it had been pouring when yoonmi got out of the house. she needed to buy some groceries for dinner tonight and being a broke college student, her fridge is always empty. today is a special today because it’s her day off and pay day and that means stocking up on snacks, snacks and more snacks.

despite the heavy downpour, she hums under her breath as she ducks into the convenience store she works part-time at, shaking her wet umbrella to the side. she looks around the familiar store, it feels great to be a customer instead of a cashier.

there wasn’t that many people so she walked around the store in a sedated place, taking her time to think about what she needs for tonight’s dinner. she hasn’t decided what to make yet, but she’d probably end up eating noodles despite her  brain yelling at her to be more health conscious.

busy debating whether to buy a dozen or half dozen eggs, she didn’t notice someone  around the corner as she rounded the aisle until it was too late. thank god she hasn’t finished deciding about the eggs because she and the dude she bumped against would be covered in eggs. she watched a can of peach slices fall from her basket on to the said person’s foot in slow motion and the following pained made her wince internally. she quickly looks up to see who it was and crap.

“i’m so sorry!” yoonmi hurriedly picks up her fallen can and runs away from the scene to the egg aisle.

as soon as she reaches the egg aisle, she lets out a breath that she didn’t know she was holding. the guy is jackson, the new guy who just started working recently and is in the same class as her. yoonmi admits having a small, teeny, tiny crush on jackson and they’ve exchanged some words in class but it’s quite hard hard to get close to a popular guy like him that is always surrounded by a lot of people. blood rushes to her cheeks, colouring them red; she’s so tempted to bash her face against that stupid can of peaches, that was beyond embarrassing!

a weird pained noise escapes , she’ll just apologise properly later or jump in front of a car. she quickly got the other things she needed and made her way to the checkout counter.

she doesn’t know what entity made a tiny seed of hope bloom to see the guy at the checkout counter; she holds a disappointed sigh as she hands over some money mrs. kim.

the rain was still pouring when she  exited the convenience store. she stands under the store’s shelter roof and reaches in her bag for her umbrella when she realises a couple of things: who the heck puts a drenched umbrella in a bag, the inside of her bag is dry as a desert, and her umbrella is missing.

in the corner of her eye, yoonmi notices a small ball of fur in a box. the thought of her missing umbrella flies out of her brain when a tiny head of a puppy pops up. the cooing noise that escapes her was purely reflex. she squats down in front of the box to pick up the puppy when—

“is that bulldog puppy?”  a familiar voice behind her asks.

it’s jackson. akjdbzkjbf.

despite her brain being fried of shock, she keeps her cool socks on and replies calmly, “yeah. i wonder who would just abandon a cutie like this guy?”

jackson squats next to her to peer into the box. her face must be red because jackson’s elbow was touching hers and it feels warm even with the heavy cold rain.

“the rain is getting the box wet. let’s get this guy at the back, come on,” jackson easily scoops up the puppy in his arms and she couldn’t help to let out a tiny noise that made the puppy’s ear to twitch.

they get the puppy wrapped into jackson’s spare shirt, and makes way for the other staff on break to coo over the tiny bulldog.

jackson stands next to yoonmi and asks, “are you going to take the puppy home?” as they watch mrs. kim hug and pet the puppy.

“i want to but i don’t think i can since i live in the dorms,” yoonmi says dejectedly but the sudden action of jackson grabbing her hands in startles her.

“i can take him in for you, if you want. you can also visit him whenever and give me your number so we can keep in contact and organise dates and stuff!”

the enthusiastic expression on jackson’s face and his warm hands made yoonmi’s heart melt into a pile of goo, she nods and half way into that nod, the stuff jackson said finally registers in her brain and what!

“da-dates?” yoonmi stutters, because what the hell. this can’t be reality, she must have fallen into a puddle and drowned.

“yeah! i always see you in class and i want to become closer, so what do you say?” jackson smiles goofily at her, and pink dusts the tops of his cheeks and the tips of his ears. she has to admit, he looks pretty adorable.

“okay,” yoonmi nods and smiles goofily back.

she’s got a couple more things to add to her list.

Why today is a special day:

• pay day! (finally jfc!!)
• day off hehehe
• stocking up food
• found a puppy!
• jackson held my handsjdfbdkjg
• jackson asked me out on a date