Sunggyu POV

I finished putting on my skates and looked over at Woohyun whose eyes were narrowed as he seemed to be fighting a losing battle with his skates.

He looked so cute as he was figuring out how to actually put it on that I just had to smile.

“Need some help?” I finally said and he lifted his head and gave me an apologetic look before nodding slowly.

I quickly bent down and put on his skates for him and led him towards the ice skating ring.

“Are you nervous? It’s okay, you can hold onto me.” I said and held onto his hand tightly.

Woohyun POV

“Now, try to skate by yourself…slowly…” Sunggyu said as he let go of my hands slowly.

I wanted to protest and grab onto his hands for my life, but I didn’t want to let Sunggyu think that I’m useless so I gave it a try.

Slowly, I moved my left leg forward and as I was about to move my right leg forward as well, I lost my balance and knew I was going to fall head first onto the ice.

I closed my eyes to ready myself for the impact, but it never came.

I fell into a pair of warm arms and I looked up to see Sunggyu who was smiling down at me.

“I told you I couldn’t do it…” I muttered softly.

“Hehe, you’re so prone to losing your balance…that’s okay, I won’t let you fall down.” He said and during our time in the ice skating ring, he never let go of my hand once.

Sunggyu POV

“What time is it?” Woohyun asked suddenly as we finished changing our shoes.

“Mmmm… it’s 7:28pm…” I replied as I looked at the clock on my phone.

I saw Woohyun’s eyes widened and he muttered something that I couldn’t hear.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yes…I need to go back right now…” He said and quickly walked out into the snow.

“Woohyun! I’ll go with you!” I said and quickly caught up with him.

On the walk back to the vacation houses, it was awfully quiet and Woohyun had a worried look on his face the whole time.

He seemed to have lost all the energy and brightness he had earlier when we were together…

As we were nearing the houses, Woohyun stopped me suddenly and said, “If anyone, especially my parents asks anything about us being together today...lie okay? Don’t every say that I was with you.

“Why?” I said as I tilted my forehead to a side, not understanding why I would have to lie about being with him today.

“I just can’t be seen with you…or anyone else for that matter.” He replied.

There’s something that was just not right about everything… why does Woohyun always seem so afraid and worried when it is something that concerns his family?

There seems to be a huge secret that he was hiding…

“Wait. Woohyun, I thought you told everyone that you were going to America. Why are you here?” I asked.

I saw his eyes shift nervously as he said, “I…I’ll explain it to you if we get the chance to meet again, okay?”

Before I could say another word, he disappeared into the house and I was left there with a million questions with no answers.

Woohyun POV

 I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that my parents and little sister were not home yet.

“Urgh…” I held onto the rail of the staircase as my stomach grumbled annoyingly.

I hadn’t eaten anything accept a glass of milk this morning and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to eat until tomorrow as I had forgotten to buy something from the shop.

I refilled my plastic bottle with water to fill my stomach and went up to the attic.

I changed into comfortable clothes and folded Sunggyu’s scarf neatly and placed it in the drawer of the bedside table.

I was worried that he would ask for his scarf back, but he didn’t and I was glad.

His scarf…gave me the strength to smile again.

Sunggyu POV

“Oppa! Where did you go today?” Jihyun said as she ran towards me and gave me a big hug as soon as I walked into the house.

“I met a friend and we went ice skating.” I replied.

“A friend? Who?” My mum asked curiously.

“Just a classmate I met here.” I said, remembering Jiyeon’s words to not say a word about her.

“Why so secretive, Oppa?” Jihyun said and pounced on top of me.

“Ya, get off me, and it’s none of your business!” I said and tickled her sides until she was screaming for mercy.

“Okay, okay you two! Dinner is ready, come and eat!” My dad said and we quickly got up and still bickering, walked towards the dining table.

[2 weeks later]

Sunggyu POV

We were to leave the next day and it seemed weird that I didn’t see Woohyun for 2 weeks already…

I really want to know more…

I was alone in the house again, since my parents took my little sister for one last short sightseeing trip before we were to leave and I had nothing to do.

That’s when I discovered the door to the attic.

There’s an attic? I thought.

Aren’t attics used to store things? I wonder what’s up there…

I climbed up the tiny staircase slowly and reached the attic.

I the light and realized that the attic was so cold…It seems that the heat doesn’t reach up here…

It was also really small, the same size as the bathrooms…

No human being can live in this space!

I was about to go back downstairs when I spotted a light from the similar place in the house opposite.

There was a boy sitting at the edge of the window…

I could see the bed and other stuff cluttered into the small attic…

Isn’t that Woohyun?

Why was he staying in the attic?

It can’t be that there are not enough rooms…

Don’t tell me he was given no choice but to live up there?

I lifted up the window ledge slowly and the temperature outside was the same as the temperature of the attic which made me shudder at the thought of Woohyun having to live here for the past 3 weeks…

“Woohyun!” I shouted out.

I saw him flinch and he turned and looked at me with a shocked expression on his face.

He lifted up her window ledge as well and said softly, “Sunggyu?”

Hearing his voice after not seeing her for 2 weeks warmed my heart.

I don’t know why but I think I kind of missed not seeing him and hearing his voice…

I just couldn’t get him out of my mind…

I wasn’t falling in love with him, it was just this feeling that I couldn’t explain.

“Why are you staying in the attic?” I asked.

“Because I have to.” He replied.

“Can you tell me what’s wrong? Why are you here and not in America? And why do you have to stay in the attic?” I asked him quickly as I was afraid that he would disappear without answering my questions again.

“I lied, Sunggyu. Only you know the truth. I can’t explain everything to you…you wouldn’t understand. It’s not that simple, Sunggyu … You already know a lot…more than you should know…I trust you, Sunggyu …but it’s dangerous for you to know too much.” He said in one go.

Dangerous? I didn’t understand anything he was saying…

I saw him look behind his back worriedly and quickly asked, “Woohyun, tell me what’s wrong…”

“It’s not that simple, Sunggyu …I’m sorry, I can’t talk to you anymore…I’ll see you when we go back?” He said and tried to smile, but I could tell that something was amiss.

Before I could say anything else, he put down the window and the binds.

It may seem that I got to know Woohyun more through the time we spent together during this vacation, but the truth is, I just feel like I don’t know him even more…

A/N: comments? i'll probably update once a week? :s