Shun and Alice still stared at each other, but a heavy drop of rainwater broke that trance. Unfortunately, this tree didn't have enough leaves and branches to keep them dry.
"Follow me. I know another place where we can safe and dry." Shun offered. He grabbed Alice by her hand and took her somewhere through the rain. They soon arrived at a gazebo, where the ground was completely dry, except for the two dripping kids. They caught their breath and sat down on the ground.
"You're right. This is very dry." Alice dried herself off while Shun put the watering cans away. "Do you know this place very well? Even I couldn't find my way through this weather. Achoo!" Alice one wore a T-shirt and shorts, for it was supposed to be a sunny day today.
"Here." Shun took his jacket off and gave it to Alice. "I'm Shun. I live close by. As far as I know, I only recall living here, so I know my neighborhood very well. Are you new here?"
"Thanks, Shun. I'm Alice. I was supposed to come here with Aunt Clara, but after we got here, I got lost." Alice stared out into the rain as she put on his jacket. "Is it always this rainy in Wardington? It was sunny when we were on the road."
"I still live here in Wardington, but sometimes I go visit my dad during Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, so I've never seen a real rain shower here." Suddenly, Shun heard a familiar voice call his name. "Unei-nee! Over here!" he shouted.
Unei now appeared with an umbrella and ran to the gazebo. "Shun! There you are! You must be freezing in this weather." She took some napkins out and dried his hair and face. "Did you happen to see a little girl around your age around here?"
"A girl around my age? You mean Alice?" Shun stepped aside to let Unei see Alice. "I happened to see her earlier under the trees."
"Awesome! We took down two birds with one stone." Unei gave her jacket to Shun and moved toward Alice. "Hi Alice. I'm Unei. Your guardians are at the front of the park and all worried about you." She dried Alice's face and hair as well.
"I didn't mean to wander off like that. Thanks for telling me." Alice apologized. "I hope Aunt Clara has umbrellas. It wasn't supposed to rain today."
Unei took out another umbrella and opened it. "Rain in Wardington can be very unpredictable. Why don't you two use my bigger umbrella while I use the small one? I didn't bring enough umbrellas for all of us." Unei switched the umbrellas and carried the smaller one.
"I'll carry it. You're starting to get a cold, Alice." Shun took the umbrella and carried it above his and Alice's heads. They followed Unei all the way to where the park volunteers and Alice's aunt were. Some neighbors set up a temporary tent, for there were no umbrellas brought here in advance.
"Alice! Thank goodness you're back!" Clara ran out into the rain to hug her niece. "Alice, please don't wander off anywhere. Sorry that you didn't have much of any fun here yet, but once your grandfather's house is finished decorating, I promise that I'll spend time with you here." Clara pinkie-promised with Alice and went under the tent. She looked at Shun and Unei and said, "Thanks for watching over her for that time. I'm Clara Gehabich." Clara right put her hand out.
"I'm Unei Koyama, and this is Shun Kazami. It was a good thing that Alice was Shun during the rain because Alice probably didn't know where to go." Unei shook Clara's hand. "I know it's tough to be new around the neighborhood, and you can ask us for help whenever you want."
"Thank you so much, Unei, although we might not be staying here for long. I'm just here to help my dad with moving, that's all." She looked at Alice, who still stood by Shun, and then the sky, where the rain began to cease. "Unei, do you mind of Alice stays with you and Shun for now? There's a lot more work to be done, and I can't watch over her all the time."
"No problem. Shun and Alice can play around the park while we finish our work. Here's my cell phone number and address if need anything." Clara hugged Alice one more time before leaving with the others, and the volunteers went back home, since the plants were already watered.
"Well, I guess we could go over to Shun's house for now." Unei suggested. "I can't go back home until all the carpeting has been replaced with wooden floorboards. What do you think, Shun?" Shun was already walking across the street with Alice without Unei knowing. I should've seen that coming. Kids will be kids. Unei ran as fast as she could to catch up to them.
At Shun's house, nobody was home. A note was on the door of the refrigerator. "Shun, it looks like your mother went to help Alice's grandfather with remodeling his house." Unei summarized. "Also, get some dry towels and a warmer jacket. Alice looks like she caught a cold." Shun nodded and came back with a furry winter jacket and towels. "Thanks. You watch over Alice while I make some tea for her. So, would you like green tea or ginseng?"
"Ginseng, please." Alice replied. Unei looked through the cupboards as Alice looked around the house. "Your house is really big, Shun. Do you live here with your mom?"
"My mom and my grandfather. I told you about my dad, right? Anyway, let's show you around the house." Shun took Alice down the hallways to each room, except for his mom's and grandfather's.
Later, Unei finished boiling the tea and handed both Alice and Shun a cup each. "Careful, it's hot. You might want to sit at the dinner table." Alice and Shun each took a seat and drank their tea. "Here are some oatmeal raisin cookies if you're hungry." Immediately, Shun grabbed the first cookie in the box. "Shun! Where are your manners?"
"Sorry, Unei-nee." he apologized. "Alice, do you want one? Feel free to eat them." Alice put her hand out and grabbed a cookie as well. "My mom made them herself. Right, Unei-nee?"
"And apparently, it's unsafe to eat unbaked cookie dough, Shun." she emphasized. "I'll go check up on the laundry. You two eat and converse." Once Unei went out the back door, Shun took an entire plate.
"Hey, I want one." Alice complained. She reached over to Shun as far as she could, but Shun had the plate in his other hand where Alice couldn't reach it. "Unei said that we both could have cookies."
"Okay, fine. Here." Shun broke one of the cookies in half and gave one piece to her. "Here's your cookie."
"Seriously? I can't even have a whole cookie?" Just as Alice was going to knock Shun over, Unei let out a loud cry. "What was that?"
"Unei-nee, what happened?" Shun and Alice ran to the backyard to see Unei carrying handfuls of clothes. "It's raining again."
"Exactly! These clothes were on the line for less than an hour, and now the sky's raining again!" Unei carried every piece of clothing by the hanger into the laundry room. "Now I have to install the drying rack so the clothes can dry indoors."
"You don't have a dryer in your house, Shun?" Alice asked.
He shook his head. "Many of us don't use or have dryers because it wastes power. There's always enough sunlight on most days to sun-dry our clothes."
"I agree with Shun. I'm in high school already and still have never even touched a dryer." Unei added. "You two shouldn't stay out there. It will be wet and cold like before."
"We don't mind. This is our first rain shower after all." Shun replied.
"Second." Alice added. "The first one was still rain, but we were unprepared." Shun and Alice sat on the chairs on the deck and watched the raindrops fall from the gray sky as they drank tea and ate cookies.
"I never expected to meet someone new on a rainy day. Did you?" Shun asked.
"I never expected that rainy days can also be a good thing."
