Her life is normal; filled with routines that she lives by. She likes to do things as she pleases and at her own rate. Not even her friends can put spontaneous things into her life anymore, and this leaves them dumbfounded of what to do.

          But she wasn’t always like this. Ever since she decided to step up her game, get good grades, and move away from home for a couple years, things changed. Her life was set in an orderly fashion; study this, study that. Work here, work there. Do this, do that. Everything was black or white, but set in her own ways. She liked it that way.

          The story starts off with a nineteen year old girl by the name of Jade. She was of Asian descent – born and raised in South Korea – and lived in England currently as she attended college, and was working overtime at a nearby library. It was a rainy day, people were quiet as they sat and read overrated magazine articles on celebrities and searched for entertaining love novels about vampires; Jade occasionally let herself sink into a fantasy book and escape her stressful life.

          Jade sat at the main desk, flipping the papers of her textbook, reading over lines about business and financial things she’d never remember. Two more agonizing months until she graduated. Why she chose to go into a business career, she’d never fully know. Maybe it was her parents’ pressure? She’d shrug off the thought.

          Jade's life was normal at the moment; quiet and filled with late night stops at Starbuck's for coffee or a chai tea. She stayed up until after midnight, finished essays and whatnot, slept until noon (her classes usually began at 1 pm), and visited a couple close friends when they weren't busy. She had a cat named Jisook; the cat began ignoring her as exams came around; the cat-human bonding was out of the question for more than a week. But things were content in her life; always were. She did everything in routine, on time, and with a smile. She’d smile no matter what. Unless it was something she really didn’t like, then no smile appeared on her face.

          After work she made her way to the bus stop; purple, polka dotted umbrella shielding her from the chilly rain, and tote bag on her shoulder. She loved the rain. So much in fact she would like to just walk in it without the protection of her umbrella, but doing so would most likely make her sick, so no. She hummed along to a song by an Indie artist whose name totally vanished from her mind.

          "Such a bother," a boy's voice said as she passed by a shop. The shop was abandoned and old-looking; it had an awning above it that surprisingly stayed in place and unharmed. Jade ignored the boy as she stepped inside the covered bus stop just a few meters away from him, closing her umbrella. She looked back at him to see him drenched and trying to fix his hair and then his clothes that were stuck to his tall frame. She examined him, curious as to why he didn't have an umbrella in this weather. He mustn’t be from around there, she assumed. That or he just didn’t own one. From the small observation, she noticed he has a red-colored hairstyle (What color is that exactly? she wondered), was tall (but that wasn’t unusual), and was wearing fashion not suited for the rain; a simple jacket, a shirt with odd moon designs that sparkled, and jeans that were ripped near the right knee. His shoes looked old. His attire – overall – was unusual. Jade went back to looking around at others as she patiently waited for the bus.

          "Excuse me," the strange boy said to a man as he walked by. The man just ignored him. He frowned. Strangers were rude and he was learning that up close and personal. He wasn’t much of a fan of cold-shouldered, rude people who ignored a person in need. But he did spot Jade. She had glanced back at the tall boy and caught his eye, quickly turning away to avoid the awkward eye contact. She feared he did in fact see her staring at him moments ago, which he did. It would be awkward to her, because she might look like a creeper or something. But, however, that wasn’t the case for him.

          He jogged over to her; hope in his mind that this stranger would help him. She looked nice enough. "Excuse me," he said to her, sitting beside her, "I need your help." She blinked and scooted an inch away since he was a tiny bit too close. She didn’t look at him and continued to stare at nothing in particular as he stared at her. She felt as if her personal bubble was being invaded – she didn’t like it at all. Although she was willing to be nice, something told her to be skeptical and cautious around this guy.

          "With what?" she questioned him. A stranger asking for help is never a good idea, unless they present themselves better and seem less…creepy. He could be a for all she knows. A tall, deep voiced who sounded a bit too cheery. That’s all she concluded from the minute that he’d been in her presence.

          "I need a place to stay for at least seven days and seven nights," he told her, holding up seven fingers and smiling wide. She scoffed and looked around at the road. The rain made the street lights shine on the wet pavement, creating a pretty illusion in the evening atmosphere.

His smile faded and he put his hands down when she didn’t answer. "You won't help?"

          She looked at him finally, "I don't even know you. Who just goes up to a stranger and asks for a place to stay?"

          "Me...?" he replied, pointing to himself. "It's just seven days and seven-" He had seven fingers up again and was putting them in her face when she covered his mouth. He lowered his hands and stared at her. She didn't understand him. Who just asks a stranger for a place to stay? Apparently the guy beside her. He began mumbling things into her palm and she furrowed her eyebrows together. All she knew so far was that this boy - this oddly deep voiced boy with reddish hair - was asking for a place to stay. He, a stranger, was asking yet another random stranger for help like this. It was too bizarre to put into words and too crazy to accept!

          "Stop talking," she commanded him. The mumbling stopped. "You don't just ask strangers for a place to stay. It's...weird. Besides, what if one ended up hurting you or... you?" His eyes widened. Maybe he wasn’t a after all, she thought, since she just mentioned to him and that was his reaction. But.. it’s better to be safe than sorry, right? He could just be playing mind games and acting innocent to lure her into a trap. "Why do you need a place to stay?" She lowered her hand so he could answer properly.

         "I ran away from my parents," he simply answered. "And if they see me outside, I'll be forced back. I can't go back!" She chuckled. This was such a cliché moment. It was like some story from a book.

          "Why? Are they forcing you to do something you don't want to?" she asked with slight sarcasm, amused by his previous answer. If he said ‘yes’, this would seem like a story; one she didn’t particularly want to be a part of at the moment. But she doubted that was the reason.

          "Exactly!" he shouted rather loudly. A few civilians passing by glanced at him. One man even stopped and observed the situation, thinking something was up. He continued on, though, thankfully.

Jade raised an eyebrow as she eyed him. When she didn't respond for a few minutes, he pouted. Yes. Pouted. She was shocked to see a boy pouting (outside of an Asian country, so to say), but she found it cute. His face was young-looking and the pout just made him look downright cute. Plus, he was Asian, like herself. She knew most Asians did that sort of thing…just not in England. If someone saw him doing that there, they’d probably give him weird looks. And judge him. She was judging him already.

She held back a smile though.

          "Stop that," she said once she couldn't hold back her smile any longer. He grinned at her upon seeing her smile. Maybe she was changing her mind, he thought. If she was, this was great! He’d get the help he desperately needed.

          "So you'll help me?" he asked, still grinning.

          "When did I say that?"

          "You know you want to," he told her.

          She frowned. She didn’t want to. But she wasn’t a cold-hearted person; she’d help if need be. He didn’t seem too bad anyways; not too creepy or crazy. "Only for a week?" He nodded. "Fine. But you owe me!" He nodded again, beaming. This was absolutely great! He would’ve hugged her if he wasn’t so afraid she might hurt him. Even though she was smaller than him, and looked weak, he thought for sure she’d do something to hurt him. "Who are you anyways?" Establishing some sort of acquaintance-like relationship would be beneficial just in case he was some kind of , murderer, or…whatever else she could think of.
 
          He stood up and bowed (again, passing civilians stared at the foreign action); he caused the water from his hair to get on Jade. She wiped it off as he stood straight. "I'm Chanyeol!" he told her, smiling wide. A small smile formed on her lips due to his contagious smile. She didn't even realize she was smiling. He sat back down and kept that wide smile on his face. He held up seven fingers once again to her. "Only seven days. I promise."

➥ author's notes; ♡
  hi there. uhm. this is basically a short intro to stuff so.. yeah. /rolls away like the awkward turtle i am;