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Nani stood, staring out her window at the pouring rain.  The violent downpour was mimicking her feelings of late.  Dreary, down, dark.  To add insult to injury, her birthday was tomorrow.  And she didn’t really have anything much to look forward to.  No special plans.  No special someone.

Just schoolwork.  And more schoolwork.  The Academy was calling.  As though high school wasn’t enough pressure for a teenager to endure.  Now she was contemplating adding another slew of courses to her already overtaxed schedule.  She’d never see the light of day once she made that switch.  The fresh air that beckoned in the spring wouldn’t be calling her name.  She’d be buried under a whole new pile of books.  An endless list of assignments dragging her forward.  Into her future.

Sometimes, she wondered what the point of it all was.  Would it really cause her to stand out in a crowd?  To excel beyond her peers?  To reach the heights of the academic world?  To win the favor of all her teachers?

Or would she discover that she had sown all her time into something that simply ate away the minutes…hours…days…weeks…months…until…college began, and she started the whole crazy process again?

If she were honest with herself, she would have to admit that she was searching only for one thing.

To matter to somebody.

To become someone’s treasure.

But as she stood staring out at that incessant rain pelting the ground and running in steady rivulets down her windowpane, she acknowledged that she had yet to meet a flesh-and-blood boy who cared for her as she desired to be cherished.  And that she was unlikely to find such a one before her fifteenth birthday.  She heaved a deep sigh and crossed her bedroom to throw herself down onto her bed.

Her long, midnight hair spilled over the side of her bed and hit the floor.  She pressed her lips into the edge of the mattress as she stared down at her gorgeous locks.  Her wide, brown eyes traced the curve of her raven tresses before fluttering shut while she listened to BTS’s new song, Life Goes On.

Life did go on.  It was going on.  Around her.  Despite the crazy waves this year had brought.

Oddly enough, after months of stillness, she was beginning to wish that life would stop for just a moment.  Like a divine pause.  That she could have one day of rest.  When the weight of the world didn’t crash down upon her shoulders.  When uncertainty melted like wax under a summer’s sun.

One day to enjoy life.  Out in the open.  Not confined to her bedroom.  Not breathing behind a mask outside her home. 

She longed to taste freedom again.  It seemed like decades had past since she had savored it last.

Her eyes closed, she listened to the pitter patter of the rain upon her rooftop.  She wouldn’t be going outside today.  If she did, she’d be stuck under an umbrella. 

Suddenly, she had a burning desire to smell the rain.  To open her window and let in the wonder of the outside world.  And the violence of the storm pummeling the earth right now. 

Nani rolled off her bed and headed for her window.  She unlocked it and opened it to let in the oddly warm humidity clinging to the air outside her home.  The freeing scent of the rain flooded the space around her, filling her head with its comforting embrace.  Its heat warmed her, wrapping around her like a cozy comforter on a cold winter’s night.

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, breathing in the fragrance of fall and the odd hope that autumn’s showers always seemed to carry to her.  She stood with her face towards her window, the aroma of autumn filling her head and making her feel giddy – like she could fly.  Suddenly, a song began to flood her room with its peace.  

Fly to My Room overcame every empty pocket in her bedroom, infiltrating it with its peace.  And Nani smiled.  This was the one gift she’d been given for her fifteenth birthday.  Two days before her auspicious occasion, her favorite band had released a new album.  She’d been basking in its rays for nearly two days now.  Thankful for some music to comfort her, to cheer her, to make her feel less alone. 

She felt like the Bangtan Boys were singing directly to her.  Moments like this one were even more important to her now.  Today.  This week.  This month.  This year.  While she was stuck in the mud that had trapped the whole world in a state of stagnation for nearly a year now.  How long could this possibly go on?

Leaving her window open, Nani wandered back over to her bed and flopped down on it.  She lay her head down and closed her eyes.  And simply soaked in the words of her favorite singer.

“Let me fly to my room. 

Get me outta my blues.

And now I’m feelin’ brand new.”

“Jimin, I wish you would fly to my room.  Get me outta my blues.  So I could feel brand new,” Nani mumbled.

“What’s wrong?” a soft voice suddenly interrupted her reverie.

Her eyes flew open.  She knew that voice.  It belonged to the beautiful man who was just serenading her through her phone.

A beautiful man who was now standing in her bedroom.