Mean to Me | Im Youngmin

Mean to Me

She has always been fascinated with the rain, but today, as there is a sudden downpour when she's about to leave school for home, she isn't.

Ji-hye grunts in frustration as she rummages through her bag to find her umbrella. She's pretty sure she didn't even bother to bring it today, but she still looks for it in her stuff, hoping anyway. She heaves a deep sigh as she finally realizes that no matter how thoroughly she searches for it among her things, if she didn't really bring it with her, it wouldn't be there.

The walk home is quite long, and she thought, "There's no way for me to survive if I make a run for it in this rain." So, she sits on one of the covered benches in school and decides to wait for the rain to stop first. She is certain no one would offer to share their umbrella with her, anyway.

For more than an hour, she waited, but to no avail. It looks like the rain does not have any plans of stopping anytime soon. She isn't sure if it was just the rain that made the sky darker or if it is because it is really getting late, until she notices that one by one, the people in the school start leaving for home.

Internally cursing the universe for such bad luck, she decides to brave the rain because it seems that it isn't stopping anytime soon, and she really wants to get home by now. "I'll just take a long, warm shower as soon as I'm home," she thinks to herself.

Hugging her bag close to her chest with one hand while the other is trying to cover her head, she made a run for it. Within seconds of standing under the harsh downpour, she was soaked, but she couldn't care less.

She hasn't gone too far from school when she noticed that a classmate of hers is faced with the same situation as her. Despite the heavy rain making it almost impossible to see clearly, she's sure it's Jung Hayoung standing in front of her, currently braving the rain like she is. Since they aren't close anyway, and because she's starting to feel cold herself, she decides to walk past Hayoung despite noticing that the latter seemed to be shivering uncontrollably.

Still, Ji-hye can't help but feel somewhat concerned, if that's it, for Hayoung. The other girl looks really pale, and it seems like she'd drop dead or something if she spends another minute under the rain. Then again, she thinks, "But what can I do? It's not like I have an umbrella with me or something. We're just in the same situation here." With this in mind, she continues to half-walk and half-run to the nearest shed without looking back.

After a few minutes, Ji-hye reaches an empty shed where she decides to rest for a while. She looks at herself and curses because now, she's fully soaked and it makes her feel vulnerable and not to mention, very cold. She then tries wringing out her skirt and blouse as much as she can so that her clothes would feel a little less heavy. By now, the skies are really dark, and the rain is still steadily pouring.

"Why am I so damn unlucky?" she asks herself.

As she is busy checking if the stuff in her bag got wet, she doesn't notice that a tall figure is hovering.

"Lee Ji-hye."

The deep voice with a thick accent is so familiar to her but she looks up to see who called her, anyway. Although she recognized his voice, she's still surprised to see this classmate, also soaking wet, in front of her. If it wasn't already a surprise who he was, she's even more shocked to see a sleeping, seemingly lifeless Hayoung on his back.

What? Hayoung did really pass out under the rain? She bites her lip as she feels a pang of guilt overtake her, but she immediately shakes it off. Why is it her fault anyway? Hayoung shouldn't have braved the rain if she easily gets sick like that.

Shaking these thoughts away, she meets his eyes, which seem very dark at the moment. Still, she remains unbothered and with a firm voice, she also calls the boy's full name.

"Im Youngmin."

He lets out an exasperated sigh before speaking back. "You know what, all along, I thought you're really just the nonchalant type," he says as he looks down on the shorter girl in front of him. "I never really took you for someone who cared, but this?" he says as he looks at the pale Hayoung. "Leaving out someone you know who's sick, under the rain?" he continues.

Ji-hye is so dumbfounded that she doesn't know how to respond. She really can't process his words because she still can't believe that Im Youngmin is in front of her, speaking with her. Youngmin had never talked to her in all three years that they've been in the same class. Then again, she can't avert her gaze from him as she is trying to read his expressions.

"This? This such a new low for you," he stops for a while as if trying to calm himself. Ji-hye continues to stare at him in disbelief. "I didn't think you can be this heartless," he says, still with an unreadable, or emotionless expression. Ji-hye can't tell.

Without even giving her the chance to speak, he sets off while carrying a sleeping Hayoung on his back.

Ji-hye could have sworn that her heartbeat stopped the moment he dropped the word "heartless". She's in a complete daze that she doesn't even notice that somehow, the rain has already stopped, and Youngmin is nowhere to be seen.

Did all of that just happen?

She was in shock that all she could think of was this:

"Im Youngmin...

Why is he so nice to everyone else... but mean to me?"

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Hi, everyone! This is a new fanfiction dedicated to Brand New Music trainee/Brand New Boys Im Youngmin! He is one of my favorites in Produce 101 Season 2, and it's such a shame to see him not debut in Wanna One, that I decided to write this fanfic so that I (and you too, I hope) wouldn't miss him as much.

This is my first story, and I think it's going to be partly-fluff and partly-angst; nonetheless, I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. Let's continue supporting our alpaca, Im Youngmin! :)