Chapter Text
She sat alone in the empty classroom, adjusting the guitar’s cords, letting a rhythm hum beneath her fingers. The guitar was old. Not ancient, but worn enough to remember the emotions poured through it, and to know there were more yet to come.
Desks stood scattered under sunlight that spilled in through the window like strands of loose hair, reaching into every corner. The sound she played was sombre and melancholic. Raw with feeling, yet the person holding the instrument was astoundingly so ‘empty.’
She, who made the crowd roar with mirth, whose performances made the place, a cacophony of unrestrained delight, had no emotion of her own. Her black hair fell like a curtain, her mulberry eyes blank and void of any profound emotion. The calluses on her fingers spoke of hours of practice, of persistence, of obsession.
Then, a familiar voice broke the quiet. “Hiiii!!” Im Nari burst in, her usual bright energy flooding the room. She was the band’s main vocalist. She was cheerful, magnetic, the kind of person whose words could cut straight to the heart. She was similar to a sunflower—mighty and worth admiration. Her presence was enough for people to turn their faces just to see her. Their band wasn’t famous, but in the university’s music club, they had a renowned name.
And right behind her came Jinwoo, the drummer, his sticks always tapping out a beat even when he wasn’t at his kit.
“Haesol! Haesol!” Im Nari called out as she burst into the room.
“I wanted to show you something!”
She waved a flyer in the air and handed it to Haesol. The mulberry-eyed woman glanced down at it and it was for a stage play in the auditorium.
“An audition?” Haesol murmured, her deep voice carrying a soft rasp.
“Yeah! I’m so excited. Even more so because Yeonwoo’s going to be in it!” Nari’s voice lifted with pure excitement. It would sometimes be hitting octaves if she were a little too much excited.
Jinwoo groaned, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, stop praising him so much.” After a mock pout, he added, “I think I’m pretty cool too, you know.”
Nari laughed. “Of course you are! It’s just… Yeonwoo doesn’t perform often. The last time he did, he was seventeen and oh my gosh, the emotions I felt back then…” She clutched her chest dramatically, eyes glittering like she was reciting an anthem of devotion.
Haesol looked back down at the flyer, noting the time and date. She’d never heard of this Yeonwoo. Not his name, his fame, or his supposed brilliance. And honestly, she didn’t care to.
“I’m not going,” she said flatly. “I’ll stay and practice for our next performance.”
“Heyyy, you’ve been working yourself too hard,” Nari said, playfully smacking her back. “You’re coming, no arguments!”
Jinwoo chuckled, slinging an arm over Haesol’s shoulder. “Yeah, dude. You’ll bleed your fingers at this rate if you keep going like this. You know that, right?” He raised a brow at her.
Haesol let out a quiet, defeated sigh. After a few rounds of their relentless teasing and bickering, she finally gave in.
After finally giving in to her friends’ plan to attend the show, Haesol packed up for the day. It was still afternoon, yet the sky had darkened. Clouds had gathered thickly, smothering the sun and its fading warmth. The grey clouds were like delinquents gathering around the sun, stopping it to spill its brilliance.
She thought it best to leave before the rain began. But by the time she reached the ground floor and pushed open the glass doors, it was already too late.
Rain was falling hard. It was fast and full, drumming against the pavement. The air smelled sharp and alive, potent with petrichor. Haesol opened her small umbrella, its fabric trembling under the impact of heavy drops.
The courtyard stones, black as onyx, were already dotted with puddles. Each raindrop broke the surface, rippling out in quiet circles. A nearby lamp flickered to life, its light warped and soft through the rain. It cast long, strange shadows. They beautiful, but faintly eerie across the wet ground.
That’s when she noticed a shape interrupting the light. A shadow moved where it shouldn’t have. Haesol lifted her gaze.
A man?...no, maybe it was a boy? No, definitely a man-stood under the edge of the awning. His hair was a soft blend of copper and rose, catching the lamplight in muted glints. His skin was pale, smooth as porcelain, and his posture seemed almost too calm for the storm around him.
His eyes were closed for a moment, then opened—emerald, unfocused and wobbly, as if trying to take in the whole world in his vision but not quite succeeding.
He looked… ethereal. Too much so. Too gentle, too quiet, too unreal for the world Haesol knew.
His hand was outstretched, palm open, catching the rain. Rivulets slipped down his hair to his nape, pooling in his hand before spilling over. He looked utterly calm, as though the storm itself bowed around him. Oddly so….
She didn’t have to…
Didn’t need to...
Didn’t want to…
Never thought to…or even desired to.
Haesol had always believed she had control over her emotions. Or maybe it wasn’t control at all. Maybe she simply didn’t have any and worst fact was that it seemed more credible to her and others. She’d long accepted that she was a doll, moved by others’ wishes, meeting kindness and cruelty with the same hollow calm.
Nari and Jinwoo were the exceptions. Her friends, her comfort. She knew they cared. She was grateful for that. But trust…true reliance, was harder. A question lingered deep down. Was she even someone worth trusting others?
Still, something about the man before her made her heart move before her mind could stop it. The first time she let her heart’s desires coarse through her veins letting its body obey to the command.
“Do you want an umbrella… sir?” Her voice came out low, roughened by her natural rasp.
He turned his head slightly. “Oh.” The single word floated softly. It was thin and airy, almost melodic. His voice was light, but it carried a strange weight. It made her pulse skip.
The silence followed after was deafening. The only thing concealing the hollow was the thrumming accompanied by the ascension of the clear pearls.
“It’s cold,” she said quietly, her eyes tracing the rain-darkened outline of his shoulders, his white shirt fading into translucent. “You’ll catch a cold if you stay out here. You should take it.”
He gave a faint smile, eyes hazy but kind. His irises were the colour of honey, wobbling for its mere life. As if trying to escape its own stillness—thick, trembling, alive.
“Oh no,” he murmured, “Junghyuk will come soon. I’m waiting for him.”
“That’s… that’s not what I meant,” she said quickly. “You’ll catch a cold. Maybe you could wait inside?”
His shirt clung to him, almost fully translucent now, revealing a fair and slender frame beneath. He looked fragile like a blank canvas, lovers might long to paint on, to leave reverent signatures of affection upon.
But that wasn’t her.
She wasn’t the type to think like that.
And yet… she did.
A shudder ran through him, and he hugged his arms close as if searching for any ounce of heat he could receive from the subtle friction. He letting out a small chuckle. “You’re right,” he said softly, his smile curling his eyes until his long lashes cast faint shadows over his cheeks. They were light and beautiful as butterfly wings.
His nose had dusted rosy pink, the tip trembling from the cold.
Before she could stop herself, Haesol shrugged off her leather jacket, about to drape it over his shoulders. It was warm. She knew and believed it was warm. It was enough to relief this man from the cruel cold threatening to take its toll on him. Affect him with its pleasant feel yet miserable after-effects.
Then a voice broke through the rain.
“Hey!”
She froze.
A tall figure jogged toward them, rain rolling off his broad and chiselled frame. He reached the man and tousled his copper-pink hair with an easy laugh. “Sorry, ma’am,” he said, glancing at Haesol with a quick nod.
She just murmured, “Mn,” and stepped back, unsure why her throat had gone tight.
The two men walked off together—the taller one opening a large black umbrella over both their heads, shielding the other from the relentless rain. One mans steps seemed slightly uneven yet careful as he walked with his eyes closed. While the other guided him along with a playful conversation.
Haesol stayed where she was, leaning against a metal pole. Her sight had settled on her hand. She felt the rough scars and calluses on her fingers. It didn’t pain anymore. It felt like nothing…Much like her own life. Her fingers had gone numb due to cold. It was pretty rare for her hands to be this cold to the point of freezing. Maybe it was the rain.
Or maybe it wasn’t.
But somehow, she felt a little emptier than before.
“So…he couldn’t see?” She uttered to herself.