Hae POV

A couple of days after the party, I was called into Umma’s study once again. 

“You need to find something better to do with yourself instead of spending all day lazying around in your room. That’s why I’ve decided to get you a job at the company. Not my company, of course, but at Lee Corporations.”

Lee Corporations? Isn’t that the company where Minnie hyung and Hyukjae work?

“You’ll start in a week’s time. I expect you to make a good image for me. Don’t make me regret doing this,” she said sternly, glancing up from her computer to look at me. 

“Yes, Umma. I’ll try my best,” nodding my head. This might be fun. 

“Indeed you will. You can go now.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(a couple of days later)

“Umma! I’m sorry! Please, don’t!” I tried to pull out of her strong hold. Her nails were cutting into my upper arms as she dragged me towards the door. 

“Don’t talk back to me!” She halted and slapped me across my face. I could feel tears forming in my eyes, not even pausing to pool up on my lower lid as they leaked miserably onto my cheeks. 

She stared hard at me and I could feel myself shake out of fear. 

All of a sudden, I heard Sandara noona come running from somewhere into the foyer where the house’s entire staff had come to watch helplessly as I was being forced out.

“Please, Mrs. Lee! Don’t make him go outside. It’s supposed to start raining soon.”

Umma turned to her and yelled out angrily, “Stay out of this or you won’t have a job to go to in the morning. Then we’ll see who’s going to pay your tuition bills.” 

Bom noona rushed over and gently pulled Sandara noona away, both of them looking at me with sad eyes.  

I didn’t bother struggling anymore and just let her tug me towards the entrance, swinging one of the doors open and shoving me outside before slamming it in my face. I stumbled from the force of the push but regained my balance and just let the tears fall freely. 

I don’t know how long I just stood in the entrance before I snapped back into my senses and started pounding on the door, not wanting to be outside. 

The wind was howling up the landscape and the trees shook and rustled in every which way. Goosebumps lined my arms, although I wasn’t too sure if it was from the cold or my crying.  The night was darker than usual with heavy storm clouds hanging overhead, ready to burst any minute. 

Sandara noona was right; there was supposed to be a thunderstorm tonight.

“Shhh. Calm down, Hae. It’s alright. Hyung is here,” Leeteuk said reassuringly, holding his little brother in his arms. 

The two were sitting in the younger child’s room, huddled in the middle of the bed which wasn’t far from the window so that they could see how the wind tumbled and battered at the glass and the heavy rain that was pelting down all around the house. Lightening struck somewhere off in the distance and Leeteuk covered his brother’s ears with his own palms, knowing that any minute now, thunder would be heard. And so it did, booming loudly overhead, and crackling in the night, causing the little one in his hold to cry out even louder and shake much more terribly. 

The older removed his hands and brought them to once again wrap around Donghae’s small frame. 

“Hyung! Make it go away! I’m scared!” Donghae shouted desperately, pressing himself up against his brother. 

“Hae, stop crying. There’s nothing to worry about. Look. I know how to make you feel better. Just wait here. I need to get something from my room,” the elder said, starting to loosen his grip. 

“No! Don’t leave me!” Donghae cried, grabbing his brother’s night shirt with both of his tiny hands. 

“But I need something from my room…You can come with me, then. We’ll stay in my room tonight. How’s that sound?” Leeteuk asked with a little smile. 

Donghae just nodded his head timidly, not wanting to be left by himself at the height of the storm. 

“Alright. Don’t forget to bring your teddy.” The younger grabbed the stuffed animal and clutched it to his chest. 

Leeteuk slipped off the bed and helped his brother down before the two of them headed off into the hall, bare feet echoing off the walls. Leeteuk was in front, leading the way, with Donghae following closely behind, grasping at his hand. Halfway there, a loud clap of thunder resonated throughout the mansion and Donghae jumped, and miscalculated and ran right into his brother out of fright. Leeteuk only walked faster. 

When they got to the eleven year old’s room, they made their way over to the slightly bigger bed and got under the covers. Leeteuk pulled them all the way up past Donghae’s nose, making sure that Donghae had his back towards the window so that he couldn't see outside. Then he leaned over to his bedside table and pulled out an ipod. 

“Matthew gave me this, remember? There’s a bunch of old English songs on it but they’re pretty good. Here, put this on and then you wouldn’t have to hear the scary thunder anymore.”

Donghae slipped a thin arm out from beneath the blanket and put the ear pieces in. 

Ray Charles’ ‘i got a woman’ started to play and Leeteuk watched expectingly at his brother. As the first chorus began, Donghae let out a giggle despite the tear stains that covered his cheeks. “This is funny. I like it.”

Leeteuk smiled brightly and settled down onto his pillow, leaving the lamp on so that it wouldn’t be so dark. 

Five minutes of yelling and pounding at the door got me nowhere. No one opened the door and there was no reassuring voice to tell me everything was going to be ok. I wiped my fists roughly against my eyes to stop the tears. I stepped back and tried to think clearly.

I obviously wasn’t getting back inside. Maybe I could call Matthew and spend the night with him.

… but my phone was in my room. 

The only thing I could think of was going over to Kyu’s place. But it was so far and the rain was supposed to start any minute. I shivered again and brought my hands up to hug myself. 

Get yourself together Hae. If I walked really fast maybe I could get there before the worst started. I was eighteen. I have to stop being afraid of such childish things. 

And so I began speed walking down the driveway, but had to slow down because of the incline and I didn’t want to trip. The path seemed much longer tonight than any other day and it took my a while to get onto the streets. 

As I picked up my paced again, I tried not to think about Umma, but couldn’t help it and the tears were once again there, flooding my eyes and dripping onto my face, causing me to slow down because my vision was getting blurry. 

I could feel the wind getting colder, the force getting stronger, and my tee shirt wasn’t doing much to protect me from the cold. 

“Shhh. Calm down, Hae. It’s alright. Hyung is here.” 

But he wasn’t. The only one who would comfort me and get me through those stormy nights wasn’t here. 

You’ll be fine. You can make it, Hae. Just keep walking.

I shivered and looked up with wide eyes when I felt the first rain drop hit my arm. 

I shut my eyes tightly and pushed myself to keep walking. The rain at first came down in a drizzle. 

“Hae, stop crying. There’s nothing to worry about.”

I was reaching the outskirts of my neighborhood now, finding my way onto a local street dotted with little shops and cafes, all closed. 

The drizzle I could handled, but when the rain started to heavily crash against the sidewalk, my fears took over me and I rushed under a nearby bus stop. 

The little canopy did nothing to stop the sideways falling rain and the seats were all soaked with little puddles, but I wasn’t in my right mind and curled up on one of the benches, pulling my feet up tightly to my chest and wrapping my arms around them with my head dipped and tucked down, not wanting to see the horrors going on around me. I could feel the rain pelt and strike me mercilessly and I was completely soaked sitting there in the rain, trembling and crying, praying that it would let up soon. 

I couldn’t move and so I sat there for god knows how long, reacting to even burst of thunder and every flash of lightening, trying to remember the calming lyrics to Ray Charles’ ‘I got a woman’. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hyuk’s POV 

Damn rain. 

Damn Changmin who decided to change the contract at the last minute. 

Damn me for deciding to stay back late and finish all that stupid paperwork because of him. 

Damn me for even making a deal with that cocky bastard. 

I sighed as I pulled up at a stop light. The rain was really coming down now. My wipers were on at full speed but the rain was falling out of the sky like buckets being tipped over every second. I could barely see and had only covered about eight miles or so since I started driving fifteen minutes ago. 

As I saw the glare of the red light turn to green, I eased my foot off the brake and the car inched forward at five miles per hour. 

Ugh! I resisted the urge to bang my head against the steering wheel.

 I just want to sleep. I’ve been up since six this morning going over the contract so that I could finalize the deal with good-for-nothing-bastard Changmin when he all of a sudden decided to fax me a new proposal this afternoon.

I gritted my teeth just thinking about it. Because of him I spent four extra hours in the office so that I could get all the stupid adjustments fixed. He’s lucky I didn’t cancel the deal. 

Just then, my phone started buzzing from it’s place in the cup holder. 

I sighed but pulled over very slowly off the road. I know I was the only one stupid enough to be out here at this hour in a storm like this but I don’t want to take my chances. I better be alive than dead, and it wasn’t like I was even making any progress on my journey home. 

I slowed the car to a stop, pulling up not too far from a bus stop. 

I reached for my phone and saw that Min was calling. “Hello?” 

“Hyuk, did you get home already? I just wanted to check in with you because it’s looking really bad outside,” he said and I could hear the microwave beep in the background. 

“I wasn’t as lucky as everyone else. I had just left the office when the rain came down. I’m not too far away from my place, but with the weather, it might take me a little while to get there,” I said peering out my side of the window, watching as the road rippled with the amount of water already collected on the black tar. 

“This is all your fault actually. This wouldn’t have happened if you had let me stay back to help you,” he huffed into the phone. 

 I rolled my eyes. “I’m rolling my eyes,” I informed over the phone. 

 It was my decision to stay back late and I didn’t want to have to burden him with my decisions.

“Well, I’m rolling mine too.”

“Whatever. I should probably get going now.”

“Ok. Be careful on the road.” The line cut before I could even respond and I just shook my head, placing the phone down. 

I inhaled deeply and was getting ready to put the car into drive when something under the bus stop caught my attention. 

As I squinted, trying to see pass the rain, my eyes almost popped out of my head when I realized it was a person, huddled under the shed at the mercy of the storm. 

I didn’t really think as I grabbed the umbrella from the floor of the passenger seat and swung the car door open, feeling the impact as the cold rain showered down on me. I struggled with the umbrella and when I got it opened, I hustled over to where the person was. 

They were completely soaked and shaking violently. 

No one should be out here. If they needed a ride, I was going to take them wherever they needed to be. 

I rushed near and got under the shed, maneuvering the umbrella so that it was covering the both of us, not that it made a difference. 

It looked to be a boy and when I grabbed onto his shoulder, he flinched harshly, looking up at me with scared eyes. 

You could image my face when I saw who it was. 

“Donghae?”

I really don't know what i'm talking about with all of this business stuff :/