Extreme Torrential Downpour

The rain hammered against her ears as Yeoncheong finally turned around — and froze, utterly dumbfounded.

"Suyeon? Why are you here?"

"Ha Yeoncheong... hah. Heuk... you awful, awful girl. You finally look back now. Hah."

It had been an unscheduled sprint through the downpour, and Suyeon was breathing out in rough, ragged gusts. She was holding an umbrella, sure — but only holding it; it hadn't helped her one bit. She was as thoroughly drenched as Yeoncheong, who had run here with nothing at all.

"I followed you so we could share it... hooo. How are you this fast?"

"...It's coming down so hard, I was trying to get home as quickly as I could..."

Once she'd fully caught her breath, Suyeon lifted her head. The cold glint in her eyes — so like her twin Siyeon's — made Yeoncheong abandon her excuses mid-sentence.

Consideration or not, Suyeon's mood had sunk straight to the floor. Her summer uniform and everything underneath it was completely soaked through.

She'd been about to launch into another tirade when she closed her eyes instead. Her annoyed face scrunched up, and she bent at the waist with a sneeze.

"Etchyoo!"

That was a pretty cute sneeze, came the absurdly irrelevant observation. Only then did Yeoncheong come back to her senses and open the door to the building's shared entrance.

"Let's get inside first."

"Fine."

A sulky face that clearly said she wasn't happy about it, but would go along anyway. Suyeon glanced up at the building once, then followed Yeoncheong inside.

The two of them climbed the stairs, water dripping from every inch of them. Yeoncheong punched in the passcode in a hurry and held the door open.

"Go on in."

"I'm dripping everywhere. Let me in so I can at least get a towel."

In the short climb up the stairs, her head had cooled off. It was no doubt said with kindness in mind, but Suyeon was in no state to be considerate of anyone.

Summer uniforms were made of that characteristically thin fabric. And the rain had come down hard enough to soak through clothes and underwear alike without discrimination. The result of those two things combined was obvious.

The pure-white school uniform clung to her skin, revealing the flesh beneath, and the pale pink underwear underneath made its presence known. It was hot out, and the colors were light — Suyeon had probably figured she could skip a layer, because she wasn't wearing anything under it. So as the uniform soaked ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠through, that hint of pink stood out all too clearly.

Suyeon herself had been too busy chasing Yeoncheong through the rain to notice, while Yeoncheong was exerting every ounce of her willpower to keep her eyes pointed anywhere else.

What if someone came out of one of the other apartments? Yeoncheong pushed the utterly ungrateful Suyeon in through the door from behind.

"Getting you inside fast is helping you. Just go in. I can mop the floor later."

"Uh, uh-huh..."

Clack — the door swung shut behind them. Suyeon stood rooted in the entryway, and Yeoncheong kicked off her shoes without a second thought and made a beeline ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for the bathroom.

She grabbed two towels and tossed one to her friend. Suyeon caught it with bent knees. When Yeoncheong laid another towel under the bag that was dripping water everywhere, Suyeon quietly set her own bag down beside it.

Fetching one more towel from the bathroom, Yeoncheong dabbed herself dry and said,

"Dry off roughly, then go in and wash up. Hand me your clothes — I'll throw them in the wash."

"Y-you want me to... wash up?"

Suyeon glanced around the apartment, pointlessly checking that they were really the only two there. Uncharacteristically, she looked completely flustered.

But Yeoncheong, who had brought it up, was the one dying inside.

This was the first time she'd ever had a girl her own age over. Naturally, everything that came after — every offer and suggestion — was a first as well. She was barely holding onto her composure, mentally drafting a list of everything she needed to do next.

"You'll catch a cold. Go wash first. I'll get some clothes ready for you."

"You're the one with a cold still hanging on. You go fir—"

Finally, Yeoncheong couldn't take it anymore.

"Argh. It's because you're showing, so just get in there first, please..."

Yeoncheong averted her eyes in embarrassment. Suyeon slowly lowered her gaze, and at the sight of her fully exposed skin and pink underwear, her face went bright red.

Just imagining how long she'd been running around in that state made her dizzy. No wonder she'd snapped at her friend, demanding why she hadn't said anything sooner.

"So get in there and wash while I'm being nice about it..."

Yeoncheong muttered that she'd done her best to pretend not to see anything. Suyeon fled into the bathroom as if escaping, and the door slammed shut behind her hard enough that Yeoncheong worried it might crack.

Watching the lock click into place on top of everything, Yeoncheong let out a small snort of laughter.

Well, that was a pretty novel sight.

The friend who was always the one doing the teasing, looking flustered for once — it was honestly kind of fun.

Tap. Tap.

Hm? What's that sound?

Startled by the sudden noise, Yeoncheong tilted her head and listened. The source was the bathroom. The moment she realized it was the sound of a rain-soaked uniform hitting the floor, she shook her head firmly side to side.

She was hurrying to the closet to find something Suyeon could change into when a ringtone chimed from over by the bags. Yeoncheong had her own phone in hand, so it had to be Suyeon's.

But the shower was already running in the bathroom. Carefully, she checked who was calling.

The little heart next to the words My little sister laid bare exactly what kind of one-sided sisterly relationship this was.

Guess it's fine if I take this one, Yeoncheong thought, and answered.

"Hel—"

Worry was thick in the voice. Apparently the relationship wasn't quite as one-sided as it looked.

Yeoncheong was clearing her throat, wondering how to start the conversation, when—

"Uh, um... this is Yeoncheong. Suyeon's washing up right now."

A situation she'd clearly never anticipated — the silence stretched past ten whole seconds. Yeoncheong wondered if the call had dropped, but no, it hadn't.

Yeoncheong gave Siyeon a detailed account of how things had come to this. A long sigh of relief drifted through from the other end.

"Okay. Got it."

After the call ended, Suyeon cracked the bathroom door open. Just her voice came through — she didn't so much as stick her head out.

"Yeoncheong? What do I wear?"

"Hold on one sec."

Yeoncheong scrambled up from where she sat and pushed the clothes she'd laid out through the gap into the bathroom.

Slam — the bathroom door shut, and Suyeon leaned back against it, trying to calm the heart that was pounding without mercy.

You'll catch a cold, so wash up first.

A perfectly reasonable thing to say. It was just that the circumstances were... a little something else.

There was now a wall between them and Yeoncheong, who was no doubt agonizing over whatever it was all by herself on the other side of it. And this was Suyeon's first time at the house of a friend her own age, too — a friend who lived alone.

On top of that, she'd always been the one doing the teasing about underwear, never the one on the receiving end, and the embarrassment doubled with every second.

"Hooo. Hoooo..."

A long, deep breath. Only when she'd finally tamed her rampaging heart did Suyeon slowly begin to undress. Her clothes hit the dry floor with loud, heavy splats, waterlogged as they were.

Better wash up fast and get out of here.

Because the equally soaked owner of the house was waiting her turn right outside.

She gathered up the heavy, water-logged clothes and underwear, piled them to one side, and turned on the shower. As the warm water melted the chill from her soaked body, Suyeon glanced around — and cocked her head.

Huh? Why is this here?

Behind the ordinary shampoo and conditioner stood a single bottle of all-in-one wash. A product from those commercials aimed squarely at men. Not exactly the sort of thing you'd expect to find in the home of a girl living on her own.

She picked it up gently — only the faintest trace of the contents remained, while the shampoo and conditioner, their seals freshly broken, were still full and heavy.

It wasn't as if women couldn't use all-in-one products. But going from all-in-one to suddenly using shampoo and conditioner separately was, well, a little conspicuous.

And that was exactly as far as the thought went.

She probably has her reasons.

Suyeon had no intention of nitpicking the way her friend ran her household. She reached for the shampoo.

The shower was over in no time, and by the time Suyeon had received her change of clothes from Yeoncheong, her expression had turned grave.

Black dolphin pants and a white T-shirt. A T-shirt that was, on top of everything, enormous.

Don't tell me... this is Yeoncheong's actual sense of fashion.

First those saggy, stretched-out track pants, and now this. So under all that blushing, she was actually bold?

Misunderstandings about Yeoncheong were quietly piling up in a place Yeoncheong herself knew nothing about.

When Suyeon opened the bathroom door, she stuck only her head out first, searching for her friend.

"Yeoncheong? All done washing..."

"Oh, good. Then just rest for a bit. Your dad's coming to pick you up after work. Oh, and—"

"—Siyeon called earlier." As she relayed the contents of the conversation, Yeoncheong faltered mid-sentence.

Suyeon, perhaps a little embarrassed, looked away and fidgeted with the hem of the T-shirt for no reason.

Her cheeks were flushed from the long soak in warm water. A few strands of still-damp hair clung to her face, and water droplets she hadn't managed to dry traced lines down her jaw.

The dolphin pants showed no more than a sliver of their trim. The oversized white T-shirt hung loose, leaving her collarbone naturally in view. Worse still, she'd dried off in such a rush that the shirt itself had gone damp in places, letting faint glimpses of skin show through.

Yeoncheong realized her mistake a beat too late.

She hadn't wanted to hand over clothes she was actually wearing, so she'd dug these out from a corner of the closet — but it seemed one of the T-shirts from back when she'd been a boy had survived in there.

Face burning scarlet, Yeoncheong turned to go fetch a fresh shirt — and Suyeon waved her off.

"No, it's fine... it's not like it's too small to wear... You'll catch a cold too, so go wash up already."

"O-okay. Th-then just, um, rest!"

This time it was Yeoncheong who fled, slamming the bathroom door behind her.

In that fleeting instant as they'd passed each other, Suyeon had seen it — Yeoncheong, flushed bright red. She thought to herself,

She really does still have that cold... I shouldn't make her waste time hunting around for me.

Suyeon was on her way to sit down and rest when her feet stopped in front of the full-length mirror. Only then did she understand why Yeoncheong's face had gone red. The warmth still fading from her own cheeks flared up again for an entirely different reason.

Wait. Was she blushing... because of me? No way. Couldn't be.

Suyeon gave her head a vigorous shake, doing her best to cool her heating face.

She'd only tagged along on a whim, and yet somehow the whole atmosphere had gone strange. Seeing Yeoncheong turn that shade of red a moment ago — there was simply no way the two of them could stay in the same room like this.

Suyeon hurriedly searched for the smartphone lying near her bag.

That's it. The second Dad calls, I'm going straight home.

She waited for her father's call — and, true to the saying that even a tiger will come when you speak of him, the ringtone sounded before long.

"Dad!"

Suyeon picked up before the phone could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ring a second time. Then a thought caught up with her.

Hm? Come to think of it, it's still a while before Dad gets off work...

Just as expected, the voice on the other end didn't ask where she was; it just called her daughter's name with an oddly tentative, roundabout air.

"Yeah, Dad. It's not time to leave work yet, is it? Did the rain let you off early, maybe?"

Hope in her voice, Suyeon asked first. Her father began haltingly, and Suyeon nodded along even though he couldn't see her — until his next words froze her solid.

Only her mismatched eyes turned toward the window, where the rain was pounding down hard enough to shatter the glass.

In the silence, her father spoke.

"O-okay. Don't worry about it."

Suyeon forced a smile to close out the call. And right on cue, Yeoncheong emerged from her shower and asked,

"Your dad's coming to get you?"

Suyeon's head creaked around on her neck.

"No... he says the rain's so bad the cars can't move. He said he has to owe someone a favor... just for the one night...?"

"Huh?"

The situation had drifted somewhere neither of them wanted it to go.