In celebrating our anniversary in someplace so cold since Irene was so sensitive to it, but she had always expressed a desire to see Mt. Fuji capped with snow, so here we are. We had only been at the hotel a day, but I already knew we’d made a good choice. It was so quiet, secluded and breathtaking it felt like a dream - like there was no one here but us.

I was just consulting the guidebook trying to get a better feel for the area when I heard the door slide open. Irene must have awoken from her nap. Our trip had been long and we had been doing a great deal of sight-seeing already as soon as we arrived; taking advantage of what daylight we had left. We had taken our lunch to our room and found ourselves both quite drowsy after filling ourselves up with a warm meal and pleasantly conked out together in the bedroom.

I had risen first, taking the time to admire the décor of our room. I couldn’t believe we managed to get a reservation at such an amazing, very in-demand place.

I turned to greet Irene as she came into the room and was struck between two reactions entirely at the image before me. For one, she looked positively adorable and childish rubbing the sleep away from her eyes, but on the other, she’d opted to change into her yukata, a garment that I had decided to send her attractiveness straight off the charts. It had become one of my favorite looks on her, and I remember feeling extra warm that particular summer when I’d seen her in it for the first time.

She wandered over to me and lazily draped her form against my back, wrapping her arms around me and resting her head on my shoulder. I chuckled a little bit as she seemed to continue dozing right there against me.

“Joohyun-ah….”

“Nmm?”

“You don’t have to get up yet if you’re still tired. Go crawl back to bed.”

“..Em…Wen…dy…not…..there,” she murmured and I felt my heart leap a little at her words. I reached up and her arm, supporting her weight on the best I could. My fingers traced the fabric of the yukata when I suddenly thought of something.

“Hyunnie…? Aren’t you chilled? It’s kind of cold for a yukata here.”

She shook her head, or at least I think she did. There was some vague movement in my head that I interpreted as such. I shifted in her hold, working to turn and face her, blowing my hair out when the length of it got a little tangled in my arms and hers. 

By the time I finally managed to turn all the way around, Irene stumbled forward against me a little and as I fought to keep us both upright, her lips brushed against my face. Whether she meant to do this or not, she took advantage of the closeness and kissed the corner of my lips before smiling contentedly.

“Hey…,” I said. “Now you’re just being sneaky.” Irene’s eyes finally blinked open slowly at this and focused on me.

“Not at all.” She leaned in and kissed my lips directly this time, letting her arms slide down my back until she was grasping me gently at the waist. “It just happened.”

“Right..just happened,” I said with amusement between the kisses that followed. Though she was a little more coherent now, she was obviously still coming out of the remaining haze of her sleep. I reached up and my fingers through the fine strands of her black hair at her cheek and she leaned into my touch appreciatively. “But really, as beautiful as you are in this, you’re going to catch a cold.”

Irene’s cheeks took on a pink tint at my compliment, but she looked at me with an unwavering gaze as though my concern was not necessary.

“I won’t. I wanted to go to the hot springs.”

Oh, right. On top of seeing Mt. Fuji in the winter, Irene also expressed that she wanted to see it from the comfort of a hot spring so the cold would not be an issue for her. I admit, the idea had sounded amazing at the time, but I had never quite prepared myself for it to come to full fruition. 

Me and Irene…..…in a hot spring…in the middle of winter. Son Seung-Wan you lucky b*tch you xD

I felt Irene’s fingertip prod my cheek.

“Are you too warm?” she asked, smiling, as though she already knew that,  that was not my problem at all.

“Maybe a little,” I said, patting her hand away. “I guess some cool air would be good for me, too.”

“Good. I was hoping you’d join me.”

“Let me go change into a yukata then. Where are the hot springs, anyway? Are they're far?” I inwardly hoped not. Walking around the hotel in such cold weather with nothing but a thin cotton fabric protecting me from the chill didn’t sound too appealing.

Irene shook her head a little and walked past me to the door to the outer deck and slid it open. I shivered a little as a small wintery breeze tickled my skin and immediately felt my heart jump into my throat. Was she kidding? I knew that getting a room here in the first place was a feat, but did she seriously go through the effort to get one of only two rooms that actually had the springs right outside?

It certainly seemed that way, though I still wasn’t sure I could believe my eyes.

“I..wha…,” I stuttered.

Me

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 Irene 

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