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Before she could react, Agnes had pulled her forward so that Rashi was facing the open doorway and Agnes was behind her holding her in place. Rashi felt the cold droplets splash on her face as it rushed in and she scrunched her face. She was also aware of Agnes's hold on her. "I'm not going outside" she said firmly, her muscles tensed.
At this, Rashi felt Agnes loosen her grip on her and take a step back.
"What's wrong?" Agnes asked from behind her.
Rashi turned around; memories of the events from a year ago flooded her mind. She couldn't hide her emotions and so it was apparent to her Agnes had figured there was something else bothering her. She could see Agnes's brown eyes searching hers for answers but it only seemed to confuse her even more.
"You don't have to tell me anything, it's okay" Agnes said.
"Around this time, last year-" Rashi began, not knowing why she thought she had to tell Agnes. She just knew that she wanted to tell her. "- it was raining badly back home. Like this one. I ended up losing someone because of it" she blinked back tears and tried to look for words that could explain things better for Agnes to understand.
Agnes closed the space between them, pulling Rashi into a hug. This caused Rashi to break down. They stayed that way for a few minutes until Rashi had let it all go, just enough to gather herself back up and tell what she had wanted to.
"I haven't really talked about it" Rashi said as she pulled away from the comforting hug and wiped her cheeks with the sleeves of the shirt she was wearing. "I didn't talk about it because no one knew about us. After what happened, it didn't feel right to talk about him either"
"Us?"
"Yeah"
A moment had passed before Agnes spoke "It's alright. You don't have to force yourself to talk about it"
"Yeah, I guess that's all I could manage to talk about" There was so much more to the incident but this was the first step and that was enough for now. Rashi told herself over and over again that she wouldn't have to see Agnes again after today. She desperately tried to convince herself it was the reason why she had told Agnes this much and not because she was finally over what had happened. But deep down, she knew that was probably the case. Although it seemed absurd she had said those to someone she met only a few hours ago, it was what happened.
"No one's rushing it but shouldn't you try to replace some bad memories with good ones? What do you think?"
"That is true but... I don't know"
"You don't have to feel guilty about it. I'm not asking you to forget about it; just that you need some good things to hold onto when things get rough"
Rashi wasn't convinced. She knew what Agnes said was true but she didn't want to do it.
"Just trust me, alright?"
This made Rashi laugh "I just met you a few hours ago, should I be trusting you?"
The smirk was back on Agnes's face "I don't know, should you?"
"...I do"
With that, Agnes stepped forward again and turned Rashi around. For the second time that day Rashi was facing the rain again. She felt Agnes lean in closer to her. Agnes was taller than her and so she hovered over her enough for her to be able to whisper into Rashi's ear. Feeling Agnes that close to her excited her a little bit but she brushed it off as soon as she felt it.
"Close your eyes" Agnes spoke softly, her hands on Rashi's arms holding her still. Rashi did as she was told. "To me, rain is like a new beginning. It washes away things of yesterday, of the past. So starting now, I want you to try to look at them that way. Feel it falling on your face?"
Rashi nodded but she wasn't sure if it was the rain she felt or Agnes's touch. She then sensed Agnes move from beside her.
"I'm going to bring you out now" Rashi heard Agnes say but before she could register the words she felt the rain pouring down on her heavily. Her eyes flew open as Agnes let go of her hands. Rashi stood frozen in her place, shivering a little. It took her a few moments before she managed to spot Agnes standing on top of a flight of stairs.
"Come on up!" Agnes yelled so her voice could reach Rashi over the rain.
The shirt Rashi wore clung to her small frame and her hair to her face. The uncomfortable feeling she had this morning while cycling in the rain was back but not as bad as it had been earlier. She however, felt overly conscious of her body.
Rashi hugged herself as she climbed the stairs, it led up to the terrace. The terrace was painted a dark green, there were flower pots around but some of them had fallen and she could spot two benches on one corner of the terrace on top which Agnes was now dancing. She watched her pull some weird moves, throwing her hands and kicking at nothing as she moved. She often stopped to just face up at the sky.
"It's been a while since I did this!" Agnes screamed excitedly.
Still hugging herself, Rashi watched Agnes's childlike glee before looking down at her barefoot and then looked back up to find Agnes had stepped down from the bench and was running towards her.
"Stop hugging yourself! Let go!" Agnes yelled as she grabbed Rashi's arms that were wrapped around herself and threw them open. Agnes stepped closer and said in a slightly lower voice "Rashi, let it get you. There are no rules! No one's going to yell at you for dancing in the rain. You're not going to catch a cold or get sick. Just don't think!"
Rashi faced up with her arms wide open. Right then, she felt her foot lose contact with the floor as she felt her body being lifted up. Rashi's eyes widened and she let out a small squeak before placing her hands on Agnes's shoulders to balance herself. "We're going to fall! You'll hurt yourself, Agnes!"
"Just don't think, Rashi!"
Letting her body relax and her mind free,Rashi smiled. She looked down at Agnes's face and found her smile being returned. The rain was heavy enough for their visions to be a little unclear but Rashi could tell there was glint in Agnes's eyes. And for some reason, she felt her eyes had them too.
Agnes let Rashi down but took hold of her right hand; she pulled her closer and then twirled her around. Rashi's heart started beating faster as Agnes pushed her away only to bring her closer. Agnes then placed her one arm on the small of Rashi's back and the other held her hand. Agnes guided her through the steps and this took her by surprise; Rashi had assumed Agnes was a bad dancer from the weird steps earlier but she had clearly been wrong.
Rashi was grinning and so was Agnes. Agnes pushed her away one more time before bringing Rashi back and closing the space in-between them; Rashi's heart skipped a beat as the other one stared right into her eyes. Agnes's eyes shifted to her lips, she was slowly leaning in and every inch of Rashi's body was screaming for it.
Holding Agnes's hands tightly, Rashi was nervous but let her eyes fall on Agnes's rose lips and closed her eyes, bracing herself.
