"I LIKE YOU!"

Shen Xiaoting said. And suddenly the whole room was filled with silence. 

Mashiro, too stunned to speak, turned her back quickly and calmly walked away.

"Hurry up guys!" shouted Yujin, the leader of Kep1er as they prepared for a 2 day trip to a Ski Resort. The members one by one with their suitcases went inside the bus, seated in pairs. 

Yujin and Mashiro, leader and co-leader  were in front

Bahiyyih was seated with Hikaru

Chaehyun was next to Dayeon as usual

Yeseo was at the back seated between Youngeun and Xiaoting

Yujin, like the bubbly leader that she has always been, tried to lighten up the mood for everyone. It was loud and chaotic inside the bus, then there's Xiaoting who wore a sad smile while looking at Mashiro in front. 

"Unnie, you okay?" asked the maknae. 

Xiaoting looked at Yeseo and gave her a reassuring smile, "I'm good, don't worry" then she turned her gaze back to Mashiro, she kept looking in her direction even though she could only see the top of Mashiro's head peeking on the tall seats of the bus. 

Mashiro has always been quiet, all the members are used to it already, but Yujin wondered why was Mashiro being TOO quiet, and can't help but wonder why she kept leaning on the window, headphones on, and staring blankly at the scenery that passed by. 

"Shiro, you good?" 

…there was no response. 

So she tapped her shoulder and Mashiro flinched out of surprise *gasp* Everyone heard Mashiro's surprised gasp and suddenly the whole bus was filled with laughter…again.

"aahhh unnie~" said Mashiro to Yujin. 

"I asked you a question but you didn't respond, probably because of your headphones," said Yujin as she pointed to her own ear as a sign that she was pertaining to Mashiro's headphones. 

"Sorry about that Unnie, I was thinking of something" answered Mashiro.

"It's fine, just don't think too much into it, or you can talk to me about it, if you want to," Yujin said then she gave her usual eye smile to Mashiro. 

"It's nothing too serious Unnie, but thank you, I just needed to arrange some of my thoughts", Mashiro said as she smiled back at Yujin. Yujin only nodded then fixed herself back to her seat, Mashiro put her headphones back and started staring at the scenery once again. 

After long hours of travel, they finally reached their destination. The members went down the bus one by one, took their suitcases with them and went straight to the log house cottage they were supposed to stay at. 

"Finally~" Dayeon said, as she slumped down the couch and put her feet up on the table. 

"Ya! Dayeon, feet off the table please"

"Ooops sorry Chae"

"Girls, let's enjoy the trip well, this is your reward for winning 1st place in M Countdown. HAVE FUN" said the Manager

"YAY! Let's go everyone!!!!" shouted Yujin. and everyone cheered and ran outside out of excitement, leaving Mashiro behind. 

"Unnie let's go!" 

"I'll join you after 10 minutes, Yeseo, let me just fix my things okay" 

"Okay, unnie~"

Mashiro stayed for a few minutes to fix her things, then when she was about to go outside…someone grabbed her hand 

"Let's talk"

Mashiro was surprised by the sudden action, but just as she was about to open …

 "There you are, you two, what's taking you so long? Everyone's waiting for you both" 

It was Yujin, who came to fetch them because the members wanted to go play already…

Mashiro went ahead and Xiaoting followed her from behind. Admiring the smaller girl's backside…

Xiaoting can't help but be bothered because she wants to know how Mashiro feels, the girl just keeps on avoiding her at any chance she gets. For her it's okay if Mashiro doesn't return her feelings for her, she just wants her to know that she likes her, and hopes that it doesn't bother her too much because she doesn't want to burden the smaller girl.

The girls played as much as they wanted until they get tired. The first one to get tired was Mashiro so she wanted to go to a nearby tavern to get something to eat, she asked the others if they wanted to come they said they were good, so she just decided to go on her own. 

Suddenly, the Manager came and started yelling "GIRLS, YOU NEED TO GO BACK. NEWS REPORT SAID A SNOWSTORM WILL BE COMING TONIGHT!"

Everyone packed their belongings and went back with the manager until they remembered that Mashiro is not with them, and most probably doesn't know about the snowstorm, Xiaoting volunteered to stay behind and go fetch Mashiro, everyone agreed and so they went back leaving Xiaoting behind.

As Xiaoting was about to go look for Mashiro, the snowstorm is slowly starting to come, the wind was starting to get more intense, it was getting colder and colder and it was getting harder to see the area, suddenly Xiaoting slipped and fell on a slope, injuring her leg so it became hard for her to climb back up.

The members just got back to the cottage and a few minutes later, there was a known on the door

*knock knock*

Bahiyyih opened the door and saw Mashiro

"Unnie, thank goodness you're back, the storm is quite strong, by the way where is Xiaoting Unnie?"

Mashiro looked at hiyyih with a confused face, "why are you looking for Xiaoting, I went to the tavern alone"

"Xiaoting stayed behind because she was supposed to fetch you, didn't you guys meet?" asked Yujin

"Nope, Xiaoting didn't even come to the tavern, I went home alone and didn't see her along the way"