THE RAIN IS cold. Cha Jaehwa can feel the heaviness in the back of her dry throat, sore from hoarsely yelling her friend's name on the outskirts of the ring like a deranged woman.
The teen holds her umbrella only slightly higher than her head, ignoring the soft spray of droplets that the wind carries onto her clothes.
Teeth pick and pull at her chapped lips, working their way through the flesh as though it would give her the sustenance to endure what felt like an eternity waiting.
Ahn Suho always takes his sweet time after a match, and Cha Jaehwa always waits for him outside the gym, for whatever reasons they had once established when they were in middle school.
Her fingers start to ache from holding the handle, slippery with the downpour that manages to catch Jaehwa before she can shield herself away from it.
Muddy shoes catch her uninterested eyes, and she focuses on the brown splotches that surround her white soles with a frown. Now she's mad at Ahn Suho — When is she not, really — For making her act as his personal escort.
Honestly, he's lucky she loves him enough to put up with such unfairness.
The rain continues, rhythmically dancing across the empty streets; Jaehwa is the only one left outside, and she curses lowly, kicking a stray pebble into the roads. It skips once before getting swept away by a small current forming against the sidewalk.
Soft pattering cannot mask the heavy footfalls that have become oh so familiar to Cha Jaehwa, and she turns towards the sound with a scowl adorning her face.
"Took you long enough." Jaehwa allows her lips to quirk upwards in the slightest, towards the boy approaching her. "It's almost midnight."
Ahn Suho chuckles in a way that rises from his stomach to his throat in a velvety manner, eyes bright even beneath the dark sky.
His hair is wet from the shower, and still even more from the rain. A plush towel hangs over his neck, and the thin white shirt and windbreaker he's wearing do little to shield him away from the cold.
"Did you wait long? I lost track of time in the showers." Suho grins softly, and Jaehwa gets the feeling that he's aware that he can get away with anything when he does so.
"You piss me off." She mutters instead, pushing the back of his head so the teen is forced to lean forward.
He falls in perfect synchrony with Jaehwa and his fingers untangle her own from their slipping grip on the umbrella. For a moment, she thinks Suho plans to be a gentleman — For once in his pathetically boring life — But instead the boy tilts it towards himself, allowing the rain to soak through Jaehwa's hoodie.
Jaehwa yells a few obscene words and maybe makes a few gestures before Suho's laughter becomes pain-filled yells, and they end up the way they started; Jaehwa, her hands secure against the umbrella handle, and Suho, rubbing his sore ear, head tilted in the slightest in order to fit within the protection Jaehwa's umbrella provides.
"That hurt." Suho whines, frowning, and Jaehwa finds she hates when he does such a face, because it's obviously false yet still makes her feel guilty.
She does it again, to quell that guilt. And when Suho's face becomes flush with a mix of laughter and pain, Cha Jaehwa feels better.
The rain is sweet, and they sway alongside its slow rhythm, shoulders occasionally brushing.
It is Ahn Suho who stops first. Jaehwa continues her leisurely pace until she realizes that she lacks warmth, and she turns to stare at the boy oddly.
"Jaehwa."
There is a silence in where Jaehwa stares blankly at Suho. She takes a few steps back, and holds out her hand in the slightest so that the umbrella partially covers the both of them.
She feels her back slightly dampen, but she doesn't bring it up.
"It's cold, let's talk inside —" Jaehwa begins irritably, but her tone falls flat as Ahn Suho stares at her.
She swallows.
"Jaehwa." He repeats her name again, and his smile has fallen off his youthful face; Suho looks a few years older.
"I like you."
THE FLOWERS AGAINST Cha Jaehwa's chest feel as though made out of rubber; Flimsy and not fresh enough.
Her fingers feel clammy against the plastic wrapped around the bouquet of white tulips. She had debated over bringing flowers, but in the end grandmother ( Not her grandmother, but Ahn Suho's. Jaehwa just calls the woman as such because she had ordered her to ) pushed the flowers into her hands and sent her off.
Jaehwa swallows as she faces the white door. On the side is a small wooden sign indicating the current patient. She stares at the name for an absurd amount of minutes. The tulips seem to sag further into her delicate cradle.
At long last, the teen gains enough courage to slide open the door. The stench of chemicals is stronger within the room, hiding away the bitterness and sorrow within the walls of the dully white building.
Jaehwa exhales shakily. It has been a few days since she last talked to Ahn Suho, and the thought of speaking to him as he is now sent a small shiver running down her back.
The girl clutches her sweater closer to her body and walks inside. It is Ahn Suho who spots her first, and his eyes shift silently from her face to the bouquet in her arms.
"Hey." Jaehwa greets him softly, with all the care of a person who would break beneath her fingers.
Suho doesn't reply; He spares her a grunt, and turns his attention back to his hands.
"Your grandmother sent me." Jaehwa swallows and continues. With fingers too shaky to be hers, the teen unwraps the tulips and places them in the empty vase by Suho's bedside.
She smiles weakly; Suho must've gotten some visitors, after all.
He says nothing, and the silence grows louder the more Jaehwa lets it prolong.
"Are you —" She begins, eyebrows twisting, but the boy finally gets the urge to speak, and Jaehwa clamps her teeth against her lips.
"Don't act nice. Talk to me the way you did when you said you hated me." Suho spits the words as though he has been chewing on them for too long, and the taste grows too acrid to stomach.
Jaehwa pauses. She remembers what he's referring to with stark clarity. They had both said things that upset the other, perhaps crumbled a bit of their friendship, but that's a different topic.
"I never said that." Jaehwa scowls. Her eyes refuse to look anywhere past Suho's waist, because she knows what will greet her is something she doesn't have the courage to acknowledge — That someone like Ahn Suho could no longer be the dream he wished to be.
"I lost." He murmurs, gesturing to the thick cast that wraps around his leg. Jaehwa doesn't look at it.
"I lost because of you."
Because Cha Jaehwa, who had taken Ahn Suho's life and molded it as her own, had discarded him and he couldn't live without her by his side.
CHA JAEHWA BLINKS the morning grogginess from her eyes. She yawns, and stretches against the hard bedding.
"I like you."
Jaehwa runs her fingers through her hair. Blurry faces recollect within her brain, ones she cannot put name nor feature to.
She shifts the blankets around, twisting her body towards the water bottle that sits by her bed.
The water is cool down her throat.
"I hate you."
Cha Jaehwa looks onward, past the large window and out into the city.
Her heart feels strange against her chest. She ignores it, the way she always does.
With a small frown, Jaehwa scratches her head.
She wishes she remembered the people she dreamt about.
It's okay to shed
the tears, but don't
you tear yourself.
MOONCHILD.
© rkiives / february 2024
WEAK HERO CLASS 1 ( season 1 )
( oc x ahn suho x yeon si-eun )
✧
( CHAPTERS 01 ─── (?) )
STATUS : ONGOING