「January 21st.」
The sky had yet to lighten, the winter morning steeped in an inky blackness.
A fine, silent drizzle fell, tapping against the windowpane and smearing it with a blur of moisture.
Outside, the dreary gray sky pressed down heavily as a damp chill seeped into the room through the cracks in the window frame.
Shen Yuan stood before his bedroom window, staring blankly at the drizzling curtain of rain. Droplets snaked down the glass like cold, lonely tear tracks.
"Damn it!" he suddenly cursed under his breath, rolling his eyes at the curtain of rain. "That jinx Ah Jie was right after all!"
Ah Jie's anguished wails from the classroom still seemed to echo in his ears.
An image flashed through his mind of Ah Jie clutching his chest as he made his prediction, followed by his own stubborn retort: "I don't think it'll rain."
The more Shen Yuan thought about it, the more annoyed he became, and he irritably scratched the back of his head.
