It was about 3am when Ji Min shifted awake and noticed Won Woo lying beside her, staring up at the ceiling looking lost in thoughts. He must've sensed her watching him since he looked her way.

“You're awake?” He asked, turning on his side to face her.

“I just woke up suddenly…” She said with a slight worried expression. “I think I sensed you stressing about something… Am I right?”

“... Yeah.” He sighed defeated. “I'm just worried about a lot of things now since we left Seoul.”

“Things like…?” She asked, turning on her side to face him as well. They were in the hotel room they checked into once they arrived in Changwon, she started to think maybe it was hard to sleep in a different place.

“Like if I’m going to be able to take care of you like I promised…” he muttered, his eyes looking down at the bedsheet between them. “I’m worried I won’t do a good job… I’m worried I’ll disappoint you.”

“You won’t.” She reached over to caress his cheek. “As long as we both do our best, we’ll be fine.”

“I really hope so.” He sighed while placing his hand over hers and closing his eyes.

Ji Min watched him, feeling so bad for him. All of this must be a lot for him to deal with and she started to hate how she was the only reason for it. The only reason they were here in a hotel room all the way in Changwon was because of her controlling parents. They only ran away because of her controlling parents. They only ran away because he didn’t want to lose her again.

The more she thought about it, she hated how Won Woo was the one feeling the worst about it all. It was basically her fault, not his… yet he’s stressing about it more than she was. Does he really love me that much? She thought as she admired his face, eyes still closed. He’d do anything for me, wouldn’t he? Then she felt a sting in the back of her eyes. I… I need to be stronger and help him through this.

Opening his eyes, Won Woo could see Ji Min fighting back tears in front of him. He craked a sad smile, just knowing she was trying to be the positive one in the situation all this time, but right now…

He inched closer before scooping his arm under her to bring her close to his chest and held her tight. “We’re going to be okay…” he said quietly, kissing the top of her head as she cried into his shoulder. “I promise, we’re going to be okay.” He added. Ji Min only clutched onto his shirt, burying her face deeper into his shoulder.

…

The next morning marked the third morning of their stay in the hotel. It was also the day Ji Min finally contacted her brother Jaehwan, letting him know they arrived safely and were at the hotel still looking for a place to stay at.

“I’m so glad you called!” Her brother said with a relieved tone. “I got in touch with an old friend from high school, she moved to Changwon shortly after high school and she tells me she runs an apartment complex around there. I told her what was going on and she told me to direct you two to her, she’ll take you two under her wing for a bit until you can afford the rent and everything.”

“Really?”

“I know Won Woo wanted to be the one to take care of you on his own, but he’s just gotta let it slide for now, okay?”

“Alright, I’ll talk to him.” She assured her brother as she heard the shower in the bathroom turn off. Won Woo was currently washing up before they would head out for dinner.

Before they ended the call, Jaehwan gave her all the details on contacting his old friend Ahn Hani. In a sense, she liked the idea of this now, at least her brother could know what’s going on through his friend since Ji Min didn’t want to get caught calling her brother all the time.

Finally, Won Woo emerged out of the bathroom, fully clothed with a towel over his wet hair.

“Hey!” Ji Min waved at him as he came towards the bed.

“Hey,” he took a seat next to her, gently towel drying his hair, “what’s up?”

“I just called my brother and he gave me some information on a place we could stay at… rent free.”

“Rent free?”

“Apparently he has an old friend from high school… she runs an apartment complex around here. He told her what was going on and she wants to take us under her wing until we’re steady on our feet.”

“I see…” she could hear the slight disappointed tone in his voice. “Well, I suppose this is better since we had no luck on finding a place for the past three days.”

“I’m sorry…” she said softly, eyes casted down to the floor.

“No need to be sorry.” He gave a small smile, reaching over to ruffle her hair. “Go wash up.”

“Okay, then we’ll go eat after, right?” She looked up with a cute smile.

“Yes, now that we don’t have to pay rent any time soon, we’ll eat something really good.”

“Yay!” She tackled him with a hug, knocking him back on the bed. “I’ll hurry, then!” She exclaimed, giving him a quick kiss.

After she gathered her things for her shower, she headed into the bathroom, shutting and locking the door. Won Woo was by himself now as he sat on the bed, thinking about what Ji Min had just told them about the apartment situation. He was of course relieved and thankful about her brother’s help but he couldn’t help worry about it.

His logic, basically do stuff on their own so they won’t get caught too soon. If his aunt, which he doubted, had the police come looking for him since he ran away surely they were going to investigate and track down phone calls and contacts…

Thinking about it now, he pulled out his phone and the face camera before positioning it on the nightstand by the hotel bed.

He was going to send Mingyu a short explanation on why he and Ji Min decided to run away from Seoul. Why he didn’t tell him anything about it sooner, not wanting his best friend to go through the same thing he did when Ji Min left without an explanation. It was going to be hard since he was already missing his friends terribly… but he managed to get what he had to say out without becoming a sobbing mess. He was sure Ji Min would be worried if she came out of the bathroom to see him crying on the bed.

Luckily, he was able to calm himself before she returned from her quick shower. She hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary when she got back and he was glad. He didn’t want to worry her. Once their hair was dry enough, they headed out for dinner like they planned.

…

“Awh, you’re cuter than I pictured!” The older girl gushed after landing eyes on Ji Min when she opened the front door of the apartment. They were standing before the apartment where Won Woo and Ji Min would be staying at for free. The older woman who eagerly greeted them and let them inside was Jaehwan’s friend from high school, Ahn Hani. Last night, Ji Min had contacted her and Hani told them to come meet her at the unit she’d be letting them stay in. “Here we are, your new home!” Hani spread her arms out with a small spin.

“I thought it was going to be empty?” Ji Min asked, noticing there was already furniture and everything.

“Ah! Because of your situation, I felt bad knowing you two wouldn’t be able to afford and proper furniture for a while so I got some delivered yesterday!” Hani explained with a cheery smile. It faltered a bit when she noticed Won Woo’s slight bitter expression. “Is something wrong?”

“Where’s the bedroom?” He simply asked.

“Uh… down the hallway, second door to the right.” She pointed and he left with their suitcases, leaving Ji Min and Hani in the living room alone.

“Sorry.” Ji Min apologized with a sad smile. “I guess he’s just a little, I don’t know…” she trailed off.

“I take it he wanted to be the one to provide everything?” Hani said quietly, standing closer to Ji Min. “I understand.”

“Already he doesn’t like the fact we don’t have to pay rent yet.”

“Awh, that’s so cute. I see he really wants to take care of you well.” Hani grinned, finding the couple so adorable. “Once he gets a job, he can start paying rent.”

“Thank you.” Ji Min smiled, appreciating her understanding Won Woo’s feeling about the situation.

“For now, if there’s anything you need, just let me know~!”

“Will do.” Ji Min nodded, finding Hani’s persona cute. She reminded her of herself.

“I’ll let you two get settled in for now. So, I’ll check in a bit later, have fun!” Hani waved before leaving out the front door. When she was gone, Ji Min made her way to the bedroom where Won Woo left off to.

When she entered the room, she could see him lying horizontally on the bed while staring up at the ceiling looking lost in thoughts, that same bitter expression on his face. She smiled to herself before approaching him from the other side of the bed. “Hey.” She said, her face hovering over his. His expression didn’t lighten up and she giggled. “Why are you being so stubborn today?”

“This wasn’t how I imagined it to be like when we got here.” He mumbled with a dejected tone. “Everything is so different from what I was planning.”

“Awh, I’m sorry.” She apologized, sitting back to get out of his face. “My brother and Hani were just trying to help…”

“I know that, it’s just…” he sighed as he continued to stare up at the ceiling. “Them helping us right from the start makes me feel like I’m not capable of supporting you. Like they knew that or something…”

“Won Woo…” she smiled, reaching over to poke his cheek. He turned his head to look at her with a small pout. “Instead of sulking about it, why don’t you show them that you’re more than capable?”

“What?” He was confused by her words at first but then slowly started to understand what she meant.

“Hurry up and show them you can do it.” Her smile grew wider.

“Right.” Finally, he smiled. “Thanks.”

“No problem!” She grinned while crawling over to lie next to him. “I know you can do it… so don’t get discouraged, alright?”

“Alright.” He agreed, pulling her close to his side. “I suppose I should apologize to Hani for my rude behavior next time we see her.”

“It’s okay, she understands why you acted like that. Don’t worry about it.”

“Still…”

“Let’s go out to dinner, we can invite her along?”

“Sure, that sounds good.” Won Woo agreed. He figured they should get more acquainted with Jaehwan’s friend. Letting them stay there rent free was really nice of her and they should properly thank her.

…

“You two didn’t have to bring me along!” Hani was grinning from ear to ear as they were sitting in a booth at burger joint. Won Woo actually wanted to take them to a fancy place, but considering he had to budget the money he was given to last a long time… though it appeared the two girls didn’t care not one bit, actually looking excited to be there.

“I wanted to apologize for my behavior from earlier.” Won Woo said, bowing in his seat a bit.

“Oh, don’t worry about it, I totally get it!” Hani assured him. “Just a guy who wants to give the world to his lady. It’s fine.” Ji Min giggled when Won Woo slouched in his seat a bit, looking embarrassed. “I told Ji Min earlier that once you get a job, you can start paying the rent.” Hani brought up. “It’ll start out small at first but gradually go up to the actual amount you should be paying.”

“Thanks.” Won Woo gave a small smile. “I’ll find a job as soon as I can.”

“No rush!”

“I’ll find a job, too.” Ji Min spoke up next to Won Woo who immediately looked down at her with a frown. “What?”

“You don’t have to work.” He answered.

“Why not?” She chuckled. “I wanna help out, too!”

“Wait a minute, I just realized something…” Hani interrupted the two. “What about school?”

The couple fell silent and Hani looked panicked for a second. They had left before winter break, that meant there was still about a month and a half of school left for the both of them.

“We basically dropped out, didn’t we?” Ji Min faced Won Woo.

“It’s only been a week, though…” he said in reply.

“This isn’t good, we can’t have you two dropping out like this!” Hani frowned. “Let me contact your brother again and figure it out.”

“What about Won Woo?” Ji Min asked, frowning at the thought of him not being able to finish his education either.

“You know, I’m really good with people… maybe I can talk to your aunt?” Hani looked to Won Woo with a hopeful smile. He didn’t look to keen on the idea, but slowly nodded his head. If there was a chance that he could finish his education in Changwon, then he should take the chance. “Okay! Then it’s settled, let the almighty Hani take care of it!” She beamed, causing the younger two to laugh at her silly antics.

…

A week passed by and it was Friday as Won Woo and Ji Min were sitting on the couch of the living room in their apartment, waiting for Hani to stop by like she said she would. Throughout the week, Won Woo looked for part time jobs along with Ji Min. He landed one as a cashier at the convenience store near the apartment complex they were staying at. As for Ji Min, she didn’t have any luck yet.

“They probably only hired you because you’re so good looking.” Ji Min pouted with folded arms. She was being a poor sport about not getting hired at the same store.

“Maybe they realized they can’t have two good looking kids at their store.” Won Woo chuckled while placing his arm around her shoulders. “The customers would be too distracted by your beauty.”

“Awh,” she turned to look at him, “still don’t find it fair.”

“Of course.” He snickered just as there was a knock on their door. Won Woo quickly got up to answer it.

“I got it!” Hani exclaimed, rushing in with a stack of papers.

“Got what?” Ji Min asked as the older sat down in front of the coffee table with her knees tucked under her while spreading out the papers.

“It was complicated at first, but after talking it out and everything, it all came together perfectly!”

“Still don’t know what you’re going on about!” Won Woo laughed after returning to his seat beside Ji Min on the couch.

“You get to finish school here in Changwon!” Hani beamed with a huge smile.

“Really?” The couple looked at each other in surprise. “But how?”

“Well, let’s start with Won Woo.” Hani cleared while separating a few papers from the pile. “I contacted your aunt and talked with her for a bit. I explained what was going on and she fortunately agreed into letting me serve as your guardian while you’re here in Changwon, meaning I can register you to the high school here so you can finish your education.”

“Wow.” Won Woo was impressed, remembering how she said she was good with people…

So in the end, his aunt really didn’t care about him, pretty much handing him over to Hani without any arguments or drama. He had expected for the woman to track him down and drag him back to Seoul… did she finally grow a heart and realize that he wasn’t happy living there with her, that she was the one that made him suffer the most? Even though he was curious, he was glad that he wouldn’t have to worry about that terrible woman looking for him anymore.

With that said, he could safely assume that Hani was going to serve as Ji Min’s guardian, too, and was curious on how that all went down regarding her parents.

“I’m sure you’re curious on how I got the okay to be your guardian, right?” Hani’s words were directed to Ji Min who nodded quickly. “It was tough, but in the end your brother and I managed to get it figured out. Jaehwan went to Busan to talk with your parents for a bit. He unfortunately told them that you two ran away together and they weren’t happy about it, especially that you left without telling them either.”

“Well, of course.” Ji Min sighed.

“He didn’t say where you two ran off to, though. They wanted to know, but he refused to tell them, saying he knew they’d snatch you right up again. They argued for a bit but in the end they came to an agreement and gave guardianship to him which he turned around and gave to me.”

“So, do you think they gave up on sending me to the states?” Ji Min asked, looked worried about the answer.

“I’m not sure, Jaehwan didn’t say much about it when I talked to him, but he said that you should just focus on finishing school for now.”

“Okay.” She nodded before looking to Won Woo. “I guess things are starting to look up for us.” He gave her a small smile in response while taking her hand into his.

“Now that it’s all figured out, you both start Monday~! I picked up your uniforms this morning, too!” Hani explained while pulling out said clothing and handing the uniforms to them respectively.

“So soon?!” Ji Min frowned. She was nervous about it since they didn’t know anyone here in Changwon… the thought of being alone in class was scary to her.

“It’ll be okay.” Won Woo assured her.

“No need to be nervous~! My sister’s the Vice Principle and some of my friends are teachers at the high school you’ll be attending. One of them have a younger sister who’s a senior there, too. She can show you two around.”

After hearing that, Ji Min felt a little better to know there’d be some acquaintances there. It made the idea less scary. They three talked about the high school a bit more as well as what they’d plan to do regarding jobs. Won Woo was told he’d work evening shifts, so that doesn’t interfere with school as much. As for Ji Min…

“Please don’t worry about a job for now.” Won Woo said in a pleading tone. “I don’t want you to get stressed out by doing both.”

“What about you?” She frowned.

“I can handle it.” He assured her.

“But…”

“It’s only until you graduate.” Hani smiled, hoping Ji Min would listen to them.

“Okay.” She nodded, finally agreeing with them. She realized maybe they were right… handling school and work at the same time might not be good for her right now. She just hoped Won Woo could handle it like he said without any complications.

Shortly after discussing a few other minor things, Hani said she’d get a hold of her friends and introduce them before they start their first day of school. Then she left since she had other things to do, leaving the couple alone in their apartment.

“It’s like we’re starting fresh now.” Ji Min mumbled as she stared at the uniform in her lap.

“Good or bad?” Won Woo asked, slightly worried about her troubled expression.

“I’m not sure, but I hope we’ll have fun.” She looked up, giving a faint smile.

“I’m sure we will.” He gave a stronger smile before pulling her into a hug.

Chapter one~!

HERE’S THE LONG AWAITED FIRST CHAPTER OF RAIN SOUND’S SEQUEL!!!!

WOOOOO (HE’S SO CUTE~!)

Hope it was worth the wait!

Been so busy with my Meanie fic, even my other fics haven’t been updated for awhile. Sorry about that!

Hope I can update this one some more since I got it started now~!

Until next time! ^^