» Saturday then came and Eun Woo was wearing her smiling face for some reason. It was one at the afternoon as she got out of her house with an umbrella with her and skipped to the nearest station. Every person who passed by her would always take a glance at her and her umbrella. They seemed suspicious to why she was bringing one. She then entered the station and squeezed herself in the tons of strangers roaming around the station. It was a busy day... Though these people not might not know what hit them. Eun Woo was at Platform 4. She then took a glance at the current train that was leaving when the drizzle started coming. She heared it earlier than others so she ran faster towards Platform 6. The train's leaving for five minutes... I have to hurry! Eun Woo then noticed the lot of people complaining as she kept on running.

"The weather forecast can't get it right."

"They said it wouldn't rain today."

Those words flew all around the air. Despite the rain and the gloomy atmosphere, Eun Woo was still the enthusiastic girl she was and kept a smile plastered on her face. I hope these people brought their umbrellas... Good thing that phone call was useful. Eun Woo reached platform six and saw three girls standing there, waiting for the 1:15 train to arrive. "Aw... It's raining!" Her other friend, Ara, stretched a hand at the strong rain while teeny-tiny droplets of water splashed on her creamy-white palm. "I hope this wouldn't delay the train's schedule." "Yeah..." Hea Jung sighed in defeat.

"Good thing I brought an umbrella~"

"Yeah, me too! How did Eun Woo-ah predict such things!?"

"Aish! I forgot mine." Ara scratched her head in annoyance. Eun Woo then tapped her shoulder and she turned around, Eun Woo gave her a smile and handed her the umbrella she had. "Here Ara-unnie~ Use mine." Her lips curled which reached her ears while the other two turned around with wide eyes, "Eun Woo!? How... When did you get in here?" They blinked in confusion. They were too shocked that they didn't notice the train coming behind them. "That doesn't matter anymore!" Eun Woo shoved the umbrella to Ara's chest, made her and the other girls turn around and pushed them into the train. "Go! Or else you'll be late~" She waved goodbye at them. "Eh~? Since you're here, why not join us?" Hea Jung stomped her foot and pouted, "No thanks." Eun Woo grinned, "I still have a lot of work to do." "Thanks Eun Woo!" Ara grinned and waved her umbrella, "Now my umbrella collection has increased once again!" She beamed.

The doors then automatically closed and the train started moving slowly, leaving the train wet tracks and the station; Eun Woo observed it leave the station and smiled at herself. She felt a sense of contentment, though there was something missing. She flinched at what she remembered. I just realized that I gave my one umbrella. Eun Woo frowned. It's not my fault we only have one umbrella at home. She shrugged and skipped out of the station. I guess I'll just buy one at the nearest store. But by the time the rain got even stronger, she was halted with her present actions - She couldn't get out, she couldn't buy an umbrella. Worse, she couldn't go home on time... She could only do nothing but shelter herself from the rain and wait for it to clear up. Eh?! Why did this have to happen? Eun Woo pouted. They say that when the rain gets stronger at a certain place, then that means...

The young girl somehow felt protected from the rain. For a while, the spot she was standing on seemed a bit dim. She looked up and saw an umbrella covering her whole body. "You forgot your umbrella, didn't you?" Eun Woo heared a certain voice come out of nowhere. She then spun her head around and saw a man holding the umbrella. Her eyes slightly widened. ...That the one who brings rain is near. Eun Woo blinked at the suspicious man who only gave her a smile. "...Eh?" Eun Woo couldn't say anything but that. She was speechless; her lips won't open widely. 

She felt that, all along, she knew this person.

"I-I didn't forget it!" She finally had the courage to speak once again and answered his question. "I gave it to a friend...!" She got out of the umbrella's shelter. The young man tilted his head at her, probably judging her actions. "...That's great!" He chuckled. She didn't know why, but Eun Woo flustered; she wasn't expecting that a handsome man like him, with dark brown hair, plump lips and a very charismatic and appealing face, would just come at her in an instant. I mean, I don't even know him but he acts like he does...! The man looked at her with confused eyes. D-Don't tell me he's a... "What is it?" He asked as he leaned closer Eun Woo. A-A ert!? Eun Woo gulped at the idea; she also found the idea of a very handsome man being a e strange. But surely, she wouldn't tolerate these kinds of situations that easily. Eun Woo was the type of girl who wouldn't talk to people she doesn't know, even though it's a cute, hot guy she never knew about.

The man even leaned even closer, staring at her eyes so instensely. It made Eun Woo flinch as he studied her every features. She gulped as her cheeks pinked; she wasn't expecting this kind of attack. No way. Not with a handsome stranger. "I-I've got to go..." Without realizing her actions, she just ran out of her shelter, away from the man and under the rain. Eh? Eh? What's this!? Eun Woo panicked in her mind as she shut her eyes close and kept on running. Her heart went pit-a-pat. Whose heart wouldn't race so fast when you're face-to-face with a guy like him? Well, the answer's completely obvious. Eun Woo heared loud beeps; it made her curious to where it was coming from. Could it be...? She turned around and saw an incoming car heading towards her. ...No way. She gulped while her eyes turned like of an owl's. Eun Woo was completely stunned, she didn't know what to do. She just ended up closing her eyes shut and waited for the moment to come, until...

"Look out!"

Eun Woo was pushed out at the nearly-deadly scene. The car safely kept on driving while Eun Woo's life was preserved. As soon as she opened her eyes, she found out that the man from earlier just saved her life by pulling her into a tight hug under the dripping rain. Her face flat on his chest, she could her the young man's heartbeat inside his broad and strong body. Her eyes widened, cheeks very red, and her eyes were wet. Wet not by the rain, but by tears. She was very thankful, yet she regretted her actions because it lead to her death. It was great that the man was there to save her. A few minutes passed and he let go of her, "Are you okay?" He carefully checked every inch of her body, "Are you hurt somewhere?" He asked and looked at her. But as soon as he did, he got surprised. "A-Are you really okay?" He looked at Eun Woo with a frown. He watched as her tears kept on falling down on her cheek and blended well with the rain. "...Ah." His lips slightly parted; he had a slight feeling of pity burning inside him.

The two were drenched under the rain.

But they didn't care.

It wasn't about the gloomy weather.

Their feelings danced around the rain.

It was about the happiness both were feeling. It was like hot chocolate on a cold day.

"Hey! Answer me! Are you alright...?" He panicked as Eun Woo kept on tearing up, "I'm fine." She brushed off the tears on her blurred eyes, but the little droplets kept on dripping on her cheeks as the rain kept on coming. "It's nothing... I'm just, glad, you know?" She grinned while the man blinked a few times. He then smiled widely along Eun Woo, "Great!"

Eun Woo didn't know why she cried, she felt this sensation of great happiness. She felt like he knew all about him all this time. There was this side of her that missed the mysterious man so much.

The two headed home. The rain stopped a little, and only drizzle was left. Both were under the protection of the umbrella. The man took a glance at Eun Woo and realized that her shoulder was getting wet since the umbrella wasn't good enough for two people. He grabbed her shoulder and made her come closer; his actions made Eun Woo confused. She looked at him, "Well, uh... That's because you're getting drenched. I don't want that... Sorry, the umbrella's made for only one person." He scratched the back of his neck while Eun Woo giggled, "It's fine." She grinned.

The two finally ended up at Eun Woo's house and as soon as they reached the gate, the young man gave the umbrella to Eun Woo. "Eh? But you need this more..." She gave the umbrella back to him, but he refused. "I insist." He shook his head, "You need this more, what if you lose - I mean, give away your umbrella again? You have to think of yourself first!" He poked her forehead. "...Fine, I will." Eun Woo massaged the part where he poked her and smiled. He started walking away while waving his hands, Eun Woo did the same. "Oh! Wait!" She shouted and tried to gain his attention, "Yes?" He turned around with his one eyebrow raised, "What's your name?" Eun Woo shouted. "Jung Daehyun!" He answered back. Eun Woo smiled, "Jung Daehyun-ssi! Be careful! And thank you!" She screamed as he shouted, "I will!"

She watched him walk up the hill and disappear. The only thing she saw was the horizon.

She glanced at the umbrella. If this umbrella is made for two people, I would gladly share it with you.

The sky was clear by the time he left, the sun was setting. She felt a feeling of nostalgia. 

...But overall, Eun Woo was happy.

» "Yes, hello?" Eun Woo picked up her phone which was beside her a few seconds ago. The phone calls mostly comes before the rain... "Hello. Right now, I'm 300 km off the coast of Hangang." It answered. "Okay, I get it." She then ended the call. I was unable to recognize their gender or age by their voice. "Well then, since homework is done..." Eun Woo did a little stretching and changed her clothes. She seemed to be going somewhere. She got out of the house and walked to the cafe near the station - Where she and her friends would usually meet. After 5 minutes of walking, her cellphone vibrated. She answered the call, "Sorry, a high pressure system is really pushing me back. I can't make it this time after all." Eun Woo giggled lightly as she turned her cellphone off. She finally reached the station and waved at her friends who were sitting on a table near the counter. 

"Eun Woo~ You came!" Hea Jung beamed, "And I thought you would put this one off for next time." Mi Sun smirked at her. "Why would I?" She took a sit near Ara and grinned. "Hey~ Are you guys free this weekend? My mom's gonna bake cupcakes! She makes the best cupcakes in the whole world!" All of them exclaimed in joy as they heared the word "cupcakes". "Speaking of this weekend, do you guys want to go to the Han River instead?" Eun Woo suggested while all of the girls looked at each other. "Ooh~ Eun Woo's inviting this time? What a first for you!" Hea Jung teased. "Huh? The forecast is really bad! How about a movie instead?" Ara asked. "Don't worry." Eun Woo nodded, "It will clear!" She informed.

» "Wow~!" Everyone brightened up as they leaped and jumped with joy. It was a Sunday afternoon. They were facing the wonderful Hangang, the most famous river in South Korea. "It's gorgeous out! You're right, Eun Woo! It is crystal clear!" Hea Jung exclaimed. "Good thing we had decided to go here!" Mi Sun grinned. "Hey! I still didn't forget about the cupcakes~" Hea Jung swung the basket she was holding unto since the trip and they joyously clapped their hands. Before preparing the picnic along with her friends, Eun Woo checked her phone. "Yah! We came all the way here, don't look at your phone!" Ara somewhat scolded the younger. "Ah! Sorry, sorry." She smiled, bowed her head and tucked her phone in her pocket.

"Speaking of which, you're getting a lot of calls lately." Ara, who seemed so interested, rested her cheek on her palm and faced Eun Woo. "Yeah. I wonder if it's because the rainy season is close." She answered. "Rainy season?" Ara raised an eyebrow, "Who is it?" Eun Woo shrugged, "Who... Who knows." Eun Woo placed her cheek on her hand, too. "They always just call on their own. I don't even know their phone number... I haven't even met them in the first place." If I'm not mistaken... Eun Woo stared at the scenery before her. Ara shuddered, "Eh... What's with that? Creepy." She demanded. "Yeah. But the question is: Is it "who" or "what". Ara looked at her, confused. "Hey you guys! Are just gonna chit-chat in there or help us out? Come on!" The other girls commanded and the two stood up to help them, "We're coming~"

»Of course, the calls don't always come.

"Ah." Eun Woo stopped walking as soon as she saw the pouring rain. She was already leaving school when it started to rain. But one peculiar thing was, she didn't receive the call; that's why she didn't know. "Eh... It's raining! I don't have an umbrella with me..." Eun Woo pouted. She took a look at her cellphone - It was 11:02 am, but then, the sky was really dark at that time. She checked her texts, missed phone calls, etc. Her eyes squinted. Before I realized it, I started waiting for the phone calls... Eun Woo was clueless with what to do so she did nothing but only borrow and umbrella at the lost and found booth. The sky was grey at the early morning and the rain kept on rumbling. ...When did that start? 

 The little lass was playing at the living room when she heared her phone ring; her ears perked up and she then enthusiastically picked it up. "Hello?" She answered with a wide smile on her face. "Hello. Tomorrow, I'll come by." The other end of the phone said, then it hung up. "Eh...?" Eun Woo kept her toy phone away from her ear when she saw her mother pass by, "Umma, someone is coming tomorrow." She looked at her with a mixed up face. "Who?" Her mother asked. "I don't know." Eun Woo gazed at the phone, "They hung up." She whispered softly. "Did they?" Her mom smiled at her gently and picked the toy phone up, along with 5 year old Eun Woo. "No one is coming." She then made circles at Eun Woo's back. She faced the television behind her beloved mother's back. It was a weather forecast.

I can always hear it... The sound of the rain, calling me.

At the start, it was a toy phone.

Shortly after that, it was the house phone. Eun Woo, who just dropped by the near ice cream shop, just dropped by the house. As soon as she entered, the phone rang and she quickly picked it up, "Yes, hello?" "Hello. Right now I'm above Busan." It answered then hung up. Ah. How lucky. Eun Woo thought as she put down the phone. The next few days... "Busan's big storm of the year..." The television talked about the storm that happened only after a few days of Eun Woo's recent phone call. Busan, huh? She glanced at the phone.

They even came after she moved. 

"Hello, right now I'm in Incheon." 

They even came to her cellphone. Eun Woo got scared and even changed her number many times, but...

"The great storm of Incheon killed lots of people..." The radio went on and on. That day, there was a funeral happening. It was a victim of the storm that killed him - Who is him? Well, it's none other than Eun Woo's father. She cluched the picture frame of her now desceased father and tried not to tear up. She frown and her eyes squinted... All the happenings were totally unexpected. After the funeral when they got home, Eun Woo did nothing but just lock herself in her room with no lights on and sat at a corner to console herself. The darkness was her whole exsistence up. The sinking feeling, the hollow and empty emotions... The darkness, they all fit so perfectly together. It described what she was feeling very specifically. She thought that nothing could comfort her, until... Her cellphone, which was on the table beside her rang. It was the only source of light that lit up the entire room. With her eyes red and hoarse voice, she picked it up. "Hello, right now I'm passing close by." 

Eun Woo didn't know why, but that phone call somewhat made her open the curtains of her room and saw the rain dripping, pouring, flowing... Cascading. Looking at it made her heart somewhat lighter. It comforted her. Bit by bit, the rain somewhat had an effect on her. A big effect. A little sigh somewhat escaped from her slightly parted lips as she stared at the droplets of water falling from the heavens. "I hope we can... Meet again." The phone talked, "Eh? Have we met before?" Eun Woo asked; but before she could get a clear answer, the phone went "Beep" for a long time. The call ended. All Eun Woo ever did was stare at her phone... And the gushing rain. 

She wasn't expecting that that one single happening comforted her.

»And then, the rainy season.

Eun Woo was at the cafe where her friends would always meet up and have meetings. But this time, it was only her, alone on a single table near the windows. Her cellphone then rang, indicating that there was a call. She immediately picked it up and answered it, "Hello, right now I'm west of Seoul, yet again." Eun Woo got surprised and turned to the television which was facing her. What luck - It was the weather forecast. "We might be able to meet each other soon. It's been a long time..." The caller said. 

"The whole region of Seoul will be affected by a typhoon strength storm." The television talked and the woman narrating the forecast pointed the stick at the graph, especially at Seoul. The graph was so colorful that it had green, orange, yellow and red colors. "Please refrain from going out as much as possible." The person warned. The phone escaped from Eun Woo's ear. She was dumbfounded, astonished and overwhelmed. She didn't follow what the television said. She didn't follow any rule, nor broke one. She followed her instincts. It was fun doing what people tell you not to do. 

»The sky was really, really dark; the rain was pouring even harder and madlier, the trees were nearly reaching the Earth but Eun Woo kept on going. "Kya!" The umbrella jerked all the way around. She tried fixing it whilst she kept on walking on the nearly flodded road. She put it even nearer on her head. The road was unclear - It was so dark. So dark that she didn't see anything and just kept on going. Her feet protected with boots pitter-pattered on the pudles of rain. Speaking of which... She grunted as she can't hold unto her umbrella that properly anymore. What exactly am I trying to meet? 

But then, the rain then suddenly stopped, solving all of her problems. "Ah." She stared at the nearly clearing sky. A few drops kept on splashing at the puddles of water; the water near the sidewalks ran for the drainage and the water below her feet lessened. "The rain stopped." She stared at the skies. In the end, I couldn't meet anything. Eun Woo couldn't explain, but there was a certain dissapointed and depressed feeling lingering in her heart. It was piercing... Painful. She was actually waiting for something, or someone - But to her expectations, there was none. As she planned to go back home, she saw a white feather in front of her; more followed, falling from the skies. The fluffy and soft feathers floated on the waters as Eun Woo watched them. She was stunned. What was happening? Even though the whole situation confused her now messy mind, the scene... The event in front of her was beyond the word "Beautiful". It was something that one person couldn't even describe that easily.

She looked up as the feathers kept on falling. She stared the skies as her eyes widened. 

When I was really young... It was the day of the big typhoon. Over mom's back...

"Hya! Let's hurry back!" Eun Woo's mother held her dear life onto the umbrella's handle while keeping her daughter protected from the terrible rain. It was so strong that it could throw her whole body off like a tornado. ...I met "that". There was a strange formation in the skies - The shape, the structure, the form... They all looked like a bunch of feathers. A bunch of wings revealing theirselves to the whole world. It was beyond imagination. Little Eun Woo was fascinated. One by one, the feathers fell and she reached for the white fluff that was glowing. She held and squeezed it like it was the most precious thing in the world, and to her shock, it turned into water... 

Eun Woo took a glance, the sky was now sunny and bright. She spinned her umbrella to remove the tiny drops of water that fell on it. "Ah. You're here." A voice shouted. The familiar voice send chills under Eun Woo's spine. Hearing it made her smile, made her heart pound, made her mind go blank and fuzzy. They've finally reunited. She heared footsteps running towards her. She turned her back around and faced the person she had been wanting to meet all her life. "I'm glad we met again, Lee Eun Woo." He grinned. 

Just with his voice, it filled Eun Woo completely. It was the first time she felt heaven inside her by just only hearing her own name. Her heart melted with his words that came along with a gentle voice.

He was the person who scared the soul out of her when the calls started, the person who comforted her, the one who first and would always sneakily call her. Now she knew why his very existence was so familiar. They did meet in the past. It was Eun Woo's fault for not understanding the word "again". She remembered that day, the day they officially met. That time when their mutual feelings danced in the rain.

Jung Daehyun - The bringer of the rain. He was he sound of the rain... Which she cherished deeply in her heart.

"Yeah..." She smiled so wide, a few tears forming in her eyes.

"Jeez, I'm sick of all the rain."

"This really is the country of rain, isn't it?"

A few people near the two complained as closed their umbrellas shut.

Eun Woo and Daehyun looked at each other and smiled. Though their distance was a bit far away, their feelings reached each other. By the rain, the sound of it, the phone calls... They met. No, you're wrong. Eun Woo ran towards Daehyun, dropped her umbrella on the wet ground and glomped him. Daehyun's eyes rounded, but he was fine with it. He was even regretting that he should've done that first. Eun Woo cried with a smile on Daehyun's back. She noticed the wings he had glued on him. The feathers that escaped the bunch followed the pace of the wind, then turned into water drops. She never did noticed this one feature about him, but she knew that he was the one.

It was the truth.

This is... The country of dreams.

END.