The sound of rain hitting the roof echoes around the house. Water drops hit the body of a wet mutt hard. Its tail curls against its belly and its body shivers every time the wave of cold wind hits against its fur. It tries to nudge its head against the door while whimpering and crying, but there is no reaction from inside the house.
After a moment, realising its wasted efforts, it finally stands, then lifts its leg and pees for a long five seconds before running to find shelter somewhere...
The silence in the house is different from outside. Loud thumps and hits from an action or romance movie come from the television. White glow coming from the screen reflects across the walls of an otherwise dark living room. There... sits atop the couch a young man.
Sounds of rain come from the speaker as the scene portrays two figures, out of which, one figure stands behind the other.
The scene seems to play the classic 'Main leads soaking under the rain' situation. The heroine seems unaware of the hero standing behind her. The young man is invested in the scene, particularly because of the visuals of a soaked heroine and partly from how the hero is advancing toward her.
Meanwhile, while the young man is focusing on the movie... Outside his house, a figure steps slowly toward the porch of his house...
In the living room, tension is high now. The hero has dared to grip the heroine's waist, and he has gotten slapped too doing that. Now, the heroine stands flushing with anger while the hero, even though guilty... still stares at the way her body is visible through the thin fabric of sundress. The female lead notices this and immediately covers her chest with her arms.
The young man is watching the scene with his mouth open now, eyes bulging out of their sockets. He stares at the scene as if his life depends on it.
But, the next scene is the one which makes him lose his mind entirely. The hero moves suddenly, his hands find the heroine's shoulders... then, he presses his mouth against hers. She kisses him back too after a moment.
"What...?"
Just at this moment, electricity gave up too. One moment the kiss was happening and the next moment, it's just dark.
Darkness fills the living room completely. In the dark, he is still reeling from the kiss scene but one sharp sound of thunder from outside brings him back to his senses.
Finally, he registers the intensity of the weather through the glass of a closed window. The urge to watch the rain moves him from his place. He stands up with his phone flash on, and moves toward the main door. His steps are careful not to hit his toes at the corners, and he also avoids looking at the hanging clothes right now, because they will definitely resemble the ghost at this moment.
After a moment, he finally reaches the door and opens it to reveal the sight of outside.
"Well… what a mess."
The water is pooled at some spots on the pavement where the ground surface is albeit uneven. He stares at the ground silently and sighs.
"How much it will take to fix this ground… so water doesn't collect like this during rain?"
At this point, the sound of footsteps breaks his focus. He immediately looks up, expecting some random person who might be seeking shelter from this heavy rain.
Finally, the figure comes into view. It's the same 'figure' from earlier, but he cannot possibly be aware of that.
The shape of the figure becomes clearer. A slim body, distinct curves and long hair suggest someone feminine. With one more step closer, the state of this figure also becomes more defined. Damp hair plaster over her face and shoulders, a white top soaked enough to reveal the faint colour of her skin beneath it. It's clear that whoever this is, she has been in the rain for some time now.
His expression, meanwhile, changes after spotting her. He was expecting a man, or even some elderly woman to appear, but he definitely didn't expect a… beautiful girl to appear at his door in such a condition.
He doesn't step out yet completely, as if to observe her reaction for longer, to see whether she will just stand under the roof or if she will ask to come inside.
When she just stops there and starts staring at the door, he feels a sudden confusion. This wasn't what he expected.
Why is she just staring? She is still getting wet there…
He decides to address her himself in the end.
"Who are you? Do you want to come inside? Or at least stand under the roof."
…
She doesn't respond and that suddenly makes him cautious. He waits for several seconds for any reaction. When nothing happens, he finally decides to close the door, not wanting to interact with a weird stranger. Just at this point, she moves. Her hand reaches for and grabs the doorknob. He pulls the door toward himself, and she pulls it toward her direction. His eye twitches.
"What are you doing? Leave it!"
She doesn't pull her hand away, but she stops pulling the door. Finally, her voice comes, shaky and desperate.
"Wait! I… I am sorry. I was just thinking about something earlier, definitely not ignoring you! Don't close the door, please?"
Slowly, he opens the door again, and watches her. Her hands tremble as she holds them against her chest as if to keep some shred of modesty even in this situation. He looks conflicted about letting her come inside now, after watching her previous behaviour. But…
He lets out a sigh and nods slowly before stepping aside to let her in.
"I don't trust you, but come inside anyways. It is bad to leave you like this."
She looks at him for a moment longer, then steps inside slowly. Her shoes leave mud footprints on the floor when she moves.
"Wait!"
She stiffens immediately at his voice, her hands tighten around her shirt. She waits for him to speak, her eyes returning to the open door again.
He suddenly looks very guilty after seeing her reaction to his words, he points at her shoes and gives a small apologetic smile.
"I was… just talking about your shoes. Can you leave them just here? You know, the floor…"
She finally realises, and looks down at her shoes, then behind her at the footprints.
"Oh…"
Just when she takes one step forward after taking off her shoes, electricity comes back again…
After several minutes of awkward transition between the living room and bathroom, she finally sits on the couch, covered in his borrowed shirt and trousers after the bath. Though, the clothes don't quite fit her. She is drinking the tea now, her eyes occasionally glancing around the living room and him.
His own cup rests at the coffee table between them, smoke curling upwards from it. He watches her, not directly, but with stolen glances.
He doesn't reach for his cup yet, instead he waits for her to settle properly for some time. Then, finally, while trying to keep his voice casual and less intrusive, he asks,
"So, what's your situation...?"