wish he were.
“Okay, listen, to be honest, I have someone else I like. Sojin, it's not your fault but it's not mine either, okay? I can't control it, I'm a man!” A man? At this point you've always been getting angry, but having it played out for the 100ths time by now you felt nothing, emptiness had taken over. After this the conversation had gone dirty, you didn't remember any exact words, just loud voices and that you ended up crying and leaving his apartment, your relationship over because your longterm boyfriend had cheated on you.
 

You two had been dating for almost 3 years at this point and you seriously hadn't seen this coming. You were happy. Your friends had already started joking about marriage. Of course you weren't serious about this, not yet, but sometimes you caught yourself thinking about a future; living with Yugyeom, being married, raising children.. You let out a frustrated groan, placing your elbows on your upper thighs, hiding your face in your hands.

By now you had stopped crying, no more tears where left, but you couldn't stop sobbing. You hadn't told anyone yet, not your family, not even your best friend. You didn't want to. It all felt like it was your fault and you were embarrassed. Surely you could've done more to hold him, to make him love you more, so that he wouldn't have to look at other women, but you had failed; failed at keeping the most important person to you in your life.
 

Thinking like this you had been sitting in the seemingly never ending rain, not realizing a thing around you.
Like this you also did not realize the young man that was walking past the playground, humming to himself, holding a rather big, light blue umbrella. The streets had been pretty empty because of the bad weather, so when he saw you sitting there, on the bench, he stopped his path, watching you with a slightly tilted head. Why was that girl crying? Was she hurt? Did something bad happen?

For a short while he stood there, silently watching you, but you hadn't moved since you had rested your face in your hands. By now you were completely exhausted, your head ached, your eyes felt dry and heavy and your throat felt sore. Your mind was blank by now, no more words were coming from your lips, no more words were wandering through your head, everything just felt kind of.. numb.

At first you didn't even realize that someone had sat down next to you, that the rain wasn't hitting you directly anymore but an umbrella instead. You were soaked to the bone anyway. But then a silent, beautiful voice came up.
“The thick color of a rainy day in Seoul, I still can’t fall asleep as I fade away. The rain stops and the reflection in the puddle; I see myself looking more miserable today..“ You winced, as you -suddenly, as if it came out of nowhere- felt the presence of another person next to you. Slowly, with stiff shoulders you lifted your head to look at the boy who sat right next to you.

He wasn't looking at you, his eyes where fixated on something in the foggy distance. Quietly he was singing to himself -or to you, you really weren't sure- as he was holding his umbrella between the two of you, not only protecting himself from the rain but also you. W..what was going on? Who was this guy? Why did he just sit down next to you? Couldn't he see, that you obviously weren't in the mood to talk to anyone, especially not to a complete stranger? But the boy didn't seem to care, he ignored your glares -if he even noticed them- and with his sweet, clear voice he just kept singing.

“With the unknown empty feeling that washes over me, I think that I should just go outside- Without even an umbrella. I can clearly hear the rain hitting the earth; I smile, it’s the best background music. Like a crazy guy, I start to hum..“ You just looked at him and without really grasping it at first, you started to feel at ease for the first time in hours; the first time since this dreadful morning.

You weren't entirely sure why you didn't say a word, why you didn't ask him to leave you alone, but you didn't. You just looked at him, his sharp but pretty profile, the tousled blond hair and listened to him. He himself did not look over either, still fixating the point in the distance, continuing his song. While you listened you realized, that you had heard it before. Was it at a coffe shop? Or at your best friends place? You couldn't remember but it didn't really matter. This version had a completely different vibe than what you thought you remembered hearing at some point in the past.

After a while he finished the song and a somewhat pleasant silence came over the two of you. For whatever reason it didn't seem awkward to sit there with him, in the middle of heavy rain on a playground, not saying a word. You let out a silent sigh, trying to fight the sudden urge to close your eyes. You were so tired by now. But wouldn't it be okay? Just for a few seconds? This guy didn't seem to be dangerous and you didn't want to sleep. It would be just resting your eyes for a few seconds..
 

.:｡✿*ﾟ’ﾟ･✿.｡.:**.:｡✿*ﾟ’ﾟ･✿.｡.:* *.:｡✿*ﾟ¨ﾟ｡✿*ﾟ’ﾟ･✿.｡.:**.:｡✿*ﾟ’ﾟ･✿.｡.:*

When you opened your eyes again you blinked a few times, confused. It had stopped raining and the sun was about to set. Did you fall asleep? Quickly you turned your head over, but the boy was gone. Had all of this been nothing but a dream? Maybe even.. You pulled out your mobile phone, quickly scrolling through your address book. It only took you mere seconds to find his name and call him.
'Hi, this is Yugyeom. Please leave a message after the Beep.'
This had never happened before. He ALWAYS answered your calls. By now you had more or less woken up and immediately you could feel your intestines wind up again. Your eyes started burning with tears; it hadn't been a bad dream. But before you could start crying, your view fell on a small, silvery thermos cup that was standing on the seating surface next to you. Hesitantly you reached your hand out, carefully lifting it up. It was kind of warm to touch. As you turned it in your hand you suddenly noticed, that a slip of paper had been attached to it. 'Cheer up. Don't catch a cold.' had been written in a pretty neat handwriting onto it.

Confused you started looking around, just to become aware of something that actually confused you even more: The light blue umbrella. It was securely wedged between the wooden planks of the benches backrest and positioned right above you, so that you would be save from any rain that might start to fall again. Quickly you stood up, turning around. Did that stranger really leave? Leaving you behind with his umbrella and a hot cup of.. carefully to not spill anything you open it up, to check what was inside. Surprised you immediately recognized the sweet smell of your favorite, a caramel macchiato. Carefully you inspected it, before finally taking a small sip. It tasted great. Without really noticing it, a small smile appeared on your lips as you once again read the piece of paper before looking around for one last time, checking if the stranger was anywhere to be seen.
 

Quite a few more people have been on the streets again, now, that the rain had stopped, a few of them where giving you a confused, second look as you still looked like a wet poodle even though you had an umbrella with you, but you ignored all of them. The blond boy was nowhere to be seen.

With this you decided to call it a day and go to your apartment. Carefully you freed the umbrella to not break it, took a sip off the coffee and slowly made your way home. You firmly resolved to coming back tomorrow, hopefully meeting the owner of the umbrella again to return it and show him your gratitude. Like this -at least for a short while- you didn't think of Yugyeom and your broken heart, but the mysterious blond stranger instead.

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Author note: The song the "mysterious blond stranger" was singing is Rain by BTS  but kinda like.. his "own" version? No rapping, only singing. Not sure how this would sound, but I imagine it to be beautiful.