waterfall // lee juyeon

22

seohyun's pov

the next day, i woke up with butterflies in my stomach. to be honest, i didn't know why i was feeling this way. after all, it was just juyeon. i already knew who he was.

but at the same time, it was juyeon. the guy i met and told everything to within three days. the guy that protected me from cha eunwoo. 

maybe i'm just being melodramatic, but i was stupidly nervous.

"yah, lee seohyun, we're going to be late if you don't start moving your lazy ass and finish getting ready," hyunjae said in an annoyed tone as he stood by the front door.

"do i look okay?" i asked in a panicked tone.

hyunjae let out a deep sigh. "dude, you're fine. new flash -- guys don't give a shit about what you wear and your makeup. in fact, most of the time we can't tell a difference. changmin didn't even know girls in our class wore makeup until this year. that says something."

"okay, okay sorry," i muttered. "let's go."

hyunjae opened up the door, letting me walk out first. we headed down the elevator and finally got to the parking lot, where we walked over to our car and hopped inside. 

"wanna play any music?" hyunjae asked as he pulled out from the parking lot and drove out of the building. "huh, looks like it's raining."

"in that case," i said while connecting my phone to our car's bluetooth system. "let's play downpour by i.o.i."

my brother snorted. "seems ironically fitting for the situation."

"exactly," i nodded as the song began to play. 

as rain poured down from the sky, crashing onto our car, the soft melody of the song flowed from the speakers and into our ears. the song was quiet -- so we did the same -- but the lyrics seemed to resonate more than usual with me. 

will it stop now? these raindrops, these tears? i don't want to get wet with rain and tremble with cold. some day, the cold rain will become warm tears and fall down, it's alright. it's just a passing downpour. 

while those words were sang softly, i could feel tears begin to fill my eyes, just thinking about my current situation as we suddenly paused at a red light. hyunjae took a tiny break from staring at the road and looked over in the mirror to see my eyes turn glassy. 

"okay that's it," hyunjae sighed. "give me your phone," he said while taking my phone away from me and unlocking it. "time to change this song before your eyes look like they're about to explode," he said teasingly, making me glare at him.

soon enough, the song had changed to a much more bright and upbeat song -- "left & right" by seventeen. that was more than enough to get both me and my brother singing loudly and energetically, and continued for the rest of the way to the airport. it was like a mini concert filled with covers, including songs like "superhuman" by nct 127, "energetic" by wanna one, "not shy" by itzy, "crown" by txt, and "what you waiting for" by somi. 

"JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU WAITING FOR!" hyunjae and i yelled as we pulled up to the airport. my brother pulled over to the side near the international terminal area. 

"yah, lee seohyun," hyunjae said as he stopped the car. "call me when you're done, okay? don't cry too much okay stupid," he grinned.

i rolled my eyes as i began to get out of the car. "yeah yeah okay."

"i know you love me," hyunjae smiled widely as i sighed before he drove away. 

as my brother slowly drove out of sight, i walked into the airport, trying to find juyeon. that didn't take too long, because it wasn't too hard to find a group of six boys waiting in the check in line, with two of them fighting, one playing with a rubik's cube of all things, another on his phone, one looked very annoyed and done with life as he stared at his friends, and another familiar looking face wearing a bucket hat.

"juyeon!" i called out, making the bucket hat head swivel my way. it also caught the attention of the rest of his friends, who all looked at me and waved. well, sunwoo didn't, but that's besides the point. 

"hi!" juyeon smiled. "can you give us a minute?" he asked his friends. sangyeon nodded as juyeon slid under the line barricade, nearly falling over as sunwoo sprinted towards me doing the same thing.

"yah seohyun!" sunwoo exclaimed, slapping me and making me flinch. "okay, i'm done. bye!" he smiled as he walked back to his friends who were shaking their heads. 

"bye," i laughed at him as he left and juyeon continued to walk towards me. 

"sorry about sunwoo," juyeon apologized, making me laugh again. 

"nah it's fine," i smiled. 

a small period of silence fell between us, both of us figuring out what to say. after all, it was the last time we'd see each other for who knows how long. 

"i'll miss you," we both blurted out at the same time, making us both laugh. 

"it's been a crazy few days," i said. "thanks for everything," i hugged him. 

juyeon wrapped his arms around me. "same here," he whispered. he pulled away from me and slung his bag off his shoulder. "i got you something. to remember this."

he pulled out a small gift bag from his little backpack and handed it to me. i gently took out the tissue paper and gasped at what was inside. pulling it out, i examined it more closely. it was a necklace shaped like a waterfall, and on the bag had text engraved: love, juyeon. in korean, of course.

"thank you so much," i thanked him while still feeling a sense of shock at the gesture. "h-how did you do this?"

"let's just say that was the real reason why i left as twelve yesterday," he winked. "do you like it?"

"it's really pretty," i said, still in awe. "thank you."

juyeon smiled softly. "i'm glad you like it. here," he held his hand out. "i'll help you put it on."

he took the necklace from my hands and walked behind me. careful not to get my hair caught or leave it in the way, i grabbed my hair and put it in front of my shoulders and held it as he clasped the thin metal chain around my neck. when he was done, i held it between my fingers and stared at it.

that's when i started to cry.

juyeon quickly noticed my tears and hugged me instantly. 

"don't cry seohyun," juyeon said quietly. 

"i don't even know why i'm crying," i started laughing slightly in the midst of my tears. "this was just really unexpected."

"well, i'm glad that you like it," juyeon said as he pulled away. "it means something."

"what does it mean?" i asked curiously. 

juyeon smiled. "the waterfall is where we met, which is the first part to it. the second part is that eventually, no matter where we end up, if we meet again, keep wearing that necklace, and once i see it, no matter how long it takes, i'll know it's you."

"okay," i nodded, wiping my tears away. "i'll wear it. for you."

"thank you," juyeon kissed the top of my head.

"juyeon hyung," eric ran up to us. "sangyeon finished checking in everything for all of us. "it's time to go."

"until we meet again," juyeon hugged me one last time. "bye seohyun."

"bye juyeon," i hugged him back, before finally letting go and waving.

juyeon continued to wave back at me before he finally could no longer, and i saw him, the boy of dreams, whom a waterfall allowed me to meet, slip behind the gates into airport security and away from me.

a/n: woahhhh so it's been awhile since i updated waterfall but it's finally done! it's been a pretty crazy time writing juyeon and seohyun, but the story has been fun to write nonetheless! don't worry though -- it's not over yet:) epilogue coming your way soon~~

{written on january 28th, 2021}