Chapter 48: The Umbrella and the Sea

I pulled every workbook out of my bag and stacked them on the desk. I picked up the now empty, limp bag. I’d use this instead of an umbrella.

With that decision, I sent a message before putting my phone away.

[Me] Can’t make it to the villa today. Don’t wait for me, eat dinner.

I should head home for once. Walking to the villa soaked in this rain wasn’t an option. If I dripped water all over the clean floor, Heesung would have something to say about it.

The school, empty now that all the students had gone, looked completely different from how it did during the day. With the lights off and more than half of it swallowed by darkness, it felt like a place I’d never seen.

If even a building can show a different face like this, then a person…

I reached the first-floor entrance, careful with every step.

The rain crossed the air at an angle. The pale streaks of rain sometimes flashed like light, sometimes darker than the dark itself.

“You said you were only staying for afternoon self-study. Why are you coming out now?”

Someone was waiting for me, with that surreal scene behind him. Heesung was waiting for me.

“And what’s this about not being able to come?”

I blinked in the darkness. Even the large umbrella Heesung was holding looked tiny from here. This was something I’d never pictured. Not once, not even while leaving the classroom or going down the stairs, had I imagined this. No one had ever come to pick me up on a rainy day. Not a single time. Really… not once in my life.

I asked in a dazed voice.

“Why are you here?”

“You don’t have an umbrella.”

“…”

“You were going to walk in the rain?”

I swallowed hard.

“Did you come to pick me up?”

“Unless I had some other business at school.”

I really… don’t get him. I’d never understand him unless I could see inside his head.

Summer days are long, but today was an exception. The world was pitch black under the dark clouds, and all the school lights were off, so I couldn’t see Heesung’s face well. That was a relief, since he probably couldn’t see mine either.

“Anyway, why can’t you come? Are you going home today?”

“I… I don’t have an umbrella, and I thought I shouldn’t walk to the villa in the rain. It would get me soaked. So I was going to go tomorrow.”

I rambled out excuses, then asked.

“…Is it okay if I go to the villa?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

Heesung asked, genuinely confused.

When he spread the large umbrella, the sound of raindrops hitting its surface buzzed loudly in my ears. Then he gestured to me.

“Come here.”

He meant for me to step under the umbrella.

I took a big step and got under it.

It felt strange. I suddenly realized this was the first time I’d ever shared an umbrella with someone else.

I was getting excited like a total fool, just because Heesung had come to meet me.

The stairs down to the field felt steeper than usual today. When I accidentally stepped into a puddle on the uneven steps, water splashed with a slap. It soaked my pant legs and wet my shoes. Even with the umbrella, I couldn’t block the water bouncing in every direction. On a normal day, it would’ve been annoying, but today the cold drops touching my skin felt cool and pleasant.

Then, about halfway down.

“…The rain stopped.”

The patter of raindrops hammering the umbrella suddenly cut off, as if they’d been about to break through and hit my head.

It didn’t seem like it would stop, but the rain ended abruptly, as if someone had flipped a switch in the sky. I held my palm out from under the umbrella. All that tickled my palm was faint moisture.

But Heesung didn’t fold the umbrella. He stubbornly held the big black umbrella in one hand and kept walking.

“The rain stopped. You’re still going to hold that? Isn’t it heavy?”

“It’s not heavy.”

Heesung said it like a joke. I wasn’t going to win this. I gave up and walked silently.

The sea, which had been visible in the distance, grew closer. We walked with the sea at our side.

Swoosh.

The rain had stopped, but the wind was still fierce, and the sea churned out rough waves. I stared at the sea like a person seeing it for the first time, even though I saw it every day, and I found myself stopping. Heesung stopped too.

There were still almost no people around this area. A quiet, deserted street. The only sounds in this neighborhood were the occasional drops of water falling from tree leaves and the distant crash of waves.

It felt like we were the only two people left in the world.

“…”

Here, I thought maybe I didn’t have to worry so much about getting close to Heesung. If it was just the two of us. If it was only us, I wouldn’t have to keep hesitating. I could even like him as much as I wanted without wavering…

I shook off the useless thought. It was just an umbrella, just him coming to pick me up. I was acting like such an idiot.

“…Seriously, why are you still holding that umbrella?”

I asked belatedly, feeling sheepish. Heesung was stubborn about the strangest things. The rain had already stopped, and the rough sea wind was roaring in my ears. Keeping hold of the umbrella to keep from staggering must have been a pain, but Heesung carried it calmly.

That’s when I saw his bandaged hand. The wound that still hadn’t had its stitches removed.

“Ah…”

I tried to take the umbrella.

“I’ll hold it now.”

“It’s fine.”

“I said I’ll hold it.”

I slung the bag I’d been carrying over my shoulder and grabbed the umbrella shaft with both hands. When I pulled at the handle, which didn’t budge, Heesung loosened his grip with a displeased look.

And the strong wind came right then.

“Ah!”

The wind tore the umbrella out of my hands. I bent down and chased it, but the umbrella bounced along the sand, skipped a few times, and then flew out over the water. A wave that had pushed up from the sea quickly swallowed it and pulled it away.

A lot of thoughts ran through my head in that short time. It wasn’t my umbrella. Of all times, why did the wind have to blow so hard now. On top of breaking the plate last time, now this. Why was I like this…

I’d always been especially embarrassed to look clumsy in front of Heesung. I wanted to look sharp and reliable in front of him. It was a truly useless wish, but that was how I felt.

In those few seconds, I thought all kinds of things.

But none of my thoughts included Heesung suddenly running into the sea.

“…Heesung!”

I thought thunder had struck again. Then I thought lightning flashed in front of me, and heavy rain came pouring down. The noise filling my ears was especially harsh today. Exactly, it had been that way ever since Heesung went in. The head that had surfaced on the black sea disappeared. The waves formed a whirlpool.

Heesung, who had walked into it on his own, didn’t poke his head back out.

…What was happening all of a sudden?

“Heesung! Yoon Heesung!”

No matter how unpredictable Heesung was, this wasn’t it. This really wasn’t.

“Heesung!”

I called his name over and over, but all that came back was the horrible roar of the waves pushing in. I threw my bag aside and rushed in after him, but the strong current hit me and knocked me backward.

“Hees… Heesung! Where are y, hey!”

Water pounded my body from every direction. Saltwater got into my mouth. I wiped my blurry eyes with my hand and scrambled back up.

In the midst of the chaos, I remembered I had my phone in my pocket. I pulled it out with shaking hands. The touchscreen wouldn’t respond because of the water on my hands. I realized belatedly that the screen was drenched, that the water on my hands was nothing compared to it. I had fallen into the waves with my phone still in my pocket. The device couldn’t have survived.

The screen went black in no time. I hurled the phone away, just like I had the bag. I heard a splash, but all my attention was somewhere else.

“Heesung! Can you hear me?!”

The waves that had been trying to spit me out a moment ago were now pulling me in, as if they wanted to swallow me. As if guiding me deeper. My mouth and nose were clogged. I screamed even as I gulped down saltwater.

“…Heesung, ah!”

If someone hadn’t grabbed me, if a firm arm hadn’t wrapped around my waist, I would have sunk down into that depth where the top of my head was no longer visible.

You didn’t die. You’re alive.

Is he really insane?

Thoughts floated hazily. Suddenly a wave of relief crashed over me, and I felt like crying.

Getting in, I staggered and fell repeatedly against the waves, but going out was different. Because Heesung held me firmly, I walked straight without a single stumble and set foot on land.

Once he confirmed we were out of the reach of the waves, Heesung dumped me onto the ground. Maybe because I’d just been wrestling with the waves, I was completely out of it.

Then Heesung suddenly yelled.

“Hey!”

“…”

“Are you out of your mind?”

If Heesung’s face hadn’t been right in front of mine, I would’ve thought that sound came from me. If Heesung, his face twisted and his eyes burning with rage, hadn’t been staring at me so closely, I really would’ve mistaken it for my own heartfelt yell.

That was how shocked and angry I was at his incomprehensible behavior. I couldn’t have resented the umbrella he was clutching in his hand any more.

The feeling was mutual, apparently. He flung the umbrella he’d gone out of his way to retrieve and grabbed my shoulders.

“Do you even know how to swim?”

It was a yell that seemed to burst out from deep inside him.

“No!”

“…”

I’d never seen Heesung this angry before. Intimidated by him raging like he wanted to eat me alive, I slowly shook my head. He spat out his words harshly.

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