Per usual, Seyoon and Luhan walked together to school despite Luhan’s yawning expressions.

“You don’t have to fetch me every morning, you know, especially when you’re deprived of sleep. I don’t really care,” said Seyoon with nonchalance but at the same time, a slight concerned tone.

“Sorry, sorry,” Luhan repeated with less energetic tone than what he usually had. “It’s just that we have the same project as yours and my partner…What was his name again? Myungsoo?”

“Yeah, he’s been your classmate for some time and still don’t know his name. Typical of a narcissist like you.”

“What?! No! It’s just that he’s been called L in class. I never knew his real name until we have this project. So anyway, he’s being too attached to the project, suggesting here and there. And we ended up having our topic proposal. Take note, just a topic proposal, at one in the morning! I think I’ll have more sleepless nights from now on,” said Luhan while having another yawn.

“Then you should have slept a little longer. Seriously, I really don’t mind if you won’t be able to accompany me to school.”

“Are you concerned of me or you just don’t want me to accompany you every morning? Because if you don’t want, I’ll…I—” Luhan started to fake cry with his pouting expression.

“Aish!” Seyoon lightly punched his right shoulder. “Stop that! Your fangirls might kill me if they’ll see you cry and they may think that it’s because of me. And think whatever you want to think. I’m really just concerned that you deprive yourself of sleep just to accompany me every morning.”

“Really? Omo! Seyoon-ah!” Seyoon’s ears cringe and cursed herself because Luhan’s energetic loud voice was back again because of her. She didn’t know but having this guy accompany her every day to school somehow gave her a sigh of relief. At least, every morning, she felt safe.

She just thought of the message being sent to her by this mysterious ‘J’ and she couldn’t feel any safer.  

But, how about to cry with, who will still be there for you?

The first thing that came to her mind was that what could that anonymous sender do to make her cry? What are the things that would her cry anyway?

She remembered that the last time she cried was because of none other than Kai. But that would be too personal and no one knew her feelings for him except her…and her brother Suho. One thing that Seyoon was afraid of was if that person would start hurting her friends. Well, accident about the chairs was still unknown whether it was caused by the same person. But if it was, she was afraid that the person could do more harm.

“Hey, what are you thinking? You’ve been quiet again?” Luhan suddenly asked out of the blue with his concerned, serious tone.

“None. It’s nothing.” Seyoon mumbled. “Isn’t it great to walk in the morning peacefully?” she snorted.

“Hmpf! By the way, just to clarify about my fangirls, you don’t have to worry. They will not do anything bad to you because I have already talked to them,” said Luhan.

“You talked to them?” Luhan nodded. “About me?” Another nod. “What did you exactly say to them?!” Seyoon asked frantically.

“Relax. I just told them that whatever it is about my personal life, they have to accept it and not to criticize whoever person I befriended with. You know, my fans, well they prefer to be called ‘Deers’, my deers know the boundaries. Besides, I know their president and she’s kind unlike you,” Luhan teased.

“What?! If she’s kind and she likes you then why don’t you go after her instead, huh?” Seyoon looked at him, scowled.

“Are you jealous?”

“Wha— Haha!! What are you saying?” Seyoon swayed her head. “This conversation will not go anywhere. Whatever. At least, now I know that you have a decent fanbase. And please tell them not to worry because I won’t get their idol from them. You are theirs, forever.” Seyoon emphasized before dashing to the entrance.

“What? Wait for me!” said Luhan as he ran after her.

---

Contrary to the weather forecast, it didn’t rain for the whole day until the class ended in the afternoon.

“Are you sure it’s okay that we work in our dorm? We can still change the place—”

“It’s okay. I prefer working in your dorm. Besides, library is too quiet. I’ll just feel sleepy if we work there.”

“Alright! I’ll go get some of the materials,” said Lay.

“I’ll carry the books then,” replied Seyoon.

“Let’s all go together since we’re also going to our dorm,” said Kyungsoo.

“Let’s go,” Chanyeol said to Sehun.

“Aren’t you coming with us?” asked Kyungsoo.

Sehun swayed his head. “Chanyeol and I will be staying here to work in the library.”

“Alright. We’ll go then. See you later,” said Kyungsoo as he, Lay, Xiumin, and Seyoon already left.

---

Chanyeol went to his locker and noticed a hanging umbrella on Seyoon’s locker handle.

‘She must have forgotten about it since she’s carrying all those books,’ he thought. He just looked at it before he locked his own locker and went back to the library.

---

“How are you able to do that?!” Luhan asked Seyoon.

“What?” she asked annoyingly. She thought that she and Lay would be able to work properly in their dorm without any distraction but here was Luhan asking questions every now and then. If only Lay didn’t offer the two vacant seats to Luhan and Myungsoo, he and Seyoon would be able to finish on their targeted time. Unfortunately, they were not.

“You’re already halfway there and we haven’t even started yet,” Luhan cried.

“Yah! It’s your fault anyway. Instead of being a nuisance here, why don’t you help your partner? He’s doing the entire job, don’t you see?” replied Seyoon.

“But he’s into it, right Myungsoo?”

“Don’t worry. We’re also halfway there. I’ll just do some little revisions,” Myungsoo replied enthusiastically.

“See? He’s into it. I’m not much of a help either,” said Luhan. Seyoon just gave him a stern look and went back to their project.

Seyoon suddenly felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. ‘Is it another text from…’ She opened her phone and found the same anonymous number on the screen.

“You should take care of yourself. I hope you won’t get sick,” she read. She put back her phone and made sure that no one noticed her. ‘What does that person mean by this?’ she asked herself.

“Hi guys!” Xiumin suddenly came to their table and greeted them. Together with him came Kyungsoo and Baekhyun.

“How’s your project?” Lay asked.

“Oh, we’re almost there. We’ll just finish it later. Our rooms are not that far from each other anyway unlike the two of you. You should finish your project quickly. It’s getting dark outside. I think it’s really going to rain,” said Xiumin.

“Rain?” Seyoon looked at Xiumin and she immediately scanned the things she brought. It was only now that she realized that she forgot to bring her umbrella with her. “What should I do?” she mumbled.

“Hmm?” Luhan asked.

“What? I’m just thinking about our project. Like I said, you should help Myungsoo. Now shoo!” she said to Luhan which caused Luhan to stick his tongue out to her and returned to his seat. Seyoon did the same and returned to her project. But her mind was still preoccupied by the umbrella she left in their school.

‘By any chance, does that person know that I forgot my umbrella?’ she asked herself.

---

Kai walked back and forth; entered his room once in a while and coming out again after a few minutes; opened the fridge and closing it if he didn’t see anything that would appeal to him; the television; and whatever that was coming in his mind. But he couldn’t remove his mind to the clock ticking every second, adding to the nervousness he couldn’t explain why he felt.

Seyoon already said to him prior this day that she would be working on a project with Lay on their dorm. Of course, Kai couldn’t disagree since he knew that Lay looked like someone he could trust more than Luhan. And besides, Seyoon has been to the boy’s dorm a lot of times. And if there was anything that could happen, he could just contact Baekhyun or Kyungsoo since they were also residents of that dorm. But he was feeling uneasy since a while ago for a reason he didn’t know.

It was already three hours after their school ended. And the clock was moving for another hour. To add to his nervousness, the sky was darker than usual even though the sun should supposedly set a little later.

‘Maybe I should contact Lay?’ he thought. “But I don’t have his number. How about if I ask Luhan?” Kai suddenly swayed his head. “No. He would think that I am too much concern of Seyoon. Maybe Seyoon had Lay’s number written in one of her notebooks.

Kai went in front of Seyoon’s door. He knew that he would never dare to go inside without Seyoon’s permission. Not once that he went there without Seyoon. But today was an exception and he had to have Lay’s number. He opened the door to her room and he could smell the same lavender scent that was similar to the scent of her shampoo. The scent would also have him reminisce of the first time he met Seyoon.

---

“My phone’s battery is dead,” Seyoon mumbled as she looked at the blank screen of her phone. She was already standing outside of the boy’s dorm as she and Lay was able to finish their project on their targeted time. Well of course, Xiumin had to take Luhan away from them for a while Kyungsoo and Baekhyun offered their help.

“Seyoon!” she suddenly heard someone called her name. She turned around to see who it was.

“Baekhyun? What are you doing here? It’s already dark. Are you going somewhere?” she asked.

“Ah, no. Actually,” he looked at her. “I noticed that you don’t bring an umbrella with you so I want you to have this,” he offered shyly a yellow foldable umbrella.

“But, you don’t have to do this. I have my umbrella but I left it at school so I’ll be walking there to get it,” she replied with a reassuring smile.

“No. Chan—” he paused and cleared his throat. “I mean, there’s a chance, a greater chance that it would rain later. Just bring this in case it will rain on your way to school. Anyway, you could just return it to me tomorrow,” he said with a delicate smile.

“Thank you Baekhyun. All right, since you say so, I’ll take this. Thank you again,” she said before waving a goodbye to Baekhyun.

“Take care!” Baekhyun shouted one last time. Seyoon looked back and nodded at him.

“I will…” she mumbled before taking a deep breath.

---

It was already dark but the school lights were still on for the student who were staying late in school. Luckily, Seyoon was able to reach the school before the droplets of rain started to drizzle. She was on the entrance door when she saw a girl carrying some of her books and based on her action, she was planning to run through the rain without an umbrella.

“Excuse me?” Seyoon asked her.

The girl looked at her with a surprised look. “Yes?” she asked.

“Don’t you have any umbrella with you?”

“Uhm…no,” the girl lowered her head.

“Here take this,” Seyoon said as she offered the yellow umbrella that Baekhyun gave her. “Don’t worry. I still have a spare umbrella on my locker. You can have this. You might get sick when you go without an umbrella. Take it,” Seyoon repeated as she extended the umbrella to the girl.

The girl really seemed hesitant to take it but Seyoon insisted. In the end, she got the umbrella from Seyoon’s hand and bowed to her. “Thank you so much,” she said in a low soft voice.

“No worries. Just return it to me tomorrow. You can drop by on the student council room. I’ll be there after class,” Seyoon replied with a smile. The girl looked at her one last time with an unreadable expression but she tried to reply with a smile.

“Bye!” Seyoon said one last time as she watched the girl walking with the yellow umbrella. Now that the girl opened it, Seyoon noticed that the umbrella had a giraffe pattern in it which formed a smile on her face.

“Oh, I forgot to ask her name.”

---

Kai looked everywhere and as expected, Seyoon’s room was well-organized and neat compared to his room. That was the reason why he would always locked it because he was ashamed of his own untidiness.

Kai rummaged through Seyoon’s desk but he made sure that he would remember where each of the items was placed so he could return them back to its original position. There were a few sticky notes, her laptop, and…

“Why does she have some of her school books here? Shouldn’t these be put inside her school locker?”

He looked and found two identical books. “Why does she have two English books?” Kai remembered correctly that the book the Seyoon lost was her English book. But he looked at the two books again and they were the same. The other one even had Seyoon’s name on it. When he examined the book closely, Kai’s expression turned into a mixture of shocked and anger.

“What is this? Who would dare do this to her?” And even adding to his anger was the note being place under the book he lifted.

“You don’t deserve…him?”

Kai slammed the book on Seyoon’s desk and unconsciously crumpled the note in his hand.

“This is bad…”

Kai went outside Seyoon’s room. He looked again at the clock and it was already half past seven. He frantically dashed on the doorway, put his shoes. He was thinking too much that was why he still in his school uniform. Forgetting about the possible rain and the umbrella, he ran out of the dark street to find her.

---

It front of the locker stood Seyoon. The umbrella was still there. She could see it. Unfortunately…she was too late. The umbrella had a lot of cuts in it which created holes making it impossible to use. She looked at it with tears already forming in her eyes but she tried to hold it in. If she would cry now then that person would win against her. She gritted her teeth hard and tried to calm herself.

“I have no choice…”

---

Kai already went to their school but he hadn’t seen Seyoon there. He asked some of the students and luckily he was able to asked one that recognized Seyoon and said to him that their Vice President practically ran through the rain without any raincoat or umbrella with her.

“But I gave her the umbrella this morning,” Kai thought over and over again. He was sure of it. He even put a note on it. He was sure that he reminded Seyoon of the umbrella. “Was it because of that…the person who wrote that note?”

He ran outside. He never missed any sight in front of him as he looked for the figure of Seyoon everywhere. He was already wet but he didn’t care. In fact, he couldn’t feel the hard pouring rain pressing down his body. His entire mind was focus only on one thing and that was Seyoon. He had to find her before anything would happen to her, he thought.

He stopped by in front of a convenient store. The extended roof was enough to shelter him for a while. He knew it shouldn’t be the time to stop but he also need time to think, think of the possible places that Seyoon could have been to.

Suddenly, he felt a vibration in his pocket. Even though his entire body was wet, his blazer was thick enough to have his phone proofed by the rain. His mind was so confused enough and to add to that was an unknown number calling him on that very untimely moment. He closed his eyes and took a deep sigh before answering the anonymous caller.

“Yobose—”

“Kai…”

Kai stopped talking. His eyes grew wide in shocked as he tried to listen to that voice again, that soft but husky voice calling his name. He knew that voice. “Seyoon?”

“Kai, I’m sorry. I think I will not be home until later. I still have to finish this project and…”

Kai could hear Seyoon’s voice clearly but he knew there was something wrong in it, everything was wrong. He could her trembling voice. He could also hear the rain on the other line. And above it all, Seyoon’s voice sounded as if she just cried.

 “You don’t have to wait for me. Please eat the dinner I prepared earlier and sleep early. You don’t have to wait. I have my keys…” she said in soft voice.

“Seyoon, where are you? I’ll go and fetch you. Tell me, where are you?” Kai tried to sound calm despite the panic he was feeling.

“No. It’s okay. I can go home alone. Just sleep early okay. Bye…” And the last thing Kai heard was a long beeping tone.

“Seyoon, why?” He looked at his phone again. He realized that Seyoon didn’t use her phone to call him. He looked at the number and something was familiar in it.

“Wait, this is a number of a public telephone. She must be in a phone booth or…I have to…” Kai was practically panicking. He looked from left to right and found no phone booth anywhere. “She must be near here,” he thought and he prayed. Just in time, a man from the convenience store just went outside.

“Excuse me sir? Do you know any phone booth near here?” he asked.

The old man looked at Kai and his wet appearance. “If you really need to go to one, there’s one near hear. Just turn right to that street. It’s right past a daycare center,” the old man said. Kai was about to go when the man stopped him. “Here. Even though you’re already wet, I think you still need to shelter yourself from the rain. It’s difficult getting sick these days. Take this umbrella. I have my raincoat with me.”

With that, Kai took the umbrella, thanked the man, and dashed to the street the old man told him.

“I told him to use the umbrella and he just ran holding it. Tsk. Kids these days…” the man mumbled.

---

Seyoon hung up the phone before Kai asked any further. Kai couldn’t see her in that state. She looked pathetic, she thought. She was soaking wet because of the rain. She also wasn’t able to restrain her tears from falling once she ran through the rain. She didn’t even know how she was able to run that long from their school to the phone booth she accidentally saw. Luckily, no one was there.

She tried to call Kai to tell him that she was okay. She decided to stay inside the phone booth for a while. She knew Kai’s sleeping time and so she had to stay until she was sure that Kai was already asleep.

A lot of things was running in her mind right now. Half was on how she would explain to Kai why she went home late and half of it was the anonymous person, who was he or she? Why was that person doing this to her? She was definitely defeated now because she just cried and no one was with her. No one was there with her to help her. She looked helpless, she thought. ‘That person won…’

Just when she felt the tears warning to fall from her eyes once again, she heard the door of the phone booth opened. And before she even turned around, she felt a warm body enclosing her. His hands were wet, she could see it. But she could feel the warm he was giving her. She could feel the man’s arms embracing her tightly from behind. His warm breath traveled on the crook of her neck and her ear.

“Don’t worry. I’m already here…” he whispered.

“Kai…”

 

 

 

 

 

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credit: tumblr, rightful owner