"Yah, Kim Minjeong!"

Winter stands up right away as Karina and Yi Zhuo strides to their table.

Karina looks at Minju with her eyebrow raised, whilst the other girl was just smirking in her seat. She stands up to offer her hand, introducing herself. 

"Kim Minju." She says.

Karina doesn't take it and looks at Winter who looks like she's seen a ghost.

"Min-min unnie... It's nice seeing you here." Winter tries and reached out to touch her girlfriend. 

Karina pulls back though, not wanting to get silenced by Winter's touch.

"You- you didn't tell me you were busy meeting someone else here." Karina said instead, raking her fingers on her hair exasperatingly.

Minju snickers and lets her hand fall down on her sides. 

"I told you it's not going to be pretty!" Minju says as soon as Winter sends her a death glare.

"You didn't tell me soon is like two minutes after you said soon!" Winter says to her friend, before looking back at Karina apologetically again.

"I can explain." Winter says. 

"You better." Karina answers. 

"Yi Zhuo, we haven't seen each other for a while too. Do you want to grab ice cream-" Minju says before looking back at the couple "-somewhere else? There's another ice cream place nearby." 

"Ye- yeah, yeah! Let's go!" Yi Zhuo says instead, looking at Winter apologetically. "I'm sorry!" she mouths from behind Karina and Winter just looks at her blankly, as if saying I'll deal with you later.

Winter looks back to see her furious girlfriend, reaching out to touch her arms. 

"I missed you." Winter murmurs, pulling Karina down to a seat beside her. 

Karina melts into the touch and finally succumbs to silence, realizing she's so tired after traveling all the way from Seoul to Busan and hearing everyone else's thoughts nearby. 

"Why did you come here?" Winter asked curiously. "I didn't mean it like why are you here or something. I was just genuinely curious." Winter adds right away.

"Yi Zhou told me about Minju." Karina says coldly.

"What- what did she tell you uhh-"

"Don't blame her. She just slipped accidentally and I may have overreacted, that's why I'm here." Karina explains. "Which, I reacted for good reason, seeing you're busy going on dates with a girl that isn't me." 

"We are- we're not - geez, we're not on a date!" Winter says, squeezing Karina's hand.

"Why didn't you tell me anything about her?" Karina asked instead.

"I was going to. I was just trying to find the right time for it."

"There was no right time to tell your girlfriend that you fell in love with someone that isn't her."

"That's - that's an unfair statement, min-min unnie. I was young and confused."

"That's literally just last year." Karina rolls her eyes.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I-"

"No, it's fine. I'm sorry, baby. I overreacted." Karina said instead, seeing how uncomfortable Winter is. "You don't need to tell me everything about you if you don't want to."

"No, no. It's not that I don't want to. I was honestly really trying to find the right time to do so. Plus, you were able to read my mind all this time, did you even hear me thinking about her? No. Yeah?" 

Karina nods at this, making Winter smile. 

"See? I was really not thinking about her. I was probably, at one point, had feelings for her, but that was back when I was so confused and didn't know I actually can like girls. It doesn't count." Winter pouts.

"You don't have to invalidate your own feelings to appease me, Winter." Karina sternly said. "I understand. As long as I know you're not cheating on me, I'm fine with it."

"Oh God, no. No. I will never, ever, cheat on you." Winter says, pulling Karina closer for a hug.

"I really really missed you. I'm so happy to see you now." Winter murmurs in Karina's ear.

Winter ends up telling her girlfriend the whole story, even dwelling into the almost kissing memory which Winter clears up right away. Winter also tells her about Minju's gift, and Karina briefly wonders if Minju is the granddaughter of that soothsayer their parents went into when they were younger.

Winter pulls Karina to the counter to order her ice cream, not wanting to let go of her girlfriend's hand to give her peace. She's surprised Karina managed to travel that far without passing out, and she made a mental note to choke her best friend for bringing her here. 

"Second semester's about to start in three days, where are you planning to enroll?" Karina asked after they got their ice cream.

"I still need to talk to my mom about it. I haven't made up my mind yet."

"Are you going to the same school Minju is?" 

"Uhh I—"

"It's fine with me, baby." Karina caresses the hand intertwined with hers, letting her girlfriend know she's honestly fine with it. "It's better if you go somewhere you already know someone. Makes it easier for you." 

"But I- I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable or something."

"Why would she feel uncomfortable? I'm not going to take you away from her." Minju says from behind them, surprising the couple. She takes her seat across them with Yi Zhuo beside her.

"Are you guys okay now? Have you explained things to her yet?" Minju asked and Winter nods. 

"Can we start over then?" Minju smiles genuinely and Karina does the same. Karina gives Winter her cone, dusting her hand in her pants. She reached out across the table. 

"Yu Jimin." 

"Kim Minju. It's nice to finally meet you, Karina-ssi." Minju says, shaking the older girl's hand.

Karina looks at Winter who nods at her, silently telling her she's the reason why Minju is calling her Karina.

"You—why did you bring her all the way here?! She's so tired!" Winter finally addressed her best friend who's trying her best to hide her presence from her.

"She asked me to! I'm sorry!" Yi Zhuo said, sulking.

"We'll talk later." Winter says, earning an eager nod from Yi Zhuo.

"Well, I guess we're all good here, yeah?" Minju asked, looking at everyone. "I should probably go. I need to get things sorted before classes start on Monday." Minju stands up and looks at Winter.

"Talk to your mom. You'll be happy with what she's about to say." Minju says, winking again before heading out. 

She briefly bows before waving her hand goodbye. 

"Minju's gotten weird." Yi Zhuo states, earning a chuckle from Winter. 

-

"Wow, so this is your room, huh." Karina said, looking around Winter's room.

They decided to head back to Winter's place instead for Karina to rest properly, still deciding whether they should stay the night and just head back to Seoul the next day. 

Yi Zhuo was busy chatting with Winter's dad in the living room, catching up.

Winter's mom is not home yet, and if Karina's being honest, she dreads seeing the woman again. 

Karina sees the markings on Winter's closet and smiles as she traces them with her fingers.  

"You used to be this small. How cute." Karina coos and Winter blushes. 

Winter likes seeing her girl in her childhood room. 

"You're so cheesy." Karina quips, hearing the girl's thoughts.

"Ugh! I can't wait to be back in my room in Taeyeon unnie's place. You can't hear me there." Winter whines.

Karina looks at the picture frames lined up on Winter's divider and smi