“What the hell!” Minhee screamed as Bora snatched the Cheetos from her hands. “I need those!”

           A snort left her friend’s nose, and much to Minhee’s abject horror, the chips went into the trash. Bora, looking entirely too smug, smacked her palms together as though ridding herself of some cheesy residue that had made its way onto her hands.

         “Those things cause zits,” Bora explained. “And zits do not make ex-boyfriends want you back.”

           Minhee rolled her eyes and pulled her phone from her purse, the only thing she did not have the heart to trade in for something more modest; her purse was like family to her. That and it had cost her $700 – her baby was not going anywhere.

           “Please,” Minhee scoffed at Bora, “you just did that because you are on some crazy new diet this week. I told you I will not be doing any of those with you.”

           Bora completely ignored her statement and pulled Minhee up from the armchair she had been sitting in.

           “Get up, we are going jogging.”

           Minhee burst into raucous laughter, gesturing to the heavy rain that was pouring down outside. Thunder crashed somewhere in the sky to emphasize the ridiculousness of Bora’s idea. “You’re kidding.”

           Bora shrugged and nodded. “Okay, you are going jogging.”

           “You got me,” Minhee was still chortling as she walked back to her seat. “Bora, you really are so funny.”

           Bora maintained her stony expression, and Minhee felt the amused grin on her face slide off like ice cream slides off a cone in the summer sun.

           “No,” Minhee backed away slowly. “You are mad if you think I am going outside in that storm.”

    “I can’t believe this,” Minhee screamed at her friend as they stood in the middle of the jogging trail.

She was sure that by now she resembled a drowned rat; her hair, though in a ponytail, was plastered to her makeup-free face, thanks to the sheets of rain pouring down around them. She wore her ugliest pink track suit that clung to her every curve in a very uny way.

Bora shrugged from under her umbrella, perfectly dry. “You said you needed to get your beach body back.”

“I did not mean that I wanted to go jogging in a thunderstorm, you psychopath!” Minhee took a step towards her friend but only emerged with a shoeful of mud. “I’m going to get sick, and my skin is too dry to deal with a cold, right now.”

Bora was unsympathetic. “At least you will lose weight if you get sick. Now start jogging,” she pulled an honest-to-God timer from her jacket pocket. “Three laps. You have 30 minutes.”

“Bora,” Minhee was ready to strangle her friend. “If I start peeling because of this, I’m going to kill you.”

“I don’t see any jogging.”

“Gah!” Screaming in frustration, Minhee began to make her first lap, regretting her decision to get back in shape.

If she had resembled a drowned rat at first, she looked like roadkill now. Mud from the jogging trail had splattered up her pants. She had slipped and fallen somewhere in the second lap, and the mud was smeared up her elbows and knees. Thankfully, the cold rain prevented any sort of sweat or body odor, but she was absolutely freezing.

Three sets of three laps later, Minhee was ready to die. Finishing her last lap, Minhee sat down in the wet grass, not caring that she was probably covered in mud. Footsteps approached her from the side.

“Bora,” Minhee groaned at the person standing to her side. “You are dead to me.”

“Minhee? What on Earth are you doing jogging in the rain?”

The voice made Minhee shoot up, and her cheeks, although probably not visible through the downpour, flamed. Minho was standing in front of her, no doubt completely horrified by her muddy and wet appearance.

Oh God, she wasn’t even wearing mascara. Minhee covered her face in her hands. “I don’t know who that is. I think you have the wrong person.”

Minho burst into obnoxious peals of laughter, struggling to hold his umbrella upright as he clutched at his stomach. “Oh my God, it is you.”

“No, I think you think I am someone else.”

This was probably the most embarrassing experience of her life besides that time that she lost a bet and had to wear tube socks for a day. Minhee groaned and turned to scurry off, but Minho caught her by the arm, foiling her escape.

“Minhee, I know it’s you,” he was still laughing as he pulled her to stand in front of him under the umbrella.

“No, it’s not me,” Minhee wanted to die when she realized her mistake and kept her hands tight over her face.

Slowly, Minho used one hand to push her hands down, away from her eyes, and Minhee looked up to see his face, completely sincere as he looked down at her.

“You don’t have to hide from me,” he whispered, and Minhee realized how close he was to her: close enough for her to see how amazing his pores were. Their kids would have great skin (wait, what?).

The rain was icy cold, and Minhee shivered. “Y-you don’t have to lie,” she sputtered. “I look horrible.”

She tried to pull away so she could go cry into her pillow at how she ruined everything, but again he stopped her by wrapping an arm around her waist. Chills went down her spine, and they weren’t from the cold rain.

“I think you’re beautiful,” he told her; she could barely hear it over the rain, but the message rang loud and clear in her ears. “No matter what you wear.”

Her cheeks heated up again and she looked down at her feet. No one, not even Chanyeol, had ever called her beautiful before. Sure, she had been called hot, cute, but never beautiful.

Minho’s hand went under her chin and forced her to look up and meet his eyes. “I mean it.”

He was kissing her before she could realize what was going on. Minhee could not tell if everything slowed down or she just sped up, but the moment seemed to crystallize on her tongue. It melted at the touch, and so did she.

She kissed him back, and for just a second, if she squeezed her eyes shut, she could pretend that he was taller, his hair was just a tad shorter on the sides, longer on the top, dyed red.

“Minhee?” Chanyeol had called after her as she walked into her apartment.

Hope swelled in her chest as she turned. “Yeah?”

“I-I had a lot of fun tonight,” he scratched the back of his head nervously.

Minhee felt the feeling pop in her chest, and went sour. She kept her smile plastered on her face. “I had fun, too. I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol looked like he wanted to say something else but he stopped. “G-good night.”

He practically ran back down the stairs, leaving Minhee standing in her doorway, rather flabbergasted. Was it something she said?

     Closing her door, she leaned her back against it, trying to pinpoint the moment she had messed up and failing miserably. The first date had gone unreasonably well. She had shaved her legs above the knee even, and he had not so much as kissed her goodnight.

So much for that, she sighed to herself, going to the kitchen to fix herself some tea. It was going to be a long night.

    A loud knocking at the door startled her. Did Yoomi lock herself out again? She had a tendency to lock herself out of her room at least once a month, but instead of paying the fee to get it unlocked, she usually crashed on Minhee’s couch.

     Opening the door in confusion, Minhee was only more baffled to see a breathless Chanyeol standing there, looking like he had just run a marathon.

    “Chanyeol?” She asked. “What’s wrong?”

     “What the hell,” he muttered  to himself, and he pulled her lips to his.

     The door shut behind them as he pressed her to the wall just inside her apartment. He didn’t try anything else, he just held her, just kissed her.

    Everything about Chanyeol back then had always been so straightforward, so simple, and Minhee had never enjoyed puzzles growing up, so she was glad that they never had to dance around one another.

  In her opinion, the kiss was over too quick. When they had pulled away, there was a moment when neither one of them said anything, but in a way, the silence said everything.

     “Goodnight,” he had murmured against her lips as he left for the second time.

  It had indeed been a long night, and Minhee didn't even worry once about getting smile lines. She was too busy screaming into her pillow.

    At some point in their kiss the umbrella must have fallen away because the rain was cold on Minhee’s skin, throwing her back into the moment and back into Minho.

    Her eyes shot open, and Minhee pulled away. She should not be doing this.

    “I know that I am not him,” Minho held Minhee still by the waist. “I know that you are using me,” she flinched. So he wasn’t entirely stupid. “But that’s okay. I’m fine with it.”

    “Why?” She whispered, blinking back the water that was falling in her face. “I’m just going to hurt you.”

    “That's okay," he pulled her in closer. "It's okay."

    “This whole time you knew,” Minhee felt absolutely horrible. “You knew that I was using you.”

    Minho shrugged. “It was kind of obvious today and that day in the cafeteria. You kept looking around like you were expecting him to fall from the ceiling and land on your plate. After that day in the cafe, everything made sense to me.”

    “I’m so sorry,” Minhee told him. “I really think you are a great guy.”

    “Forget him,” he raised his voice a little so she could better hear him over the sound of the droplets hitting the umbrella. “Just look at me. I can help you.”

    “I-I don’t know, Minho,” she balked. “It’s not that simple.”

    He cut her off. “It really is. I like you,” butterflies. “I think you’re funny and smart and absolutely breathtaking.”

    “Minho, I-”

    He cut her off. “I’m not done. I know that it may not happen overnight, but you will get over him. And I am going to be there when you do.”

    Minhee was left absolutely speechless.

    Minho handed her the umbrella. “Think about it, okay?”

    Standing stock still in her disgusting track suit and wet hair, Minhee watched as the boy who had just kissed her and called her beautiful jogged off, holding his bag over his head as he ran. He paused for a short second to wave goodbye, and she dazedly returned the gesture.

    As she numbly traipsed back into her apartment, she was met with Bora, who sat on her couch while holding Minhee's hidden stash of Cheetos with a smug expression on her face. Her friend had obviously seen the whole thing.

    “Shut up,” Minhee muttered as she stalked her way into the bathroom.

    “I’m throwing the Cheetos away, lover girl!”

A NOTE FROM ABBY

Hey guys! In case you didn't notice my double update, I'm BACK and more fabulous than ever! Lots of stuff has been happening recently so I was away for a bit. I'm gearing up for school right now, so I don't know if I can for sure say that I will be absolutely perfect with my updates, but I am at least going to finish all of my stories!

CONFESSION TIME. I started two new stories and I'm actually super pleased with how they are coming along. I have them saved in my drafts right now so you can't read them JUST YET (because you guys are OBVIOUSLY going to go and read them when I release them, RIGHT!? (Just say yes)). I will release them chapter by chapter when I have a good chunk of them done so I can at least get you all updates on some sort of schedule.

The first story is titled Darling and is actually a BTS story... I always loved Batman comics and cartoons so when I saw Suicide Squad I was so mad about what they did to my ultimate faves, Harley Quinn and Joker. So.... yeah. I decided to redo their story but they way it SHOULD have been (like more true to the comics but you all will still get some feels from it, don't worry).

The second story is called Spring and is ANOTHER Chanyeol story (can you tell that I lowkey love Kai and Chanyeol?). It's about a faery world and Chanyeol is a faery prince and our female hero is just an awesome faery apprentice studying to be a healer! I am also SUPER pumped to get this one out to you guys because I just love faeries. 

So yeah... I just have a lot on my plate right now story wise, but I'm having the time of my life writing for you guys! I hope you enjoyed what I gave you guys today and for sure expect SOMETHING tomorrow. I'm actually going to try and finish at least one story before school starts again.....