The gentle, regular tapping of rain drops on the window plane woke Elkie up. Slowly rubbing her eyes open, she looked out the window. The city covered with a light shade of grey from the lack of sunlight, people holding up umbrellas to protect themselves from the water drops.

Rainy summer days are the worst, she hated how stuffy if can get whenever it rains. (And she hated how it reminds her of that girl who would never stop expressing her hatred for this weather, saying winter is way better than hot summer.)

It made her feel lazier than usual too.

 

She got out of her bed, made herself a cup of latte after her morning skincare routine. At least she dragged herself to the coffee table of her verandah, where she could clearly see people on the streets rushing from one place to another, whether it was businessmen going to work, students getting to class, or simply walking around.

She wasn’t sure if she should feel glad for not have classes that day, or upset for not having anything to distract her from reminiscing about her last summer in South Korea uncontrollably

 

Running footsteps could be heard even if Elkie was staying on the third floor especially when that person stepped on the puddles. Following the source she saw Shinwon running towards his girlfriend, who also happened to be Elkie’s roommate, Eunbin, with an umbrella in hand.

“Geez she could’ve asked me to bring her one downstairs instead of having him bring one, these lovesick fool.” She mumbled her displease while taking a sip from her drink.

But wasn’t she just the same last year, except that she wasn’t right downstairs of her own place.

-

Elkie was standing at the entrance of the teaching building after her class, it was raining buckets that day - that wasn’t included in that morning’s weather forecast. The poor girl didn’t bring an umbrella with her and was forced to stay there until the rain stops.

Unless someone would come to her rescue.

The heavy downpour muted basically everything, no footsteps, no phone ringing, just the hard drumming of raindrops on every surface it hit.

“Ting Yan!” The said girl looked up from her device only to find her girlfriend running towards her under the rain. She might had an umbrella in hand but it seemed to not have any use against the drenching rain.

“Jesus,” she murmured under her breath before holding the soaking wet girl in her arms, who cared if she got all wet? “I can just wait until the rain stops before I get home, honey.” Her eyes were filled with worry when she combed her lover’s short wet hair with her fingers, “you’ll get sick because of this.”

“Then I’ll finally have the busy Chong Ting Yan all to myself to take care of me!” The slightly shorter girl emitted a soft giggle before pressing a chaste kiss on Elkie’s lips.

It were these small, silly gestures of Jang Yeeun that made Chong Ting Yan fell of her quick, and deep.

“Silly girl, just tell me and I’ll clear my schedules of you, Yeeun.” Elkie said assuringly, nodding her head firmly when she made her promise. “Now let’s go home?”

She received a nod as response while the other girl opened her umbrella, the lovebirds huddling close to get both of them under the nylon fabric as they walked back to their dorm.

-

The frantically ringing doorbells pulled Elkie back to reality, she could hear her other roommate, Tzuyu, calling out her name in Chinese through the door. “Coming!” She screamed towards the yoda’s direction while jogging towards the door to unlock it.

“Did you forget your keys again you’re 18- oh hello Sana.” Elkie noticed the Japanese girl next to her roommate halfway through talking and she immediately understood what was happening.

She lead the two inside the house, not forgetting to smack the Taiwanese girl on her head, “you’re lucky that I’m here, please don’t forget to bring your keys again, Tzu. Perhaps I should just give Sana your keys.”

“Sorry Ting Yan, it’s not like you’re going out of the house on days like this anyway!” Tzuyu replied with a cheeky smile as she settled herself down on the couch with Sana, cheerfully taking the cups of tea Elkie prepared for them.

“Make yourself at home Sana, tell me if this giant tries to do anything inappropriate and I’ll beat her up for you.” She sent a playful death glare towards the yoda then returned to her seat on the verandah.

Thumb rubbing against the rim of her cup, warmth that was radiating from her hot latte long gone after dealing with the two girls in the living room.

Occasional giggles and hushed kisses from the lovebirds huddled up on the couch distracted her from “studying human behaviors”, that’s what she’d tell her roommates everytime she looked at the people on the streets from the balcony, like what she was doing at that moment.

She might look like her focus was on the people on the streets, but her heart led her to someone- somewhere else.

-

Elkie was looking at herself in the mirror, prepared for her date with Yeeun later. White top, blue skirt, with a denim jacket. Perfect. She was readied to go out with her pink purse when the doorbell rang.

“Hey babe!” Yeeun’s voice was the first thing she heard before her brain could process anything. Her lover stepped inside her studio apartment with take outs of fried chicken and pizza in her hands.

Elkie was still looking at the other girl, stunned and confused, “I thought we’re going out today?” Yeeun looked at the closed curtains of the apartment, walking over towards the window and drew them open. “It’s raining outside, so I thought why not just stay in?”

The Hong Kong girl spent a few more seconds to take in everything before nodding, “of course, honey.” She took out a few dishes from the kitchen to get prepared for their meal, “perhaps you’d like to watch a movie while eating?” A pair of arms s around her waist, startling her but the familiar scent of her girlfriend calmed her down, “I’d love that.” Elkie unconsciously leaned against her girlfriend, allowing herself to indulge in the older’s warmth and sweet scent, earning a chuckle from Yeeun, “let’s eat before the food gets cold, Ting Yan.”

Elkie quickly stole a kiss from Yeeun’s lips before detaching herself and took the utensils to the living room, putting out everything on the coffee table as she waited for her girlfriend to pick a movie from the stack of DVDs.

“It’s our fifth time watching the Philosopher’s Stone, babe.” She cackled once she heard the familiar theme song of the Harry Potter movie playing after Yeeun inserted the disc into the player, her hand already reaching out to hold the older’s hand as the latter sat down.

“The seventh, actually. Who told you to keep distracting me from the movie?” Elkie was taking out a piece of pizza while listening to Yeeun, she shot her an “are you kidding me look” as she munched on the food in her hand, “so it’s my fault that we’re watching the same movie for the seventh time, huh?” Yeeun nodded, “who told you to be so damn attractive, Chong Ting Yan?” In which earned a giggle from the younger, who was obviously pleased by her compliment, “just watch the movie, sweet talker.”

They were on the second movie when they had finally finished everything Yeeun brought. Elkie, as usual, was the tiny bits left on her finger like she always did, her focus was entirely on the movie to notice the girl beside her staring at her. A sigh of defeat escaped Yeeun’s lips, “I guess this is why I always get distracted.” Gaining the attention of the other girl, “what?”

“You see, even the smallest thing you do is enough to be a distraction for me… guess I should stop watching movies with you, babe.” A high pitched laugh could be heard after the last word from Yeeun dropped, “honey, do you realise how cheesy that is? Gosh you’re so cute, and no, I’m gonna stay by your side for a long time and stay as a distraction.”

“Sometimes I wonder why am I so in love with a woman like you.” Yeeun breathed out as she inched closer towards Elkie until their lips collide with each others’, sharing a long and gentle kiss, only breaking apart when they needed air.

Guess Harry Potter can wait.

-

Elkie got out of her apartment after 15 minutes of enduring Tzuyu and Sana’s “weird noises” from Tzuyu’s room to avoid future awkwardness whenever she meets them again, kids nowadays just couldn’t control their hormones.

She strolled along the pavement with no destination, the sun was setting, and it got much cooler than earlier.

Her legs dragged her to the Victoria Harbour automatically, it was her favourite place after all. The cold breeze, mixed with the raindrops, made her shiver; but the sight of couples huddling close to each other under their umbrellas while having a walk along the harbour was what gave her chills.

She couldn’t figure out if she was jealous of the couples, or the familiarity of her and Yeeun having walks under the summer rain made her sad.

Hot and rainy summer days may annoy her, but everything would be endurable if Yeeun was there.

She continued the walk along the pier, passing by pairs and pairs of couples who were enjoying their little dates by the harbour, memories of the walks they had under the rain flooding into her mind.

-

Yeeun had her arm wrapped around Elkie’s shoulder, making sure the umbrella could fully block the rain away from her lover as they strolled along the Han River. They weren’t sure why did they go out, they just did, perhaps they enjoyed how they could stand so close to each other, using the rain as an excuse, to hide from the public’s curious eyes on their relationship when they head out.

Yeeun’s focus was all on the umbrella until the girl in her arm giggled, catching her attention.

“What makes my girl this happy to be laughing on the streets all of a sudden?” She couldn’t help but chuckle at Elkie’s cuteness, the Hong Kong girl’s giggle was definitely one of her weaknesses.

“You know how people kiss under the rain right? It’s romantic and all that…” the corner of the younger’s lips curled up, Yeeun wasn’t sure if that sly Scorpio was hinting her about wanting to do that, or if she got something else in her mind.

“So you wanna try it too?” No able to hide her curiousness, she questioned her girlfriend, only to hear the other girl cackling, “no that’s not what I meant, babe. I just thought, what if a car passes by and splashes water on those who are in their own world? That would be funny.”

Yeeun shouldn’t have expected anything from her lover knowing how playful and mischievous she was -- definitely not anything near romantic.

She knew she shouldn’t expect anything but perhaps that slight bit of romantic in her was upset, she was never the romantic type, not a summer person, and not a rainy summer day person either, but maybe kissing under the rain wouldn’t sound so bad if it was Elkie she’s kissing.

“Disappointed?” Elkie caught Yeeun zoning out again after staying silent for so long after her answer, she could see a hint of dissatisfaction in Yeeun’s eyes about her answer. But the prideful Leo immediately changed her expression, hoping her lover wouldn’t see through her mask and shook her head in defense, “I don’t recall saying anything about wanting to be kissed under the rain.”

“Are you sure you don’t want it?” She could hear the playfulness in between Elkie’s words, how she was teasing her for being disappointed (to which she refused to admit).

“W- What did you say?” Yeeun stuttered- Oh no. Elkie spent no time to press her lips onto Yeeun’s, her arms finding their way around the neck of the taller girl. Shocked was an understatement of Yeeun’s reaction, dropping her umbrella on the pavement as she wrapped her limbs around the other girl and returned the kiss.

Their lips melted with each others’, fitting like two pieces of puzzles put together. Slowly getting lost in the kiss as they pressed their bodies together, hoping their body warmth can make up for the chill spread through their bodies from the pouring rain.

“You would’ve denied immediately if you didn’t want this, baby.” A knowing smirk appeared on Elkie’s face when their lips parted, foreheads still pressed together. “I still don’t remember me being disappointed but I guess this isn’t too bad.” And the older still refused to proclaim her defeat against Elkie’s ‘accusation’.

"Whatever you say baby, anything that makes you happy. But can we go home now, I don’t wanna catch a cold after a hot makeout session with my girlfriend.”

-

Elkie opened her eyes after her walk down the memory lane, she turned around to face the harbour. The cool breeze flowing through her hair, with the memories she didn’t know if she wanted to bury in the back of her head or taken away by the wind.

She looked at the setting sun, whom still tried to shine so bright even if its blaze was shadowed by the clouds throughout the day until the moon came out to take its shift.

The rain stopped and so did Elkie’s heartbreak.

Everything should have put to a stop when she left that country, and maybe after a year passed, she can finally let go of the moments they shared.

———

A/N: I hope y'all enjoyed reading this and stan CLC!!!