theme song [ Peach - IU ]

The evening sky was getting darker.  Seorim peeked through the glass window, noticing that it hadn’t stopped raining yet. Her gaze then fell upon the gate, hoping to see an elderly’s figure standing there. Her hopes shattered when not even Ms Ahn’s shadow could be seen outside. In fact, she had been told that Ms Ahn would least likely be back after two days. Yet she was still wishing that the elderly would actually come home soon.

Night was approaching and Seorim was left alone in the house. If something bad happened to her, they had no neighbours that could come and help. Because they lived in a house hidden in a forest and people never really went there.. It was only natural for a seventeen-year-old girl to be worried about being unaccompanied in the house, she thought. Or perhaps, it was just her who had never experience being left alone before.

Before she knew it, she had spent five minutes staring at the entrance gate. To her disappointment, Ms Ahn still hadn’t returned. Accepting the fact that she would be alone tonight, Seorim proceeded on letting down the curtains. But right before she could do that, something outside caught her eyes. On the other side of the fence, there was someone holding a red umbrella, walking towards the entrance gate. It seemed like a guy, Seorim thought.

 Who could be walking in the rain at this hour?

The first person that she could think of was Taehyung. It could be a neighbour, but they never had a neighbour. They lived in a house far away from other house, Ms Ahn said – hidden among the trees and desolated from other people. Who would walk in the forest in this weather just to visit them anyway?

It’s got to be Taehyung.

Once the person reached the front gate, Seorim observed from afar, hoping to confirm his identity. Albeit how hard she stared at the man, she just couldn’t see his face. Of course she couldn’t if that big umbrella was hovering over his head and kept his face hidden. The gloomy weather wasn’t helping either – it was so dark to make out his silhouette. But there was another way to tell the identity of the person. The gate was locked; if he could open it then it must be none other Taehyung.

And to Seorim’s surprise, the guy succeeded in opening the gate. He had the key – her guess was right after all. The guy had entered the yard and she took this as a cue to run for the door. All of a sudden, she felt oddly expectant to open the door for him.

He’s home. The corner of her lips curled upwards at the thought.

She had never imagined she would be this eager to see Taehyung – someone who hasn’t come home for so long – returned before midnight. It had been a while since she last saw him. He had been leaving house for days and sometimes weeks lately. Even if he did get home, he would disappear again the next day. Curiosity sparked in Seorim’s mind. Where was he all this time? But Seorim knew better to keep the questions to herself; she didn’t want him to think she was nosy.

When she had stood in front of the door, Seorim took a deep breath before pulling it open. As the door revealed the person behind it, the girl was shocked to see the guy standing before her. Her prediction was indeed right but that wasn’t the reason she was flabbergasted.

It was really Taehyung. He was looking at her, hand held forward before he swiftly brought it to his side. Seorim was staring back at him without realizing and didn’t say a single word. Neither did the latter. A few seconds went by as they remained muted until the male spoke up.

“Uh…that was fast,” Taehyung began slowly, “I was about to unlock the door.”

But Seorim was still in a daze that she couldn’t get the words out of . After she finally registered what he just said, her gaze automatically diverted to the key dangling from his hand. “I see,” Said the girl and lifted her chin to see him. She really couldn’t help but gawk at the sight of him.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” He asked and smiled a little. When was the last time she had seen him smile? She couldn’t recall. How could he still smile in that condition anyway?

Upon hearing his question, she turned her head away. “Oh,” She glanced at him again, without obviously displaying her shocked face this time.

“It’s just that-“she started, “you look like- I mean, your clothes are drenched and how even-“She made a quick scan of him from head to toe. Water droplets were trickling down his face. His hair was wet, so were his clothes and shoes. Did he just walk through the heavy rain?

Without warning, the thunder roared startling the two of them, followed by a flash of lightning. Seorim jumped in surprise and realized that the boy was still standing outside. It was still raining and she let him stay outside. Stupid me.

“Oh God, I’m sorry!” She said to him, grabbing his wrist so that he could enter the house right away. She closed the door as she continued muttering her apologies.

Taehyung let out an almost inaudible chuckle, “I thought you’d never let me in.”

“I’m so stupid. I’m sorry.” The female looked at him apologetically.

“Don’t be.” He brushed it off with a smile, and they were back to standing in silence again. The quiet moment didn’t last longer than the earlier one when Seorim decided to break the silence. “I thought you brought an umbrella.”

“The umbrella’s broken.” The male bent down to take off his shoes.

“Oh,” that was all she could think of as a reply. “You should go in and change,” she said which was actually unnecessary since he was already half way to his bedroom. Nevertheless, he replied without looking back, “Good idea,” before disappearing in his room upstairs. She actually heard how he was holding back a chuckle when he said it.

After he went out of sight, Seorim watched the trail of water he had left. She couldn’t really blame him for that; it wasn’t like he wished to come home in drenched clothes. Sighing, she went to the bathroom to get a mop.

***

In the kitchen, she was searching for the ingredients to cook dinner – until a loud thump interrupted her train of thought. Later, there were footsteps clattering from outside the kitchen. At first she thought that it was some sort of ghost wandering in the house. Ms Ahn always said that ghosts often wander around during rainy days. But then she recalled that she wasn’t the only one in the house.

Next, she heard the sound of the doorknob being unlocked. Curious, Seorim walked out of the kitchen, into the living room where she saw Taehyung about to go out again. In this rainy weather? At night?

“Um…Taehyung…” She wanted to shout but she ended up whispering his name instead. For a moment, she hesitated to stop him. He was going to leave again – he would catch a cold at this rate.

“Where are you going?” This time her voice was clear and loud – enough to make the boy stop on his track. He was already opening the door, head turned to Seorim immediately. He wore a black cap, black shirt under his black jacket. Everything that he was wearing was of dark colors from head to toe. Seorim might think he was a robber if she hadn’t seen his face.

“I’m…” his voice trailed off, his eyes looking elsewhere as if he was thinking something. “Going some- where?”

What the heck is he saying? Is he asking me where he’s gonna go right now?

“You’re going out again? But you just got home,” that was what she wanted to say, but she kept it inside. Why would she say that? She was in no place to beg him not to leave the house.

“Oh,” once again, that was all she managed to voice out. Her gaze darted elsewhere but his eyes. Seorim didn’t look at him but she could feel him staring at her.  They hadn’t talk for a while that she felt awkward talking to him again. Words were stuck in . Even if she wanted to get them out, in the end sh