The lights as Lu Han entered the apartment. He was surprised to not find Sunjung there.  It was only occasionally that he arrived before her. Shrugging her absence as one of those instances, Lu Han just tossed his keys onto the small bowl that functioned as their key-holder.

It was almost seven and he was tired. Work was getting more hectic and his trip to Minseok’s café had been refreshing but somewhat tiring at the same time. But it was always great seeing his friend.
Minseok had been one of his first friends in Seoul. He had tried out for the football team and had actually kicked the ball into Minseok’s face during the tryouts. Lu Han had expected an angry outburst, Minseok had just laughed, ignoring his cheek that had started to turn a nasty shade of red.

Lu Han smiled at the memory. It had been so difficult when he’d first moved to Seoul, learning a new language, being far from home and dealing with college—he had been quite lost. Then he had just settled in and waded through. Life had been so good to him and he found it quite surprising. But he was grateful, he needed nothing more.

Maybe a little bit more.

Lu Han loosened his tie and headed over to his bedroom.
It was smaller than Sunjung’s; he had been a gentleman and had let her take the master bedroom.
He placed his briefcase on his desk. He wanted to change into something comfortable but his exhaustion and lack of sleep got to him, making him head straight towards his bed. He went out like a light as soon as his body hit the mattress.

Lu Han awoke an hour later to the sound of steady rain hitting the window pane. He groaned as he sat up slowly, rubbing his eyes. Shaking his head, he took in his surroundings and relaxed when he saw the familiar steel gray and white walls of his bedroom. The glowing red numbers on the alarm clock which sat on the night stand told him that it was past eight o’clock. Lu Han stood up slowly, stretching to relax his muscles. His hand gripped his tie that was wrapped loosely around his neck and he wondered how he had managed to not strangle himself in his steep.
Blinking rapidly while still patting his face, Lu Han exited his room, his mind unconsciously looking for Sunjung.

The apartment however, was devoid of Sunjung (or any signs of her, for that matter). Her shoes were not placed neatly in the small foyer, her bedroom door wasn’t cracked open and Lu Han just felt her absence.

Lu Han frowned, biting his lip as he watched head the rain fall unrelentingly on the glass doors in the living room.

***

Sunjung was smiling, which was something she hadn’t done in the past few days and it was because of the rain.

Talking to Junyoung hadn’t been fruitful like always and Sunjung had bid him a crestfallen goodbye and hastily walked off. She really wanted to work things out with her brother but he was stubborn and just kept questioning her about things she didn’t want to talk about.

‘Why did you go off to Grandma’s without telling?’ ‘Would it hurt you to be near me?’
With every question Sunjung had felt her breaths getting shorter, forcing her to close her eyes and tune her brother out for a while.

“You should try moving on, Junyoung,” she’d told him and he’d just rolled his eyes.
“I’ll help you with whatever you want,” she had said.
“You can’t,” had been his reply.

Then what do you want from me?
She had almost screamed.

Sunjung had exited the café just as the first drops of November rain had hit the ground and had hurried into a bus. She had spent the entire ride staring at the steady rainfall outside. The rain was heavy when she had exited the bus and run for shelter to the small shed that was the bus stop.

Now as she stood there, with her hand outstretched to collect a few drops of rainwater, the sound of falling rain calmed her. There was almost no one at the bus stop with her, just a high