Winter Days Spent Somewhere Far Away

Pt.2

By Eiryia

Seungyoon made his way up the hill through the snow thankful that he had thought to bring winter shoes. 

He was following in the steps of Mino from that morning, one foot after another until he reached a cottage equal to his own in size, but not quite as charming. It looked old in a different kind of way and a bit lopsided. Ivy covered on one side which where all resting for the winter leaving the place to look a lot more dead than his own. 

A fire was burning inside making smoke rise from the small chimney and bright lights where shining out onto the afternoon snow from both of the small windows on the ground floor of the cottage. This made up for the initial lack of cosines and he was curious to find out what the inside was like. Paint covered maybe? He wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. 

Knocking on the door he was met by a smiling and very much paint covered Mino. The rest of the room seemed to be spared from the pain splatter however.

    "Come in" Mino gushed, stepping aside to let him in. He stepped inside right away and was greeted by a mellow meow from the cat resting in an arm chair by the fire not far from where he was standing. 

    "I’m almost done. Have a snack while you wait?" Mino suggested while gesturing to the kitchen table where there were both different kinds of fruit and Christmas cookies.

Picking up a gingerbread man after taking of his coat he sat down on one of the heavy wooden chairs to wait for Mino. Gnawing at the head of the gingerbread man he eyed the bookshelf in the living room trying to see if he could recognize anything. 

A quick fifteen minutes and Mino was back. Wearing a thick knitted sweater and a lot less paint. 

    "Sorry for the wait" Mino apologized before beginning to take the peel of a tangerine from the fruit bowl. 

    "No worries" he assured suddenly feeling nervous. Although he weren’t terribly hungover was he far from feeling his best. His stay in London had helped on the jet lag, but the cold and the sleepiness along with this situation the two of them found themselves in was enough to throw him of balance mentally. 

    "It’s always smart to stock up a bit once we are heading to town so I suggest we borrow one of the cars of the estate" Mino said gesturing to the back of the cabin probably meaning that general direction. 

    "We can do that?" he asked, not sure about how he felt about driving in this much snow. 

Mino had only nodded before stuffing his face mouth with the rest of his tangerine and then they were on their way. 

The car they had borrowed from the estate was an all terrain jeep. Really sturdy and Mino seemed used to driving it too. He felt rather snug in his winter gear as the car took them through the deep snow, past the snow covered lake, along the river, through the forest until they reached what was a decent sized road considering where they were in the world.

In less than an hour had they made their way to the small town laying perfectly positioned of the river and they were now filling up their shopping cart enthusiastically. 

The middle aged woman at the check out was eying their huge load of shopping when they got there to pay, commenting on how it was a smart move to stock up considering the weather forecast. 

    "It’s supposed to break all the December records!" she exclaimed as if it was the juiciest piece of gossip she had ever shared with anyone, they both made small talk with her about it while packing and where somewhat relived when they left the place minutes later. 

    "We should take this opportunity to have lunch" Mino said casually as they took their seats in the jeep. "If she is right we might get stuck fending for ourselves for a while" Mino added as he looked over at him probably radiating surprise although he secretly was very pleased with this suggestion. 

Ten minutes later and they pulled up to a neatly decorated square stone building with several cars lining the parking lot despite the now rather heavy snow fall. 

    "How about some high tea?" Mino suggested, bowing teasingly, but smiling widely. 

He had intended to try something of the sort in London, but then reading and loneliness had stopped him. It seemed odd going to such a place alone. 

Taking place by a table for two by one on the large partially snow covered windows he was now feeling quite at home in his tweed suit which he had decided to wear rather boldly under his winter coat and scarf. 

    "Don’t you look smart" Mino noted. Only wearing a plain light blue shirt and suit pants with a belt. He could tell how well built Mino was through the shirt, not that he needed to imagine as he could remember it quite well from the night before. 

The High Tea had take place around six in the evening and so he counted it as his dinner. It was quite filling too with lots of cold meat, pies and fruit cakes. 

They had spent most their time talking about work, with only the odd comment about the last 24 hours spent together. 

During the entire meal he wrecked his brain to come up with something they could meet up to do together and in the end he had pulled the tourist card asking if Mino wanted to tag along to any of the nearby sights if the weather allowed it. 

Mino had agreed happily and suggested a nearby castle which he had only visited once before since moving to the town after finishing his art degree. 

It was already pretty late by the time they had traversed the countryside by car. They had driven the jeep as far as the weather had allowed. Then they had walked the last part down to Mino’s cottage which was the closest before driving back to the estate to drop of the car. 

They were now walking in the crisp winter darkness, only illuminated by the moon, stars and the tiny lamp Mino had thought to bring from his cottage. 

    "We can see the stars so well here" he noted, unable to take his eyes of the night sky . Back home he could maybe spot one or two stars on clear nights if he was lucky. 

    "It’s the lack of light pollution obviously, but yes, it’s quite nice" Mino replied looking over at him instead of the stars. It made him all kinds of self conscious, but he tried to act normal as best as he could. 

Holding back the playful smile ever fighting to erupt over his lips as he kept catching Mino looking at him he threaded through the light snow. 

Their shadows played around them as Mino’s light dangled in his hand creating an image of a couple in the darkness, an image he stored fondly in his mind along with the other tiny images he had come to collect since arriving here. 

They arrived at Mino’s cottage and he had offered to help carry his food down to his place which he had accepted right away.  

The walk felt a lot shorter than when he had walked up there earlier. He guessed it was because of the imminent good bye looming before them as they soon reached their destination. 

    "I’ll be working all day tomorrow from home, but we can go check out that castle I told you about in the afternoon" Mino said putting down the shopping bags he had been carrying. 

    "If the weather allows it" he replied remembering what the shopkeeper had told them earlier. 

    "Yes, yes.. If the weather allows it" Mino replied smiling a smug smile as if he was mocking him for acting more like the locals than himself. 

They stared at each other then. Snow drifting into the poorly lit hall if you could call the small square between the kitchen and the living room a hall. 

    "So" Mino began while tucking his scarf tighter into his jacket. 

    "So" he copied. He knew what he wanted to do, but the coward in him held him back. 

    "I’ll see you tomorrow then" Mino said before turning and stepping into the snow again at what felt like an incredible slow pace. 

He followed after him on auto pilot despite only wearing his shoes, the rest of his winter gear he had already taken off once they had arrived back. 

    "Wait" he said, Mino almost at the gate already. 

Watching Mino check his pockets as if to see if he had left something behind his eyes met with Mino’s moments later. They were full of confusion, but he thought he saw a smile somewhere beneath that knitted scarf too. 

Hurrying down the small path they had created with their foot prints in the snow he pulled down Mino’s scarf quickly, placed a confident kiss on Mino’s lips before thanking him for a great day. He then hurried back inside, his heart beating so loudly in his ears he was sure the entire valley could hear it.  

Back home he had promised himself to live boldly, to be himself a 100% and to do whatever it took to stake out a new path for himself. 

With this kiss he felt he was one step closer to achieving that. 

Unable to focus on work he had tidied up the shopping, organized his books and notes. Taken a bath, made himself a small evening snack and he was now propped up by the fire under a huge blanket staring at the resident bookshelf trying to build a profile of the person who had filled it. 

There were all kinds of books. Encyclopedias from the era before google, cookbooks, books with maps, local history books, a few popular romance and thrillers. The only classics to be found where by female writers such as the Brontë sisters and Jane Austen. 

The only spine that somewhat called out to him was Wuthering Heights. He had attempted to read it before, but dropped it as the initial scene of the man arriving at the old house felt like it dragged out way too much. 

Maybe this was the right time to pick it up again? 

Within the hour he had dozed of to sleep. When he woke up was it already two in the morning, the fire had died out and the only thing he could see outside was snow. A thick flurry of white accompanied by strong winds. 

Closing the book without adding anything to remind him of where he had left of he got to his feet to go to bed, but only after throwing one last look out the window. 

The amount of snow that had built up outside was already at window height! This snowfall would break records for sure. He didn’t offer the snow much more thought, only that he needed to dig out a proper path in the morning. 

Rolling into the large bed it felt strangely empty. The faint scent of Mino still lingered on the bed linen and he soon rolled over to Mino’s side just to make the most of it. 

    "How can I miss someone I just met?" he said out loud into the darkness. The darkness didn’t respond, instead it wrapped him in its own kind of hug, lightly like a warm blanket, but intensely in a way only absolute darkness could. 

It was about five in the morning when a brutal rustling sound followed by a muffled thumping sound awoke him. Sitting up in bed he blinked hard trying to make sense of it all, but he couldn’t. 

In the end had he dropped back down onto his back and pulled the blankets so high that only a couple of strands of hair at the top of his head poked out. 

Maybe Santa had mistaken the dates and attempted to climb down the chimney? Fallen off and landed in the snow? His dreams had been filled with such jolly ideas, only made better by Mino’s presence. 

Come morning and he found out rather shockingly what it was that had actually made the odd noise in the night. 

All the snow on the roof had slid off in one brisk movement falling before the door and the two windows. Along with the already high levels of snow was there only one conclusion. He was absolutely snowed in. 

The only windows not covered completely were the ones at the side of the cottage, but the snow was still so high, and the windows so narrow that he couldn’t easily get out and do something about it. 

There was only one thing to do: Call Mino.

Mino had arrived less than an hour later with a shovel and wearing several layers of clothes. Unable to even open the window at the side of the building Mino had began removing snow at the front at what seemed to be a pretty steady pace. 

Sitting on the inside listening to the shuffling of snow happening outside he felt terrible from the get go. Unable to help he began cooking