“I want somebody to love me for once just this one time I want somebody to prove all these thoughts about myself screaming inside my head wrong”

It was one of those days. Everything was going wrong. On top of that, it rained the entire day. Sighs came out of Minji’s mouth all day. All she wanted was to see Seungyoon.

Her classes seemed for mundane and pointless that day. She didn’t know why she had bothered to get out of bed at all. The food in the cafeteria was no good, and the vending machines all seemed to be broken at the same time. All she could think about was going home, curling up in bed, and calling Seungyoon.

By the time she was done with her last class, the storm had become more of a typhoon. The wind flipped her umbrella inside-out. The rain wet her clothes, and the chilling temperature didn’t help with the situation. The bus ride seemed longer and it was. Evening had rolled around by the time the bus made its last stop before her stop. Minji had never wanted to get home that urgently before.

And in the end, her bad day paid off. As she ran home, she noticed that the rain had begun to let up. When she was just a few feet away from her home, she noticed Seungyoon standing outside with an umbrella. He noticed her getting pelted with rain and ran up to her with his signature smile.

“Where’s your umbrella?” Minji held up her mangled umbrella, and Seungyoon’s eyes rounded.

The two of them entered her home. Minji immediately ran off to dry herself off. Seungyoon stood in the middle of her living room and admired her cleanly home. He noticed that she didn’t have much cluttering up her home. She had the basic necessities and a few things for her entertainment.

“Would you like something to drink?” Seungyoon turned his attention to a dried Minji. “Do you have any tea?” Minji nodded and hurriedly prepared two cups of warm tea.

Seungyoon sat down on her couch and continued to admire her home. When Minji came back out with their tea, she sank down next to him. She didn’t waste any time and took a calming sip of her tea before letting out a sigh of relief.

“How bad was today?” Minji looked at Seungyoon with confusion written across her tired face.

“Your sigh tells me that your day didn’t go too well. What happened?” Seungyoon held the warm cup in his hands and stared into Minji’s eyes. “You know you can tell me. I promise I’m not tired of listening to you. I want to know, so tell me.”

Minji let out another sigh. “Everything. It was raining when I opened my eyes. I stepped in multiple puddles, so I had to deal with wet shoes and socks all day. My classmates were ruder and more obnoxious than usual. My professors just wasted my time. I couldn’t each much today. My umbrella broke, and that caused me to get soaked. On my way home, I thought that God, if He even exists, was trying to tell me that I don’t deserve to be happy. But then the rain began to slow down, and I saw you waiting for me.

I’ve always wanted somebody to love me during one these horrible days. I’ve wanted someone to prove all these bad thoughts about myself screaming inside my head wrong. And I do. I have you. Seeing you made my day. I was going to call you once I got home. I wanted to hear your voice, and I wanted you to tell me that I’m not worthless and that I deserve to be happy today.

Whenever I see you, I can hear you telling me that it’ll all be okay and that I can make it through another day.”

Minji faintly grinned at Seungyoon. Everything was silent as they looked at each other. Quietly and timidly, they leaned in closer. They swallowed their anxiety, and their eyelids drooped as if they were somnolent. And their lips brushed against each other ever so lightly.

It wasn’t their first kiss, no. But their hearts fluttered madly as if it was their first. They spilled every ounce of emotion they had into that one kiss.

“He was unheeded, happy, and near to the wild heart of life” –James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

The rain had ceased. The sky was clear. The moon shone brighter than any other night. Two empty teacups sat next to one another on the coffee table. And two bodies were tangled together on the small couch.

Their eyes were closed, and their breaths were even. But only was asleep. Minji’s eyes fluttered open. She looked up and stared at Seungyoon’s calm face. She traced his facial features with her eyes. A soft smile waltzed across her face as she continued to look at him.

Gently, she moved closer to him. She curled up against him, closed her eyes, and buried her face into his black sweater. She breathed in his scent, and it took her back to when they first met.

She opened her eyes slowly and looked at Seungyoon again. She wondered if he was real. How one person could change her day was confusing to her. He had something about that no one else had. He made the corners of her lips twitch, almost forming a smile, every time she was around him. He made her heart flutter when she just thought about him. He gave her something to look forward to. For once, she felt bad for someone other than her brother.

In her head, she was a burden to him. She was a ball of negativity that Seungyoon didn’t need in his positive life. She was a weight that he didn’t deserve to carry.

But at the same time, he also made her feel something else other than hopelessness. He made her feel possessive. He made her want to feel selfish for the first time in forever. She felt sorry to be a burden, but she wanted to keep him around. She wanted him to see the world in a different perspective. She wanted him to love her and make her…happy. If that was even possible.