Soundtrack: http://rainycafe.com/

They had met on a day like this.

It had been drizzling despite the lack of cloud in the sky, the wind biting as it sent rain like hail across her skin. And it had been one of those strange, mythical days where anything could have happened, but it would not have been unexpected.

That day, he had met a godless woman.

That day, she had met a delusioned man.

But irrespective of the falsities and madness he'd spouted, almost brandishing them like a bouquet of flowers, the chilling bite of the rain and the innocent smile on his face had--left her addled, pliant and accepting of everything he told her, her mind spinning and spinning as she was enraptured by that sweet grin on his face as he tucked her hair behind her ear and called her--

"--beautiful."

Her words were whispered out, hoarse and weak against the backdrop of the pitter-pattering of the rain against their bedroom window.

"Never before have I admired the rain as I do now," Jiyong replied just as quietly, drawing her against his side and resting his lips against her temple. His arms were around her waist, his chest against her own bared chest. He took one of her hands, folding it within his own and placed it over his tattooed abdomen, where black ink flared in hypnotic patterns over his ribs. "For you have taken its very essence and warped it, claimed it, and all I can think of now is the taste of your on my tongue, the melody of your words in my ear, the sight of your eyes within my very mind itself--you are my rain; my life-giving downpour. Relentless like the monsoon, but sweet and encompassing as the morning fog."

His skin was smooth beneath her fingers, and she could almost hear his heart beating strong beneath her ear, almost feel the rush of blood thrumming through his veins with each pulse.

"Nothing could survive without the rain. I can remember... it had been the rain that burgeoned life to grow; where once golden stretches of dust and dirt lay, the rain stains it a rich, deep brown. The very air itself begins to saturate with an earthy smell; one that had never been smelt before. It smells clean, it smells strong, it's pungent and clings to the back of the throat like no other smell before it--and green begins to bud up. Wonderous, ambitious, defiant of the gods themselves; it grows and grows until suddenly they stand hundreds of leagues into the sky--brushing the very heavens themselves, where we have claimed sanctuary.

"Where the rain stops, life ceases. You are my rain." Jiyong reiterated again, his low voice a sultry murmur against the back of her neck. He brushed his lips against her neck, fingers clasping her body tightly, as if he were restraining himself from vocalising his inner turmoil.

Yoona could feel him kiss the nape of her neck gently, and she closed her eyes. She could do nothing but nod, silent and passive under the onslaught of his adoration. Wave after wave, his reverence and adulation washed over her, his worship being more than she could ever take. His passion for her seemed to outweigh what passion she had for him; there was an imbalance between them, where he loved her too fiercely and she loved him too--weakly.

But she knew for sure, one mere thing.

"There would be no rain without water. Things cannot come into existence without causation; I could not survive without you."

The rain continued to hit the windows, a dull staccato that broke through the chill gloom of the room.

She could feel his lips curling into a smile against her neck, and she let herself relax, resting fully against him as he pulled her closer, tucking her blankets around them. She was pliant under his touch and his love, and curled up beneath the bedsheets, she was warm, wrapped up within him, and he within her.

In this facsimile of a cocoon of her blankets, her bedroom, their winter rain; nothing could penetrate the storm outside. It was their guardian, their secret-keeper; the beginning of everything that they were.

Yoona hoped that it would not be their end.