12 December 2017

“Na, we’ve been sitting here for the last hour,” the male complained, hand moving with explanation to his words. “Shouldn’t we, I don’t know, be outside skiing?”

Byun Baekhyun.

The man that everyone wanted romantically and platonically. He was like an all-star in high school because of his talents and his genius-like mind. He adapted fast and learned even faster. But then there was Hwang Nami, Baekhyun’s best friend. They grew up together – having lived side-by-side one another. Everyone envied the relationship they shared because Nami knew everything about Baekhyun and he knew everything about her. Despite Baekhyun being older, they were your typical best friends who everyone thought would end up together. Even their parents, but they’ve come to accept that Baekhyun and Nami were nothing more than best friends. They never glanced to that light ever again.

Though, it proved that Baekhyun was protective of her and him vice versa. They’ve never parted sides. Throughout high school, Nami stood beside him – went to every basketball game, soccer game and talent show Baekhyun ever participated in. Even while he was her senior. And Baekhyun went to all her campaigns for student council, helped her in her voluntary work and volleyball game. As they grew older, college separated them throughout the year – 245 days a year aside from summer and winter breaks. Baekhyun decided that he’d attend college locally to be closer to his family. He aspired to follow in his father’s footsteps and attend medical school after. Whereas Nami decided on pharmacy school in a different city – miles away from her family and Baekhyun. Her parents, of course, supported her dreams and supported everything she’s decided to do – but Baekhyun didn’t seem to agree with the idea of her leaving him. Though, he just had to live with it. Their biggest way of communication was facetime and through text almost every day, and it wasn’t until winter and summer break that they saw one another. Baekhyun never knew how long Nami would stay because with her schedule – she was unpredictable. Sure, they both attended medical (and pharmacy) school, but they still made time to take a break and see their families no matter how busy they got.

Every year they’d take turns going to the Hwang’s winter home just few miles outside their city or the Byun’s beach house in Jeju or they’d stay in the city for Christmas – it really depended. This winter, Baekhyun’s and Nami’s family gathered at the Hwang’s winter home for a few weeks before Christmas. They decided that they’d return home and continue Christmas in the comforts of their day-to-day home before Nami was off again and Baekhyun didn’t have time to see anyone.

The screen of her laptop lowered, displaying Baekhyun’s unamused expression. The brunette simply furrowed her brows and smacked his hand away. It wasn’t her fault that she had to keep up with her roommate – who didn’t go home for winter break. “Can you give me a few minutes,” she muttered, sending a message back to her roommate. At this point, Baekhyun leaned back against the couch, groaning as if he was in agony. This earned Nami to roll her eyes at the dramatic male as she smacked him on the chest. Not too hard but hard enough for him to stop being dramatic. Though, he groaned once again and rubbed his chest – all while grumbling how no fun she was. “Baek, we go skiing every year,” Nami explained, finally closing her laptop and placing it on the opposite side of her. Baekhyun rose off of the couch while his arm held a pillow that sat on his lap: “What’s your point?”  He asked. Nami rolled her eyes once more to the tone of his voice. “You are miles away from home, and you are supposed to be my best friend. Winter break is about us spending time together and catching up on life.” Baekhyun explained as he stood up from the couch. Nami’s eyes followed. Sometimes she wondered if this was their breaking point. Even while she’s on break, she still has some kind of thing to do for pharmacy school – or she has to fix something in her apartment. Or she had boy problems.  Or she was stuck in the middle of her roommate’s problems. She sometimes forgets that she’s on break – or that Baekhyun was there with her. Though, she was on her last few years, she’s just…. busy. And she knew that Baekhyun is too. With his internships at the hospital ending soon, he was on route to his residency to being a surgeon. What kind of surgeon, she didn’t know because he hasn’t told her yet.

“I know you’re busy with school, your clinicals, and Jaehyun – whatever his name is.” There was sigh that left her lips and another roll of her eyes as he mentions her current boyfriend. Her current relationship. No matter how happy she was in the relationship, or how her parents blessed her relationship, Baekhyun still didn’t know if he could trust Jaehyun. “The whole point of winter break is for us to spend time together – to be the Byun-Hwang duo.” He is right, though. As much as she didn’t want to admit it. The whole point of coming home was to see her family and Baekhyun – the most important person in her life. “Okay, fine,” she uttered, raising her hand defensively off of her laptop, “you win.” She had to give in. Why? Because eventually, she was going to leave and go back to the city she resided in for college until the summertime rolled around. “Let’s do whatever you want to do.” She uttered while the male turned his head to her. He had to make sure she was genuine and not because he complained about it. But he saw no guilt or feigned emotion. Baekhyun, again, leaned back against the couch with his eyes still on her.

“What exactly do you want to do?” She asked, placing her laptop on the coffee table in front of them.

“I don’t know anymore,” he responded with a shrug.

“What?” Nami scoffed and threw her arms around him – his shoulders and chest – as she stared up to him. He clearly seemed upset with her and what she’d been doing since she arrived to the cabin. Their parents had left them alone to go shop for groceries and items to make dinner, leaving them to their own expenses now that they were grown. A sigh eventually leaves Nami’s lips as she tilted her head to Baekhyun. “You have all of my undivided attention, Baek. I promise you I won’t get back onto my laptop – no roommate issues, no boyfriend issues or schoolwork. You said it yourself, it’s a time for us to spend time together. So, let’s do what you want to do.” Still, Baekhyun stared at her the way he had been staring at her for the last several minutes. His body unmoving… just, long stares. Long stares until he gives in.

“Fine,” he uttered as a smile appeared on the girl’s features. “Let’s go sleigh-riding.” He suggested. Her family’s winter home sat atop of a hill and surrounded by the forest, so sleigh-riding was a more fun than skiing. To which skiing wasn’t that far. Her family’s winter home sat at the end of the street and winter festivities were just a few miles up the road that one could see skiers and ziplines. Though, skiing in her front yard was more fun than having other’s around. “No skiing?” She questioned; head tilted in curiosity. But Baekhyun shook his head. His attention was now on the fireplace that kept the home warm. “Don’t really want to go into town anymore. Sleigh-riding in the front yard sounds more fun,” he confessed. And Nami couldn’t lie, it did sound fun when it’s just them two. A small smile plastered her lips as she stood up onto her feet, hands already wrapped around his arm: “Then let’s go get dressed and go outside!” She said, tugging at his arm as she would’ve anytime that they planned something. Baekhyun had grown used to her playful tugs, and it always plastered a smile on his lips that even if he was mad at her – it’d dissipate as quickly as it entered his mind.

“Okay, okay,” he muttered, finally standing up from the couch.

Now, they weren’t sure how long they were outside playing in the snow – but all Nami could knew was that their parents arrived home around the same time. His mom and hers had taken a separate car while their dads another. She could only imagine that their dads went to a home improvement store because of the amount of wood they had as if they had a winter project planned while their moms went grocery shopping.  “Oh, my goodness, honey,” his mother called out as she saw Nami. Her hand flew to the girl’s cheeks: “Your nose is all red! How long have you two been out here?” She asked while Baekhyun finally made it back up the miniature hill. “Um,” Nami answered sheepishly, “we don’t know.”