He felt cold.

Summer approached, but his heart was wintered.

Cracked glasses, shattered mirrors, broken frames – all caused by his frozen heart. Every burning touch of hers had been swept away. Her warmth presence lingered no more. All that was left is her haunting absence. The faint trace of her Chanel perfume. Her favourite dress which he had kept hidden in his side of the closet. The scented candles which he hated but she loved. Her unmade side of the bed, whose pillow he hugged to sleep each night since she left. The sticky notes she had used as a reminder for him – he reads every single day without missing a line.

He was a mess.

He was a complete wreck.

And he has never stopped feeling cold, ever since the day she left.

< >

She was being followed.

She quickened her steps, and so did her pursuer.

Carefully, she slid her hand inside the large tote bag she was carrying. She rummaged through her cluster of things blindly, until her fingers wrapped themselves around the small, light bottle. Taking a deep breath, she silently counted to 3 before whirling around quickly, holding the pepper spray high up.

Unexpectedly, he had anticipated her move and was quick to intercept her hand before she could even aim properly.

“Hel – “ she started to scream, but was immediately silenced by his lips on hers.

Ahyoung tried to fight him off, hands flailing to slap him away but his grip on her was too strong. Left with no choice, she bit down on his bottom lip hard, causing him to wince out loud as he finally released her.

Only then did she realise what she had done.

“Oh my god! I’m so sorry!”

Seokjin’s face scrunched up in pain as he touched his now bleeding lip. “Geez. Don’t you recognise your own boyfriend anymore?”

Ahyoung tentatively brushed his sliced lip with her thumb, pouting as she said, “It was your fault! Why did you creep up behind me like that? I thought you were some bad person trying to hurt me – “

He grabbed hold of her hand which was still fussing over him. “And I told you I will never let anyone or anything hurt you.”

She scoffed. “Well technically, you aren’t supposed to be in town, remember? I thought you’d only be back the day after tomorrow?”

Her intertwined their fingers together and shrugged. “I came back early to surprise you. I didn’t know I’d get hurt trying to kiss my own girlfriend.”

“Creeping up behind her in a back alley and stealing a kiss stealthily – you call that a surprise? You actually deserve that.”

Seokjin pulled her closer to him and leaned in forward until their faces were only inches apart. Ahyoung held her breath, heart racing as she lost herself in his intense gaze. One thing that still hasn’t change, even though they’ve been together for almost two years now is the way he makes her feel every time he looks at her. It made her weak, and powerless and completely in love.

“You should do something about my bruised lip,” he said in a low voice.

“I don’t want to. I think it kind of makes you look y,” she joked.

He tilted his head slightly. “Is that so?”

She let out a hearty laugh. “I’ve missed you.”

He returned with an “I miss you too” just before their lips met again, willingly this time.

Kim Ahyoung met Kim Seokjin when she was 18.

Beneath his obnoxious, cold façade, she saw the caring young man who had a soft spot for kids, the determination in his eyes whenever he desires something and the sensitive, soulful musician whom he hides behind his jock reputation.

She fell in love with him when she was 19 and she stayed in love until they were both 21.

But just one day after she turned 22, she made a decision which completely tore him apart.

She packed up her things and walked away from the three-room apartment they had shared for a year and a half.

Ahyoung never looked back again.

She was finishing up on her 3000 word essay before the 6pm deadline, totally engrossed in her work, when somebody suddenly pulled out the empty chair next to her and set himself down.

“How come you’re still here?”

“I just have a few more paragraphs left,” she answered without looking up. “I’ll never get any work done if I do it at home.”

The person next to her chuckled lightly.

“Too much distractions?”

“Dramas.”

He laughed at her blunt honesty. “Okay then. I’ll accompany you until you’re done.”

Ahyoung finally took her eyes off the screen for a moment and shot him a look. “No, you don’t have to. I’ll be fine on my own.”

Hongbin simply smiled in return. “It’ll get dark soon. Don’t you know it’s dangerous to let a girl walk home by herself in the dark?”

She rolled her eyes as her fingers continued to type away furiously. “Don’t let me keep you from a date.”

Hongbin stretched out his left arm across the table and rested his head on it. “Seriously? You actually think I have a date?”

“Why don’t you?”

“What about you then?” he shot back. “I’ve never seen you gone out with any guy from campus.”

“None of the boys in this college catches my attention,” she shrugged. “I have a pretty high taste, you know?”

He fixed his gaze on her frazzled, scrunched up expression and couldn’t help thinking how beautiful she still looks despite the messy bun and strands of hair falling around her heart-shaped face. The light make up she had put on had already started to wear off and she seemed completely flushed, yet his heart was still racing at the sight of her natural beauty.

“You should,” he said absentmindedly.

“Sorry, what was that?”

Hongbin blinked a couple of times, finally catching a hold of himself. He nearly gave himself up. If she hadn’t been so distracted by her work, Ahyoung surely would’ve caught him staring at her.

And he didn’t feel like confessing yet, right there and then.

Just then, the two of them were startled by the sudden loud vibration on the long wooden table. He watched as she reached over for her phone, glanced down at the caller ID, before casting it aside uncomfortably. He noticed how her eyes lingered on the still vibrating phone for a few more seconds, before she looked away and hit the enter key on her laptop.

“I’m done!” she said brightly, something which she was clearly forcing out. “Shall we go now?”

Hongbin couldn’t help peeking at the ignored call on her phone – which made up the tenth missed call on the list. There were unread text messages in the background too.

“Sure,” he smiled up at her. “Let’s go. Do you want to grab dinner first?”

“Of course!” her eyes widened happily at the mention of food. “I’m starving!”

He stood up and stepped aside to let her walk away first. He saw how she quickly switched off her phone before keeping it inside of her bag.

It left him curious.

Who was Seokjin?

Why was Ahyoung avoiding him?