Seorin stopped on the last stair before the living room opened up fully in front of her.

The television flickered softly against the walls, its light reflecting off the glass table and the unwashed teacups still sitting there.

In her hands, the volunteer camp form was already crumpled slightly at the corners.

She drew in a short breath before stepping closer.

“Dad… Mom… there’s something Seorin wants to show you.”

The volume of the television lowered. Her parents looked over almost at the same time.

Seorin handed over the form with both hands.

“The school selected a few students to join a volunteer camp during summer break.” Her fingers pressed tightly together behind her back. “It’s a month-long program in Cheongsa Village. We’ll be helping residents and tutoring children.”

Her gaze dropped briefly to the paper in her mother’s hands.

“It counts toward our school evaluation.”

She paused before continuing.

“And it could help with the top student selection.”

Her mother read it first. The tips of her fingers moved slowly across the page before stopping for a long moment at the section listing the program duration.

Her father leaned back against the sofa, watching Seorin more than the form itself.

“Who else is going?”

“First and second years.”

“Kang Ara?”

The name came out too quickly.

Seorin gave a small shake of her head.

“Probably not.” Her eyes lowered again to the form in her mother’s hands. “I already checked the junior team selection schedule. The dates almost overlap.”

Her father nodded slowly, then took the form and placed it on the table.

“Let’s show our neighbors who’s going to win this year.”

His tone was flat, but the weight of it settled heavily across Seorin’s shoulders.

She picked the form back up without another word.

***

That night, Seorin stood in front of her desk, staring at the window of the house next door.

The light in Kang Ara’s room was still on.

Thin curtains shifted softly in the wind coming through the slightly opened window.

Seorin could only make out the vague silhouette of a desk and the white glow that felt too bright for such a late hour.

Her gaze moved to the board on her wall.

Schedules. Weekly targets. Practice charts. Checklists almost entirely marked off.

Volunteer camp remained blank.

Below it, a small photo with Dongchul was tucked into the corner of the board.

Their school uniforms were wrinkled from the wind that day, but Dongchul had still managed to smile at the camera.

Seorin lifted a hand and straightened the crooked edge of the photo.

“Please.”

Her voice was barely audible.

A few minutes later, the light in the room next door finally went out.

***

A prediction was still only a prediction.

The name still appeared on the volunteer camp participant list.

Kang Ara.

“You’ll have to work harder this year.”

Dongchul sounded tired beside her.

Seorin didn’t answer. Her fingers tightened around the participant sheet a little too hard before she finally folded it back up.

Across the room, Kang Ara stood beside Kim Minji while receiving activity folders from the supervising teacher.

Her uniform was slightly messy, tie loosened, black hair falling over part of her eyes.

“Looking forward to working with you guys.”

Her tone was easygoing, like volunteer camp was nothing more than an ordinary summer activity.

The corner of Ara’s lips lifted when Minji said something.

Seorin looked away first.

Her steps quickened as she left the room. Her phone was already unlocked before she had fully stopped walking.

Junior team selection.

Her fingers tapped the search button.

The headline appeared immediately at the top.

Registration Postponed.

Seorin stopped in the middle of the hallway.

Dongchul took the phone from her hand with a quiet click of his tongue.

“Damn.” His eyes scanned the screen quickly. “It got postponed last week.”

The glow of the screen slowly faded from Seorin’s eyes.

***

“Hey, partner.”

Seorin shifted half a step away.

Ara followed right beside her anyway, grinning.

“Come on, Han Seorin. I’m happy we ended up volunteer partners this year.”

“So annoying,” Seorin muttered under her breath.

Kang Ara laughed softly as if taking it as a compliment.

A single raindrop landed on the back of Seorin’s hand.

Then another.

She looked up. The sky above the bus stop had already turned dark, thick clouds hanging low between the power lines and streetlights.

The rain started gently at first.

Within minutes, water hammered loudly against the bus stop roof until the conversations around them dissolved into muffled noise.

People crowded closer beneath the shelter.

The space tightened.

Seorin opened her bag.

Her fingers moved quickly between textbooks and her pencil case.

No umbrella.

She checked again before finally zipping the bag shut slowly.

The crowd behind them shoved forward.

Shoulders brushed. Damp sleeves skimmed briefly against school uniforms.

Seorin tried moving toward the far edge of the stop.

There was no room.

Another push came from behind.

Her body stumbled back a step.

A faint laundry detergent scent mixed with something sweet and familiar lingered in the humid air beneath the shelter.

Seorin’s jaw tightened.

She kept her eyes fixed on the rain-blurred road ahead.

Beside her, someone stepped closer.

A female student held out an umbrella toward Kang Ara, cheeks flushed red.

“This… is for you.”

Ara accepted it with a small smile.

“Thanks.”

The black umbrella opened above them. Enough space for two people if they stood close.

Or three, if there wasn’t another choice.

The crowd shifted again. Bodies pressed together searching for gaps away from the rain spray.

Seorin tried stepping back.

Someone behind her moved first.

A hand settled against her shoulder.

Warm. Steady. Firm amid the pushing crowd.

Seorin’s movement stopped.

She glanced up slightly.

Kang Ara continued staring straight ahead as if she hadn’t noticed her hand was still resting on Seorin’s shoulder.

Rainwater clung to the ends of her black hair. One sleeve of her uniform was damp.

Seorin’s fingers slowly curled at her side.

Then gently brushed the hand away.

Not hard enough to be anger. Just enough to place a little distance between them.

The bus arrived a few seconds later.

Its headlights reflected across the puddles.

The crowd surged forward again, everyone shoving to board first.

Seorin was squeezed tightly between bodies pressing from all sides.

That hand caught her shoulder again.

This time more firmly.

Creating a small space in front of her so she wouldn’t get pushed too hard.

Seorin stayed silent.

From this close, all she could see was the sharp line of Ara’s jaw damp with rain and the slow trail of water sliding along the collar of her uniform.

Ara lowered her head slightly.

“Not getting on?”

Her voice was quieter than the noise filling the bus stop.

Seorin startled faintly before pushing Ara’s arm away.

Then she climbed onto the bus without looking back again.

***

The bus was nearly full.

Humid air mixed with the smell of wet clothes filled the cabin.

Seorin found an empty seat near the back and quickly sat beside a girl absorbed in her phone.

Kang Ara walked down the narrow aisle past her seat.

From the corner of her eye, Seorin saw Ara sit a few rows behind her beside the student who had lent her the umbrella earlier.

Soft laughter drifted over not long after.

Light conversation.

Candy wrappers crinkling open.

Ara offered something to the people around her seat, and several students burst into laughter again.

Seorin put in her earphones.

Soft pop music flowed into her ears, drowning out the rain tapping against the roof of the bus and the faint laughter behind her.

She stared out the window.

Raindrops slid slowly down the glass, splitting the reflections of streetlights into long blurred streaks.

Her eyes closed briefly for a few seconds before opening again.

As soon as her stop came into view, Seorin gathered her bag and removed her earphones.

She stood before the bus had fully stopped.

For a brief second, her eyes caught Kang Ara still talking with the others in the back.

The doors opened.

Seorin got off first.

***

The rain still hadn’t stopped completely.

Water dripped steadily from the bus stop roof, gathering into shallow puddles along the sidewalk.

Seorin checked the watch on her wrist.

She immediately started running.

Her bag lifted over her head as a shield. The distance between the stop and her academy was only a few minutes on foot, but her shoulders were already beginning to get soaked.

“We should buy an umbrella first.”

That voice appeared behind her again.

Seorin didn’t stop.

“Han Seorin.”

Ara’s footsteps drew closer through the sound of rain.

“If you keep running like that, your whole uniform’s gonna get soaked.”

A hand caught her wrist and pulled her beneath the awning of a café.

Warm air from inside brushed instantly against her cold skin.

“I’m already late,” Seorin shot back, trying to move again.

Her hand remained held.

Without another word, Kang Ara slipped off her jacket and draped it over Seorin’s shoulders.

The warm fabric still carried the same scent of rain and detergent.

“Don’t think I came here because I was following you,” Ara said casually while pulling open the café door. “I already had plans.”

Seorin stared at the jacket on her shoulders for a few seconds too long.

Ara held out an umbrella toward her.

“Just take it.”

“Whose umbrella is this?”

“Just bring it.”

Before Seorin could hand it back, Ara lightly shoved her shoulder away from the entrance.

“Hurry up. You said you were late.”

Seorin walked down the wet sidewalk clutching the umbrella tightly.

A few steps later, she looked back.

Kang Ara stood in front of the café with one hand tucked into her pocket, lazily waving at her.

Seorin immediately turned away and quickened her pace.

***

The package arrived just before academy class ended.

“For Han Seorin.”

Seorin lifted her head from the desk.

Several other students looked over too.

Her name was called once more.

She stood slowly before accepting the plastic bag from the delivery employee.

Warm.

Seorin opened the top slightly.

A hot pack.

Caramel macchiato.

Strawberry bread.

Thin steam still drifted from beneath the cup lid.

“Han Seorin, focus. Back to your seat.”

The teacher’s voice made Seorin flinch faintly.

She sat back down.

The plastic bag rested beside her books, too close to her elbow.

The pencil in her fingers paused over the worksheet for several seconds before moving again.

***

The rain had stopped by the time class ended.

The streets remained wet, the evening air carrying the scent of asphalt after rain.

Seorin slowed in front of a café.

The sign glowed warmly against the darkening street.

“Destiny…”

Her murmur nearly disappeared beneath the sound of the automatic door sliding open.

The smell of coffee and fresh bread greeted her the moment she stepped inside.

Seorin lingered near the entrance for a few seconds before walking to the register.

“One macchiato.”

She handed over the money while still holding the black umbrella at her side.

While waiting for her order, her eyes wandered slowly around the café.

Wooden tables. Coffee machines. Yellow hanging lights.

The table near the window was empty.

“Excuse me…” Seorin lifted the umbrella slightly. “I ended up borrowing this umbrella earlier.”

The cashier looked confused for a moment.

Then smiled faintly.

“Oh, your friend already paid for that.”

Seorin fell silent.

“So it belongs to you now.”

Seorin’s brow lifted slightly.

The employee bent beneath the counter before pulling out several bills and a receipt.

“Oh, right. He dropped his money earlier too.”

Seorin’s fingers paused for half a second before she took them.

Her gaze stopped at the words printed on the receipt.

Caramel macchiato.

Strawberry bread.

Exactly the same.

Just without the hot pack.

Her fingers folded the receipt quickly before slipping it into her bag pocket.

“...Just a coincidence.”

The receipt remained neatly folded inside her bag even after she left the café.