~ Rain - Kim Taeyeon

Rain droplets slowly pouring down from the sky leaving trails of small course track on the glass window.

For a girl to be standing in a shed in a place unfamiliar this late at night, it would be scary as hell, but not for one person. Even with this slightly strong rain and dim surroundings, she wasn't scared... In fact, she was calm. She wasn't the kind of girl to panic around small things, well she considered this a small thing. She is the kind of person to just silently wait for an opportunity to move and do something. Others think of her as "different" because of the way she thinks, like right now. 

How could a 14-year-old girl stand in a shed with this rain this late for her age? Others thought which she didn't mind, she knows what she's doing after all.

When the rain started to ease down, she was supposed to step her right foot forward to walk, or charge, to the next street to lessen the distance she had from her home but instead, she did not move her feet, her head did the moving.
She turned her face to glance at something that switched her focus. If it hadn't been for a crying sound of a girl she would be standing on the next shed by now.

Because she was curious if what she was hearing was real or just a hallucination, she stepped her foot forward to the voice that tamed her concentration. A few steps after, she stopped in her track. From the place she was standing on, there on the floor was a girl with both hands on each side of her arms hugging it tightly with her knees in between and her head kept hidden above it.
Only the sound of sniffing and a bit of sobbing brought her back from her trance and then she decided to sit beside the girl.

The sobbing girl feeling that there was another creature in the place with her so like all normal reflexes, she looked up to see who or what it was only to be surprised that a body suddenly sat beside her. She wasn't sure of how to react and was trapped in her thoughts when the girl who sat beside her talked and looked at her straight in the eyes. 

"You must be feeling cold and scared alone here.. Don't worry, I'll keep the both of us warm till the rain stops or at least weakens.."

"..."

She turned around and smiled. "I'm Yuri. And you are?"

"... Yoona"

"... Yoona..", her smile still etched on her face, "Do you wanna be friends?"

It was fun to think back on how we started together. In our first meeting, you were that shy girl that didn't want to say a word to me besides a nod and a shake of the head and took you at least an hour or so to say a sentence to answer anything I say. You were that scared, crybaby that didn't want to leave my side until we both came to your house and know you're safe at least. You were that stubborn girl that didn't let me leave your place cause you still think it's scary outside and you don't want me to go to a scary place alone. You were that little girl that didn't stop crying when you hear a clap of loud thunder and you would only shush when you sit next to me.

Ever since we knew that we live in the same neighborhood and study in the same school, you never left my side and continued to be that same little girl who always wanted to be with me. It was hard then because I was a year older so being classmates in the same subjects was definitely impossible but it never stopped you from going to our room every time you can.

Because you are so frequent in visiting my place, you became the famous junior of mine that people started calling you "little Yul" but you didn't care and in fact, you told my friends when we were hanging out once in a million times we would that you liked it and soon all the seniors that were close to me became close to you as well. So close that people thought you were also one of my classmates, one of us higher years, one like me.

Because of the years that we spent together, many call our relationship "best friends" and I couldn't tell it was completely wrong. We were best friends that were no doubt, but for me, you are my best friend / baby sister / unni / omma / ahjumma / twin / soulmate slash any description that has a really big bond with each other. 

Time spent with you is the most exciting time I lived since I was born. Days, months, years passed and you became the liveliest, dorkiest, choding friend I had. Even more choding than the famous Kim Choding herself. After years, you are not that shy, scared, crybaby I've known in our first meeting. Of course, you are still stubborn, but you became brave and confident not only in your studies and the things you do but also in your way of living.

You showed and proved me this in my last days of high school, my graduation, and even in my entrance exam. You didn't show a single tear to me even when you knew that I would be far from you continents away, instead, you showed me your most sweet, sincere, precious smile and gave me a tight hug before my flight to the states right after we left the school for your graduation.

Life was hard when you weren't there beside me showing me your smile, laughing happily with your alligator mouth, giving me your bear hugs when I needed them, and feeling your soft touch when I was near from breaking down.  Just you nowhere beside me made me the most miserable tanned girl in the kingdom of white people. 
Then, I met again that scared, little crybaby... But it wasn't you, for I realized... That I myself was like the same scared little crybaby  that you once were. I was like you, no, I was you. The same scared, little crybaby that was hugging both her arms with her knees in between and her head hiding above it all. But the setting is different, then it was darkness in nowhere with tears coming out of eyes, cold, and rain; now, it's darkness with dry eyes that never shed a tear and cold trapped in four walls alone on top of her bed in the middle of the night.

I could've given up right there and then but just a call changed it all. And it wasn't just any call, it was a call from somewhere so far with a huge time difference. It was a call from home... A call from you.

~~~

Your voice wasn't the usual dorky choding I heard this past few years, rather it was something I am familiar with. So familiar that it made me feel all giddy and nervous at the same time. It was that voice from years ago. It was the voice of that shy, scared, stubborn, little crybaby.

"Yul... Hi. Are you doing well there? ... I'm sorry I just called now, uhm, things happened.. But don't worry, I'm fine. How are you Yul?"

Simple words of sending regards, many people would think that everything's just fine and that's part of the norm, nothing much, but I am an exception. Just from the way you called my name beforehand, I knew you are not your jolly, dorky self. Something is wrong and I wanna know what but I thought of just listening to your voice cause you kept on speaking.

"Seohyunnie was hysterical today because of the thesis we were trying to finish. She doesn't tell directly but I am sure she hates our prof to the Neptune and back. I know because she hopes every day that he eats hamburgers every hour from morning till he goes to sleep. She said she doesn't care if he chokes one day for drinking too much coffee and soda. She's really funny when she's annoyed, it's a pity you couldn't see her face then *laughs*"

You kept on talking about Seohyun and her hate for your prof, her words of wisdom that you've memorized since she caught yo