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Soojin isn’t the biggest fan of the rain.
Sure, it’s refreshing and has this lingering scent that she finds mildly soothing. But rain means planning ahead. It means watching the forecast and dressing accordingly. It means carrying an umbrella and possibly an additional jacket. And when the forecast calls for rain and not a drop falls from the sky, Soojin isn’t sure who she dislikes more: Mother Nature or the meteorologist.
Fuck them both , she thinks on the third day of forecasted rain. Because all it’s been is overcast skies and the occasional spits of rain. Nothing to constitute lugging around an umbrella for three consecutive days.
It isn’t that Soojin wants the skies to open and Zeus All Mighty to hurtle lightening across the sky and cast rain so violent it falls sideways, but she wants at least something to justify the stupid umbrella.
“Just get one of those compact ones,” Soyeon once said, like it was the most obvious solution to her plight.
But a compact umbrella isn’t the solution. At least, not the solution Soojin wants. Because what she wants is for the meteorologist and Mother Nature to get on the same page. To be congruent. If it’s what her manager expects of her, why can’t she expect it of the meteorologist and Mother Nature? Apparently, it’s too much to ask though when day four rolls around and Mother Nature and the meteorologist still can’t get it together.
By day five, out of spite, Soojin wants to leave her umbrella in the nook of her entryway. But she has a meeting at nine and, knowing her luck, she’ll show up looking like a drowned rat because Mother Nature is a malevolent bitch. So, she carts around the umbrella while the sun pokes out from behind the clouds.
It’s only on day six that it finally rains and Soojin is prepared.
The rain isn’t torrential, but it also isn’t light. Thankfully it isn’t sideways and she can be bitter beneath her umbrella in peace.
Maybe it’s wrong, but Soojin finds mild delight in watching people scurry around umbrellaless. It makes five days of carrying around the stupid thing feel mildly worth it. It makes looking like an idiot with an umbrella under the sun feel mildly gratifying. It also might make her question the sanity of other people.
Case and point: Shuhua Yeh.
Soojin isn’t sure how Soyeon found her. It isn’t like Shuhua likes any of the same things Soyeon likes and they certainly don’t work together. But for one reason or another, Soyeon won’t stop bringing the pasty little foreigner to everything.
Weekend by the poolside? Bring Shuhua!
Late night dinner and drinks? Shuhua doesn’t drink but she eats enough to feed a small army, bring her!
Shopping for new shoes? Shuhua might need some too!
It isn’t that Soojin is bitter, or that she feels like she’s being replaced. She isn’t. It’s just that Shuhua is, well, weird.
Soojin doesn’t have anything against weird people. If someone was to ask, she would probably categorise herself as weird. But something about Shuhua takes being weird to a whole new level.
Take for instance practicality. Shuhua is not practical. She dresses like it’s the wrong season: dresses in the winter and turtlenecks in the summer. She constantly forgets her wallet and wants hot chocolate in the summer and chocolate ice cream in the dead of winter. And she certainly doesn’t remember to bring an umbrella, even if it’s visibly raining.
Soyeon says it’s part of her charm. Like being impractical is endearing and something to fawn over. Soojin thinks it’s just weird and borderline stupid. Because honestly, who stands on the corner of the street, in the middle of a downpour, and stares up wistfully at the sky while the world is in chaos around them?
Only a weird idiot, that’s who.
“Idiot, what are you doing?”
Her umbrella isn’t made for two people, but Soojin figures tilting it to at least shelter Shuhua’s face will be enough. It isn’t that she’s being friendly, Shuhua is Soyeon’s friend, and Soojin just doesn’t want bad karma.
“Oh, hello Soojin. You look beautiful today.”
Nothing about the way Shuhua speaks, from her thick accent to the rich husky quality of her voice, is alluring in the slightest.
“Just answer the question, Casanova.”
The way Soojin feels the rain on her backside is irritating. But when Shuhua only blinks, droplets of water clinging to her lashes, Soojin grudgingly waits. Because it would be rude to move, not when she’s offered part of her umbrella.
“It’s beautiful.”
Soojin isn’t sure if Shuhua is referring to the rain or to her. Not when Shuhua has this annoying way of being suave.
“Why can’t you just be normal?”
Everything about the way Shuhua laughs is annoying. From the way she tilts her head back, her eyes close into crescent moons, to how her body trembles. Part of Soojin hopes Shuhua is trembling from the cold because it would serve her right, making Soojin feel the brunt of the rain on her backside.
“Where’s your umbrella?”
When Shuhua points up to her umbrella, Soojin wants nothing more than to roll her eyes and slug Shuhua in the shoulder. Why does Soyeon have to have such a presumptuous friend?
“This isn’t your umbrella, Casanova.” She settles for the roll of her eyes, if only to avoid being charged for battery.
“Our umbrella.”
Screw being rude, there is only so much grease Soojin can stomach.
“I’m leaving.”
It isn’t intentional that Soojin starts walking in the direction of Shuhua’s apartment. It isn’t intentional because Soojin wasn’t planning on going home anyways and Soyeon lives in this direction too. It isn’t intentional that she walks slower than normal and still angles her umbrella to shelter Shuhua who has fallen in step beside her.
“Can we get hot chocolate?”
Maybe it’s the rain, but Shuhua looks far too innocent when she asks the question.
Ignoring the weird twinge in her chest and the heat in her cheeks, Soojin grunts.
“Do whatever you want, I’m not your keeper.”
“They have chocomint ice cream too.”
Honestly, Soojin isn’t the biggest fan of the rain. It means planning ahead and dressing accordingly. It means carrying around an umbrella because Soojin knows Shuhua surely isn’t practical enough to carry one and Soojin can’t have that bad karma on her soul if Soyeon’s friend gets sick.