Lee Soo ran mindlessly.

Anywhere was fine, as long as it was far from home.

Her heart pounded as if it would burst, and her whole body trembled.

It was the first time since she was born. And it was to her father’s wife.

More unbearable than the stinging pain was the unbearable shame that made her jaw tremble.

The fierce face of Soo Min, who had slapped her, would not leave her head.

It wasn’t until she got out of the alley and onto the main road that Lee Soo stopped to catch her breath.

“Hah… hah…”

Her chest felt choked with the breath and anger that welled up in her throat, mingled with sadness.

Her vision blurred due to the tears that kept welling up.

“Mother…”

If only her mother had been there at this time.

If her mother had come to Seoul as promised, she would not have experienced this.

She resented her mother, but she wanted to see her.

As her emotions intensified, all the energy that had been barely supporting her body drained away.

With the strength gone from her legs, Lee Soo, whose knees buckled, slumped down on the spot.

She could feel the passersby glance at her, but she didn’t even have the strength to stand up.

As she sat there hugging her knees, something dropped onto her head from above.

When she looked up, raindrops were falling on her face.

“Ha… on a day like this, it’s raining, the timing is really…”

Lee Soo didn’t even think to avoid it and got wet in the rain.

She wished that her terrible memories would wash away with the rain.

Tears welled up in her eyes and mixed with the rain, streaming down.

In the cold rain, Lee Soo let herself cry as much as she wanted.

Soon, raindrops were forming on the ends of her wet hair, and her tshirt was getting wet.

Since it was March, it was still chilly at night.

With the rain coming down, she began to feel a chill all over her body.

Still, she didn’t want to go home like this.

She had run out as if escaping, only taking her phone which was on the bed without a wallet.

“Perhaps it’s fortunate.”

Looking for a place to shelter from the rain, Lee Soo went to a bus stop.

Sitting on the seat and waiting for the rain to stop, she started to shiver from the damp cold.

She was getting more and more groggy.

She needed someone to help her.

While she was searching for Ae Ra’s number with her trembling hand, her phone rang and Seo Ji Ho’s name popped up on the screen.

Lee Soo’s moving hand stopped abruptly.

She wondered why Seo Ji Ho had called, and remembered the promise they had made to meet when it rained.

Could he have called at this hour to ask for an umbrella?

After hesitating for a moment, Lee Soo pressed the call button.

[Hello.]

Ji Ho’s sweet voice came softly into her ear.

Strangely, she felt relieved at his short greeting.

“…Yes.”

Lee Soo managed to move her tightened throat and squeezed out a sound.

[Are you… outside right now? I can hear the sound of rain.]

“…Yes.”

Her jaw was trembling so much that she could barely speak.

The biting wind was blowing through her wet clothes and hair, taking away all her body heat.

She felt chilled to the bone.

[It’s raining heavily… and it’s late.]

“…Yes.”

Lee Soo kept repeating the word yes, as if she didn’t know how to say anything else.

[…Lee Soo.]

It was an incredibly tender voice.

It was just calling her name, but why did it feel so warm?

Lee Soo slowly opened her eyes which she had closed.

It was strange.

It was a name she had heard every day, all her life, but why did that name, spoken in Seo Ji Ho’s voice, touch her heart so much?

Her heart surged up to her throat with the name he had called for the first time.

Tears welled up in her eyes without pause and flowed down.

“Hic, hic.”

Even though Lee Soo covered her mouth with her hand, the tears that had burst out kept flowing without stopping.

[Are you… crying right now?]

A voice filled with surprise and concern came through.

When there was no answer, Ji Ho called her name again.

[Lee Soo…]

Why did it have to be Seo Ji Ho?

Why was she crying in front of this man again?

Perhaps waiting for her to stop crying, silence followed.

Lee Soo hugged her knees and cried for a long time.

She felt as if everything was draining away with the tears.

The phone in her hand felt as heavy as a piece of iron.

Her head was spinning, and she felt a sense of unease as if she was about to lose consciousness.

[Lee Soo, where are you right now? I’ll come.]

When Lee Soo’s sobbing stopped, Ji Ho’s voice came through again, as if he had been waiting.

((()))((()))

Ji Ho was looking at the rain trickling down the window, tracing long streaks on the glass.

Even though it was past 10 p.m., the longawaited rain started falling.

Despite the rain he had been waiting for, Ji Ho wore a somewhat regretful face.

It was too late to get his umbrella back.

Ji Ho took out his silent phone and opened the screen.

12, 13, 14. Ji Ho was looking at the numbers on the phone screen, changing one by one.

Three minutes passed, feeling like three hours.