Winter didn’t know what she was expecting when they had arrived at the door of Eun Woo’s house. She had seen many traditional hanok-style houses in the bus on her way there, but she had never expected Eun Woo’s house to be one of them. She could only stare in amazement at the snow-capped rooftop and the Christmas wreath that hanged on the entrance door as Moon Bin went ahead to press the doorbell.

The wooden door opened with a creek and a woman stepped out from behind it. Winter was instantly caught off guard at how beautiful the woman was, with thick, black hair hanging on her shoulders, her skin as white as snow and her lips painted a natural red colour. She had a set of familiar eyes as Winter recognised the galaxy of stars contained inside her pupils. The lady smiled sweetly upon seeing Moon Bin, and when she did, her eyes twinkled with warmth and small, spidery lines formed at the corners of her eyes.

“Moon Bin,” she greeted in surprise, and Winter was taken aback yet again by her voice that betrayed her age. “It’s been such a long time.”

“Hello, Mdm Lee.” Moon Bin bowed his head, and Winter followed along. “Sorry for appearing unannounced, but by any chance, is Eun Woo here?”

Mdm Lee smiled warmly in response. “Yes, he is in the kitchen. Come on in! It must be really cold outside!”

They entered gratefully and Winter felt like her fingers and toes could finally move again as she sat down on an armchair in the living room. As she did, she observed her surroundings with keen interest. It looked like a typical hanok house that Winter had seen before, with a consistent wooden interior, but there were also bits of modern furniture here and there, like how there was an LED TV screen and a six-seater dining table.

“I’ve just called him, he should be out any moment.” Mdm Lee placed two cups of tea gently on the table in front of Moon Bin and Winter. “Now I believe you haven’t introduced me to this young lady.” She was looking at Winter with those twinkling eyes and unknowingly heat crept to Winter’s cheeks. She felt as she was staring into the depths of Eun Woo’s eyes instead.

“This is Winter, she is a dancer in our company.” Moon Bin said fluently as he took a sip from the cup. “Winter, this is Mdm Lee, Eun Woo’s mother.”

“Mother?” she blurted out, “but you look so young and beautiful.”

“Thank you, Winter,” she chuckled. “People say Eun Woo got his looks from me, but I dare say he got most of it from my husband as well. He is not that bad looking himself.”

“Oh yes, where is Mr Lee?” Moon Bin inquired.

“Oh, he’s got a bad cold. It must be because the weather has gotten much colder over the years. He will be up for dinner later, don’t worry—”

“Binnie?”

All three of them turned to see Eun Woo standing a little apart from them, wearing a red-striped apron over his clothes. The look on his face was of pure surprise as his eyes glided over to Winter as well. Gosh, Winter thought jealously, how could he look so good in an apron?

“Eun Woo!” Moon Bin stood up immediately and in an instant was beside Eun Woo, a palm on his shoulder. “Everyone is so worried about you! Why did you leave without telling anyone?”

Eun Woo’s pupils stilled on Winter for only a second before he looked away. “I-I needed to get away,” he admitted, abashed. “My mom sent me a text that my father was down with a cold. I couldn’t stand being so far away from my parents, living my life while he is in bed. So—so I decided to come back to my hometown for just one day. I wanted to spend Christmas with my family.” Winter heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this; so it was not because of me.

“Dong Min…” Mdm Lee said, before going to give Eun Woo a hug. Winter knew that Dong Min must be Eun Woo’s real name. “My sweet, precious child. I know you’ve missed us and we miss you loads too. But you shouldn’t come here without informing your members! Look at how worried they are!”

“I’m sorry,” Eun Woo said apologetically. “When you told me father was sick, I made up my mind to visit you in an instant; I completely forgot about the company while doing so. It was wrong of me.”

“Well, what is done has been done!” Mdm Lee said cheerfully. “Now that all three of you travelled long distances to come here, I can’t have you going back without a hearty dinner. Do the both of you want to help out in the kitchen? Dong Min will be cooking dinner for us today.”

Both of them nodded their heads, and so they put on matching aprons before heading to the kitchen together. As Winter had expected, Eun Woo had planned to cook ddeokbboki and kimchi stew along with other dishes for their Christmas feast. If Winter was being truthful to herself, she knew that she was of no help whatsoever to the two boys. Moon Bin was a naturally talented cook, Winter knew from tasting his dishes, and Eun Woo was not much worse. He followed the recipe on the internet religiously, adding only the right amount of ingredients and seasoning as instructed. Moon Bin assisted Eun Woo by tasting the seasoning and then giving his own comments based on its taste. Winter, on the other hand, had never laid a finger in the kitchen before. And so she was tasked to do only the basic steps, such as cutting and preparing the ingredients before they went into the pot.

By the time they had plated the dishes and were seated around the table, the sun had already set. Winter’s right arm and shoulder felt sore from cutting the ingredients consistently but she forced herself to keep her complaints in. Mdm Lee, who had helped Winter in the preparation mainly because she was too slow, still looked bubbly and excited as she spooned out equal portions of kimchi stew for everyone.

“Sorry I couldn’t greet you earlier,” said a man who had just come out from a room and sat down diagonally across Winter at the dining table. He must be Eun Woo’s father, seeing how the both of them had the same face shape, the same eye smile, and the feeling like they had just torn out of a comic book. Needless to say, his father was handsome indeed, though his age and sickness had given him a slightly weathered look to his face. No wonder Eun Woo is so handsome, Winter thought, how could he not when he had parents like that? “My body is starting to fail me. Ah