Chapter Three
W H I T E  U M B R E L L A

The sounds of gentle rain pittered-pattered against the small white umbrella with two people standing under it. Hanbin looked down at the girl in his arms and breathed out a small smile. Eun Seo looked up at him and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion at his sudden smile.

"I found you."

"How...did you know it was me?" She asked. "Especially through all this rain."

"Mmm...lucky guess?" He smiled and Eun Seo gave him a look.

"Let me go," She told him sternly.

Eun Seo tried to push her body away from his but since she was weaker, her strength wasn't enough to pry away his strong arms around her body. With no hopes of escaping, she sighed in defeat and continued to stare back at him, captivating his gaze with her big curious eyes. The soft sound of the rain seemed to drown out the whispers and murmurs of people who saw them together under the umbrella. Hanbin slowly reached up and curled his left hand around her right hand which was holding onto the white umbrella handle, surprisingly it didn't surprise Eun Seo as much as she thought it would.

"What's your name?" He asked the question for the hundredth time. "Please tell me, I want to know it."

He honestly got tired of asking the same question again and again since he knew that it was going to be annoying and "weird" to the other person. It was very strange for him because it was his first time asking someone for their name - he usually knew everyone around him all the time but this time, it was different. Eun Seo looked at him and frowned.

"Why do you keep asking me that question?" She said, ignoring his request. "Did I do something wrong to you? If I did, please tell me and I will apologize to you right away."

"No, it's nothing like that!" Hanbin exclaimed with wide eyes and shook his head. "All I want is to just know your name!"

"Are you perhaps a loan shark disguised as a high school student?" Eun Seo asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously at him. "'Cause if you are, I'm not giving you anything so leave me alone or I will call the police on you!"

Around them, passerby slowed to a stop and stared at the couple with confusions on their faces from what they had just heard. Sensing their stares, Hanbin quickly opened his mouth to clear up the misunderstanding. 

"I'm not a loan shark, I promise!" Hanbin told her. "I'm a regular high school student just like you, so please just tell me-"

Out the corner of her eyes, Eun Seo spotted the city bus driving up to the bus stop and she let out a sudden gasp.

"The bus is here!" She exclaimed, cutting him off. "I have to go!"

Eun Seo quickly slipped her hand out under from Hanbin's hand which held onto the white umbrella handle and quickly ran towards the bus stop where other people were already lining up to get a spot. Hanbin watched her leave with a sigh and a small smile. Once he watched her step onto the bus and saw the bus door close, he came to a sudden realization that she had left her umbrella with him. Hanbin quickly rushed towards the bus just as it pulled away from the curb and merged into the main road but unfortunately, the bus was faster and Hanbin knew that he wasn't going to be able to keep up with it as it drives on - especially not in this rainy weather.

"What an unlucky day..." he sighed as stepped back onto the sidewalk and looked over his shoulder in the way that the bus left. "That was my last chance too.."

All the chances he got today with her were all ruined by the most unexpected things - teacher, friends, and even a bus stole the moment away from him! Talk about bad luck! Where was good luck when you needed it? Hanbin wished that he could just stop time and ask her the simple question so that it was off his mind for the next day but obviously, that kind of power didn't exist in the world. He slowly trudged his feet in the soaked sidewalk as he walked back the way he came before he saw her, pouting his lips like a little kid who didn't get what he wanted.

"Aish...I won't be able to sleep tonight!" The boy cursed at himself, running a hand through his chocolate brown hair.

A strong wind suddenly picked up causing the rain to fall a bit faster and heavier. Hanbin quickly reached up with his other hand and curled his hand around the other, gripping the umbrella handle more firmly so that it didn't fly away in the wind. He slightly lowered the umbrella to shield his body more from the rain when suddenly a smile lit up onto his face as his eyes fell upon the white handle in his hand.

"Umbrella!" He exclaimed.

The people around him walking turned and looked over at him, wondering what the commotion was. When they found out it was nothing, they turned their heads back and continued walking as if nothing had ever happened. Hanbin quickens his pace with a happy smile - tomorrow, he was going to give back the girl's umbrella and that's when he was going to ask her the question again! Ahh, what a genius he was! Hanbin couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of his idea and felt his cheeks slightly heating up.

☂️

Eun Seo entered her small two-room apartment and slipped off her soaked loafers at the door. She slowly trudged into the living room and dropped her backpack onto the ground with a heavy sigh. She looked around the empty room with a lonely glare in her eyes. This was her third day in her new apartment that she bought to escape the scary loan sharks that are chasing her, demanding for her father's money - Ten Million Won. Both of her parents bought tickets and flew off somewhere leaving Eun Seo in Korea by herself. For many days, she was mad at both of her parents for leaving their only child behind, but her anger eventually melted away and she carried on with her life at her aunt's house until she was able to afford a small apartment just for herself.

The loan sharks who were after her father heard words of her still in Korea and went after her instead. Her last encounter she had with them was two weeks ago at her old apartment and hopefully, they haven't discovered of her moving yet. Eun Seo pushed herself off the ground and walked towards the kitchen cabinets and pulled out a pack of ramyun — this was her everyday routine; cook a pack of ramyun after school, eat, do homework/study, and sleep. On top of all that, she needed to find a job so that she can pay for the apartment rent, although her aunt put money in her bank account every few weeks, Eun Seo didn't want to depend on that money for the rest of her life.

She placed a pot with water on the stove and turned it on to high heat. Instead of standing around to wait for the water to bubble, Eun Seo grabbed her backpack and walked over to the small table and sat down. She opened her backpack and laid out the homework and paper onto the table. Grabbing her lucky blue pen, she picked up the history homework and began working on it. To her, all the homework that the teachers give her are fairly easy and not much of a challenge. Even though she is placed in all advanced classes, Eun Seo felt those classes weren't as advanced as they claimed. All the reports cards she had ever received all had "A" in every single category — her parents would've been so proud of her if they here...

Finishing the front page of the homework fairly fast, Eun Seo set her pen down and stood up, making her way over to the stove. Sure enough, the water had started boiling, indicating that it was time to put in the noodles and seasoning. She carefully ripped open the pack of ramyun and put the bundle of dried noodles into the boiling water then added the seasonings on top. She found a glass cover for the pot in time and covered the pot so the noodles could cook faster. Eun Seo leaned against the counter and watched the noodles slowly soften in the boiling pot.

"Everyday is like this..." she sighed sadly. "Why can't something good happen to me out of the blue?"

It would be a miracle if her parents were back in Korea looking for her but that would be a one-in-ten chances due to her father's debt. Eun Seo tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and lowered her eyes from the pot onto the stovetop.

"It's never going to happen, is it?" She asked herself, her brows dipping in sadness.

Tears began to blur her vision and she lowered herself to the ground and hugged her knees to her chest. Burying her face into her arms, Eun Seo began to cry quietly as the ramyun slowly cooked on the stove above her. Nothing good is ever going to come her way..right?