“They said it wouldn’t rain.”
I looked out the window at a loss for words. The weather forecast that said it wouldn’t rain wasn’t kept at all. Outside, raindrops were pouring down.
Our school’s cafeteria is separated from the main building. Unusually, it’s in an annex building, and to get to the cafeteria you absolutely had to go outside and move there. In the end, it meant you had to get rained on briefly to eat lunch.
“Should we go to the school store?”
“The kids have probably already all crowded there by now.”
Hee-ae answered hopelessly. The three of us just walked toward the cafeteria. We just need to run a bit, right?
“Should we not eat?”
Standing in front of the main building door, I felt the rain falling more keenly. In-sae pointed outside and spoke. Hee-ae peeked outside then pulled his body back and said.
“The kids are just running over though. It’s not too far to the annex.”
Outside, several kids were entering the annex like arrows. Normally I wouldn’t have bothered eating, but I had skipped breakfast this morning so I had no choice but to go eat.
“I’ll have to run. I’m going first.”
I opened the door and made an awning with my hand. I felt the raindrops falling pitter-patter. The time running to the annex was short, but the rain grazing my body was excessively vivid.
As I entered the annex, Hee-ae and In-sae followed behind. I didn’t know about Hee-ae, but I thought In-sae would just give up on lunch—it was unexpected. I roughly brushed off the raindrops on my school uniform jacket. The jacket that got a bit wet in the rain was damp.
Disliking that sensation, I took off my jacket after getting my lunch and hung it on the chair. I felt a bit better. Hee-ae also took off his jacket the same way. In-sae was wearing different outerwear on top, so he took off and hung his coat.
On the tray were kimchi and one vegetable dish, soup and rice, and a couple of side dishes. Whether it’s inside a novel or not, even though the side dishes looked like nothing special, they tasted good. I put the fluffy rice in my mouth. A notification sound came from my phone.
[Father][12:59 PM] They said it wouldn’t rain but it’s raining just fine.
Father seemed to have seen the weather outside too. Maybe I shouldn’t trust the weather forecast anymore. The rain wasn’t falling drip-drip but pitter-patter. This also seems like one of the events in an internet novel.
I checked the text that came on my phone and put it back. The gaze of Hee-ae sitting next to me lingered for a moment then disappeared. I scooped up and drank a spoonful of soup. It’s still warm and quite delicious.
‘Goodbye, my jacket. We’ll be apart for just a moment.’
I paid my respects to my jacket that had dried a bit but would get wet again soon. Even after eating lunch, the rain continued to pour. It felt like I’d have to take off my jacket even after going to the classroom. I put on my wet jacket again and prepared to go out the door. In-sae looked blankly outside.
“Ah.”
In-sae sighed, really hating the rain. I felt the same strange sense of dread at the thought of going through the rain again. I opened the door and went outside. If I take just one more step from here, the rain will pour down immediately. I prepared to run and dashed into the rain.
“Hurry up!”
Since In-sae and Hee-ae were just blankly watching me run, I turned around and shouted loudly. Even though the distance between the main building and the annex wasn’t that far, I got rained on quite a bit. I shook my slightly wet hair and took off my jacket.
“You guys, go ahead.”
Hee-ae said while loosening his tie a bit. He was silent for a moment then pointed to his leg and continued.
“I think I sprained my leg. I’ll go to the nurse’s office.”
“Alone?”
“Shi-dan and In-sae have to go to the meeting. You don’t need to come unnecessarily.”
“We have plenty of time. Let’s go together.”
***
I took off my jacket and hung it on the chair. We supported Hee-ae and brought him to the nurse’s office. I tried not to go to the meeting, but attendance was mandatory so there was no choice. Moreover, Hee-ae insisted we go first and forcibly pushed In-sae and me out of the nurse’s office.
“Shi-dan. Hurry.”
In-sae urged. The fan club regular meeting had been moved up to today. I slowly got up from my seat and headed to the classroom the fan club used.
This is a generous school that even gives out an empty classroom for the fan club to use separately. When I opened the door, most seemed to have arrived as the chairs were almost all filled. At the door sound we made entering, the kids turned their heads.
“Where’s Nam Hee-ae?”
“Nurse’s office.”
In-sae answered and found an empty seat to sit. I also sat anywhere. The meeting hadn’t started yet as it seemed not everyone had arrived. Finally, when several late kids came running breathlessly, Lee Seung said.
“Today I won’t deduct points specially. Be careful from next time.”
There were points too? If you lose all your points do you get expelled? Getting expelled for point deductions isn’t bad either. Still, seeing In-sae and Hee-ae, I resolved to participate sincerely.
“I heard some news. You guys, did you see today’s weather by any chance?”
The kids sitting by the window leaned their bodies and looked out the window. There were quite a few kids who made surprised expressions as if they didn’t know it was raining.
“Right, it’s raining. To commemorate, I’ll sell photos of the Five Great Kings-nim on a rainy day.”
As soon as Lee Seung finished speaking, kids got up from here and there. In-sae received two and gave me one.
Should I seal it in a drawer? I decided to just put it on the desk at home. He thoughtfully took care of it for me, so sealing it would really be too rude. In-sae sat next to me again.
“You don’t have a jacket today?”
A skinny boy asked out of the blue. I’d hung it in the classroom earlier because it got wet in the rain, and he seemed to have noticed. Lee Seung chimed in from the side.
“Yu Shi-dan always goes around wearing even his jacket, so who are you?”
“This won’t do. This is a place only members can enter. You’ll have to leave.”
Even the vice president joined in teasing me. When I teased Cho-yeon, did Cho-yeon feel like this too? Feeling troubled, I shook my head hard.
“Hey, what do you mean no? The exit door is this way.”
A kid next to me, enjoying teasing me, got up as if really going to kick me out. At the words to leave, In-sae took off his jacket.
“Shi-dan.”
In the past he called me Yu Shi-dan, but when did he start dropping the surname? In-sae’s jacket, which was intact without getting wet even in the rain because he always wore something like a hoodie, was caught in my hand.
“You have a jacket now, so it’s Yu Shi-dan now, right?”
When I received In-sae’s and lifted it up, Lee Seung made a disappointed face. He pointed at In-sae with a betrayed expression.
“Failed to kick you out. Kim In-sae, you’re not supposed to be like this.”
“Won’t you wear it?”
In-sae cut in and interrupted. Do you want me to wear your clothes? I folded it nicely and returned it to In-sae. I answered with a smile.
“It’s yours. You’re doing this to tease me, so why would I even wear it?”
“I don’t mind though.”
In-sae spoke indifferently and took back the clothes. Well, he wouldn’t have handed it to me if he minded. I quickly agreed. The kids were still laughing raucously, saying they’d caught something.
Whether to kick me out or not, I guess the discussion is really fun. While watching that, I leaned toward In-sae and whispered.
“I won’t really get kicked out, right?”
I don’t know why they’re so serious about my jacket. Did I go around too diligently wearing my uniform? Someone asked in a tone full of curiosity, perhaps seeing me whisper to In-sae.
“What are you two doing?”
“Whispering.”
“Seeing how unfazed you are, it’s definitely Yu Shi-dan.”
“Let’s stop.”
Only after I spoke in a tired tone did the kids stop their teasing. But if they’re going to go straight into Five Great Kings praise, it seems better to just tease me more. “We love you, Five Great Kings-nim” chanted like a spell kept ringing in my head.
“We love you, Five Great Kings-nim!”
Finally someone shouted. Let’s stop this too.
After the fan club activities ended, since there was time left, I briefly stopped by the school store. The store was completely empty as if the kids really had swept through everything. Especially the place where food was displayed was embarrassingly messy to look at.
A hot chocolate happened to be left in the refrigerator that looked intact, so I bought it. Ah, did no one buy it because the hot chocolate was in the refrigerator? I gained enlightenment. In-sae stared intently at the hot chocolate in my hand.
“I’ll give it to Hee-ae.”
Ah, In-sae agreed. I was worried about Hee-ae who went to the nurse’s office earlier, so I planned to at least give him this. I unconsciously wiggled my fingers and walked. The hot chocolate swayed in my hand.
“Hee-ae.”
When I entered the classroom, Hee-ae was sitting obediently in his seat. His leg is even sprained, so how did he get to the classroom? I showed Hee-ae the hot chocolate and placed it on the desk.
Hee-ae picked up the hot chocolate can and was startled. He seemed surprised because it was a bit cold.
“They strangely put the hot chocolate in the refrigerator. That was all there was.”
***
“One, two, three, four, five, six….”
I counted the number of things I roughly packed. It’s the same number of items as what I organized last time. Fortunately, it seems I didn’t leave anything out. Today is the long-awaited school trip day.
I wanted to just pick and wear anything, but still, since it’s the first day of the school trip, Father nagged me to at least get in the mood. In a black sweatshirt and jeans, I threw on any outerwear and left the house.
Mother saw me off while showing a slightly lonely look. I did the same when Dan-a went on a school trip, so I understood.
I unnecessarily brushed off my feet and stepped over the threshold. Nothing fell from my clean sneakers. The opening gate made a noisy metal scraping sound.
“Shi-dan.”
In-sae turned around and called. Even though In-sae was talking with other kids, he somehow noticed me behind him first. The kids also turned to look at me at In-sae’s words and each gave their greetings.
“Hello.”
I greeted the kids lightly. In-sae was wearing a familiar hoodie with a thin green outerwear. Considering mobility, he’s really a proper student.
“Hee-ae.”
In-sae shrugged his shoulders. Hee-ae, who always comes early, was a bit late today.
“Where did they say we’re going?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
In-sae x Shi-dan ship is also good… in-sae def want to see shi-dan in his clothes/hj