The wind was blowing much harder that following Thursday as you made your way to the front door of Pledis. Halfway there, rain began to pour lightly, dotting and painting the cement below you. You hurried over towards the building while shielding yourself with your hands. Before you could grab the handle to the front doors, it flung open.

An umbrella unfolded to shield you from the rain. The shoes you saw belonged to a student. The hems to his rose quartz pants stopped at his ankles revealing his black ankle socks. You looked up from the lean body to see Minghao staring down at you.

“Hurry up,” Minghao demanded making you quickly shuffle your way inside. Minghao then folded his dark blue umbrella and clipped the folds back into place.

“Thanks,” you replied while wiping the bits of rain off your hands. Minghao noticed his scarf tightly wrapped around your neck and he almost felt uncomfortable inside. Was it even normal to feel affected by the sight of you using his scarf?

In an odd silence, Minghao handed his umbrella over to you, “Take it. I don’t need it,”

“Oh, it’s ok, it’s just a little bit of rain.”

Minghao picked up his luggage from the ground, “It’s going to rain all night.”

“I’m sure the rain will die down eventually,” you deducted with an optimistic smile.

“It won’t,” Minghao announced making you frown.

You studied Minghao’s dark blue umbrella on the way over to the janitor closet. A shadow moved at your peripheral vision and you looked over to see Hoshi standing there staring out into the courtyard. His dark hair was smooth, his jaw line noticeable and his lips were slightly parted.

Hoshi turned his head and the sight of you made his stomach sink. Even when you had no style and wore that janitor suit, he couldn’t stop his heart from pounding against his ribs. He had tried to avoid you as much as he could to prevent himself from getting in the way of Vernon’s potential feelings for you. Why did he feel like he was still living the role in Vernon’s play?? Eventually you would belong to someone else, someone who was meant for the role, someone like Vernon. Was he the other guy who would just end up alone? Maybe he was thinking way too much. He wasn’t sure anymore.

The hall was silent and the sound of pouring rain began to shift; one moment it was quiet the next it was loud. You gave Hoshi a small partial smile before glancing over to the windows. As if Hoshi didn’t want to share your attention with the weather, he called your name. However, as soon as your eyes darted back over to him, he suddenly regretted your attention. There was something in the way you looked at him that made him uneasy inside.

“How…how have you been?” Hoshi managed to ask without choking on his own words.

“Ok,” you replied, “What about you Hoshi?”

The way you spoke his name made Hoshi want to run. He knew he shouldn’t have started a conversation with you.

“Oh…by the way,” you began and added, “It’s nice to see you again.”

Hoshi thought for a moment, “Same. It’s nice to see you too…Hey, I uh,” Hoshi hesitated and then walked over to you, “I uh…I’m sorry,”

“Sorry for what?” you asked. Hoshi wanted to apologize for everything, whatever everything was. Maybe it was him kissing you. Or maybe it was his complex feelings. Or maybe it was the fact that he felt guilty for avoiding you on purpose. Did you know he had been avoiding you?

“Uh…that play,” Hoshi began all the while unsure how to really explain himself.

“Oh my gosh…that was so embarrassing…” you exaggerated, “but…thank goodness you knew how to dance.”

Hoshi’s eyes grew small as he chuckled lightly from your overstated comment. It seemed like you were completely unaware that Hoshi had willingly kissed you. Now that he was talking about the play with you, suddenly all that came of it was a comical memory. Maybe it was all in his head after all.

“How are your toes?” you asked.

“I’m not going to lie, you were heavy. They are still hurting,” Hoshi teased causing you to make a face out of humiliation. “I’m just