Pitter patter pitter patter” sounded the rain against the rubbery surface of the sheet black umbrella. A young boy sat underneath said umbrella, doing his best to cuddle into himself to shield himself from the wet cold. His long auburn hair snuck out from underneath his grey hoodie. His black skinny jeans splashed with water and his dark grey high top converse drenched. He sighed and checked an old watch on his wrist that glared back at him “8:54”. He sighed yet again and looked towards the crying sky, wishing he hadn’t lashed out at his roommate, and now he was stuck out in the rain. He sighed it seemed his anger had the worst possible timing.

Suddenly as on impulse he closed his umbrella and stood “Come on Taeminnie, just enjoy it!” seemed to echo a laughing voice. He smiled as that special memory over took him, and suddenly he was 14 again waiting for the bus to take him home from school. The sky was dark and on the verge of tears, but it seemed to be holding back for a moment, as if hoping that something would make it smile again.

Anxiously he waited praying that it would not rain before he made it home. Suddenly his eyes were covered by warm hands. He immediately recognized them he smiled and called out “Hyung!”  The warm filled laugh rang around him before saying in an equally warmth filled voice “You have to say which one! Otherwise that’s cheating!” The smile on his face seemed to be getting bigger as he said confidently “Jinki- hyung!”

The other laughed and released his hold on him exposing the younger boy to the cold. Taemin turned and was greeted by the older boy’s blinding smile. Taemin pouted and said “Jinki-hyung, how can you be so happy when it is so cold?” Jinki shrugged before saying “I just love the rain…” Taemin blinked before saying “Why? You are so warm; I’d think you’d hate it”. Jinki smiled again and said “Well, why not?” Taemin thought about it as he responded “Well, it brings people down and makes them gloomy”. “Only those who let it get down”. “But it symbolizes…” protested Taemin

“It symbolizes” interrupted Jinki “to me the end of a time and start of a new one. It brings life back to places into which it was once lost”. “But everything gets soaked, crops are ruined and…” Jinki laughed and said “Come on Taeminnie, just enjoy it!” At his words the sky screamed so touched that it finally couldn’t hold back any longer and released its tears. Those tears of joy and not the resentment they held before. Suddenly the earth seemed to sparkle and embrace the life it was being given. Then the musky sent of rain filled the city. Jinki laughed and before saying “Come, I’ll walk you home” before pulling an umbrella from his school bag and covering the young boy stopping the rain.

Suddenly the rain seemed to stop in the present and he was elicited back from his memories. And there again he stood in front of that bus stop, someone standing behind him. He turned and met the blinding smile again. Jinki adjusted the umbrella and moved to stand next to him before saying “What are you doing out here in the rain Taeminnie?” Taemin paused to think about it and felt the rain dance with the wind around them. He turned to grin at the older boy and said as he gripped the other’s arm “I’m just enjoying it, Jinki-hyung”