“Lauren ah~ it’s time to wake up.”

Myungsoo tenderly called his little princess while opening the curtains. The sun was hidden behind heavy grey clouds. He the light, but Lauren still shut her eyes and refused to wake up. 

“Don’t sleep anymore or else you’ll be late on the first day of school,” Myungsoo whispered into her ears. “Teachers only like dutiful pupils who come to school on time.”

“I’m not getting up unless appa call me Princess Lauren.” She replied while still pretending to sleep. How could this little girl be so cute?

“Okay, okay,” Myungsoo chuckled and kissed on her plump cheeks. “Please get up now, Princess Laurennieee~”

Only then did Lauren open her eyes and sat up. She wrapped her arms around Myungsoo’s neck and gave him a warm smile. “Appa, good morning. Have a nice day!”

“You too.” He beamed and carried her out of the bed. “Now, let’s go to the bathroom to wash your face and brush your teeth before having breakfast, okay?”

“Yes, appa. But what do we have for breakfast?”

“Sungjong ajussi already made a lot of strawberry pancakes. It’s your favorite, right?”

“Wow, I’ll surely eat them up. I love ajussi so much~~~”. Lauren exclaimed.

“How about appa?” Myungsoo asked enviously. Of course, he was just pretending.

“Appa~ Don’t you know I love you as big as sky?”

Her cute sulking expression made Myungsoo laugh. “Of course I know that!”

“Aigoo, are you intending to cuddle all day?” Sungjong shook his head from behind the door.

“Why? Are you jealous of us?” Myungsoo teased his cousin.

“Gee~ Who cares? I just want to inform that you have a call.” He handed Myungsoo the phone and turned to Lauren. “Rennie, come here with me. Ajussi will help you wash face.”

When Sungjong and Lauren came out of the bathroom, their breakfasts were already on the table. There was only a cup of coffee in front of Myungsoo, nothing else. It seemed like he was going to skip a meal again.

“Hyung, don’t tell me that you have to go to company now,” Sungjong frowned. “Today was Lauren's first day of kindergarten. And you even don’t have time to take your beloved daughter there?”

“Sungjong, I’m really sorry,” Myungsoo said anxiously. “There is something urgent, so I…”

“Appa, don’t worry. I’m OK.” Lauren suddenly interrupted him. “I’ll go to school with Sungjong ajussi.”

“Thank you, Rennie.” Myungsoo smiled and hugged her. “Appa will treat you ice-cream this evening, okay?”

“Yeah~ Appa is daebak.” She exclaimed and Sungjong smiled secretly while eating a pancake.

“I have to go now.” Myungsoo quickly drank his coffee and stood up. “Bye bye Lauren. You must be obedient to your teacher, okay?”

“Yes, appa”. She replied and continued to enjoy her favorite pancake.

Sungjong followed his cousin to the door. “Remember to drive carefully, hyung.”

“Please help me take Lauren to kindergarten. I’ll try to pick her up.” Myungsoo said.

“It’s a must, not try. I have class today, so I can’t pick Rennie up.”

“Hm, then you just ask her teacher’s number and text it to me. I need to contact her in case I come late.”

“Okay”. Sungjong nodded and watched his cousin rush out the door. He couldn’t help but feel sorry for Myungsoo. Since he came back from Paris, he never told Sungjong about Lauren’s mother. Somehow, he had a sense that Myungsoo’s personality had totally changed. He became more quiet and smiled less. The only one who could make him happy was Lauren. Absolutely nobody else.

“That’s why I tell him to find a girlfriend.” Sungjong mumbled to himself and closed the door.

When Jiyeon stepped out of her house, the snow started falling.

“Wow~ First snowfall is so beautiful.” She looked up to the sky and called her twin sister. “Suzy ah! Come here, quick!”

“What’s it, unnie?” Suzy closed the door behind while asking Jiyeon. But as soon as she saw the snowflakes, she exclaimed happily. “Yeah!!!!!!! The winter has already come. Unnie, today you have to see a good man by all means, okay?”

“Why?” Jiyeon widened her eyes.

“Becauce it’s said that if you meet a man on the first day of snow, you’ll definitely fall in love with him.” Suzy explained.

“What?” Jiyeon chuckled. “Don’t tell me that you believe it. That’s such a bull.”

“Unnie!!!” Suzy shouted discontentedly. “That’s why I really hate you…”

“What are you two doing on a cold day like this?”

Hearing the voice behind her, Suzy suddenly stopped shouting. And Jiyeon could know her best friend, Sungyeol was coming even without looking. Whenever he appeared, Suzy always became speechless. Now she was like an innocent bunny despite the fact that she had been noisy a minute ago.

“Good morning, Sungyeol.” Jiyeon waved at him while smiling secretly at Suzy.

“Hi,” Sungyeol waved back and turned to Suzy. “Don’t you feel cold? You should wear a jacket or sweater if you don’t want to catch a cold”.

“Oh…it’s just…Thank you.” She stammered and went back to the house. Jiyeon was sure that she wouldn’t come out again until Sungyeol left. But she must have been very happy because Sungyeol was the first man she met on the first day of snow. Jiyeon knew Suzy had had a crush on Sungyeol, and she really wanted them to be a couple.

“Are you on the way to school? I’ll drive you there.” Sungyeol said.

“No, just go ahead now. I’m okay.” Jiyeon smiled. “Besides, I want to enjoy first snow walk. Who knows, I may have a fateful meeting with a prince and fall in love.”

“I can see that you’ve watched too many dramas.” He let out a sigh. “Alright. I’m gonna go now. Anyway, good luck in your prince search.”

“Thank you, my BFF.” Jiyeon patted his shoulder and waited until he drove off before making her way to Maple Bear Kindergarten.

While stopping at the red light, Myungsoo looked out his car window and saw the falling snowflakes. He had been too busy to notice that winter has come in Seoul. This was the first time he saw snowfall again after 7 years of living in Paris. Since his childhood, Myungsoo had been bewitched by the winter. He loved foggy mornings, grey sky, cold wind, scrubby branches, lonely streets, and colorful jackets. In other words, he liked gloomy and sad things. It was the only thing that didn’t change after all those years.

Beep! Beep!

The siren sound of the cars behind brought Myungsoo back to reality. As soon as he started driving on, someone from nowhere suddenly bumped into his car. Hitting the brakes so hard nearly caused Myungsoo to hit his head on the steering wheel. After collecting himself, he got out of the car immediately to check if something bad happened. There was a young man writhing on the ground, right in front of his car. It seemed like he was so badly injured.

“Are you okay?” Myungsoo hurriedly squatted down beside him. “Where do you hurt?”

“Ah…my left leg…seems to be broken…It really hurts…” His face was twisted with pain.

“I’ll take you to the hospital right now. Can you stand up?”

“No…I’ll go there myself. Just give me compensation money, quick!” The man urged Myungsoo.

“Alright. But….can you really go to the hospital by yourself?” He asked hesitantly.

“Stop being garrulous! Give me money now!”

“Stop play-acting! Give me my bag now!”

Suddenly a female voice came from behind Myungsoo. Turning his head back, he saw a young woman running towards them. As soon as that man saw her, he stood up and ran away but Myungsoo caught him. From the beginning, he already knew this was a play. However, Myungsoo still wanted to give him some money because he felt pity for him. But he couldn’t sympathize with someone who robbed a girl of her bag.   

“Have you given him money yet?” She asked Myungsoo when reaching him. He had snatched the bag out of the robber’s hand and gave it back to her.

“No…but I’m going to…”

“Thank God.” She sighed with relief. “I thought that I already lost my bag. Thank you so much.”

“Not at all.” Myungsoo said, then he turned to the robber and gave him a cheque. “Go and earn an honest living. If I see you rob people again, I’ll definitely take you to the police station.”

“Why did you let him go?” She asked after watching the robber run to the other side of the road.

“People all have hard times in their life. I believe that he has suffered enough, so I don’t want to cause him more problems.” Myungsoo smiled and walked back to the car. “Be careful with your bag. Goodbye.”

She still stood there, in the first snow of winter. Then she smiled and took out her phone to send a text.

Suzy, I’ve just met the first-snow man.