Winter's POV

In life, what do you regret the most? The things you did or the things you didn't?

I surely have a lot of things to be regretful of. If there's one thing I would blame for that, that would be fear; my ever present and constant enemy. Or scratch that. Maybe it's not entirely my fear that is to blame. Maybe it's my faulty judgement. Because I've always considered fear as my defense mechanism. I thought it would keep me safe from harm. What I did not consider was that, the things that can harm me can also be the same things that will make me feel the most alive...

When it comes to Karina, Winter has always been a liar.

The first time she lied was also the first time they met.

The high school department's hallway of SM University was filled with booming voices and laughter from different kinds of students. The students were grouped into their respective cliques; the jocks, the mean girls, hipsters, troublemakers, etc. So where was Winter in all of this? Well, in the far off corner, hidden behind the tall bookshelves, was where Winter could be found. So you could say she was under the loner group. Except, she was all by herself. That's because she is an introvert.

It's not that introverts are bound to be loners all their life but, according to research, only 27% of introverts have said that they would actively seek new friendships, and Winter was not part of that statistics. She wasn't fond of people and she was happy by herself and her books. Fictional characters were much easier to understand than real people. So people seemed to be okay with the fact that she doesn't like them and Winter liked that a lot. It was going okay until in the middle of their school year, someone sat beside the blonde while she was about to learn who the 4th person is that Eddie, the fictional character she was reading about, was going to meet in heaven.

She turned her eyes toward the person and found that it was Yoo Jimin, or more popularly known as Karina, who sat beside her. They both looked at each other, surprised to see that someone was there because classes were still going on. For the blonde's case, their professor gave the class a free period since he was busy so Winter opted to go to her favorite spot.

Karina seemed to have sensed Winter's question through their eye contact because she said, "I have Professor Kim for this period. I swear that teacher's nuts. Who tells their student not to study that hard?"

Winter could not talk back then because of two things. First, it was because Karina Yoo was talking to her. Karina, who was like the most popular 2nd year student, not only because of her looks but also because of her brains. She was also very likable because she was very sweet and kind to people. Secondly, it was because the person she was talking about was her sister, Professor Kim Jisoo. Her sister has always had a unique brain, to put it lightly. She didn't know why her sister became a professor because the older one always lived by the principle that students shouldn't work that hard but have more fun. Winter thinks it's either her sister just being her unique self or that it's her way of annoying their father, who was the president of their university. If you're wondering how Winter remains to be off the people's radar despite having such connections, it's because she's protected by the very thing that connects her with them, their surname. The surname Kim was as common to Korea as burgers were in the USA. No one even asks their connection and they prefer it like that. So what was she supposed to say to Karina?

"F-free period." God that was so ing awkward.

Karina chuckled. "You're Kim Minjeong right? From class 1B?"

She knew?

The dark haired girl smirked. "You're not as invisible as you think you are. Anyways, can you not tell on me, Mindeong-ie? Can I call you that? I think its cute. I'll sleep for a while before the next class."

Winter could only nod. 

After the older girl left, Winter's heartbeat was still high. In fact, it was higher than when the senior sat beside her. 

So she lied. She told herself it was because Karina was a person. Meeting new people make her heart pound faster. It was not because of her being a witness to the older girl's beauty up close and definitely not because, before Karina left, she pinched Winter's cheeks and told her that she's so cute. Yep, definitely not because of that. 

The second time she lied was when Winter was in first year college. 

They took up the same course and although from different year levels, it didn't become an issue. They were a unseparable duo. Wherever one goes, most likely, you would find the other. Winter knew Karina's friends from the older's year level while Karina knew Winter's only other friend from her class, Ningning. 

"Mindeongiieee. I missed you."  Karina was hugging her from the back, the older girl's chin on Winter's shoulder.

"But we just called one another?"

Karina pouted even though Winter was not looking. "But I couldn't hold you like this."

"You're just being sweet because you want something. What is it?"

It was a friday. Winter was finishing up her report for a major subject and Karina just finished her hell week.

Karina grinned. "Let's go to the Black Mamba."

Karina loved going to clubs. Winter abhorred it. Why were they friends again?

Winter turned her head and looked at Karina pointedly while the latter pouted and made cute puppy eyes. Seeing the dark haired girl's face up close again made Winter feel that familiar tug in her heart which has been a constant presence in her lately so she just sighed and rolled her eyes.

Winter clicked the submit button and said, "Why am I doing this again?"

Karina's hands around her waist tightened and a kiss on the cheek was her reward before the dark haired girl stood up and happily danced. "Because you can't stand it when I drink and you're not there."

There was that tug again. 

That night at the club was a mess. It made a mess in Winter's head. They arrived there and as usual, Winter just observed Karina enjoy her time. She thought there was going to be a bigger mess when a guy approached Karina. She was ready to steer her friend away from harm but the two seemed to have hit it off pretty well. And it made Winter at loss for words. It was as if she wanted the guy to be an so she can hate him but then he was kind and polite and Karina seemed to be enchanted with him. It was supposed to make Winter happy. So the blonde didn't knew why, but she hated him eve