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Miyeon entertains the thought of face-planting into the table because if she does, maybe Minnie would stop laughing and actually be helpful or feel a little sorry. It's an idea - one of the only she has right now, but she scraps it after one glance to the Thai girl's hysterics across from her.
Who was she kidding? Minnie would probably just laugh harder.
"You're a terrible person," She says, touching the table with a hint of disgust before sending Minnie a glare.
"No doubt about it," Minnie wheezes. She clutches her stomach - or where it would've been if not for being underneath three layers of jackets. "I'm a jerk."
A frigid breeze whips past them, and Miyeon has already started to regret calling out her failure of a friend into the beginning of a storm. Already, the sky has whipped up into a ominous mix of thunderous grey in the past twenty minutes they've been out here.
Here being the convenience store close to Minnie's house.
How typical.
The situation always seemed to benefit Minnie in someway. Whether it be her begging for Miyeon to buy lunch or borrowing homework, Minnie loved minimizing the work for herself.
"Honestly, you're such a coward. Just go out and do it. You'll never know unless you try," The fit of laughter passing, Minnie wipes the tears from her eyes. "I'll always be here with backup plans if you fail."
It's terrible advice, plus the simultaneous jab added in. But for a person who never failed to be annoying, Minnie also managed to never fail in giving weird suggestions that actually worked most of the time.
"You're shocked about my wondrous advice, huh?"
"I hope you freeze to death."
"I deserve some fried chicken."
The rain begins when Minnie waves goodbye.
It's the type that feels shockingly cold in the middle of summer. Which is apparent in how Minnie screams the moment she steps out into it. Miyeon watches, amused as the Thai girl begins running, arms up to block the droplets, only stopping at the end of the block to, again, wave.
She herself, stays underneath the canopy that juts out from the chicken restaurant for just a bit longer.
The heat from inside wooshes out like a vacuum, billowing in clouds of steam. With it brings the smell of chicken and grease. And despite the rain trying to desperately pound it down, the smell weaves its way out and throughout the neighborhood, apparent from the bunches of high-schoolers heading this way, colorful umbrellas twirling.
It reminds of her of a certain someone. A little weird for something like the smell of chicken grease to be a reminder, but Miyeon is pathetic like that.
Now is not the time though.
She shakes off the images of green shirts and crocks. It's not like she minds the rain too much. Afterall, dryers were invented for a purpose.
With this in mind, Miyeon's journey home is unrushed. She takes time to watch a muddy path of water gurgle down the gutter. Pauses to say hello to the ajummas in the open market. It's quite pleasant - she's soaked of course - and very peaceful. So, all in all, pleasantly uneventful.
Well. Almost.
She slips on the growing puddles five houses away from hers.
And just when Miyeon thought the world was perfect.
Falling is really quite scary. One minute, she's standing and happy. The next, there's a twist of fear in her stomach, the possibility of her face smashing into the concrete threateningly real.
"Jeez, unnie. You're such a kluz."
It's weird to feel such warmth around her shoulders through two layers of clothing.
Wait.
Miyeon's eyes snap open, somehow having closed during the slipping. She's leaning back, being held up by a pair of arms under hers. She stares up into Yeh Shuhua's scowling face.
"Can you get up," the younger girl grumbles, "you're awfully heavy."
It takes a second, but when it sinks in, Miyeon scrambles to right herself. Shuhua lets go easily, stepping back and letting out a dramatic gasp. "Finally."
"Shuhua?" She's definitely blushing a little.
"The one and only." Shuhua mock salutes, before dropping her arm. "Why are you even out here, stupid?"
"I- I was going home...Why are you here?" Miyeon's thankful for Shuhua saving her from potential scrapes, but it's still embarrassing to be seen nearly eating it.
"Soojin-unnie lives, like two houses back, remember?"
She numbly looks back to where Shuhua points (which really isn't visible in the steady downpour), and then to where her house is up ahead.
"Soojin saw you and told me to give...uh.." Shuhua looks around for a second, before picking up a black umbrella from a puddle nearby. "...to give you this!" She holds it up like a trophy, gleefully grinning. "But I wasn't expecting to save you."
Miyeon only notices how Shuhua's dressed in only her classic green shirt and a pair of loose pants, looking like she had rushed out of the house. There's something important in that, but she doesn't get the chance to find it when Shuhua shakes the umbrella around in her face.
"Hell-O? Unnie, I called you like three times," The younger girl complains, "Gosh, you seriously owe me."
"I'm sorr -"
But Shuhua shoves the umbrella in her hands, "Make it up to me later. I expect something big!" She yells. Miyeon malfunctions for a second, jerking her eyes up from the umbrella to Shuhua, but she's already broken out into a full out run, her rubber crocs squeaking into the distance.
The umbrella is cold and heavy in her hands yet when Miyeon reads the little waterproof label that looks hastily scribbled, she feels awfully light and warm.
"Make sure you treat me to a meal, Miyeon-unnie!"