Erratic heartbeats,

sleepless nights;

Snow falls on,

but winter has taken flight.

Myungsoo suddenly has an urge to turn and run away before the other boy sees him.

He is not good at flight because he has never run away from anything. Ever. He embraces whatever comes his way – good or bad. He associates running away with cowardice, and he is not a coward. He remembers the time when the boy ran away. But today he is sitting there and when he looks up and sees him, he smiles. He isn’t running away, not anymore. Myungsoo draws strength from this and takes a few steps forward. Now he is face to face with the boy, only a sheet of glass locking him out on the other side. The glass, wet with mist, can’t mar the effects of that brilliant smile. Slowly, he presses his hand against the frosted glass. The boy looks curious, and then, just as slowly, he raises his hand in mimicry of his own. He can only feel icy coldness under his fingers but he knows something more tender awaits him on the other side. Grass is greener on the other side, ice melts on the other side, hateful winter becomes lovable winter on the other side.

Sungjong doesn’t want to run away, like the previous night.

Sungjong isn’t sure where he has found the courage to meet the boy with the warm eyes again.

 He could have just asked his Hoya hyung to get the cell phone and the scarf. He wouldn’t have minded. But he has come instead and even though his heart is beating fast, it is not enough to make him run away. Adrenaline is commonly known as the fight or flight hormone but his adrenaline is faulty – it only evokes flight, never fight. But today…he doesn’t want to run. When the boy takes his seat in front of him, he finds his voice and he actually speaks without stuttering. At first he apologizes for the hassle but when the boy, Myungsoo, brushes it off, he talks about other things. Things that actually don’t matter much but mean a lot. Myungsoo listens, he listens patiently and with genuine interest. His eyes, Sungjong finds out, are much warmer close-up. Like a mug of hot chocolate, which burns your lips and throat if you drink it too quickly or too much at once.

Myungsoo thinks that Sungjong’s eyes are much deeper than they had seemed before, so deep that you can simply fall into them and drown.