It’s raining heavily when you wake up.

Your curtains are drawn, which shields your room in a comforting darkness. You’re awake about a minute before your alarm sounds, listening to the tapping of droplets against your window. You love the sound of rain, its constant rhythm soothing as you lay warm in bed, in danger of falling back asleep at any moment.

Your alarm rings through your quiet room, and with a sleepy groan, you turn it off. You stretch, feeling how cold it is outside as you tuck yourself deeper in your warm blankets.

Cold, rainy mornings like these are always hardest to pull yourself out of bed.

You finally do, after convincing yourself to stay in bed for another two minutes. You shiver once the cool air hits your body, your sleepwear doing little to warm you. You quickly head to the bathroom, going through your usual morning routine of brushing your teeth and washing your face. Feeling refreshed, you make your way to the closet, pulling out sweaters and hoodies—anything to make you feel warmer.

You make sure to grab your umbrella before you leave, locking the door behind you.

You head towards the bus stop only about five minutes away from your apartment, the sky gray and gloomy, the rain pattering against your umbrella, bouncing off the concrete of the sidewalk and onto the ends of your pants.

The ice starts to seep into your skin as a gust of wind blows past, droplets of water hitting your body.

This is why you hate going outside on a rainy day.

You rock lightly on the soles of your feet, eager for the bus to come. This is when you notice the presence of another person standing next to you, also waiting for the bus.

You glance at him from the corner of your eyes, trailing over his royal blue umbrella, water droplets dotting the fabric and forging wet paths down as they splatter onto the floor.

His face is half-hidden from you under his umbrella, but he seems overly well-dressed, with a midnight blue three piece suit and leather shoes.

You wrinkle your nose slightly at the oddness, wondering if this man was going to a party of some sort. Such a bummer, to be dressed so nicely only to be waiting for the bus in the rain.

You realize you’ve been staring too long when the man readjusts his umbrella, raising it higher so his face is revealed. He glances over at you, making you quickly look away, your cheeks flaring up in embarrassment.

He stares at you for a while, before he resumes looking straight ahead, and you can’t help but glance over at him again. Your eyes trace the outline of his face, noticing how handsome this man is. You follow a drop of water fall from the ends of his dark hair, dripping down the side of his face to his chin.

You look a little closer, and realize that his hair is wet. Not just his hair, his entire body is soaked, but he doesn’t seem to mind.

But that’s weird…why is he wet? He has an umbrella, doesn’t he?

Your bus arrives, and you snap out of your daze as you quickly get on, looking out the window to see that the man hasn’t moved, probably waiting for another bus.

You watch him until you can’t see him anymore in the distance, finally sinking into your seat with curious defeat.

The next day is raining again.

You go through your usual routine again, sighing when you step out into the cold, wet street. When will this rainy season end?

As you walk slowly to the bus station, you see that the man from yesterday is standing there again.

You casually step next to him, putting distance between your bodies as to not seem awkward. You stare at cars zoom by, the sound of water splashing under the wheels.

You glance over at him again, noting that he’s wearing a different shade of blue today, more of an azure color, but still equally formal. Maybe his work place requires him to wear suits like that.

His dark hair today is combed back, but droplets of water can be seen in his locks, his clothes wet again.

You furrow your brows at this, wondering how he could get this wet with an umbrella two days in a row.

He glances over at you, and you freeze as you meet his eyes.

His eyes are an odd mix of pinks, greens and blues, swirling together like the reflection of a rainbow.

Your heart pounds, the image of his eyes ingrained in your mind. It must be contact lenses, you think, no one can have eyes like that naturally.

He blinks, a polite smile graces his handsome face as he nods at you in greeting. “Lovely weather today, isn’t it?”

You’re taken aback by his odd question, frozen as you try to come up with an answer. “Y-Yes?” He chuckles quietly at your puzzled expression, and he turns to look straight ahead again.

Your bus comes, and you get on, once again watching the man through the window until he disappears from sight.

The third rainy day, you have an odd anticipation for seeing the man. As you expected, he’s already standing and waiting at the bus stop. His suit is yet another shade, becoming lighter to an almost powder blue. You stand next to him, and this time he turns to greet you.

He gives you the same polite smile from yesterday, nodding, and you greet him back. There’s a peculiar calmness in the air, the rain…and the stranger.

When you get on the bus this time, you see him tip his umbrella to you, straightening, and then flashing you a mysterious smile.

He turns to leave, and the bus starts moving.

It’s sunny.

Three days of rain and finally the dark stormy clouds give way for rays of sunlight, brightening the streets and automatically brightening your mood.

You feel lighter today, not needing to carry your umbrella everywhere you went. You always hated the fact that rainy days meant bringing an umbrella, the wet, inconveniently long object you had to hold everywhere, dripping all over the place until you put a flimsy plastic bag around it, and it just sits there in your office, dripping into the bag, until the end of the day.

You arrive at the bus stop, surprised not to find the man already there. Perhaps he’s late today.

You wait for a few moments, wondering if the man would come today. In the distance you see two men make their way over, their faces furrowed in puzzlement as they look around before turning to you. “Excuse me.”

You turn to them, seeing that the blonde man had spoken. “Have you seen a man around lately? Always wearing a blue suit and carries an umbrella with him?”

You’re slightly surprised that they were looking for the stranger, so you nod. “I have seen him.”

“Did he come today?”

“No.”

The man’s face falls at your answer, cursing quietly under his breath as he turns back to his companion. “Now what?”

“Baekhyun, I told you that he only comes out on rainy days.” The taller man with dark hair rolls his eyes at his companion, Baekhyun. “Let’s go home, I’m hungry.”

“But it’s urgent.” Baekhyun argues as he starts to pace with a frown on his face. “Junmyeon knows we were going to come find him. Why couldn’t he just make an exception today—”

“Junmyeon?” You whisper, repeating the name that feels oddly nice, rolling off your tongue. So that’s the stranger’s name.

The taller man looks at you, seemingly hearing your whisper from the wind. The ends of his lips curl up into a smile, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Hi, could you help us with something?”

“Sehun!” Baekhyun snaps at the other man, Sehun. “What are you doing? He’ll kill you.”

“It’s not like I’m going to hurt her.” Sehun shrugs, a lazy grin still plastered on his face. “Don’t worry.”

To your surprise, Sehun grabs your wrist and starts pulling you away, all the while Baekhyun yells for him to stop. You stumble behind him, terrified, wondering where he was taking you and what he wanted to do to you.

He takes you down the street, Baekhyun involuntarily following behind. He enters an apartment, pressing the button for the elevator, waiting for the ding and the opening of the doors.

Sehun pulls you in, Baekhyun following after and pressing a number, then the close button. You’re shaking, trying to find a way of escape but in an elevator, an escape seems highly unlikely.

You’re trapped with two strange men.

Sehun’s grip on your wrist is tight, not enough to hurt you, but enough to keep you from running.

The doors ding open, and Baekhyun exits first this time. He turns right without hesitation, going all the way to the door at the end and knocks a few times.

No response.

Baekhyun sighs, shaking his head at Sehun. Sehun, in return, rolls his eyes and pushes you forward until you almost collide with the door. “Go on, say something to him.”

You frown, staring at the plain door painted in sky blue. You glance back at Baekhyun and Sehun, who are watching you intensely, obviously expecting something from you.

You gulp, awkwardly lifting your hand to knock on the door. “Um…Hi, I’m the girl at the bus stop—”

The door flies open.

“It worked!” Sehun seems thoroughly surprised, as if he didn’t expect you to be successful.

“Junmyeon!” Baekhyun yells as he pushes himself into the house. “Why didn’t you open the door?”

Junmyeon looks taken aback, looking like he wanted to throw them out before he finally gives in, letting out a defeated sigh. “I thought I said I would do it later.”

“Later.” Baekhyun cries out in annoyance. “Always later! You’ve been spending too much time with her!” Baekhyun points a finger accusingly at you, making you stagger backwards in surprise.

“What?” You seethe. “What do I have anything to do with this? Who are you people?”

“It’s not what you think.” Junmyeon tells you quickly, turning to Baekhyun with a scowl. “Get out. I won’t do it today.”

“But why?” Baekhyun demands, unwavering. “You used to be fine even on sunny days—”

“Baekhyun.” Junmyeon snaps, his eyes piercing; cold, yet burning with anger. Baekhyun promptly shuts up, his jaw clenched tightly. “I said get out.”

“Let’s go.” Sehun offers quietly, motioning for Baekhyun to leave with him. Baekhyun stares at Junmyeon for a moment longer, wishing for him to change his mind, before sighing slowly and following Sehun out.

You take this as your sign to leave as well, taking another glance at Junmyeon. His hands were on his hips, his eyes closed as if he was trying to calm himself down, or perhaps repress a sad memory.

You close the door shut behind you.

The next day is sunny again.

You stand alone at the bus stop, wondering for a moment if Junmyeon was not coming again. But then you quickly dismiss the thought, as he is no more than a stranger for you.

“…Hey.”

You swirl around at the familiar voice, finding Baekhyun looking down sheepishly, Sehun behind him.

“What do you want?” Your voice was more bitter than you intended, making him look up in surprise, his eyes wide. “You already made me late for work yesterday and now—”

“I-I’m sorry.” He stammers, his teeth sinking into his bottom lip. “About yesterday. We really thought you would be able to get him to help but…” Baekhyun shakes his head sadly.

You scoff. “We don’t even know each other; why would he help you because of me?”

“He likes you!” Baehkyun exclaims before his tone softens almost to a whisper. “It’s been a long time since he’s been interested in a human.”

This catches your attention, your head snapping up at him and he seems to go slightly pale at the realization of what he said. “I-I mean, girl. I meant to say girl. It’s been a long time since he’s been interested in a girl.” He laughs nervously.

You narrow your eyes on him, taking a step forward as he takes one back. “What do you mean ‘human?’ Does that mean he’s not…human?”

“No!” Baekhyun immediately blurts, his voice a pitch too high. “That’s not it—”

“Baekhyun.” Sehun interrupts with a sad sigh. “That’s enough. It’s useless to cover it anymore.”

Baekhyun finally gives up, his shoulders slumping in defeat and he murmurs, “Junmyeon’s going to kill me.” He then straightens, his face more serious now. “That’s right, he’s not human.”

You blink. “Then…what…what is he?”

“He—” Before he could answer, a drop of water splatters on your cheek. You reach for it, feeling the wetness on your finger before more droplets come. The sky darkens suddenly, rain pouring down and making you shield yourself with your arms, searching for a place to shelter from the rain.

Dammit, you curse, where’s my umbrella when I need it.

You scan the street, finding no shelter unless you run back home. But then you would miss your bus, and you can’t be late for work twice in a row. You already got yelled at yesterday.

Suddenly, the droplets stop.

You look up, staring at the odd colors of Junmyeon’s eyes, then up to the umbrella he was holding out for you. He let’s out a small, sheepish smile. “It’s for you. Take it.”

“Oh.” You mutter quietly as you accept the umbrella. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” He says quietly. “Please, can you come over to my place when you get off work? I have something to tell you.”

His eyes start to darken, turning into a murky gray color like storm clouds. There’s something in them that makes you agree, and you don’t realize this until you get on your bus, his umbrella in your hand.

Sehun was waiting