*Zhou Mi's POV*

The rain drilled against the sides of the bus mercilessly, the wind whipping the individual drops into sheets of water that slammed like bulldozers into any and all objects. Under the bus's tires, water ran in vicious torrents down the streets, the gutters and sewage unable to keep up.

Zhou Mi had never seen a storm quite so angry as this one. Although it was only six or seven at night, the outside world he saw through the bus windows was a boiling pitch black. When the lightning flashed, he could make out the roiling mass of black clouds in the sky, turning and whirling in awful, nasty patterns.

Zhou Mi turned from the window. Looking at the storm made him uncomfortable.

The members were gathered in the center of the bus, their eyes all glued to the t.v. screen. Zhou mi wandered over to see what was going on.

It was obviously the local weather station, but of course, it was in English, and he couldn't make heads or tails of what was being said. Zhou Mi tapped Henry on the shoulder and asked him what the station was talking about.

"The storm's really bad. They're telling everyone to get indoors as much as possible."

Zhou Mi frowned. "The sky was perfectly clear this morning..."

Suddenly a flashing red box appeared at the bottom of the screen. "What does that mean?" Donghae asked Henry.

Henry's face whitened. "That's a tornado warning. Somebody spotted a funnel cloud."

Suddenly the bus doors flew open, and Manager Kim came in, followed by Queen Be's manager, Jung Ah. Both were completely drenched, and their hair whipped by the wind.

"Everybody out of the bus!" Manager Kim demanded, "head straight to the school! We've just been told that the bus isn't safe. Come on, hurry up!"

There was a flurry of motion as member after member quickly grabbed their more precious personal belongings and ran past the two managers to dash out into the rain.

As they passed, Jung Ah searched the bus frantically. Finally she screeched, "You guys, where is Queen Be?!"

The members all froze, then looked amongst each other. Of course she wasn't there. She'd been gone most of the day.

"Isn't she giving a speech at the fair?" Eunhyuk asked, his face white as ash.

Jung Ah shook her head. "She called me just before the storm started to say she was on her way back because of thestorm. I wasn't concerned because I thought she would be here by now! Oh God, if she isn't here, then--"

She was cut off by the sound of a massive gust of wind smashing against the bus, making it creak and groan.

"Minsung will have to wait, Jung Ah! Everybody, hurry up! Out!"

The members watched the storm boil in absolute misery. Not only was Mel gone, now, but after they'd left the bus, Henry had disappeared, too. He'd never gone into the school with them, and any attempts to reach either of their cell phones had failed.

Zhou Mi couldn't stop wringing his hands repeatedly, looking at all of the doors, though he could barely see them through the darkness, and couldn't turn on a light because the power had gone out. He could almost imagine her, stubbornly standing in the rain as the storm lashed around her. The thought made him feel sick.

Siwon had just declared that he would brave the storm to find them, when one of the doors slammed open, and Henry and Jung Ah appeared, both looking like they were going to be sick.

"I can't find her!" Henry yelled despairingly, "I've looked everywhere in this town!"

He collapsed on the ground, burying his face in his hands.

"He would've kept looking, too," Jung Ah added, "I had to force him to stop looking when someone said that the tornado was seen touching down." Jung Ah was so drenched, it was hard to tell that she was crying.

"I'll go look for her," Kyuhyun suddenly declared, getting to his feet.  Everyone looked up at him, surprised. Smart as Kyuhyun was, courage wasn't really his strong point. Especially at someone else's expense.

Shindong caught his arm. "Don't worry about it, Kyuhyun-ah. She's probably just taking a shower in the rain, and doesn't want any of us to see her ." He chuckled nervously, not sounding very convinced of it himself.

Zhou Mi heard her voice in his head, words from a conversation he'd almost forgotten. I'm terrified of tornadoes.

He stood up, looking down at the rest of the group. "I think I know where she is." And then, without waiting for a response, he turned and walked down the pitch-black hallways of the school.

It took him an agonizingly long time to find it, even using his cell phone as a light. Finally, he saw it-- a blue door labaled "Basement". 

It was a very heavy door, he noticed as he pushed it open.

The room inside was even darker than the school. There were no windows for the lightning to illuminate the darkness.

Still, as he carefully picked his way down the steps, the sound of staticky voices rose up to meet him, like some kind of wireless radio.

The dim pool of light cast by his phone, though, only lit cardboard boxes. Then-- there he saw it-- the glint of light off of golden-blonde hair.

"Niuwang?" he called, stepping off of the last step and onto the cold concrete floor. "Niuwang, is that you?"

She stood up, turning around to look at him. "Mimi?" It was her, alright. He'd know that voice anywhere. And that beautiful, small face with eyes that seemed to sparkle with intelligence.

She was shaking, now. Even in the light of his phone, Zhou Mi could see her shivering, even though from what he could see, her clothes were dry.

Before he could stop himself, he had crossed the room and swept her into his arms, holding her as tightly as he could without crushing her.

She seemed to curl into him, wrapping her own arms around his stomach and laying her head on his shoulder. He could still feel her shaking, and now could feel her heart pounding through her chest.

"It's okay," Zhou Mi murmured, his voice soft. "It's just a storm."

"It's not just a storm," he heard her say. "It's a tornado, just outside my town. While you're here. It could destroy everything... everything that's important to me." Her voice quavered, and he held her tighter.

"It's okay; we're all safe. We came into the school because of the storm. We were all so worried... Henry even went out into it, just to look for you. When he didn't find you, I realized that you would've gone right away to the safest place in town. And we were already most of the way there."

She sighed, melting into him in relief. "Thank you. It's... a lot less scary when I'm not alone."

"Of course I went to look for you," he said aloud. The radio suddenly broke off into a loud jolt of static, but neither of them moved. Instead, Zhou Mi used the chance to whisper three words that had been weighing heavily on his heart for over a year, hoping she wouldn't hear them.

"Wo ai ni."