✓pluviophile • hwang hyunjin

s e v e n

she's not here.

hyunjin sighed as he put his umbrella near the entrance and entered the mart. 

am i going to see her after every two days?

the day before he purposely walked there, and there was no sign of the girl. it might have been because it wasn't raining, but he still felt sad.

"you barely come here on weekdays." haseul commented.

"you barely work here on weekdays." he muttered but loud enough for the girl to hear.

"my co-worker had to leave so suddenly so the manager asked me to replace her."

hyunjin nodded slightly as he chose some instant food. it was not healthy for him but his mother comes home late these days and they were short on food stocks. "aren't you gonna get tired? you still have classes."

"nah, i'm used to it. you'll be there when you get into college. sleep deprivation is quite normal but that's not good."

"i acknowledge," he snickered. "i'm still lucky though."

she rolled her eyes. "but you keep coming here this late and there's no difference. lately you've been coming here a lot. why?"

"just because." he shrugged as he poured the hot water into the cup. "noona, can i ask?" 

"right away."

"have you ever seen a girl at the park before? alone?"

she thought for a while before saying, "the blonde one?" and hyunjin nodded. "yeah. since the day it started raining i often see her but never talk to her. isn't she weird?"

"kinda." he then went to his usual place and stared outside, looking for a certain girl.

but she wasn't there.

🌧️

"you're here."

his voice might sounds a bit too excited so he pursed his lips afterwards and looked away. "i mean, you were not here the last two days."

chaewon nodded. "i know. something came up." she grinned and handed him the umbrella. "it's not raining today so i thought i could give you this. sit down." she patted the vacant place beside her.

hyunjin took it and sat on the bench, facing the empty park. most people from his residence would go there but since it was raining, it looked like the place was abandoned.

"do you walk here every night?" he broke the silence.

"um, depends. i was not here for two days, was i?"

"oh.." he nibbled on his bottom lip. 

chaewon noticed the awkwardness in him so she stood up and offered her hand. looking up, he gave her a questioning look. "since it's not raining i thought you could join me, walking around."

he was lost in her eyes and his and moved on its own, grabbing hers. leaving the umbrella behind, they started to walk hand in hand but neither of them cared about that.

"last time i saw you walking down the streets," she pointed to the road in front of them. "is your house near here?"

"not really. usually it takes a fifteen minutes walk. how about you?"

"the opposite side," she pointed to her back where the convenience store was. "it's just a five minutes walk from the park. not too far."

"sure, not that far. but you're a girl. aren't you afraid of some.. i don't know. maybe some drunk guys?"

"aren't you a guy?" she looked at him with an amusement glint.

"i said, drunk." he emphasized the last word. "i'm not drunk."

"but you're a guy." she remarked.  

"exactly. and you did not seem afraid when i approached you for the first time. that's kinda.. dangerous. i mean if you trust a stranger just like that you might get into danger. i mean, i don't say it's me who's dangerous but what if it's another creepy guy? who knows what would happen to you?"

they stopped walking and chaewon blinked her eyes twice. that was when hyunjin realised he had blurted out nonsense.

when he was about to apologise he felt the grip on his hand tighten.

"hyunjin," her voice was calm, making him feel the same. 

"i'm sure you don't have any bad intentions on me."

🌧️