under your umbrella.

preview

summer, 2004.

"don't run kids! i will see all of you tomorrow!"

the bell rang vigorously and came out running all the kindergarteners, completely ignoring the warning screamed by the teacher to ensure their safety. almost all of them were greeted by the warm open arms of their old man or his wife, mostly have been waiting there for a while. 

one by one of the adults each accompanied by their children exited the gate yet the rain showed no signs of coming to an end. after the crowd of people disappears, there left the two no one expected to still be around; a boy and a girl.

"hey." the boy called, "i'm yohan"

silence, no response from the girl as she became unusually shy. it wasn't like her to be kept to self like this yet it was different when it comes to the boy. one could've thought she had feelings for him but on the contrary she was actually just scared of the unfamiliar face.

"it's been an hour. are your parents not coming?" he move on with the conversation, not expecting her to introduce herself as he was well aware of the discomfort he caused.

the girl shook her head as she continued looking around, expecting someone to arrive. she sigh as nothing fulfilled her expectation. she face the ground, feeling discouraged as the only thing she feels confident in is how no one would be coming for her.

it was the first time for her experiencing this and even worse, she's stucked with a kid her same age.

"let's go to the front. i bet you'd get to see some cars you'd know." kids. yohan definitely wasn't well aware of whatever nonsense he just spat out. there's no way she would recognise a car passing averagely 70km per hour on a two way road.

yohan took out his umbrella from his bag, opening it to shelter for the both of them as he let out his petite hand, expecting the girl to grab it. with a little hesitation, the two locked hands as they walk towards the front gate together. 

"here." he handed out the umbrella to her.

"i live there. you can take the umbrella. i can just run to the other side of the road."

blinking profusely, she was taken aback by the kind gesture. it wasn't unexpected for him to be a kind soul yet to the little girl, it felt heroic. it wasn't common to her to see someone her age to be such a gentleman. it moved her heart, even so it beats way too fast to simply describe it as just moving. 

"thank you." she let out, grateful to the new friend she had just made.

yohan bravely took a step forward, looking left and right a few times before he runs through the rain and safely reached the bus station to shield himself from the rain. he turned around to take a look at her before he makes his way inside the apartment complex. 

she walked away with his umbrella, leaving the school compound on the pedestrian. the further she walked even more restless yohan got. he felt regretful letting her just walk alone like that but he couldn't just walk back under the rain again. he could only look at her walking away, doing nothing helplessly.

thankfully there came her transport. the sight of the car stopping near her made him feel relieved upon seeing her safety. at first he thought she was about to get kidnapped but later sees her smile when the driver got out of the car. yohan finally could leave to his house, no longer keeping the burden of risking someone's life.

"haerin, why didn't you wait at school?" ask the driver, worried of the safety of her boss's daughter.

she purses her lips, "a boy told me to leave"

"what boy?" 

haerin turned around to show yohan to her driver but left unexplained to him because of the boy's disappearance. there's no way it gave a good impression to the driver to be seeing no sight of yohan. haerin could only sigh as she knows what is coming out of the driver's mouth next.

"come on. get in the car. we're going home and we're never coming here again."

end of preview.