♥

The scene couldn’t be any more dramatic.

 

The weeping sky is the perfect backdrop to the rather tumultuous relationship slowly developing between Jong In, Jina, Sehun...and I. I have never really understood their dynamic, but if there’s one thing that I am certain about, it’s how I have made everything messier than it already is. I look at Jina’s face, and it doesn’t take long for me to notice that her eyes are already b with fresh tears, each drop probably reflecting the hurt she must have felt when she saw Jong In and I together.

Dancing in the rain. My heart takes an uncertain lurch at the thought of the raging storm that must be already brewing inside Jina’s chest, making her heart swell with sadness that it bursts. The rain continues its steady stream of cold water falling from above, and it exposes my guilt and regret. Truly, for the first time, I think I have finally realized who Jong In is in Jina’s life.

I look at Jong In, and he is as frozen -- not freezing from the cold. Like time, the concept of moving and reaching out to Jina stops for him.  

Just then Sehun drops the umbrella, his own storm getting out of his usual melancholic self as he marches to where Jong In and I are standing, eyes almost blazing with fury, as if he too, were betrayed.

“We need to talk,” he says curtly at Jong In, his voice as calm as the ocean  right before a tempest. He is angry, I can tell, and the way he grabs Jong In’s arm is enough proof for me to say so. Jong In doesn’t talk, and only blindly follows Sehun’s lead. They leave Jina and I staring at each other, under the rain.

Her eyes still have the pain in them. Despite this, she nods and wills her lips to smile at me, as if saying that she understands, that she knows where I am coming from. She just stands there, her clothes getting wet, body shivering from the cold, but still persistent on waiting -- either for Jong In or Sehun, I don’t really know.

A flash of lightning, followed by a deep roar of thunder makes the two of us jump in surprise, and that moment makes us run to each other. It is safe to say that both of us are scared of lightning and thunder, judging by how we are both cowering in slight fear together.

“I think we should leave,” My words come out in shaky drafts. “We’ll get sick if we stay here.”

She moves her head in agreement, and I take her hand, leading the two of us out of the park.

------------

Somehow Jina’s mobile phone has been safe inside her layers of clothes, and I was able to borrow it to call my driver so we could go back to my house and stay there for time being. We are now inside my room; I am drying my hair while Jina is sitting on my bed, a big, thick towel wrapped around her shoulders. She is still shivering from the cold, so I tell her,

“You can use my bathroom, Jina. I’ll get you some clothes. Don’t worry, I’ll ask my assistant to call your parents and inform them of your whereabouts.” I smile at her, in hopes of easing the awkwardness between us, but Jina just shivers some more. Her current state begins to worry me; if she gets sick, I’m sure as hell that Jong In and Sehun will get mad at me. Concerned, I walk over to her and offer, “I can ask my driver to take you home if you want, Jina. But you have to change into dry clothes first. Or maybe eat something before we try to contact whoever it is you want to contact?”

“S-sorry,” Jina apologizes softly, looking up at me with an embarrassed expression on her face. “I don’t want to trouble you so much, Minji.”

“You’re not bothering me at all, Jina. You should probably take a warm bath and rest a little here. It’s still raining hard outside anyway.” I gesture at my window where small branches are hitting and slapping continuously on the glass, leaving leaves plastered randomly on its surface.  “Please stay for a while. I promise, I’ll let you figure things out after you take a bath.” I gently take both of her hands, pulling her away from my bed. “Come on, I’ve never had anyone come over at my house, let me enjoy having another girl friend stay in my room, please?” I joke, giggling as I help her stand up. Thankfully she laughs a little at my persistence and finally says,

“Ok, Minji.” She smiles genuinely at me then adds, “I’ll take a bath. Thank you.”

“Yes!” I cheer, happy that we’re heading off to a good start. “Let me pick some clothes for you, okay?”

------------

Once Jina got out of my bathroom, I wasted no time in helping her get dressed, throwing random sweaters, leggings and pants out of my closet, much to her surprise. She was pretty quiet as I rambled about each clothing item, eyes growing a little wide at the heap of brand new and unused clothes on the floor.

“Wow,” she says as she sits on the edge of my bed, wearing the bathrobe I had given her before she took a shower. “Have you worn all of this?”

“Not all of them,” I admit, standing up and turning around to face her. “Makes me wish I had a sister, to be honest. If I had one, then I’d have someone to fight over these clothes or something.”

“Your entire closet is enough for about ten girls or so to share,” She whispers softly, but I still catch her little remark. She blushes profusely as I look at her. “Sorry,” she apologizes quickly, mortified for she must have misunderstood my reaction. “I didn’t mean for it to sound negative, Minji.”

“Oh, I know,” I assure her with a dismissive wave of my hand. “You’re probably correct. Let me say that I wish I have nine other sisters, to be exact, then. What a riot would that be!”

The two of us share a laugh at this, and this particular moment between us makes me feel lighter inside. I wanted to make her laugh, because the way she cried in the rain made me feel bad.

A flash of red from the pile of clothes beside me catches my attention. I grab it excitedly and throw it on Jina’s lap.

“Here, you should try this on,” I suggest. “I don’t think I’ve worn it before.”

Jina stares at the red sweater in slight wonder and amazement, her hands running across the fabric to feel its texture. “It looks beautiful and it feels so nice,” She murmurs. “I think I’ve seen this in one of the shops in Cheongdam-dong.”

“That’s actually from Paris,” I say as I sit beside her. Another hint of pink creeps up on her cheeks as she looks at me shyly, flustered that she has made a wrong guess.  “But yeah, maybe Cheongdam-dong has it,” I lie a little to stop her from acting so bashful around me -- it didn’t really matter to me where I got the sweater anyway. “You should wear it. Now I probably realize why I never used it. It doesn’t really match my skin color.”

“It doesn’t?” She asks dubiously. “I think this would look great on you.”

“No, it won’t.” I extend my arm beside her to compare my skin tone to hers. “It would look great on you. You have paler skin, and it would make the sweater’s color pop more if you wear it. By the way, you really do have beautiful skin,” I gush, meaning every word I am saying to her. “What’s your secret?”

“Uh, I...I don’t have any secrets, I guess. I just take a bath every day.” Jina laughs awkwardly at this, the blush now never really leaving her face.

“You’re lucky then,” I say as I run a finger through her exposed arm, making her jump a little. “It’s so soft, too.”

“Maybe it’s because of your soap and lotion that you made me use,” She says quickly. “They feel so nice, Minji.”

“Oh, do they? I should give some to you if it does really wonderful things to  your skin!” I am about to stand up and go to my bathroom, but Jina stops me.

“You don’t have to,” She half-whispers. “This is already a bit too much, I mean, you’re letting me wear expensive clothes you haven’t used yet and...”

“That’s nonsense,” I cut her off as I sit beside her again. “You don’t have to worry about anything, Jina.”

Jina grows still at this, and it makes my heart beat faster than it usually does. I hope that I have not offended her; she seems like a really good person and I realize that I have somewhat come to like her in the short period of time I am with her. I don’t want to upset her, or make her feel like I’m being deliberately mean to her because I am engaged to Jong In.

I really want the two of us to be friends despite of our current situation.

“I didn’t mean to sound --” I start, but whatever I was supposed to say is cut short because Jina suddenly wraps her arms around me.

“Thank you,” She says to me with feeling. “really, Minji. Thank you.” She pulls away before I could even return her hug. “For being...genuinely nice to me.”

“Are you surprised?” I inquire curiously. “Did you think I would...like, physically hurt you or...”

“I thought you would.” She says this without a trace of accusation in her voice -- only with plain honesty, something that refreshes me because I rarely had someone talk to me this way; most people usually end up trying to be so courteous and polite they end up sounding fake, but Jina, I realize, is so different from them. “I thought you would grab my hair or say cruel things to me or ask someone to ruin each of my days in school...”

“Ah, no I wouldn’t do that,” I say with a laugh, but then I grow a little quiet as I smile faintly at how my life is really like. “I don’t really have...friends, Jina. Sure I have kids attend my birthday parties and other special occasions, but none of them really stayed with me for sleepovers or out of town trips like friends would normally do. I don’t even have someone to go out with me. When I was younger, I would beg for my parents to have another baby, because growing in a big house with nothing but attentive assistants running after you can be really lonely for the most part. But my parents have always been so busy, and to be honest the way they interact with me sometimes makes me feel that they didn’t really want to have kids in the first place. Like, maybe they had me because they just want to keep our family assets to themselves -- I mean, who would take over the company or continue what father has started if mother didn’t get pregnant with me? Surely not appa’s older sister, or umma’s younger brother...or worse, their children. I feel that appa’s already disappointed that I didn’t turn out to be a boy, you know?”

“I don’t know what to say,” Jina confesses, and the way she sympathetically says this comforts me. “I have a younger brother, so while my parents are busy trying to earn money just so we can eat at least two meals a day, I don’t feel so alone even though Jino can be a pain in the sometimes.”

“How old is he?” I ask, interested in knowing more about her and her family. It feels nice to finally have someone to share stories with.

“He’s fourteen. He can be so rowdy and loud up to the point that it embarrasses me, but if it weren’t for his patience and perseverance, I don’t think I’d be able to study in my current school. I know it’s hard for him not to have an allowance as big as the other kids in his class would normally get, and sometimes I hate that he has to wake up extra early everyday to walk to school to save money, but Jino’s always been so supportive of me. I think I would have given up going to an absurdly expensive school if it weren’t for them. My family has sacrificed a lot.”

“It sounds like you and your family are really close.” Jina only nods at this, but the way her eyes crinkle from smiling as she happily talks about her family  is enough for me to envy bits and pieces of her life. While a lot of people seem to put an emphasis on things she doesn’t have, I fail to see why they feel she is inferior to us; I think it is the opposite -- she is rich, and I am poor.

Jina may never have the Lady’s approval, but she still has all the love in the world.