Enamoured

Chapter 1

Jimin held his breath as he watched rain splatter against the window, the noise loud enough to make him press his hands against his ears every time it thundered. He tried, incessantly, to stare out the window, to catch a glimpse of someone trying to find shelter from the rain or the trees dancing from the wind, anything that would confirm that his family and him weren't the only ones on Earth. But despite his efforts, even after he pressed his nose against the window, he couldn't see past three feet. It was like seeing without spectacles, the world a blurry picture.

He sighed. It had been this way for a week now. Every day he woke up to the sound of rain drops and went to sleep to the wind whistling and clouds raging. School had been cancelled until further notice because of the daily thunderstorms. Two days ago, a tree collapsed at the end of the street injuring a man. And yesterday, the power went out when an electricity line snapped and it hadn't been back since. No school would have been fun if he could go out with his friends or surf the internet. But instead, he was stuck at home with only his family as company.

"Look what I found!" He heard his mother's soft voice from the living room. Dragging his gaze away from the window, he turned around and saw his mother holding a dusty box. It seemed quite old, judging by it's condition. The frayed yellow sides must have been white at some point but now they were layered with dust and looked as if they would crumble at his mere touch. He laughed as he moved closer and read the word written on it in big cursive writing. Monopoly.
"I figured that if we had to stay in, we could at least make it fun." She beamed at her two sons and husband, who was sprawled on the couch reading a book. "Come on now! Don't make me wait, let's play."

It took two minutes for everyone to gather round the box which was placed on the floor. Jimin's father spread the board open and distributed the fake money to every one. Jimin remembered playing this game when he was younger, but he hadn't seen it in a long time now. When he had turned nine, his friends and him had deemed the game too childish due to which it ended up in the attic. Almost seven years had gone by since then and here it was again. Jimin did not want to admit it, but he looked forward to the game.

"I'll be team red." He announced. Red had always been his lucky color.

Junho, his twelve year old brother, had just rolled the dice when someone loudly knocked at their front door. Outside, the clouds thundered tirelessly. Everyone looked at each other, confused as to who could be at the door despite such bad weather. The person knocked again, more urgently. Jimin stood up and opened the door, revealing a shivering Kim Namjoon.

"I have been knocking for the past five minutes! Why weren't you opening up?" Namjoon exclaimed, hurrying inside. Five minutes? Had he really been knocking that long? Then again, Namjoon had a way of exaggerating things.
"Sorry. We weren't expecting anyone. What are you doing here anyway?" Jimin asked, helping his friend take off his jacket.
"I can't come see my friend anymore? You should have said something before then." Namjoon retorted.

Jimin rolled his eyes and motioned for Namjoon to follow him upstairs.

"We're going to head upstairs!" He called out to his family and made his way to his room, Namjoon following close behind.

He opened the door to his room and quickly went to the bathroom, retrieving a towel for his friend. Namjoon was sitting on the bed, skimming through a book Jimin was reading earlier. Jimin threw the towel at him and plopped down beside him, glad to have some company other than his family.

"I'm so bored, man. I literally sit at the window all day wishing for the rain to stop." He complained as Namjoon dried his hair.
"Everyone is sick of this weather. Even my college closed for a week due to it."
"The weather update didn't warn us about this shit storm though." Jimin scowled. "Is Zeus mad lately or something?" he joked, remembering the Greek God of the sky from a movie he saw last month. Peter Jackson or something. Namjoon's face darkened.