Her hands were cold. She was shivering.

Where the hell was he?

There was an intense anxiety to the rain that made Jaehwa’s chest rise and fall more abruptly than it should. That, or she was already out of breath from walking so much. She couldn’t believe she was going to such lengths to find Taehyung – it was absurd, unreasonable to say the least, but yet there she was; clad in her time-worn parka coat which wasn’t even water-proof with both of her shivering hands clutching onto the handle of her umbrella as if it was her lifeline.

Her cell phone chimed, alerting a call and she dug her fingers into her side pocket and tapped the screen awake and saw Jungkook’s name in bold. Her hand quivered a little, and not because she was cold. I’m sorry. She stared at the screen showing his contact until the chiming stopped. If she had answered it, she would be wasting time of him going on and on about how worried he was. She sent him a text instead to tell him she was fine – soaked by the rain and cold, but fine.

But how long would that phone call have lasted?

Ten minutes?

Five minutes?

No, less.

Four minutes.

The average person’s heart beats seventy to one-hundred times per minute.

During the first lunar landing, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong had about forty seconds worth of fuel left; only enough for one landing attempt, including the twenty seconds worth which had to be saved in the event of an abort, giving them only twenty-five seconds. But yet, those twenty-five seconds was enough for them to land successfully on the moon. So in truth, a single minute – even a few ticking seconds, is actually a long time. Depending on how fast you walk, it shouldn’t take longer than ten seconds to make it past the 33.3 foot mark.

Four minutes? Forty seconds? Twenty-five seconds? Five seconds? Taehyung could be anywhere by then.

She walked on.  

Even the rain glowed neon through the downtown lights and she sighed, all the sheltered spots in the area she was in were all probably a premium tonight. If she came into work tomorrow with a fever she wouldn’t be surprised. But the further away she walked, she couldn’t help but have a feeling someone was watching her. She was in a part of the city she wasn’t too familiar with, but she felt safe enough since there were a lot of people still walking around, the probability of something bad happening to her wasn’t likely. Even if something did happen, there would be plenty of people around she could turn to for help.

But with every step she took forward, Jaehwa seemed to have moved nowhere. She would stop, start, take a short run to see if that would get her anywhere, but it didn’t, and she felt a sinking feeling of despair as she had realised something she had been denying for the past few minutes: she was lost.

Her feet picked up their pace and it wasn’t until she heard footsteps just as quick as hers not far behind when she began to become concerned. Her pace increased and it was too late for her to correct her mistake of walking into an area where there were barely any other pedestrians. She was about to turn a corner until a clammy hand entrapped her wrist at her side and pulled her back, dragging her towards an alleyway. She tried to pull free but failed.

No, no, no.

The present thoughts that ran through her mind was how she had promised Jungkook that nothing would happen to her. So with all her strength she wrenched her wrist out of the stranger’s iron grip and swivelled round to see the face of her ‘kidnapper’.

Her eyes widened. “Taehyung?” The only protection he had from the rain was his coat, but she could see that he hadn’t bothered to pull his hood up; his face was glistening with rain water and his fringe was matted to his forehead. Anyone who walked past would’ve assumed he was crazy.

“Where the hell were you going?” he said, he almost looked angry.

She scoffed, not quite believing what she was hearing and her brows fell low over her eyes into a disbelieving stare. “I could ask you the same thing.”

His incredulous gaze challenged her own. His voice was steady. “Jaehwa, you’re walking alone in the evening and you expect everything to be fine? I’ve been following you for the past ten minutes and all you’ve been doing was wandering around like a headless chicken.”

“I was looking for you!” she shot back. “And all this time, you’ve been following me?” Her hands subconsciously gripped tighter onto the umbrella handle until her knuckles paled. Taehyung noticed. He opened his mouth to say something in return, but then closed it again after reconsidering his words. Instead he his upper lip and sighed.

“Well, yes. I have. But—”

She interrupted – “Do you have any idea how worried Jungkook and I were? You just ran off without telling either of us knowing where you were going.”

He didn’t say anything, didn’t want to say anything.

Jaehwa sighed and went closer to him so that both of them were sheltered under her umbrella. “Come on, let’s go find somewhere where there’s shelter.”

He nodded and she pulled his hood up.

*  *  *

“Excuse me if I’m being rude, but who are you?” Jungkook further scrutinised the woman who was staring off at the space where Taehyung and Jaehwa left. For a few seconds, she gave no answer. It was just the sobbing of the rain that seemed to reply instead. The woman eventually turned her eyes to him and took off the black mouth mask that covered half her face, revealing her smile.

Jungkook blinked twice. It wouldn’t take a second thought for anyone to think that she was beautiful. He suspected it was something to do with the way she smiled. She must’ve done something miraculous in her past life to have had such delicate proportions like that. But the way he described her exterior was merely an observation of his, he never really liked the high standards of Korean beauty anyway, he didn’t understand it.

“Ahri. Na Ahri.” Was her reply, and she bowed her head curtly.

He blinked again. Not exactly the answer he was looking for, but he wasn’t very specific when he asked. His eyes automatically went to her left hand for any rings; he thought it may help clear a little fog on who she was. And there, on her ring finger, was a slim and golden band - married. Judging from both its slight dullness and sheen, he presumed she wasn’t married for too long, no longer than three years or less.

“I’m Jeon Jungkook,” he said, “I was just taking a walk with Jaehwa and Taehyung.”

He noticed her tense a little at the mention of Taehyung’s name, but she recomposed herself. “I was just going out shopping to buy some clothes for my son,” she said, bringing up one of the shopping bags held in her hand.

“Ah, really? How old is he?”

“Four, almost five in a few months.” She chuckled. “My husband keeps saying how kids grow up so fast.”

“Time does go by quick.”

“That’s true,” she said, and pulled her sleeve up a little to look at her watch. “Well, thank you for helping me pick up my things, but I have to go back home soon to cook for my family. It was nice talking to you.” She began to walk away, but then paused and turned back round to face him. “By the way, you’re a university student, aren’t you?”

Jungkook’s brows furrowed into a puzzled expression. “Yeah, how’d you know?”

She smiled again. “You were in the newspaper last week, I recognised you.”

“Oh, right. That.”

“Anyway, bye!”

He watched her figure until it was no longer in sight. But his mind was still a surging perplexity, with plenty of presumptions and unanswered questions, mostly questions.

Why did Taehyung run away?

Who was that woman?

Who was Na Ahri?

A single chime was enough to bring him back. He had a text. Realising the possibility that it may have come from Jaehwa, he didn’t waste a second thought and ferreted his hand into his coat pocket to reach for his mobile. He sheltered the screen with his other hand from the rain, then unlocking it and saw that the sender was in fact Jaehwa;

Thanks for coming with us today, I know you have class tomorrow so you can go back to your dorm and sleep, eat or whatever

I’m fine ^^, please don’t worry about me. Just don’t catch a cold.

Jungkook gave a small smile. “Alright, Jaehwa.” He didn’t notice a young boy, about six or seven years old tug onto his coat with big, questioning eyes. Jungkook put his mobile away and bent his knees so that he could meet the boy’s face. “What’s up, little man?” he asked and patted the boy on the head.

“Why were you talking to yourself? I asked my mama once about people who talk to themselves and she told me it’s because they’re lonely.”

Jungkook blinked and stared. “Uh, well that’s not always tr—”

The boy looked at him sadly. “Are you lonely?”

Not far behind where the boy stood, Jungkook saw who he presumed the boy’s mother as she was walking towards them with a shopping bag in one hand and an umbrella in the other. He merely smiled and pointed. “I think your ma is looking for you.”

The boy pouted and turned around. “Oh, yes.” He faced Jungkook again. “I hope you find a nice person so you won’t be lonely, hyung. Bye-bye!” And before the older could reply, the little boy trotted back to his mother, while trying his best not to slip.

Jungkook began to go back in the direction of his apartment complex, with the task of also trying not to bump into anyone. It was night now, and there were a lot of couples wandering around and also other young adults. He sighed, and buried his hands back deep in his coat pockets. “Even if I was lonely, I’m sure I’d be fine.”

The rain still showed no sign of stopping.

*  *  *

Jaehwa wondered how the hell Taehyung was able to walk through the crowd so naturally without bumping into anyone, as if it was some kind of routinely thing. But then again, perhaps it was. There was still so much she didn’t know about him. Like his favourite colour, or something more important - like his profession, if he had one. She hoped so. She heard of people who were totally dependent on their parents even after they turned twenty, and she trusted that Taehyung wasn’t one of those people.

Where they were going? Anywhere that would at least give them adequate shelter from the rain. They had been walking for a while and Jaehwa’s arm was starting to get tired from holding it up over the both of them, she was grateful he was only a few centimetres taller than her, otherwise her arm would definitely tire out. He seemed to notice, for he then also held onto the umbrella handle, with his hand just above hers. She mumbled a thanks and he nodded in reply without looking at her; he was still focused on finding a place for them to shelter.

“Let’s just go over there.” He pointed to a bus stop shelter just ahead. Jaehwa’s shoulders slumped, she hated that it was next to the side of the road, but she didn’t bother to complain because right now they were desperate. If Taehyung wasn’t so soaked through, they could have had the choice of going inside a warm coffee shop or restaurant. But in the current state they were in – cold, fatigued and drenched – despite how nice the shop owners may be, if they weren’t going to buy anything, they would most likely get kicked out. She would have preferred if they both just went back to their apartments, but she and Taehyung needed a talk, and that moment was a good opportunity which she didn’t want to let slip away.

Jaehwa folded the umbrella and they stood side by side under the bus shelter. “Should we just take the bus back to the apartment building? I have money left enough for a ride for the both of us.”

Rubbing his hands together to keep them warm, he nodded undecidedly. “Okay, thanks. I’ll pay you back.”

She sighed. “It’s fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

For the next few minutes they didn’t talk. They didn’t feel there was a need to. It’s good to talk, but sometimes silence was the best answer. “Damn weather,” Jaehwa muttered under her breath as the rain now fell so rapidly to the ground that it almost looked like they were thin nylon strings falling from the sky. They got under the bus shelter just in time, Jaehwa didn’t like that idea of wandering through the city in that.

But no matter how heavy the rain would fall, the bright lights of the city wouldn’t dim. While they waited for their bus to arrive, Jaehwa preoccupied herself by watching the commercials on the digital billboard shown from where she, Taehyung and Jungkook were earlier. She didn’t notice it then, but now that she was at a further distance, the view of it was so much better. Images transitioned from a perfume commercial to a Nature Republic advertisement and many more (mostly beauty cosmetics) that she didn’t have time to look at properly.

For a few minutes, the same advertisements flashed on the massive screen, until it stopped and showed not another commercial, but a photo. Jaehwa remembered Hana talking to her about that photo. It was taken back from when there was a house fire in one of the neighbourhoods around the outskirts of Seoul, luckily the rescue was a success and everyone in the house was evacuated with only minor casualties. There happened to be a lot of people watching the rescue since house fires was obviously not something that happened frequently – virtually almost never in that area. And it seemed that someone was also there to take a photo, which was the same one shown on the screen; in the background showed the shadow of the house being by ember flames and other colours beyond Jaehwa’s capable imagination, and in the centre of the image was the dark outline of a person – one of the firemen, who had something cradled in his arms. It was taken at night so the lighting was uneven, making it difficult to see what it was exactly he was holding. But anyone who looked at that photo would’ve easily guessed that that something was the silhouette of a young, frail child. Despite the tragic event, the photo itself was beautiful.

She had heard a lot about the photographer who took that picture, and had seen some of their other images displayed here and there on other billboards in the city, but the most recent one of the fire rescue was acknowledged the most.

“How can someone be so successful like that?” she said to no one in particular. She couldn’t deny that she was jealous of the achievements of the photographer, she was always told that in order to be successful, you had to go finish university, otherwise you’d end up working multiple part-time jobs, just like she was now. But that was her decision.

Taehyung heard her. “Who’re you talking about?”

She kept her eyes on the image projected on the digital billboard. “That freelance photographer. I heard he studied engineering in university but dropped out after a couple of months. But now his photos are being shown everywhere.”

Taehyung saw where her line of gaze was and turned his head so that both now looked in the same direction. “Maybe sometimes it takes more than just a degree, perhaps something even more important.”

“Which is?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “Something special, I guess. But success comes in different forms.”

Jaehwa saw this moment as a chance, and said hastily; “Taehyung, that woman back there, it was her, wasn’t it?”

He flinched. Jaehwa knew it wasn’t her business to ask something personal, but after wandering out under the rain for someone who was actually following her the entire time, she at least thought she deserved a confirmation of her question.

“Her name’s Na Ahri.” As he said that, he looked like he was in pain, but at the same time had a thoughtful look on his face as if he was recalling it as a tender memory.

Jaehwa glanced down and fiddled with the handle of her umbrella. “She must have been really special to you,” she said softly and subtly turned her head to look at Taehyung again, expecting him to have a look of sadness, but his lips were in the form of a half-smile.

“She was.” He closed his eyes and his breaths became audible. “It will be her twenty-eighth birthday soon.”

Jaehwa blinked. Twenty-eight? Then that would make Taehyung –

“I met her when I was still in high school, but she was a university student back then. A lot of my friends and her friends thought it was weird when we started dating because of the , but I really loved her.”

“Did she love you too?” Insensitive. She pinched the skin of her wrist. His lips stretched into a smile that didn’t quite reach his dark eyes, which were lit with sadness. For a few moments she stared at him, and it broke her heart.

His voice was confident, unlike his smile. “I think so.”

She opened to say something, until the hissing sound of a vehicle stopping interrupted her. Their bus had arrived. Thank goodness.