“What are you doing here?”

The boy stood there under the rain, his slightly untrimmed wet hair fell lifelessly and some of his fringes stuck to his face. He wore his favourite leather jacket, now with drops of water sliding down on it. His eyes trained on to the other, her hair wet as well, tears and rain mixing on her face as they race downwards, either of which ending up on her soft, quivering lips or down her face to who-knows-where. She sat there under the same tree they’d spend their days, her arms embraced her knees in a tuck-sitting position, and her eyes filled with sadness continued to gaze upon him. Her body trembled and shivered under the cold that passed as her damp clothes clung to her skin that her figure was shown; she looked so fragile.

“I came for you.”

When he took his steps towards her, she turned her head away. And the next few words that came from her made him stop. “Just leave me alone, Changmin. You shouldn’t be out here... in the rain,” the last three words were more of a whisper rather than something directed to him. Changmin. She only called him that whenever she was in a bad mood... which was practically rare.

That can’t stop her friend though. He continued his way towards her, removing his jacket only to have her enclosed in it, snuggling it over her small body, letting his own clothes get wet by the rain. Putting his arms around the girl, he urged her head to lay on his chest, keeping her close to him, “You know I’d never leave you alone, Soo. But... what happened?”

Her arms went around his waist as she shut her eyes, trying to block any image to appear before her; certain images that causes a searing pain in her heart. It was hard for her to imagine all that is happening to her despite it’s already there right in front of her. How much more sadness could this day bring?

As if to say something, her lips parted, but to no avail, nothing came out. She couldn’t speak. There were no words to say. When she tried stopping her tears, it all got caught up in , hurting her there as much as her heart stung; giving her no more ways to speak.

Mustering all the strength she had, she pushed down all her tears and tried finding her voice. Once she did, she spoke up only to bring Changmin words of perpetual sadness. Her voice broke out as her lips continued to quiver. All that she had kept inside was let out to the one person she could really trust.

All the while, Changmin only held her, comforting her, whispering sweet nothings reserved just for her. Once upon time, Changmin promised his best friend that he’ll always stick by her. Whatever happens. That’s still his promise now; to be together. To find ways to be.

“Always,” he’d tell her.

Dusk came and the world was darker than it already was; at least the world was. But between them, things were brighter. They took it as their sign to take their leave. “Come on, Youngie,” Changmin urged the other on her feet. They walked out slowly on the damp meadow, careful enough not to slip on the mud. And walking back to the cement, rain covered streets and once again faced Sooyoung’s house, she stopped in her tracks and stared at the structure before her. “Sooyoung-ah,” the boy spoke in a calm and gentle voice.

“I don’t think I can go just yet...”

“But you have to.”

“Can’t I stay with you? Just for tonight?” She pressed on. Sighing lightly, Changmin pinched the bridge of his nose, “It’ll make things worse... you know that.”

The girl only looked up at the other with her puppy dog eyes, jutting out her bottom lip. It has always been her weakness, a sort of kryptonite he could never resist. “Aish, Youngie...” he finally blurted out, scratching the back of his head, “Only this once." Even if Changmin did love having his best friend around, and he sure missed her staying over, he understood why they can't stay in the same room alone, behind closed doors. He had to admit, it's been getting quite aberrant for him lately; his heart would beat faster whenever Sooyoung was near, and he'd been having dreams -- unexplainable ones that often in morning, he'd wake up feeling flustered and does he even have to mention what happens down the front? It irked him to think of such things about the person closest to him.

Moments pass by, and both of them were left in the same room they have both grown accustomed to, having this soft chatter accompanied by blissful silence. They talk endlessly, about anything, about everything, and no matter how insignificant, she treasures every word, remembers them, finds comfort in them; a saccharine moment. And it was a bit comical how irony played them like toys, having them talk about so many things that goes on in their lives, yet still find that hesitation where they couldn't speak about how they felt about each other. The questions were always: what happened with you lately? anything interesting? I'm always getting teased about this certain someone, and it's simply crazy how people can make up such stories -- yet they couldn't utter so much of what's with the two of them together and what's between the lines.

The darker the night becomes and the higher the moon gets, slowly, with each fraction of a minute that she as much as blinks takes her closer and closer to unconsciousness until her eyes drooped completely, slipping into deep slumber after the tiring, emotional day. And Changmin watches her seep in to the dream world, still very much awake just by her mere presence around him. He lifts her from the ground, careful not to wake her up, and carried her over to his bed.

A kiss on the forehead, a silent good night.

He whispered something in her ear, he said it with determination apparent in his voice despite the fact he had said it ever so softly, "Together... Always." For a split-second, he swore he saw a ghost of a smile play upon her lips and at that, he smiled too, contented with his reassurance to the girl. And when she wakes up, she wakes up to this light and happy feeling her heart, as well as she did find a sleeping Changmin on the floor next to the bed.

~~~

Walking together at school, both feel as if something was oddly different with the usual bustling chatter that goes on in the halls. Wherever they walked, people stopped and stared, all eyes trained to Sooyoung, and it brings such qualms to the two friends with the air hanging heavy everywhere. Whispering cacophony ran throughout the school: is that her? aish, she's such a lucky girl! aigoo, he's a lucky guy. she's pretty. she doesn't suit him at all. they look cute together! -- accusations that were very hard to ignore. Sooyoung looked back at them with curios eyes, anxiety taking over her as she had no idea what the fuss was all about -- not even when her friends suddenly attacked her with glimmering and expecting eyes did she comprehend fully.

"Sooyoungie!" They approached her, smiling widely as if their cheeks were going to burst from the tension as they giggled endlessly, "You didn't tell us!"

Knitting her eyebrows together, she put herself in deep thoughts, pondering over the peculiar matter: Had I done something as of late? Maybe the sleepover thing from the weekends gave a bad impression. Omo! Does that mean that maybe I'm in a relationship with cold noodles? Aish, What's happening here?! -- all shouted her thoughts, having to be put in one of her cognitive dissonance, close to hysteria, yet her features showed no signs of discomfort. As she snapped back into reality, she asked them, "Did I do something?"

"You seriously don't know? Yah, don't play with us! You don't have to hide it," they said one by one, "Everyone knows already."

With a shake of her head, Taeyeon leaned in and whispered something in her ear, and upon hearing such things, Sooyoung's eyes widened in disbelief, and the rush of anger overtook her whole being like a wave simply crashing shamelessly on the shoreline and everything in its premises. Her eyes scanned the whole room for any signs of the boy, and when she finally spotted him and calls out. "You!" She points a finger at him, just how a parent forbids a child to point.

"Hey, Youngie," the other greeted and smiled, as if nothing had happened.

She came running towards him, pouncing at him that she ends up being on top of him, pinning him to the ground, sending out steel daggers with her glare. "Don't Youngie me," her teeth gritted and the words just spat out in between, "You have a lot of explaining to do."

The others who watched the scene let out a series of awes like they had been watching something out of a drama, and none of them can see what's going on inside the two people's heads, and most especially, what burned inside Sooyoung's -- and it apparently added fuel to the fire, especially when someone called out and she heard the word cute in the aforementioned statement. Sooyoung doesn't let go; she still had him pinned, and Changmin was in total dumbstruck.

Author's Note:

Aish, this is way delayed, I'm sorry >< Anyway, please excuse me if I happen to change my tenses. I've been finding a writing style that I'm comfortable with so... I change a lot.