“Come with me, Hyemi,” Sehun said.

Any commands Sehun gave me would’ve been disobeyed in an instant, however I found myself contemplating this time. This one was difficult to go against.

The need to uncover the truth about Sehun's journey to the city was much greater than anything at this moment. It shouldn't be something worth focusing my attention on entirely since it was his business and I usually don't care about him but I knew my mind would stay unsettled if I just dismissed his situation. I desperately wanted to know where he was going. 

"So..." Sehun's voice disturbed my train of thoughts. 

"I'm coming. Let's go," I said.

The bus only carried a small number of passengers when we hopped in. An elderly couple occupied the seats at the front and a few teenagers were seated at the far back, chatting amongst themselves quietly. Sehun and I chose the middle rows.

Looking out the window, I watched as my store slowly faded in the distance. I silently groaned, knowing that I would receive punishment for leaving without permission and suddenly disappearing.

“It looks like it’s going to rain,” Sehun suddenly spoke. I examined the sky, noticing grey clouds drawing in. The sun was nowhere in sight.

“Do you like rainy days?” Sehun asked out of the blue.

I shook my head, “No, not really. Everything turns plain, grey and wet. Do you?”

Chuckling, he replied, “Yeah. It’s nice.”

“Really? You like it?” I gave him a look of surprise.

“Yeah. I don’t know why but I find it calming when I listen to the raindrops. When I look outside I see everything glisten and shimmer. It looks good.”

“Oh,” I nodded in fascination. “I didn’t know you saw it that way.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” he said.

“That’s not true. You’re my friend. I know everything about you,” I stated confidently.

"We're not friends, Hyemi."

The unexpected answer made me turn to his direction, confusion written all over my face.

"What do you mean? You don't think we are?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"You and I are more like strangers to each other."

Strangers.

“W-What? How could you say that?” I was taken aback by his definition of our relationship.

"Well, we see each other every day and we hang out a lot but we know nothing about each other. Friends are supposed to be comfortable and open with each other. They’re supposed to share personal details and talk about deep and meaningful things. We're not like that. Not even close."

I grew speechless. I would've understood if he used the term 'acquaintances' but to label us as strangers was beyond my comprehension.

"But I know some things about you," I pointed out.

"Don't lie. You don't know a single thing," he was still unconvinced.

"Yes, I do! Wait, let me think about it first," I tapped my chin in thought.

I dug deep in my brain for a simple piece of information about him, attempting to prove him wrong. I waited for it to automatically come to me. However, not one thing came to mind. Other than having knowledge of his obsession for chocolate bubble tea, there were no important details stored in my memory about him that could help me support my argument.

Then the realization finally sunk in. I didn't know who Oh Sehun was.

"See? I told you," Sehun said.

"W-Well, I'm just forgetful that's all," I made an excuse.

"Yeah, that's got to be it," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Disappointment suddenly washed over me. The idea of Sehun and I being strangers didn’t feel good for some reason.

A moment of silence came as I collected my thoughts. I could feel Sehun’s gaze on me. It was as if he was waiting for me to tell him that he was right but I couldn’t bring myself to admit it.

“Why are you quiet all of a sudden?” Sehun nudged me.

Just then, the bus came to a halt. We arrived at the next stop and more passengers poured in through the door. The inside of the bus came to life as loud chattering erupted from the newcomers, a large group of students surrounding us.

Seeing that it was impossible to overpower their laughter and loud voices with our own, Sehun and I decided to end our discussion and just ride the bus in silence.

♦ ♦ ♦

The skyscrapers became faintly visible in the distance as we neared the city. Small droplets of rain softly began tapping on the windows of the bus. The sky has now turned into a dull, grey color. I watched as the tiny beads of water raced down the glass surface, tracing wet, crooked lines.

Sehun had his eyes on the street, watchful of the busy road we were entering.

“We need to get off the next stop,” he informed.

We finally exited the bus when it arrived at the stop. I placed a hand above my head to shield myself from the drizzle. I looked over at Sehun for directions, expecting him to lead us somewhere.

We eventually broke into a jog when it started pouring rain. Neither of us had an umbrella to protect us from the weather and keep us dry. Desperate for shelter, we stopped in a porch of an abandoned apartment complex.

“It’s raining heavily. Are you enjoying this?” I asked Sehun as I sat on the concrete staircase.

“I’m having a blast,” his lips broke into a smile, amused.

I shuddered at the cold breeze that blew past and embraced myself.

“Here,” Sehun removed his blazer and offered it to me.

“No. Keep it on. You’ll be even colder without it,” I pushed it back to him.

He ignored me and placed his blazer on my shoulders, “I’ll be fine. Just stay warm.”

I was immediately engulfed by warmth, physically and emotionally. The amount of concern he showed towards me unexpectedly caused my heart to pick up speed.

“I hope the rain stops soon,” I fidgeted with my fingers, feeling slightly uneasy. I wrapped his blazer tighter around me.

“I don’t think it will. It’s only getting worse,” Sehun extended his arm out, exposing his palm to the rain and letting the droplets land on his fingertips. He then withdrew his hand before giving it a light shake to remove the water.

I studied the porch we were occupying, taking notice of the damaged door of the apartment complex behind us. There were scratches on the door and the large padlock was broken.

“Break that door down. Maybe we can get in,” I told Sehun as a joke. He eyed the door.

“Okay,” he stood up and prepared to destroy it. My eyes rounded.

“Don’t! I was kidding!” I abruptly stood up when he removed the lock out of the way.

“I know,” he chuckled. “There’s no need to break it down. It can be opened easily.”

He swung the door open and stepped in.

“Where do you think you’re going?” I asked.

“You said we can go in,” he innocently replied.

“I wasn’t serious about that either!”

“Well, I thought it was a good idea.”

“Are you crazy?!” I pulled him out of the building. “We can get arrested for trespassing! We can end up in jail!”

“Hyemi, relax. No one can see us right now. Besides, it’s abandoned. It’ll only be for a while until the rain settles down,” he pointed out.

“No. I’m staying here outside,” I stubbornly crossed my arms. Sehun sighed.

“Can we break the rules? Just this once. Let’s go,” he said.

Break the rules? Sure. Break the law? No, thank you!

I was given no chance to argue further as he entered the building once again and climbed upstairs, leaving me alone.

“Sehun! Get back here!” I exclaimed, running inside and watching him take more steps up. I caught him stagger as he climbed a step. I bit back a laugh.

“Come on, Hyemi,” he waved me over.

“No!” I still refused. “Get down from there!”

I didn’t hear a response from him but his footsteps pounded on the steps loudly, echoing throughout the place.

Hesitant, I glanced back and forth at Sehun, who has now disappeared, and the open door. I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear when a gust of wind blew in. Making up my mind, I made my way to the door and firmly closed it. I then hurriedly followed Sehun upstairs.

When I arrived at the second floor, I found Sehun casually leaning on the railing.

“Took you long enough,” he murmured.

“We need to get out of here,” I told him in an authoritative tone.

“Look what I found,” he ignored me and turned a doorknob. “We can stay here for a bit. The room’s still in good condition.”

The floor was carpeted and the walls were white. The room was completely empty. Despite the absence of curtains on the large windows, the room was still dim due to the nasty color of grey outside. The lights suddenly switched on.

“Looks like there’s still electricity,” Sehun said, walking away from the switch and over to one of the windows. He sat down and observed the street below.

It was nothing but a blur because of the angry weather. The heavy rain made the view hazy, making it impossible to make out what we were looking at. I sat down next to Sehun and sighed.

“What do we do now?” I asked.

“We wait, I guess,” he shrugged.

Silenced followed.  A clap of thunder suddenly roared, causing me to flinch in surprise.

“This seriously makes you calm?!” I looked at Sehun incredulously.

“No. This is called a storm and I don’t like storms,” he answered.

Silence again.

“You know, this wasn’t how I planned to spend the day with you,” he began, running his fingers through his damp hair. “I thought of things for us to do in the city while we were on the bus but I guess it’s not going to happen.”

“Wait, you said you needed to go to the city to do something important,” I reminded him.

“There’s that too. I have a meeting with my dad at six o’clock this evening in his office. But then you decided to come along. I planned to take you to places and then bring you back home before the meeting. We had two hours to kill,” he explained.

“So you weren’t going to let me find out what your intentions were at all for being in the city? You were going to take me back without an answer?”

“Well, I just think it’s none of your business."

He tried his best to make the words roll off his tongue in the most polite way as possible. However, it still sounded offending.

Dryly, I replied, “Oh. Then you could’ve just told me you didn’t want me to come. Actually, if I’m not mistaken, you were the one who told me to come with you.”

“No, I didn’t mean it to sound that way,” he shook his head. “It’s just…it’s a family related thing…and I don’t like talking about my family…”

Hearing his response, my expression softened. It was only today that I was informed about his family, particularly his complicated relationship with his dad. I understood now. The fact that I wasn’t aware of Sehun’s difficult life at home was a good enough indication that we didn’t know each other at a personal level. I feel so stupid.

“What you said earlier…about us being strangers to each other…you were right,” I finally admitted. He remained quiet. I took his silence as a sign to continue. “I didn’t realize who we were to each other until you pointed it out.”

“Does it even matter to you who we are to each other?” he asked.

“It matters,” I answered without hesitating. “It bothered me that we weren’t as close as I thought.”

“It’s your fault,” he responded nonchalantly. The serious atmosphere floating around us disappeared in an instant. 

“No, it’s not!” I objected, giving him a look.

“It is!” Sehun continued. “You expect us to be close? You’re the one who always push me away when I try to get close to you. I always get yelled at or punched by you.”

This conversation has taken a drastic turn. I held my palms up to drop the issue.

“That’s not the point. We’re not going to talk about that right now,” I said. Sehun lowered his head and unexpectedly let out a chuckle.

Why is it always a difficult task to engage a serious and mature conversation with him?

I scoffed and turned my head away.

“Hyemi, can I ask why I always get yelled at or punched by you?” Sehun pushed on with the topic.

“Because you’re annoying,” I simply said.

“Annoying how?”

“How do you expect me to react when you randomly touch me or flirt with me? It makes me feel like I’m an easy target. It makes it look like you’re only joking around.”

“What makes you think I'm joking around? What if it’s for real?”

“It’s not though,” I said.

“You don’t know that,” he argued.

“What, are you saying you like me or something?” I blurted out. It came as a surprise for the both of us when it slipped out of my mouth.

However, another wave of shock ran through me when Sehun looked straight into my eyes, leaning forward.

“What if I do?”