Chapter One

            It was raining that day. The clouds were dark and sad, their tears falling on the world below them. The streets were lonely. It seemed that everyone had gone home; had escaped to some place that would envelope them in warmth, in love. The roads were slick and cars that would zoom by would make those skidding sounds against the moistened asphalt. The trees swayed with the strong breeze and leaves would be forced to detach themselves from their roots and would flow instead in the puddles. From time to time, thunder would resound in the gloomy pavements and lightning would strike, terrifying probably the people who resided in the surrounding buildings. There were colorful umbrellas placed outside a convenience store to dry in the shade there. From inside the homey shop, laughter and chattering would squeeze themselves out through the slit of the automatic doors and off to the dim world outside. It was a dreary day.

            “Bad weather today, too, huh?”

            “I guess so.”

            He sat by the window as he read through the newspaper that dated from yesterday. He wore a plain white button-down, two buttons from the top ed and plain black trousers hung tightly to his long, slender legs. He was barefooted at the time and his sneakers rested below the couch he was comfortably sitting on. On the left stood his office desk on which two folders were stacked on, crumpled but useable papers, a mug filled with ball pens, an empty picture frame and his name engraved on a platinum nameplate also decorated the wooden desk. The leather chair behind the table was occupied by a bored fellow. He sat on the chair backwards, the backrest of the furniture being used as an armrest instead. He spun once, twice then stopped. He was getting dizzy.

            “Kyuhyun,” the now dizzy fellow called for his companion’s attention. “Is it still pouring out?”

            The other man looked up from his newspaper and glanced outside the window.

            “Looks like it. You should go home.”

            “I really, really want to but…”

            “But what?”

            “It’s scary outside,” the fellow squeaked as he pulled himself toward the desk to rest his head there.

            Kyuhyun stretched his arms, placed the newspaper on the coffee table beside the couch and sighed.

            “You should’ve stayed at home, Donghae, if you’re just going to whine about the outside world.”

            “I came here knowing that you’d be alone. Cut me some slack, Kyu,” Donghae said while casting his best friend a knowing look.

            Thunder roared that time and Donghae jumped in his seat for the fifth time that afternoon. Kyuhyun lied down, his head propped over the couch’s armrest as he stared at the ceiling.

            “You know, if you knew going here was gonna be an ordeal, then you shouldn’t have come.”

            Donghae frowned.

            “Hey—“

            “But I appreciate your time. It was getting really lonely here.”

            Kyuhyun shifted his attention to the window, catching a glimpse of the dark sky and the raindrops that trickled against the glass. Donghae was toying with his best friend’s nameplate this time. He poked the stand and scratched at the platinum surface. The action left small marks but Donghae figured Kyuhyun wouldn’t mind.

            “Can’t we just go home together?”

            Kyuhyun stretched a finger out and traced the cold glass. The rain was getting stronger.

            “I have a client in the next,” Kyuhyun paused and looked at the clock from across the room. “Five minutes.”

            “Oh,” Donghae said as he got up from the chair, spinning it around to its original front and pushing it closer to the desk. “I’ll get something to eat then. Or see what Hankyung hyung and Hyukkie’s up to in the lobby. See ya.”

            Donghae patted Kyuhyun’s head on his way out. When the door closed behind him, lightning struck and Kyuhyun could just imagine the look on his face. But then, it was silent again. The rain made no noise just the lightning and thunder did. Kyuhyun couldn’t even hear the clock ticking or the people chatting outside.

            “Like it’s dead here,” Kyuhyun mumbled as he sat up and slipped his sneakers on.

             He went to his desk, sat on the chair and pulled one folder over to him. It was his next client’s résumé. He had read through the papers for at least two times, currently being the third. He found it odd, the résumé. For whatever reasons, he couldn’t say. He just found it strange. Simply that – it was strange. Kyuhyun closed the folder, tossed it over the other folder and reclined in his seat. With closed eyes, he hummed a self-composed tune. It was random, as all times he hummed when he was bored. He hunched forward now, taking a pen from his mug and biting the base. It was an old habit he developed during high school. He usually did it when he finished tests and was waiting for the others to finish as well. Somehow, Kyuhyun found his biting habit helpful, at least, when he got bored or something.

             There was a knock on the door. Kyuhyun checked the clock and discovered that seven minutes had already passed from when Donghae left earlier. He got to his feet, dusted off his pants and walked to the door to welcome his client.

              Kyuhyun’s client was a girl. She just recently passed her entrance exam to some high school near there. She turned 16 not so long ago. Kyuhyun knew these because, how else? She was his client of course. For the first session, the girl’s parents were there. The father, like how any middle-aged man looked like in Seoul, was strict-looking and quite built. Though there was a light aura that shown in his eyes and the gentleness of a truly responsible father that shown in his smile. The mother was kind-hearted and poised. When she smiled, there were tiny wrinkles in the corners of her eyes. She looked around 40 but was rather cheerful as if she was still in her 20’s. Kyuhyun got along with them just fine.

             The first time Kyuhyun saw the Ahn couple was two weeks ago. Their daughter’s summer vacation just started around that time but they didn’t bring her along to Kyuhyun’s office. They said they were worried and wanted their daughter to let out her feelings but their attempt failed miserably as their daughter, or so they described her, was shy and quiet. They didn’t know what else to do so they came to this last solution.

“This is our Sohee-ah,” the father said as he gestured to the girl who sat next to him.

              The mother and Kyuhyun sat opposite them, both of them occupying a single-seater. Sohee sat straight, her hands clasped together over her lap and she smiled a little after she was introduced. Like her mother, she had great poise even for an upcoming high schooler.

“I’m Cho Kyuhyun. I’ll be handling you from today onwards.”

Kyuhyun stretched his hand toward Sohee and they shook hands.

“Hello,” she said and Kyuhyn smiled.

The mother stood up first and the father followed. They kissed their daughter before heading to the door.

“We’ll come back after two hours,” the mother said then the couple left.

Kyuhyun stood up to get the folder he was looking at and the pen he was biting earlier. He went back to his seat and the girl just watched him.

“Do you feel worried?” Kyuhyun asked. “I mean, being here for this session.”

Sohee shook her head.

“It’s because my parents are worried. I don’t blame them for bringing me here.”

Kyuhyun nodded in understanding. He glanced down on Sohee’s file and looked back at her.

“How are you feeling today?”

“I’m fine. Thank you.”

Kyuhyun smiled again. Sohee was quite polite, he noticed.

“So, did you enjoy your last year in middle school?”

Sohee thought for awhile then nodded.

“I did. I guess.”

“There were no problems? Troubles?”

Sohee shook her head again.

“None at all.”

Kyuhuyn began twirling the pen with his fingers, crossing his legs and rereading Sohee’s résumé.

“Let’s be perfectly honest with each other, okay?” Kyuhyun had to reassure his client so that she would feel comfortable with him.

Sohee smiled.

“Yes.”

Kyuhyun smiled back.

“Okay. Now, just tell me anything. Anything happy, anything sad – anything.”

             Sohee brought her thumb under her chin and slightly, thinking. Kyuhyun just waited. After a minute, Sohee looked over her shoulder and stared outside the window.

“Ah,” she said. “It’s raining harder today than yesterday.”

Kyuhyun stared at his client’s back for awhile then agreed.

“Yes. It did say on the news that it would rain quite heavily today.”

              Sohee sat properly again though this time she just stared at her hands. Kyuhyun wrote down the progress on a piece of paper stuck behind Sohee’s résumé.

“Actually…”

Kyuhyun paused from writing.

“Hmm?”

“There was a day like this before school ended,” Sohee said in a small voice.

“Really? Tell me about it then,” Kyuhyun said with some interest. But to this, Sohee shook her head.

“It’s a vague memory now,” Sohee said, again, in a small voice. “But I’ll try remembering the details. Somehow…”

Kyuhyun chuckled.

             “You’re too young to be forgetful. It’s okay. You don’t have to try hard. Maybe it’s because you remembered that day but you don’t want to talk about it. That’s fine.”

Sohee blinked and smiled just a little bit at her psychologist’s reassurance.

“I should do better though. To speak up about my feelings…”

Kyuhyun stared at his client for five whole seconds before chuckling again.

“Sohee-sshi.”

Sohee jumped a little at the call of her name.

“Ye-yes?”

Just then, the rain grew lighter and Kyuhyun saw behind Sohee, through the window. Kyuhyun sighed, relieved. Sohee tilted her head to the side, curious.

“Oh,” Kyuhyun realized suddenly. “I just wanted to say let’s get along with each other.”

Sohee giggled.

“Yes.”

“So, what do you want to talk about now?”

Sohee’s smile from before became tiny then tinier until Kyuhyun couldn’t see it anymore.

“Sometimes… I think I’m really useless.”

Kyuhyun’s ears perked up with much interest. And just then, the typhoon grew stronger once more.