The sound of muffled footsteps, slowly moving down the street, near a familiar building, it was already dark and the snow that had come down in the afternoon was resting on the ground as I left evidence of my existence behind by marking the snow in the shape of my feet.

Winter...
This season I love...
People would ask me why I love it.
I would ask them why they asked.
The snow is beautiful, everyone huddling together to find warmth, making friendships and family bonds grow stronger that way, and the nice warm clothes you see everywhere, those were a few reasons why I love winter.

A small smile found it's way onto my face as I turned a corner, seeing my destination was already very near, I moved on, continuing to leave footsteps in the snow, my breath coming out in small white clouds that could be seen in the light of the houses I passed.

The feeling of the winter air, it was cold, even freezing, but somehow pleasant too, as was the ice that covered the water of lakes and rivers, beautifully sparkling as the sun would shine on it.
Of course, I couldn't see that at that moment, but I remembered it, as I had seen it before with my friends, we had enjoyed the things winter had to offer together, laughing and playing as we always did.
Many precious memories of the beautiful moments in winter I had with my friends, and also other memories of just as or even more precious than those, things I won't forget, no matter what happens, I'll remember it all, because it's all so precious to me, as my friends and family are.

I walked up to the building of my destination, entering the key of the security system, the smile on my face slowly fading a little when I set foot into the building and walked to the elevator, which was still on an upper floor.

It was rather sad, since I remembered them while I was fairly sure they wouldn't be waiting for me to come home, since they all had their things to do, even at this time, while we weren't as busy as usual, they were out to hang out with their friends or family.
I wasn't doing the same because I still had some things to take care of, so I came home late, and it was going to be so quiet in the usually lively dorm, that was one of the things I didn't quite like about winter.
No matter how busy we were when we all had schedules full of activities, at least we would all come home to meet each other, but around this time of year, the members always seemed to split up a little to visit their other loved-ones.
I didn't mind it too much and I was really glad that we could finally have some rest and spend some time with our families, but I did have to be honest, I did miss them at times like that, the empty dorm always seemed to have something strange to it.

The elevator arrived, it was empty, I stepped inside and pressed the button for the right floor, taking one last look at the snow-covered street outside before the doors of the elevator closed, making me unable to see the outside world.
It started moving up, soon enough reaching it's destination, the doors slid open before I stepped outside and walked towards the door of the dorm, a mix of familiar feelings of the place I could call my home and some sort of loneliness filling me as I walked.
I opened the door, stepping into the abandoned dorm, I wasn't sure how I really felt about it, all I could do was make my way over to the window and look outside, looking at the streets outside, the view of winter waiting for me outside.

Winter... I love it, but it has it's downsides too.
That lonely feeling when I'm suddenly not surrounded by my friends any more when I come back home, I probably wouldn't get used to it no matter how many times it happened.
The dorm meant home for me at that moment, but not because of the kitchen, the living room or the bedrooms, but the people that lingered in it, my friends, the members, they were what made it feel right for me to come to the dorm after a long day of work.
But at that moment, there wasn't anyone with me, I was alone and I wasn't sure how to feel about it, of course it was nice and peaceful for once, but I liked my friends' loud conversation as much as I loved joining in and laughing along with them.
I missed them, as I did every time I was away from them for too long, I missed our dorky kid leader Taeyeon, our eye-smiling manager Tiffany, our aegyo queen Sunny, our wise maknae Seohyun, our prankster Yuri, our alligator-laughing Yoona, our dancing queen and resident joker Hyoyeon, and of course my-

“Sooyoungie!”
I turned around at the sound of that familiar, soft and sweet yet strong voice, finding the source standing at the door of our room.
“Jessica?” I smiled as I spoke her name, I was pleasantly surprised, since I thought I was alone, but out of everyone, she was the person I was most glad to find.
“Why are you home so late? I thought you went to visit your parents or something...” Jessica said, she seemed a bit relieved, I shook my head a little, my smile widening.
“No, I told you I had a late schedule, right? I thought you would've gone to hang out with Krystal by now...” I replied, it was Jessica's turn to shake her head.
“Ah, right... Krystal called earlier, said she was going to hang out with Amber and the rest instead. It's good to know their group is bonding well~ … Too bad ours seems to be very split-up right now...” Jessica said as her eyes wandered around the empty dorm, showing a small pout.
“Hey, we've still got each other, right?” I said, her gaze returned to me, our eyes locking before we both smiled, she nodded a little before she hugged me softly.
“Of course... I'm really glad...” She muttered shyly, I couldn't help but chuckle a little as I held her close, enjoying the warmth between us.
“I'm really glad too... You're the person I was hoping to see the most...” I confessed, she pulled out of the hug, giving me a slightly surprised look before she smiled shyly.
 “Yah... Why are you so cheesy?” She muttered as her cheeks turned a little red, I chuckled as I looked at her.
“I'm just telling the truth... and you know you love it.” I said, she giggled and nodded before she stepped a little closer to me again.
“Yes, I love it... And I love you...” She said as she smiled a little, the blush on her cheeks increasing a little, I smiled back at her.
“And I love you too...” I replied before leaning towards her, closing the gap between us, our lips met in a soft kiss.

Winter...
It seems cold, but in truth, it's filled with warmth.
That's another reason I love winter.
But I love it the most because it reminds me of you...
I love you, my winter...