The sky was a dark grey, heavy rain clouds looming over the horizon like monsters, adding only more gloom to the already dull day. Chen looked up at the daunting clouds that had blocked the sun, reducing everything to a washed out grey tone. He sighed before turning his attention to the teacher in charge.

"Well, we will be cleaning up the park today," the teacher eyed her student's unwilling expressions, "Unlike other groups who are required to volunteer for a full week, you will only be doing it for today. And because of this, I expect everyone to do a good job. I don't care if it rains, you will keep going until everything is clean. Do I make myself clear?" 

The students all mumbled incoherent words in reply, a few shouts of protest here and there. 

"I trust that everyone has brought along umbrellas or some sort of clothing as protection against the rain?" 

There was more groaning and mumbling.

"Here are your gloves and garbage bags," the teacher handed them out quickly, "On your best behaviour." 

~~~~

The group had split up, going in different directions to pick up rubbish, deciding that it was the fastest way to clean up the park. Chen cringed at the rotting, half eaten apple lying on the grass. 

"Ugh.." He couldn't help letting out a sound as he picked it up the apple making a disgusting squelching sound as he threw it into the black garbage bag. He had a pretty strong stomach, but even he had to admit some of things he found were grossing him out. 

Chen turned away from the ground slightly startled, hearing a few high pitched squeals coming from near the bushes. He looked up to see a few girls from his chemistry class crowded around something near a tree. He couldn't make out what it was from where he was standing, but judging by their reaction, he was assuming it was probably going to be some giant bug or something really disgusting. Chen straightened his back and sighed, beginning to make his way over to the girls to help them out. He stopped in his tracks when he noticed a figure coming toward them.

Nayoung. 

Chen could hear her words from the distance he was standing, as he wasn't so far away now. The male lowered his head and pretended to search for more rubbish, hoping that the girls wouldn't notice him eavesdropping. 

"Yah, shut up. You're pissing me off with your squealing." Nayoung glared at the three girls with distaste, watching them pathetically cower in front of the thing lying on the ground. 

"Well, it's a freaking dead bird." One of the girls rolled her eyes cockily, crossing her arms rudely to emphasise the fact that they didn't want Nayoung's company. 

Nayoung raised an eyebrow at them, challenging. "Get over it, just pick it up. Geez, it's not that hard, you're wearing gloves. You don't have to be drama queens and squeal over every little thing, it's so annoying." 

"Well you pick it up then." 

The three girls smirked, feeling satisfied that they had stumped the famous queenka. Knowing her, she would never even want to touch something like that. They were so confident in that belief, so sure that she was going to start making excuses. So they were left exasperated when Nayoung bent over and picked it up without a moment's hesitation. Chen was equally shocked, his mouth fell open as he watched her hold the bird up at eye level, eyes narrowing dangerously at the three flabbergasted females. 

"No big deal. Now get lost, it's irritating hearing you whine," she waved the dead bird around in there faces, causing the girls to scream and duck, quickly scrambling away to create as much distance as possible between them and the disgusting thing. 

A few moments later, when the girl was sure there was no one around, Nayoung flung the bird away. It missed the mouth of her garbage bag by a few centimeters, instead, hitting the side of it and causing the contents inside to spill all over the ground again. 

"Ew ew ew ew ew ewwwwww." The queenka—who was so composed a few moments before— scrunched her face up, jumping around and waving her arm about like a mad woman.

Chen watched dumfounded, just staring as she jumped around, left in a complete daze. "....Uhh."

"Ewwww ew ew ewwww, I touched a dead bird," she whined to herself, shaking her arms as if to expel the dead bird from her hands, like that would make a difference. Chen felt a giddy smile pull at the edge of his lips, and soon he had to slap his arm across his face to contain the laughter bubbling from his throat. So much for the whole 'no big deal' thing. He watched, amused, as the girl  ran over to her garbage bag. He bit back a laugh, watching as she picked up the garbage that had fallen out, making weird noises and faces as she did so. 

"So this is the elegant, perfect Kang Nayoung." Chen walked a few metres away, crouching to pick up an empty potato chip packet. He laughed silently to himself as he got back to work, the image of her clumsy flailing arms making him fall into a fit of giggles, it was just so out of character it was hilarious. 

~~~~

When the first signs of rain appeared, Chen could already hear the angry cries of the other students. The light drizzle turned to a heavy downpour in a matter of seconds, causing everyone to ditch their garbage bags and make a run for shelter immediately. The rain was cold and relentless, soaking Chen's clothing in a matter of seconds. He reached into his bag for an umbrella, quickly opening it up to block himself from the rain. He looked at the students who were gathering under the small shelter a few metres away and he sighed, making a face at the people hiding from the rain. He knew they had umbrellas, and raincoats. They just didn't want to get wet, scared that their styled hair would be ruined. Chen looked around him, seeing no one still working. The male rubbed the back of his neck, feeling slightly disappointed in the group. Were they really this unwilling to help out? Sure, it was raining, but it wasn't exactly a life or death situation. He bent over to pick up a banana peel, if no one was going to help, at least he had to do something. 

Chen eventually made his way to the other side of the park. He couldn't see anyone else in sight. Their teacher had left to supervise another group, as she had trusted them to do the right thing, which didn't quite work. He looked up in surprise when he noticed the silhouette of a girl from his peripheral vision. Her back was facing him, so he couldn't see who it was, but the girl was soaked to the bone. Her straight black hair was drenched, clothes dripping with water. 

He slowly approached the girl with a light heart. Chen felt slightly shocked, but it wasn't the fact that there was someone out here still helping out, or the fact that she didn't have an umbrella, that left him so pleasantly surprised. It was the fact that the girl didn't even seem to care for the rain at all that left him so speechless. Her actions were enough for him to tell that she didn't have a second thought about the fact that it was pouring, it almost seemed like she was ignoring it, deeming it insignificant. 

Chen came closer with the umbrella holding it out for the girl crouching down in front of him. The rain felt like ice bullets hitting his skin, sending a chill down his spine and he shivered. But it was fine, if a girl was getting pelted by rain, it wouldn't be right for him to just stand with an umbrella here all dry and warm. It was his duty as a man to help a damsel in distress, and he was wearing a waterproof jacket. 

The girl turned around and looked up at him, and Chen felt the temperature drop a few more degrees. Her eyes were cold and intimidating, and held a sharpness he only knew too well. The girl in front of him was Kang Nayoung. 

"What?" She continued to pick up rubbish, not even sparing Chen another glance. She spoke in a bored monotone, a subtle hint of annoyance mixed in, as if she was pissed off at him for sheltering her from the rain. 

Chen rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "You looked like you were pretty soaked, so I thought you might have needed an umbrella." 

"Well you thought wrong," she flatly rejected him, grabbing her garbage bag to leave. 

"At least take the umbrella." 

"I'm already wet, what difference does an umbrella make? Are you stupid? If you want to offer help, at least make sure it's actually helpful." 

Chen felt the small blow at his pride, didn't girls usually swoon over these scenes in korean dramas? He tried to find a comeback but failed, only staying silent for a few moments before uttering something under his breath. "... good point." 

He continued to follow the girl as she stalked off, holding the umbrella out to keep her dry. He heard Nayoung sighed irritatedly. 

The girl turned around, whipping him in the face with her wet hair. "Y'know, I really hate people like you. What do you want? Why are you me following around? Creep." She began throwing insults at him. Chen seemed unfazed by her comments, which only infuriated the girl more. Why was he not getting angry? Why wasn't he leaving? Did he have no sense of pride? 

"I just want to talk, be friends." 

His reply irked her. She crossed her arms and tapped a foot on the muddy ground, momentarily forgetting about her job. Be friends? What a joke. 

"Why? So you can rat me out to Lu Han? So you can find some dirty secret to black mail me with? So you and your friends can have a laugh about how pathetic Kang Nayoung is?" Chen saw something in her eyes, a flash of emotion that lied hidden beneath her anger and irritation, but it disappeared as soon as it had come, and he couldn't make out what it was. 

"No, I just want to be friends, to talk." 

"Well I don't." 

"Well then I'll just keep talking to myself then." 

They continued to clean the park like this, Chen asking random questions, while Nayoung completely ignored him, grumbling and mumbling under her breath. 

"So.. Everyone's hiding under shelter, while you're here out in the muddy grass field picking up rubbish." 

"And? Your point is?" Nayoung couldn't stop herself from replying. Chen just seemed so genuine, when he asked questions, it was never about Lu Han or Kyungmi or her school reputation. They were just random ones like 'what TV shows do you like?' Or 'choose between getting eaten by a bear or die of hypothermia.' And even when she didn't reply, he'd just reply to himself, or ask another random question. It actually seemed like he was genuinely curious about her. 

"Oh? You talked to me." Chen's comment gained him a dangerous glare from the girl, and she turned her head away, reverting back to silence. 

"Okay, okay. Don't kill me. Just curious. It's raining, so why aren't you over there with everyone else?" He pointed to the crowd of students a few metres away. 

"It's just rain, no big deal. It's not like you're going to die or anything. Just it up." She was glaring daggers at the people under the shelter, as if she was talking to them instead of Chen, "it's so stupid how pathetic they are," she broke off with a string of insulting names and curse words. Violently throwing a mandarin peel into her bag.  

Chen rolled his eyes, typical queenka attitude. But to an extent, he found himself agreeing with her. Minus the swearing and over the top unpleasantries of course, but he still found himself nodding along to what she said. 

___________

It was raining, so the children at the day care centre had migrated inside for the day. Lu Han was sitting cross legged on the floor beside Minwoo, watching as he drew pictures of cars using coloured pencils. 

"Hyung look! It's you," the kid pointed excitedly at the stick figures beside the red 'car' he had drawn. Lu Han laughed at the out of proportion stick figure and ruffled Minwoo's hair. The six year old had even drawn brown wiggly lines sprouting out of Lu Han's head, representing his honey brown hair. 

Lu Han smiled warmly, noticing how well Minwoo took care of the equipment. After using each colour, he would slide the pencil back into the packet carefully, the crayons would always go back into the correct cup, the paper would always be stacked up and place back into the tub neatly, books in the shelves. It was impressive for such a young child, and it wasn't just Minwoo, pretty much all the children took such great care with their equipment. 

"You take good care of your stuff don't you ?" 

Minwoo looked up at him innocently and grinned proudly, "It's 'coz noona got it for us!" 

Lu Han couldn't help but smile at the boy, over the past week, the kid had grown on him quite a bit. 

Noona again..

It was just a small hunch, and from the insufficient evidence gathered, he wondered how he had arrived at the conclusion at all. Call it intuition if you will, but Lu Han was getting the feeling that he knew who this mysterious noona was now. 

Lu Han spotted a small piano in the far corner of the room, "Hey Minwoo, do you want hyung to teach you a song on the piano?" 

"You can play?" 

"Only one really easy song." 

Lu Han made his way to the piano, sitting on the stool and motioning for Minwoo to join him. A few kids had already gathered around to watch as he pressed the keys, eyes bright with anticipation. He took a deep breath, and began to play.  

"Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are-" he broke out into laughter when he saw the childrens' faces drop in disappointment, having had expected some amazing performance. Minwoo frowned at him. 

"Eeyyy, hyung! Noona's so much better than you." 

 ~~~~

"I really appreciate you all coming here today to help out this week, the children all really love you. They're really sad to see you all go. I hope you come back to visit once in a while." Mrs Han smiled politely at the group of students. 

Lu Han waited until everyone else had left before talking to Mrs Han, he had to ask a few questions. The male had a feeling that he knew exactly who this noona was, he just needed to make sure.  

"The kids kept mentioning a noona throughout the whole week, I was just kind of curious about who she was." 

"Oh! She's just someone that comes by on the weekends to help out around here. She's a wonderful girl, and the children absolutely adore her," Mrs Han chuckled, "buying the kids toys, equipment, food, occasionally a few ice cream cones here and there." 

The middle aged woman smiled sadly,"she probably spends more on the kids than we do. Quite shameless aren't we." Mrs Han rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, embarrassed. 

"Does this girl by any chance go by the name Nayoung?" 

The woman's eyes widened in surprise, "How did you know? Are you friends with her?" 

Lu Han grinned at the woman's reaction, his suspicions were right. "I guess you can say that." 

"Oh that's wonderful to hear that." 

The deer turned to leave, stopping just before he stepped outside, "Don't tell her about this, please?" 

The day care lady smiled like him motherly, albeit slightly confused with his request, "Of course, your secret's safe with me." 

_________________

Helloo~ I'm back with the next chapter. Im so sorry everyone, I kind of forgot to update yesterday.. ehehehe.. So here I am today to present you with chapter 21! 

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