It was weekend.

Rara called up Jay.

"Jongseong aa,do you wanna come over to my place today?"

"Sure,I will be there."

She felt happy when she was around him. And she couldn't help falling for him. He was really sweet and paid attention to her,she realy was falling for Jay Park.

She knew about his world and wanted him to understand hers too. She wanted to find out if it's all just in her head or if he actually liked her back.

Mrs Oh was out of town as she went to see an ailing aunt. She left Rara in charge of the home and the younger ones. Rara felt it was the perfect time to invite Jay,without the interruption of Mrs Oh's smirks.

She was seated on the swing in the little playpen I'm front of the house, waiting for Jay's *not so luxurious car* to pull up in the driveway.

Little Minyoung came and propped down beside her.

"Who are you waiting for Unnie?"

"My uh... friend..Minyoung ah..."

The 7 year old nods her head and points in the direction of an incoming car.

"That oppa?"

Rara's eyes shoot up as soon as he hears his voice.

"Ra! I am here!" He sprints up to her.

"Hi Jay. Thanks for coming."she smiles.

"Of course. And what's your name sweetheart?" He bends down to talk to Minyoung who shyly introduces herself.

"Nice to meet you Minyoungie,my name is Jay."he gently shakes her hand.

"Oppa...you are handsome."Minyoung blushes.

"Kapjagi? Suddenly?" Jay and Rara look at each other and giggle as the little one runs away bashfully .

"Come Jay let's go in."Rara leads him in.

More kids approach them in excitement.

Jay bends down and shakes all their tiny hands.

"Hi kiddos! My name is Jay! I am Rara's-" the kids don't let him finish.

"Boyfriend?" A kid says flustering the adults.

"Aish,kids these days...you all ,we are best friends okay."Rara explains.

"Are you Jaeyun oppa's friend then?" Another girl says.

"No. He is my friend."Rara firmly says.

Hearing that guy's name instantly ruins her mood.
Jay instantly changes the subject.

"This hyung/oppa came to play with you all today! Wanna go play?" He excitedly asks.

"Will we play soccer? Jaeyun hyung always plays with us!" A boy says.

"Well,I was thinking if badminton, but if you suggest-" Jay is cut off by Rara.

"Today we all will play badminton. Jay hyung here is an amazing player,and we will have lots of fun okay?Now let's head out kids." She ushers them out as they run outside excited.

Jay brought over some racquets and shuttles for them to play with.

"Ra! Let's play a warm up match first to show the kids how it's done." Jay suggests and she agrees.

He obviously wins the practice match without breaking a sweat. Pretty competitive ,he didn't go easy on her.

"Okay who wants to be in my team?" Jay asks cheerfully.

"Meee!" Minyoung runs up to him and he high fives her smiling.

"Nuna,I will be in your team,don't worry." Little Jihoon says with a fire of determination in his eyes.

"Why...I don't even play well.." she is curious as to why he voluntarily chose her.

"I don't like that hyung..."he pouts as he looks at Minyoung being all smiley with him.

"Wow... jealousy at this age too..."she couldn't help but stifle a laugh.

"We will crush you both!" She yells,provoking the opposite team.

"Let's see who has the last laugh."Jay grins.

"Game start!"

They have a light hearted doubles match,so that the children can also catch up.

It was a fun evening for all of them.

"Yess we wonn!!" Rara and Jihoon celebrate as the look at the defeated opposite team.

"It's okay Minyoungie,we went easy on them."Jay comforts the little girl who instantly cheers up.

He gets a phone call just then.

"Hello?" His eyes sparkle as he talks.

He nods, "I will be there.Yes. Love you too sweetheart.." He smiles wide.

Rara approaches him.

"Love you? Who was he talking to?"she thought.

"Ah Ra,I think I should get going now,I have a person to meet."

She slowly nods.

He pats her hair and bids a goodbye to all the children. Just as he is about to leave,Minyoung tugs on to his arm.

"What is it Minnie?"He asks with a smile.

She hands over a drawing to him,which makes him giggle.

"Minyoung 💖 Oppa"

"Oppa,Saranghaeyo!" She says.

He is amused.

"Oppa loves you too Minyoung ah" he plants a kiss on her forehead.

Rara and Jihoon watch in jealousy.

"A 7 year old has a better love life than me. A person likes her and she confessed to someone else who likes her back."she sighs.

She looks down to see Jihoon pouting.

She pats his back.

"It's okay Jihoon-ah, you have me. I like you-" he cuts her off.

"But I don't like you Nuna,I only like Minyoungie" he says coldly.

"Wow...even a 7 year old rejected me. I am hopeless." She sighs.

All of them watch Jay leave.

Dark clouds set upon the sky.

"Looks like it's going to rain,come kids! Let's head in!" She ushers everyone in.

__________________________________

Jake is at home,sitting by the window pane,having some soju on a fine weekend evening.

He receives a text from Jay.

"Hey. I don't think I can come home today,I have a meeting,please take care of your own food."

"Hah,that punk. Look at him acting all high and mighty. Meeting! And does he think I am a child who cannot figure out their meal." He curses.

He stomps into the kitchen just to find all instant Ramyeon finished. Only vegetables were there.

"Aish! I won't die if I don't eat one day." he decides to skip his meal as he was lazy to cook and goes back to his soju.

But his stomach growls in hunger after a while. He hd gotten so used to eating what Jay cooked,that now he felt so hungry if he skipped one meal.

He decides to call up Mrs Oh to ask if he could come over to collect the meal she had cooked.

"Ah Jaeyun ah! What to do, I am out of town right now. Won't be back soon. Why don't you ask Rara,she is at home with kids."

"Ah that's alright, thanks Ajhumma" he hangs up.

No way was he going to ask that girl.

"I'd rather starve."

The sky becomes dark and gloomy. It starts raining. Accompanied by thunder and lightning.

His thoughts shift to Rara.

(Flashback)

A young girl was hiding in the dark closet.

There were huge flashes of thunder and lightning outside,as she winced in fear. She huddled her legs closed to her body and closed her ears to not listen to the scary noises.

She was petrified.

The closet door opens.

"What you doing here?" A little boy asks.

"I am scared..."she cries.

The boy sighs.

"Scaredy cat"

He gets into the closet and sits next to her.

"Don't worry,I am here now. I will protect you." He coolly says.

"Really?" She looks at him in awe.

He confidently nods. Suddenly they here a thunder but this time he screams and huddles near to her in fear.

She giggles, "You are scared too,aren't you?"

He sheepishly looks away.

She pats his hair.

"Let's protect each other always...okay? Promise?" She holds out her little finger.

He interwines his to hers.

"Promise"

They kids fall asleep in the warm closet,protecting each other.

(Back to present)

Jake sighs remembering the incident. He looks out at the pouring rain again.

"Aish!"

He quickly grabs his raincoat and hurries out.

__________________________________

Rara was worried the kids might not be able to go to sleep due to the thunder,but she was surprised to see they were quite brave. They happily hopped onto to their bunk beds and slept.

"Kids these days are just built different...back in my day..."she sighs.

She goes down to the living room.
She grabs a chocolate milk bottle and drinks it as she watches some tv.

A thriller movie is playing and she is hooked.

However she soon realises it's not the best decision to put it in during a thunderstorm when it's dark.

The female lead is in a dark room,just like herself. An ominous shadow appears.

Rara stops breathing and hairs stand at an end when she finds a similar shadow,a silhoutte of a man on her window.

In the movie,the female lead screams,and so does Rara.

"Aaaaahhhhhhh" she is frightened out of her wits.

The door is opening and she quickly runs back. Ready with a vase in case a serial killer steps in.

She aims the vase for the intruder as soon as the door swings- and it hits Jaeyun.

"Ah!" He falls down.

"Jaeyunie?! Oh my god" she hurried towards him.

"Aish,why would you do that?" He groans as he pats the bump on his forehead.

"I am sorry,I thought it was an intruder. Why would you show up so suddenly in the dead of the night?!"she yells back.

"I thought you would be scared to stay alone so I came-" he blurts.

"Oh...well..."she looks down awkwardly pursing her lips.

"No. I came for food! I didn't have my meal! So give me food!" He quickly rectifies.

But she knows he is only covering up to save his ego.

"Come in then. You came through that pouring rain,you are completely drenched right now,go change."she tells him.

She lends him her floral pyjamas which are obviously short on him but she is amused when he comes out.

She starts laughing in his face.

"Hey,I know I look funny,but don't laugh!" He pouts.

She serves him the kimchi fried rice she made.

"Wow Rara,your food is actually edible." He mockingly says.

"Have it when I am being nice." She warns him.

They continue to watch the movie.

"So this is the movie which made you scream eh?" He jokes.

But the movie gets scarier and rara unconsciously huddles closer to him. She has always done this and it was hard to suddenly let go of old habits. Jake will always be a person she is comfortable around.

But Jake freezes up at her touch. He doesn't dare move a muscle.

They stay like that for awhile until the movie finally ends. But she doesn't move.

"Did she pass out in fear?" Jaeyun thinks and takes a look at her face which was resting on his shoulder. She was fast asleep.

"Wow...miss just went to sleep." He chuckles.

He doesn't know what to do.

"Her neck is going to hurt if she sleeps all night like this." He doesn't know what to do.

He decides to take her to her room.

He picks her up gently in his arms and climbs up the stairs.

He had given her multiple multiple piggy back rides all these years but this time it seemed different.

His heart beat so fast.

"They say distance makes you fonder,probably that's it..."he tells himself he is only missing his best friend.

He laid her down on her bed and she snuggled comfortable into the blankets.
He sat down next to her and just gazed at her face which gleamed under the light from the table lamp.

His heart tells him something else. There were two conflicting people in his mind.

"You didn't run all the way here under the puring rain and thunder just for your 'friend' Jaeyun!" The angel says.

"Yes,he came for the food!" The devil said.

"Yeah,that's just an excuse,you know that Jaeyun! You like her!"

"Do I?" He wonders. She turns towards his side,still asleep.

There's a stray strand of hair on her face and he hesitatingly reaches out for it and tucks it behind her ear.

Has he been blind all these years,or has she always been this beautiful? Her delicate eyes,rosy cheeks and pink lips-

He gulped. He didn't know if it was the soju he had,but something took over him.

He cupped her face in his hands gently and slowly leaned in.

That's when the devil spoke-

"Jake! You have a girlfriend!"

He immediately jumps back and slaps himself back to reality.

"I must have lost my mind for a second there. I shouldn't do this. This is isn't right." He shakes his head and leaves the room.

He collapses on the couch downstairs.

"Ah you are crazy Sim Jaeyun!" He shakes his head.

He fell asleep too.

__________________________________

A/N-23rd August 2021

Jaeyun has a message for y'all...

Hi ! My name is Jake!

I heard y'all weren't on my team...

Are you sure😏?

I want you to swerve to me💖