Group6: Heart Drama Club đđ
> Mina: I vote we practice at Celeste's mansion. Rich girl acoustics! đ
> Hana: She has a music room bigger than the cafeteria.
> Sera: Do you have a grand piano? I'm emotionally attached to grand pianos.
> Me: âŠFine.
> Jihan: Works for me.
> Rei: Don't worry. I won't touch the cat. đ
> Me: Monchi can sense fear.
> Rei: I'm doomed then.
---
By the end of the day, clouds rolled in like a sad indie movie. Thunder. Wind. The kind of weather that made you want to text your ex or start a new life in the countryside.
My three girlsâMina, Hana, and Seraâheaded down their usual alley shortcut to the gates. Jihan went the same way, earbuds in, pretending not to care.
Rei and I, meanwhile, took the other path. He said it was closer to the bus stop.
Rain started drizzling like a moody sprinkle.
"I always attract weird weather," Rei said casually.
"You did appear out of nowhere like a tragic anime protagonist," I replied, hugging my jacket tighter.
He chuckled. "You're not wrong."
We kept walking, talking about chaotic group chats, overdramatic classmates, and the upcoming musical.
And thenâ
A car zoomed past.
WATER. SPLASH.
Straight onto Rei.
"âŠAre you serious," he muttered, now soaked like a sad cat.
I stared. "Are you okay?!"
"Just my pride and my outfit."
"Come to my place."
He blinked. "Huh?"
"It's closer. You can wait out the rain there. Dry off. I meanâyou're literally dripping."
"âŠOkay."
---
The mansion gates opened with a buzz. Thirty guards, three maids, and one very suspicious cat watched as I dragged a wet boy inside like some soggy stray.
"Dad's at work," I said, leading him through the grand hallway. "So, you won't get interrogated."
"Good. I didn't prepare my alibi."
We paused outside the guest room.
"I'll get you some of Dad's clothes," I said.
Rei turned red.
"Wait. You're lending me your dad's clothes?"
"Well, you can't walk around shirtless unless you want Monchi to attack you."
He blinked. "That wasn't what I was worried about, but okay."
---
Five minutes later, Rei emerged wearing a too-large dress shirt and grey slacks.
"You look like a stressed CEO," I commented.
"Your dad's taste is terrifying."
"Now you know my trauma."
He sat awkwardly on the plush couch while I turned on the giant TV.
Weather Report: RAIN UNTIL TOMORROW MORNING.
I sighed. "Welp. Looks like you're stuck."
"âŠYou want me to stay?"
"You'll catch pneumonia otherwise."
He rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean, if you're sure. I can sleep in the hallway or somethingâ"
"There's like twenty guest rooms, Rei."
"Oh. Right. Rich."
---
That night, after dinner (delivered on golden trays, thanks to the house chef), I sat in my room with my laptop, trying to revise Chapter 34 for the twentieth time.
But all I could think about was the fact that a boy was sleeping just one floor down.
Not Jihan.
Rei.
And the way he blushed when I offered him clothes.
And the way he looked when the water hit him.
And the way his piano melody from our musical still echoed in my brain.
> "Even music sheds tears, you know."
I closed my laptop.
My love life was officially weirder than any novel I'd ever written.
Tomorrow was going to be⊠a lot.
Celeste's POV (continued)
Rei stepped out of the bathroom wearing my dad's clothesâslightly oversized slacks and a crisp black button-down that made him look less like a drenched stray and more like he owned half of Seoul's real estate.
I blinked. "You clean up⊠extremely well."
He rubbed the back of his neck. "Thanks. But uh⊠just to clarify, when you said 'get changed,' I thought you meant something else at first."
I frowned, innocent. "Like what?"
He blinked rapidly. "Nothing! Nothing at all."
Silence. Heavy. Like the rain outside.
He stood awkwardly in the middle of the sitting roomâdripping hair, still flushed cheeks, sleeves rolled upâand looked absolutely out of place among the silk curtains and overpriced chandeliers.
I handed him a towel. "I should've warned you. My house kind of looks like a drama villain's mansion."
He laughed, soft. "A little. But I like it. It's warm. Feels like⊠you."
My chest did this stupid fluttery thing. "I'm not warm. I'm 98% sarcasm and cat fur."
"Still warm."
We sat on the couch, an awkward distance apart. Not too far. Not too close.
Just far enough for the silence to scream.
Outside, thunder cracked faintly. The rain didn't let up. The forecast on the giant curved TV practically shouted STORM WARNING in neon blue.
"Well," I said, "you're officially trapped in the luxury prison."
He gave me a sideways glance. "Do I get visitation rights?"
"Depends. Do you like banana milk and emotional damage?"
He chuckled again. "Then I guess I'm home."
---
Later That Evening
We ended up in the indoor loungeâbasically a museum-sized room with beanbags, bookshelves, and a baby grand piano that no one ever touched.
Except tonight.
Rei's fingers hovered over the keys. "Mind if I�"
"Go ahead. If the piano gets jealous, I'll bribe it with polishing spray."
He played.
Soft, beautiful notes that turned the air into silk.
I curled up on the beanbag across from him, watching quietly.
"You're really good," I said after a while.
He looked over, faint smile. "It's how I think best. Music speaks when words don't."
I hesitated. "Do you think that's why you and Jihan are so⊠intense about this group project?"
He paused mid-note.
"Maybe," he admitted. "I think we both speak in music. And we're both trying to say something neither of us wants to say out loud."
The sentence hung there like fog.
"And what are you trying to say?" I asked.
He looked up, right at me.
"That I shouldn't be falling for someone already caught between a memory and a melody."
My breath hitched.
And just when the room felt too heavyâtoo full of feelings I wasn't ready forâI stood up.
"Hungry?" I asked brightly. "I make a mean microwave lasagna."
---
Midnight
We ended up watching an old animated movie about singing bears.
Not exactly romantic.
Except for the part where I accidentally fell asleep on his shoulder.
I woke up groggy, blinking at the dimmed chandelier light and the sound of rain still pattering against the windows.
Rei didn't move.
He just sat there, still, like he didn't want to break the moment.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, sitting up quickly. "I didn't mean toâ"
"It's fine," he said. "It was⊠nice."
A long pause.
I stood, fidgeted. "You can sleep in the guest room down the hall. I'll⊠bring you a fresh towel."
He nodded, but I felt his eyes still on me as I walked away.
Not watching like he owned me.
Watching like he was afraid of losing something he hadn't even held yet.
---
1:42 AM
Couldn't sleep.
I stared at the ceiling in my bedroom, thoughts tangled like headphone cords.
Rain still tapping the windows.
Somewhere down the hall, Rei was probably staring at the ceiling too.
And in another house across the cityâŠ
Was Jihan awake?
Was he thinking about the same storm?
Was he still humming that song?
---
Group6: Heart Drama Club đđ
> Mina: Everyone make it home safe?
> Hana: We did! Thanks for the umbrella, Jihan đ
> Sera: I got rained on but my eyeliner survived so it's a win.
> Jihan: Celeste? You okay?
> Me: Yeah. All good. Helping a drowned pianist recover.
> Jihan: âŠ
> Mina: Uh oh.
> Sera: So like, what kind of recovery đ
> Rei: She has good towels. Five stars.
> Jihan: đ
> Mina: Emotional damage in 3.. 2 ..1âŠ
Celeste's POV (continued)
I sat on my bed, hugging my knees, face flushed. Why was I like this?
One boy was asleep down the hall in my father's fluffy guest sheets.
The other boy texted me like he was staring into the abyss of his own feelings.
I, meanwhile, was internally screaming into a designer pillow.
This was not the life I imagined when I said I wanted romance in high school.
Where was the chill? The clarity? The K-drama contract that spelled everything out?
All I had were cryptic stares, sad piano music, and that kiss that still lingered on my lips like a ghost.
I flopped backward onto the bed.
"Why me?" I whispered to the ceiling. "Why this stupid, beautiful, emotionally unstable plotline?"
No answer. Just thunder rumbling in agreement.
---
The Next Morning
I came downstairs in a fluffy robe and bunny slippers, because if Rei was going to witness post-sleep me, he was going to witness all of it.
To my surprise, he was already awakeâdressed, hair slightly damp, standing by the tall windows as the rain finally faded into drizzle.
He turned when I entered, eyes soft. "Morning."
"You're awake early."
"Didn't sleep much."
"Me neither."
Silence.
He walked over to the couch and held up a steaming mug. "I made coffee. Hope your mansion trusts strangers with expensive appliances."
I took the mug, suspicious. "What's in it? Feelings? Dramatic tension?"
He smiled. "Just milk. No bananas, though. Sorry."
"You're lucky I like my coffee like I like my traumaâmild but lingering."
We sat on the couch again. This time, the silence was⊠different. Calmer.
"So," I said. "About last night."
Rei turned to me, eyes unreadable. "Are you okay?"
I hesitated. "I think so. It's just⊠complicated."
"Because of Jihan?"
I didn't answer right away.
Because yes. But also no.
Because Jihan was my childhood. My almost-maybe. My memory.
But Rei?
Rei was something else. A future I hadn't dared to picture.
And now they were both part of my present.
"I'm figuring it out," I said finally. "It's like I'm writing a story where I don't know the ending yet."
"I get that." Rei leaned back. "I've always been the background character. The one who leaves before the second act. But now I'm here, and I don't want to fade out again."
I looked at him.
Rei wasn't just handsome. He wasn't just a good pianist.
He was real. Raw. Guarded, but honest in a way that pulled people in.
And he looked at me like I was worth staying for.
Which terrified me.
---
Thirty Minutes Later
"I should go," he said, standing up as the rain finally stopped.
"Okay," I said, standing too.
He paused near the door, turning to face me. "Thanks for last night. Not just the warm clothes. For⊠being you."
I smiled. "Anytime, pianist boy."
He opened the door, paused again. "Ohâand tell your thirty bodyguards thanks for not shooting me."
"They liked you. One of them asked if you were single."
He laughed.
And then he was gone.
Just like that.
---
Back at School â Later That Day
Everyone was buzzing in the hallway.
Apparently, word had spread that Rei spent the night at my house.
Not because we announced it. But because Sera had the biggest mouth and the fastest thumbs.
"Mansion sleepover?!" she whisper-shouted the moment I walked in.
"Nothing happened," I hissed. "It was raining. He got splashed. I lent him a towel. That's it."
"Oh no," Mina said, sipping a milk tea. "The towel. That's the gateway."
"What gateway?"
"To emotional chaos."
I buried my face in my locker. "I hate all of you."
Then, behind me, a voiceâquiet but sharp:
"Morning."
I turned. Jihan stood there, backpack slung over one shoulder, expression unreadable.
"Morning," I echoed.
Our eyes held for a second longer than they needed to.
No anger. Just weight.
He didn't ask what happened last night.
He didn't have to.
---
Group6: Heart Drama Club đđ
> Hana: Sooo⊠can we practice at Celeste's mansion?
> Me: Why is my house always the stage for emotional disasters?
> Sera: Because it has chandeliers. And dramatic lighting. And soup.
> Mina: I vote yes. Let's rehearse there tomorrow.
> Rei: Works for me.
> Jihan: Fine.
> Sera: Uh oh. The one-word reply. We're in danger.
> Me: Don't start.
> Jihan: I'm not.
> Rei: Should we bring snacks?
> Jihan: I'll bring the soundtrack to my emotional breakdown.
> Mina: I'll bring popcorn.
---
I closed the group chat with a sigh.
And whispered to myself:
"I am not surviving high school. I am starring in a musical tragedy directed by fate."