2nd

Chapter 6: Gradually

The sky is heavily crowded and gray. The rain is pouring hard, the raindrops are making loud yet harmonized sound as it hits the stone pavement. People are running around avoiding the rain, looking for a shed, as their water splashes from the water puddles they step onto. Rain has always brought panic because, most of the time, it's unexpected. It catches people off guard, pushing away their sun.

It's just too much for Jennie. She hasn't even fully seen her sunshine back and now the rain has taken away the tiniest hope of sunray in her. She can't remember how it happened but as soon as the rain starts pouring, when she felt the sudden bump, and heard the tires screeching against the wet road, everything went loose. She started sobbing and she found herself having trouble breathing. She needed to get out of the car; to go away; to save herself.

And then her mind drifted off to one thing that may get her closer to her sun.

"I want to find Mark."

Jennie looks straight into Jaebum's eyes as if she's waiting for permission—no. She's looking intently at him asking for help.

Truth be told, she doesn't know who Mark is—at least, she doesn't know who he's supposed to be. But she sees her, though a little bit blurry, she's certain it was him she's seeing in those flashbacks in her head. She's certain when she heard his voice and she was more certain when she saw his face. But how can he deny that he knows her when she sees him so clear?

She needs her answers and the only way to get those answers is to find him. But she's helpless. Just thinking about him now and looking back at those flashes of memories drain the life out of her. She can't do this alone. She needs help and, for some reasons she can't even explain herself, a part of her knows that Jaebum is that help she needs. He's the only help she needs.

"Please." She pleaded, her voice breaking as tears stream down her cheeks nonstop.

"Okay." Jaebum suddenly cups her face, letting the lab coat fall on top of her head. "We'll find him."

Along with those unexpected words came his unexpected warmth on her skin. Amidst the cold rain slowly seeping through the lab coat that's supposed to protect her from the rain, Jaebum's touch remains warm and comforting. Like the cold rain making its way against Jennie's skin, she feels his sincerity heartbreakingly clear.

"We'll find Mark together."

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Jennie tells herself as she takes a quick shower, realizing how dumb she must be sounding earlier. She's supposed to be Jaebum's wife, how can she ask him to look for some other man? What if he gets angry and not help her at all? What if he thinks she's some crazy woman?

Desperate—that's what she is. Desperate to find answers; desperate to find the truth; desperate to find herself. She's so desperate that she's seeking help from two men she doesn't really know; two men who keep on appearing in her head giving her pain.

"This is just getting crazier." She sighs as she looks up, letting the water hit her face.

She closed her eyes and the first thing she saw, for the first time in a while, is something she's sure that happened. Something that she's certain she saw real time. Something she's sure was real—Jaebum's eyes looking at her as she cries. She sees it perfectly clear, as if it's not a mere dream—the two of them, standing under the pouring rain. As lame and dramatic as it sounds, there's one thing that resounds from that moment that she still feels until now. She's protected.