Soojin isn’t the biggest fan of the rain.

Sure, it’s refreshing and has this lingering scent that she finds mildly soothing. But rain means planning ahead. It means watching the forecast and dressing accordingly. It means carrying an umbrella and possibly an additional jacket. And when the forecast calls for rain and not a drop falls from the sky, Soojin isn’t sure who she dislikes more: Mother Nature or the meteorologist.

them both , she thinks on the third day of forecasted rain. Because all it’s been is overcast skies and the occasional spits of rain. Nothing to constitute lugging around an umbrella for three consecutive days.

It isn’t that Soojin wants the skies to open and Zeus All Mighty to hurtle lightening across the sky and cast rain so violent it falls sideways, but she wants at least something to justify the stupid umbrella.

“Just get one of those compact ones,” Soyeon once said, like it was the most obvious solution to her plight.

But a compact umbrella isn’t the solution. At least, not the solution Soojin wants. Because what she wants is for the meteorologist and Mother Nature to get on the same page. To be congruent. If it’s what her manager expects of her, why can’t she expect it of the meteorologist and Mother Nature? Apparently, it’s too much to ask though when day four rolls around and Mother Nature and the meteorologist still can’t get it together.

By day five, out of spite, Soojin wants to leave her umbrella in the nook of her entryway. But she has a meeting at nine and, knowing her luck, she’ll show up looking like a drowned rat because Mother Nature is a malevolent . So, she carts around the umbrella while the sun pokes out from behind the clouds.

It’s only on day six that it finally rains and Soojin is prepared.

The rain isn’t torrential, but it also isn’t light. Thankfully it isn’t sideways and she can be bitter beneath her umbrella in peace.  

Maybe it’s wrong, but Soojin finds mild delight in watching people scurry around umbrellaless. It makes five days of carrying around the stupid thing feel mildly worth it. It makes looking like an idiot with an umbrella under the sun feel mildly gratifying. It also might make her question the sanity of other people.

Case and point: Shuhua Yeh.

Soojin isn’t sure how Soyeon found her. It isn’t like Shuhua likes any of the same things Soyeon likes and they certainly don’t work together. But for one reason or another, Soyeon won’t stop bringing the pasty little foreigner to everything.

Weekend by the poo