“Rain, I still don’t have any memories

Because I’m just a twenty-year old girl.”

- Rain, Lim Kim

-

     Seah opens the curtain in her living room and is greeted by a lightning amidst the dark night sky outside. She closes it back, and the sound of loud thunder follows shortly. She sighs at the sound of heavy rain, and throws herself to the sofa.

     It has been raining all day. It’s a good thing Seah is on holiday, because going for classes in this kind of day would be dreadful. Her university life will start again in a month though, she wishes the rainy days would stop by then.

     She’s alone at home right now. Her mother is in Incheon to take care of Seah’s grandparents because their caretaker is going home for a month, her father is on a business trip to Japan, and her only brother is studying abroad. She has no problem on living alone, but what irks her is that she feels trapped because of the rain. She wants to go outside and play, but she hates this kind of weather.

     The phone rings, and Seah rolls from the other side of the sofa to pick it up.

     “Hello, dear. Have you prepared dinner for yourself?” her mother’s voice is heard.

     “Yes, Mom, I still have the stew I cooked this morning.”

     “Good. Seah, Baekhyun is coming to Seoul tomorrow, and he’s going to stay at our home for a few days. He said he has a competition coming up. Are you okay with that?”

     Baekhyun is Seah’s older cousin, the son of her mother’s brother. “That’s great, I feel lonely here.”

     “Well then, he might call you later. He’s bringing a friend too. Treat our guests well, okay?”

     Her mother hangs up. Seah is always happy to have Baekhyun here, he always has stories to tell, or showcases his vocals. He’s a musical major, and this time, the competition that her mother mentioned may be another singing-related one.

     When Seah finishes eating her dinner, a call from Baekhyun comes.

     “Hello, baby cousin. Has Aunt told you?” even though Baekhyun is only two years older, he always treats Seah like a child because she’s the youngest in their big family.

     “You should have called earlier, I’m the master of the house now.” Seah sneers. Baekhyun laughs from the other side of the call.

     “Yeah, I’ll assume I’ve gotten the permission now. I’m participating in a singing competition, and I’m bringing a junior with me, who enters the dance competition. We’re going to attend practices, and the D-day is two weeks from now.”

     This is not going to be the first time Baekhyun sleeps over for competitions, but him bringing another person is new. Seah hopes that this is not going to be awkward. “Okay, I’ll wait for you.”

-

     The next day, it’s raining again. Baekhyun said he’s going to come after lunch, but at 4 PM, there’s no sign of him coming. The rain is being the heaviest at this hour, and Seah is a bit worried. Finally at 5.30, her apartment’s doorbell rings. When she opens it, it reveals two people, fortunately in a perfectly dry condition. Baekhyun is smiling widely on the sight of Seah.

     “Hello!” he grabs the sides of Seah’s face, and pushes her cheeks together. Seah mumbles disapprovingly, and Baekhyun releases her while laughing. Seah turns her focus to the boy beside Baekhyun. He’s tall, thin, and his expression is slightly bitter, very different with Baekhyun’s cheerful face. “Seah, this is Jongin. He’s going to stay with us, and he’s the same age as you.”

     Seah offers her hand first, and Jongin shakes it weakly, and he forms a kind of forced smile. Seah silently judges him.

     The two boys drag their luggage inside. “Oppa, as usual, you’re going to stay in Sejoon oppa’s room… And Jongin can stay in the guest room.” Seah says. “I’m going to order chicken for dinner, is that okay?”

     “That’s cool.” Baekhyun nods.

     Jongin looks at us curiously. “Are they doing deliveries at this weather?” that’s the first sound of his voice that Seah hears.

     “There’s a chicken restaurant in this building.” Seah explains.

     “Don’t worry, you’ll get your food, you chicken mania.” Baekhyun pats Jongin’s back. “But the rain is indeed massive here.”

     “How do you manage to stay dry?” Seah asks.

     “We took a taxi. Jongin doesn’t want any inch of his shoes to get wet.” Baekhyun lets out a half-mocking tone. Jongin glares at him. “We’re going to our rooms, Seah.”

     Seah nods. “Go rest, I’m going to tell you on dinner time.” Jongin bows a little to her, and follows Baekhyun to the left side of the apartment. The guest room and her brother’s room are placed across one another there.

     After ordering dinner, Seah stays inside her bedroom, watching a movie. She was having a peaceful time when there are knocks on her door. She has a feeling that this is going to be her other guest, because Baekhyun wouldn’t be this quiet. She opens the door, and she was right. It’s Jongin, but Seah turns wide-eyed and freezes on her spot because of what she sees. Jongin is shirtless, and he only has a towel around his neck. Seah tries hard to keep looking at him in the eyes.

     “Can you help me? The shower is not working.”

     “O-okay.”

     Seah leads the way to the guest room, mainly because she doesn’t want to look at Jongin now. She enters the bathroom inside, and stands on the side of the shower and turns the tap to the left and right repeatedly. She’s kind of nervous now, because she never handles something like this. The water isn’t coming out, and Seah crouches in front of it, tries to look below the tap to see if something’s wrong. Jongin is standing right behind her.

     “I’m sorry to call you, Baekhyun hyung is taking a bath too. What’s wrong with the shower?”

     “I don’t know.” Seah stands up, and touches the tap. “Actually I never use the one here, so—“

     Seah turns the tap 180 degrees down as she talks, and suddenly the water comes out in full force, splashing herself and Jongin. She hurriedly takes a step backwards, bumping onto Jongin behind her, and it was Jongin who does damage control with stopping the water, with his other hand wrapping around Seah’s body to pull her aside from the shower water.

     Seah’s head and front side is already drenched, and Jongin’s arm around her is also wet. Silence follows. Suddenly Jongin starts laughing as he lets go of her. His laugh is hysterical, and Seah doesn’t know whether to get frightened or laugh along to it. But one thing for sure, the cold image she saw is no longer there. Seah only gives him a bitter smile as she faces him.

     “Sorry.”

     “Wow, Seoul is rainy everywhere.” Jongin smiles widely. “Ah, I’m the one who feels sorry instead, what to do…”

     Jongin takes the towel on his neck and starts wiping the water on Seah’s face and hair. She gets stunned for a second, but then stops him. “I’m okay, I’ll do it myself. Go have a shower.”

     Jongin nods while still smiling. “Thanks.” Seah exits the room, her face is secretly red.

     Skinship like that on his first hour here… While being shirtless… He doesn’t even have abs. Seah huffs and puffs silently as she goes back to her room and dries herself. But looking at it closely, it looks like he’s in the process of forming them.

     Seah scolds herself on that further-than-normal observation that she stealthily took earlier on Jongin’s body. Dancing does his body wonders, I think.

     The chicken comes, and Seah calls the two boys to come out from their rooms. Baekhyun gets excited instantly and starts talking nonstop as usual, but Jongin only gives Seah a smile and helps her prepare the dinner silently. They all settle on the carpet in front of the TV in the living room and start to chow down the food, but Baekhyun is far from enjoying the TV silently.

     “This one is going to be a national one, right Jongin? This is his first large-scale competition for him, so I want this kid to concentrate.” Baekhyun grips Jongin’s shoulder. “He’s the nephew of my vocal professor, and she wants me to take care of him, so I bring him here.”

     Seah nods, and Jongin is eating while looking slightly embarrassed. “Thank you for your hospitality.” he mutters.

     Baekhyun smacks his back playfully. “Say it with more sincerity, you punk, Seah is going to be burdened with us here.”

     Seah laughs. “So where will you practice?”

     “Ah, that. My practice room is at Seongbuk, but Jongin’s is in Gangnam. There are several subway stops for him, so tomorrow we’re going to start off earlier so I can show him the ways here.”

     “Is that okay? Won’t you be late?” Seah asks Baekhyun. “If you want, I can do it instead… I have no plans for tomorrow.”

     Jongin lights up beside her. “Really?” his chic image is drifting away even faster. “Wow, I’m so thankful.”

     “Yah, you’re so shameless. Seah, are you fine with that?” Baekhyun shakes his head.

     “It’s okay, oppa. I’d be glad if I could help.” Seah smiles, but eyes the window and the sound of rain outside, and gets hesitant for a bit. She wishes the rain wouldn’t be this heavy tomorrow.

     “Aigoo, our baby.” Baekhyun reaches out to ruffle Seah’s hair. Jongin laughs at the sight. “Thank you, we’re going to win this!”

     Seah smiles at her cousin. She silently envies them too, because what they’re doing seems fun. Baekhyun has the talent to sing, and Jongin, even though she hasn’t seen it, must have the talent to dance, and they get to study it in university. Her social studies seem boring in comparison.

     There’s a sound of stopped current from the electronics, and a millisecond later, the apartment goes pitch black. Seah can’t even say anything because of the surprise that took her. She starts to get afraid, but the sound of Baekhyun’s voice calms her down for a bit.

     “What the—did the lightning strike something? Ah, I left my phone in my room… Seah, Jongin, are you okay?”

     “Yeah.” only Jongin answers. Seah looks around the darkness with thumping heart. Her eyes are wide open, but why is everything dark?

     A hand reaches to her arm, and proceeds to hold her hand tightly. Who is this? This can’t be Baekhyun… He’s on the other side of her. Jongin?

     The lights come back, and Jongin hides their united hands near his back. Baekhyun stands up immediately without noticing them. “I should check the electric port…”

     Baekhyun disappears to the right corridor where the main port is located, and Jongin slowly releases Seah’s hand. Seah looks at his direction without a word.

     “You were scared, weren’t you?” Jongin says with a laid-back smile. “You are the type who keeps silent when you’re surprised… Like previously in the bathroom.”

     So what did he mean by holding her hand? Was it to calm her down? If anything, that made her freak out more inside.

     Second, Seah thinks. Third, if we count the handshake.

     She feels like this Jongin falls from nowhere and confuses her, just like the rain which randomly greets her in January.

-

“Rain, I like or dislike you according to my mood but…”