15 No Shelter

In the morning, torrential rain fell from the sky as dark clouds started to block the sunlight.

Walking down the street with a lot of people, Yan Xiaoran aimlessly walked. She didn't know where she should go after rejecting Robert Qu's offer.

She looked down at her black shirt that almost looked like gray - the shirt she was wearing after being released from prison and sighed. Knowing that she didn't have the right to take anything from Robert Qu's presents, Yan Xiaoran left the condo unit with only the clothes she wore the first few hours after she was released from prison.

At first, Yan Xiaoran thought that Robert Qu would come and chase after her since she betrayed his expectation, but after an hour, she didn't see anyone stopping her as she walked past the children's park in the Central plaza.Though she didn't care about it.

Despite the rain falling on her body that made her clothes stick to her figure and soaking her body, Yan Xiaoran didn't take shelter as she sat on one of the benches in the park.

The caresses of the cold breeze played over her body and shivered from it like a wet cat.

In front of her, people started to run to take shelter; parents pulling their children back to their homes and pets being carried by their owners.

One of the children who was scolded by his mother was sulking as his collar was held by his mother, dragging him as he protested to play under the rain.

Seeing this, a gentle smile was on Yan Xiaoran's face as she remembered her childhood days where she would always play with her playmates and childhood friend from the neighborhood.

She played a lot when she was younger and in those times, she was the happiest person. She was free from worries, fears, and expectations of everyone, she only had to go by the rules of the games they played and she would laugh with her friends like a careless child filled with innocence and hadn't seen the true face of this cruel world.

Feeling the bitterness surging inside her, Yan Xiaoran raised her feet, and with her knees against her chest, she slowly let her tears fall from her eyes that mixes with the rain.

As she was silently crying, from out of the corner of her eyes, a hand suddenly appeared from her side and tapped her.

Startled by it, Yan Xiaoran frowned and whipped her head to turn and look at whose hand was it.

The person who tapped her said, "Miss, are you not going to take shelter?"

In front of her was an old lady with a black umbrella in her hand.

The old lady had a small stature and her skin was wrinkly but she has more black hairs than grey ones. She was wearing a sheepskin coat and red scarf was around her neck, however, that wasn't what caught Yan Xiaoran's attention.

It was the strange accent that the old lady had like she wasn't used to speaking Chinese. It was until now that Yan Xiaoran also noticed that the rain has stopped falling on her figure after the old appeared with an umbrella over their figures.

"No." Yan Xiaoran softly said as she shook her head twice.

"Why? You will get sick if you stay in the cold for too long, " the old lady worriedly said.

Still, Yan Xiaoran shook her head and suddenly asked, "Grandma, do you know why rain has been avoided since a long time ago?"

Confused, the old lady tilted her head, "Isn't it because no one wants to get wet and get sick after?"

Yan Xiaodan nodded her head before shaking it.

The old lady raised her brows at Yan Xiaoran's confusing response.

However, before she could raise her question, Yan Xiaoran explained, "You're right, but also wrong." She continued to speak, "The rain could get us wet and sick but only a few of us think that the train is a blessing. Some treat it as if it was an abomination, however, without it, plants and crops won't grow and would die under too much sunlight and for us humans, we get water from the rivers, dams, and wells thanks to the rain. So, why avoid it and hate it when the sun is not any better than the rain and the night?"

Hearing this, the old lady couldn't stop nodding her head in agreement. She didn't think of this when the young woman sitting in front of her asked her this common yet, quite avoided and forgotten question.

"Is that why you want to stay here? You treat the rain as a blessing and want to bathe in its grace?" The old lady asked as she was interested in the young female's reply.

However, Yan Xiaoran had a bitter smile on her face as she shook her head, "No. I'm also like the majority of the human race. I hated the rain because it's so gloomy but at this moment, the rain is my friend and the only thing that comforted me at these troubled times."

"Aside from here and the street, there is also no shelter for me to take cover from the rain." She sniffed and put her chin on top of her knees.

Yan Xiaoran left without carrying anything valuable on her hand and she didn't even have a cent inside her pockets. A home where she could take shelter or protect herself, there was no place like that.

When she was young, Yan Xiaoran didn't have a permanent address she could write on her forms because ever since her parents divorced until her mother remarried, Yan Xiaoran would always be dragged her mother to stay in one place for a short period of time.

And now, after deciding for herself that she would walk away from her past, Yan Xiaoran once again found herself lacking a place to stay.