"Why did you guys turned off your phone?" Xiumin asked Luna and Lay once everyone gathered at the spot where they all left to go off in their own this afternoon.

Their time in the aquarium came to an end and almost everyone was here.

"We couldn't contact you guys at all."

Yunho frowned and defended their case with, "We got here on time."

Having looked around, Lay asked, "Oh, we're missing Luhan...and Hana."

"Home." Everyone who knew answered.

"Home?" Luna asked. "When? Why?"

Xiumin let out an evil laugh, "Luhan is constipated!"

Hearing this comment, Luna and Lay laughed along. Just the thought of Luhan squeezing and grunting with much effort to dispose of his unneeded body fluids was hilarious to them.

"Then, what about Hana?" Luna managed to ask after calming down. She eyed the group once again in case her friend was somewhere there and maybe she couldn’t see her.

"She took him home." Jongsuk answered with a monotonous voice. To him, he thought he did a good job hiding the fact that he was disappointed but everyone could see right through it. "I think we should head back." He turned around. "A boy and a girl alone...it's not good."

Yunho and his girlfriend looked at one another. As they thought, even though they tried explaining the scene of what happened between Luhan and Hana in front of the bathroom from before, Jongsuk was not convinced that Luhan and Hana were nothing more than just friends.

"Oh, Jongsuk." Nicole began, awkwardly. "I didn't know you were there."

"Yeah. And, I saw the whole thing, too." Jongsuk said, implying that it was useless to lie if they were planning to. "I saw. And heard."

Yunho casually walked over, "Wah, they're such great friends, aren't they?"

"So great that they had a fight like a couple just seconds ago and making up just like how couples do, too?" Jongsuk purposely questioned. He didn't like the way he was acting towards Yunho and Nicole, but he couldn’t help it. He just saw his own girlfriend crying and smiling to some guy who was just her friend. Were there friends with these kinds of deep emotions for one another? He didn't think so. He couldn't believe it.

He wouldn't believe it.

"If he's supposed to be her friend, why is he leaving with her?"

Nicole tried to make things better and she could only say, "Maybe it's something she could only tell him."

"Why would it be something for a friend and not for a boyfriend?"

Nicole nervously smiled. Her question failed its purpose and instead, it made things worst. "Jongsuk..."

"I'm fine." He said. He walked away, "Can you guys tell the others...she's safe and sound?" He left the couple and went off on his own and didn't return until the time to meet each other.

Back to Jongsuk's comment about leaving Hana and Luhan alone because Hana is a girl and Luhan is a boy, Yunho shook her head while chuckling, "Sunbae, don't worry."

"Yeah, yeah, don't." Xiumin added.

"Luhan will never see her as a girl." Yunho said, "They're just good friends who love to tease one another."

Jongsuk slightly smiled, showing he was trying too hard to be convinced, but wasn't.

“A-anyway, I don’t think we can leave this place,” Yunho said, changing the subject. “When we were coming by here, we passed a security guard locking the place up.”

“Locking the place up?!” Everyone exclaimed and crowded around the two adults in disbelief. “Why?”

Nicole had on a worried expression, “There has been a weather alert of a blizzard about to hit within the next few half hour or so.”

“Does that mean we can’t take the train back?” Yunho questioned as she reached for her boyfriend’s arm and hugged it.

“I believe so.” Yunho and Nicole heaved a sigh, also expressing their disappointment.

*

Snow had started to fall, hard, and the breezes were as cold as ice. The sun hid away in the clouds, or was either setting down already, no one could tell. There were less and less people walking outside as they decided to take a transportation of some sort to get to their destination. For Hana and Luhan, after being dropped off at their station, they only had to walk about four to five blocks, so they decided to wing it, thinking it wouldn't matter.

They were so wrong. After five minutes of stepping foot into the cold snowy weather in the middle of January, their faces were as pale as ghosts and they were shivering with so much effort that anybody would've thought they were having a seizure or something. They automatically stuck close together, trying to keep each other warm, especially since Luhan didn't had a jacket on.

"Wait," Hana said, stopping Luhan in front of a drugstore. "Let's go in here." She weakly pointed to it, "Let's take shelter for a while and I need to buy something."

Luhan didn't need persuading. Without notice, he ditched her without hesitation and ran inside. Once the two were inside, he asked, "What you getting?"

"Pads." She said comfortably as she looked around the drugstore. Well, at least, she was the only one who was comfortable with the word. She already said “period” to him, so what else was there to be shy about?

He gently shoved her, "Don't say that so loud, aren't you shy?"

"About what?" She asked, somewhat ignoring him as she walked to search for the aisle that had the pads.

"Your situation!"

She rolled her eyes after giving him a look, "It's okay. It's natural."

"For girls!" Luhan continued to hiss. He warmed his hands together, blowing hot air into his palms. "I'll be on the other aisle."

"Yeah, yeah." Hana said, knowing that he wanted to avoid anything that was related to her period at the moment. Now that she was alone, she thought to herself about why some boys would be embarrassed about a girl's menstrual cycle. She guessed it was something girls would never figure out why—or at least come to an understanding.

After finding what she needed, she headed to the cashier and paid for it. The moment she grabbed her bag, everyone could hear the loud wind trying to break inside, banging on the glass door.

"I hear there's going to be a blizzard tonight." The cashier said. "Better stay warm and safe inside your house."

"A blizzard?" Hana asked, "But, it wasn't on the forecast."

"It was on the news a while ago." The cashier explained.

Hana laughed, "I'm sure it's not a strong one."

"Let's hope not." The cashier sighed. After packing the product into a medium sized plastic white bag, the cashier handed it to Hana with a smile and said, "Have a nice evening."

Exiting the drugstore, Hana and Luhan saw hope in their survival rate. Although snow had already piled up passed their ankles, making it harder for them to even lift their feet, Yunho’s place was just two more blocks to go. Because of the icy wind and snow, it made it hard for anyone walking outside to open their eyes, so Hana and Luhan held hands and tried to concentrate on getting home as soon as possible.

"What is up with this weather all of the sudden?" Luhan gritted.

Hana tried to pick up the pace. Holding his hand tight so she wouldn’t lose him, it dawned on her that she had his jacket, therefore, he was practically out in the cold without anything to protect him. Feeling bad, she slipped her hand away from him and stopped walking to Luhan’s jacket.

Luhan noticed her hand was gone from his and became worried, 'Hana?" He felt something warm around his back and saw that she gave him his jacket.

"Wear it. You don't have a jacket." She untied her jacket from her waist and put it back on. "I'm wearing mine now."

"What about the stain?" He asked. His lips were slightly purple as hers were still pink.

Hana laughed, "Pabo, now you're not embarrassed?"

"Stop joking and wear it." Luhan took off his jacket only to receive a tight hug from her. "What—what are you doing?"

"Wear it." Hana said. She looked up, wincing because of the icy wind, "Hugging you will keep me warm."

Luhan gave up because her tight hug assured that she was really okay and that she preferred hugging him than holding hands out in this cold weather. He wore his jacket and then hugged her to be another layer of cover for her. "Let's go." The two continued walking and matched each other's pace. Sure enough, no cold breezy wind was strong enough to cool down the heat between them.

*

"What do we do now?"

"Bribe the security guards to let us go." Yunho said calmly, half serious.

As soon as he said that, the intercom came on. 'ATTENTION EVERYONE. ATTENTION. THERE IS A NEWS ALERT OF A BLIZZARD. ALL EXITS WILL BE CLOSED AND WE ASK THAT EVERYONE GATHER AROUND IN THE LOBBY FOR SAFETY PRECAUTIONS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE IS AVAILABLE. AGAIN, FOR SAFETY PRECAUTIONS, ALL EXITS WILL BE LOCKED AND CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE IS AVAIBLE. PLEASE SPEAK TO A STAFF MEMBER FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS. THANK YOU.'

Once the intercom turned off, everyone panicked and immediately searched for a staff in a frenzy, bombarding them with questions.

Yunho chuckled nervously, "Or, we can leave whenever we can."

Everyone groaned except for Jongsuk.

He was too preoccupied with one thought. More specifically, one person. Hana.

*

Luhan and Hana safely made it back to Yunho's place after Luhan entered the pass code to the place.

Hana quickly went to her room to do her business while Luhan flattened on the floor in front of the door, shivering. The house's temperature wasn't any different from outside, but at least it sheltered them from the icy wind and hailing snow.

About a good five minutes later, Hana popped out with a sweater and sweatpants and her hair was in a messy bun. She chuckled at the sight of a beggar-looking Luhan on the floor. "What are you doing? Why didn't you go get changed?"

"Too-too cold." Luhan answered.

She left him alone and entered the kitchen and shouted, "Ne, want some hot water?"

"Just hot water?" Luhan didn't like how it sounded. It was just plain water that was boiled. He heard the fridge being opened and checked. "Is there anything else?"

Hana shouted back, "Well, I can make us rice ball if you're hungry. But, there's nothing warm to drink."

"Rice ball sounds fine." He answered weakly.

"Put more meat in mine/yours!" Luhan and Hana shouted at the same time.

Hana poked her head out of the kitchen and looked at him, "I know yours is always stuffed with stuff."

Luhan grinned, "Thanks." He was finally warm enough to get up and sit on the nearby couch. He the TV only to find that it has no connection because of the weather. "There's nothing to watch." Just then, the lights turned off and Hana yelped. "It's the lights," he assured her.

"I know," She said. "But, I can't cook if I can't see."

"Stay there," He said. A plan came to him. He took out his cell phone and slowly and carefully made his way to the room he slept in. He went in and searched for his bag and zipped it opened. He took out his charger and rushed back to where Hana was. When he accidently stepped onto her foot, he knew he found her. "My bad."

"Where did you go?" Hana asked, sounding scared. Then, sounding hopeful, she asked, "Did you find candles?"

"Nope, something else,” he answered. "Is there an outlet here?"

"Yeah, where the rice cooker is," she told him, pointing to it. "It's on your side."

Once Luhan found it, he plugged the charger into the outlet and charged his phone. Soon, a bright light popped up and dimly lit the room. "Ta-da. Your light."

She smiled and sarcastically commented with a serious expression, "Wow, your phone is much more useful than you."

He scoffed, "Keep talking and I'll leave you in the dark."

"Keep talking and I'll leave you hungry."

"I'm sorry so please make them for me." Luhan gave in as always and the two friends giggled.

Having nothing else to do, he decided to play on his phone so the light would continue to be displayed. As he searched, he saw a text from Jongsuk. It was the text he had ignored from him. He didn't mean to, it's just...he didn't feel obliged to give him an answer. Jongsuk's text asked Luhan for Hana's number, and Luhan knew why Jongsuk wanted Hana's number, but a teeny tiny part of him didn't want to give Hana's number to Jongsuk. Worse, Luhan didn't feel bad about skipping over the text.

But, he couldn't do that anymore. Now, he knew Hana and Jongsuk were going out, officially, and that meant he was obliged to give Hana her number to Jongsuk because Jongsuk was Hana's boyfriend, and boyfriend is a category above friends. He replied to the message, apologizing with a lie that he had forgotten about the text. After sending the message, he skimmed down to the next unread text, a text from his brother.

Kris: Hey, before you guys do anything, I just want to let you know that Taeyang’s fine. @ 2:32 p.m.

Kris: I don’t know how to tell you guys in any other way. @ 2:32 p.m.

Kris: He’s sick. @ 2:37 p.m.

Kris: He has the Kawasaki disease. @ 3:07 p.m.

The Kawasaki Disease? Luhan thought. He had never heard of it before, but he knew that if it was followed by the word “disease,” that meant it was something bad. He glanced up at Hana happily molding the rice into her palm, covering it with seaweed wrap. How am I supposed to tell her? What am I supposed to say?

"Finished!" Hana's shout made him flinched. "I'm finished." She handed him the plate with four handmade rice ball. "Yours are the bigger ones." As she reached to get hers, Luhan took it and took a big bite. "Hey, I said yours are—"

"—I forgot I'm on a diet." He slyly lied. "Eat mine."

"But-but..." She hesitated. She wondered if she could finish both of them, let alone one.

Luhan was already half-way with his, "It's okay, you need to stuff yourself, too. You're too skinny." He smirked, "I don't even know how you'll attract guys with a body like yours." He purposely leaned in close to her chest, right in front of her s, "Stuff these babies up and you'll—"

Without hesitation, Hana whacked him in the head. "—stop talking about them!"

"I'm advising you." Luhan defended with a pout. "Hurry and eat." He looked at her hesitantly reaching for the huge rice ball that was supposed to be his and taking a bite. You'll need all the strength you can get later before I tell you.

*

An hour and a half had passed and the rest of the gang had not arrived home. They assumed that the gang had stopped somewhere else to take shelter from the blizzard, not knowing that they were still stuck inside the aquarium, forbidden to leave the place. As for Hana and Luhan, with the lights back on again, the two dragged a big blanket they grabbed from the girls’ room over their body while the kept themselves busy by doing the work on Nicole's list that wasn't even halfway done at all while sitting together in the same couch, next to one another. The more they looked at the list, the more they thought it was impossible to finish all of these within a person's lifetime. It was just that much.

"Oh, here's another box of clothes." Luhan said, tearing open a cardboard box with the blade of a scissor. "And, hangers."

"Nicole eonni loves to collect hangers, doesn't she?" Hana asked as she saw the neatly packed hangers. "Maybe I should start doing that, too."

"Yeah, so you could stop throwing your clothes on the floor. Your room's so messy."

Hana frowned, "That's your room, what are you talking about?"

He only smiled, realizing that it was true. Giving his friend a good look as she focused on the next part of the list, he asked, "Hhow much do you like Taeyang?"

She arched a brow at him, "What's up with this question?"

"Just answer it." He avoided her eyes.

She didn't have to give it a thought, "A lot." She emphasized, "I like him a lot, honestly." She put the paper down, being reminded of her problem. "I thought I would vent my stress of all those babysitting worries to Taeyang, but...when I see this baby and know that he doesn't have anyone but us...so much joy fills me instead. I couldn’t leave him." She grabbed the hangers and played with it, "It's as if...he gave me the feeling I never had when I watched my nieces and nephews."

"What's that?" Luhan asked in a quiet manner, paying attention to her reply.

"I'm trusted. Needed." She dropped the hanger onto her lap and added, “Not used or walked over.”

*

Hana and Luhan gave up on waiting for their friends. They decided to sleep in the living room where it was warmest and to be ready to greet the friends if they do come back in the middle of the night.

Late into the night, Luhan woke up and sat up straight. He loo