AUBADE: A LOVE SONG SUNG AT DAWN

It was spring yet the sky was crying tears.

Pitter-patter drops of rain fell from the indigo sky like bottled up feelings, cap held tight for so long that the tears were hesitant to fall. Soon, I knew it would turn into an outrage of scream and cries, the dark clouds that had started to loom over told me exactly that.

People I had met in my life either hated the rain, or loved the rain.

For me, I had a love and hate relationship with rain.

When I would be at home and a calm piece of music would be floating around the air mixed with an aroma of freshly grounded coffee beans, and the musty smell of rain, I would very much like it. I would love to stare outside the window and watch the sky pour its feelings out for hours.

However, when I would be stuck at somewhere else, without an umbrella or anything that could aid me going back to home unscathed and dry, I would loathe it. My thoughts would be jumbled up and I'd find myself, stuck, and overthinking for the rest of the day.

My thoughts were pretty much numbed right now as I sat in the empty hallway outside the kendo club and watched it softly raining outside the window, Paul Anka's put your head on my shoulder playing through my earphones in repeat.

I could feel my short hair dampening with the drop of the temperature. Sinking in the bench I imagined afternoon glow coming from that very window and hitting my face, like the way it should've been, not the darkening four PM that was giving me anxiety.

When I closed my eyes I took myself back to the conversation two hours earlier during lunch in the cafeteria, when the sky wasn't so cloudy, but the perilous feeling of an uncertainty that was coming still hung in the humid air.

Maybe, I should've went to the date instead.

"Sunny," Hanbyul shouted making me turn to her instead of the sky outside through the glass walls of the cafeteria. Rice and other side dishes, laid before me untouched.

Changkyun and Hanbyul both had their nose buried inside the phone on Hanbyul's hand, then she looked up and flipped the screen towards me. "How is he?" There was a mischievous glint to her voice and I already knew what the brunette girl was up to.

I squinted my eyes and leaned closer from the opposite side of the table. In the lit up screen showed a boy's self-taken photo, smiling at the camera. His dark hair brushed to the side revealing a part of his forehead. "Handsome," I muttered as I leaned back on my seat.

"His name is Seonghwa, and he is from the Anthropology department, and he is twenty years old, and-"

"Hold up right there," I stopped her before she could go on, Changkyun's smile turned into a defeated look as he nudged on her elbow. His eyes telling her a 'told you so.'

"He is three years younger than me." I put down my chopsticks by the side of the tray, the anxious feeling that it would rain soon poking on my guts to eat more.

"And...?" Hanbyul drawled, retreating her phone. "I met him in their orientation party and he told me to set him up with someone. I could actually arrange a meeting today."

"And the first person you thought was me?"

Changkyun shook his head and gulped his yogurt drink down. "Just give up already, Byul."

"Now." I crossed my arms over my chest, a knowing look on my face. "Shouldn't we talk about what's more important right now? Which is the golden senior I am going to interview for the monthly magazine?"

Hanbyul rolled her eyes but I only paid attention to Changkyun who scratched on the back of his ear. "I will text him that you're coming today. He should be at the kendo club after lunch."

"Glad that we have you who knows too many people in the university," I said sarcastically, by then Hanbyul and Changkyun had delved into their own conversation again, how this guy was a nice catch and how I was missing out, how the forecast didn't say it would rain but it looked like it was going to, how Hanbyul hadn't brought an umbrella and Changkyun said they could share his.

Filtering out their voices I stared outside the wall again, little droplets falling on the glass.

Should have I gone to the blind date instead?

I peeled my eyes open, the distant tone of music still floating around my head, one of the ear buds had fallen off and was now resting on my shoulder. The sound of rain was now harsher than before- an outcry of help.

Scrunching up my face I shifted on my seat, my neck hurting. Then I realized I had dozed off outside the kendo club and hours had past. No longer was it afternoon, but evening.

Outside the window the sky had taken a darker shade and for a second I got lost. Uncertain if it was really evening or dawn.

"H-hello." A whisper was what I heard next and then I saw the figure standing close approximately, a built man towering over me.

Immediately my heart dropped, fear stricken I flinched back in the bench and defensively I held my bag tightly close to my chest. Even with all that I was still uncertain, was this really happening or was I still dozing off.

He took a step back and I finally took a look at the person, traditional garment clad on his body, trousers that were too loose and the top was pitch black just like his wet hair that was sticking to his forehead, contrasting with his very pale complexion.

It finally dawned on me that the black attire was a martial arts outfit. The sound of practicing that was coming from the room I was sitting outside had died down, the hallway empty and deserted.

Mortification was what I should've been feeling but I felt my shoulders loosen up, both my earphones now resting on my shoulders.

"I am really sorry. I don't check my phone during practice, I never knew Changkyun texted me," he said in a low voice, hands clasped in front of his body and head hanging low in an apologetic manner.

When he looked up at me I took in his facial features, wide and dark eyes, freckles dusted on his rosy cheeks, and blushed lips parted with his light huffs.

Suddenly I was aware of my current position, probably drooling while I was sleeping. Straightening my crumpled shirt I stood up, taking in the difference of height, he was more than a head taller.

"I will come back another day for the interview, it's no problem." My voice was raspier than I thought it would be. No longer did I have the courage to stare at his face, or his collarbone and a part of his broad chest that was poking out through his top, so I glanced at my wristwatch instead. It was seven in the evening already.

"You can take my umbrella. It's raining a lot outside." His voice reached me and I looked up to him again to find him still staring at my face, immediately he glanced down.

"No, you will need it. I will be okay." Though the harsh sound of drizzle debunked my last sentence.

"Shownu can drop me off. Wait here," he said before vanishing through the practice room again.

While he walked past me there, I stood and thought, why wasn't I scared being alone with a taller and bigger guy because that really should've been the case. For some reasons, I felt safe with him even though I didn't know much except his name.

Lee Hoseok, that's what I had heard but Changkyun told me that most knew him by his nickname Wonho.

Wonho came back and gave me an umbrella that had the tinge of a clear sky, indigo, my favourite color.

"Nice song, by the way." Nervously he laughed when he handed me the object, and I realized the distant music I had forgotten to turn off coming from my earphones did sound louder in the empty and lone hallway. "I love old songs." His wide eyes once again glimpsed at me before flickering away.

The song should be a Serenade, his whispery voice too, a piece of music performed at evening.

But it felt like an Aubade, art performed at daybreak, at dawn when things would be certain and everything would feel okay.

The day I first met Wonho, a person who felt just as safe as spring, the sky was crying tears. 

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A/n: much isn't going on the first chapter but I promise a lot are to come.

Tbh I'm too excited and nervous to write this story. Damn my butt cheeks are shaking honestly-