The air outside was just too cold. There was no snow or whatsoever but the winter had decided to show off how cold it actually could be. Mostly, this could be used as an excuse to get closer to people and that was exactly the way this male’s mind thought. December had arrived and with it, the cold weather had settled in. The warmness his home slapped against his skin made him feel comfortable; it felt just perfect to be back home when they managed to gather the family together even if there was a vacant seat on the table that belonged to someone they dearly loved.

The male opened the door, smiling at the warm air that hit his face; his mother was busy, cooking in the kitchen, perhaps way too busy to even notice her son had arrived. He smiled softly noticing how the house already gave off the feeling of yet another Christmas passing by.

‘’I’m sure Donghyuk will be here soon.’’ he heard his mother’s voice coming from the kitchen, making him smile even more at the sound of this female’s voice. He wasn’t even sure if he could ever put through words how much he actually missed her. It was impossible to describe the empty feeling he carried; even though it was empty, it was heavy, heavier than he could ever think.

‘’Oh, Donghyuk oppa…’’ his sister smiled, noticing her older brother was at home, finally. She walked up to him, hugging him tightly; without wasting any second, he hugged her back tightly since he also missed her. She was his sister after all. However, the male frowned. She didn’t come from the kitchen, which meant someone else must be there with his mother. He peeked at his sister, pulling away just slightly to ask her if she knew who was there. He didn’t need to ask her as the female read it off his worries ‘’She’s here.’’

The fact she didn’t mention a name made the male’s heart stop for a second. He looked at his sister who didn’t ask anything else, confirming his thoughts. It was someone he knew, quite well. Someone he left behind some time ago, but she didn’t argue back. Instead, she told him she’d support him but she didn’t really stay there to support him. She made her choice to follow her path as well, leaving him back with the original two people team that’d got his back no matter what.

Donghyuk looked away as his sister let go of him and stepped back ‘’At least she came back, right?’’ she started, earning her brother’s attention but he didn’t seem to be so convinced about it. Was there any reason for her to be back anyways? He wasn’t totally sure. Why was she back after so long? He shrugged once and peeked over at the kitchen - even if he wanted to hide it, he wanted to know her reasons and give her a chance to explain herself as she didn’t seem to care enough to give him any kind of reason. ‘’She’s back. It has to mean something. And if you keep running away from it..’’ but the female stopped speaking as her brother nodded once, giving up to her. She was right. However, it didn’t mean he’d use her advice.

‘’I’m going to get some a-’’ before he could finish his sentence, his mother came out of the kitchen since there seemed to be two voices talking in the living room. ‘’Oh, Donghyuk-ah!’’ the female called out, wiping her hands just to run up to him and hug him tightly, checking on him. ‘’Oh my, are you hungry? Donghyuk-ah, you lost so much weight. Have you been eating well?’’ she worriedly asked him, making the male end up chuckling at his mother’s worries - he missed this.

His chuckle made the female, who still was in the kitchen. She peeked from the door, knowing Donghyuk wouldn’t properly be welcoming when he saw her. She hid herself, feeling glad the kitchen. The female leaned against the wall, resting her hand over her chest, sighing quietly at the thought of being rejected. Donghyuk’s mother has been calming her down for the past hour but all that had vanished away from her body as soon as the male arrived. Her mind was panicking at the thought of meeting him.

She decided to walk out; maybe running away again would be easier for both. Her body took her to the door that lead the way to the outside; she already forgot her jacket that was hanging by the main door - she couldn’t do this. It was wrong in every way, coming back just to run away again? He’d be hurt in the end and knowing him and his story, she understood it was probably the worst thing she could do.

Her hand reached for the knob, twisting it without making any sound; she wanted to get out as quickly as possible. ‘’Are you running away...again?’’ Donghyuk’s voice spoke, making her freeze - this time, she was caught running away. It was not like last time when he couldn’t stop her because he was away and unaware of her actions. She couldn’t call it running away if she decided to follow her dreams like he did. ‘’Why did you come back if you’re just going to run away like last time?’’ the female didn’t have any answer for him.

‘’The least you could do would be answering me, don’t you think I deserve that?’’ Jiyeon sighed quietly at the way his question sounded in her head. Her hand was still holding onto the knob, making her wonder if she could just leave him there with his questions when  to come back for him. She shook her head slowly, pulling the door towards her and walking out.

Donghyuk raised an eyebrow at her actions - he didn’t understand her, the slightest. Rolling his eyes, he walked back towards the living room, picking up the jacket he had noticed after his mother mentioned the fact the person he had once cared so much for, was right there. ‘’Donghyuk, is everything okay?’’ he didn’t answer. His hand reached for the jacket and the next thing they knew was that the front door was closing. He was heading out to the cold when the warmness was so welcoming.

‘’Yoo Jiyeon!’’ he shouted, following the female who kept walking like that name didn’t belong to her. It felt great to hear his voice calling her out but at the same time, it felt very troublesome. Her arms were freezing out in the cold and she could only curse inside her head for forgetting her jacket. ‘’Jiyeon…’’ Donghyuk’s voice was fading behind her. It made her remember the way she felt when he wasn’t around. It was almost depressing. His bright smile wasn’t there to bring her mood up. His silly comments weren’t there to make her laugh, much less himself. He wasn’t there and her life didn’t feel complete.

She turned back, looking for the male who was nowhere to be seen. She frowned at how similar this was to hear dreams. He was nowhere. Her eyes couldn’t see him and it was almost worst than being blind. She felt sick at the thought of being unable to see him. Jiyeon frowned, looking down at the floor. How could she just throw him away again?

A jacket landed on her head ‘’How can you leave without your jacket? And my mom already cooked dinner so stay for dinner at least. I won’t hold you back if you don’t want to stay.’’ he mumbled, walking ahead of her, towards the house they just left.

Dinner was alright. Jiyeon was almost like family since they were childhood friends; they used to be over each other’s houses all the time, until things got complicated. His mother was nice enough to abdicate of her time with her son to let them speak.

After cleaning up, they decided to go outside, so they wouldn’t bother his family anymore; with all the trouble she brought to them, she thought that was the least she could do. They stood outside, quiet for a while as the conversation seemed hard to initiate.

‘’I’m sorry...for leaving without any warning.’’ she started, biting down her bottom lip, knowing she had more to say ‘’I also wanted to achieve my dreams, you know?’’ she continued, looking somewhere even if there was nothing worth her time. She couldn’t face him in that moment ‘’ And I couldn’t keep my promise but I tried, I really did.’’ she smiled slightly, nodding firmly ‘’But I still didn’t manage to.’’ she mumbled quietly, sighing in the end.

‘’I told you it was okay. We’d meet if we were supposed to. You’re here for a reason, right? You came back.’’ he used part of what his sister told him earlier, provoking a smile over the female’s lips. She nodded once, firmly at his answer ‘’I guess it was better this way. If you stayed, I wouldn’t be here either.’’ he told her, looking over at her ‘’But I would still appreciate it if you allowed me to reach out for you, that time.’’ Jiyeon nodded slowly, knowing he was right.

‘’I missed you.’’ out of all their conversation, this may have been the most sincere words that the female had spoken that day. Donghyuk’s lips curved up into a soft smile. ‘’I missed you too’’ he answered back, still not taking his eyes off her. That brought a gentle smile to the female’s lips as well. She managed to look at him, rather shyly at the way he looked at her. Their feelings didn’t seem to vanish. His eyes looked into hers, making the cold seem too little to even bother them.

‘’Can I hold your hand?’’ the silence vanished as he finally spoke, asking a simple question to the female who looked at their hands. They were close to each other but he didn’t move it towards hers. She looked up at him and shook her head ‘’No.’’ Jiyeon completed her answer, moving closer to him just to hug him tightly; the frown that had been placed over his lips because of her answer, vanished as he felt her arms around him. She went on ‘’But you can hold onto me.’’ Donghyuk laughed, forcing his arms around the female.

‘’Still cheeky, I see…’’