Average At Best.

Chapter 24

It's strange how life sometimes changes its course - one moment you're worrying about one thing and the next it throws a million other things at you until you've forgotten what you were thinking about in the first place.

For me as an undergraduate in her third year of studies, those million things look like homework, assignments, tests and papers, so many of them that I don't really have the time or energy to think about anything else. 

Even today, my mind is still circling around my essay on 19th century female writers as I make my way back to the dorms after a long day at the library. I'm so caught up in my own thoughts that I don't even notice the rain coming down until it's turned into a full-blown thunderstorm.

At first I consider just running home and risking to catch a cold, but the first flash of lightning makes me change my mind in a heartbeat. There's no way I can get back to the dorms safely in this weather. I'll have to seek shelter somewhere.

A look around tells me that I'm in the middle of an extensive park that's nowhere near a coffee shop or a supermarket where I could hide from the storm. 

Another lightning flashes in the distance, followed closely by a roll of thunder.

Already half-drenched, I quickly scan my surroundings for other options, but there's not much to see, just a few small trees and bushes and - there! The temple!

I don't know who built it or what it's for, but there's a small Greek temple right in the middle of this park, just a hundred meters away from me or so. 

When I get there I'm completely out of breath and my clothes are more wet than dry but at least I won't get electrocuted. 

Hands on my knees, I try to catch my breath again when the rustle of leaves makes me spin around.

"You?".

I can't believe what I'm seeing.

There's Min Yoongi with his dark eyes and his pitch-black hair, looking just as drenched as I am, standing there as if us meeting in the middle of a thunderstorm was the most ordinary thing in world.

"Hi", he says, brushing back his wet hair to keep it from falling into his eyes.

"What are you doing here?", I ask him.

He shrugs. 

"I hate getting wet."

After we've cleared that, neither of us knows what to say anymore and so we just stare out into the rain. 

"Did you get my messages?", Yoongi finally asks out of the blue.

Right. The messages. There's been so much going on in my life recently that I've completely forgotten to reply, but I guess that's sorted out now.

"I'm sorry I didn't text back. I just...didn't really know what to say."

A relieved little smile shows on the corner of Yoongi's lips.

"Sounds familiar."

I can't help but smile too. He's right. Our own eloquence betraying us once every social interaction is indeed one of our shared talents.

"So...what did you want to tell me? About the thing with my brother I mean? I still don't understand why you didn't say anything."

"Right. I'm sorry I made everyone lie about it. I just didn't want you to think I only did this to...impress you or anything. I really just wanted to help, that's all. No hidden agenda."

"I know."

He's been staring out into the rainfall again during his explanation but my words make him turn towards me, listening closely.

"I know...I've been wrong about you. I know you're not the pretentious egomaniac I thought you were at the beginning. I only thought of you like this because I didn't know anything about you. I didn't know you liked sleeping more than parties. I didn't know you preferred coffee over hot chocolate and book shops over action films. I didn't know you grew up in a big house with a garden. And I didn't know you did it all on your own. I didn't know you were a big brother or a best friend to someone. There were so many things I didn't know about you. But now I do."

Words pour out of me like spring water, but it feels good to let them all out. I feel...liberated. As if all our difficulties and misunderstandings had suddenly disappeared to make way for a fresh start.

I look over at Yoongi.

He's quiet, but there's a serenity all over his features that tells me he's feeling a similar way.

He looks over and catches my gaze.

"Doesn't look like it's gonna stop soon", he says, nodding towards the rain outside.

"It will stop eventually", I reply. "I guess we'll just have to wait some more."

"Fine by me", Yoongi answers and starts to take off his jacket.

"What are you doing?", I ask as I watch him laying it out on the stone floor of the temple.

"We might as well sit down while we wait."

He gestures for me to sit down on the spread-out jacket first, then sits down next to me. 

It's weird having him this close.

Weird, but weirdly comforting.

There's a certain calmness in his presence, a calmness that makes me feel at peace, as if he was passing it on to me through the touch of our shoulders. 

I breathe in deeply the earthy rain air and listen to the raindrops pattering on the stone ground outside as little by little, the stress from the past few weeks falls off of me.

-

"It's the same for me too, you know", Yoongi breaks the silence after a while. "Not knowing what kind of person you really were. I might have been a little...premature with my opinion about you. And more than once."

I think I know what he's talking about. My mind instantly jumps back to the day we first met, when he refused to dance with me and called me average without looking twice.

"And I think I know a bit more about you now", he continues, "but I'm still not sure that's enough to say I know you."

It's true. After all this time we've known each other now, Yoongi and I still barely actually know each other. I guess we just never really had the chance to. 

At least until now.

"How about we change that then?", I ask him back. "If you want to?".

He looks a bit baffled at first, but then a soft little smile lights up his face.

"I'd like that", he says.