TIMESKIP 3 WEEKS...

“Eomma, I’m leaving now!”

“Get there safely, okay Minjeong-ah?”

Winter grabbed a backpack near the front, “I will, don’t worry~”

Winter’s mom nodded from the kitchen, “I’ll come by to say hello later tonight after I finish work.”

“Why don’t you stay like I am?”

Her mom chuckled, “that’s too much in my opinion… I’ll stay long enough to count down with you all.”

Winter nodded, waving as she headed out the front door, “okay, bye eomma~”

As her breath hit the chilly air, a puff of smoke came out, Winter immediately shivering as she made her way across her slightly snowy front yard. It was December 31st… New Year's Eve.

And she’d be spending it with Karina.

…

And her parents too but she was mainly focused on spending her night over with Karina.

She grinned to herself, pulling her scarf tighter to warm herself up. Who knows why Winter thought it was fine to wear a hoodie over a t-shirt with sweatpants during one of the coldest days in Korea, she was just excited to see Karina for the first time during their winter break. She jogged to keep herself warm, arriving at her friend’s house after a few minutes.

Knock Knock…

Winter shoved her hands in her hoodie pocket, willing her teeth not to chatter as she waited for the door to be answered. 

Giselle and NingNing sadly couldn’t come… Due to them both coming back tomorrow from their home countries after spending the break with their families. Winter hoped they could all meet up before the break ended in a few days though, maybe even bring Ttang Kong along with them.

Ttang Kong…

Winter prayed to whoever was watching over them that he’d be okay. On her last day of school she -secretly- bought him a blanket and enough food to last him two weeks just in case she couldn’t visit him but… Korea’s winter could be very harsh at times…

Before she could think more of it, the front door opened.

Winter grinned, “hi Kar-’

She startled as the older raven-haired girl quickly pulled her inside, shutting the front door.

“Winter it’s so cold outside! Why’d you wear such thin clothing?”

Winter felt her face warm up as Karina brushed aside a few strands of her fully blonde hair, “uhhh I mean- I live five minutes away so…”

Karina sighed, “still, you might catch a cold. Just because you’re nicknamed ‘Winter’ doesn’t mean you’re immune to the actual winter.”

“Are you my mom now?”

“I might become one if you don’t take care of yourself.”

Winter giggled at that, “anyways… Do you like my hair? I finally dyed it again.”

Karina glanced at the fully platinum-blonde girl, her eyebrow raising as she saw that the tips of her hair were colored a cerulean blue.

“You dyed it blue too?”

Winter nodded, becoming shy, “I wanted to try something new… Does it look bad?”

Karina suddenly waved her hands, “no it looks fine! You look adorable.”

Winter blushed at that, hiding her face with her hair, “ahhh unnie stob itttt.”

The older girl chuckled, gently pulling Winter’s hands away before brushing aside her hair, “but really, you look good Minjeong-ah.”

As Winter thanked Karina, the raven-haired girl’s parents walked down the hall, seeing the two girls laughing with each other.

“Hello, Minjeong.”

The two girls jumped, turning to face Karina’s parents.

Winter quickly bowed, “hello, Mr. and Mrs. Yoo…”

The adults smiled, “it’s nice of you to stay with Jimin today, is your mother coming by as well?”

Winter nodded her head, “yes sir, she’s coming by after work to pass the new year’s with us.”

Karina’s dad nodded, “that’s good, welcome though, Minjeong.”

Winter smiled at both of them as Karina spoke up, “do you need any help, eomma, appa?”

Mrs. Yoo shook her head, “not yet, maybe in a few hours during dinner time.”

Karina smiled, gesturing for Winter to follow her, “then we’ll be in my room!”

The parents could be heard chuckling as the girls ran down the hall while holding hands.

“Remember when we were like that?”

“Of course, how time flies…”

…

…

“What should we do?”

“Uhhhhh… Do you want to continue ‘U Kiss’?”

Winter glanced at the far side of Karina’s wall, seeing that all her technology was on a shelf.

“Is that far enough away?”

Karina nodded, “that’s what the teachers said. So as long as we’re on my bed we’ll be fine.”

Winter let Karina lead her to the bed, watching as her older friend the drama and quickly ran back to jump on the bed.

“This is where we left off right?”

“Mhm!”

The two high schoolers soon began to be absorbed into the Korean drama, spending their time close together as if they were a couple, looking at each other once in a while only for both of them to smile shyly and look away, only to glance again.

….

…

…

“Jal meogeop seubnida~”      (I ate well / Similar to “thank you for the food”)

Mrs. Yoo smiled at the two girls, “of course dears. Oh and, Minjeong, when is your eomma coming?”

Winter tapped her chin, “around 11:30? She said she didn’t want to stay too long so she wouldn’t bother you all. She’s still at work though…”

Mr. Yoo nodded, “we shall all count down when she comes then.”

With that, Karina and Winter whisked back off to the older’s room, killing the five hours left by talking. 

Surprisingly, neither of them ran out of words to say in the five hours, both of them were surprised that the time passed by so quickly when it only seemed like half an hour to them… 

Knock Knock…

Karina glanced over to Winter, “that must be your mom.”

Winter nodded, “yeah, wow I didn’t know it was almost twelve already, Mom would’ve killed me if this was a normal day.”

Karina giggled, “I’m not letting anyone kill my jagiya.”

The younger stood frozen in shock, “wait- did I hear- you just-”

Karina stared innocently at Winter before walking out the door, “let’s go greet your mom Minjeong-ah.”

Winter only had the chance to lift her hand up, her lips parted into an “O”.

‘She just called me babe without me asking her to-’ 

The surprised girl shook her head like a puppy to clear both her thoughts and the redness from her cheeks, masking her shock by grinning at the woman that came in through the door.

“Come in come in, I hope you aren’t too cold waiting out there?”

Winter’s mom smiled at Karina’s mom, “no not at all, thank you for inviting me.”

“Hi eomma!”

Winter went over to hug the older Kim, her mom hugging her back before they both pulled away.

“Hello Minjeong-ah, and hello Jimin as well.”

Karina bowed, “hello Miss Kim~”

After introductions were put in its place, the group of five began to converse in the cozy living room, the adults talking about work and adult things, the two girls sometimes joining in but for the most part in their own world… 

…

…

…

Mr. Yoo glanced up at the wall clock, “ten minutes, you all.”

…

…

…

Miss Kim called out, “five minutes!”

…

…

…

Mrs. Yoo smiled at them all, “one minute, get ready!”

Karina and Winter grinned at each other, unable to unbind their hands from each other as they stared at the ticking clock.

…

…

“Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven… Six… Five… Four… Three… Two… One…”

The clock struck twelve, and the group cheered, “happy New Year’s!!!”

Hugs were passed around by everyone, celebratory cries coming about as much as the hugs.

Winter hugged the older girl, a small part of her heart wanting to kiss the girl instead.

Her gut told her that too.

But she listened to her head instead, believing that one, it was too much.

Two, their parents were right there.

And three, how could Karina possibly like her back?

If only she knew that Karina’s heart sped up from their hug, and as the older brushed her lips on Winter’s forehead, she wished that she went a little lower instead.

Karina’s parents were completely fine with her liking a girl, which she felt as if she was blessed to have them as her parents. Of course, there were complications… But her parents supported her, and little did she know that her love for Winter was obvious to all three adults.

Little did Winter know that she was dense enough to not notice Karina’s love for her.

…

But Karina was as dense as the puppy.

After a bit of conversing, Winter’s mom decided to head back to their own home a few houses away.

“I must leave now, thank you for today.”

She shook hands with Karina’s parents before Winter went up to hug her.

“Bye eomma, get home safe.”

“Of course Minjeong-ah, you do the same tomorrow.”

With that, Miss Kim left into the night, and Karina’s parents began to clean up the living room alongside the help of the others. The clean-up was quick, and soon enough, the girls were sent to Karina’s room.

“It’s late, you girls must be tired.”

That triggered a yawn from Karina, “yeah… Let’s go Winter, goodnight eomma, appa~”

“Goodnight, Mr. and Mrs. Yoo~ Thank you for today.”

The parents smiled at them both, sending them off as they themselves decided to head in as well.

“Do you have pajamas?”

“No… But it’s fine, I’ll just wear my shirt and sweats.”

Karina stared at Winter, struggling to hide a laugh as the younger girl staggered a bit while trying to take off her hoodie.

“Do you need help taking that off?”

“I’m fine.”

Winter finally was able to pull off her hoodie, her hair slightly messy as she fixed the black shirt she wore underneath.

Karina chuckled as she walked over, combing her hand in the girl’s blonde hair, “but really, are you sure you won’t be uncomfortable in that?”

Winter smiled, her cheeks turning a hue pink as Karina caressed her cheek, “yeah I’m sure, it’s not bad at all.”

Karina nodded, “then let’s sleep.”

As the older girl walked to her bed, Winter stayed in the middle of the room, standing in the dark, not knowing what to do.

“Winter?”

“Yeah?”

“What are you doing?”

“Uhhhh nothing?”

Karina turned around, “are you not going to sleep?”

“Oh- uh- I’ll sleep on the floor.”

Karina stared at her weirdly, “what? Why?”

“Where else would I sleep?”

The black-haired girl thought she was kidding, until she saw Winter scratch her head in complete and utter confusion.

“The bed, where else?”

“But you’re already sleeping there?”

“And??”

“...”

“Have you ever had a sleepover before?”

“With my brother a long time ago when we were both kids?”

“With a girl?”

“Uhhhh… With my cousins?”

“Where’d you sleep then?”

“The couch.”

Karina sighed, walking back over to hold Winter’s hand and leading her to the bed.

“You’re sleeping with me, dummy.”

“I-I am?? B-but won’t you be uncomfortable?”

Karina glanced back at Winter, seeing her cover her face with her free hand, “no, why would I be? It’s not like you’re a stranger.”

“W-well because uh- I’m- uhhhh… I don’t know…”

“I mean, if you feel uncomfortable, then I’ll-”

“No, it's fine! I don’t feel uncomfortable at all when I’m with you. I mean- Uh- you know…”

The older girl raised her eyebrow in amusement, “then I suppose we don’t have a problem?”

Winter stared at the floor and shook her head, thankful that the darkness covered her flustered face. Karina chuckled, gesturing for her to sit down next to her at the edge of the mattress.

The puppy plopped down, twiddling her thumbs as she felt Karina’s eyes on her. When she returned the gaze, she couldn’t pull herself away, and some sort of feeling of someone looking at her in a way that Karina was, in the silent darkness, made her heart flutter in delight. Same went for the older girl, both of them were head over heels for each other, but both were also too scared to make a move.

They were both scared to lose each other, before they both met, no one really got them the way the other had…

Karina looked away first, scooting farther into the bed, “let’s sleep now.”

“Y-yeah… Let’s…”

The two girls laid stiffly down next to each other, considering that they were close, an awkward aura settled down on them.

“G-goodnight, unnie.”

“Night, Minjeong-ah.”

But soon enough, the two relaxed, and both of them could be seen smiling up at the ceiling before falling into a comfortable slumber…