Zico was woken up by his alarm clock incessantly ringing. He looked at the time. It was 10:30 a.m. He wondered why he had set the alarm so early when their exams had already finished and they were officially on a break. Then he remembered the drama production that his club decided to put up. He switched off the alarm and got up from the bed grudgingly, walking out of his room to head to the bathroom.

There was someone in the kitchenette, a girl, with long hair down to her waist wearing boxer shorts and his extra large t-shirt, cooking something on the stove with her back towards him. For a second he thought maybe it was Krystal, and he walked closer to get to the bathroom when the girl turned around.

Zico froze in his spot. The girl was not Krystal but she looked familiar, and she was also the prettiest girl she has ever seen.

“Oh hello, you must be Zico oppa,” the girl smiled and gave a little wave before turning back around to put a lid on the pot she was boiling. Zico stared at the back of her head numbly trying to figure out from where he knew the girl. Before he could come up with an answer the girl turns back around and looks at him, curiosity in her eyes.

“Ohmygosh I am so sorry I forgot to introduce myself,” she laughed into the back of her hand and approached him. “Hello, I’m Danah, Mino’s sister. Nice to meet you,” she bowed respectfully towards Zico in a quick motion, her waist bent almost in half and her long hair swishing everywhere.

Zico almost took a step back but managed to stand his ground. He even managed to nod his head as a greeting and without a word he disappeared into the bathroom.

He looked at himself in the small mirror on top of the sink, slapping his cheeks with the palms of both his hands. “What the was that Zico?” he chided himself for acting like a teenage with a crush. Damn! So that was Danah. Her pictures are everywhere- on Mino’s desk, in his phone, even in his laptop background. Mino was a fool for his sister, and Zico understood. Also, Danah was much prettier in real life, she almost took Zico’s breath from him.

“Maybe I was just sleepy,” he told himself as he brushed his teeth. “Maybe that’s why I reacted that way because I was still half asleep,” he forgave himself. “It’s Mino’s sister, which means even thinking of her as a girl is out of the question. There’s a line you cannot cross, Zico,” he told himself, admonishing his reflection.

After a few more minutes of self-encouragement, Zico stepped out of the bathroom.  The kitchen was empty and he was about to release a sigh of relief when he spot Danah making herself comfortable on their lone couch, a bowl in hand and the other flicking through the channels on their television.

He had to walk past the living room to get to his room, making Danah whip her head around at the sound of his footsteps. “Oppa, I made soup,” she called out. Damn! It’s been so long since anyone called him oppa. Danah gestured to the bowl of soup on the small table in front of the couch. “Well, actually I didn’t make it, I just heated it up," she laughed. "Mom sent it with me for you guys. But then I got hungry and there was no food in the kitchen so I just decided to heat it up in the pan. You guys don’t even have a microwave. It's a good thing that you’re here to eat with me because I would feel awful eating the food meant for someone else.”

So she is a chatterbox, like her brother. It was cute to Zico, unlike Mino who always had too much energy. Danah was cute, her voice was lovely to hear. He gave her what he believed to be a smile of gratitude which he didn’t realise came out sort of like a grimace, his facial muscles having been stunned for some reason. He went and sat next to her on the space she left for him, putting as much space between them as the couch allowed and picked up the steaming bowl of soup. “Thanks,” he managed to utter without it coming out like a croak while he stared straight ahead at the TV, not really registering what show was being aired at the moment. He could tell the soup tasted delicious though.

Danah was quiet for a while and they ate in silence, but as soon as a commercial came on she turned towards him and started talking about how today was the first snow of the season and that she hadn’t expected it to snow so she was caught under it on her way here to surprise Mino, which made her clothes wet and she had no choice but to change and wore whatever she could find in Mino’s room.

“It snowed?” Zico asked lamely after Danah finished her narrative.

“Wow oppa! Look out the window. None of your windows have curtains by the way, and it's still snowing outside,” Danah pointed back to the window in the kitchen. Zico followed the direction of her finger and looked, it really was snowing. Warmth crept up to his chest. He likes the snow. How could he have missed the first snowfall of the season? This was special.

“Was it good?” Danah asked, making him face her again.

“Huh?”

“The soup?” she eyed the empty bowl in his hand.

“Ah yes, it was delicious. Please thank your mom for me,” he tried smiling again, almost managing a lop-sided grin.

“You should also thank me for heating it up well, and for carrying it all the way from Busan,” Danah pouted.

“Yes. Yes. I’m so sorry,” Zico spluttered out. “Thank you so much. You are a very good heat-er up-per? And it must have been heavy, so thank you,” Zico quickly bowed his head.

“I was kidding,” Danah laughed into the back of her hand again, making Zico blush furiously. “You’re really different from what I expected,” she remarked, studying him.

“How so?” Zico was curious. Does Danah have any frame of reference of him?

“You’re so quiet. I thought you would be more ... talkative or I dunno... loud? I assumed you would be the one screaming in the background whenever I am on the phone with Mino oppa,” Danah replied, her face was open and honest.

Zico did not know what to say to that. What was wrong with him today? Did he get up from the wrong side of the bed? Why was he rendered almost mute? Where were his vocal cords when he needed them.

“Oh my gosh,” Danah clasped both her hands over and her eyes were opened wide, Zico’s heart almost leaped in fright. “I didn’t wake you up before you were supposed to did I? I am so sorry. Mom always complains about not being able to talk to Mino oppa in the mornings and Dad would be like, “They are in college. Did you forget how we lived in college? Their mornings start late and it completely...”

Zico cut her off her ramblings waving his hands in front of her face. “No, no,” he supplied when she finally shut up. “You didn’t wake me up. My alarm did,” he smiled again to assure her because she still had that stricken look on her face.

“Are you sure?” she asked uncertainly, finally removing her hands from . “I didn’t think anyone was here. I mean, I had a spare key and I knew where Mino’s room was and I was kinda noisy in the kitchen and...”

“Oh !” Zico just remembered he had a meeting to go to. He had no idea how long he had sat here with Danah.

“What? What?” Danah was looking around frantically as Zico jumped from his seat, wondering what it was that made the guy curse out loud.

“I’m just, late for something, I completely forgot,” Zico explained as he scooped up their bowls and ran towards the kitchen to place them in the sink.

Danah followed at his heels. “Do you know when Mino oppa will be here? I didn’t call him coz I wanted to surprise him,” she asked as she set to work on washing the dishes as Zico dashed out again.

“I’m going to meet him right now, we have a meeting of sorts,” Zico called out from the doorway to his room.

“Really? Can I come with you?” Danah shouted back while he looked for clean clothes to wear in his wardrobe.

“Sure,” he replied without thinking. Danah had run over to his room, talking to him through the closed door.

“Are you sure? Its not a formal meeting is it? Like something related to your classes?”

“No, just our drama club. No one will know you’re not a member. Just put on something warm, okay?” he called out.

“Yes!” Danah exclaimed from outside the door and he could hear her footsteps running away. “Put on something warm, okay?” he mocked himself in the mirror but the words left him feeling warm and fuzzy in his chest. No. Not fuzzy. He scolded himself again. He cannot have fuzzy feelings for his friend’s younger sister.

Zico finished dressing and waited in the living room, tapping his foot nervously because he was already late, and he wondered how long Danah would take to dress. He already had 5 missed calls, from P.O. and Mino whom he had assured to that he didn’t need to be woken up. But before he could worry, Danah came bustling out of Mino’s room. Her hair was in a high ponytail with cream coloured ear-muffs. Her face was bare and her petite body was swaddled with a big wind-proofed jacket, scarf, and ugg boots. She was absolutely breathtaking.

“I’m ready,” she called out and Zico quickly checked himself again, gave a cough as inconspicuous as he could and led the way outside.

They had only walked outside their hostel building with the light snow falling over them when Danah suddenly grabbed his arm and inserted her own in the crook of his elbow. Zico’s heart gave a momentary leap but when he looked at Danah she was studying her surroundings, her face normal and serene. The look told him that being touchy-feely runs in the Song family and that linking arms with a boy probably didn’t mean anything to her. So he mentally told his erratic heartbeat to calm the down and answered Danah’s questions about the college as best as he could.

“You know how movies and dramas always romanticise the first snowfall of the season?” Danah asked as she caught the falling snowflakes with her free hand.

“Yeah?” Zico answered uncertainly, begging her in his head not to make fun of the special day. Her next question caught him off-guard.

“Don’t you have someone special to spend the day with?” she faced him then, eyes sparkling, face still honest, and genuine.

“No,” he answered, tone gruffer than he wanted it to be. He looked away, not wanting to be reminded of his failed attempts at forming a relationship.

“Don’t be sad,” Danah tugged at his arm as if reading his private thoughts. “I don’t have one either, my family won’t allow me to date,” she huffed out, kicking the fallen snow in front of her.

“And you obeyed them?” Zico exclaimed incredulously before he could stop himself. A teenage girl following her family’s rule of no-dating was an improbability to him.

“I have to,” she whined. “Mino oppa will probably embarrass me in front of any guy I like anyway, not that I have a guy I like at the moment.”

She’s straight, Zico thought to himself. So what if she is? His other self replied.

“But today is special, and I am glad it snowed the day I arrive. Spending the day with Mino oppa will be better than with any dumb boyfriend,” she cheered herself up, her voice growing high pitched.

“But Mino has a boyfriend now. What if he wants to spend the day with Taehyun inside and you’re intruding?” he teased.

Danah gasped out loud. She probably hadn’t thought of the possibility at all. She was silent for a while and then piped up again. “It doesn’t matter. I know he will be glad to see me. We always celebrate the first snow together with snowball fights. We don’t get a lot of snow in Busan so the first snow is always exciting for us. Last year we decided we will break the Guinness book of world records for the biggest snowman in the world,” she laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of it. “But then we got only like a few centimetres of snow and of course even if it snowed a whole lot the two of us would never be able to break the record.”

Zico laughed at the imagery. The Song siblings waiting for the first snow and Mino deciding in one of his extra dumb moments to break the world record and his sister happily going along with his plan. “Who knows, with sheer willpower you could probably do it,” Zico suggested. That only made Danah laugh out louder and Zico swore he could hear tiny bell trinkets ringing in her laughter.

They were about to reach the auditorium and Zico had half a mind to take a longer route, but Danah was not wearing a cap and he couldn’t allow her to freeze. Mino would kill him. Zico was tall, Danah reached just above his chest and if he wanted he could rest his chin on her head. He looked over her head and saw bits of snowflakes on her hair. He blew them off before they could melt.

“I told you to wear something warm,” he scolded as Danah shivered a little from the cold air.

“I am!” Danah retorted and patted her head to find it bare. “Oh, I forgot to put on my hood,” she laughed again. Zico could still hear the bells. He made a mental note to get his ears checked. She tried to slip the hood of her jacket over her head but more snow fell on her head, having been collected in the pocket of her hood. Zico tried to help dust them off but at that moment Danah gave a loud shriek and disentangled her arm from him, running off in the direction of the auditorium.

Zico stood rooted at his spot as he looked at where she was running off to when he spotted Mino and Taehyun walking as they held hands, cups of coffee in their free hands. He noticed the exact moment Mino recognised the girl running towards him as fast as she could considering the slippery road. He watched as Mino’s eyes widened, coffee cup hurriedly onto Taehyun’s hand before running towards his sister shouting “Careful Danah, careful,” but he was the one slipping and almost falling. The siblings hugged each other as if they haven’t seen each other in years. Zico smiled at the sight and his gaze turned from them to Taehyun who was also watching the exchange with a smile on his face.

“What are you doing here? When did you arrive?” Mino asks as they pulled apart from their embrace. He quickly straightened Danah’s jacket and brushed off more snow from her hair and jacket.

Zico met Taehyun’s eyes then, who still had a ghost of a smile on his lips. Zico tried to telepathically ask Taehyun to insist he and Mino spend the day together so Danah could be left in Zico’s care. However, Taehyun didn’t look like he would mind Danah’s presence at all considering the way he walked over to the siblings and offered Danah the same smile Zico knew Taehyun reserved only for Mino. He walked over to join the group as Danah had just finished talking about how she came here with Zico.

“What? I don’t want you hanging out with him,” Mino spoke to Danah and to Zico he asked “You didn’t pull any did you bro?” with his eyes narrowed in a suspicious fashion.

Zico held up his hands in defense. “What the , Mino! No. What do you take me for?” he huffed out, offended. Okay, so he might have found Danah to be an enchanting being, but he would never try to hit on her if Mino was against it, Bro Code and all that .

“What are you talking about?” Danah was curious as she looked from Mino to Zico.

“Zico here has been begging to meet you ever since he saw your pictures, and I had been wondering how to keep your visit a secret but you went ahead and met him first before me,” Mino complained to Danah. Zico’s eyeballs almost bulged out of his sockets. Mino did not just tell Danah he had a crush on her. What was Mino trying to achieve by that? And that was his confession to make not Mino.

Taehyun approached him then and handed him Mino’s cup of coffee. “You can throw this in his face. Go ahead, I wouldn’t mind,” he whispered in his ears. Zico turned in surprise to see Taehyun with a completely straight face and then back at the coffee cup offered to him, then back at the innocent looking face as he understood what Taehyun meant. Zico merely shook his head while Taehyun shrugged as if to say "Suit yourself."

Danah was punching Mino lightly on the arm now, they were sharing some family joke that Zico didn’t quite understand. He really wanted to do exactly what Taehyun put in his head. However, he also felt Mino had already, knowingly or unknowingly, done half the work for him. Danah now knew Zico is interested in her and she didn’t seem to mind it. Of course, people usually don’t hate being liked or crushed on, but Danah looked coy as she heard the words, and did not meet Zico’s eyes after that.

“Do you realise this is the first snow of the season,” Danah asked Mino.

“Of course. He wouldn’t shut up about it,” Taehyun mumbled next to Zico.

“What? Don’t tell me you don’t like snow,” Zico turned towards Taehyun.

“I do, but apparently not as much as the Songs,” Taehyun cocked his chin towards the Song siblings. Mino had whipped his phone out so he could take a selca to commemorate the special day. The other two shifted to the side to give them space.

“Only selca for now, we have to get back to the meeting,” Mino told Danah as they finished.

“Oh yeah, why are you two outside? I thought I was late and rushed all the way here,” Zico asked.

“The meeting already started but half were late and the ones who were there wanted to go outside and enjoy the snow,” Taehyun explained.

“And where are the others?”

“Probably already inside waiting for us,” Mino replied. “Shall we go? Poor Donghyun must have been violated by the girls by now,” Mino suggested.

“Can I come watch? Zico oppa said I could,” Danah piped up.

“Who’s Donghyuk?” Zico wanted to know.

“Yes, you can. And Donghyun is Taehyun’s brother. He came to visit the campus today,” Mino explained as they made their way inside.

“Is today a ‘bring your sibling to school’ day or something? Did I miss something?” Zico quipped. “Wait, are you trying to set up your brother with your sister?” Zico pointed at the couple.

“What? No,” Taehyun was quick to deny, not knowing Zico was joking.

“Wait, that’s a brilliant idea,” Mino’s brain seemed to be working differently.

“Ohmygosh, you can’t do that to me,” Danah shoved Mino in retort and he fell on Taehyun who blocked his fall. Mino only laughed in mirth.

“He’s kidding Danah. Donghyuk is way too young for you,” Taehyun consoled the pouting girl.

The meeting seemed to have started without them. A hand waved in the air to beckon them over to the fifth row from the stage and they made their way over. There were Jinwoo and Seungyoo with P.O. and Kyung. They took their seats in the empty row behind them.

“Where are the girls? And Donghyun?” Mino whispered. Their club President was talking about the plan of their drama production in front of the stage.

“They decided to ditch the meeting and took Donghyuk with them, something about showing the campus to him,” P.O. replied. Minzy and Krystal were not part of the club although Sulli was, and they had decided to stay in the campus during the winter break for their own club activities. They had all come earlier to the auditorium after Mino told everyone Taehyun’s younger brother was coming and they wanted to meet him. Donghyun became an instant hit with the three girls and they whisked him off before Taehyun could even open his mouth. Donghyun seemed to love the attention so Taehyun didn’t protest.

“And who is this?” P.O. asked, smiling at Danah, but before Mino could answer he realised who it was. “Wow! Danah? You’re real!” he exclaimed out loud and a few heads turned in their direction.

“Of course she’s real. Did you think I made her up?” Mino retorted looking proud. Danah bowed her head as each of the guys introduced themselves, whispering so that they wouldn’t bear the wrath of their club President who was currently passionately explaining the role of the members.

They listened to the production plans for a while. However, Zico’s eyes kept darting towards Danah. Mino had conveniently placed himself and Taehyun between Zico and his sister, Zico couldn’t be sure if his friend did that on purpose. He felt lonelier than usual. He wondered if it was because of the weather. He kept noticing small things, like how Taehyun’s hands never left Mino’s, as if they were glued together. How Seungyoon’s head would perpetually lean towards Jinwoo as if the boy was an exclusive Seungyoon magnet. He sighed heavily, wishing he had something like that.

They finally received their roles for the production. Of course, Zico, Mino, and P.O. were delegated to stagehands, although P.O. got the understudy role. They had a lot of seniors who were vying for the acting role, and there weren’t enough parts for everyone. It was collectively decided practice would start the next day as everyone wanted to enjoy the change in weather and the meeting ended.

There was already a few centimeters of snow covering the ground when they walked out of the building. It looked like the scenery could be on the cover of a Christmas card.

“You know what this calls for?” Mino calls out

“Snowball fights!” Danah shouted, to which everyone agreed. Jinwoo texted the others that their meeting has ended and they walked back to their dorms to suit up properly.

The snow kept falling thicker. At the sight, Zico remembered what Danah had said about making the biggest snowman and told the others about it. Everyone had already gathered there in the park next to their dorm building, making snow angels and throwing snow at each other. At Zico’s words, everyone got excited at the prospect of doing something grand.

“We can try to make it now,” Krystal suggested. “There’s ten of us right now. I am sure we can do it.”

“I have never made a snowman before. Let’s do it!” Kyung piped up. Danah came rushing towards them, her face flushed with happiness. “Really? You guys will help me build a snowman?”

Zico wanted to keep that look on her face forever. They all started rolling balls to make the snowman. It was hard work. They had to trek further and further out to collect the fallen snow and they barely had a foot high base after about an hour.

“Let’s take a break,” Minzy suggested, fog leaving with every wheeze of . They plopped down one after the other, resting their backs against the base for the snowman they decided to build on a whim.

“Guys, I just had a thought,” Seunghoon announced ominously. “Do anyone of you have an idea about the record we have to break?”

Everyone was quiet at the question, glancing at each other. Zico looked at Danah for answers who simply shrugged her shoulders and she, in turn, turned to the left towards her brother who also had a clueless expression on his face. Taehyun knew that look and facepalmed. “I cannot believe I got pulled into one of your shenanigans again,” he muttered.

Seunghoon had taken the time to fish out his phone from his pocket and searched the web for the tallest snowman while Taehyun did the same.

“Oh !” they cursed out loud at the same time. The rest of the gang scrambled towards the phone holders. “The tallest snowman in the world is 122 feet,” Seunghoon announced to everyone, his face conveyed a look of utter disbelief.

P.O. didn’t seem to understand what that meant. “Is that tall? Can we beat it?”

“No!” Seunghoon almost shouts and then relents by explaining the situation. “See, you’re almost 6 feet in height, so multiply your height by 20 and then we get the world’s tallest snowman.”

“What?” P.O. shouted, finally understanding the situation when everyone laughed at him.

Mino looked at the four feet base of snow they have collected and laughed at the sheer stupidity of the situation while Taehyun looked like he couldn’t believe he was roped into the ridiculous project. Danah had a cute pout on, bottom lip sticking out causing Zico to realise he had failed his mission to keep her happy.

“What about Korea? Maybe we can break Korea’s record,” he suggested to Seunghoon to look at the nation’s records. There was no such thing mentioned anywhere as “Biggest Snowman in Korea.” Finally, Zico turned to Danah and smiled what he believed was his most charming smile ever. “It’s okay. Let’s break your own record. How tall was the one you made last year?”

Danah visibly brightened up at the question. “It was up to my waist,” she stood up and pointed at where her waist was.

“Then this time we will make a snowman as tall as you,” he said, also standing up.

Mino came up beside him and Zico flinched under his skin, afraid for his life. However, Mino did not tackle him to the ground like he had feared he would for daring to talk to Danah. What he got instead was a firm slap on the shoulder and a Thank You whispered next to his ear. He watched as Mino then walked over to Taehyun who was still sitting with his back against the half-built snowman. He continued looking as Mino proceeded to rest his knees on either side of the annoyed guy’s legs, whispering something Zico can’t hear and rubbing their noses together. He stood transfixed as the annoyance left Taehyun’s face to be replaced by a radiant smile. The couple got up from their positions, positively recharged to build the snowlady which was to be henceforth called Danah. A touch of longing filled Zico’s heart again, to have something similar. He no longer bothered to hide his need anymore.

“They look good together, don’t they?” Danah came up beside him and Zico almost leaped in fright. The Song siblings have the worst habit of creeping into people’s personal space. Zico cleared his throat and nodded in affirmation.

After they finished making the snowlady, Zico saw Danah taking a secret snapshot of her brother and Taehyun as they kissed behind the snowlady when they thought no one was looking. He knew then that Danah was as much a closet romantic as he was.                         

------------------- 

What sound was that?

I turn away, into the shaking room.

What was that sound that came in on the dark?
What is this maze of light it leaves us in?
What is this stance we take,
To turn away and then turn back?
What did we hear?

It was the breath we took when we first met.

Listen. It is here.

-Harold Pinter

A/N: Sorry I took another break from namsong. This chapter was written years ago for my "namsong group" friend Isabella who shipped Zico and Danah hard. The only Dazi shipper I know. She probably won't be reading this but here it is anyway.