chaewon first notices minjoo on a rainy monday night. 

she remembers it distinctly because even though she didn’t have classes that day, there minjoo stood—under the threshold of the bus stand in her bright yellow uniform, sticking out like a sore thumb from the rest of the scarce crowd.

it’s not the first time she sees minjoo, per se. that would be when dude, the transferee looks like she’s a ing actor, y’know? joined the school in year eight and she’s probably seen minjoo more times than she can count.

she saw her in the posters in year nine when she ran for student council president and during all the speeches she gave and rallies they had that year—in year ten, chaewon saw her everyday for three months when minjoo joined the poetry club for reasons she can’t understand (she found out later that minjoo was trying to impress shin ryujin by joining the club, but shin ryujin? she doesn't seem like her type)—and year eleven, they ended up being in the same class.

she didn’t have classes that day. minjoo was a ‘gifted and talented’ student or whatever the school uses as an excuse for the top percentile of students to attend extra classes so she went to school like the perfect student she is, slaved away for fourteen hours and now she found herself stuck waiting for a bus on a rainy monday night.

it’s what her mind conjures up when she spends a few seconds more staring at minjoo.

it’s the first time she notices minjoo. on a rainy monday night waiting for traffic to clear up because she thought it was a genius idea to bicycle to work instead of walking like every other day.

minjoo didn’t have bangs before, did she? 

did she?

in the time minjoo’s bus arrives and traffic passes by, chaewon makes a solid conclusion that minjoo in fact, did not have bangs earlier. (her mind adds a side note: she looks prettier than before, if that was even possible.)

it was unusual. 

“it’s september for god’s sake, why is it raining in the middle of september?!” she hears someone on the street complaining on her way back home.

it was unusual.

chaewon found herself thinking of kim minjoo and how good she looked with her new haircut long after the rain stops pouring that night.

must be strange weather, that's all.

♡

chaewon isn’t a big fan of the rain.

but it looks like minjoo loves rainy days at the moment.

she has a perfectly nice black umbrella right there in her hands.

instead, minjoo and her friend yujin decide to go for a nice little walk in the rain. jumping in puddles, getting their clothes wet and splashing rain water over each other.

what’s so good about the rain, anyway?

everytime it rains she ends up with a cold the next day. everyone at home gets a little cranky because the rain is always followed by power shortage and she gets all riled up because of it. the traffic is horrible on rainy days and she ends up being late for work all the time. 

the worst of all is when it rains out of nowhere and she has to walk home in the rain with no umbrella in her hold. 

she should’ve just gone with hyewon but no, she has to take the shortcut that only seems longer than any road she’s travelled before. 

it doesn’t help that minjoo and yujin are barely six feet in front of her. she can feel the aftermath of their splashes puddle-jumping staining her shoes that she spent a good three hours washing.

and it also doesn’t help that she can’t help but notice how nice minjoo’s voice sounds, as if it blends in with the sound of raindrops to create a melody so pleasant that she can’t stop herself from listening. 

chaewon gets hot coffee spilled over her bright yellow jacket, she’s too distracted by the way minjoo’s dimples show when she smiles real wide and it’s so bright she forgets the rain blinding her vision for a while.

she has half a mind to turn around and curse the woman out, but minjoo would probably turn back and she wouldn’t want that to happen.

they don’t stop at the bus stand. chaewon walks a little slower and watches the two grow further apart from her. she watches as yujin joins their hands and minjoo links their arms. she watches as minjoo leans her head on yujin’s shoulder, she watches as they look into each other’s eyes as the rain slows down and she stops watching, because they were leaning in for a kiss and maybe she shouldn’t be seeing something as private as that.

the walk home seems worse than usual. her sister sneers when she leaves her wet jacket on her chair. the rain fades out yet she still finds it annoying. 

chaewon spends her evening noting all the reasons why the rain gets on her nerves so much.

but for some reason, for every point she comes up with she can’t help but think:

what’s so good about ahn yujin anyway?

she gets colds because of the rain.

is she into younger girls or something?

she gets pissed off because of the rain.

didn’t she have a crush on ryujin, though?

her boss yells at her because of the rain.

and worst of all, she thinks of minjoo on rainy days. 

but today her thoughts keep going back to ahn yujin.

she keeps comparing herself to this junior she knows nothing about.

why?

chaewon’s not too sure about it, but it must have something to do with minjoo.

(or maybe an hour long walk in the rain is just ing with her head.)

♡

chaewon thinks she hates her clothes getting soaked in general, not just because of the rain.

that would explain her hatred for gym class. she’s a step closer to confirming that the p.e teacher is a psycho because who in their right mind would make students play dodgeball on a summer afternoon?

minjoo and her are on the same team, so at least she’s got that going for her. 

it’s not helping the team at all because minjoo seems to at sports as much as she does but chaewon can’t give a about the team. 

“dude, what's up with you? you're not even making an effort to dodge.” yena pulls her aside when their team is busy throwing balls and needless to say failing at it. 

“you know i don't like sports and all.” 

her eyes drift to minjoo in a way too natural she's almost surprised. “hey, since when are minjoo and yujin a thing?”

“i know you don't like sports but you're actually good at dodgeball, kim! and what about minjoo and yujin? they've been dating since winter break, didn't you see yujin come to class to pick her up at lunch, like, every single day?”

“i thought they were just best friends or something.”

yena gives her a long hard look of disbelief and opens possibly to call her an idiot but coach kwon comes over and shouts at them to get their heads in the game. 

her thoughts drift to minjoo more often than she'd admit these days. 

kim chaewon and kim minjoo. 

they're the kims of the class. right, they're in the same class. now they're on the same team. most of the time they end up being in the same group for projects since they share the same surname. but chaewon and minjoo never talk.

she’s pretty sure she can count all the times she talked to minjoo with her fingers. across three years of knowing her.                                                                          

chaewon wouldn’t say she’s bothered by that. but ever since that goddamn rainy monday night, she feels the need to have some sort of basic human interaction with minjoo.

like it would hurt if minjoo didn’t take notice of her presence.  

“dude, do you like minjoo or something?”

“what?”

“you keep looking at her, like, every five seconds.”

“well…”

she hears three balls hit the floor before yena takes hold of her shoulders and shakes the sense out of her. “no ing way! are you over hitomi now? you have a crush on ms. perfect all out of the blue?”

and then coach kwon puts her on the opposing team because she and yena were getting on her nerves too much. then she sees black for ten solid minutes and then she sees minjoo standing over her. 

“oh thank god, you’re okay.”

she sits up and reaches for the bandaging on her face. the sharp pain in her cheek suggests that maybe she isn’t as okay minjoo claims her to be.

but she keeps her displeasure at bay because she doesn’t want to see minjoo fret over her more than she needs to. 

“i’m so sorry, i just really, really at sports…”

turns out she needed to actually get hurt for minjoo to take notice of her presence.

“it’s alright.” 

“so... how much longer do i have to stay here?”

her tone is indifferent. she sounds cold, but chaewon can’t help it.

minjoo seems to be taken aback. “oh, um, the nurse said you could leave as soon as you woke up.”

so the two of them are forced to walk to class together. chaewon feels guilt gnawing her insides and rising up the back of , so she musters a quiet “thanks, you know… for staying back there. with me and all…”

she smiles. “it’s the least i could do.”

she should leave it at that. there’s no unresolved conflict anymore. she should let this remain one of the times she talked to minjoo. she should, but she can’t.

“minjoo…”

“you looked nice when you had bangs.”

it’s been five months, maybe six? since she saw her first with bangs and they’ve grown out. 

minjoo reaches for the strands of hair that used to be her bangs until she frowns and chaewon panics. “not that you don’t look good now! you look nice either way, i was just saying…”

minjoo seems to be surprised at her outburst. she chuckles and chaewon swears it’s the best thing she experienced today.          

“thank you.”

when she tells yena what happened her fingers curl, her voice wavers and she curses herself for being so awkward.

yena pats her on the back. “you’re so lame. i can’t believe we’re friends.”

“i can’t believe i did that. she must think i’m a creepy loser now.”

“um, that implies she wasn’t thinking that before and to be honest…”

she shoves the girl and yena just laughs in response.

“but kim, you know she’s dating yujin, right?”

“yeah... i don’t think this crush is serious, though. it’s harmless—nothing bad is gonna come out of it anyway, right?”

♡

it's spring—spring was shorter than usual and summer seems to have come early this y