Winter was greeted by a waft of delicious scent the next morning. She allowed her nose to guide her to the dining room where Moon Bin was dipping a piece of bread in an orange liquid. “French toast!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands together elatedly. Moon Bin smiled upon seeing the look on her face. “Have a seat. I’ll be done in a minute.”

Winter did. A few moments later, she was biting the sleeve of her sweater in an effort to stop herself from screaming in exhilaration. Moon Bin had prepared a delicious feast yet again, with french toast, sunny side up, fried ham and freshly squeezed orange juice placed neatly in front of Winter. “I can’t believe it,” Winter smacked her lips, “you’ve outdone yourself again.”

Moon Bin’s cheekbones were raised and Winter knew he was trying not to look too happy. “Let’s eat!” he said while scratching his neck, the corners of his lips curved upwards as he said so.

Winter squealed with delight the moment she bit into the french toast. “Dunkyoufordayin’,” she said joyfully in a muffled voice, her cheeks protruding dangerously.

“What?” Moon Bin looked amused.

“I said, thank you for staying,” she attempted again the moment she swallowed. “And for the food, of course,” she added belatedly.

“You’re welcome,” he replied pleasantly. And so the breakfast ensued with the both of them grinning and exchanging positive vibes with each other.

Afterwards, they made their way to the company together as Moon Bin had matters to attend to. After deciding that she had nothing much to do anyway, Winter agreed to accompany him. When the elevator opened on the seventh floor, Moon Bin took a step forward confidently, while Winter stayed rooted to the spot.

“What are you doing?” Moon Bin asked, nonplussed. “Come out.”

Winter shook her head apprehensively. “No, it’s okay! We can’t risk people finding out!” She reached out to press the close button. “You go first, I’ll take the lift down and come up again a minute later.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said obstinately, reaching his arm out just before the lift doors closed. “There’s nobody here to suspect us.” He reached out for her hand without a moment’s hesitation and pulled her out before she could find something else to say.

It was a regretful move, because right at that moment, a tall figure had appeared from a corner, his eyes dropping instantly to their entwined hands. Winter released her palm a tad too late, before saying, “Hi, Eun Woo!” in a highly unnatural voice.

“Eun Woo!” Moon Bin said, failing to conceal his surprise as well. “Were you looking for me?”

Eun Woo’s left brow arched at the corner in pure suspicion as he scrutinised the two of them silently. After a moment he said, “No, I was looking for Winter actually.”

“Sure, then I’ll get going,” Moon Bin said without missing a beat before disappearing the same corner that Eun Woo had come from, leaving them in a prickly silence. Winter cast her eyes about, not knowing what to say.

“It seems like you’ve become closer to Moon Bin lately,” he observed.

Winter coughed. “What did you want to tell me?”

Eun Woo looked hesitant, his eyes cast downwards as if he was bringing out words that were not easy to say. Finally, he said, “I figured out what I did wrong… on the day when we met.” He didn’t need to be explicit. Winter knew he was referring to their date during the first snow. She had expected her heart to start contracting at the mention of that event, but unexpectedly, she felt nothing except for a mild sense of regret. “After that day, I’ve been thinking about the date and what went wrong. And then I remember I gave you the bento and you became upset right after that. So I knew it must have been the bento. I’m sorry I gave you something that was given to me. Were you very angry because of me?”

Eun Woo looked genuinely upset and regretful, and Winter knew he must have felt emotionally troubled over the matter for a really long period of time. And because of this exact reason, Winter found yet again that she couldn’t hate him. “How could I be angry at you? I was angry at myself,” she admitted truthfully. She thought about the numerous times her heart had pounded unstoppably when he had given her those chocolates, when she had jumped with so much happiness by herself thinking that he did it out of interest, not goodwill and when she had given her heart to a person of such beauty for the first time in her life. “I was angry that I overestimated myself, but all of this doesn’t matter now. You shouldn’t feel sorry towards me anymore, Eun Woo.”

“But I cannot forgive myself for doing this to you,” he ran his fingers through his hair and Winter still hated the fact that she was still drawn by his perfect looks. But inside, the familiar tremor had disappeared. In fact, she realised that it had probably died a long time ago, seeing that she hadn’t thought about Eun Woo for the past two weeks. Strangely enough, she didn’t find the tremor such a huge loss. “Please give me a way to make it up to you, to do somethin