『　ｂｅｆｏｒｅ　ｖａｃａｔｉｏｎ, winter  』

"Oh, crap."

Donghyuck sighed. It was another one of those gloomy winter days in which he couldn't do what he wanted to do. He couldn't play football, walk in the park alone or even watch his crush listen to music under the school's one and only apple tree. He sighed again.

Christmas wasn't exactly his favorite season. At a certain point he liked it but for some odd reason, there was always something missing. Love, perhaps? He didn't know. As he constantly searched for love, he never found it. He stopped trying to find it. But little did he know that because of that, Love would finally come to him.

Donghyuck opened the door to their classroom, decided to take a short rest in their small, quiet room before going to his bestfriend's house. He slid the door open and was surprised to see a maiden seated on her chair, earphones plugged on her ears. Donghyuck entered and slowly closed the door behind him so that the female wouldn't be startled with his presence.

"Winter's not so bad after all."

The boy whispered to himself.

"What's that?"

The girl removed an earphone from one ear and turned around to face Donghyuck who was about to be seated on a chair in the corner. Donghyuck immediately stood back up. 

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

They said simultaneously. The girl couldn't comprehend the situation and neither did Donghyuck. All he knew was that everything was awkward and that he struggled to look for the right words to say. He wished for his oozing confidence to be regained.

"I think," Donghyuck who felt confident about himself, walked to the chair next to the female, "the weather's not bad after all."

The girl furrowed her eyebrows and pointed at the window.

"You call that good?"

"No, I mean, the weather is bad but it's not that bad."

"And what happened to you?"

Donghyuck playfully shrugged and let out a chuckle. The girl was confused. She never talked to Donghyuck about such things and only spoke to him if school was concerned. She removed her earphones from her ears.

"I'll get going now so you can have, uhm, some solitude."

She rushed to place her stuff inside her bag and stood up. She was stopped by the boy's hand. She looked back at Donghyuck and saw him staring at the ground, most probably wishing to blurt something out.

"Is," she moved closer to Donghyuck, "something wrong?"

"Sit."

He ordered as he still stared at the ground. She was taken aback but she couldn't disobey it. The girl was nervous.

"What's wrong, Donghyuck?"

"Nothing really," he said with his head still bowed down, "it's just that."

"What's that?"

"I've been thinking about this girl for a while now and I really want to make her feel loved. But I don't think she feels the same."

Again, Sehyun, became confused. Why is the boy blurting out these personal things to her? They weren't close so she didn't understand.

"Uh... I think it's better to make her know she's loved, I guess?"

"So," Donghyuck lifted his head and faced Sehyun, "it would be ok for me to confess then?"

Sehyun shrugged, "Hey, I'm not good at these things ok? But I think girls like it when they know they're loved. It's helpful, I guess? Well, for me it's–"

"Sehyun, I like you."

Sehyun froze. She felt her arms, legs and everything freeze as if a gush of the winter wind passed by her. She felt numb. She slowly focused her eyes on Donghyuck and saw that his face had a touch of pink. But that's not what caught her attention. What she saw was his eyes. His round, brown honest eyes telling her that what slipped out of his mouth came straight from his heart.

"I'm leaving."

Sehyun stood up and rushed to the door. Donghyuck followed, wanting to know the answer to his sudden confession.

"Sehyun, wait!"

She slammed the door behind her, trapping Donghyuck inside. Her back was on the door and she felt her thumping heart, not wanting to relax any moment soon. Donghyuck didn't know what to feel. Was he excited? Was he nervous? He felt like crying.

"I'm sorry, Donghyuck."

"For what?"

They talked despite having the door in between them. Sehyun didn't want him to see how she looked like because everything had been so sudden and she was embarassed.

"For slamming the door."

"It's fine just please let m–"

"And, I like you too."