December

Unlike the majority of your classmates, you find that December is your favorite month of the year— mainly because you don’t stand out much at all when everyone else is finally wearing their long-sleeved shirts and fleece sweaters to fend off the cold.

It’s still funny when you hear them all complaining about the lack of drawings and writing on their arms, though, mainly because their soulmates are also all covered up. More often than not, when you’re around Seulgi when these complaints occur, the two of you share looks and raised eyebrows.

You shrug at Seulgi, and she shrugs back. Some people simply don’t understand the privilege of merely having a soulmate in the first place— you can’t really expect them to be a bit more understanding when the instant gratification of immediately getting a soulmate’s response isn’t present.

You’re sitting on the floor of Seulgi and Wendy’s room one day, Solar lounging leisurely next to you as you both tutor your younger friends on the fundamentals of calculus convergence tests when Wendy lets out a small squeak of surprise before immediately covering and letting out a muffled apology.

Solar chuckles, sending you a knowing glance before turning to Wendy. “What’s up, Wan?”

“Nothing much,” Wendy mumbles, hiding her left hand behind her back. Beside her, Seulgi rolls her eyes and snatches up her best friend’s hand with ease quickly looking over its contents.

“Eunji asked Wan to meet with her at the coffee shop on Saturday!” Seulgi exclaims with a squeal, and you all cheer as Wendy turns as red as a tomato.

“That’s so cute!” You say with a grin. “You two have been meaning to meet up again for a while now, right? You’ve both been too busy these past few weeks.”

“We have,” the smaller girl admits with a sigh. She pokes in annoyance at the math homework in front of her with the eraser of her pencil, clicking her tongue with frustration. “It’s because of all this last minute before-vacation work our teachers have been assigning us! The lessons go by too fast— I can hardly keep up! I’ve wanted to meet up with Eunji for so long now, but I might not even be able to because of all this homework!”

“Well, that’s why we’re here!” Solar smiles comfortingly at Wendy, and you nod in agreement. “Don’t worry about a thing, Wendy, Irene and I will help you out. We’ve been through these hell weeks before— we can definitely help you finish all this work.”

“Me too, Wan!” Seulgi chimes in, patting her best friend.

“Oh, no!” Wendy gasps, shaking her head fervently. “I couldn’t ask you to do that for me! I’m sure you have much better things to do, so—”

“I don’t!” You chirp nonchalantly, and you casually raise the sleeves of your sweater and shirt to flash your bare arm pointedly. “I’ve got no one to meet up with—”

“Same here,” Seulgi says with a light laugh, and her tongue sticks playfully out of the corner of as she loops her arm with yours. You do your best to draw your attention away from the sudden contact, the pounding of your heart, and the way your face heats up to continue your statement.

“— so yeah, I have plenty of time,” you finish lamely, although if Wendy notices your flustered state, she doesn’t say anything. Instead, she only sends a grateful smile your way, murmuring a small thank you before Seulgi nudges you and asks you to explain the math problem she’d been stuck on again.

(You force yourself to not say anything about the smug look on Solar’s face as Seulgi rests her cheek on your shoulder as you clear your throat and start explaining the struggles of convergence tests to Seulgi, this time from the very beginning.)

~

Saturday comes around, and you smile at the snapchat you receive from Wendy that afternoon. It’s a selca of her and Eunji, both girls beaming at the camera and sporting similar designs on the back of their hands. You’ve yet to meet Eunji in person, but from the way Solar describes her cheery personality, you bet that Wendy couldn’t have found a better soulmate.

Your attention is diverted at the knocking at a knocking at your door.

“Irene? It’s your turn to open it,” LE mumbles from beneath her comforter, thoroughly buried in the pile of blankets on her bed. You snort at the sight. It’s always hilarious to see the ever-infallible Hyojin fall prey to winter’s cold weather— and it doesn’t help that LE is basically a cat. A sick cat, at that.

“Yeah, yeah,” you chuckle, pushing yourself up from where you had been seated at your desk.

Thirty seconds later, you’re staring at a beaming Seulgi, holding a plastic bag in one hand, chilled from the frostbitten air outside. You notice her red ears and cheeks, and while you smile at her eagerly, you’re also discreetly frowning in concern as you tug her into your room.

“I got you carrot cake!” Seulgi says excitedly, handing you the plastic bag. “For helping Wendy and I so much this week. I was getting snacks for Wan and I when I saw the cake and remembered how you said it’s your favorite kind.”

“Thank you, Seul,” you say earnestly, placing the bag down on your bedside table before stepping close to Seulgi and placing your hands on her cheeks. You grimace at the cold felt at your touch, pulling away and rubbing your hands together to warm them up. “Seul, you’re freezing! Were you not wearing a hat or gloves or anything?”

“I mean,” Seulgi toes the ground with a slipper-covered foot, suddenly looking sheepish. “I did, I swear, but…”

“But…?”

“I kind of… gave them away?” Seulgi finishes quietly, her tone getting high at the end, like she’s asking a question.

You raise an incredulous eyebrow at the admission, and from somewhere beneath all the blankets, LE barks out an abrupt laugh that causes Seulgi to jump in surprise.

“Hah!” LE sniffs, and you absently hand a box of tissues to your roommate. “You’re in for it now, kid!”

“I am…?” It’s almost amusing how such a concerned expression crosses Seulgi’s features.

“I think this is the part where I scold you for not taking better care of yourself!” You exclaim, running a hand through your own hair and scrunching your nose. Seulgi bites her lip and nods, shifting from one foot to the other.

“It’s just… Yooa looked really cold,” Seulgi mumbles, and you sigh. You can’t believe that you’re friends with such dangerously selfless idiots— literally all of them, yourself included. Still, that can’t stop you from trying to enforce better habits, even if you probably should handle your own problems too. “Her face was all red, and she was shivering so much…”

“Did you remind Yooa to bring more winter wear next time?”

“Of course I did!” Seulgi says hastily before pausing with a wince. “I… kind of just told her to keep mine.”

“Seulgi!”

“I’m sorry! She just looked so cold, and I knew that I naturally feel warmer than most people anyways – I’ve been told that I’m a bear and whatnot – so I just wanted to make sure that she’d feel warm enough while walking home so—”

“Seul,” you cut her off with a soft smile. This selfless idiot is a bit too lovable for your own good. What the most is that you don’t even care. “Seul, it’s okay. I’m sorry for snapping. I’m just constantly worried about the people I love and care about, yeah? I don’t want you getting sick or anything, especially since we’re all so close to surviving to the holidays.”

“I know,” Seulgi admits. “I’m sorry too, for not taking better care of myself… I should probably go out and get a new hat and pair of gloves soon.”

“Here,” you hurriedly say, pulling open a drawer and handing over an orange-and-white striped hat, with a matching pair of gloves. “Take these! It’s a spare pair of mine— the set I bought came with two, but I only use the pink ones anyways. You can keep them, okay? But just make sure you don’t lose them!”

“A-are you sure?” Seulgi stutters as you draw close and shove the hat over her head, tugging it down over her ears. You smile endearingly at the sight. As you had thought, orange as a color suits Seulgi incredibly well. “You won’t miss these at all or anything?”

“Not at all,” you clarify. “They’ve just been sitting around collecting dust, after all.” You pat Seulgi’s head, smirking at the blush that blossoms on her cheeks at your close proximity. “Now, would you like to join me in indulging in some carrot cake?”

A garbled noise comes from within the pile of blankets.

“Yes, LE, if you can navigate your way out of that maze of a comforter, then you can have some too.”

~

LE smirks at you an hour later, just after you close the door behind Seulgi’s leaving form— the younger girl had to leave in order to finish a group music project, and she’d had to go meet with her groupmates.

“You’re whipped,” LE deadpans, looking pointedly at the way you gaze tenderly at the remainder of the carrot cake; at Seulgi’s gift for you.

You frown, glaring at your roommate.

“I don’t want to hear that from you, Hyojin. Or should I call you Miss ‘Solji was crying in the middle of the night so I had to sneak off of campus to go see her, but please don’t tell my parents’?”

“You’re never going to let that go, are you?”

“I’m simply reminding you that you seriously owe me one for all the strings I pulled for you that one time, LE.”

~

You’re never one to refuse the trip back to Daegu— you love going home! Of course you do! It’s always nice to see your old friends who you ended up leaving behind to attend boarding school, rather than attending the normal high school like the majority of your hometown friends.

You wonder if those friends of yours finally found their soulmates.

Nevertheless, it still feels bittersweet in your throat as you run into Seulgi while waiting for the bus at the stop in front of the school, the Saturday morning after school has been let out for winter vacation and the holidays.

“Seul!” You greet as you see her wheel a suitcase over to you, waving. “Are you heading home for the holidays?”

“Yup!” She pops the ‘p’ with a grin. “I’m waiting for Wendy, actually. She’s coming home with me this year, since most of her family is overseas in Canada, and she can’t fly over to them this time around thanks to timing and stuff. Plus, apparently they’re experiencing blizzards and stuff over there.”

“Yikes,” you frown, and you shiver at the thought of somewhere even colder. “That’s not good. It’s great that you’re having her over though! I’m glad you guys get to spend break together.”

“Me too, though Wendy’s probably going to spend all of break writing messages to Eunji and exchanging snapchats,” Seulgi jokes.

You laugh and open your mouth to respond, when suddenly there’s the sound of approaching tires, and the bus to Daegu pulls up nearby.

You frown, hesitant to leave so soon. You could’ve talk with Seulgi for hours and not have had a care in the world— it’s easy to leave track of time when you talk with someone as friendly and open as Seulgi. It makes you feel special, to be able to hold her attention for so long.

“Well, I’m going to go find Wendy then,” Seulgi says with a charming smile, and she pulls you in for a hug. You close your eyes, murmuring similar sentiments of needed to go, and you relish in the hug— you can hardly believe that this will be your last Seulgi-hug until the new year swings around and you get back to school. “I don’t want you to be late, or to keep the bus waiting. I hope you have a great winter break, Rene!”

“You too, Seul! Text me when you can?”

“Of course!” Seulgi singsongs. “I’ll text you so much you’ll get annoyed with me! And on Christmas, I better be getting a snapchat of whatever ugly Christmas sweater you’ve got on. I’ll wear one too! We’ll exchange!”

“Sounds like a plan,” you chuckle as you pull away, waving over your shoulder and out the window after boarding the bus.

You and Seulgi wave at each other the entire time as the bus moves away.

Even as the bus rounds the corner, you keep your hand pressed against the cold, frosty glass of the window for as long as you can, until your hand goes numb and you place it properly onto your lap, closing your eyes.