When Last Night Didn't End: Before Story

6

Just the ride wiped her out. It wasn't even the heavy knapsack on her shoulders or the thick cardboard box on her arms. The mindless thrum of the train on its tracks, the bland blue sky rolling in the distance, and the slight ebbing of buildings to trees and rural town sent all her energy pooling to her feet. She caught some sleep on the train too, resting her weight against Rin's shoulder and never minding if he complained or not. It's kind of his fault she was stuck in this death ride back to his district.

It happened innocently enough. She bumped into him on her way back to her parents' house on the day after their last exams. One mishap led to another, and the next thing she knew, she had an umbrella held over her head as she wrestled with her luggage in and out of public transportation. That day had been sucky at best—she felt like nothing really went her way—and Rin showing up was the last saving grace.

She remembered how he glanced out of the bus' window, the sound of rain pelting the glass in rapid succession floating above the manic honking and people chattering. Umbrellas popped in the air as commuters went on their merry way, unburdened by any luggage and lost best friends. He whirled back to Hye-jin and said, "Absolutely not."

Before she could ask what he meant by that, he grabbed her hand and led her out of the bus. They pulled her bags out of the bus' compartment and ran towards a nearby shed. It's impossible to share an umbrella so they just dashed through the curtain of sharp droplets. Hye-jin remembered it to be cold. Her sleeves stuck to her arms and her hair clumped in disgusting mats at the back of her neck.

Rin wasn't doing so well either. His hair stuck to his forehead, dripping rainwater into his eyes. His hoodie was equally soaked. He shivered. "You should have stayed back in the campus," Hye-jin remembered saying. "You're not due to go home until the next week."

"Look at that. It's pouring," Rin jerked a thumb at the worstening weather. In the distance, a huge clap of thunder followed a faint streak of lightning. "No way I'm letting you travel on your own."

Hye-jin raised an eyebrow. "Why? Because I'm a girl?"

Rin had never looked at her more seriously than he did then. "No. Because you're Hye-jin," he said. "And we're friends."

Suddenly, it wasn't so freezing anymore.

"R-right," Hye-jin clenched her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering. "Let's just go."

And they stumbled home dripping like soggy guksu, much to Eomma's chagrin. They never really heard the end of her sermon as she paraded around the house, talking Hye-jin's ears off. Appa glanced away from the TV for one minute, saw Rin, and proceeded to join her mother in the scolding. Are you bringing home boys now, Hye-jin-ah?

All of those happened in straight Korean, even when her father got into Rin's face and started questioning him about his intentions, his family history, and his investment portfolio. That was the first time Rin gained her respect for standing there the whole time and enduring. Perhaps the fact he understood nothing helped.

After the confusion has been cleared and her father has calmed down, her mother served Rin reheated gimbap and told him to eat up to his fill. And then there was the matter of lending Rin dry clothes. In the end, he ended up one of her father's old varsity hoodies while his clothes dried in the washer. As if to make matters worse, her mother felt bad about sending Rin away in the middle of the night, so she insisted he stay.

Hye-jin messaged him the next day long after he left and told her he made it home. She apologized for her parents' behavior, and all he replied to her were three laughing emojis. She couldn't muster the courage to ask him what he was trying to say. Rin was an enigma, and she didn't know what went through his mind during his stay in her house. Did her father scare him? Was her mother too pushy? Was the house clean? Did he have a good sleep on the couch when they had nowhere to put him but there?