TIMESKIP 1 WEEK...

“Winter.”

“Ah!”

Winter yelped in surprise as she stepped out of the school doors, clutching her heart as she glanced over to see who called her.

Karina tilted her head at the startled girl, “did I scare you that much? I just called your name.”

Winter sighed in relief, “n-no not really… Except for the fact that you were right next to the door.”

The older of the two chuckled, going over to link her arm in Winter’s, “sorry, Minjeong-ah.”

Winter’s heart kept up its rapid pace from earlier, her eyes trailing down to the link in their arms as she softly blushed.

“Are you cold? Your face is kind of red.”

Winter nervously laughed, fanning her face, “I’m just calming down from that surprise.”

Karina pulled Winter closer to her, taking the girl’s hand out of her pocket and intertwining their fingers.

“Your hands are so icy, are you sure you aren’t getting cold?”

Winter’s face grew darker in shade, the only person she held hands with before this was her family, but the gesture calmed her down just enough to let her speak without stuttering.

“I’m fine unnie, really.”

With that answer, Karina finally knew what was going on with Winter.

And so she put on her best “worried” face, resting her free hand on Winter’s cheek.

“Are you sure? Jeez Winter you’re burning!”

That got the reaction the older girl wanted, the reaction being Winter literally being frozen, her blush spreading to her ears as she tried to form words.

“I-I- ee- uh- y-yeah I-I’m o-okAay.”

Winter clasped her hand onto , somehow blushing harder than she was before from her sudden voice crack.

Winter couldn’t tell if she was living her best life or if she was just making a clown out of herself, one thing was for certain though, she just died inside.

But then Karina giggled, verbally expressing her thoughts loud enough for the flustered girl to hear clearly.

“Cute.”

It wasn’t in Korean, and it wasn’t a small whisper. It was full of softness but with a slight hint of confidence from the vice president.

Winter began to walk, pulling Karina along without looking behind her, “let’s go before I actually get a cold.”

The younger girl was still hiding her face, but behind her hand was a growing smile. It took all she had not to just squeal in delight from what Karina said to her.

On the other hand, Karina was grinning broadly, anyone who saw her would wonder why she was smiling like an idiot at the back of a girl’s head.

They walked in silence, and soon enough Karina’s grin softened to a subtle smile as she stared at their knitted fingers.

“Bark!”

Karina jumped while Winter grinned, motioning for the older to follow her.

“What was that?”

“Ttang Kong!”

Karina tilted her head as she let Winter lead her to the front of an alley.”

“Peanut?”

Winter suddenly crouched down, making Karina crouch down with her since their hands were still held together.

“Hi Kong, I hope it’s not too cold out here for you.”

Karina glanced down, seeing a dog without a collar obediently sitting down in front of her friend.

“Ruff.”

“This is Karina, she’s a new friend I met a few weeks ago.”

Karina hesitantly stuck out her hand, the dog walking over to take a sniff before moving her hand in a way where she’d be able to scratch his head. 

The girl smiled, “Hey Ttang Kong, nice to meet you too.”

She glanced at Winter, “he doesn’t have an owner?”

Winter shook her head, pouting slightly, “no… I found him outside a year ago and this is our relationship now… I asked my mom if I could bring him home but she said no.”

“Ah…” Karina rubbed the dog’s ears, “I’d bring him to my house but my dad’s allergic to dogs.”

The younger girl let out a puff of cold air as she dug through her bag, “since he has to stay out here, I just bring him some food after school. Kong, sit.”

“Bark!”

“Sit.”

“He doesn’t like to listen does he.”

Winter sighed, “sometimes he does. Kong! Bang!”

The girl shot the dog with her finger, and he laid down on his side.

“Good boy~”

As Winter fed him a few treats, she chuckled, “he can only play dead. He’s one independent dog so he doesn’t really listen if I tell him to sit or give me his hand.”

A little bit away from the trio, people began to board a bus, and as Winter noticed, she gave Kong one last belly rub.

“We have to go now but we’ll see you tomorrow Ttang Kong-ah.”

“Woof!”

The dog gave Winter a bark in response, Karina’s hand a few times before disappearing into the alleyway behind him… 

Winter smiled at Karina, “let’s go.”

They jogged to catch the bus, hopping on and sliding into empty seats next to each other.

“You know, he reminds me of someone.”

Winter glanced at Karina, tilting her head, “who?”

Karina looked out the window, gazing at the passing buildings, “ah I don’t know… Someone really cute… adorable… likes my attention…”

She gave a subtle glance back to see Winter staring at her with a hint of jealousy.

“Can you guess who?”

“Ummmm uhh… I don’t know, that really tall guy in the student council?”

Karina laughed at that, hiding behind her hand, “Mark? No, we're just friends.”

“Then who?”

“You of course.”

Winter froze for a second time today, and Karina smiled, “you’re an adorable little puppy, don’t you think?”

She lifted her finger to scratch Winter’s chin in a playful manner, which made the younger girl blush.

“I-I-I’m not a puppy, a-and I don’t like y-your attention!”

Karina sighed, pulling herself away, “ah yeah you’re right, maybe I should find another puppy then.”

Winter stared dumbfounded at the vice president, was she teasing her?

The girl huffed, crossing her arms, “fine.”

But after a few moments of silence, Winter went to hug Karina’s arm, burying her face into her shoulder.

“Ahh I’m sorry Karina-unnie, I was kiddingggg.”

“...”

Winter began to shake Karina, the latter struggling to hide a smile.

“Unnieeee, I’ll be your puppy jjebal I’m sorryyy…”     (please)

Karina let out a small laugh, pulling her arm away only to wrap it around Winter’s shoulders.

“I accept your apology, my puppy.”

“You were playing with me!”

“Was I?”

Winter huffed again, giving Karina the cutest “angry” pout.

“Keep doing that, it looks cute on you.”

The younger girl flustered up, hugging Karina’s waist and hiding her face in Karina’s shirt, which made the older laugh again.

“Want to come over today?”

Winter looked up at that, “now?”

“Well, when we get to our stop.”

“Why?”

“Do you not want to hang out?”

“N-no I do!”

Karina chuckled, “then you can come over, my mom won’t mind and my dad’s at work.”

Winter grinned, “I’ll ask my mom if I can come over.”

Karina nodded, “I’ll wait for you then since we live near each other.”

….

…

…

“Eomma I’m home~”

“Welcome back Minjeong-ah.”

“Can I hang out with a friend today? I’ll be back before dark.”

Winter’s mom glanced over at her from the kitchen, “Giselle?”

“No, someone else, her name’s Karina.”

The mom smiled, happy to see that her daughter made a new friend, “of course dear, be safe!”

Winter dropped off her backpack in the living room, “bye eomma~”

The girl ran about outside, startling Karina by wrapping her arms around one of hers.

“My mom said yes.”

The older grinned, finding one of Winter’s hands to hold onto, “great, let’s go.”

“What do you usually do at home?”

Karina thought as they walked, “well, I’m currently watching this one kdrama…”

“Oh really? Which one?”

“‘U Kiss’? It stars Lee Jaesuk.”

“Hmmm I don’t think I’ve heard of it, is it good?”

Karina hummed in response, “yeah it’s really good, and do you even watch TV?”

Winter chuckled, “sometimes I watch action movies? My mom’s obsessed with kdramas though, she might know ‘U Kiss’.”

After walking past a few homes, they arrived, and as Karina unlocked her front door, Winter pulled away from the older girl, straightening out her uniform. Karina’s hand felt empty without the other holding it… But she understood why Winter pulled away, so she put up a smile.

“Eomma, I’m back.”

A middle-aged woman came into view and she smiled, “hello Jimin-ah, and it seems like you brought a new friend?”

Karina smiled and nodded, “this is Kim Minjeong.”

Winter bowed respectfully, “hello ma’am, nice to meet you.”

Mrs. Yoo chuckled, “nice to meet you as well, Minjeong. I’d love to get to know you, but I’m going out for errands right now.”

Karina smiled, “be safe eomma.”

Her mom nodded as she went out the door, “have fun you two, I’ll be back before dinner okay Jimin?”

“Yes eomma~”

Karina closed and locked the front door, the two girls giggling at each other.

“Let’s go to my room, I can start the drama over for you.”

Winter let Karina lead her with their hands interlaced together, “no it’s fine! I’ll be fine with watching where you left off.”

“You sure?”

She grinned, “yeah I’m sure.”

…

“Wah~ You’re room’s so pretty~”

Karina chuckled, looking away to hide her soft blush, “thanks Minjeong-ah.”

The older girl dropped her stuff off near her desk and the two got settled down, sharing a pair of earbuds together to watch the kdrama, both their hearts beating softly in the same rhythm…