Wish we could turn back time
To the good old days
When our momma sang us to sleep
But now we're stressed out

Winter sighed, turning restlessly on her bed, unable to sleep. She pushed her blanket away from her body and shuffles her hair furiously. She pulls out her earphones and stopped the music, the songs currently on her random playlist turning her mood sour.

As if it can get any worse than what she's currently feeling.

It's almost a week now since Karina has started avoiding her. 

Winter tried to backtrack on everything that has happened, asking herself at least six times (it's actually more) every day if she did anything wrong.

As far as she recalls, she never let go of Karina's hand that day as she promised. They had a nice meal, she even agreed to be spoonfed even when it's embarrassing. She recalls people looking at them like they grew another pair of heads. Winter didn't mind. They had a nice time. She definitely enjoyed it. She can feel that Karina enjoyed it too. So where did it all go wrong?

There was even no sleepover that happened that night, causing Taeyeon to bombard her with questions like What happened? Did you do something stupid? Did you fight again? 

And Winter tries hard again, really hard, to remember where it all went wrong. 

She stared at the book on top of her bedside table, few pages left and she'll finish it soon. She recalls opening it after Karina left that day before tossing it back to her bed, staring angrily at the blue cover. She picks it up again before placing it properly on her table, before grabbing her pillow and screaming wildly at it. She can't think of any reason why her friend was suddenly acting like that.

On the third day that Karina was ignoring her, she decided to finally read the book. Maybe, she can use it as a way to talk to the older girl. Share with her the plot of the book, and maybe initiate a conversation as they promised when she asked her out for a blind date (with books). She's hoping to finish it soon, except she would get distracted and would realize she's reading paragraphs without understanding them, or that she's flipping pages without having an idea on what happened on the past few chapters. 

It also bugs her a lot because Karina wouldn't even reply to her texts, let alone leave them on read.

Winter is already running out of dad jokes to tell.

6:18 PM

You: unnie

You: wat does a zombie vegetarian eat?

You: GRAAAAAAIIIIIINNNNSSSS! 😂😂😂

6:32 PM

You: unnie, did u know?

You: when i was young, i wanted to play guitar really bad

You: after few years of practice, determination and hard work

You: i can finally play guitar really bad 😅😅

6:45 PM

You: min-min unnie...

You: min-min baby is hungry

You: min-min baby needs cookies and milk

You: ☹️

7:02 PM

You: i ordered a chicken and an egg from this online store

You: i'll let u know

You: hahaha did u get that? 😂😂😂

7:09 PM

You: in case u didnt i'll let u know which would come first kekeke 😂😂😂

You: did u eat?

You: don't skip dinner, min-min unnie 🥰

She wouldn't even look at her whenever she tries to talk to her whilst at school, and she would always take a hard pass for lunch. She's evidently avoiding her and even their friends would look at the two of them weirdly. 

Unnie, were you able to finish Miss Bae's homework?

Yes.

How about that project in chemistry?

Yes.

How about—

Karina puts on her AirPods and went back to doodling.

Lia had been calling her a lot too because Karina went back to her usual routine of watching Ryujin practice, and the girl would whine because it's supposedly their time together. However, she feels like she's third-wheeling when she's with the two. It's not like they're dating, she tells Winter, Ryujin hasn't put a label on what they have, but Lia's sure they're definitely more than friends.

(If she's basing it on the fact that they kiss each other a lot.)

Ew, Lia, I didn't need to hear that!

Ningning wasn't of any help too. She calls her best friend right away when Karina left with her dad instead of sleeping over, panicking, and trying to figure out what to do. She wasn't of any help, only asking if Winter did all of those embarrassing things she tends to do.

Don't tell me you farted during your date? 

Ew, Ning Yi Zhuo, of course I didn't!

Or you picked your nose again! You tend to do that!

Ning Yi Zhuo, you're not helping.

You probably sneezed on her like what you did when we were eating at that Japanese restaurant.

Winter ended up hanging up on the girl because of annoyance. 

They made up the next day, Ningning ended up telling Winter to just leave Karina alone in case she needs space. 

And that's what she had been doing for a week now, leaving her unnie alone.

It stings though. For some reason, it stings in Winter's chest, how Karina doesn't throw her even second-long glances anymore, or how she didn't even show up when it was Winter's turn to go on air with Joy.

She doubts she even heard her when she left a message for Min-min unnie, instead of leaving one for Somi like she initially said.

It stings whenever she sees Karina talking to Giselle, or even Lia, but would end up treating Winter like anyone else in their block —nonexistent. 

Winter thinks back on her first few weeks in school. The same Karina that she thought was snobbish and cold then was a whole lot better than this.