It was cold, it was white and she was lost.

IU never had a good sense of direction, rather, she always had someone else to lead the way for her, but now she was all alone.

With each step her feet sank into the snow, her short stature didn’t help, as it would eat up to her waist. She wanted to go home, back to the old wooden lodge that she had hated, where the walls creaked and the crevices leaked a cold breeze she could not locate, where the heater hummed a soothing warmth and where Taemin would be, right next door, where he always was.

Since an early age, Sally would stay with her father at the lodge during her winter breaks, and although she hated it she would go, just because it would mean she could see Taemin. Taemin was someone whom IU had always admired, he was tall, strong, reckless but smart, and he was always there to help her when she fell ice-skating or failed at building a snowman. But as they grew older, her admiration turned into a crush. One does not fall in love instantly, it is like the sun, it begins warm with a beautiful glow but one day you will wake up and realise it may have become too intense, burning with desire. Thus, IU, determined to escape the feelings, or dive deeper, approached Taemin one day, as he lay atop the car, basking under the rays created by a break in the grey clouds.

Her words were soft and her voice trembled as she laid her emotions out to him. Taemin did not reply, his brown eyes stared at her with shock and she could not tell if he was blushing for the cold air gave his cheeks a perpetual pink glow.

‘I-I’m sorry’ he began, but that was all she heard as she ran out in embarrassment, her hands covering her face as she felt it heating up and her thundering heart drowning out the name he was calling.

‘You fool’ she whispered to herself, ‘you utter fool, you were prepared for this, for whatever he might say but you still ran anyway, now look at yourself, you’re lost and for all we know you are going to die here.’

Exhausted and emptying of hope she slumped next to a tree. The reality of her situation was beginning to creep up to her, she really was going to die here and who knows how long it would take for anyone to find her. She was lost and she was scared, her eyelids grew heavy and her mind began to blur as she began to doze off and then, fall into slumber.

‘IU!’

‘IU!’

‘Please wake up IU, you can’t sleep here, you’ll freeze to death.’

Someone was calling her name, Taemin was calling her name, somewhere in the far off distant.

Her blurry eyes opened to her surroundings, trying to regain focus. It was cold, it was white, no, brown, there was a hint of a familar brown , the same eyes she had admired for 15 years, the same brown eyes that greeted her every day with a smile and the same brown eyes she had hoped to look at her.

‘IU!’ Taemin yelled, shaking her fully awake ‘IU, thank god you are safe.’

‘Taemin?’ she asked, still dazed and confused ‘you found me.’

‘And thank god I did, you wandered off into the woods and I thought I’d never find you, let’s head back quick, you must be freezing.’

‘But how did you find me?’

‘I grew up here’ he replied as he held IU’s hands blowing his hot breath onto them to warm them up ‘tracking a human is actually a lot easier than tracking animals.’

‘You always manage to find me.’

‘That’s because I’m always looking for you.’

‘You make it sound like I always get lost, I can tell you, you would never need to go looking for me when I’m in the city.’

Taemin pulled IU back to her feet and began to lead her home, the sky was darkening and they needed to get back before the night or they would freeze to death.

‘I’m always lookin’ for you IU, especially when you’re in the city. I worry for you IU.’

She could feel her face redden, and even in the harsh winter breeze, she could feel her temperature rising.

‘If I had my way, hold you, like this’ he grabbed her icy cold hands, his fingers entwined with hers and put them in his pockets. ‘And I would never let you go.’