Fox rain, it was raining when they parted and now it’s raining once again as they meet for the first time in nine summers. Everyone is scurrying around trying to take cover from the sudden rain despite the bright shining sun except two bodies who are glued into place, bewitched by one another.

The male makes the first move with a warm smile. “Yeonwoo.”

It’s been years since that voice has wrapped itself around her name yet she reacts as though it was just yesterday when they had parted. “Minseok.”

The smell of freshly brewed coffee lingers through her dark chocolate hair all the way to the tips of her soft, lean fingers. The café is bustling with incoming customers but all they hear is the loud silence that was currently between them. Eyes focused on their own warm drinks, they drive themselves crazy, trying to remember where they left off.

“You haven’t changed a bit,” Yeonwoo says, lifting her eyes off her mug to Minseok. “But you’ve grown taller.”

Minseok snorts out his nose with an amused grin making its way across his lips. “The same goes to you, chingu.”

The way he emphasizes that word brings back some unwanted pain for the both of them.

 Friend.

That’s exactly where they left off—just being friends.

The ice melts once the shower ends and their mugs become empty, replacing the silence with old laughter and jokes. It’s shocking how two people who are so close and basically combined by their souls were able to forget the other. There’s a simple answer to it: they fell in love.

Yeonwoo wipes away the tears of laughter with the napkin in her lap while Minseok shakes his head with the happiest grin ever to be reunited with his high school best friend. It was never hard getting her to cry from laughing too much. Their laughter dies down finally and she sighs before turning to him again.

“Enough about the past, what’s new?” She asks, tucking a hair back before propping her chin up in her palm, elbow on the table.

It gets quiet again. “I’m getting married.”

Yeonwoo blinks and so does he. That’s when they realized; it has been nine summers, nine summers of hiding away their true emotions and nine summers of pretending it was just a high school thing.

Nine summers too late that is.

***

Ten years ago they met in detention. Kneeling across from each other with their hands in the air, they silently questioned why the other was there. There was a sun shower that day as well.

“Why are you here?” Minseok hisses, ears alert in case a teacher comes by.

Slightly surprised, Yeonwoo glances at the male student. “I-I,” she sighs quietly. “I put gum on my math professor’s chair.”

Minseok grins at her. “Nice, was it Mr. Kang?”

She nods and they quietly chuckle. “Why are you here?”

“I might have taken all the screws out of his chair,” he shrugs and she snickers at him. “Hey, what’s your name by the way?”

“Jung Yeonwoo,” she says, glancing at his own nametag.

“Yeonwoo?” He gasps. “Please, make this fox rain stop, Yeonwoo.”

She sighs and he giggles. “You must get that a lot for your name meaning fox rain?”

Yeonwoo shrugs. “And you are?”

“Kim Minseok,” he says in return.

They met about once a week in detention and through that became closer to the point where Minseok was Yeonwoo and Yeonwoo was Minseok.

It wasn’t until others came into play that their label as friends became something they begun to hate. Being labeled as the best dancer at Seoul School of Arts, Kim Minseok was a highly wanted man by girls. Yeonwoo didn’t hold such skills in dancing but she had the ability to bring every instrument to life with the touch of her fingertips. Out of all of them, she chose the piano.

When Kim Jongdae asked Yeonwoo to be his duet partner for the spring festival, Minseok began feeling things he knew it wasn’t normal for a girl he called his best friend. Yeonwoo didn’t enjoy the fact that Minseok had a spicy dance performance with Park Sunyoung either but they didn’t say a thing to each other.

Yeonwoo use to sleep on his shoulder during the long bus rides home from school. Sharing earphones, she would sleep to sweet ballads about the beauties of love. Little did she know those were all the unspoken words he had always whisper into her ears.

Some days when Yeonwoo would visit Minseok during his dance practices, she would let him teach her how to dance so she can feel the warm of his hands and fingertips on her skin. The way he made her heart race would beat a cheetah in a race any day.

***

Her name is Hwanhee, Park Hwanhee. She has big brown eyes with a pointy nose and plump scarlet lips. Her voice is slightly nasally but in a cute way. Yeonwoo didn’t need an introduction since everyone knows who Park Hwanhee is. She was an upcoming star, getting the attention of the country through her innocent looks and playful character in her many CFs. Never once did Yeonwoo think they would have anything in common.

Sitting on her balcony and sipping on some dandelion tea while watching the sunset, Yeonwoo returns to the wonders of the inevitable “what if” questions.

What if she had told him?

What if he had the same feelings?

What if she had stayed instead?

What if.

What if she knew that across the Han River, Minseok was watching the same sunset, sipping the same tea, asking himself the same questions. Would it make any difference now though?

He hears the door slide open behind him, making him turn with a smile to greet his lovely fiancée. She walks over to his awaiting arms where he holds her close then fills the curves of her lips with his own.

Minseok tells her about running into Yeonwoo and her eyes spark with interest. Hwanhee has always heard stories about this mischievous Jung Yeonwoo who Minseok cherished so much during high school.

“Did you invite her to the wedding?” Hwanhee asks much to his surprise.

She’s now sipping on the same tea with a freshly washed face, sitting at a dinner table filled with last minute wedding preparations.

“I didn’t know I could,” he says, teasingly and Hwanhee cutely frowns at him.

“From what I hear about her either from you or the other guys, she’s a cool girl and I would love to have your friend come to our wedding,” says Hwanhee wholeheartedly. “She was your best friend, remember?”

Meeting her warm brown eyes, he smiles. She was.

In the darkest of the night is when secrets and unwanted urges wants to come out. Tonight, Yeonwoo will let them out. Through the crack of light from the curtains, Yeonwoo gazes at an old photo that was hidden deep inside one of her old journals. It was taken during an MT trip to Jeju in their senior year. From first glance, this would just be seen as a picture of two friends. But if you search into their eyes, you can probably see the hidden story.

There are too many photos that cannot define their relationship.

***

Hwanhee and Yeonwoo officially meet a week later at the same café. There’s a sparkle in Minseok’s eyes when he looks at his fiancée. It makes Yeonwoo wish just that much more that she should have tried a little harder back then.

Hwanhee has a kind heart and soul at which is still as pure as a child. It sets relief into Yeonwoo knowing her old best friend has found a good person. Yeonwoo received quite a shock when Hwanhee personally gave her a wedding invitation, pushing her further into the reality that Minseok is really getting married.

Nine summers have passed but the scar is still just as fresh. It was supposed to die along with the childish dreams of finding true love but how can a scar heal when there was never closure to allow it to heal?

The brown eyed beauty leaves early for a schedule, leaving the two former best friends alone in the now empty café. It has a Parisian feel to it which obviously comes from Yeonwoo who left to Paris to study.

***

Graduation day was just chaotic. Family and friends all desperate to catch the best moments with their cameras while students tried to stay awake through the endless line of speakers. They were seated next to each other on that day, both anxiously excited for their high school career to end.

Yeonwoo strongly remembers the scent of Minseok’s cologne since she spent the rest of the day wetting his uniform with her tears. In his embrace, she poured out tears filled with bittersweet emotions. Never once did he complain nor did he even shed a tear. With a smile, Minseok shuts out the world because his world is already in his arms.

***

A sigh is released after another glance at the simple wedding invitation.

“You’ll come right?” Minseok asks with the slightest hint of hesitation.

Yeonwoo warmly smiles at him. “Of course.”

She sets the invitation down before returning to her mug. “Perfect timing don’t you think? We meet for the first time in nine years right before your wedding.”

Grinning, Minseok sets his mug down. “True, but you’ve been back for two years and didn’t even bother to contact me.”

Yeonwoo gives him a small pout. “You never tried contacting me either.”

He sighs at her and for that small moment of silence, they wondered why they didn’t try harder.

“Why did we just…stop?” He asks, changing the mood to something more serious and nostalgic.

Her eyes drop to the red lipstick stain on the rim of her mug. “Isn’t it something natural that happens, out of sight out of mind?”

He gives her a small shrug. “That could be it, but we were one back then Yeonwoo. We did everything together.”

The past is not an easy path to return to although sometimes it is the safest place for us.

“We did,” she agrees quietly. “That last summer,” she meets his eyes. “It was a weird one for us, truthfully. It was different.”

He doesn’t say anything but instead drops his eyes. “It was full of goodbyes. But it began way before summer.”

Minseok turns to find her gaze again and her heart drops. That locked vault is finally being picked at. That itch is finally being scratched. Closure is coming.

“We were weird from the very start, Yeonwoo,” he says quietly. They were words only she was meant to hear. “You and I, there was another reason as to why we got along so well.”

“It’s been nine years, Minseok,” she sighs. “Let’s let it go.”

That’s what she says but her eyes tell him a different story.

His phone vibrates with a reminder for him to return to work. It’s either now or never. It probably won’t make any difference but the lack of confidence is what landed them here. Now with her return and his upcoming wedding, the time is only now.

“I have to go,” he says as he stuffs his phone into his pockets. “For nine years, I held this in. I should have just told you that one day.” He rises from his seat and Yeonwoo follows him silently with her eyes. He glances at the invitation on the table and she turns to it.

“That summer, if you stayed, it would be you instead,” he confesses.

He turns to leave but her small voice stops him.

“That summer, if you could have asked me to stay, I would have.”

***

“Gumiho!”

“Aish!” Yeonwoo turned sharply at Jongdae who was smirking at her from his bike. “Ya! How many times have I told you to stop calling me that!”

Summer was sadly coming to a close soon which meant time for goodbyes and new beginnings. Everyone had gathered at the lake for one last picnic.

Minseok watches Jongdae jump off his bike to only get attacked by Yeonwoo. He grins at them before taking a quick glance at the lake where Luhan was in the middle of dunking Sehun.

“Ya, you should take it as a compliment since Gumihos are supposed to be the most beautiful creatures on Earth,” reasons Jongdae despite Yeonwoo’s scowl.

“I have a name for a reason,” she sighs heavily before plotting down in her seat next to Minseok. “The new freshmans thought that my name was really Gumiho because of you!”

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” joins Chanyeol. “We’re gone from that school so who cares.”

“Eh, Funky Funky Chen!”

The four of them turn to find Jongin and Zitao returning from the lake, dripping wet and tan.

“Why are you so late?” Zitao asks, offering the lad a hug to only be quickly rejected.

His eyes light up briefly before he runs back to his bicycle. “I had bought something important along the way.”

“What is it?” Jongin asks with a towel in his hands.

Smirking, Jongdae unveils his item of importance to be a nice case of beer and at once his tardiness is excused.

Later that day, right before the sun was setting; the two best friends were alone keeping guard of their stuff while the others swam. You could tell something was up but neither wanted to make the first move.

“Are you going to miss me when I’m gone?” Yeonwoo asks, crushing the can of beer in her hands.

“Nope,” Minseok teases and she growls at him. “Just kidding, of course I will! How can I not miss my best friend?”

Her smile returns and he matches her with his. Their eyes meet and whatever confidence they had been building up just crumbles into ashes.

There’s a silence, a chance for either one to speak up but still neither does and instead they turn away from each other to face the glistening lake. If only they knew then that they were almost too late, would they have said anything?

***

Minseok arrives at Yeonwoo’s doorstep three days later with a mission. She doesn’t ask anything and just simply lets him in. The door barely closes behind them and he speaks.

“We both need closure,” he says and she stops in her tracks. “Although I am nine years too late, I need to tell you so I can happily get married with a light heart.”

Turning around to face him, Yeonwoo’s eyes are already lined with wetness. “Go ahead; I need to tell you as well so I can accept love from someone else.”

Silence seems to accompany them a lot when they meet.

“I loved you so much then,” he finally says. “I wanted to do everything for you and that meant letting you follow your dreams without a consideration of how I would feel at the end of the day. I loved you with everything I had, Yeonwoo,” Making sure their eyes are set, he places a shaky hand over his heart. “You had no idea how fast it raced for you. You were my first love and I waited for you with the biggest regret of not telling you how I felt.”

“In the end, it just got too difficult for us to harbor those feelings and the regret,” Yeonwoo finishes for him. “I loved you too, Minseok. Every day in Paris, I thought of you. I hated you for letting me go so easily. All this time I thought it was a one sided thing until the day I met you again.”

She sighs and the tears drop from her eyes. Minseok on the other hand, has never felt so vulnerable and raw before. Everything hurts.

“We were so young then,” he mutters, tears welding up in his eyes. “We lacked the confidence which made us miss our timing.”

Yeonwoo nods to his words. She turns to him and he opens his arms. She notices his cologne is still the same and this moment reminds her of when she was crying on their graduation day. Although it’s a sad, heart breaking moment, they were both healing now.

Minseok gets married a week later by the lake with a simple wedding. Sitting alongside old friends, Yeonwoo is genuinely happy. While some people would just dive into love, letting it be the sole reason of existence, there are the few where they learn to accept and realize that to love does not always mean to be together.

They were in love then but not now.

Now is a different time and a different summer.

Making sure to give him a blessing in person, Yeonwoo searches him out during the reception. She manages to get him for a few seconds before someone else steals him away.

“Congratulations!” She exclaims, giving he newly married man a warm hug/ “Do you think that if I had returned sooner, I could have been your best man instead of Suho?”

Minseok scoffs at her dramatically. “Tsh, in your dreams.”

She breaks into her signature quick scowl and he snickers. “Whatever, congrats again and I can’t wait to see some cute babies!”

“Already working on it,” Minseok winks at her playfully and her face shrivels up before she throws him a punch in the arm.

“Urgh, enough with you,” she groans before laughing. “I’m going to grab me a drink.”

“Alright,” he says with a grin.

They embrace once again and it lasts longer than a usual hug but it’s okay.

It’s so like Yeonwoo to text and not pay attention to her surroundings. She was still gasping over news of Won Bin’s new movie when she bumped into someone. Apologizing at once, she was in the middle of her third bow when a familiar voice and name stops her.

“Gumiho?”

Eyes wide, Yeonwoo turns to find a grinning man in a sleek black suit.

“Funky Funky Chen?”

Anyeong you! I don't know how this came to me, it just did. I honestly don't think it's as sad as my other Minseok Oneshot but for some reason, I found myself crying while typing this. I didn't even know I was crying until I took a break and noticed the tears leaving my eyes. It was so weird. 

I just wanted to express the thought that they had loved each other in the past but being together was not their main focus. They just wanted closure. But yeah, thanks for reading and I'm pretty sure the sad Minseok fics won't stop here so keep alert :)

There goes my take on F(x)'s Goodbye Summer ft. Squishy!! 

& one last thing, I was too lazy to edit and reread this.