“ No way. Nope.” Baekhyun shook his head insistently as he stared out at the window in disbelief. Yes, although the lighted shop did seem like a great idea. But there was no way he would brave the storm out there, paths all covered in snow for it.

“ Why?!” Robin gasped. Then Baekhyun’s stomach growled right after, as if agreeing to her suggestion.

“ You’re not saying that Baekhyun should get out of this train, in this snow storm with a small torch light to get food from that shop right?” Luhan repeated exactly what Robin had suggested to them a few seconds earlier.

“ Why not?” Robin argued. She didn’t see why they were so afraid. It’s a quiet night, and it was only just the snow they have to walk on. As long as they keep walking towards the shop it’ll be fine. And it seems completely logical to do so rather than sitting here in the darkness letting Baekhyun suffer throughout the night. Besides, she could really use some hot coffee.

“ I really don’t think that’s the best idea,” Luhan frowned.

D.O cracked his neck. “ Yeah and you don’t know whether the storm will get worse. Just stay in the cabin and sleep, it’s not safe out there.”

But Baekhyun knew better how stubborn Robin was. He had learned not to be fooled by her mild, sweet and good-natured appearance. Beneath that delicate exterior was a tough, independent girl who would not take no for an answer. At the moment, this girl was tapping her feet even louder, faster in retaliation.

“ What’re you so afraid of? It’s just snow and it’s really not a far distance from here. There’s a torch light here,” Robin said and pressed the torch light button so that it would flash rays of lights.

Baekhyun sighed. It was all his fault. Now he really wish he would always remember to bring along his medicine everywhere he go. It would solve this problem right now. “ It’s full moon tonight. I’m afraid you’ll be attacked by werewolves.”

Robin rolled her eyes and laughed. She suspected she was turning into one of those girls in school who were completely charmed by his humour.

Then she decided that if since no one clearly was going to step out of this train and ease Baekhyun’s pain, she was not going to sit by and do nothing.

“ Fine. Cowards. I’ll go,” Robin breathed out, and stood up abruptly. This caused her to knock her legs against legs, knees and bags. All of whom she did not know belonged to who. Then she flashed the torchlight towards the door.

“ Don’t!!” Baekhyun whined helplessly, grabbing a tail of Robin’s knitted sweater. She wasn’t even dressed warmly for the snow out there. But immediately she tugged it out of his hands and took another step forward where he could no longer reach her.

“ Please Robin, don’t ! it’s really dangerous out there!” Luhan persuaded her, yet not moving because he could not see in the darkness. D.O shook his head from beneath his hood.“ Just stay here.”

But Robin wouldn’t have any of it. So she took a breath, pushed the cabin door opened and stepped out before they could protest anymore. She couldn’t believe how silly scared they were. And to think they would rather let someone in the same cabin suffer, knowing that something could be done? That’s ridiculous!

Robin continued muttering in frustration as she made her way slowly along the train with her torch lights. Passing by cabins, she could see little lights shining out from some cabins, people were blasting music, singing, laughing and basically having fun. If only her cabin weren’t so boring and tensed. Then she saw the exit door infront of her, as she carefully shone the torch light over the big door, she began softly and slowly opening it. She didn’t need to have anyone else stopping her. This took a few minutes and she fuddled with the metal locks of the door.

Finally it opened. Robin took a deep breath and stepped down onto the thick, soft snow below her. Then she felt the hard ground beneath as her feet sinks into the ankle-deep freezing wet snow.

How difficult could this be? She flashed the torchlight forward and found the convenient store just right infront of her. It was a straight line about 400-500m away. If she was careful, she could be there in just 10 minutes. Slowly, she extracted her feet from the thick snow and plunged it forward.

About 10 tiring minutes passed, she had made some progress. She was about half way through now. Looking back, the train stood still where it was. Snow covered the tracks and half of it. From the cabin windows, arrays of warm flickering light shone out. Some were dark, but most were bright. She even spotted some disco light blinking in some cabin windows.

She turned around and stomped forward in silence.

She breathed out heavily and cold air formed around . She hugged her body tightly. All she had was two layers of tshirt, a hoodie and jeans. She couldn’t imagine why she wouldn’t wear boots in this weather but instead, went with her chuck taylor sneakers.

Then someone tapped her shoulder. Robin stopped, her heart skipped a beat. She screamed at the top of her lungs. Because who would that be!? ? Robbers? Werewolves?

“ it’s me!” Baekhyun said breathlessly. He stuck his lighted cell phone screen in his face. It gave the effect of a cheap horror movie lighting with funny ghosts.

She heaved out a heavy sigh of relief.

“ What’re you doing here?!”,she gasped.

“ Making sure you don’t get eaten up by the werewolves.”

“ And whose fault would it be if I get eaten up?” Robin asked, pointing the torchlight at his face. His was smiling. And it was crooked and sincere and adorable, and it annoyed the heck out of her. He answered, “I’m extremely thankful for your care and concern. Your loyalty will not go unnoticed. From now I’m promoting you to be my bestfriend.”

Robin laughed, rolling her eyes. “ Thanks for the offer but no thanks.”

“ Why not?”

“ Just protect me from werewolves tonight and I’ll accept that as repayment.”  Robin could now feel her mood being lifted up. It was certainly nice to have Baekhyun with her now. Although technically he should be here since this was all about him. But to run all the way out from the train with just his cell phone light was nice. It couldn’t have been easy for anyone who was acting like a coward in the cabin just now. Speaking of that, she felt a little disappointed that Luhan didn’t come after her. Not that it's a logical thing to do but she thought he liked her. He did seemed so concerned about her earlier but the fact that he's not here speaks a thousand words.

As they continued trudging in the snow, the storm has began to get more serious. Strong gust of chilly wind blew past them, raining more snow on them. It was beginning to get seriously, painfully cold. Robin could feel her lips cracking as she shuddered under her knitted coat.

Baekhyun brought both his frozen palms up to his mouth and blew a breathe of hot air to warm them up. “ I’m living in a terrible regret right now,” he said.

“What sort of regret?”

“ The kind where I believed my roommate when she said it’s stupid to bring thick clothes and I ended up wearing only these, “ he said and looked down at his attire. A tshirt, knitted sweater, black jeans and a navy windbreaker. It did seemed little for a snow storm Robin admitted. But who would have thought they’d end up walking out in the snow instead of curling in the warm train cabin.

Robin grimaced. “Maybe your roommate couldn’t predict the future.” She stomped her feet in the snow. “And maybe she is feeling guilty about that right now and is also regretting not wearing more.”

Baekhyun laughed. “Yeah. I think she’s also regretting the fact that she insulted my innocent khaki scarf which I wanted to wear.”

Robin groaned. Now he has officially made her feel terrible about making this decision. To die frozen in this snow would be so un-glorious. Not to mention they’d both die a .

Baekhyun glanced over at Robin, pointing his cell phone at her. She squinted her eyes. He studied her pale face, cracked lips and red nose. Amazingly, he thought she still looked pretty. Lately that thought has occurred to him too often.

“ You look terrible,” Baekhyun chuckled.

Robin frowned and shoved her torchlight in his face. “ Look who’s talking. You look worse. You might lose all your fangirls if they see you in this state.” Robin replied, kicking snow at Baekhyun’s legs. The wet coldness soaked into his legs and made him jumped up and shuddered.  

“ But seriously, are you doing alright?” He asked again, this time seemingly more concerned. Robin nodded, then remember he probably couldn’t see her in the dark. Then she made a mmhmm sound.

Then suddenly, he grabbed both her hands up, drew them close to his face and without a warning, he blew hot air to warm them up. Then he rubbed her hands together, which instantly provided her the warmth relief. “ Better now?” he asked, hoping her cold hands felt better now.

“y..yeah,” Robin said, then abruptly pulled her hands back and into her coat pocket. This winter has provided too many unwanted opportunities for body contact with Baekhyun. And it made her heart race, stop, skip at the same time. Suddenly she questioned how she felt about Baekhyun.

The shop was drawing closer in sight. Both of their eyes lighted up in excitement.

“ Ahhh. This was a really good idea! I feel half full now just looking at the light,” Baekhyun grinned.

“ Told you!” Robin said in her best I-told-you-so voice.

Perhaps in over excitement, Robin had neglected to look at the ground before she stepped forward, resulting her in getting her feet caught in the thick snow. Then she felt her whole body fell forward, flat face down into the snow. How clumsy could one be, really?

Immediately, Baekhyun laughed out loud, not pull Robin up. Which annoyed her but also made her laugh at herself.

“ Are you an octopus or something? Do you have 10 legs? “ Baekhyun said, dragging Robin up by her elbows.

“ You have officially seen the worst of me. “ Robin grunted, as she got up, spitting out the snow she accidentally ate.  Since it has been too many times she embarrassed herself infront of Baekhyun, it had began to feel normal.

As she looked down to brush a clump of snow off her coat, Baekhyun reached out and lightly brush snow off her hair and the crown of Robin’s head. It felt.. intimate. Again, even the slightest touch from Baekhyun made her feel funny all over. She was so sensitive to every of his touch. She wondered if he felt it too, or whether he knew the effects it had on her. Does he do this to every girl he knows?

“ I must be too excited to get food,” she mumbled and continued forward, unaffected by falling flat on her face a second earlier.

Baekhyun laughed. “ Now I’m thinking you got out here for yourself and you were just using me as an excuse!”

“ Yup, you’ve caught me,” Robin played along in a jolly mood.

As they approached the lighted store, they shared a smile. As Robin pushed the door, the hard forced send her stumbling back a few steps. She didn’t understand. Baekhyun immediately stepped up in her place and tried to push the door again. But.. it woudn’t budge.

“ What?!” they both screamed. The door was locked.

Then they saw the sign pasted right at the door where they ignored completely earlier.

-CLOSED FOR THE DAY OR WHEN THE SNOW STORM IS OVER-

“ THEN WHY. WOULD. THEY KEEP THEIR LIGHTS ON AND MISLEAD PEOPLE!?” Robin had literally screamed in frustration. This threw off Baekhyun completely who had never seen her like this before and he laughed out loud.

“ It’s not funny!” Robin pouted. “ Now you’re gonna starve. And we’ve walked all the way here for nothing!” Robin was so exhausted, tired and cold. Everything rolled up into one ball of painful frustration and this disappointment just topped it all off. She buried her face in her cold palms. “ God! And my toes are all soggy!”, she cried out.

In that moment, Baekhyun felt guilty. Like genuinely bad for having put Robin through this. She was just a fragile girl who didn’t deserve to end up like this. He suddenly had the urge to pull her in for a hug. His pain seemed irrelevant out of a sudden. He just didn’t want her to suffer the cold anymore. He look back, the train seemed so far away in this thick snow that was piling up even more and more as the storm grew. He wondered if he had the energy to piggyher back to the train.

He carefully placed a hand on her back. Then when he felt she would not push him away, he began patting her back softly. “ Hey it’s alright come on. You’re not crying are you?”

“ No of course not. I just feel horrible that we have walked this far for nothing!” Robin said through her hands.

Then finally Robin looked up, her nose red from the cold. She gave a loud sigh and began walking around the shop. Regardless, feeling terrible wouldn’t solve anything. She was going to deal with it and find a solution to this. There has to be a way to get inside.

As the shop stood alone in the seemingly endless snow, there was no store around. But upon closer look, Robin spotted a row of dimly lighted shops further behind. It was close yet far at the same time. The distance wasn’t that far away, just about another 10 minutes walk but what she feared was another disappointment. She also didn’t want to make Baekhyun walk aimlessly again because it would only make his pain worse. Regardless, a decision had to be made.

“ Are you mad at me?”

“ Why would I be?” Baekhyun replied curiously as he stood looking back at Robin with his hands plunged deep inside his windbreaker’s pocket for warmth.

“ Then you woudn’t be mad if I asked you to walk to another shop with me right?”, Robin threaded very carefully and watched closely for Baekhyun’s response.