It's raining for the third time that week, even though it's only Tuesday. As much as I liked the sound the rain made on the roof, I really thought this was too much. The plan to play some basketball with my friends was once again cancelled. Now all I could do was just stay inside, waiting for the rain to stop. Then again, by the time it did, we might be too lazy to come out. And the field would be too wet, anyway.

I was staring outside the window of my room when I saw her again. There she was, playing under the rain for the second time that week. She wouldn't have caught my attention if she's using an umbrella, or at least a raincoat. But no, it was as if she didn't notice the rain at all; as if the weather wasn't that gloomy.

Mum always said that we would get sick if we walked under the rain, which was why I was stuck here in my room in the first place. She said that we would get fever so high that we had to be admitted to the hospital. So I was really wondering at that time how in the world the girl could get permission from her mother to play outside in this weather. It didn't make any sense to me.

'How can she not get sick from all the rain?' 'What did she tell her mother so she could get out?' 'Does her mother even know that she's out?' All those questions and others that I couldn't even mention kept running through my head. I wanted to ask her those unanswered questions but Mum was home, and so was my nagging sister. So I had to stay inside and wait for the right moment to meet that strange girl.

To make it worse, I didn't know where she lived because she usually came from the front block to the other side of the housing complex. She never carried anything, so she wouldn't have gone to the small shop in front and bought something her mother had asked her to. And I still didn't think her mother would let her out in the rain.

Apparently luck was on my side: it was raining again the next day. This time, I was home alone; which was weird, because usually there would always be someone accompanying me. But Mum was out with her friends in the market and sister might be stuck in traffic or something. So here I was, going out of the house to take a seat on the porch with an umbrella in hand.

I waited for maybe 15 minutes but she hadn't passed by yet. 'Am I too early?' 'Did she already pass by?' 'Is she sick?' The last question somehow saddened me. I hadn't talked to her yet, so she had to come. (I know that's so selfish of me; but come on, I was 8 that time!) I had to ask her those questions.

Then I heard it: a soft tune. I looked to my right and I saw her. It turned out that whenever she played under the rain, she sang that song I always heard on TV though I forgot the title. Her hair was pulled into something that I assumed was a ponytail. She was wearing a blue shirt with a pair of folded jeans, complete with flip flops.

She usually just walked around like a normal person on a sunny day, but that day she purposely jumped onto puddles of filthy water. I'm a boy and I thought that was disgusting. If she didn't take a proper shower soon, the dirt would stay on for a very long time. And for a girl like her, that's not good.

So I called her, "Hey!" causing her to look up from the puddles. She looked confused as she turned from left to right to see who just greeted her. So I added, "Look to your left." And she did. As soon as she saw me, she smiled and greeted back. "What are you doing?"

"Playing around," she answered. "Wanna join?"

Instead of answering, I asked her again, "Won't you get sick?"

She shook her head. "Rain is a gift from God." She put on a smile again and gestured me to come. "Isn't it boring to just stay inside? Play with me. It's always nice to have a companion."

Because I didn't want to hurt her feelings (I just met her too), I stood up and opened the umbrella before starting towards her. Unlike her, I had to avoid the puddles because Mum would kill me if I got my shorts dirty. Apparently she found it funny because she giggled.

"It's better, isn't it?" she said as I was near. "Staying at home is suffocating. You can get sick. And that's no fun."

I widened my eyes because that was the first time I actually heard something like that. "Really?" I walked nearer so she would be under the umbrella too. "My house is clean so I will never get sick."

"Are you sure? Because my friends are all sick now because they stay at home too much." She looked down and stepped on the puddles again, this time carefully so I wouldn't get any dirt on my slippers.

I gasped in surprise. "But my Mum said that I'll get fever if I play under the rain."

For no real reason, she laughed. "That's only if you think you'll get fever by playing under the rain." She looked at me. "If you think that you'll be fine, you will." I must have had a confused look on my face, so she continued, "Don't think about getting sick; because if you do, you will." She placed her hand on the umbrella handle and pulled it away from me to put it on the wet ground. "God doesn't want you to get sick. So you won't."

I had now joined her under the rain with no umbrella. Believe it or not, it felt nice. I'm a boy (I felt the need to emphasise this) but my family was over-protective of me. It's a bit annoying because I realised that I'd missed a lot of things; one of them was playing under the rain. It turned out to be fun stepping on the puddles as I laughed doing so for a lot of times.

She giggled. "I'm guessing you've never been out in the rain before?" she mumbled as she stepped on the puddles, splashing the dirty water everywhere including my shorts. She giggled again when she heard me yelling at her for surprising me. "You're funny." She looked at me. "How come I've never seen you before?"

"I can ask you the same thing."

"Ya! I asked you first!"

I held both of my hands up as if surrendered. This girl turned out to be scarier than I thought. "Okay, calm down. I'm usually out when it's sunny to play with my friends at the park. What about you?"

All of the sudden, she looked down and stood still. "My guardian doesn't allow us to get out even when it's sunny. I sneak out whenever it rains because she always takes a nap during that time."

"Oh, I see," I said, feeling sad too because I knew that feeling of being stuck inside the house. "You never got caught before?"

She looked up again and gave me a toothy grin. "Nope, because I'm that good." She splashed me again, catching me off guard. "Oops?" And she didn't even sound apologetic. Before I could do anything to get some revenge though, she already ran away while laughing like there's no tomorrow. She suddenly stopped and turned around. "I'll see you again when it rains, okay? My guardian will be up soon!" After she waved her hand, she continued her journey to wherever her house was.

I stayed still in my position, not really caring even when I was already soaked up to my underwear. This time I looked up the sky and spread my arms out. Closing my eyes, I let the rain pour and wash away whatever bad feeling I had because I couldn't get out to play basketball with my friends before. Now I was glad that it rained that day because I gained a new friend and she taught me a lesson: rain is a gift from God.

"Wooyoung-ah, what are you doing?"

I looked to my right to see my sister right beside me with her bag on her back, looking very confused. I didn't blame her because if it was me, I would have the same expression.

"You're soaking wet!" She immediately put me under her umbrella. "You can get sick, you know."

"But I won't."

"What are you talking about?" She picked up the umbrella on the ground and closed it before starting towards our house with me on her side.

"Rain is a gift from God," I answered. "So I won't get sick."

"What?" she said, even more confused. "Who told you that?"

"..." I closed my mouth again as I remembered that I didn't ask for her name. "A friend I just met today."

"What's his name?" We finally reached our destination. She closed her umbrella and gave it a wave or two so it would be a bit dry before we could actually get inside the house.

I followed suit with my own before looking down in embarrassment. "I forgot to ask her."

"A girl?" She sounded amused for some reason. She let out a laugh and opened the door. "Give me the umbrella, you go take a shower and change your clothes."

"Why?" I whined as I looked up at her.

"Do you want to get sick?"

"I won't!"

She sighed and pushed me towards the bathroom with the rather-sharp edge of her umbrella. "Just do as I say or I'll tell Mum that you played under the rain and didn't lock the door."

I pouted as I gave in and did what I was told. "I won't get sick," I mumbled as I walked to my room to get a new set of clothes.

The next day came and I was as happy as I could be. I didn't have any fever, cold, flu or whatever sickness out there. My sister was shocked to see that but she didn't say anything to Mum so I was grateful for that. To make the day even better, it was raining again after I got home from school. I could meet that girl again and this time I would ask for her name before I forgot.

Mum was in the kitchen, preparing for dinner, so she didn't hear anything when I opened the front door. Sister was probably inside her room so she couldn't bother me. It's not like I was running away from home or anything. I was just going to be outside and play with my new friend. I wouldn't be that far.

I had to wait for a while on the porch because I still didn't know when she usually started walking from her house. It was getting boring when I saw someone. It was her, but that day she wasn't humming to that song. She looked kind of sad.

I stood up and walked up to her. "Hey, what's wrong?" I asked, tilting my head in confusion. "Did something happen?"

"I'm moving away tomorrow," she replied as she looked up from the ground.

"What? Why?" I asked her. We only met yesterday and she's already going? That's not fair!

She smiled sadly. "I forgot to tell you yesterday. I live in a foster home a couple of blocks from here. A couple just came this morning to adopt me and they're going to pick me up tomorrow."

"Where are you going to live?"

"I heard that they live in another town," she answered. "So I don't think I can walk by here anymore. Today is the last one."

My shoulders sagged. I went from feeling happy to great to angry. "But why? We just became friends yesterday even though we still don't know each other's names."

She confused me even more by laughing softly. "We should have met before this, I'm sorry. But I'll write you a letter. I promise." I just kept quiet, so she continued, "And I can ask my foster parents to come here once a month or something."

I pouted. "Once a month is too long. What if you already forget about me?"

"I can ask you the same thing." I had to hide my smile because she just repeated my own sentence from the day before. "You have a lot of friends from here and school. So I'm sure you will forget me tomorrow."

"I won't!" I said a little too loudly. "You're my first friend that's a girl."

She grinned. "Thank you. You're not my first friend that's a boy but you're my first friend who likes to play under the rain."

I gave her the same grin. "So you won't forget me?"

"Of course not."

We spent another half an hour talking on my porch. Mum amazingly didn't come out; maybe she's too busy and couldn't hear anything. Sister was probably now sleeping and nothing could wake her up except Mum. She's a girl yet I could wake up faster and easier than her.

"Are you sure your guardian wouldn't get mad at you for going out too long today?" I asked as I walked her out. It wasn't raining anymore so I was worried that she would get scolded because I kept her too long.

"She gave me permissions to do whatever I want, to go wherever I want today. So don't worry, Wooyoung-ah~" As we reached the street in front of my house, she turned to me. "I'll see you when I see you, okay? I'll write you a letter too."

"And I'll reply to you as soon as possible."

She nodded and waved her hand at me before starting towards her foster home. "Bye bye, Wooyoung-ah~!"

I kept waving my hand until I couldn't see her anymore.