“Mom! Is Yi Soo home?”

“As soon as you come home, why are you looking for Yi Soo? She’s not back yet.”

At those words, Yoo Mi hurriedly went up to the second floor and opened Yi Soo’s room door.

She went straight into the powder room and searched for perfume on the dressing table.

“This is it! It’s a brand I’ve never seen before.”

Yoo Mi muttered to herself while closely examining the perfume.

It was an extremely luxurious-looking perfume.

Holding it in her hand and examining it from various angles, Yoo Mi took out her phone, took a picture, and opened the cap.

She sprayed the perfume a few times in the air and a few times on her wrist.

With a serious expression as if she were a perfume appraiser, she took a deep breath and then tilted her head.

“It’s too similar. It seems to be the same perfume.”

Although she wasn’t certain, it was a scent very similar to the one Ji Ho had earlier at lunch.

If she had paid more attention then, she would remember it properly, but her senses weren’t fully functioning as she was too excited.

Is this right? It was unique and impressive.

“What are you doing in someone else’s room?”

“Ah! You startled me.”

Yoo Mi was startled to see Yi Soo standing in front of the powder room without any warning.

Caught touching the perfume after sneaking into an empty room, Yoo Mi was flustered and fumbled for words.

“No. This morning, your perfume smelled so good. I came to see what it was.”

“……”

“You said you didn’t know the name of the perfume. I was just going to look at the name and leave.”

“You even sprayed it?”

The perfume scent was so strong it filled the entire room.

“I wanted to smell it again.”

“If you’re done, you can go now.”

Yoo Mi, for some reason, was lingering and showed no intention of leaving.

Judging by her outfit from lunch and the bag on her shoulder, it seemed she had come up right after arriving home.

Yi Soo wondered why she was in such a hurry to check the perfume name.

“Aren’t you going to leave?”

“…Who gave you this as a gift?”

Yoo Mi cautiously asked while watching Yi Soo’s reaction.

In fact, she was more curious about who had given it as a gift than about the perfume itself.

“What does it matter to you?”

Yi Soo spoke irritably on purpose to prevent Yoo Mi from asking further.

She’d probably make a fuss if she knew Seo Ji Ho gave it.

Thinking that, Yi Soo chuckled.

How did I end up worrying about this?

It was a ridiculous situation where she had to hide something that didn’t need to be hidden.

“Just. I could be curious, you know.”

Yoo Mi pouted and shrugged her shoulders.

Yi Soo gestured toward the door with her chin.

“Alright! As if it’s some big secret. Tch.”

Grumbling and turning her body sharply, Yoo Mi reluctantly went outside.

Yi Soo thought she should lock her door from now on.

**

Yoo Mi lay on her bed and searched for the perfume she had photographed with her phone.

The perfume Yi Soo received as a gift was from a British perfume brand famous for its wickedly high price, even among ultra-high-end niche perfumes.

It was a perfume that was hard to get because there was no official seller in Korea.

“Who could give such a thing to Yi Soo as a gift? Did she really get a boyfriend?”

Yoo Mi smelled the scent remaining on her wrist again.

Strangely, it kept bothering her.

While pondering with a suspicious expression, Yoo Mi took out her phone.

“I can contact oppa under the pretext of the perfume.”

She was also glad to have an excuse to naturally contact Ji Ho.

-Oppa, I contacted you because I’m curious about something, is this the perfume you wore today? The smell seems so similar. Please reply as soon as you confirm.

Yoo Mi pressed the send button with the perfume photo after writing and erasing several times.

**

Ji Ho frowned at the bright sunlight peeking through the curtains.

Lying on the bed, he stretched his arm out to the bedside table.

The time shown on the phone was 6:50 AM.

About to close his eyes again, he opened an app and habitually checked the weather.

30% chance of rain.

Which meant a 70% chance of no rain.

“Today’s gone too.”

Ji Ho rubbed his face with his large hand.

He put down his phone with a thud and got up.

As if trying to confirm with his own eyes, he opened the curtains wide.

Looking down at the Han River sparkling in the pouring sunlight, Ji Ho smiled.

It was because he had unconsciously frowned at the bright, clear sky.

“Since when did I start waiting for rain like this?”

It had been a week since he last saw Yi Soo.

In the meantime, he could have seen her if he wanted to, but a strange stubbornness made him wait.

Foolishly waiting for rain.

Should I perform a rain ritual?

**

“Yi Soo, they say it’ll rain this afternoon, did you bring an umbrella?”

Ae Ra asked as soon as she saw Yi Soo in the library lobby.

“No. I don’t think it’ll rain. It’ll just be cloudy.”

Yi Soo, who was always like that, had been checking the weather every morning without fail these days.

More precisely, whether it would rain or not.

Having used weather apps for a long time, Yi Soo could roughly guess just by looking at the chance of rain.

Sometimes there were exceptions.

“That’s good then. I didn’t bring an umbrella either.”

“Don’t worry. It won’t rain.”

“Is Seo Ji Ho’s umbrella still in your locker?”

“Yes.”

“You should just take it. How many days has it been?”

“I know.”

Yi Soo said, wrinkling her nose.

“But, doesn’t it seem like he’s doing it on purpose? My intuition tells me so.”

Ae Ra narrowed her eyes and smiled mischievously.

Since the opening party, Ae Ra had been saying the same thing whenever she had the chance.

Something about her intuition.

“Ah, what now?”

“Honestly, you’re strange too. I looked up that perfume Ji Ho gave you, and it’s really unbelievably expensive. It’s supposedly certified by the British royal family or something. Hey, giving something like that while saying he’ll take the umbrella seems too much like an excuse.”

“What excuse? It must be a special umbrella. If it’s a meaningful object, what does the price matter?”

“I don’t think so. If it’s meaningful, shouldn’t he take it back sooner!”

Ae Ra tilted her head with a suspicious expression and brought Yi Soo’s wrist to her nose.

“Is this that perfume?”

“Yes.”

Ae Ra took a deep breath, enough to make her chest swell, then closed her eyes and pretended to savor it.

“Hmm. So this is Seo Ji Ho’s scent. Hehe. It smells so good.”

Yi Soo burst out laughing with an expression that said she really couldn’t be helped, and pulled Ae Ra’s arm.

“Let’s go quickly. We’ll be late for class at this rate.”

At that moment, Yoo Mi, who had been standing next to a pillar in the lobby, was glaring fiercely at Yi Soo’s retreating back.

“Ha! That was the perfume she received from oppa?”

Yoo Mi, who had seen Yi Soo by chance, hid her body on purpose because she didn’t want to run into her.

She didn’t intend to eavesdrop, but she could hear the conversation between the two very clearly from behind the pillar.

Ji Ho had replied to Yoo Mi’s text confirming it was the same, and she had thought it was just a coincidence that they had the same perfume.

“And she said they were nothing to each other!”

Yoo Mi clenched her fist so tightly that her fingernails dug into her palm.

Her lips trembled with anger at the thought that Yi Soo had deceived her.

What could it mean to give someone the perfume you wear yourself?

Come to think of it, they wore the same perfume on the same day.

Could it be a couple’s perfume?

Yoo Mi’s heart pounded as if it would burst at the terrible thought invading her mind.

**

Yi Soo’s condition, which had been bad since morning, got worse as time passed.

It seemed to get a little better while receiving Ae Ra’s cheerful energy, but her body started to feel heavy again.

Her head was throbbing and her throat was stinging.

Is a cold coming on? If I can just get through today, it’s the weekend.

Yi Soo entered the lecture hall with heavy steps to attend the last class on Friday.

Without the energy to go down to the front row, Yi Soo just sat in an empty seat near the entrance.

Sitting in the back, she could see the entire stepped lecture hall at a glance.

The back view of Ji Ho and Ha Joon could be seen vaguely in the front.

The class started, and Yi Soo, who barely endured for 3 hours, went straight home as soon as it ended.

**

It was a little past 6 when she got home.

In the empty house, Yi Soo had a quick dinner and found cold medicine in the medicine cabinet.

She planned to take medicine and endure for a day, and if she still felt unwell tomorrow, she would go to the hospital.

Sometimes it gets better after a good rest.

Despite her lack of energy, she quickly tidied up the kitchen and went up to her room.

‘I’ll feel better after a nap.’

Yi Soo fell asleep, intoxicated by the medicine, thinking it was fortunate that tomorrow was Saturday.

How many hours had passed?

Yi Soo opened her eyes with difficulty to the loud sound of someone knocking on the door.

Haa. If the door is locked, why don’t they just go back down?

“Hey, Jung Yi Soo! Open the door. Quickly!”

Bang. Bang.

The sound of fists hitting continued as if intending to break down the door.

“I said open the door quickly!”

The slurred pronunciation and higher than usual tone of voice.

9:23 PM.

Checking the digital clock on the bedside table, Yi Soo got up with her heavy body.

If you’re drunk, you should go to your room and sleep quietly.

Yi Soo opened the door with a click in her drowsy state.

As the door opened, a drunk Yoo Mi staggered in, pushing Yi Soo aside.

Yoo Mi went straight into the powder room and came out holding a perfume bottle in one hand.

“You! You lied to me, didn’t you? Huh?”

Yi Soo looked at Yoo Mi blankly with an absurd expression.

“This! You said oppa gave it to you!”

Yoo Mi shook the perfume bottle in front of Yi Soo’s eyes.

With unfocused eyes wide open, Yoo Mi was glaring at Yi Soo as if she would kill her, looking as fierce as an angry cat.

“You said you were nothing to oppa. You said it yourself!”

Yi Soo’s head throbbed.

How did Yoo Mi find out? As she was thinking, irritation welled up inside her.

It’s not like I stole Yoo Mi’s boyfriend, do I have to put up with her drunken behavior too?

On a day like today when she was sick. When she didn’t even have the energy to deal with this.

Yi Soo let out a sigh that sounded like a lament.

“Tell me. What’s really going on between you and Ji Ho oppa?”

Every time Yoo Mi opened her mouth, a strong smell of alcohol wafted out.

“Give that to me and go to your room.”

Yi Soo spoke as if soothing the drunk Yoo Mi, suppressing her anger.

As Yi Soo reached out her hand to Yoo Mi, Yoo Mi raised the hand holding the perfume as if to say “not a chance” while pushing Yi Soo hard with her other hand.

Because of that, Yoo Mi lost her balance and stumbled greatly, falling down, and the perfume bottle in her hand flew into the air.

Crash! The perfume that fell onto the marble floor shattered with a loud noise.

Fragments scattered and the room was filled with the smell of perfume.

It happened in an instant.

Towards Yi Soo, who was looking at the broken perfume bottle with a coldly hardened face, Yoo Mi suddenly got up, rushed at her, and grabbed her hair.

“Hey! You, didn’t I tell you not to be interested in oppa? You bad girl! You deceived me!”

At that moment, Yi Soo felt as if the anger she had been suppressing all this time was erupting like a volcano.

There was no time to think about patience or anything else.

Yi Soo didn’t back down and grabbed Yoo Mi’s hair, causing Yoo Mi to let out a shrill scream.

“Aak! Are you crazy? Let go of this!”

Soo Min, who rushed upstairs at the loud noise, saw the scene and pulled the two apart.

“Mom! Ung. Ung. She pulled out all my hair.”

Yoo Mi sat down on the floor, shaking her disheveled hair, and started crying.

Soo Min, who was checking if Yoo Mi was hurt by the broken glass, suddenly approached Yi Soo and slapped her cheek with all her might.

With a crisp slapping sound, Yi Soo’s head turned sharply and she staggered back a few steps.

Stars flashed before her darkened vision.

“I’ve been watching and watching. How dare you touch Yoo Mi! How insolent!”

Soo Min’s sharp voice mixed with Yoo Mi’s wailing.

The excited Soo Min kept talking, but to Yi Soo’s ears, it only sounded like buzzing.

When she closed her eyes tightly and opened them again, her darkened vision slowly started to clear.

Yi Soo, who barely regained her senses by holding onto the edge of the bed, ran out of the house.

Tears welled up as sorrow overwhelmed her.