The van did not move like it wanted to leave.
It moved like it was negotiating with the world.
Hazard lights blinked in front of them. Tail lights glowed red through rain. A wiper squeaked across the windshield in an uneven rhythm, as if even the machine was tired. Outside, people rushed in clusters under umbrellas that bent the wrong way in wind, gift bags pressed to chests, phones held up like compasses in a storm.
Inside the van, the air was damp and warm and crowded. Jackets steamed faintly. Someone's wet hair brushed someone else's sleeve. JP kept trying to shake water off his hoodie like a dog, and Cherry kept telling him to stop because it was making everything worse.
"It's not making it worse," JP argued. "It's redistributing misery."
Cherry stared at him. "That's the same thing."
TZ leaned back, calm like always, but his eyes tracked the window, watching the pickup lane. He looked like he was counting exits.
NC sat near the front, phone in hand, already texting and reading, the only person who looked like she had accepted that leaving was now an assignment. Anna sat close to her, quiet, steady, her presence like a small wall that made NC's job easier.
Jihye held her phone up and recorded a short clip of the line of cars, whispering, "This is a whole movie."
NC didn't even look up. "Don't film license plates."
Jihye quickly angled the camera away. "Yes, captain."
XH sat across from Kitty, but the space felt smaller than it should have. It wasn't only because of the crowded van. It was because Kitty's cheeks were still slightly pink, and XH still remembered the sound of her shout at the dunk tank.
YES.
He kept hearing it in his head like a replay.
Kitty held her souvenir bag on her lap like it was fragile. She wasn't scrolling. She wasn't filming. She was watching the world outside the window with the kind of focus that meant her brain was organizing feelings into safe boxes.
XH wondered what box he belonged in.
Andrew stood outside for a moment, visible through the rain blur, talking to the driver and pointing toward the gate. He looked soaked. His umbrella had been abandoned somewhere in the chaos. He kept sweeping his hair back with one hand like it was annoying him.
The van crawled forward two car lengths, then stopped again.
JP groaned. "We are trapped."
TZ replied, "We're in a line."
JP nodded. "A trapped line."
Cherry leaned forward to look through the windshield. "It's worse near the gate."
NC's phone buzzed, and she answered immediately. "Andrew."
Everyone went quiet for a second, the way groups always do when one person becomes the communication channel.
NC listened, then spoke calm and quick. "Okay. Yes. We're in the van. Yes. We can move if needed. Confirm the second vehicle."
She paused, listened again, then her mouth tightened slightly. "Cancelled."
JP's eyes widened. "Cancelled what."
NC held up a finger for silence while she listened. "Okay. So what's the alternative. Yes, I understand."
She hung up and exhaled slowly, controlled.
Cherry's voice sharpened. "What happened."
NC looked at the group. "The second reserved van got cancelled. Driver pulled out because of the storm and the exit traffic. Andrew's arranging replacement but it might take time."
JP pointed dramatically. "This is why I hate schedules."
TZ said, "This is why you need schedules."
Jihye whispered, "Are we splitting."
NC nodded once. "Probably. Not permanently. Just temporarily. We may have to move in two pieces to get out of the gate."
Kitty's fingers tightened around her bag strap.
XH noticed.
XH's voice came quiet. "Is that safe."
NC met his eyes. "We won't split randomly. We'll do it clean. Everyone stays with someone. No one goes alone."
Anna nodded once beside NC, silent agreement.
Cherry muttered, "Of course the storm chooses now."
JP looked out the window and made a face. "The sky is a villain."
Thunder rolled again, closer now, deeper, vibrating through the van's frame.
It wasn't dramatic enough to scare strangers into screaming, but it was enough to make everyone's bodies tense.
Rain hammered the van roof harder.
The wipers sped up.
Outside, a staff member in a vest waved a car forward and then waved another car away, trying to keep a lane open. Someone's umbrella flipped inside out. Someone shouted. Somewhere, a child cried. Somewhere else, someone laughed too loud, like laughter could make weather back off.
XH took a slow breath.
For a second he felt that old sensation, that faint panic that came with crowds and pressure and being trapped.
Kitty's voice cut through it softly, almost like she was speaking directly into his nervous system.
"Breathe," Kitty murmured, repeating what she said earlier.
XH blinked.
Kitty didn't look at him, but her hand shifted slightly on her lap, fingers opening and closing once like she was grounding herself too.
XH nodded and breathed in slowly.
Breathed out.
The van inched forward again.
Andrew appeared at the sliding door suddenly, rainwater dripping from his hair. He pulled the door open and leaned in, voice loud enough to cut through the chatter.
"Okay," Andrew said, breath a little heavy. "Plan change."
NC immediately leaned forward. "Go."
Andrew pointed toward the back of the line. "This van will take you out first. I'll stay and grab a rideshare SUV for the rest if needed. We may have to rotate and pick up. It's messy, but it's doable."
Cherry frowned. "Who stays."
Andrew shook his head. "Not decided yet. But we move this group first because you're already in a vehicle that will actually get through the gate."
JP raised his hand. "I volunteer to not stay."
Cherry stared at him. "Of course you do."
TZ said calmly, "We can rotate. No drama."
Andrew nodded. "Yes. No drama. Also, please keep your phones charged. Signal is trash in this rain."
Jihye lifted her phone. "My battery is dying."
NC said immediately, "Low power mode."
Jihye sighed and did it.
Andrew's eyes moved over the group quickly, then landed on XH and Kitty for half a second longer than necessary. Not judgment. Just noticing.
"Everyone okay," Andrew asked.
NC nodded. "Yes. We're together."
Andrew's mouth tightened slightly, like he was forcing calm. "Good. We'll text updates."
He slid the door shut again and disappeared into the rain.
The van started moving again, slowly, finally following the car ahead. Hazard lights blinked through the gray.
JP pressed his forehead to the window and said, "If we die in traffic, I will haunt the embassy."
Cherry replied, "You already haunt everyone."
TZ chuckled quietly.
Kitty's mouth softened slightly, like she wanted to smile but didn't fully allow it. Her gaze stayed on the window, watching the gate approach.
XH watched her face instead of the gate.
Kitty looked tired, but there was something bright behind her eyes, like the day had done something good to her even if it complicated things.
XH wanted to say something gentle.
He didn't know how.
So he said something small. "You still have my duck."
Kitty blinked and looked at him, surprised.
XH nodded toward his backpack by his feet. "In there."
Kitty's cheeks warmed. "Oh."
She hesitated, then said quietly, "Thank you."
XH shrugged lightly. "It helped."
Kitty's voice softened. "You noticed that."
XH didn't answer right away. He didn't want to admit how much he noticed.
He finally said, honest and quiet, "Yeah."
Kitty looked away again, but her ears turned slightly pink.
JP saw it from across the van and whispered to TZ, "They're doing it again."
TZ sighed. "Stop narrating life."
JP grinned. "I'm a storyteller."
Cherry muttered, "You're a nuisance."
JP nodded. "Also true."
The van reached the embassy gate.
It was chaos.
Cars were stacked like puzzle pieces. Staff waved people through in short bursts. The gate itself looked narrow now, as if the iron bars had decided to squeeze the world. Rain made headlights blur into white streaks. The road outside was flooded in shallow pools, water reflecting red and yellow lights.
The van stopped again.
Everyone exhaled at once like they had been holding breath.
NC looked at her phone, refreshing messages.
No new update yet.
Jihye whispered, "This is like leaving a concert."
Anna replied quietly, "Or leaving a hospital."
That landed heavy.
XH stared at the gate and felt his chest tighten again, not panic, more like awareness. Leaving places always felt like losing something you couldn't name.
Kitty shifted in her seat.
XH glanced at her. "Cold."
Kitty shook her head. "No."
Then she added quietly, "I keep thinking about that little kid."
XH nodded. "Me too."
Kitty's voice was soft. "He was so scared."
XH swallowed. "His mom found him."
Kitty's gaze dropped. "What if she didn't."
XH didn't have an easy answer.
So he did what he always did. He offered the truth that was safe enough to hold.
"We did what we could," XH said.
Kitty's throat moved as she swallowed. "Yeah."
She looked out the window again, blinking a little too fast.
XH wished he could put a hand on her shoulder.
He didn't.
Not yet.
The van lurched forward again.
Slow.
Then faster.
They passed through the gate.
For a second, the embassy grounds fell behind them, blurred by rain, lights glowing warm inside the fence like a world that would continue without them.
Once outside, the driver took a right turn into the city traffic. The road was packed. Wipers squeaked. A bus splashed through a puddle. The city looked gray and busy, indifferent.
JP sat back and said, "We escaped."
Cherry muttered, "Temporarily."
NC's phone buzzed again.
She answered immediately, "Andrew."
Everyone listened again.
NC's expression tightened as she listened. "Okay. Yes. I understand. No, don't do that. Wait. Tell them to stay under cover."
She paused, then her voice sharpened slightly. "No one goes alone. Yes, I'm serious."
She hung up and looked at the group.
"Update," NC said. "Andrew got a rideshare SUV, but it's stuck at the driveway loop. The rest of the group is under the awning still. Rain is worse there. He wants us to go ahead to a nearby covered pickup point, then swing back in ten minutes to pick them up once he gets them out."
Cherry frowned. "Who's stuck there."
NC's mouth tightened. "Thoon and SRM are also in that cluster."
JP's eyes widened. "Of course they are."
TZ muttered, "Stop talking about them like they're weather."
JP replied, "They are weather."
Kitty's chest tightened slightly, not from Thoon, but from separation.
"Who's with Andrew," Kitty asked quietly.
NC checked the message thread. "Right now: Andrew, and a few people from other majors. He said he saw June and NS were not here, so no concern there. This is just us, plus the others waiting."
XH exhaled slowly.
Kitty's shoulders loosened slightly at the mention that June and NS were not present. It wasn't happiness. It was relief from complication.
Then Kitty caught herself feeling relief and hated that she felt it.
XH watched her expression shift and realized Kitty was fighting a lot inside.
The van turned onto a side street with a covered hotel awning, and the driver pulled in.
"This is the covered point," NC said. "We wait five minutes. Then we go back."
JP pressed his face to the window. "We're doing loops like a taxi."
TZ shrugged. "It's safer."
Cherry said, "As long as we actually go back."
NC nodded firmly. "We go back."
They stepped out of the van quickly into rain and rushed under the hotel awning. It was brighter here, warm lights reflecting off wet pavement.
XH felt his jacket cling to his arms.
Kitty shivered slightly.
XH noticed and took off his own jacket without thinking, holding it up between them like a shield while they stood under the edge. It wasn't romantic like a movie. It was practical. Wind was cutting sideways.
Kitty blinked at him. "You're going to freeze."
XH replied quietly, "It's fine."
Kitty's cheeks warmed again. "You always do that."
XH frowned slightly. "Do what."
Kitty looked away, voice softer. "Make space."
XH didn't answer.
He didn't know how to explain that protecting people was the only thing that made him feel useful when the world was unstable.
JP walked past them and made a face. "Do you two want privacy."
Kitty snapped, "JP."
JP grinned. "I'm asking for science."
Cherry grabbed JP's sleeve and pulled him away slightly. "Stop."
JP protested, "I'm not even doing anything."
TZ muttered, "You're always doing something."
They waited under the awning.
Cars passed by in sheets of water.
A siren wailed somewhere far away, not close enough to matter, but close enough to be heard. XH's spine stiffened for a second, then he forced himself to relax.
Kitty noticed the stiffening.
Kitty's voice came soft. "It's not for us."
XH swallowed. "Yeah."
NC checked her phone again.
No update.
The minutes stretched.
Cherry said, "If the SUV can't move, Andrew will have to call another."
NC nodded. "He knows."
JP leaned against a pillar and said, "I hate waiting."
TZ replied, "You hate silence."
JP nodded. "Correct."
Jihye's phone buzzed, and she laughed quietly at something on screen, then stopped when she remembered the mood.
"Sorry," Jihye said softly.
Anna gave her a small nod, like it was okay to be human.
NC's phone buzzed again.
She answered immediately. "Andrew."
NC listened, then nodded. "Okay. Good. Stay calm."
She hung up and looked at the group.
"Andrew's moving them now," NC said. "He wants us to be ready to swing back. Also, he asked me to start a group call later so June and NS can see the embassy grounds and the vibe."
Kitty blinked. "Why."
NC shrugged slightly. "He said it might keep the group connected. Also, he said June keeps asking how it went."
Kitty's chest tightened slightly at that.
XH felt his own stomach tighten too. June asking. Even absent, June's presence lived like pressure.
Cherry rolled her eyes. "June can watch later."
NC shook her head. "We're not doing drama. We're just sharing a moment."
Jihye smiled faintly. "Group call would be cute."
JP muttered, "Everything is content."
TZ shrugged. "It's fine."
Kitty looked away toward the street, rain reflecting lights. She didn't want to admit it, but part of her wanted June to see how the day felt. Part of her wanted June to understand that Kitty wasn't trying to steal anything. Kitty was just trying to survive feelings.
XH stood beside Kitty, jacket still half shielding them, and wondered if he was already in too deep.
NC pocketed her phone. "Okay. We move in two minutes. Everyone ready."
The hotel awning light flickered slightly, then steadied.
Thunder rolled again, deeper now.
The rain thickened into a near pour.
The day had started as a festival.
Now it felt like a storm escorting them out.
XH looked back once, as if he could still see the embassy gates behind the city blocks.
He couldn't.
But he could still feel the warmth of it in his chest, like something he didn't want to lose.
Kitty stood close beside him, silent, damp, breathing steady.
JP cracked his neck like he was preparing for battle.
TZ watched the road like he was measuring time.
Cherry checked the group like she was making sure no one vanished.
NC lifted her phone again, thumb hovering over the group call icon, not pressing yet.
Not yet.
But soon.
And somewhere ahead, the city traffic waited, the pickup loop waited, and the next set of moments waited, ready to turn a harmless video call into something that would change the shape of their relationships without anyone meaning to.
For now, they were only moving.
Only leaving.
Only trying to get everyone out of the rain.