You rubbed your eyes. The constant ringing of your alarm reverberating in your ears. You reached over and fiddled for your phone to dismiss the alarm, squinting softly to see the time read 6:00 am. When will it become easier to wake up in the morning?

With a long stretch that made your body quiver from your fingers to your toes you yawned and threw your legs over the edge of your bed, lazily standing and looking in your dim lit mirror. Lovely… nothing is going to conceal these dark circles.

 

You groaned and walked into the living room of your apartment, switching on the coffee machine and stumbling into the bathroom to freshen up. Just another typical day, wake up, go to work, come home, barely sleep and start this horrendous cycle once again. If only something could break this boring cycle you’d be forever grateful.

***

 

Friday morning for almost everyone was exciting, it was the last work day before the weekend but with your shifts that wasn’t an option.

 

You locked your apartment door behind you and walked down the short hallway of your two floor building, your heels clicking loudly on the linoleum tile. The sky looked ominous, it was definitely going to rain and to your demise you didn’t have an umbrella. Why did I leave it on that bus, the one time I doze off a bit I forget my umbrella. You walked your way to the bus stop and crossed your arms occasionally taking a sip of your warm brew. You watched the old man across the street flick on his open light, the woman down the street walking her small but noisy dog and cars start to fill the street. The city was finally awake but just as every other day was you were always the first to rise.

 

Drop

 

Drip drop

 

You held out your palm. Oh no please don’t….

 

The raindrops picked up, the little dots scattering the street and your clothes. Hurry up. You shook your legs impatiently looking down the street anxiously for your bus. Why can nobody stick to a schedule?

 

In under a minute the rain picked up and fell heavily, you sheltered your head with your purse trying to avoid getting wet as much as possible. Just your luck. You sighed until you felt a warm fabric lay against your skin and a hood drop over your head covering your eyes slightly. You let your purse fall to your side and tried to push back the hood to see who covered your head.

 

“You look really cold, how long have you been in the rain?” Your eyes met with a strangers who was towering a few decent inches above you. He was handsome and his eyes were curved into small crescent moons as he smiled at you. It was almost blinding and for about 5 seconds you felt like rubbing your eyes. Had you fell asleep at the stop?

“I’m sorry I must have startled you.” He spoke again and you realized you had been blankly staring at him with your mouth gaping open.

“A little but…” you chuckled awkwardly “ thank you” You smiled back and his only got wider. Wow.

You pulled the sweater over your shoulders a bit more and kept most of your hair under the hood that was far too large. Well of course it was too large he is much taller.

“Umm…. I’m Bin”

“Bin?”

“Yeah, most people react like that to my name… erm”

“No… no… I just didn’t hear you well… ya know, the rain and all.” You laughed softly and watched his shoulder relax a bit.

Bin.

By this time your inner monologue was essentially screaming at you to act natural. It’s just a boy… man… thing…. With an extremely beautiful smile.

 

The bus rolled up to your stop and Bin raised to arm out ushering you up the stairs. You skipped up the steps and walked to where you usually sat on the bus this early in the morning. Bin followed behind you closely. Choosing to stand beside your seat, looking down at you. Not intimidating at all.

You sat in silence. How do you start a conversation with someone? What do you do after you introduce yourself…. Clearly he wanted to talk, I mean he followed me to my seat? A thousand question ran through your head and before you know it Bin was starting to walk away.

“This is my stop….”

“Bin your sweater!” You jumped up quickly.

“Give it to me next time…” Again with that blinding smile. He waved and hopped off the bus.

When’s next time?

 

***

 

Work dragged on for what seemed like an eternity. You tapped your pen and watched the clock count the seconds in each minute. Where did he even come from? My dreams? No…

You had never seen Bin before, nevermind around your apartment so how did he know there would be a next time. Is he secretly stalking me? That was an unnerving thought.

 

Your bus ride home felt longer than before your eyes glancing at the sidewalk outside. What are you looking for? Him?

You rubbed your temples. Stop thinking about him would you? You had gone insane that is exactly what happened. You held his sweater on your lap, folded neatly.

 

***

 

You stepped off the bus at your stop and began to walk home. You heard a familiar voice coming from the corner store as you passed by it. You glanced over. Bin?

You looked through the doorway until your eyes met. He looked shocked and quickly shuffled into the back room. Your eyebrows furrowed. Well that was a 180 in personality. It was like he was running away from you or avoiding you. Maybe you were seeing things. You’d never seen Bin in the corner store anyways, so maybe you were hallucinating since he had been on your mind all day.

 

***

 

Three days had passed and every day you woke up and little bit more excited. You packed the baggy sweater in your purse in case you ran into him again. You even went to the bus stop earlier than normal in hopes that maybe you’d catch each other again. But…. nothing. If it weren’t for being in possession of his sweater you would have thought you dreamt the whole thing.

 

You stood at the bus stop… you were here often enough they should name it after you. From the corner of your eye you saw something move. A person. Bin? You snapped your head in the direction the man was walking. He was tall with dark brown haired and was walking away briskly from the corner store.

“Bin!?” You shouted after the man, he didn’t turn back and threw his hood up on his head instead.

Wow you really were going crazy.

 

***

 

4 more days passed.

You were starting to think it was just a conscience that you two ever crossed paths. You walked into the kitchen and saw a note hanging from the fridge.

 

NEED MILK. CAN YOU PICK SOME UP?

 

Your roommate’s writing was scribbled on the ripped lined paper. You had nothing better to do on your day off and it was the first saturday in a while maybe some domestic chores would feel good. You got dressed and pulled your hair into a ponytail.

 

The grocery store wasn’t a far walk from your apartment so it was no big deal and did not require bussing thankfully. The bus was just starting to remind you of Bin the more you took it since you ran into him. You looked up at the sky letting the warm July sun beam down on your face, closing your eyes for just a moment.

 

When you opened them again you saw a hunched over figure on one of the park benches as you passed. You looked closer analysing his side profile.

 

Bin

 

You walked towards the man, going completely off route from your milk escapade. The closer you got the easier it was to distinguish his features. His soft skin and the way his mouth curled up at the corner.

 

“Bin…” You spoke softly.

He jolted up in his seat swerving to face you. His eyes wide with shock. He looked at you and blinked furiously.

“Hi” Hi… that’s it that’s all you can say to him?

“Hey…” his shoulders dropped a bit and so did the excitement in his voice.

“I have your sweater” He looked back at you again his eyes coming up from his hands.

“Oh… yeah… thanks” He shrugged.

“But I don’t have it with me.”

“Oh…” His voice peaked a bit and his eyes seemed to brighten. You walked to the other side of the bench and took a seat. He swiveled his hips to face you once again.

“You can give it to me next time” He spoke under his breath not making eye contact when he said it.

“Bin…. were you avoiding me? I may be crazy, but I thought you worked at the corner store beside my apartment and saw you leave there… but.. maybe it-”

“Yeah, that was me.”

You looked at him confused.

“Then why did you avoid me?” You twisted your neck slightly in an attempt to make eye contact with him. He just kept looking down at his palms, swirling one thumb around the other in his lap nervously.

“How was I supposed to get you to see me again… I figured if I avoided you, I’d see you more often… just so I could-”

“You avoided me because you wanted to see me more?” This sounded absolutely ludicrous and completely backwards to you.

“Yeah…” His eyes flickered up to your face. They were so clear and honest and for an instant you saw his boyish charm, not his intimidating good looking exterior.

“Well if you wanted to see me more you should have said that.”

“How… you’re …”

He paused and looked at you. His eyes scanning your face, taking in each and every feature.

“Too beautiful”

Your heart stopped. Your world felt shifted and frozen in place. You tried to absorb what he just said. Looking at him you couldn’t claim he lied as his deep brown eyes looked into yours with a gleam that was so undeniably pure.

“Bin…”

“I’m-”

“No please don’t say sorry… thank you…. But I’m not-”

Your words were cut off and replaced with the softest touch you had ever felt. His lips pressed to yours gently. You didn’t move you breathed deep and fell into the kiss. His hand coming up to your cheek to hold it. His finger curled around the back of your neck and pulled you a bit closer to deepen the kiss. This was one way to break that boring cycle you thought. He broke the kiss but didn't back away from you. He just looked at you. You felt so adored but very analyzed.

“I have been wanting to do that since I first saw you 2 months ago.”

“What” two months ago?

“Every morning I saw you sip on your coffee and get on the bus… I thought there was no way I could ever hold you like this” You smiled and felt your cheeks flush.

“Well…. I mean… I do like that sweater” You joked softly.

“Then keep it… I will just have to come visit my sweater”

“That sounds… nice” you squeaked utterly taken aback by everything.

He smiled brightly at you, his eyes creasing like they did that first rainy morning. You hoped you could always see him smile like this. Rain or shine for every morning after. You ran your hand through his hair as he rubbed his thumb on the top of your hand.Thank goodness for his baggy sweater.