It was the end of the school day and Taeyeon was heading outside to the front of the school. She had to meet up with Jonghyun before they both separate to go to their jobs. She worked as a waiter at a small restaurant about two blocks from the school, and Jonghyun worked at a convenience store.

Taeyeon reached the front of the school and found her brother standing under a nearby tree with Kris. She made her way over to them and gave Jonghyun some money. “Here, in case you want to buy some dinner or a snack.”

He accepted the money and smiled at his older sister who was always looking out for him. “Thanks.”

Taeyeon smiled back and waved goodbye. “I’ll see you at home.”

Jonghyun nodded and began walking to the convenience store with Kris walking beside him. Taeyeon stood there and watched them walk away for a few minutes before walking in the other direction.

As she was walking, she heard girls squealing. She turned back to the school and saw Jaejoong and about four girls getting into his fancy car. She glared at the girls and watched with envy. Before she knew it, the car had already zipped passed her. Taeyeon couldn’t help but pout as she watched the car disappear around the corner.

When she was just down the road from the school, Taeyeon started to feel tiny raindrops falling. She searched in her back pack for an umbrella but couldn’t find it. “Oh no, I left it at home.” She looked up to the sky and let out a depressed sigh. “Why?”

“Talking to the clouds isn’t going to stop it from raining.”

Taeyeon jumped at the voice. She thought she was alone but apparently she wasn’t. When she spun around, she saw Hyun Joong standing there holding an umbrella.

The rain started to pour down harder.

“Don’t you watch the weather forecast?”

Truth is Taeyeon doesn’t have a television at home but she couldn’t tell him that. He’ll think even lowlier of her. “I usually have my umbrella but it seems like I left it at home today.”

“Smart.”

Taeyeon scoffed at his attitude and began to walk away. She kept glancing back at him but he never seemed to pay any attention to her.

When they were about a block away from her workplace, Taeyeon snapped at him. “Are you following me?”

“Why would I be following you?” He questioned in a monotone voice.

Taeyeon didn’t know how to reply back so she left it at that. She continued walking forward until the next few minutes passed. She turned back to glance at Hyun Joong but saw that he wasn’t there anymore. She searched for him with her eyes but he was nowhere to be found. She bit her lip in confusion. ‘Where in the world does he live?’

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Taeyeon reached the restaurant and began working as soon as possible. She was cleaning a table when the door chime rang. When she looked up, her eyes almost popped out of their sockets. “Jaejoong.” She whispered. Her heart started to beat faster.

“Taeyeon, can you please take their order?”

 Her eyes grew even wider. She was really going to be able to talk to Jaejoong. She mentally slapped herself and hurriedly walked over to the table Jaejoong and a few of his friends sat at. “Hello, what would you all like to drink?”

Everyone ordered water but when it came to Jaejoong he ordered tea. Taeyeon looked at him like he was crazy. “I thought you hate tea.” Everyone at the table except for Jaejoong laughed at her.

“How would you know that?” a girl named Dara asked. “Are you some kind of stalker?” Everyone laughed even harder this time.

Taeyeon looked down in embarrassment before running to get the drinks. She wasn’t a stalker; she just knew a lot about Jaejoong.

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Back at the table, Jaejoong gave Dara a look that said “shut up.”

Everyone quieted down and soon there was an awkward silence. Dara decided to break that silence and opened to speak to Jaejoong. “Why are you so gloomy now? You were more energetic at school.”

“I’m just hungry and exhausted.”

From the way Jaejoong was looking down at the table, everyone could tell that he didn’t want to talk about it. He was always like this. He’s so energetic at school, but once school ends he gets all gloomy and depressed. No one really knows or understands why.

Taeyeon brought out the drinks and asked what they would all like to eat. Of course, everyone was making it difficult for her.

“Why don’t you guess what Jaejoong would like to have?” Dara suggested.

Taeyeon’s face turned slightly red from both embarrassment and anger. Luckily, she was saved when Jonghyun ran through the restaurant door. “Taeyeon!”

From Jonghyun’s heavy breaths, Taeyeon could tell that he ran all the way to the restaurant and that something was wrong. She left the table and ran over to her younger brother. “Jonghyun, what’s wrong?”

“It’s mom. She collapsed at work and is in the hospital.”