𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐌𝐞 𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧 • ɢᴇᴜᴍ ꜱᴇᴏɴɢᴊᴇ

➥ ɪᴛ ꜱᴛᴀʀᴛᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴀɪɴ.

Not the kind that gently tapped against windows, but the kind that swallowed the streets whole-gray skies collapsing into sheets of water, thunder breaking open the silence of a tired city. Yeon Hae-rin had only meant to run a simple errand-an umbrella her friend begged her to buy, only to dismiss with a casual never mind once the clouds broke open. So she stood outside the convenience store, an extra umbrella hanging loosely at her side, the neon sign buzzing faintly above her.

She almost left it there, forgotten, just another unnecessary thing to carry home.

That's when he appeared.

A boy in the same maroon uniform as hers, but in a state that made him look entirely out of place. His shirt clung to his frame, soaked through, dark hair dripping into sharp, careless eyes. He didn't look like someone running from the rain, only someone standing still and letting it consume him. He stood beneath the convenience store awning like he owned the silence, shoulders squared, jaw tight, gaze fixed somewhere far away.

Hae-rin didn't know his name. Didn't know the way whispers clung to him in the halls, or that most students looked twice before daring to cross his path.

All she knew was that he was cold, wet, and in the same uniform as her.

So, without thinking twice, she held out the umbrella. Her voice was barely more than a breath-just one word, soft but certain.

"Here."

She didn't wait for thanks. Didn't wait for anything at all. She left him there, disappearing into the curtain of rain, unaware that she'd just altered the trajectory of his world.

Geum Seongje had never believed in chance encounters. But that night, for the first time, he did.

Because the only thing he caught of her-before the storm swallowed her whole-was the glimpse of a scar etched along her left arm, a mark he knew he'd remember long after the rain stopped.

And with it, a silent vow took root.

ʜᴇ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ꜰɪɴᴅ ʜ