A week came and went after Winter’s encounter with Yoo Bin. As it turned out, they were both too busy to execute the meeting at the moment, with Winter’s schedule packed day to day with hours of practices and concert ticket promotions. Yoo Bin, on the other hand, was a part of a larger organization that cared for dogs rather than the small dog café that Winter had imagined, and so he was constantly in and out of the country to deal with the import of different dog breeds. Winter was grateful that he hadn’t demanded to meet him straightaway because she was mentally and physically exhausted by the time the week was over and was not confident she was able to deal with Moon Bin’s nasty anger. The topic regarding Yoo Bin never surfaced between Winter and San Ha again, as San Ha had resumed to his usual, bright self the following day. Winter took that as a sign that she was to pretend the meeting with Yoo Bin had never happened.

Meanwhile, the preparation for their second-round performance was going better than she thought, despite the effort that was needed to create it. Because Yu Ri had a better vocal range and power than Winter, they decided that she would sing the higher notes while Winter did the low and middle ones. This took some burden off Winter’s shoulders, because this meant that she had a stable singer to lean on that could pull off an amazing performance, and Winter had no doubt Yu Ri could definitely do so. The concert tickets, on the other hand, were not selling as well due to its selling price. Most of the people that Winter had talked into getting interested in going for the concert turned down the offer upon hearing the price. Winter sighed when they realised their total ticket count hadn’t reduced even ten percent. With only a week left to the performance, Winter knew that it was no use; they would have to depend on their hard work and performance if they wanted to advance onto the next round.

Sunday came with the lowest temperature yet in Seoul at zero degrees Celsius. The scene outside Winter’s bedroom window was of complete snow; trees and streets dotted white. Winter shrugged on a thick, padded winter jacket and headed towards Moon Bin’s room, where she knew he must be inside. Earlier on in the afternoon she had heard the definite click of the door opening and closing from her own room.

She knocked on his door twice apprehensively. “What?” came his voice from the other end.

Winter grinned with renewed vigour and opened the door just enough for her to poke her head in. The aroma of clean cotton sheets and baby powder wafted into her nostrils in a wave. A sudden memory of her first time in his bed flashed across her mind as fast as lightning and she had to close her eyes to rid the memory of her embarrassment. She opened her eyes again tentatively when the heat faded from her body and took a good look at his room. His room was painted a mellow blue colour that matched with its dark grey furniture. The linen sheets on his bed were of a grey colour too, and Winter vividly remembered how comfortable it was lying on those sheets. Shaking her head, she found Moon Bin lying in the centre of his bed, his iPad in front of his nose. He tilted his head aside from the screen and looked at Winter with mild curiosity. “Yes?” he asked. Winter couldn’t tell from the tone of his voice whether he was frustrated or not. Nevertheless, she pinned a gentle smile on her face and said in the mildest voice she could muster, “What are you doing?”

“Reading comics,” he answered shortly.

“Oh, er…” she struggled, “I think we should go out!”

He raised an eyebrow questioningly. “Why?”

“B-because….” Her palms grew sweaty on the doorknob as she tried to think of an excuse. “The weather is perfect for samgyetang! I mean—you know, we’ve been working hard for a while now, and samgyetang is perfect for us to rejuvenate our bodies. Besides, we haven’t seen each other in a week. It would be perfect for us to bond as… as flatmates!” she paused abashedly, “I just said perfect three times, didn’t I?”

Moon Bin looked unconvinced. “You have the best friend you always hang out with. Why not eat it with her?”

“Oh, Yu Ri’s really busy today… Anyway!” She released the door and stopped beside his bed, before proffering her hand towards him. “If you go out with me today, I’ll pay for the samgyetang. What do you say?”

Moon Bin gave her wide smile a scrutinizing look. Then he took her hand and hopped off the bed lightly like a cat. “Give me a moment,” he said. They were standing close to each other now that Winter could smell the scent on his clothes; the scent that Winter liked. “I need to put on some clothes.”

“Right! Go ahead!” she squeaked, jumping one step backwards. “I’ll er… I’ll be outside.” Once she closed the door behind her, she sent a text message hurriedly.

As it turned out, they weren’t regular clothes Moon Bin had to put on. He was dressed all in black, including a black padded jacket, black trousers, a black cap and a black clothed mask to cover his face. Winter experienced déjà vu, certain this was a scene she had experienced once before with Eun Woo. She inhaled a breath, thinking, it must be difficult, having to cover up like this all the time. “What?” Moon Bin asked consciously as they walked out into the open. Belatedly Winter realised that she had voiced her thoughts out loud. “Nothing!” she answered hastily, then pointed at a random cluster of houses in the short distance. “I was saying there! That’s where we’re going to have samgyetang!”

“Okay, okay!” he said. Though Winter couldn’t see his face clearly with his mask on, she could tell from his voice that he was mildly annoyed. “You didn’t have to shout.”

“Sorry,” she muttered. She made sure she had her lips pursed tightly until they reached the restaurant. To Winter’s surprise, there really was a samgyetang restaurant in the little street she pointed at, though the restaurant was clearly deser