It was raining heavily the next night, but I’d promised him I’d be there. I had a feeling he’d be there despite the rain, and he was. I crossed the creek like the two other nights before and he appeared from behind a large tree. He was hardly wet, as the green leaves and large branches shielded him. The thunder roared, but I could hear nothing over his silken voice as he approached me. Touching me again, he pulled me underneath the tree with him. He giggled and I froze. If there was something I was supposed to have done, I wouldn’t know it. As if I weren’t uncomfortable enough, my clothes sticking to my skin thanks to the rain, his touch was more than enough to make every muscle in my body tense and my eyes widen as far as they could.

            “I love the rain,” he told me in more than a child-like voice. He finally let me out of his soft grip when he stepped out into it, tossing his head back and spreading his arms. His blonde hair fell against his semi-exposed back like a blemishless white flower might brush against the grass in a heavy rain. I was getting so carried away with myself that it took me a good forty five seconds to think of a metaphor to remember it by that I almost ignored him as he turned towards me. His hand was extended, gesturing for me to follow him. I didn’t want to touch him again in fear that I might be burnt by his heavenly aura, but I took his hand anyway.

            He turned his head towards sky and closed his eyes. His lips curled into a frothy smile. I couldn’t help myself from copying him instantaneously. Our fingers were still intertwined when I’d realized and tried to slowly pull away. His grip didn’t tighten, but kept me there. Again, my heart picked up speed. The longer we stood there, the closer I was to cardiac arrest. It was at the final moment before my sudden death that he tilted his head down again and watched me.

            “You’re red.” he said obviously. I didn’t speak a word. I glanced at the wet sand at our feet and tried hard to refrain from biting at my lip. It was quiet for minutes as he looked at me and my heart continued to pound before he finally spoke again. “You’re cute, JR.”

            I wasn’t sure if what I was feeling was embarrassment or happiness -- I would bargain for somewhere between the two -- but my heart slowed. I caught his gaze again and I didn’t know what to do with any part of my body. I’m lucky I had him to lead me, or else I’d have been a terrible mess. He watched me longer, the rain still pouring down in buckets from the heavy, dark clouds. I could hear nothing but the thunder, my thoughts, and the distant sound of the dogs playfully barking. My mind wasn’t fully focused as my eyes recognized him pulling me back towards the tree I found him under. He sat in the grass and stared up at me. I followed him. I wished I had something to say to make conversation.

            His lips parted as he spoke like the fingers of a newborn might spread in excitement. There was no other way to describe his skin apart from that of an infant, if not softer and paler. I focused on the feeling of my hand still in his instead of his words, and I figured he’d noticed. He stopped speaking for a moment to bring a finger to my chin and lift my face. My eyes closed dreamily.

            “Really cute. Are you listening?”
            I wasn’t, and he knew it. I nodded, though, as he caught my thumb running circles against the top of his hands. With every bump of a vein, I shivered so subtly that even I could hardly tell.
            “You’re hard to talk to, you know.” He smiled, showing his white teeth. “It’s fine. I like people who like to hear what I have to say.”
            I nodded, still unable to think of a single word to say. With one more circle against his hand, I spoke the first words that came to my mind. “How are you so beautiful?”

            I was half shocked with myself and half pleased that I had asked that. I already knew that I’d earn a small giggle and a comment after that, but somehow, his “The same way you’re so cute. I don’t try. And besides, I have this freckle on my neck that bothers me twenty-four seven and there’s not enough makeup in the world to cover it. I’m not completely flawless,” struck me with awe. I couldn’t do anything but smile, completely and utterly enthralled by his remark.

            “As a matter of fact,” was all my throat would allow me to speak before Aron’s voice became all too clear in my ears. “That’s my brother.” I mentioned as I stood quickly. “Tomorrow?”
            “Tomorrow,” he stood after me. Our fingers still touched. “And you’ll have to stay longer than twenty minutes this time.”

            I smiled deeply as he brought his hands back to himself. “I promise.”

---

            I laid in my bed, Tosunnie cuddled so close to me that I couldn’t have rolled over even if I tried. The clean air whistled in through the crack in the window and I took it in through both my nose and mouth. I stretched an arm and patted her heavily. She woke and moved to my feet. I rolled over, facing the window now. I couldn’t see the outside, but the scent was all I needed to be reminded of Ren’s presence.

            It took me hours to fall asleep that night. I must have replayed that evening in my head so many times that I could have written it into a movie scene if I had the pen, paper and motivation to do so. I clenched my fist tightly, trying hard to remember how his hand felt in mine. I was so close to remembering that I could almost feel it. I closed my eyes, feeling the water well in them. I could have cried thinking only about the way the raindrops bounced off of his skin. I wished I could see him for only one more second before we had to scurry apart thanks to Aron. The look on my brother’s face when he came to get me looked more than angry at the fact that he had to trudge so far in the rain. If it wasn’t, I would have hidden if only to stay at the creek the whole night.

            The morning was the same as usual. The other family arrived in their SUV. Tosunnie met with Rensunnie to bicker underneath the picnic table over a mere piece of sausage, and Aron’s eyes never left Kaeun’s face. She was growing to like him, I could tell. She wasn’t nearly as closed off as she had been those few days before, and from what I could see, they were more or less stuck together like glue whenever I saw them. Baekho enjoyed spending his time by the campfire. Every time I saw him, he had food in his mouth. I couldn’t blame him, though. Everything he and my Dad had cooked up was more than delicious. Minhyun, on the other hand, always had his nose stuck in a book, even when I tried hard to make some way with a conversation with him. Ultimately, he seemed uninterested unless it had to do with Harry Potter, Criminal Minds (which I soon came to find were his favourite book series and television show), or the dogs.

            I would have looked into how everyone else was acting more, if only Ren wasn’t the only thing I could think about.