let it pour

of course chaeyeon’s umbrella had to break, of course. after all, she was already having probably the best week of her life. not to mention, she had just finished working a double shift, since she had volunteered to cover a coworker’s as well, leaving her deadbeat tired and eager to go home. but she couldn’t go anywhere, at least not at the moment. the sky outside was pouring rain so heavily that one could hardly see what was ten feet away from them. she couldn’t call a taxi since she knew logically that traffic would be packed, and she couldn’t use the bus since the last bus of the day had already passed through. the subway was her only option left— if only she could get to the nearest entrance though.

there the teen stood under a store’s awning, waiting for the rain to pass as she held the pitiful broken umbrella in her hand. impatience filled her as she knew it would take quite a while for at least the shower to die down, so she decided to try and find a good samaritan who might be willing to share an umbrella. the teen looked around the area, hoping to spot an umbrella up and ready to be used by its owner. it wasn’t long before chaeyeon spotted what she was looking for: a male figure with an umbrella over his head. with a quick sigh of relief, she held her belongings tight and dashed towards the guy. as soon as she reached him, her free hand went around the umbrella’s rod just above the designated handle and she gave a sheepish smile to the umbrella’s owner. “ this is kind of a weird question, but would you mind if maybe i joined you under here? my umbrella broke and i need to kind of get somewhere. ”

balloons

a tipsy chaeyeon stumbled along the barely lit sidewalk, soft belches escaping her lips as she walked towards her apartment building in sight only a block ahead. earlier that evening, she had gone out with a few of her older friends, talking the night away over a few drinks and a hot meal. although having drunk the least out of the bunch, the lightweight nineteen year-old was still rather intoxicated. yet barely able to walk in a straight line, she still had insisted on walking home alone— it was, after all, close by to the restaurant and she didn't want anyone to go out of their way for her. in the present, she sauntered along slowly, minding her own business from the people passing by her on the sidewalk. well, not everyone. even in the night, chaeyeon notices that a familiar face walks past her, her slightly intoxicated mind unable to put a name to it or where she knew it at first. but after a few moments, realization dawned on her.

gasping in surprise, the teen stopped in her tracks and her hands immediately went up to cover her open mouth in disbelief. “ lee taeyong? ” chaeyeon spoke in almost a breath, her dark orbs wide as she turned to stare at the back of a male who’d just walked past her. having not seen the other since high school, the tipsy female definitely took a sudden encounter such as this one as a pleasant surprise. “ lee taeyong! ” her voice much louder, the girl practically shrieked the other’s name before a tiny giggle rolled out of her pink lips. her voice slurred as she hopped over to tightly hug him, forcing her small body around the back of him for a brief moment. “ how’ve you been doing, friend? it’s me, jung chaeyeon! ”

cream & sugar

chaeyeon huffed an exasperated sigh, running a hand through her loose, dark locks as she continued her monotonous task of wiping down a table. as it was nearing the end of her shift, she had already begun to clean the empty, unused tables of the café where she worked. by procedure, she would clear the trash off of them by placing it on a tray, before wiping the tables down individually with a particular cloth. it was routine, although tedious no doubt as well. finishing off a row of empty tables, chaeyeon picked up the trash-littered tray and began to make her way towards the trash bin.

upon spotting a familiar face sitting at one of the café’s occupied tables, chaeyeon stopped in her tracks, a cheerful smile already making its way onto her features. quickly moving towards the trash bin with the tray she held in her arms, the teen swiftly threw away whatever was on top of it, before placing the tray in its designated spot behind the shop’s counter. when she was finished with that, she headed towards the familiar face, her smile having refused to fade. “ seoyoung! hey! ” chaeyeon greeted the other warmly, reaching over to hug her gently. as she pulled away, the teen straightened out her apron, tucking a loose baby hair behind her ear. “ i haven’t seen you in here for a while, what’s up? ”

firecrackers

all day long chaeyeon had a craving for one particular snack. it started in the morning when her shift had begun for the day and there was a child at the cafè, chomping away on a food item as chaeyeon looked on. envy had filled her hungry mind. she could almost taste it on her tongue as she watched, that obviously making her desire the actual thing instead— it didn’t help that she had skipped breakfast that morning. her lunch didn’t seem to satisfy the hunger she had, so chaeyeon decided that she was, as a matter of fact, going to get that particular thing to eat when she left. so on her way home, she stopped by the local convenience store in gangnam. upon entering, the teen swiftly made her way towards the snack section, eyes darting back and forth as she searched relentlessly for what she craved desperately.

it wasn’t long until her eyes caught sight of the familiar packaging and she made way towards it, relief coming over her tense body. as her hand went out to grab the last snack of the brand, another feminine hand did at the same time as well, colliding with her own hand and knocking chaeyeon off guard. she looked towards the owner of the hand who stood beside her, a young woman. she seemed to be near chaeyeon’s age, but the teen still bowed swiftly in apology. “ oh sorry, i was just reaching for the snack. ” although having apologized to the stranger, chaeyeon was still filled with determination to get what she wanted. she shrugged and gazed towards the snack longingly, her hand slowly going back up to grab it. “ uh, it’s my favorite and i have like a serious craving, so.. ”

herpetophobia

humming a song stuck in her head, chaeyeon flipped through the vinyl albums casually, her eyes searching and searching for the perfect title that might appeal to her father’s old school taste. his birthday was coming up and given that he was an avid fan of classics when it came to music, chaeyeon thought a visit to a local music store might help in finding a good gift for him. finally finding an album by a musician that her father would be fond of, the teen grinned before looking at the price. seeing that it was a bit on the pricier side, the girl turned her head to dig into her purse to see if she had enough for that in change. wanting to double check on the price, chaeyeon turned her head back towards the vinyl to look at it.

she froze. 

on the wall above the vinyl section was a lizard, small but not small enough in chaeyeon’s eyes. it stayed in place, refusing to move from it’s pose as it hugged the wall. even in its motionless position, the teen was still panicked by it’s presence. harboring a common fear and dislike, jung chaeyeon did not like any type of reptile or amphibian— the creatures creeped her out, who could blame her? cringing as she resisted the urge to physically freak out, the teen took a deep breath and walked slowly over to the register where one of the music store’s workers was on duty. biting down hard on her bottom lip, chaeyeon sheepishly smiled at him before softly voicing the current problem. “ um hi. um, there’s like a lizard thing in the store. it’s freaking me out, could you maybe, uh, get rid of it? please? ”

whoopsie daisy

it was one of her favorite parts of her day, the end of a shift. no more impatient customers, messy tables, or making coffee until tomorrow, chaeyeon was done for that day. this meant that now she was going to go on home to a nice bath and a tall glass of whatever was in her kitchen. it was a relaxation necessity, especially after long days such as this one. picking up her things eagerly from the back room, the teen said ‘bye’ to a coworker and her manager before heading out through the front door. with a smile on her face, the tired girl began to walk away from the cafè. 

as she recognized that her destination was in the opposite direction, chaeyeon paused in her steps and turned to change which way she was going, before suddenly she bumped into an exiting customer, causing them to spill their beverage. the sudden surprise of physical contact added to the fall of a drink prompted chaeyeon to shriek in a shrill tone, drawing attention over to the two. as an overwhelming feeling of sheer embarrassment falls over the girl, her hands reach up to cover her lips and her cheeks begin to warm up, the color visually changing to carry a reddish tint in them. attempting to regain herself, chaeyeon spoke at a low volume, almost a whisper. “ i’m so sorry, sir, i can go and make a new one for you if you’d like? ” it may not have been her shift anymore, but she still offered out of pure guilt. refusing to look at her victim in the face out of chagrin, chaeyeon rushed to the ground to pick up fallen cup— also hoping desperately that her manager inside hadn’t witnessed the scene. “ i’m really sorry about this, i’m honestly so clumsy these days. ” 

torpid

she could hardly keep her eyes open. maybe it was from the recent late nights and the early mornings, or the heavy dinner she’d just eaten out with friends and the drinks, but chaeyeon was tired. taking the bus home because it was too long of a walk, the female sat in the rather crowded bus next to a young male who seemed to be near her age, rather good-looking too, she couldn’t disagree. but she was too focused on the prospect of a comfortable sleep in her comfortable bed to be thinking of anything else. deciding that she needed a casual distraction from her thoughts of slumber before she passed out, chaeyeon dug through her purse that was seated on her lap. taking out her headphones, she plugged them into her phone, inserted the buds into her ears and began to play music from her phone. luckily for her, the only music she had on her phone were soft, acoustic tunes— perfect to fall asleep to.

not bothering to change her music to something more upbeat and loud, chaeyeon let out a sigh and began to slump in her seat. with the bumpiness of the bus combined with the gentle music playing in her ears, the girl allowed herself to close her eyes for just a second. she had tried refusing the temptation all this time but now she knew it was no use to resist, she had to give in. it was for just a moment but before she knew it, she was sound asleep with her head on the shoulder of the stranger next to her.

porcelain

manicured fingers tapped the slim glass that held her champagne, her dark eyes scanning the ballroom’s floor as she stood off to the side trying her best not to engage in a lengthy conversation with just about anyone there. although chaeyeon had moved out and was completely independent of her family, she continued to attend the philanthropic galas and auctions her family participated in. her parents always required it due to maintaining the family’s image and all, which basically was what she was only there for: an image. she didn't mind it, after all there was the free food, the free drinks and the fact that the event might help someone or something in need out there. what she hated, however, was how long and tedious these things dragged out to be and also, no doubt, she hated talking to the people there. they'd always ask her the same things and tell her the same things to the point where she’d get so annoyed, her faux smile would begin to fade. it was entirely monotonous.

as soon as she spotted naeun, her eyes lit up and she breathed a sigh of relief. at least there’s someone here she can talk to. waltzing over to her friend, chaeyeon managed to place her now-empty champagne glass on a passing server’s silver tray, while her relief became evident on her features in the form of a beam. “ naeun! ” she reached out to gently hug her friend in greeting, before swiftly pulling away. her voice was slightly hushed as to avoid any eavesdropping, but her genuine smile remained intact. " oh thank gosh you’re here naeun, how are you holding up? ” a groan. “ i hate how boring these things are. ”

dubiety

chaeyeon stared at herself in the changing room’s mirror, her hand on her hip with the occasional twist of the torso. it had been almost thirty minutes just spent in that changing room alone and an array of different colored dresses lay around her. there was a family occasion which she had to attend the next weekend and she had absolutely nothing new to wear, so in a situation like this, she went out shopping ( with a limited budget of course ). but she couldn’t do it alone, she needed company and that company she chose was meiqi, a friend she’d known from high school and someone she definitely needed to spend more time with. while she tried on the multitude of dresses she knew would take a while to put back on their hangers, chaeyeon’d made sure to push her friend into trying something too— it wouldn’t seem fair for it to be just chaeyeon shopping for herself. 

the teen hummed as she pondered on the appearance of the cocktail dress she currently wore. although generally more focused on a brighter style with lighter colors, chaeyeon had picked out a black, a-line dress, one she had hoped might compliment her figure. “ meiqi? how about this one? ” chaeyeon pulled the curtain sideways to the changing room and exited to model the dress for her friend, her upper front teeth biting down on her bottom lip. “ hm, do you think the color suits me? ”

paths

the moon shone across the han river as chaeyeon jogged along the sidewalk of the seongsan bridge at dawn, hardly any cars passing by her during the hour. her breathing remained steady and she was continuing at a great pace, although her feet and legs were obviously hurting like hell at the moment. it was irregular for her to be out for a jog, given she was more of a ‘pilates-type’ of person, but after looking through some online sources, she found out that running wasn’t just great for cardiovascular health— so starting today, she would be running person ( which wasn’t going to last long due to the fact that she hated running ). a faint orange began to tint the sky as the sun’s rising phase was almost to begin, a clear indication that chaeyeon better wrap up her jog and get back. 

it happened in an instant. 

whilst running at a rather speedier pace due to the sudden burst of energy having been excited to go home, she looked to her left at where the han river was, paying attention to the beauty of how the moon reflected off the waters and the pure serenity of it. then bam! without further warning, chaeyeon abruptly collides with someone else, knocking them over so that both of them had collapsed on the ground, chaeyeon on top of the stranger. regardless of whether it’d been a regular pedestrian, a fellow runner or just someone, chaeyeon had run them over, possibly injuring them in the process. “ oh shit! ” her voice was barely a whisper as a natural shock came over her, her cheeks already feeling flushed. scrambling to pick herself up from their position down on the sidewalk, the female began to speak again, her voice now much more audible. “ my apologies, i’m so so so so sorry! are you alright? ”

paw pals

dogs, chaeyeon loved dogs. they were her weakness but she couldn’t help it, it was only natural. if she were able to she’d adopt a dog, maybe two, but she unfortunately lacked the proper funds and the time required to be a good pet owner— not to mention, her landlord was strictly against pets so there wasn’t really a chance for her. she really wanted a dog though, a lot. so to make up for the loss, she might spend a few days out at the local dog park, which is exactly what she did ( however, the majority of the time was spent nervously on a bench doing nothing ). situated on the familiar park’s bench, chaeyeon scrolled through her phone, deciding on whether she should go up to the dogs or wait for them to come to her. it had been almost thirty minutes since she had arrived and she had been just sitting there, indecisively waiting like normal. occupied in her thoughts, she didn't notice at first but someone had sat on the same bench, a dog with a leash on the ground at their side. finally.

with a subtle smile, chaeyeon hesitantly reached out towards the animal, first letting it sniff her fingers as if to introduce herself. as soon as she was slowly licked in response, her hand then began caress the dog gently. refusing to tear her eyes away from the dog for even a moment, she began to speak indirectly to the person holding its leash right next to her. “ is this your dog? ” gazing at the retriever’s eyes in front of her, the smile on her features deepened and a soft chuckle escalated from her pink lips. her hands continued to roam the dog’s body, her fingers running through the soft fur on the it’s back. chaeyeon let out a hum of adoration and a light pout graced her features. “ it’s so pretty and adorable and amazing and oh my gosh, i’m in love. ”