2:30 pm

Jeongguk stuffed his cell phone back in his pocket as he exited the internet cafe. After an hour passed, he couldn't find the comfort of playing games like he did when he was in his room alone. He held the umbrella over his head, listening to the rain fall almost in rhythm together. He couldn't help but move his fingers by his side to the beat of it.

3:50 pm

Jeongguk stared at his low battery sign on his cell phone until the screen shut down by itself. Sighing to himself, he suddenly wished he hadn't spent all his time playing on his phone when he could have used it to call his parents. Standing up from the seat in which he sat in, Jeongguk place a bill onto the table before grabbing his drink and heading out the door of he cafe.

“Still raining.”

Waiting with a bunch of people to cross the street, Jeongguk glared at the blinking red hand as if it would get intimidated by him only to hear a faint sound of music coming from his left. Jeongguk turned his head slightly, eyeing the person next to him.

His eyeing soon became staring at the sight of a girl dressed in a glamorous way. High heels, floral dress, and a blazer. Bracelets stacked together with two or three necklaces dangling from her neck. Hair curled but pulled to one side.

Jeongguk snapped out of his staring as soon as he was watching her leave. He quickened his footsteps to cross the street, hearing the complaints of the drivers for being too slow. Once he had reached the other side, the girl glowed in his sight.

He watched as she stood there, her back facing the street while she scrolled through her phone. The more he looked at her, the more she stood out to him. Even the bright colored red of the umbrella stood out from the plain black ones like he had.

Jeongguk noticed the car that was speeding down the lane closest to the girl. Without thinking, he rushed behind the girl where the muddy water splashed over his backside. The girl taken aback by his sudden arrival could only blink at his existence.

“Are you okay?”

Ignoring the fact that he was soaking in his back, he simply answered, “Yeah.”

She eyed him up and down, “You're soaking wet in the back, you know that right.”

Jeongguk nodded without saying a word In his mind, the only thing he could think about was how a pretty girl like her was talking to him. At his school, most of the girls found him weird and a bit awkward to be around.

The girl waved her hand in front of the absentminded Jeongguk, “Excuse me.”

Jeongguk returned to his normal state of mind, “I'm sorry.”

The girl smiled, “It's all right. Thank you for not getting me wet?” She wasn't sure if what she was saying was right but went along with it, “I have to go now. Maybe I'll see you around sometime.”

A smile placed his lips as she walked away. He stared down the street until the brightly red colored umbrella disappeared his sight.

When he entered his home, he only earned a scolding from his mother for getting wet and dirty. Usually he stood annoyed when his mother did this but he didn't mind it this time. For now he could take whatever his mother gave him. Since everything in his mind, suddenly belonged to the girl under the red umbrella.