Han Jisung.⁰⁷

Rainy twilight painted the streets of the modern metropolis in neon tones. Car headlights reflected in the glossy asphalt, and hurrying passers-by hid in the hoods of their hoodies. Lee Minho was returning home on foot after a hard day. In his life, full of deadlines and meetings, such walks remained the only opportunity to be alone with his thoughts. This evening the downpour broke out in earnest. Passing by a closed coffee shop, Minho heard a pitiful meow. Lowering his gaze, he noticed a tiny kitten that had curled into a ball right in a puddle under the drainpipe. The little creature hopelessly pressed its ears to its head, shivering from the cold. Without hesitating for a second, Minho threw off his shoulders a expensive jacket made of thick dark leather. Dropping to one knee right into the dirty water and completely forgetting about the cost of the branded item, he carefully covered the kitten with the jacket, creating a kind of durable tent over it. He himself was instantly left without any protection — icy streams of water in the same second poured down his collar, soaking his T-shirt and causing his wet hair to fall over his eyes. But he only held the edges of the fabric tighter, closing the baby from the downpour. At that exact moment, the thud of drops stopped over his head. Puzzled by the silence, Minho raised his eyes and saw the dome of a large black umbrella over him. The savior turned out to be a stranger — a guy in a soaked oversize coat, with soft facial features and surprisingly warm eyes. Han Jisung, running to the subway, simply could not pass by such a sight. Noticing a person who, without a second thought, was getting soaked for the sake of saving a kitten, Jisung came close and tilted his umbrella so that it completely protected Minho, while himself remaining standing nearby. Their eyes met — long, surprised and piercingly clear, erasing the feeling that just a minute ago they were absolute strangers in this huge city.