⚠️TW: mention of death, severe fear, PTSD⚠️
Here you are, covering your ears as tears rolled down your face all while the sky was rumbling outside and you could still hear the vast drops of rain splattering against your windows no matter how hard you tried to cover your ears.
It hasn't been this bad in quite long, the rain. But today it decided to go wild, which leaves you balling your eyes out, screaming, crumpled up in a ball on the sofa.
You eventually fell asleep even with the rain still going on just the same, only because it was 2am and you got tired.
"I don't think it's getting any better. Although last night I fell asleep while it was still raining but I think that was just because I was super tired, but I don't know." you said to your therapist the next day.
"Okay. And what exactly happened last night?" she calmly asked, taking a sip of her tea.
"I was endlessly crying like crazy, screaming, shutting my eyes, covering my ears, rocking about on the sofa and eventually crumpling up into a ball in the corner of the sofa and then I fell asleep." you explained.
"Oh, you poor thing. And how do you feel now?"
"I feel fine now. Honestly I just wanna know how to cope with this." you said.
"Have you tried talking to someone, or finding something to fidget with like a stress ball or even like just the hem of your shirt, or maybe occupying yourself by doing something like listening to music or watching a movie?"
"Well, I can't get to doing any of those things because I try to hear the rain as less as possible because the more I hear it the worse it gets. Besides, all my closest friends who know about this issue moved far away to pursue their dreams and I do have friends left but none of which I feel comfortable enough to tell. And I lost my entire family in that terrorist attack. I was the only one who escaped. However I do go visit my distant family sometimes. But that's just sometimes. And the man who saved me is now really old so he's helpless and I also don't know where he is now, although I wish I did so I could help him and repay him for his actions." you told her.
"Then maybe you could have something always on you, like headphones and your phone for example. Then as soon as the rain starts you put the headphones in and turn on some music to cancel out the rain and shut your eyes so you don't see it." she suggested.
"Okay, maybe I can try that. Thanks a lot. See you next time then." you said to your therapist as you got up from the sofa and walked out of the room.
"My pleasure y/n, bye for now." she said.
On the walk back home, you decided to stop by at your favourite cafe to get a nice warm latte.
Once you placed your order, you headed to your usual spot where you sit, but you were taken aback when you say a boy sitting there. A very, very handsome boy at that. His features were sharp and he had a lot of charisma. His clothes were also very stylish. He had an iced americano and an empty plate with only crumbs left on it Infront of him on the table as he was reading a book.
Just then, he looked up and saw you in shock while looking at him.
"Oh- are you wanting to sit here? I was just leavi-" he said as he shut his book.
"No, no you can stay there, it's fine, I can go sit somewhere else." you said to him.
"No honestly, all the other seats are full.."
"But you haven't even finished your coffee yet.."
"In that case, why don't you join me?" he asked with a charming smile, making your heart flutter.
"Sure" you gladly accepted.
"I'm Seonghwa, Park Seonghwa." he said, holding out his hand for you to shake as you both sat down.
"y/l/n y/n. Nice to meet you." you said, shaking his hand.
"Nice to meet you." he said in return.
And that's where your friendship started. You exchanged numbers in the end after having a long conversation. You noticed that your vibes match very well. Turned out he was new in the area, just moved in after graduating from university. You met up a couple more times at the café until one day, a few months into your friendship, you decided to invite him over to his house since it was really cold out and you thought it would be nice. He agreed to it so you gave him your address and it turned out he didn't even live that far from you.
"Hey!" you welcomed Seonghwa into your house after excitedly awaiting his arrival.
"Hey!" he said back with that charming smile of his that you could never get enough of.
"How's things?" he asked cheerfully.
"Not bad thanks, you?"
"Goodgood" he said "so what's the plan?"
"Oh well, I kinda just thought we'd make it up as we go.."
"Oh okay cool. How 'bout we start by watching a movie?" he suggested and you gladly accepted.
Midway through the movie you started to hear subtle drops of rain hitting your windows.
'oh no' you thought.
"Im'ma go to the bathroom real quick" you rapidly said, starting to panic and speeding off to the bathroom.
"Oki" Seonghwa said, not taking his eyes off the TV.
You locked the door and put your hood up and wet your face, but nothing seemed to help as your breathing got heavier. You rummaged through your pocket for your phone but you realised.. you left it on the sofa!
"Shit shit shit shit shit" you said to yourself.
You could feel tears forming in your eyes as the rain got heavier and you fought the urge to let out a scream.
You covered your ears and crouched down onto the floor, taking deep breaths but even that didn't work.
As lightning struck, you finally screamed without being able to hold back.
Meanwhile, Seonghwa who was still in the living room also noticed the rain going wild. He stood up and looked out the window in shock, because obviously it's been a while since the rain's been this heavy.
As lightning struck, he heard your scream and immediately rushed to the bathroom, knocking on the door all while repeatedly shouting 'y/n! Are you okay?! Let me in! What's going on?!' and tugging on the door handle which was obviously no use. He was more worried than you'd think.
But obviously you couldn't hear him through your blocked ears. However, you could feel the thudding of the door being banged on. You looked over and assumed it was probably Seonghwa.
That's when you started debating in your mind 'do I let him in and tell him the truth or do I make up an excuse?'
It's probably better to let him in, he seems trustworthy and you just needed someone in that moment, doesn't even matter who.
So you unlocked the door and Seonghwa's expression became devastated upon seeing your crying face and traumatised look.
"y/n! What's wrong?!" he asked you in the most worried tone ever, immediately pulling your head into his chest, letting you bawl your eyes out as you continued to cover your ears.
There you two stood in the doorway of the bathroom, Seonghwa caressing you as you wept into his chest. He patiently waited for you all while whispering comforting things like 'sshh', 'it'll be okay', 'you'll be just fine', 'I'm here', and 'take your time'. He even softly kissed your forehead in an attempt to make you calm down even just a tad more.
For some reason, to you, his presence made you feel a lot more... zenful. You've never really had that with anyone in this situation. So you tried uncovering your ears to see if it was all just your thoughts or if Seonghwa really was just this magical.
Turns out he was.
However you didn't stop crying just yet, you could get yourself to no matter how hard you tried because it was still raining pretty hard.
So you just hugged his waist and grabbed a handful of his hoodie in each hand as he remained there, still caressing your head and stroking it, whispering comforting stuff to you, making the whole process so much faster.
He did scan you when you removed your hands from your ears as he thought you'd fully calmed down, but he wasn't bothered whatsoever when you just kept on crying after that. He remained there, waiting patiently for you. He could wait there for eternity.
After half an hour the rain started to die down a bit so you calmed down a lot. When you felt calm enough, you removed your arms from around Seonghwa and he looked at you with a trembling expression, just wanting to know whether you're okay now or not.
"Feeling better?" he asked in the softest voice while placing his hand on your arms and stroking it. You nodded and looked away.
"Come on, let's go sit down" he said, gently grabbing your hand and pulling you over to the sofa where you two sat facing eachother.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to burden you with my-" you started, but got cut off.
"y/n don't even say that. You're not burdening me, don't ever think that. I'm here to help, I'll always be by your side if you need me." he reassured you in a gentle voice.
"Thank you" you shyly smiled "and thank you for waiting for me for so long."
"Of course. I have a lot of patience when it comes to things like this. I could've waited an eternity for you." he sweetly said.
"Aw, Seonghwa."
It was still ever so slightly raining yet you found yourself having a conversation with Seonghwa as if it weren't even raining.
'How strange' you thought.
"Well, I guess I can't really hide it from you now can I?" you said.
"No no, if you don't wanna tell me you don't have to, don't ever feel pressured to tell me something. I'm not gonna force you or anything."
"How can I have you hold me while I bawled my eyes out and made your hoodie all wet and then not tell you what that was all about? Besides, I feel comfortable enough telling you. But I beg of you, do not tell a single soul. Please." you commanded.
"Pinkie promise, I won't." he said as you two locked pinkies.
"Okay so, when I was five me and my family went to a restaurant and it was raining really heavily outside. So we're enjoying our food until suddenly some terrorists burst through the door, shooting down literally everyone. I was terrified obviously, being five years old and the youngest sibling. My mum grabbed me but unfortunately, she got shot. And so did my dad and my sisters. They were only seven and eight years old. So the terrorist was about to shoot me until a man about in his 50s came and whacked the gun out of his hands and fought all the terrorists by himself. It was three against one, and he won. So he then took me and called the police on his phone then right after he took my mum's phone from her handbag to call one of our relatives to take me to their's. To this day, I have absolutely no clue who this man is or where he is but I really wish I did because all I want to do is repay him for saving my life. And throughout all that it was pouring rain and that was one thing I could think about apart from how my entire family was now dead. So that's why I'm terrified of the rain. I see it as something horrible that only brings bad luck and uncalled for situations. Before I even get to trying something to help myself, I can't get to it because I'm already in so much mental pain and I'm screaming and crying that there's nothing I can do but wait until the rain stops. But oddly enough, your presence made me feel better and that is so weird to me because that's never happened. And I'm so glad it did. Because that means I've now found a coping mechanism and something's FINALLY working." you explained to him all while he listened ever so intently...
"Wow, I'm so sorry to hear that you lost your family at such a young age, must've felt horrible. But just remember, they love you and they're so proud of you for making it. I'm sure they want to repay the man who saved you just as much as you do. They're probably looking at you from above right now thinking about how proud they are of you for coming so far in life. The fact you have a fear of rain from that is completely understandable. Now that I know, I'll try my hardest to come straight here whenever it rains, if I can. If I can't then I'll call you, if neither, then try listening to music and shutting your eyes. I really hope that'll help. And I'm so glad that I can be your coping mechanism. It feels fantastic that I can help someone in such a way that it makes them turn away from their worst fear." he sweetly smiled, literally making you melt then and there.
"I can't thank you enough Seonghwa, no one's ever said something like that to me. All in all, thank you for understanding and for waiting, and for letting me do all that, and for being so kind-hearted in general. But please do not give up your time for me." you told him.
"Are you kidding me? I'd rather give up my time for you then leave you to suffer alone. Besides you are anything but a waste of time to me." he said.
"But I haven't even tried listening to music yet so it might work." you said.
"Still. No negotiation." he said, making you both laugh.
"Thanks for all of this Seonghwa." you said once again, pulling him into a tight, warm hug.
He cupped your face and gently said "if I see you crying that hard ever again I'll literally fly up to the sky and have a fat go at the clouds for making you cry. I hated- no, despised, seeing you in that state. It made me cry if I'm honest" you gasped "even though you still look breathtakingly fabulous even when you're crying, that doesn't mean it's a good thing."
This entire situation probably made you like him a trillion times more now. Like he is just genuinly so sweet. He's patient, thoughtful, kind, literally everything you could ask for in a guy.
"You're too sweet Seonghwa. No one's ever done that for me. I appreciate it so much." you said, hugging him once more.
"Of course of course, anytime y/n." he said to you.
"Right let's finish this movie now shall we?" he said as you continued to watch the movie you'd started earlier on while cuddling.
After the movie you discussed it over a bit as someone would usually do, and then Seonghwa said "oh Gosh I feel bad leaving you now. I feel like if I leave I'll just be guilty and I'll be pulled back."
His words made you want to jump around and squeal but you held yourself back, obviously.
"Well, you can stay the night if you want?" you suggested to Seonghwa.
"Oh, well, if you don't mind-"
"No of course I don't."
"Okay then." he said with an adorable smile on his face.
All in all it was safe to say that that particular day made your feelings for Seonghwa fly through the roof. It was just unbelievable to you how Park Seonghwa managed to be the literal chosen one to be the coping mechanism for your severe fear of rain.
Word count: 2726