Just as we were a few feet away from arriving to my apartment, the sound of thunder roared through the sky. I furrowed my brows and looked up; surprised to see dark clouds hovering before us.

“I didn’t think we were going to get some rain tonight,” Jaehyo commented, “hopefully it doesn’t start—” The sound of rain hits the ground and immediately, I ran for my apartment while still holding onto Jaehyo’s hand. With my keys in my hand, I unlocked the door and walked inside. I turned to look at Jaehyo and noticed that his hair had already gotten wet from the rain and his shirt did not look too dry.
“I’ll get you a towel,” I said taking off my shoes and headed straight for the bathroom. As I the light, I could feel Jaehyo’s presence behind me. Opening a cabinet above the toilet, I grabbed a towel. I turned around and threw the towel at him, “Dry yourself up.” Jaehyo smiled and began to scrub his hair. I walked out of the bathroom and towards a certain spot in the room to sit down. Jaehyo plopped himself in front of me and leaned back with the towel hung on his shoulders.

“You have a nice place,” he commented, “small and nice.”
“Thanks,” I kept my head down and cleared my throat, “I guess when the rain wears off, you can head back to your place.” I suggested, trying to ignore his eyes on me.
“Do you really feel that uncomfortable with me around?” Jaehyo asked, leaning forward. “Or do you have some social complex?”
“I’m just tired,” I answered, which Jaehyo took for an answer.
“Well,” Jaehyo began, “next month, my dad and his wife are planning this party to celebrate the homecoming of my dad’s wife’s son; and I was wondering if you would be my date to it.” I stiffened at his request, but before I could answer, Jaehyo smiled. “Well, if you want to of course; being my date doesn’t mean that we’re going out or anything, unless—”
“Sorry,” I shook my head, “I could be busy on that day.”
“It’ll be on a weekend,” he answered, “I’m sure you won’t have work or class on that day.”
“I don’t know,”
“Just say yes,” he insisted, “I really need a date,”
“Why not ask Hana?”
“She’s going with another guy,” he replied, “it’ll only be about 2 hours long.” He added.
“Um,” I furrowed my brows and found myself complying to his request, “fine.”

His eyes light up, “Really?” I nodded without saying anything else. Jaehyo smiled widely, “I thought I’d had to resort to other persuasions, but it seems not.”
I furrowed my brows, “Other persuasions?”
He smirked, “Curious?” He asked, raising a brow at me.
I shook my head and decided to ask him a question, “So you mention your dad and his wife?”
“Yep,” Jaehyo nodded, “in other words, she’s my step-mom.”
“Step-mom,” I repeated; though I shouldn’t have asked the next question, it just kind of came out. “What happened to your mom?”

Jaehyo leaned back and sighed, “Guess I might as well tell you about myself.” He cleared his throat and looked up for a second before talking, “When I was 13 I was involved in an accident with my mother—and she died.” I stiffened and my felt my throat tightened. Jaehyo noticed, but he kept talking, “I guess if I hadn’t distracted her, the accident wouldn’t have happened.” He explained, “After a long day of work, she just wanted to some peace and quiet. But on that day, I needed a ride home because my dad was unable to pick me up. As I got in her car, I was happy because I wanted to show her my grade on a recent exam, but she ignored me when I tried to talk to her. Annoyed, I took out my paper, thinking she would say something to me, and placed it before her, blocking her view. But instead of getting angry, she smiled like I wanted her to and told me good…” he stopped and looked at me, “and bam.”

“She…”
He nodded, “Unfortunately, the impact of the car coming towards us was so massive that my mother died right then. The car’s glass shattered, leaving scratches on my face but I wasn’t as hurt. The only thing I could remember after was seeing my father and the sound of the ambulance racing away from me. Then, three months later, my father got re-married.”
At the mention of that, I quickly remembered something. I cleared my throat, “I’m sorry for your loss.” I slightly bowed my head at him, “I just remembered something with the mention of ambulances. I don’t know if you remember, but the last time I had actually met you a couple months ago was outside of my school. I accidentally bumped into you, but you didn’t seem to notice because… an ambulance had raced by.”
Jaehyo furrowed his brows, “Really?” I nodded. He chuckled, “Well, to be honest, I’ve been told that I unconsciously follow ambulances whether it is relevant to me or not. I don’t know why I do, but I do.” He answered, “I’m sorry for not saying anything to you at that time.”
I shook my head, “I understand.”
“Great,” he smiled, “anything else you’re curious about me—since we’re talking about my personal life.” I shrugged; there wasn’t really anything else I wanted to ask him—heck, I didn’t mean to ask things about his personal life. Jaehyo snorted, “You must be bubbling with curiosity over my relationship with Hana, right?”
“W-Why would I—”
He clucked his tongue, “Don’t lie,”
I frowned, “I mean… I guess, I’m a tiny bit curious but that doesn’t mean I’m going to ask about it.”

“You’re such a pure person,” Jaehyo chuckled, “but I’m sure you have a question, right?”
“Um,” I decided to ask; that way, we would have a conversation going in case the rain doesn’t stop and things wouldn’t be awkward. “H-How long have you known Hana?”

“Let’s see,” Jaehyo placed a finger on his lower lip, “I’ve known Hana since young because our parents were partners in business—and they were also friends. I spent a lot of times with her and our friends even joked that we would get married in the future."
“Childhood friends, huh.” I mumbled to myself, which he heard and smiled. I cleared my throat, "So then how did you two...?
He nodded and continued, “The more time I spent with her, the more I started to fall in love with her. She was full of life and always made me smile no matter what. Her words were warm and made my heart race. Of course, she didn’t see me as anything but a friend. She dated many guys and when they broke up, I was there for her. Then one night—after another one of her break-up—I confessed to her that I loved her and I would never hurt her. Though I think it was only a spur of the moment, she kissed me and told me she loved me too.” He paused before continuing, “We dated for a year before Hana told me that she was beginning to lose interest in me. She told me that she only said she loved me because at the time, all she wanted was love and I was giving her the love she needed. Of course, it left me heartbroken; I couldn’t cope with the heart beak and found myself secluding myself from everyone. The only people that I wanted in my life were gone: my mom and Hana.

“But as we all know, you must move on in life. There’s no need to be drowning yourself in a situation which you couldn’t prevent from happening. So I did; after a year, I hadn’t met Hana since. I only met her again when I found out that her brother had been in an accident and had died. Her brother was someone precious to her and I knew it. So I came to his funeral and found Hana crying in a corner. I walked to her and told her that I didn’t want our relationship to be ruined because of the past. I was going to be here for her and will always be here.” Jaehyo shifted before continuing, “Unfortunately, after the funeral and the burial, Hana asked us to get back to together. But I declined because I knew she only wanted something to be distracted by; and also because my feeling for her had drained. The end.”

I glanced away from Jaehyo and stared blankly at the ground. I didn’t know what to say.
Jaehyo chuckled and leaned forward, “Let’s hear about your love story,”
I shook my head, “No,”
“Come on,” he pouted, “I just told you mine,”
“Well, you could have declined.” I answered which Jaehyo chuckled once more.
“You’re such a hard head,” he knocked the top of his head, “you shouldn’t be so reserved, especially since you called me to rescue you.”
I quickly stood up, “I think the rain has stopped,”
“You’re a really interesting person, you know.” Jaehyo said as I walked past him—but before I could go any further, he grabbed onto my wrist. I tried to jerk away but he opposed and pulled me down. My eyes widened, feeling his body beneath me and our faces only inches away.

“T-This is—”
Jaehyo shushed me from saying anymore, “If you struggle I’ll try something different,” he winked. I complied and stayed still. Jaehyo chuckled, shifting his body some, “You’re warming me up a bit from the rain.” I grinded my teeth; just when I thought I had to stay like this longer, the ringing of Jaehyo’s phone saved me. I got myself off of Jaehyo and stood up, standing just a few feet away from him.

“I’ll come back,” Jaehyo said into the device, “I just had to… do something.” He ended the call and looked at me with a smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow,”
I nodded, “Right,”
He widened his smile and waved at me before leaving my apartment.
 

author's note; thanks for reading!!!!!! sorry for not replying to comments.. I've just been copying and pasting these chapters