Out of all the possibilities that Minkyung had listed, this was never one of them. She had never considered this as something that would happen during their stay in Chuncheon. She had never once thought of her own sister as a threat to her love life (non-existent love life, actually, but she is working hard to change that).

She had gone out to the nearest convenience store to get some necessary things her mom wanted and just came back to her sister and Kyungwon cuddling on the floor. Minkyung wonders how things could happen so fast when she was out for only twenty minutes. She also wonders what kind of stupid joke her sister cracked for Kyungwon to laugh like that.

Whatever it is they are doing, Minkyung knows she doesn’t really appreciate the sight.

She frowns, thinks, and stares harder. The coldness of winter is messing up with her. The two idiots are still in their own world. In the end, she opts to say nothing and strides into the kitchen.

“Oh? You’re back,” her mom greets her all the while stirring a pot of curry.

Minkyung hums in response and begins taking out the groceries one by one.

“Yerim…seems to be so fond of Kyungwon,” Minkyung’s mom starts slowly, throws her a quick glance then focuses back on the curry.

“Yeah. I could see that.” Minkyung’s not quite sure whether she should be glad that her sister likes her choice or she should feel threatened because she knows Kyungwon has grown to like Yerim a lot only in a span of one and a half days . It took two months for her and Kyungwon to get comfortable enough to have a meal together – She believes that it was because Kyungwon had looked so intimidating and unapproachable (and a little bit too pretty), whereas Kyungwon once confessed that she somehow had mistaken Minkyung’s discomfort as hatred. It was a mess, really.

Her thoughts get abruptly cut off when she hears an outburst kind of loud, stupid laugh coming from the living room and she finally decides that she indeed, doesn’t like it – doesn’t like how easily her sister could make Kyungwon laugh.

“Kyungwon is a great lady.”

Minkyung stops her movement at that and lifts her head to look at her mother.

“What is with the dirty look?”

Minkyung stays mum for a few seconds. “She is not,” she mutters, taking the last item out of its plastic bag.

“But I like her, she is fine.” Minkyung’s mom hums a soft tune to herself. “Pass me a bowl.”

“Okay maybe she is,” Minkyung nonchalantly replies as she grabs a random bowl and hands it to the older woman.

“Otherwise you wouldn’t have brought her home.”

“I am finished. I’ll be inside my room. Bye mom.” In a speed of light, Minkyung flees from the kitchen.

The older woman doesn’t let the slight pink hues escape from her observation. She smiles and shakes her head in amusement. Tsk tsk. Young romance.

 

––

 

“Hey Minkyung,”

Minkyung takes one of her earbuds out. “What do you want?”

“Let’s go get ice cream!”

“My is heavy today. Go ask Yerim,” Minkyung plugs her earbud back in.

“Let’s get ice cream,” Kyungwon urges further after taking both Minkyung’s earbuds out of her ears.

“It’s winter.”

“Ice cream doesn’t know seasons.”

“I don’t like ice cream.”

Kyungwon takes a moment to observe more of Minkyung. She had noticed the change of mood earlier on but decided to brush it off, thinking it was another episode of Kim Minkyung being a child. But for Minkyung to be serious about rejecting an invitation for ice cream? She must be real upset.

“Fine. Whatever. I’ll ask Yerim instead.”

Just like that, Minkyung sees Kyungwon get up and get out of her room.

She tries to block out the noises (Minkyung-unnie doesn’t want ice cream? I can’t believe the Miracle in December does exist. Okay then, let’s go unnie! ) by increasing the volume of her mp3 player, pressing the buds harder and deeper into her ears.

Never has an upbeat tempo song sounded so sad and melancholic to Minkyung before.

 

––

 

“Bothered by something, unnie?”

Kyungwon turns her head to her company, taking in the sight of an adorable girl. She shakes her head, pursing her lips. The road is covered with seemingly endless white carpet. She fights the desire to ignore everyone and just lie down in the middle of the street, to know what level of gratification she would get from lying on the thick layer of snow.

“I just don’t understand what is wrong with your sister,” she mumbles as she swings the plastic full of ice creams in one hand.

Yerim snorts, nodding twice. “Knowing her, she probably is just jealous.” Yerim is all bright, looking so delighted with her answer.

Kyungwon’s brows shoot up. “Jealous? Jealous of?”

Yerim’s mischievous grin only grows wider and wider, and honestly that reminds Kyungwon of Minkyung. They truly, no doubt, are sisters.

“She’s jealous of us,”

“Why?”

“Because we look cute together, of course!”

Kyungwon ponders, Jealous?

She feels her heart pick up its pace.

At that moment, Yerim decides to break her reverie before it gets any further, “the last to reach home won’t get any ice cream!” Yerim hollers after seizing the plastic out of Kyungwon’s grasp, not wasting even a second and runs like there’s an apocalypse.

“Hey! That’s cheating!!”

 

––

 

Kyungwon can’t get Yerim’s words off her mind. She is restless. She wonders if it means something. She keeps thinking and thinking and is only waken up when she senses a hand suddently resting on her shoulder. It’s Minkyung’s mom.

“Ah, sorry auntie. Did you say something?” Kyungwon smiles sheepishly, feeling bad that she zoned out when the older woman was talking.

“It’s okay, Kyungwon. I was just wondering if you and Minkyung got into a fight. You two didn’t talk to each other at all during the dinner,” the older woman smiles warmly and it still leaves Kyungwon in awe. Minkyung and Yerim have their mother’s smile. It’s fresh and beautiful, a small trace of playfulness could be seen if you squint, but warm altogether.

The dinner was awful, it’s not about the food – Minkyung’s mom is an incredible cook – or Minkyung’s family – they welcomed her sincerely – but because, like what Minkyung’s mom has just said – Minkyung didn’t talk to her. Minkyung has not uttered a single word to her. It is awful.

Minkyung would only talk when she’s asked something by her parents, but no more than that. She wouldn’t look at her even once. The dinner was only filled with Yerim and their parents’ stories. And a little bit of hers too. Because it would be rude to make her distress visible and stay silent like what Minkyung did.

Kyungwon sighs, not knowing what to answer.

She feels a soft pat on her head, followed by a motion; Minkyung’s mom certainly knows how to comfort people.

“To be honest, I don’t know either,” Kyungwon confesses, “I also want to know what the problem is.”

The older woman chuckles, though not in a sense of mocking. “You know,” Kyungwon turns to look at the other woman, signaling she’s listening well. “I really hope that you won’t ever grow tired of being beside Minkyung,” she pauses to gather her thoughts, “that kid…could be quite handful at times, but she’s not as tough as she may look like. The long limbs and sharp features are there just to fool people to think so,”

Kyungwon can’t help but to smile.

“She’s always the soft one out of my three kids. The one who cried secretly whenever her brother or her sister got hurt. The one who loved the most, the one who cared too much.” The older woman shows a hint of smile – kind of nostalgic.

“So I’m genuinely relieved that at least, she has a great friend like you who stays with her when she is away from us.”

“Don’t worry, auntie. I’ll never get tired of her,” Kyungwon reassures.

“Well, that’s really nice to hear.” Minkyung’s mom smiles contently (Do the people in this house not get tired of smiling all the time?) and leans back a little to take a good look at Kyungwon. “Also, I thought you’d want to receive an early blessing from me.” The older woman wiggles her eyebrows.

Kyungwon doesn’t know what to say, doesn’t know how to react, but it seems like Minkyung’s mother is satisfied with her reaction, judging by the way the older woman laughs so unkindly.

Is her face already telling it all?

 

––

 

It’s after the talk with Minkyung’s mother that Kyungwon finds a sudden motivation to talk it out with Minkyung. It’s only been hours, but she’s already dying to hear her voice, to see her smile. She is ready to give in; their fights never really lasted long anyway.

As she walks around the house to find Minkyung, she thinks back to the very few times Minkyung ignored her like this. She still remembers the first time they had a fight, it happened four months into their friendship. She had a group assignment that needed to be finished the next day, so her groupmates had decided to pull an all-nighter, staying at a 24-hour café located at the other side of the town (Why, she doesn’t remember). All the pressures and fatigue had kind of made her forget to inform Minkyung, resulting in her getting a silent treatment from the latter the next day. And to make it worse, Kyungwon had snapped at her at some point. She admits it was stupid of her to do so.

The other time Minkyung ignored her – Well, it was only an act. Apparently, Minkyung had thought that it would be fun to pretend to ignore her on her birthday. If she hadn’t caught her in the middle of telling her plan to Sungyeon over the phone, she would’ve believed Minkyung was real mad at her.

And the other time– The other time… There is no “the other time”. She can’t think of the other time Minkyung was mad at her.

The realization hits her.

Minkyung was that kind of person that confronted whoever offended her. She would directly bring it up and solve it right then and there, rationally. That’s a side of Minkyung that Kyungwon has always admired.

So why, why couldn’t Minkyung do it this time?

She goes in Minkyung’s room only to find no one inside. She goes to Yerim’s room but there’s only the owner of the room sleeping soundly. She closes the door slowly and turns around, questioning where she might be.

Kyungwon walks aimlessly to the front door and slides her feet in her Vans, thinking to get a brief of fresh air. She pushes open the door and–

There she is. Minkyung, sitting on the long bench at the porch.

Kyungwon closes the door behind, takes a few step and places herself down beside Minkyung.

They sit in silence for minutes until Kyungwon decides to break it.

“Did I do something wrong?” Kyungwon looks at the sky. It’s not entirely dark, three to five stars twinkling; not entirely black, it is dark blue – a contrast to the night skies she’s used to see which is orangish-black. Being away from the polluted sky feels nice.

She hears a sigh.

“Look, if you think that I’m upset because of something you did, I’m sorry.”

Kyungwon sees her stealing glances from the corner of her eye.

“It’s me. I was being unreasonable and ignored you because of something that was ridiculous,” Minkyung admits, voice low.

Kyungwon grabs her shoulder gently and turns her to face her. She sees guilt in Minkyung’s eyes.

“But why?”

Minkyung lets out again another sigh.

“I know this is gonna sound stupid because I know it is,” Minkyung plays with her fingers, “I...I saw you and Yerim. And you like her so much. She also likes you. You looked happy without me…”

Kyungwon’s breath hitches. So Yerim was right. 

“You’re right. This is stupid.”

“Damn do I know.” Minkyung hisses.

“You’re right. I like Yerim so much. She’s your little sister, the sister you’re always proud of, how could I not like her?” Kyungwon stops Minkyung from playing with her own fingers and takes one of her hands to place it on her lap, and proceeds to play with them instead.

“But you’re also wrong. You made it sound like I would be happy to not have you around me, when it’s the opposite.” Kyungwon rubs the back of Minkyung’s hand in a circular motion. “I’m too used to have you annoying me all the time that I would feel incomplete if I don’t get to hear your irritating voice even just for an hour.”

Minkyung’s staring at their hands, biting her lower lip.

“Truthfully, you also don’t have to be jealous of Yerim, or anyone for that matter,” Kyungwon adds in with a teasing tone.

“Wha- Who says I was jealous? I was not,” Minkyung grimaces. Kyungwon erupts into her usual horse laughter.

“Are you sure you were not?”

She feels like smacking Kyungwon for being a tease, for being right. 

“Anyways, Christmas Eve is tomorrow, right?” Minkyung continues after receiving a nod from the other girl, “Say Kyungwon, are you up to accompany me to a place tomorrow?”

“To where?”

“I’ll tell only if you agree.”

“God, yeah. Alright. Take me to wherever.” Kyungwon puts both her hands up in the air as a sign of surrender. 

“Good. You’ll know tomorrow.”

And just like that, Minkyung laughs heartily for the first time that day.

 

Kyungwon would trade anything, anything to hear the laugh, to see the laugh, and to feel the laugh. She means it.

 

 

 

 

 

//There might be a few errors (or a lot). I'm sleepy I'm sorry. Anw! Merry Christmas! I love you!