My mother loved it when Soobin and I brought our friends home, especially if the friends were Yeonjun, Kai and Yeji. She liked them for entirely different reasons. Yeonjun, because he always helped her out in the kitchen, Kai, because the hungry, still growing tree of a teenager would eat absolutely everything and anything she puts in his plate, and Yeji, because she could quite literally talk to my mother all day. (It has happened before. When Soobin invited her over for dinner for the first time, she spent more time with mom than Soobin.)

 

 

We were all in the mood to celebrate that night, especially Soobin, who let Kai and I join them in his room. We weren't normally allowed to be so loud and chaotic when they all came over. Kai and I usually had to hide out in my room or the spare room and remain quiet while Soobin and his friends did some study.

 

But today, the three seniors must've been really sick of their studies, because their school things were all left in a heap in the hallway outside Soobin's room, long forgotten. Mom also turned a blind eye to our noise levels since seeing all her favourite kids in one place probably made her happy. Who knows.

 

 

I loved holidays. It really just puts you in the mood for lots of fun.

 

 

The boys were hunched over Soobin and Yeonjun's laptops, trying to clear some kind of quest in the game they all played, while Yeji and I lay on our tummies on Soobin's bed. She was watching me browse through my album as I showed her the funny things I had saved. It was such a waste of time, but they all seemed so happy and carefree. Like how teenagers were meant to be.

 

 

I was quickly scrolling through some class notes I took pictures of when I zipped by a photo of Taehyun. When Yeji suddenly grabbed my arm, I knew I was in trouble. She would not let go of me until I gave her an answer she was satisfied with.

 

"Soojin~" Yeji's fingers closed around my phone and tugged it into her hands.

 

"What?!" I grappled for my phone, but Yeji was faster. She sat up and zoomed in on Taehyun's photo.

 

The older girl shot me this look. The way she couldn't keep her grin made me wonder how long she was waiting for this moment. "Oh? Who's this?"

 

"Who's what?" Yeonjun, whose eyes remained glued to Soobin's avatar on the screen, seemed to have perked up at Yeji's question. We ignored him.

 

 

"Nobody." I said quickly and snatched my phone back.

 

 

"Nobody?" Yeji echoed. I looked away quickly and tried to move the conversation on, but I couldn't fool her. "He doesn't seem like nobody to me. Come on, tell me."

 

I glanced warily at the boys in the room. They all had their backs facing us, but I knew they were all listening. When I turned back to Yeji. She was grinning so widely that her eyes turned into pretty, upturned crescents.

 

"Alright, but let's go to my room."

 

 

 

 

Yeji knew pretty much everyone in the school, so of course she knew who Taehyun was. There wasn't much she could tell me about him though, since it was mostly rumours and gossip Yeji would hear about regarding underclassmen. When I told her that he and I would often text and sometimes call each other before bed, she froze up.

 

 

"You like him!"

 

There was nothing I could say to dim her suspicions.

 

 

"It's cute! He definitely likes you too. Would he be your first boyfriend?"

 

 

 

 

My first boyfriend?

 

 

For as long as I could remember, I always played the role of matchmaker, with Kai. If we had yearbook superlatives in primary school, we would've been the Cupids. But now... I could have a boyfriend of my own? And it would be... Kang Taehyun?

 

I didn't need to look at a mirror to know my cheeks had turned rosy. Yeji noticed my blush and gave me a knowing smirk. She could tease me all she wanted, but I knew I would probably come back to her for more girl talk. After all, who wouldn't want some girly advice from the It girl Hwang Yeji?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner, Kai and I sneaked out to the store to grab some snacks.

 

Secretly, of course.

 

 

Mom didn't know we sneaked out, otherwise she would've scolded us for not eating enough during dinner.

 

My mother always made sure Soobin and I (and our friends) were well fed. She would always leave healthy snacks out in the kitchen if we had friends over to study. Well, it was mostly for Soobin anyway. Kai and I liked the unhealthy stuff. The sweeter, the sourer, the saltier, the better.

 

 

The nights were getting pretty dark and pretty cold very quickly. It was insanely cold that night, if we were lucky, it might even start snowing soon! Though, I definitely liked the winter more than Kai did. His body temperature was always a few degrees lower than mine, and he had to wear gloves and bundle up in this kind of weather, otherwise he'd definitely catch a cold.

 

It was snowing pretty heavily one December a few years ago. I remember Kai's sisters sat him in a small, red plastic toboggan and dragged him all the way to my house to play. I was surprised they managed to drag him out at all, since he was always so afraid of the cold. Tiny Kai was almost entirely covered from head to toe, had two layers of beanies, a massive scarf and the puffiest down jacket I've ever seen. When we defrosted him indoors, he proudly showed me he had three layers of socks on each foot. They were all mismatched.

 

 

A sharp gust of wind came our way, and Kai tugged his scarf more snugly around his neck. I grinned. He was like two heads taller than me now, but he was still deathly afraid of the cold. Some things never change.

 

 

Thankfully, the store was just around the corner. We bundled inside and headed straight for the sweets aisle.

 

Thank god! Sour worms were still on the shelves. We grabbed a pack each, then turned around to get some chips for the others. Soobin, Yeonjun and Yeji put some anime on and were supposedly covering for us while we sneaked out. I guess we had to get them something to even things out.

 

I started heading to the cashier when Kai muttered "Soda."

 

"Huh?"

 

"Soobin wanted soda. The grape one."

 

"He did?"

 

 

Kai smirked at me. "You're lucky I heard him otherwise he won't cover for you next time."

 

 

"You know him so well..."

 

We laughed and hurried to the fridge. Kai shoved his snacks into my arms before crouching over to grab five cans of the same drink from the fridge. One for each of us. It was kinda crazy how he could hold five cans in his big hands all at once. But knowing how clumsy he was, he might drop one, so I fussed over him, trying to grab the fifth can from him, but he tutted and began heading towards the cashier.

 

 

"You're an idiot, just pass it over, I can balance it under my chin!!"

 

 

"You're an idiot, I can do that too. Look." He retorted, and shoved it under his chin. He raised his eyebrows. "Hey, wasn't a bad idea."

 

 

 

I was laughing so hard while following him to the cashier that I didn't even notice he had stopped. I crashed into his back and he flung forwards. The fifth soda can that was gingerly balancing under his chin flew out of his grasp and... straight into the hands of the convenience store worker.

 

 

 

"Oh... Taehyun?"

 

 

 

...Who?!

 

 

 

I peeped around Kai and locked eyes with Taehyun, who stared so hard at us, startling me for a second time.

 

 

 

"Yo, nice catch." Kai laughed, stepping up to the counter to place the rest of the cans down. It took a second, but the boys seemed to have recovered pretty quickly and was already exchanging lighthearted banter. Taehyun was grinning as he shot back at Kai's jokes. I walked timidly up to them and placed the other snacks on the counter too, slowly pushing them closer for Taehyun.

 

 

"Hey, Soojin."

 

 

 

"Hi..."

 

 

 

I kept my eyes trained on the googly eyes of the cartoon worm on the pack of sour worms. No matter how silly I used to find the worm's eyes, nothing could distract me from feeling Kai's side glance burn into the back of my head, and the obvious tension lingering in the air between Taehyun and us. Why was it so... awkward?

 

 

 

"Were you guys at cram school?" Taehyun inquired, and Kai laughed.

 

 

"N... no... we don't go to cram school." I explained hurriedly. "We just sneaked out for snacks. He was at my place... with other guys! It's not just Kai, there's a bunch of guys... uh... oh my god, I mean–."

 

 

"You have a bunch of guys at your place right now?" he stole a glance at Kai, and God knows what face he was making at me. Either way, Taehyun seemed to understand something, because he grinned and played along. "Didn't know you were such a player, Soojin."

 

 

"No!" I cried out, a bit too loudly. "I mean, there's another girl too. Yeji, my brother's girlfriend. It's just my brother, Yeonjun and us, I swear. Gosh, why did it have to come out so awkwardly..."

 

Taehyun chuckled as he scanned our items and put them in a bag for us. While I was too busy being flustered, Kai took out his wallet and paid for the items even though it was supposed to be my treat. I made a mental note to pay for our snacks next time.

 

"Well, enjoy your night, both of you." Taehyun mused as he handed us the receipt and change. We locked eyes and he mouthed "with a bunch of guys" at me.

 

I cringed quite visibly, which seemed to be so amusing to them both.

 

"See you later!" Kai called out as he followed behind me making a beeline to the door.

 

 

 

As soon as we turned around the corner, I started running as fast as I could, because I knew Kai was ready to tease me until my cheeks were beet red, if they weren't already. For some reason, I couldn't shake off the feeling of meeting Taehyun's eyes like that so suddenly while Kai and I were goofing away. We messed around and acted silly all the time, but it weirdly felt like we were caught.

 

 

 

Then, it dawned on me.

 

 

 

 

Did I really have a crush on Taehyun?

 

 

 

 

I pulled up our chatroom, feeling like I had to explain what that was about earlier. For some reason, it felt so much easier to talk to Taehyun through a screen. Maybe it was his gaze that felt like he could see through my bluff. Even when I wasn't bluffing.

 

 

 

Hey! Didn't know you worked at the store. I didn't know you lived nearby?

 

 

It barely took him a second to read my message and start typing.

 

 

I live one bus stop away actually. But yeah, haha hi!

 

 

Followed by a second text.

 

So... are you guys having a sleepover?

 

 

 

A sleepover? I almost laughed. My sweet, sweet dad was the nicest guy ever, but he would never let Kai sleep over. Even if we were to sleep in the living room. Yeonjun was the only person allowed to sleep over. Of course, since he was mom's favourite child.

 

 

It's really not like that!! He follows me home for dinner every now and then. Since it was the last day... yeah.

 

 

The message was read instantly, but he didn't reply for a minute. Maybe... he was busy with a customer? Or not. Either way, I felt like that didn't really explain anything, so I added:

 

 

People think we're dating, but it really isn't like that. We've been best friends since birth! He's like another brother to me... you know that, right?

 

 

 

He was typing again.

 

 

 

Oh, of course. It's nice how comfortable you are around each other. :)

 

 

 

Okay good. No misunderstandings.

 

 

 

 

Before I could reply, Kai had caught up to me and almost knocked the wind out of me.

 

 

"Hol', you're really a runner now, huh?"

 

 

"Ow!! What the hell, let go!" I swatted at his arms as he headlocked me, crazily ruffling up my neatly combed hair.

 

"You might be a runner, but you still have to tell me what the hell happened back there?" he let me go but bumped against me playfully.

 

Sometimes, he really forgot how big and strong he is now compared to before when we were the same height. I stumbled and would've fell over if he didn't grab my arm to haul me back up.

 

 

Giant idiot.

 

 

 

There really wasn't much to tell, but I knew it was about time to tell him about the texts and calls I had been exchanging with Taehyun. Taehyun and I were obviously talking a lot more through the screen at night, than during the day at school. It somehow made our relationship seem like it ought to stay hidden. Kai tried to act unsurprised, but in my peripheral vision, I could see how widely he was grinning.

 

 

He loved the tea. He made sure to milk every last drop of it out of me too, including the exact words Taehyun would say when we bid each other goodnight.

 

 

Nosy, but he was my best friend. We never kept things from each other.

 

 

 

 

We got to my street when Kai grabbed me, cutting me off.

 

"Look up."

 

 

"Where?" I asked, confused. I craned my neck to look up with him... and gasped! "Wait, it's snowing?"

 

 

It was the first snow! The snow came earlier than expected, but I didn't mind. I loved the snow. Sometimes we were lucky enough to get enough snow to play with, but more often than most, we only got a thin layer of ice to slip over.

 

 

 

Ever since we were kids, Kai and I would always run to each other on the day of the first snow. We never quite knew if the other person were coming over, or if they were waiting for us to go, so we both ran towards each other's house until we met in the middle. Kai would get so excited to see me during the snow, that he'd totally forget he really hated the cold. Then, we'd sit and watch the snowfall in my mother's greenhouse, under the heaters with a mug of hot chocolate to keep our fingers warm. It was always so magical.

 

 

So it seemed right that the I was experiencing the first snowfall of this year with my best friend. One look at his one rare, genuine smile back at me, and I knew he was feeling the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

---

A/N: Phew, life always throws all the stress and deadlines at me everytime I try to post a new chapter. Sorry this took so long to update! I should really start working to a schedule. Hope you've all been well in the meantime.

If you're still here, thank you. If you're new here, welcome! And thank you, too.