By the third week at New York University, I had come to one very important conclusion: engineering students were not mentally stable people. There was simply no other explanation. No healthy human being willingly chose to survive on four hours of sleep, caffeine and constant academic suffering.

That evening I was sitting in the library with Ethan surrounded by notebooks, papers and empty coffee cups while rain violently hit the giant windows around us. Outside, New York looked blurry beneath the storm. The streets reflected lights from cars and stores while people hurried through the rain with umbrellas above their heads.

Meanwhile I was trying not to have a breakdown over an exercise that made absolutely no sense to me.

"I think my brain stopped working two hours ago," I muttered while staring blankly at my notebook.

Ethan didn't even look up from his laptop. "That's normal. Give it another month and your soul will leave your body too."

I let my forehead fall dramatically against the table. The library was quieter than usual because of the weather outside. The sound of rain filled the silence between whispered conversations and keyboard clicks. Honestly, it felt almost depressing.

Ethan suddenly closed his laptop and stared at the ceiling with dead eyes. "Do you ever think about disappearing and starting a new life in another country?"

"You can barely survive this country."

he sighed, "details."

I laughed tiredly despite myself. Over the past few weeks Ethan had somehow become one of the only people at university I genuinely felt comfortable around. Mostly because neither of us pretended to have our lives together. We were both exhausted twenty-four hours a day. The perfect friendship. My phone suddenly vibrated loudly against the table.

Jade ✨

I already knew the message would be chaotic before even opening it.

"Are you alive?"

I blinked.

"For now."

Three dots immediately appeared.

"Bad. I need emotional support."

I sighed.

"What happened?"

"Apparently you can't tell a professor his lecture feels like a sleep paralysis demon."

I physically covered my face with one hand while Ethan laughed after hearing my phone vibrate again.

"Your roommate sounds terrifying," he said.

"She is."

Another message immediately appeared.

"Also I think I accidentally started drama with a girl from my philosophy class."

I stared at the screen.

"How do you ACCIDENTALLY start drama?"

"I exist."

Honestly... fair enough. After another painful hour of studying, I finally packed my things and left the library alone. The second I stepped outside, cold rain immediately hit my face.

"Oh my God—"

I pulled my coat tighter around myself while trying to protect my bag from the water. The rain was endless.

Not light rain.

Not romantic movie rain.

This was aggressive New York rain that soaked everything within seconds.

The streets glowed beneath reflections of neon signs, headlights and traffic lights. Cars splashed water onto sidewalks while people rushed past me holding umbrellas that barely protected them from the storm. The cold wind made everything worse. I quickly walked toward the bus stop while trying not to slip on the wet pavement. Honestly, I was exhausted. My body hurt from sitting all day, my head hurt from studying and the weather somehow made everything feel heavier. When I finally reached the bus stop, several people were already standing there trying to stay dry beneath the small roof overhead. I stood near the edge quietly, pushing wet strands of hair away from my face while watching rain pour endlessly across the street. New York looked different at night.

Softer somehow.

Lonelier.

The city lights blurred through the storm while distant sirens echoed between buildings. For a moment I simply stood there listening to the sound of rain hitting the streets. Then a bus slowly stopped at the traffic light directly across from me. At first I barely looked at it. Then my eyes landed on the giant advertisement covering almost the entire side of the bus. And suddenly my attention completely shifted. It was an advertisement for a dance academy.

The picture showed a man standing in the middle of what looked like a dark dance studio. He was dressed entirely in black. Rainwater reflected against the bus windows, making the lights distort across his image.

Dark hair slightly pushed back.

Sharp jawline.

Cold expression.

Something elegant.

Controlled.

Like the kind of person who noticed every mistake immediately.

Below the picture, written in elegant letters, was:

"Contemporary Intensive Program — Led by Jung Hoseok."

And underneath:

"Discover movement. Discover freedom."

I stared at the advertisement longer than I probably should have while rain continued falling around me. There was something strangely captivating about it.

Or maybe about him.

Not in the way Jade looked at attractive men.

It was different.

He simply looked like the complete opposite of me. Like someone who always knew exactly what to do with his body, his movements, his presence. Meanwhile I spent half my life tripping over absolutely nothing. A girl standing beside me suddenly noticed where I was looking.

"Oh my God... him."

I blinked and turned slightly toward her. "Hm?"

She pointed dramatically toward the bus.

"Jung Hoseok. That instructor."

She laughed softly while shaking her head.

"He's terrifying."

I looked back at the advertisement. "Terrifying?"

"Apparently he's one of the best dance instructors in New York, but also ridiculously strict."

Rainwater dripped from the edge of the bus stop roof while I looked again at the picture. Even frozen in a photograph, he somehow looked graceful.

The girl crossed her arms trying to stay warm. "My friend took one of his classes once."

"And?"

"She cried in the bathroom afterward."

I almost choked. "What?!"

The girl laughed. "Not because he's evil or anything. He just expects perfection from everyone."

Perfection.

That word strangely stayed in my head. The traffic light turned green and the bus slowly started moving again. And without realizing it, my eyes followed it as it disappeared through the rain-covered street.

"Are you interested in dance?" the girl suddenly asked.

I immediately looked away. "Oh, no. Definitely not."

She smiled knowingly. "That's what everyone says at first."

Before I could answer, her bus finally arrived and she quickly got on after waving goodbye. I remained there alone beneath the storm while cold rain sprayed inside the bus stop every time the wind blew harder.For some reason my thoughts kept returning to the advertisement.

Discover movement. Discover freedom.

It sounded stupid.

And dramatic.

And absolutely not something that belonged to my life.

Yet I couldn't stop thinking about it.

My phone suddenly vibrated again.

Jade ✨

"COME TO THE DINER NEAR CAMPUS RIGHT NOW."

"Why?"

"Emergency."

"What kind of emergency?"

A few seconds passed.

"I accidentally flirted with two people at the same time."

I closed my eyes slowly.

"How is that an emergency?"

"Because now they both think we're dating."

I stared at the screen in disbelief while rain violently hit the streets around me.

Then, despite my exhaustion, I started laughing alone beneath the storm.

Maybe New York really was changing my life already.