TIMESKIP 1 MONTH...

 

Winter and NingNing could be seen talking to each other at their usual spot, seeming to play some sort of hand game while waiting for the older two to arrive for lunch…

 

…

…

 

“Hi stalker.”

 

Karina jumped, whipping around to see Giselle staring at her with a smirk.

 

“Me?”

 

The Japanese girl chuckled, “who else would I be talking to?”

 

“I’m not a stalker though.”

 

“Says someone who’s staring at two girls from afar, body pretty much hidden behind the corner of our school building.”

 

Karina rolled her eyes, “I was gonna go to them.”

 

“When? After you were done drooling over Winter?”

 

The older girl smacked Giselle’s arm, “yah, I was not doing that.”

 

“Ohhh I get it, are you jealous?”

 

“Why would I be jealous?”

 

“Because your jagiya~ has her full attention on NingNing and not you.”

 

Karina flustered up, “w-what, no! What about you?”

 

Giselle smirked, knowing well that the older girl was lying, “what about me?”

 

“Are you jealous?”

 

She shrugged, “not really no, your jealousy’s pretty obvious though unnie.”

 

“No it’s not!”

 

Giselle waved her comment off, “yeah yeah sure whatever you say unnie, let’s just go to them before they catch you staring at them.”

 

Karina huffed at the Japanese girl, following her with crossed arms as she grumbled under her breath.

 

The two younger members heard their unnies coming, and so they stopped their game to wave at them.

 

“Hi unnies~”

 

“Hey you two.”

 

Giselle waved, “wassup hotties.”

 

Karina and Winter scrunched their faces up at Giselle while NingNing just shook her head, chuckling at the older girl’s antics. The four of them continued on with their lunch as if nothing went on, although to Karina, it seemed as if Giselle was purposely spending more time with Winter to see if the eldest would make a move.

 

She did want to make a move.

 

But her fear was too strong, so she stayed in her spot, staring at the two best friends in wanting…

 

….

…

…

…

 

“Why’d you look so sad during lunch?”

 

Karina glanced at Winter as they walked to the older girl’s bedroom, “I did?”

 

Winter nodded, “yeah, you were frowning the whole time, did someone say something mean to you?”

 

Karina weakly laughed and scratched the back of her neck, “no nothing like that, I was just worried about our uh… math test…”

 

Winter raised her brows in bemusement, wondering why Karina was so worried when the test was in two weeks.

 

“Oh… I see. Want to study then?”

 

“Uh- sure!”

 

The two settled down on the floor, gathering whatever they needed to study, leaving the door a crack open so Karina could hear if her parents needed anything from her. The two began to study, both of them deep in thought for the first few minutes, only to slowly lose interest due to the topics being things they learned multiple times.

 

Winter groaned, tossing her head back onto Karina’s bed behind her.

 

The older girl chuckled, “tired?”

 

“No, bored.”

 

Karina shut her book, scooting closer to Winter, “want to do something else?”

 

“Please, all these formulas are going straight out of my brain as soon as it comes in.”

 

Karina stood up to stretch, “I could loosen you up if you’d like.”

 

The younger girl stood up as well, “what do you mean?”

 

Karina smirked, “Giselle told me something a few days ago.”

 

Winter began to grow nervous, knowing her best friend, she told Karina something embarrassing or one of her weaknesses.

 

“O-oh yeah?”

 

“She said you were really ticklish.”

 

It took a moment too long to process what Karina said to her, and before she could jump out of the way, the older girl’s fingers began to dance around Winter’s sides.

 

“Wh- wai- n-no aHa unnie plEase-”

 

The two began to giggle uncontrollably as they began to tickle each other, both of them trying to find the best places for them to do so.

 

Then they fell.

 

Thankfully the bed caught them but…

 

Karina groaned, already regretting the idea of tickling the younger girl, regretting that she forgot she was ticklish too.

 

She propped herself up onto her elbows, then her hands, before realizing where she fell.

 

…

 

“O-oh…”

 

Her black hair hung low, subtly brushing against the girl that was under her as the two froze in their spots. Karina couldn’t move, it was as if her whole body stopped functioning except for her heart that hammered in her chest.

 

“Uh- K-Karina?”

 

Winter’s small voice snapped Karina back into reality, “oh- uh- sorry Wi-”

 

“Jimin-ah c-”

 

“AH!”

 

Karina jumped from her mom’s voice at the door, falling over next to Winter as the two girls quickly sat up on the bed, both of them flustered messes.

 

Both of her parents stared at them in mixed shock and confusion.

 

“Y-yes eomma?”

 

Before anyone else could speak, the younger girl abruptly stood up, grabbing her backpack from near Karina’s desk before sprinting out of her room.

 

“Winter!”

 

Karina stood up, her hand lingering in the air as she heard the front door shut close with a soft thud.

 

“Jimin-ah…”

 

Her look turned back to her parents, “wait- I can explain-”

 

“Jimin.”

 

“I swear we weren’t doing something weird or anything of that sort. We were just uh- having fun and we lost our balance and we just fell and that’s how we fell and-”

 

“Jimin.”

 

Karina stopped her rambling when her mom walked up and laid a hand on her shoulder.

 

“I know, I saw what happened.”

 

“O-oh…”

 

Mrs. Yoo squeezed her daughter’s shoulder, “you should find Minjeong.”

 

Her dad nodded in agreement, “and bring a jacket, it’s cold out.”

 

The girl felt relieved from her parents’ understanding, thanking them before running out the door with a jacket in hand. Karina quickly pulled on her jacket, looking both ways before starting to run to Winter’s home.

 

Knock Knock…

 

“Yes? Oh why, hello Jimin.”

 

Karina quickly bowed, “hello, Miss Kim, is Win- Minjeong here?”

 

Winter’s mom tilted her head, “I thought she was with you?”

 

“W-well…” Karina tapped her two index fingers together, “we were but then something happened so Winter just left and uh… I was hoping she was here…”

 

Miss Kim grew worried, “she just left without telling anyone where?”

 

Seeing her friend’s mom’s expression, she tried to give a reassuring smile as she backed away.

 

“But I’m on my way to find her right now. I promise that I’ll bring your daughter back home.”

 

Before Winter’s mom could answer, Karina left to continue her search, leaving the woman to stare at her disappearing figure in worried confusion.

 

“Winter!”

 

Karina ran around the neighborhood, calling out her friend’s name every few moments.

 

“Winter!”

 

Her run turned into a jog as she went into the city, her hot breath leaving puffs of cold air in her place.

 

“Minjeong-ah!”

 

Karina paused, holding her hands to her knees as she breathed heavily. She quickly straightened herself up, walking around to see if any blonde girl seemed familiar to her. She poked her head in every alley, until she finally came across the one where she met Ttang Kong.

 

Her breathing was ragged as she stopped, looking inside to see Winter sitting and leaning against the alley’s wall, the fluffy brown dog on her lap as she pulled her knees close to her, snow slightly piled up around her shoes.

 

“Ttang Kong-ah… What should I do?”

 

“Ruff…”

 

“Winter…”

 

Winter jumped from her name, watching as Karina walked up to her before sitting down with a huff next to the smaller girl.

 

“Were you running?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Well, to find you of course.”

 

Winter stared at Karina, “you didn’t have to look for me.”

 

“Well, what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t? And wouldn’t you do the same?”

 

Winter looked away at that, hugging the dog closer to her as she muttered softly.

 

“Yeah…”

 

She groaned, burying her face into Ttang Kong’s fluffy fur, “that was so embarrassing…”

 

Karina felt bad for the girl, a pang hit her in the heart when she saw Winter run out of her house, her expression a look she had never seen on the younger girl until now.

 

She didn’t just see embarrassment.

 

She saw fear, raw fear as if she was being bullied, or someone spilled a big secret she entrusted them to keep.

 

“I’m sorry Winter, I shouldn’t have done any of that.”

 

Winter waved her apology off without lifting her head, “it’s fine, you didn’t know this was going to happen.”

 

Winter finally lifted her head up, staring at Karina, “I’m more worried about you…”

 

Karina tilted her head, “why?”

 

“Your parents saw what happened…”

 

Karina shrugged at that, looking away, “well, my parents already know I like you.”

 

“Wait what?”

 

‘Shoot.’

 

Was all Karina thought as her little confession slipped out of her tongue, and she continued to look out into the passing people to hide her blush.

 

“Karina-unnie…”

 

“...”

 

“You… like me?”

 

Karina sighed, “guess I couldn’t keep it hidden well, not only did my parents find out after a few weeks, but Giselle knows too.”

 

“Wait what???”

 

Karina startled from Winter’s sudden raise of voice.

 

“Giselle knew and she didn’t tell me????”

 

“Uhhhh…”

 

Karina stared in confusion from Winter’s reaction.

 

“I could have confessed to you like… three months ago if I knew you liked me!”

 

The older girl gawked at the younger, startled from what she said.

 

“Wait- say that again?”

 

“Unnie, I like you too.”

 

Karina grew even more shocked from the girl’s sudden burst of confidence.

 

“Wait really?”

 

Winter bobbed her head up and down, a slight pout to her lips, “yes, really.”

 

Karina couldn’t keep a smile off of her face as her heart fluttered from the girl’s confession, “wow…”

 

The two stared at each other, unable to trail their eyes elsewhere from the strong magnetic pull their gaze created for them. The sound of the city faded away into soft bustling, the only thing the two could hear was their soft breathing, their synchronized hearts… 

 

A wonderful thing blossomed between them as they let all their past fears fade off, both of them smiling softly as they pulled away, an inch apart from each other.

 

As this transaction took place, Ttang Kong stared at the two girls, wagging his tail in carefree joy, happy his two moms were finally together.

 

“You must be cold though.”

 

Winter shook her head to both reply to Karina and to also shake off whatever she was thinking.

 

“No, I'm fine, really.”

 

“No you’re not, you’ve been sitting here in the cold, in the snow, for like… fifteen minutes now. Here.”

 

Karina shrugged off her jacket, wrapping it around the other girl’s shoulders as Winter softly blushed, “thanks… unnie.”

 

They both shyly smiled at each other, their hands intertwining and fitting perfectly.

 

“Woof.”

 

The girls jumped, glancing over to see Ttang Kong waiting patiently in front of them.

 

Karina chuckled, scratching his chin, “sorry Kong-ah, we’re done.”

 

After a few moments of giving the dog some love too, the girls stood up, waving at him.

 

“See you later Ttang Kong!”

 

“Bark!”

 

Karina and Winter headed back to their neighborhood hand-in-hand, both of them smiling as if they won the lottery.

 

…

…

…

 

“Thanks for your uh- jacket.”

 

Karina raised an eyebrow at Winter as the younger girl turned around, “just the jacket?”

 

Winter handed her the piece of clothing before looking away, “today as well…”

 

The older girl chuckled, “see you tomorrow, Gyeoulie.”

 

“Wait.”

 

Winter quickly stepped up and hugged Karina, pulling away slightly to peck the raven-haired girl on the cheek before backing away.

 

Karina blushed from the sudden contact, unable to speak as Winter gave her a smile.

 

“Yeah, see you tomorrow Karomi.”

 

‘K-Karomi???’

 

Karina stood there as Winter headed inside her home, the younger girl giving her one last smile before closing the door. She felt her cheek as she began to walk to her own home, smiling to herself as Winter’s smell lingered.

 

‘What an adorable puppy…’

 

~~~

 

“Ah Minjeong-ah, where were you?”

 

Winter glanced up to see her mom come up to her with worried eyes.

 

She tilted her head, “what do you mean, eomma?”

 

“Jimin came here looking for you a little while ago, what happened?”

 

Winter smiled, “nothing happened eomma, we’re both fine, and she dropped me off as well.”

 

“Anything else?”

 

The girl looked at the floor in shyness, twirling her fingers around, “not… really…”

 

Her mom noticed the change in her daughter’s actions and sighed with a smile, squeezing Winter’s shoulder.

 

“As long as you’re okay, now go shower before you catch a cold.”

 

“Yes eomma~”

 

The two girls were a few minutes apart, both of them staring up at their room’s ceiling, thinking about what an amazing day they both had…

 

Both couldn’t stop thinking about how wonderful their shared kiss was…

 

And both couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen to both of them as time passed…