A cold wind was blowing from the north, and it made the trees along the side of the road rustle like living things. Winter had almost reached its end but the weather was still undeniably freezing cold. Eunmi’s face twitched in the cold winter wind and she tightened her coat, quickening her heavy steps towards her house. Her nose was red and runny. Tears started to flow over her cheeks again but she hastily wiped them away; passersby were noticing and kept staring at her with judging looks in their eyes. She tried to cover her face with her hair, but was unsuccessful, as it was quite short. Eunmi groaned in frustration, and wished her hair were as long as Yoonmi's was. Finally reaching the house after a long walk, Eunmi hurriedly pried open the front door, getting into the house and indecorously slamming the door behind her.

Examining the entire house with a speedy glance, Eunmi then reached the conclusion that Yoonmi was not home yet. She did not feel like seeing her twin sister at the moment, as she thought that Yoonmi was quite possibly lying to her and keeping something from her. She did not want Yoonmi to see her in the sorry state she was in, either. Her nose was runny, and her eyes were too puffy for her own liking from excessive crying. Eunmi quickly headed towards the stairs, attempting to go straight into her room, which was located on the second floor of the house when she suddenly heard a voice calling for her. Eunmi froze, silently gripping onto her shirt hem. She refused to look back since she was very sure it was Yoonmi’s voice.

Yoonmi was still waiting for Eunmi to turn around, but surprisingly enough, she did not. She had been silently cleaning their untidy kitchen when a sudden loud noise stopped her in her tracks. When she sprinted out of the kitchen to see what had happened, she caught a glimpse of Eunmi’s figure climbing up the stairs. Eunmi had been oddly quiet, especially today. Normally, when she arrived back home, she would bombard Yoonmi with hugs and kisses and plough along with her nonstop chattering about the day's events. But it was not happening today. Her gaze was aimed at the stairs and her feet, and her back was to Yoonmi. She had not bothered herself with facing Yoonmi when she called a few seconds ago. Yoonmi also noticed that her twin sister was shivering, more than likely because of the cold weather.

“Eunmi-ah… let me get something warm for you to drink. You know you’ll get sick easily in this kind of weather, right? Come, I’ll make something nice for you,” Yoonmi offered, softening her tone as she brought herself closer to Eunmi and attempted to grab her hand. However, Eunmi swatted her hand away, still refusing to look at her. Instead, she went further upstairs and only stopped to throw an icy glare over her shoulder.

“Leave me alone,” Eunmi muttered harshly before dashing towards her room, leaving a baffled Yoonmi behind. Her body stiffened; she felt like freezing water had been poured over her. Her sister's cold voice kept echoing in her ears. Did something bad happen to Eunmi today? She could not help but keep wondering, and she realized that Suho and she herself must be part of the reasons why Eunmi suddenly acted the way she did. Yoonmi bit her lip; guilt began to attack her from every corner of her heart and mind. What had she done?

Eunmi locked her bedroom door from the inside before she shut the open window and pulled the curtains closed. She sighed, knowing that she had forgotten to close the window before going to the university earlier. She scanned the room and a scented candle, located not far from the window, became the object of her scrutiny. She picked it up and placed it on her bedside table, then lit it, attempting to bring some fresh and calming scents into her sanctuary. She the heater for some warmth, as was still shivering, her nose was runny and she felt dizzy, her vision blurring.

She caught a cold; there was no doubt about it. Plucking a few pieces of tissue paper from a drawer, Eunmi then sunk down on her bed, continuously sneezing as she did so. This caused her to contemplate the results of her plugging both and nose when she sneezed; would the sneeze come out of her ears, or would her head explode? Truthfully, she would prefer if her head exploded. Only with that would she no longer need to think about or remember anything anymore; her broken feelings, her screwed up confession and also her feelings of doubt towards Yoonmi. She shut her eyes tightly, recalling what had happened between Suho and her earlier before she eventually ran away. Surprisingly, Suho did not turn her down but he did not return her feelings either. It was painful to know that she didn’t even worth for an answer from him. That was when Eunmi decided to run away from the suffocating situation rather than waiting for nothing. Suho did not even try to stop her; all he did was staring at her expressionlessly until she completely vanished from his sight.

Thank goodness it was Saturday tomorrow; no classes to attend and that meant she did not have to brainstorm on how to avoid meeting Suho. Eunmi lay on her stomach, burying her face into her pillow before she switched back to her original position, lying on her back, glaring at the blank ceiling. With her eyelids were getting heavy in no time, Eunmi drifted into her dreamland where she could escape from the heartache of the real world. When she woke up two hours later, Eunmi found that she kept recalling what happened earlier. She pulled her blanket over her head, yearning to hide from the universe. She remained like that until she heard a light tap-tap-tapping on her door. Eunmi slowly got up and sat on her bed, rolling her eyes irritably. She fixed her messy hair with her fingers, glancing towards the clock hanging on the wall; 8.34 PM. Her gazed shifted towards the door without any thoughts to open it. It must be Yoonmi who was knocking since they were the only ones living in the house. Eunmi did not feel like listening to Yoonmi’s explanation anymore, at least for that night. She really wished Yoonmi would just leave her alone for the time being. All she wanted was some time for herself, to sort out her own thoughts. Yoonmi’s soft, timid voice was heard after her knocks went unanswered.

“Eunmi-ah…I’ve prepared a dinner. Let’s eat together.”

Silence and then some more knockings were heard.

“I’m not hungry.” Eunmi finally replied agitatedly.

“Are you not feeling well, Eunmi? Did you catch a cold? I can get you medicine if you want. You know you should never take your health issues lightly, right?” Yoonmi sounded worried. She was completely aware that Eunmi was the kind of person who hardly ever fell sick but when she did, it took twice as long for her to recover.

“Even advice, only works when the right person gives it.” Eunmi’s words were like lightning striking straight into Yoonmi’s heart.

“Eunmi-ah…” Yoonmi trailed off.

“Just leave me alone, Yoonmi.” Eunmi went back to burying herself under her blanket.

Finally gaining an answer from Eunmi, Yoonmi eventually made her way to the downstairs even though it was not the answer that she was anticipating. Any answer was better than none, she decided. She gave a regretful look to the dinner she had so painstakingly prepared, now sitting untouched on the table. She did not have any appetite left. She felt like crying because of Eunmi’s sudden changes. Her coldness made Yoonmi felt insecure... and hurt.

After cleaning up the table, Yoonmi locked herself in her bedroom.

'I need to give Eunmi some privacy like she wants..everything will be alright for you, Eunmi. Starting tomorrow, I promise...' Yoonmi thought in determination; recalling Eunmi's coldness towards her.

What exactly happened to Eunmi? Where did the bubbly, cheeky and talkative Eunmi go? Yoonmi was trembled when she thought of the possibility of Eunmi actually knowing of what happened between Suho and her. It was impossible for Eunmi to know, unless Suho told her the truth. Thinking hard, Yoonmi sat on the corner of her bed, staring at the cellphone placed in the center of her bed. Grabbing it with shaking hands, Yoonmi scrolled down her phone’s contact list before her finger stopped at a name. Suho. She tapped on the ‘call’ icon before placing her phone by her ear. After a few seconds, the call was connected and she could clearly hear his soft voice greeting her from the other side. She bit her lip nervously, mindful that it was their first conversation after a few weeks.

“Le-let’s… meet tomorrow.” Yoonmi said, stammering at her words.

 

 

It was morning. Some of the sky was yellow, some the softest blue and the morning air was crisp. The bright sunlight that shone between the slightly opened window’s curtains woke Eunmi up. Eunmi’s hair was sticking out in all directions, and her eyes were small and puffy from crying her heart out all night. Eunmi tried to stand up, but her head hurt so much. She could hardly remember what had happened last night. Trying to ignore the pain, Eunmi jumped down from the bed and headed out of the room with a growling stomach. She gripped her stomach, furrowing her eyebrows. She remembered that she went to sleep without eating dinner last night. After Yoonmi left her, Eunmi eventually cleaned up herself and went back to her bed, crying and hating herself for treating her twin sister so frostily. Yes, she faintly regretted it but her emotions had taken control over her. She did not even notice when she fell asleep.

Breakfast was already prepared on the table when Eunmi stepped into the kitchen. She looked around to see if Yoonmi was nearby, but she was nowhere to be found. She walked toward the refrigerator, taking out a bottle of cold milk instead of drinking a warm lemon tea Yoonmi had left for her. She did not like drinking anything warm in the morning and she was pretty sure Yoonmi knew it well. Eunmi poured the milk into a glass and was about to drink it when Yoonmi suddenly showed up, fully dressed but not in the casual wear she usually wore. She eyed her twin sister from head to toe, wondering why Yoonmi was dressed like that; it was not how she would normally dress when she was home. It was more like how she dressed when she attended her classes. However, it was clearly Saturday so none of them had any classes to attend. Yoonmi smiled slightly, noticing Eunmi’s wondering gaze.

“Are you feeling better this morning?” she asked, to which Eunmi nodded hesitantly even though it took a while for her to respond. She was curious what Yoonmi was up to and where she could possibly be going to since it was still early in the morning before she glanced to the wall clock; 11.24 AM. It was not as early as she thought, then, although Eunmi barely noticed that.

“I’m going out for a while. If you feel like eating something… or wanting something, just give me a call. I’ll get it on my way back,” Yoonmi said as Eunmi just sat silently, barely listening to her and avoiding eye contact.

Eunmi did not even bother to ask where Yoonmi was going. She could be doing anything from meeting her boyfriend for a happy date, meeting her best friend Hyejin, to having another piano lesson with Xiumin, which were all the scenarios Eunmi could come up with. She sat on a chair, staring at the breakfast hungrily while Yoonmi poured her a cup of warm lemon tea and getting Eunmi to relinquish her grip on the cold milk.

“Yoonmi-ah.” Eunmi was about to apologize and reflect on her wrongdoings when Yoonmi cut her off.

 “Since you've caught a cold, warm lemon tea is better for you,” she said, then added, “Take care. I’m going.” She gave her a soft smile, grabbing her shoulder bag placed on the couch nearby and straightly heading out of the house.

Eunmi realized that she was trying to rationalize the situation, and that she was trying not to look affected by Eunmi’s cold words toward her last night.

As the front door was finally closed, Eunmi immediately let out a heavy, loud sigh. She stared blankly at the perfectly served breakfast before grabbing the cup of lemon tea poured by Yoonmi a few seconds ago. She was planning to apologize to Yoonmi for her immature and cold behavior last night but she guessed that it was not the right time. But then, a thought struck her hard. Was Yoonmi going to meet Suho? Her guilts vanished in seconds, replaced by uneasiness and anxious feelings. She then snorted in derision at the absurd thought, glaring at the closed door as if Yoonmi was still there.

 

---

 

Author's note: This short chapter is mostly about Eunmi, I think I need to write a chapter dedicated to Eunmi's thought and feelings for at least once since most of the chapters are all about Yoonmi, Suho and Xiumin. It's getting scary to update this story because I got a feeling that some of you might kill me for turning Eunmi into such a selfish and spoiled girl while Yoonmi being annoyingly stupid for caring too much about Eunmi. Well, updated anyway! Ahh...I don't know anymore, I just want to finish this story as soon as possible. Next chapter is coming in a few days, I'm working on it right now. Thank you for reading! ^^