June 1st 2013  LA, California 

“Man I still can’t believe we’re going hiking on our day off! ” exclaimed 21 year old Tao. “We should have gone to Rodeo drive and shopped!” Taking off his Gucci snapback Tao ruffled his now sweaty hair and sat down on the closest flat surface he could find. His friend Sehun joined him after pouring the rest of the water bottle over his head. “Whose idea was this anyway?” grumbled Sehun before proceeding to use Tao’s shirt to wipe the water from his face.

            “OMG WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” screamed Tao before jumping off the rock and glaring at Sehun. “THIS IS GUCCI!!! I don’t want your disgusting sweat all over it” “OMG is that a stain??? OMG IT IS A STAIN! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!” screamed Tao before lunging at Sehun. Sehun quickly sidestepped the fuming Tao and ran up the stairs to catch up with Jong-in and Luhan.

“GET BACK HERE OH SEHUN! YOU OWE ME A NEW SHIRT OR ATLEAST CARRY ME THE REST OF THE WAY” whined Tao. 

            “Stop being a baby,” yelled Jong-in from the top of the stairs. “This isn’t even a hike … we’re just going to the planetarium!”

            “Easy for you to say Sporty Spice! Its still on a hill!” shouted Tao using one of Jong-in’s nicknames from high school

            “Whatever Posh.” replied Jong-in before proceeding to run up the dusty pathway to catch up with his oldest friend who had long since left the bickering group behind. Even though Jong-in didn’t consider this to be a part of his ideal vacation he knew that it was important to Kyungsoo who loved to visit this place in the summer.

“I don’t see why we had to go to a planetarium to see stars,” whispered Luhan to Sehun. “We could’ve seen so many more downtown HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA.”

Sehun glanced back at his now giggling hyung and sighed. “Hyung isn’t it sad that its always just you laughing at your own lame jokes?”

“BUT DON’T YOU GET IT?? Cause the Walk of Fame is downtown and there are so many Hollywood “stars” on the ground!” cackled Luhan.

            “Everyone gets it Hyung, we just don’t find it or you funny.” said Tao who had caught up with the group and now had Sehun in a headlock.

            “Hmph,” murmured Luhan, “you guys just don’t have a good sense of humor… I miss Baozi… he always laughed at my jokes”

            “Well too bad he isn’t here hyung. Maybe the next time you tell a joke is when you see xiumin hyung next… that will at least save us from suffering through all your lame jokes.” laughed Sehun.

            “HEY SHOW ME SOME RESPECT!!” cried Luhan. “I am your hyung you know”

            “Then act like it.” shouted Tao and Sehun in unison before running off. They loved making fun of Luhan hyung but being punched by the professional soccer player was a different story.

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            Twenty minutes later the trio had caught up with Jong-in who was buying the tickets at the entrance. “Where’s Kyungsoo?” asked Luhan searching for the younger boy.

“He’s at the back of the planetarium where the gazebos are, probably looking at the view,” replied Jong-in “You guys should go see if we can take a nice group shot with the view, Ill be there as soon as I get the tickets.”

“Finally something I’m good at!” exclaimed Tao “I took a couple of nice head shots recently for my portfolio so I know which side is my best side,” Tao dragged Sehun in the direction of the gazebo area while telling him. “Don’t worry Sehun Ill teach you as well”

Luhan rolled his eyes before joining the two: These two will be the death of me one day… at least Tao isn’t whining anymore. Sigh thank god Kyungsoo will be there now to control him or else he’s going to be taking a bazillion selcas of himself with a blurry us in the background.

Luhan entered the gazebo area and saw that there were five gazebos in a circle all facing a giant sculpture of two wolves. That’s odd, thought Luhan Why is there a sculpture of wolves at a planetarium? Before he could go read the sculpture description he spotted Kyungsoo at the furthest gazebo sitting with his back facing the sculpture, staring out at the LA view. Tao and Sehun were already there, readying the camera so Luhan quickly jogged over to them.

“Hyung, look the sun is shining so brightly! Our pictures are going to turn out great.” exclaimed Tao who was combing his hair. Sehun was in the other corner already primping his hair using a hand held mirror that probably belonged to Tao. Luhan went over to Kyungsoo who hadn’t said anything and gently nudged the younger boy. His eyes were closed so he wasn’t sure if he was sleeping. “Kyungsoo-ya are you tired? You shouldn’t have walked up so fast.”

After a few seconds Kyungsoo opened his eyes and stared at the older boy before breaking into a smile “I’m okay hyung. Just relaxing and enjoying the view or at least I was before Zitao and maknae ruined the mood.”

“HEYYYY you know you love us.” said Sehun who bounced over to join Kyungsoo and Luhan on the bench. He quickly laid down and put his rainbow colored head on Kyungsoo’s lap.

“Sehun I still don’t understand why the modeling agency made you dye your hair a bazillion colors. It hurts my eye just looking at it.” said Kyungsoo ruffling Sehun’s hair.

“Psh don’t hate me cause I’m beautiful and anyways with my new look I've already booked three more jobs.” said Sehun with an arrogant smile.

Kyungsoo and Luhan laughed at their maknae but they had to admit if someone could pull that type of hair off it would be their beloved maknae.

            “Why isn’t Jong-in back yet?” whined Tao “the sun is at a perfect position to capture my left side profile the best.”

“haha calm down Tao he’ll be here soon! The line was so long when we got there,” said Luhan. Turning to Kyungsoo he said “BTW do you know what’s up with the wolf sculpture behind us? Its kind of a weird sculpture to have at a planetarium don’t you think?”

            Luhan immediately regretted asking the question when he saw a hint of sadness in Kyungsoo’s eyes. Though it was only for a few seconds he knew that he had hit a nerve. Thankfully after a few seconds of silence Kyungsoo responded with a small laugh. “Its an old French folklore about sun showers.”

“Sun showers? What’s that?” said Luhan who had never heard of that term before.

 “A sun shower is when it starts to rain while the sun is still out shining brightly,” replied Jong-in who had joined the rest of the group. “You did a group project on it in high school didn’t you Kyungsoo?”

Kyungsoo let out a small almost sad laugh. “Haha yeah I did. I’m surprised you remember jong-in”

“How could I forget when Chen did that ridiculous rain dance around the classroom while you had your face painted bright yellow acting as the sun.” said Jong-in with a smile on his face.

“omg I remember that!” said Sehun “I helped Chen practice the ‘rain dance’ hahaha it was hilarious especially because he was as stiff as a log.” Sehun started to impersonate the infamous rain dance and had everybody laughing in matter of seconds.

Luhan laughed so hard he couldn’t breathe. He had forgotten how funny ChenChen had been. Though his real name was Jongdae, everyone had liked to call him ChenChen after a certain incident in Mandarin class. Luhan was a year older than the rest of the boys but Sehun, Tao, Jong-in and Kyungsoo had been in the same class as Chen. Luhan and his year mates Xiumin, Kris and Suho had been good friends with the younger’s ones along with Baek, Chanyeol and Lay (Chen’s best friends). The twelve of them had all gone to school together at the prestigious SM Boarding Academy in the French Alps. They had been the closest of friends and though after high school they had drifted apart for a multiple number of reasons, Luhan cherished those high school memories.

While Luhan, Tao and Sehun were still laughing at the rain dance, Jong-in glanced over at Kyungsoo and sighed when he saw that Kyungsoo was smiling that sad smile he always made when Chen was mentioned. Jong-in should’ve known better than to bring up Chen but he sometimes missed his ChenChen. He hadn’t seen him in almost three years and he missed Chen’s bright laughter and his unusual purple eyes. But he knew he had to keep his promise. Sighing Jong-in went over and sat next to Kyungsoo playfully hitting his arm. “Don’t worry I won’t tell them about how bad you were at the rain dance. You should keep at least some of part of your dignity."

Kyungsoo giggled, grateful at the change of subject and whispered. “You better not or Ill tell them the truth about what happened during Prom night.”

Jong-in recoiled in horror. “You wouldn’t…….. WE MADE AN OATH THAT WE WOULD NEVER SPEAK OF THAT NIGHT.”

“Hahahah don’t worry. I’ll take your secret to my grave.” whispered Kyungsoo.

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“WAHHHHH OMG ITS RAINING!!!” screamed Tao “DAMN IT now we wont be able to take our group shots.”

“Hey look! The sun is still shining! It’s a sun shower!!!” exclaimed Sehun “That’s so cool! We were just talking about it and now it happened.”

Kyungsoo chuckled softly: “You know this is one of the only places in LA that you can get close to lightning strikes in a sun shower. Because we are so high up and the wolf sculpture is made of metal, it’s essentially like a lightning rod."

“Woah that sounds dangerous. I don’t want to get struck by lightning…..” said Luhan

“Don’t worry .. just don’t carry a large metal pole around with you when you’re near that sculpture.” replied Jong-in.

“Anyways guys lets run back to the planetarium. I want to see what’s so cool about it that makes kyungsoo come back again and again.” yelled Sehun trying to be heard over the now heavy rain.

“I’ve actually never been inside the planetarium” replied Kyungsoo looking down at his feet. When he looked up he was met with four pairs of confused eyes. “Whaattt!?! I just like the view from up here and anyways its peaceful.”

Tao shook his head. “You’re so weird…. Anyways lets still go in since we have tickets… LAST ONE IN BUYS ME A NEW SHIRT.”

Tao, Sehun and Luhan quickly ran out into the rain and Jong-in turned back to face Kyungsoo and quietly said: “ Is it because of him?”  Kyungsoo turned his face and Jong-in knew that the silence meant a yes. Sighing Jong-in put his backpack over his head and said “Don’t take too long to come inside. You’re going to catch a cold.”

Kyungsoo nodded and watched as Jong-in ran off to join the rest. Slowly he walked out into the rain. He stood motionless for a second, allowing the rain to envelope him. He closed his eyes and heard the thunder rumble in the distance. He opened his eyes just in time to see lightning strike the wolf sculpture. Even though he couldn’t see it, he could almost feel the current passing through the metal sculpture into the ground. He felt the ground vibrate underneath him and he smiled. This raw power and energy made him feel alive and youthful again. The last three years had slowly been draining the life out of him. He felt his body slowing down, slowly turning into a shell. Without Jong-in and all, he knew that he would be even worse than he was now but he also knew that without him something would always be missing.

Kyungsoo ran around to the front of the sculpture and he was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he ran right into another person, knocking the umbrella out of the other person’s hands.

“Crap I am so sorry! Here let me get that for you” exclaimed Kyungsoo reaching for the umbrella without looking at his new companion. “I really should look where I am going. No wonder my friends call me zombsoo..”

“Kyungsoo…….?”

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Jong- in finally made it in inside and started to wring out his wet shirt. Sighing he glanced around to see where the rest had gone. He saw them standing near the cafeteria (of course) but noticed that three strangers had also joined them.

Tao glanced over and saw him. Waving he shouted “Jong-in look who we ran into!!!”

Jong-in froze. He saw the look of happiness on Luhan, Sehun and Tao’s face. He didn’t even need the three strangers to turn around because he knew who they were. He would have been able to recognize those three in any crowd because of the countless number of times they had all walked back to dorms together. He quickly placed a smile on his face and started to walk over hoping to see the fourth member of the old group. Yeol and Lay started to run over to greet him and Jong-in was truly happy to meet his old friends again.

Yeol started to scream and talk so fast that Jong-in couldn’t keep up while Lay just hugged him from the back not saying a word. “OMG JONG-IN I cant believe we ran into you guys here!! It’s been so long! How have you been? What have you been doing?”

Before Jong-in could respond, Yeol continued. “Chen is going to be so happy to see you again!”

Jong-in tensed up “Is he here?” “Yeah he is,” Yeol replied “Though he’s still outside, he wanted to see the sun shower. You know him and his weird liking of the rain and thunder and ”

…..  Jong-in thought. Don’t tell me…..

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Kyungsoo froze at the sound of his name. He knew that voice. He had replayed this voice a thousand times in his head. The soft yet clear voice that he knew only one person had in this whole world. It belonged to the one person he wished to see everyday and to the one person who told him he never wanted to see his face again.