Jieqiong plants herself onto the white, fluffy snow, ignoring the cold air seeping through the gaps of her winter coat. She exhales onto her numb fingers and presses her palms against each other as she brings her knees up to her chest, and watches with a playful grin as Eunwoo continues to hurl snowballs at Yebin, who squeals in excitement. 

As she continues to watch her friends tease each other as if it was a play presented to her as the only audience, a sudden cold air hits her face, and she shudders in response. She could almost feel the temperature drop a degree, and as if on cue, large snow flakes start to fall from the sky, as if the angels in heaven are having a pillow fight. She smiles at the breathtaking scene unfolded before her, until she hears the sound of soft footsteps on the snow covered pavement. Oddly, she doesn't have to turn around to recognise the owner of the footsteps.

"Let's head indoors."

Jieqiong swivels her head around, and confirming her speculation, she witnesses Nayoung walking towards her, hands in her pockets.

"But Eunwoo and Yebin are still-"

"I said to head back."

When it comes to Nayoung, Jieqiong doesn't have to be told twice, the older girl's stubbornness makes it almost impossible for others to reject her. Jieqiong gets on her feet and takes Nayoung's outstretched hands into her own. Nayoung's hand is warm around hers, both literally and figuratively. She lets Nayoung drag her back to their dormitory, and although her hands are still freezing as the cold air continues to bite at her fingers, Jieqiong keeps mum about it, simply because she doesn't want to let go.

When they arrived back at the dormitory, Jieqiong looks around to realise that no one else is present.

"Did you call me back in here because you were bored?" Jieqiong asks, a smirk tugging at the end of her lips.

"That, and i have something for you."

Nayoung blushes, and Jieqiong is positive that it's not only due to the cold.

Jieqiong pulls out a chair at the dining table and watches as Nayoung walks over to where their microwave oven lay. She draws out a bowl from it, placing it on the table before Jieqiong.

"Seaweed soup?" Jieqiong questions, raising an eyebrow.

Nayoung nods, the reddish hue on her face spreading further. 

Jieqiong giggles at the sight of Nayoung eyeing her eagerly. She takes hold of the metal spoon and takes a sip of the seaweed soup. 

"It's delicious," she says honestly, and looks up to see Nayoung hiding back a grin.

Nayoung finally lets out a sigh of relief, before dragging out a chair and settling down on the seat across Jieqiong.

"Will you finish it?" Nayoung asks shyly as she plays with her fingers nervously, and Jieqiong has to suppress the urge to tell the other girl how cute she looked.

"Of course."

She lifts the bowl of soup to her lips, its contents emptied within seconds, and when Jieqiong places the bowl back down onto the table, her eyes are met with Nayoung's, the other girl chewing on her lower lip with a smile that Jieqiong could stare at all day long.

"Happy birthday, Jieqiong."

It catches Jieqiong off guard when Nayoung reaches across the table to take Jieqiong's hands in hers, and Jieqiong is further taken aback when Nayoung presses a kiss to the back of her right hand, before intertwining their fingers together. 

Jieqiong laughs when Nayoung averts her gaze, turning her head to stare at the floor as the pink on her face spreads from her cheeks to the base of her neck. Jieqiong continues to observe Nayoung as the other struggles to lock her eyes back with Jieqiong, but when she does, the corners of her lips are threatening to curl upwards, and Jieqiong concludes that she wouldn't ever trade this moment with anything else in the world.