[23:09 The Pink Snow]
By: Jennilyn

She hugged the piece of cloth around her shoulders as she shivered from the sudden coldness that touches her skin. Feeling something, vibrating next to her, she slowly flutter her eyes open. The draped curtains of the window welcomed her vision as she blankly stare at the white thing that's falling from the sky... Snow...

She was too engrossed, watching the snow falling outside the window, creating a beautiful view along with the lights of the city serving as its background. A small smile curved on her lips.

This eternal beauty... She thought to herself. It's always been her favorite past time... Watching the snow fall from the sky during winter and admiring the view until she drive herself to sleep, waking up with the same scene the next morning.

Just few moments ago, that's what she's been doing until she drifted to a slumber and was woken up by the vibrating sound of her phone on top of her table. She once again, hugged the blanket around her body and shifted her head to the other side of the table. Raising her left arm, she reached for her phone.

21:36
December 24

It vibrated again, and the familiar name appeared on its screen. Taking a deep breath, she swiped her thumb to the right to answer the call and set it to speakers.

"Dara..."

"Hmmm?"

"Where are you?"

"Home..."

"Which one?"

"White Snow..."

"As expected..." the person from the other line sighed upon hearing the name of her current location. She too, sighed and once again shifted her head to the other side, facing the window. "What are you doing?"

"Watching..."

"You are watching the snow again, I see..." there's a long silence from the other line which she didn't mind at all. Her emotions just overflowed the moment she mention the name of the place that she cannot even talk properly to the person, calling her right now.

Watching those white thing as they fall from the sky pinches her heart and squeezes her soul. She felt the familiar dizziness on her head as she hug the blanket around her body and inhaled the familiar, faint scent it possess.

"Say Dar---"

"I miss him..." she whispered, enough for the person from the other line to hear. "I miss him..." she repeated... "Miss him..." and uttered for the third time... "M-miss him..." with trembling voice, she whispered with tears blurring her vision.

"I know..."

"I miss him..." the familiar pain inside her chest won't just subside every time the same day will come. With the same words ringing inside her mind, uttering it for countless of times, while clutching the blanket around her body, she agonizes for his disappearance.

"I know..." and the person from the other line would always utter the same words just to answer her. Every time the same day will come, the same scene always happens. 

It's been seven years and it never miss a year that this day will not come. It never just miss, no matter how they ignore, it's always bound to come.

"Jae..."

Upon the mention of the name, he froze, he still has the same response to it. The sound of her voice on the same day each year that passes, haunts him, he couldn't just miss the day without enduring listening to her pains and cries, as she utter the name.

"I miss him..."

Memories of the past started pouring along the whiteness surrounding the whole city.

"I once read a story of a girl who had lost her love ones but still ended up with the person she loves..." Dara said as she lay down on the grass and stared at the night sky above.

"How amazing how she still ended up loving another person other than herself..." the guy she's with uttered as he lay down next to her, facing the wide horizon.

"You are cruel, Kwon Jiyong. How can you possibly say that?" she said as she faced his direction to glare at him which he just responded with a smile. 

"Why not? Aren't the past fictions you've told me, all the same? The female protagonist will lost her family, or lost her child, or lost the person she loves, until she's left with nothing. In the end, she'll just chose not to love and care about others, other than herself. Was it different this time?" he asked as he glanced at her direction. 

"Well, you're right. But this time, this person she ended up with, she had always loved him. She carried his supposedly child but she lost it after he left her, then her friend who turns out to be in love with her for years confessed to her and she learned to love him back. When she's already moving on, the guy who left her came back---"

"To steal her away? Typical story." Jiyong interrupted.

"Hey! Don't interrupt!" she exclaimed and glared at him which he just responded with a chuckle and asked for her to proceed with her story. "Well, alright, he came back and was planning to steal her away but he didn't pushed it through. Because when he came back for her, she was already engaged with the person who's been there, next to her. She still love her past but she did her best to love the present. But one day, her present---"

"Died because a party shot him, dead..."

"Why do you keep on interrupting me?!" she burst and sat up to glare down at him. "And why do you keep on guessing it right? Are you the writer of those fictions?!" 

Jiyong can't help but to laugh aloud, seeing her puffed cheeks while glaring at him. "Alright, alright. I'll listen attentively now. This one seems to be different from your past stories..."

"It is! But why do you keep on interrupting me and adding the exact plot of the story?"

"It's because, I am genius as that..." he boasted as she just ignored him and lay on her back once again. 

Well, he's smart, okay. But this one should be her specialty and he should not interrupt her with the only thing that she can boast at him. He's really arrogant, why is she friends with him again? She just can't remember.

"I don't want to continue anymore" she said and just raised her arm, pretending to reach for the stars.

"Then, I'll make a guess..."

"Whatever Jiyong. I am not in the mood anymore."

"Her present was shot but he was able to survive and at that moment, she realized that she's already in love with him more than she loved her past. They ended up together while her past remained watching her from afar, loving her, and only her for the rest of his life..." he still continued and reached out for her hand as he held it using his.

They remained like that for a few moments when Dara decided to talk once again.

"That was a good ending, but that's not what really happened. The present died and she cried for months before she got the courage to visit his grave and speak to him. That's when she confessed, she's still in love with her past. But unknown to her, the present was aware of that. On the day of her and her past's late child's birthday, they visited her at the same time and there, they sorted out their feelings and promised their life time with each other..." she continued her story.

This made Jiyong, smile.

"If you were in the female protagonist's case, what will you do? Who will you choose? The past or the present?"

"Me? I might choose the present."

"Why? What qualities does the present have that you'll choose him over the past?" he asked as he dragged their arms down and rested them on their side, still holding her hand.

"They're almost the same. The protagonist loved them both. They both made her happy and they both made her cry. The difference is that, with the past, she became happy until she was left hanging and cried over his disappearance afterwards. While with the present, he made him cry at the first moments of their relationship until later on, he made her happy and she can finally smile genuinely. I'd rather choose to love the latter. Did you get my point?"

"I guess?" he muttered and they were engulfed by silence afterwards. "Then, who am I from the two?" he asked out of nowhere.

She tilted her head to the side in order to face him. She was taken aback when she found him, staring at her, as if he's waiting for her answer.

"W-what?"

"Who am I to you?"

She cannot understand what he meant by his words but for some reason, she found herself responding... "The present..."

He looked away and chuckled. "The present huh? There must be a past..."

"Why? Who do you wanted to be then?" she asked, still staring at him. He once again, tilted his head to her side and stared directly into her eyes. She stared back at them as she felt that familiar fast beating of her heart. "Who are you to me, Jiyong?"

"Either of the two, as long as I'll be the reason behind all your emotions, I wouldn't mind being the past or the present...or even the future. As long as it's me behind your tears, smiles, laughters, cries, your everything, I'll be contented."

"W-why...?"

He smiled and tilted his head, facing the sky. "Nothing much..."

Confused, a crease formed on Dara's forehead. "Nothing m-much?" 

He squeezed her hand and before she knew it, he was already hovering on top of her, staring down at her. She didn't dare move an inch as she just stared back at him. His long, black hair, was swaying along the wind as his eyes were just on her. 

"Nothing in this world matters any more other than..."

"T-than?"

"My heart that shouts the words I love you..." he whispered as he closes the gap between their faces. As he was moving closer, Dara can't help the fast beating of her heart and the chaotic movement of the butterflies inside her stomach. She can feel his hot breath, close to her face and she closed her eyes, waiting for what will happen next. "I love you, Park Sandara..." he whispered and sealed her lips.

"Why are we here? This doesn't look like a simple rain anymore, Dara. Let's go back where the others are..." Jiyong shouted from the strong gush of wind and continuous pouring of rain.

But Dara remained still, while facing the strong waves of the sea. 

"Go ahead first, Jiyong. I'll be staying. I have to get that..." she shouted back, not facing him.

"Get what? Don't be like this Dara, I can't leave you here in this kind of weather. This is a serious matter..." he said as he walked to her and grabbed her arm, finally having her to face his direction. There's a knot on her forehead and despite the pouring rain, he can