Two days without Winter and Karina feels like .

Barely weeks into their relationship and they're already in a long-distance one.

Winter's mom arrived a day earlier than expected, so Karina never had the chance to show Winter what she planned for her idea of a date.

Karina expected that the goodbye will be painful and hard—she had prepared for the worst.

But what she failed to prepare for is the numbness of not knowing her girlfriend has already left with her mom without even saying goodbye to her. It was painful. Too painful as she wasn't even given a chance to hug her girlfriend before she left, wasn't even given a chance to see her at all. It was agonizingly cruel how their feelings were brushed off just because they're kids and they don't have any idea what they're talking about.

Two days.

Two days and it already felt like an eternity. 

Karina wonders what Winter is thinking, what Winter is feeling, how Winter is doing. 

The girl hasn't talked to her in two days and she wonders if her girlfriend is even allowed to use her phone at home.

Dialing her number for the umpteenth time, Karina recoils at the heart-wrenching feeling in her chest as the ringing on the other side of the phone leads to a series of beeps indicating no one is picking up.

Again.

-

"Minjeongie, wake up!" Minjeong hears her mom knocking on the door of her room. 

It was the same room she grew up in, with all the band posters and old books on her shelf. With her wardrobe that got marks of how she grew taller over the years. It was the same ceiling she'd spend nights staring at back when she was a kid.

It was the same room, but it felt unfamiliar.

Minjeong has been awake for a while now. Staring at nothingness, Minjeong wills herself to stand up and face the seventh day of being back home.

Home.

Such a vague word with no definitive meaning.

Is home where her parents are? Where she grew up?

Or where her heart is?

"Minjeongie, come down, and let's have breakfast." Minjeong hears again before answering a lazy "I'm coming!"

She looks at the phone on her bedside table and ignores it as she heads down to join her parents for breakfast. 

She sees her mom and dad smiling at her from the kitchen, opting for her to do the same.

"Morning." Minjeong greets. 

"Morning. Were you able to sleep properly this time?" Minjeong hears her mom ask, to which she just nodded her head as a response. 

"There are still a couple of weeks before the break finishes. Have you decided which school you're moving to?"

Minjeong shakes her head no.

Minjeong's father sent a knowing look at her mom, to which Minjeong barely notices. 

"There's a recently opened up library fifteen-minute drive from here. Do you want to visit?" This time, it was Minjeong's dad who asked. "I can drop you off if you want."

Minjeong nods her head yes, knowing it's better to be buried in books than to stare at her dirty ceiling time and time again. 

Her parents shared a knowing look, but Minjeong busied herself with breakfast.

The rest of the gang had been trying to reach out to her to no avail.

Minjeong thinks it'll hurt more if she dwells on the feeling, it'll hurt more if she thinks of the friends she left and the things she can't control.

She turns her phone off and placed it on the bottom of her top drawer.

Minjeong's dad dropped her off at the library. 

Whilst the building is new, the majority of the books are not. Minjeong lets herself get lost in books she promised she'll read, and lets herself wander across a variety of shelves displayed in the area. 

She sat at one of the isolated tables at the far end of the library, only to be flooded with memories of her girlfriend and their moments in the AE-U library.

It pains her a lot to get reminded of Karina in every single thing she's doing and knowing she's hurting the girl by deliberately avoiding her calls as well. Minjeong promised herself she'll call her girlfriend as soon as she's home to apologize, hoping the girl would understand why she's aloof for the past few days. 

After a few more hours of lounging and reading till her head felt dizzy, Minjeong decided to head home. 

She picked up one of the books Karina has recommended in the past, finding solace in reading her girlfriend's favorite books. 

She registered for a library card and checks out the book before heading back home.

Unknown to Minjeong was an old friend sitting at the other side of the library, watching her quietly as Minjeong exists the large hall.

-

Minjeong takes a deep breath before hitting the familiar green icon on her phone.

She listens as it rings for few times before it stops, indicating the call was now picked up by her girlfriend.

"Min— min-min baby?" Comes Karina's quiet voice, so quiet she almost missed it.

"Min-min unnie..." Minjeong exhales, as if she was underwater for a long long time and was finally breathing again.

"Oh my God— are you... are you okay?" She hears Karina's worried voice and felt guilty for actively avoiding the older.

"I'm okay now." Winter answered, knowing how Karina's voice was enough to make her feel better again.

God, how did I manage to go days without hearing that?

"Why— how— are you allowed to use your phone?"

"Yeah.. uhm, it's uh, I'm sorry." Winter murmurs. "I— I should have picked up your calls. I'm sorry." 

The line was quiet for a few seconds, prompting Winter to check her phone and see if the call is still active.

"I'm glad you finally called." Karina answers at last and Winter felt her heart sting. 

"I wasn't trying to avoid you or anything... I was— I don't know, I was just —"

"You don't have to explain, it's alright." Winter can hear Karina's smile through the call. "I just missed you, that is."

"I missed you more. I— I'm sorry we still ended up like this."

"It's not your fault. It's no one's fault, okay?" Karina sighs. "I don't want you blaming yourself, or blaming your mom or anyone. We'll be fine, okay?" Karina assures her. 

"We can still see each other right? I mean... I can visit there, umm that's possible right?" Karina probes and Winter almost wanted to believe in the possibility.

"It'll be hard for you to travel all the way here, min-min unnie." The younger says instead. "I don't want you doing that when I'm not with you to hold your hand."

"Uhmm... You're still allowed to visit here then, yeah? You still have your room here at Taengo-unnie's place. You can come anytime right? It's not like it's too far." Karina asked, hopeful.

"Yeah, I guess so." Winter wants to believe in the possibility.

-

Minjeong's dad dropped her off at the library again.

It's starting to become Minjeong's routine, something she had been doing for the past few days now.

She'd read some of Karina's favorite Sidney Sheldon books and they'll spend the night talking about the characters and how the story goes, wanting to talk about other things than acknowledge the distance between them.

Winter strolls around the literary section looking for another book Karina recommended when a magnetic pull of something draws her to look at a table on the other side of the library.

She sees a girl sitting alone, back facing her, and somehow, Winter had this strong urge to walk up to that table and introduce herself.

Winter felt familiar as if she knows who the girl is, as if she's—

She was startled when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, pulling it out to read a message letting her know that her dad is outside to pick her up.

Winter looks back at the table and sees it empty, shrugging the weird feeling she got as she exited the large hall.

-

"Hey there, my min-min baby..." Karina coos on the line as soon as she answers Winter's call.

"Can we facetime instead?" Winter says, a little too fast before saying "Sorry- umm— Hello to you too, min-min unnie." 

"Oh wow, facetime huh? We're really that couple now." Karina chuckles on the other line. "Give me one sec."

Winter unconsciously fixed herself before hitting the facetime button. She pulls the camera away from her face and waits as the older turns her video on.

"Oh, hi there." Karina smirks at her, and Winter swears she's going to melt in her place. 

They're starting to get used to the setup of calling each other and messaging whenever they get a chance, but Winter thinks it's not enough. She wants to see Karina, wants to hold her close, wants to kiss—

"Why are you blushing?" Karina asked, face getting closer to the camera as she observes the younger.

"Uhm noth—nothing! I was just thinking... about umm stuff."

Karina raised her right eyebrow questionably.

"Are you sure you're not thinking anything inappropriate right now?"
 

"Ya—yah! Why do you— Oh my God, I swear if I don't know you I'd think you're a ert!" Winter laughs on the other line as she watched how Karina doubled over in laughter as well. 

They talked about random things before Karina cut it off with a weird suggestion.

"So you've been googling?" Winter asked.

"Researching." Karina corrects.

"Okay, researching. And you got this list?" Winter clarifies.

"Ye—yeah. It says here uh Long-Distance Relationships: Things To Talk About On The Phone."

Winter chuckles on the other line.

"You're so weird." Winter laughed as her girlfriend goes through the list of things in her research, unaware of her mom watching her from her door for a while now.

-

Winter's spot in the library was taken by someone else.

Not that she owns that spot, no. But she's so used to sitting there that she was honestly disappo