He loved to run. It was something that was ingrained in Minho ever since he could walk. There was always something or someone to run after. His parents, his older brother, a soccer ball, a bus that he was late for. Running gave him a sense of exhilaration and thrill. Whether it be from scoring a goal or even just a simple morning jog, running was a way for him to just feel freedom. Plus, it always helped that he was good at it.

But now, Minho felt like his legs weighed as much as led and that he just could not run fast enough.

Where is she? Is it even her? He though frantically as he stopped to turn his head in all directions. It has to be her. Who else would leave banana milk behind? Who else would pick up the pieces?

He spotted a small figure about fifty meters to his left. The person was carrying black grocery bags and wore a thick large scarf around her neck. She was moving at a fast pace as if trying to get home as soon as possible. It could have been any random girl out on errands in December, eager to get out of the cold snowy winter.

Even as his head screamed it was risky and reckless, his legs started to run in the persons direction.

Why I am running? It’s not her, Minho’s fists were tight around the silver links of his broken bracelet and small banana milk as he thought furiously to himself. The figure of the girl was getting closer and closer. It’s not her, it’s not her so why am I running? Why do I care?

Why can’t I let her go?

His fingers reached out to cross the distance between him and her shoulder. The distance felt so long, so vast. Distance and time separated them. Angry, hurtful words spoiled the happiness he had not felt since he was a child.

As he touched her shoulder and saw those wide, brown surprised eyes, Minho realized in that moment that even if he had to cross an ocean, even if he had to go to every bookstore in Korea, every playground, every first class seat. Even if he had to still stupidly carry around The Little Prince and drink banana milk and spend his nights looking at a phone number he did not have the courage to dial...

Even if the distance could be bridged by giving up his idol status, his identity as Choi Minho of Shinee and be lowered to just a common man…

He would do it.

He would do it for her.
 

The playground was empty and some snow rested on the slides and jungle gyms. It was dark out and the lamp posts illuminated the area. Minho sat quietly beside her on the swings, not knowing what to say or whether to wait for her to say something first. They silently walked towards the playground after he caught up with her. He always stayed a couple steps ahead of her – Or did she stay a couple steps behind me? – and whenever he sneaked a glance behind him, she was always looking at any direction other than him. The rustle of the grocery bags she carried made him want to reach out and grab one to free her of the burden, but his voice seemed stuck in his throat. So he kept walking until he saw an achingly familiar set of swings from the playground he loved so dearly in the past.

The past.

Minho tried to think of something to say. “Hey, how have you been? Sorry I practically told you to get the hell out of my life. The weather is nice!” He inwardly groaned at the ridiculousness of the statement, but opened his mouth to say something.

“Did you find the bracelet? I left it on the bench,” she said quietly, twiddling with her fingers. “It is broken, so I do not know if you meant to leave it there or not.”

Blood rushed to his face in embarrassment and shame. “Y-Yeah, I found it,” he choked out while staring at the ground. “It is old and broken, so I figured it was time to let it go.”

He caught a quick movement from her body out of the corner of his eye, but before he could confirm it she was twiddling her fingers.

“Yeah, it’s worn out and old. I’m sure you can go buy another better one anyway,” she chuckled weakly.

I don’t want another one, I want the bracelet you gave me, I want it all back because it’s irreplaceable and nothing could every feel the same. I want it fixed; I want us fixed and -

“I have a bunch of others back in the dorm,” Minho started to kick his feet and swing gently. “I will just wear one of those.”

She began to follow him and swing as well. The silence between them stung them more than the winter chill. He sneaked a glance at her. She was the same, yet different. Her hair was longer, her face more narrow and matured. Her arms were a little too skinny for his comfort and the dark circles under her eyes made him think of the nights when he woke up at three in the morning because of his dreams of her. But what made him freeze was a silver band on her right ring finger. It had a blue stone, too large to be a fashion accessory and too large for him to ignore.

His heart pounded so loudly that his ears drummed in sequence. A flood of despair rushed to the bottom of his toes.
Of course she would find someone. Someone who would not yell at her, someone who would take the time to get to know her instead of assuming that he knew every damn thing about her. Minho bitterly thought to himself.Someone who was not an idol and could spend every moment with her instead of having to leave her lonely while he’d be performing in another godforsaken country.

“Congratulations. Onew hyung didn’t mention any engagements, but I’m happy for you,” he gritted through his teeth. He didn’t know why he was so angry and jealous. He had never had the right to be so, and even if he did, he relinquished it a long time ago.

“Engagement? What on earth are you talking about?” she said quickly, in a confused tone. She glanced over at her hands and showed him the ring. “This is not an engagement ring. It was my mother’s.”

Minho wanted to laugh at his stupidity and assumptions but before he could apologize, _____ continued.

“My dad gave it to me to wear a couple months ago,” she cautiously said, as if fighting with herself to continue. “My mother was a florist. She would always take me to her store when I was younger and pointed out all of the flowers she liked. One day when I was there, Jinki came to buy some flowers for his own mother. He tripped over a huge wedding display my mom had prepared and well, that’s how we became friends.”

She let out an unfeminine snort of laughter at the memory as he remained silent.

“JInki and I would eventually end up at the same elementary and middle schools. He was older but we always shared my mother’s packed lunch. But by middle school, I grew to resent my family because I had an absentee father who was always on business trips and a mother who seemed too weak to care if her family was broken due to her husband. I always cut my hair short to make my mom angry and I’d spend nights at Jinki’s house playing video games and pretending like my mother didn’t exist,” Her voice started to wobble and Minho saw her eyes become glassy. “My mom would always fall asleep during movies. I hated it. I couldn’t understand why she was tired and sick all the time before it was too late. By the time I did, she was gone and Jinki had left for S.M. Academy.  My father spent even more time overseas and I had run away to the States.”

Minho watched her fiddle with the ring. He wanted to say something, anything to stop those wet trails flowing down her cheeks. But he remained frozen in his seat and stayed feeling like a fool for never asking her of her life and assumingso much when he knew so little.

“I can’t even remember her favorite flower. She told me a billion times, but I can’t remember. It has been eating at me for years and I thought my return to Korea a couple years ago would drive me insane,” she laughed meekly. “But then I met you.”

“You were so kind, so funny. I thought you were Jinki’s other self, only less clumsy obviously,” she began to swing harder. “Before I knew it, I was seeing you everywhere. You helped me forget about all of those bad memories of my mother and Jinki and I was so happy. I thought I was healed. But I was only fooling myself, wasn’t I? I was using you to pretend that I was fine and unbroken and you were using me to live out your old life. But I was worse, I lied to you so many times and you stayed honest. You never lied to me, even if you were blinded.”

She turned her head to smile at him.

He suddenly forgot how to breathe.

“Minho, I am so sorry,” she said, brushing away her tears with her wrists. “I’m pretty awful aren’t I? Getting angry at you for sleeping at the movies because you reminded me of my mother and Jinki. Lying to you about my friendship with your leader. Gosh, you must think I am absolutely insane now! But that’s okay. I probably am. I understand if you want nothing to do with me now. Don’t worry, if I happen to see you on the streets or the bus stop or the bookstore or whatever, I’ll walk away. We don’t have to see each other again and have these stupid little meetings and you can be free of me. Just let me say one last goodbye to you today, okay?”
 
He stood silent, soaking all of it in. Finally, all of the pieces of the puzzle came together. But…

Goodbye? Never see each other again? No. No! I’m tired of autumn. I’m tired of winter. I’m tired of all of this change… I’m tired of nothing changing. I want something new, I want to just start over with her. I want to be Choi Minho of Shinee but I want to be Choi Minho, the regular man.

I want spring.

Minho stood abruptly from his swing and walked towards her. He grabbed the chain length of the swing to make her stop and knelt down to see her eye to eye.

Those eyes. Her eyes.

Before, he thought they were black and perfectly almond shaped. But now, he could see the brown flecks reflected by the light, the slight uneven shape of her eyes. Minho could see all of the cracks in her life that he ignored before. He could see the frozen heart in her that was desperately trying to melt but did not want to risk being bared to be hurt again.

For the first time, he saw her.

“I was never blinded. I did not see everything that I see now, but before I thought you were the most beautiful person I’ve ever met,” he whispered, carefully bringing a hand to her cheek. “I see clearly now. I see all of the little things that make you up. I see all of the little things that made me fall for you, even when I didn’t realize until now. I see all of the little things that make you beautiful.”

Slowly, hesitantly, he brought her up from her seat on the swings to help her stand up. Minho began to wrap his slightly shaking arms around her waist and pulled her into an embrace. He felt her freeze up, wanting to pull away but he just held onto her, unwilling to let her go again.

“Please do not say goodbye,” Minho whispered into her hair. “I promise when this winter is over, I will love you in the spring.”

She quietly brought her head to his chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart. She felt warm – she finally felt warm in the cold winter chills. All from the person embracing her, promising her things that she wanted to cry of hope from hearing.

He did not know if she would trust him. So much was gone from their meetings and so much was shattered. Whatever trust that was between them before was now gone, frozen in the snow.

But as he felt her arms slowly come up to wrap around his torso to bring him closer… As he heard the barely there whisper of “I’ll be waiting. Please wait for me too”, he had hope. Gently, he bowed his head to and let a finger pull her chin up to see him. 

And let his lips meet hers in promise. 

They had hope that winter would freeze their pain and their misunderstandings away. Winter would freeze their old relationship away and let it die. They had hope that spring would melt away their frozen, hesitant hearts.. To leave them bare. Vulnerable.

Maybe they would never love each other, maybe they would hurt each other again and decide to say goodbye for the final time. Promises could easily be broken, and both were fully aware of it. But while waiting for spring, they had hope that the little things like banana milk, silver chains, flowers, and books will let love bloom.

So they will wait until the bitter winds of winter would end…

And hope for spring. 

A/N: This is basically the final chapter. 

Yes, I said it, this is basically the final chapter. It's a monster. It took me five hours of nonstop writing. It's a little broken, a little unpolished, but hey, so is the relationship between Minho and the main character. I wish I had the talent to not vomit everything on you guys, but sadly, I do not. Please enjoy the word vomit of this chapter. 

I cannot say if the two characters have a happy ending. I cannot say that they'll fall in love and have cute little babies. The Little Things was always intended to not have a blatant happy ending or a sad one. I wanted it to be profound and left mostly up to the reader. 

Who knows what spring will bring though! 

Epilogue will come if you guys want to see what I see their relationship is heading. I will probably post it if you guys want by around this time next week. Feedback would be appreciated :) 

If not, thank you all for reading this story! I'm really honored to have such a wonderful response to my first posted and completed story. 

Cheers! 
sanatoriawhisper