["All officers of each club, please report to the Student Council Office immediately. I repeat, all officers of each club…"] 

 

Winter did not dare look at Karina who had such a glare upon her eyes at the speakers overhead that announced the message, the word officer making Karina's ears red with annoyance and anger. 

 

"ing meetings…" she grumbled, but one look upon Winter who flashed a nervous smile at her sprung an idea in her mind that Winter knows would certainly not go well—

 

A furious typing in her phone as she left the classroom sent Winter in a panicked state as her phone rang with alert, and she was too afraid to open it, her finger hovering upon the certain notification—

 

From Karina Yoo: I can count on you, right? 

 

Winter widened her eyes as she stared Karina who was already gone from the room, probably already halfway to the council room as she then stared at the clock, depicting 4:53—which meant she only had an hour left before the end of the apparent sale. 

 

"No, no, no…" Winter muttered, immediately tidying up her things as she bolted across the classroom, across the hallways and into the locker rooms, running with all her might not to be late—

 

I need a shortcut, Winter thinks as she hurriedly removed her glasses and tied her hair up, figuring out that the nearest exit of the school would still be too far away from the grocery, so she ran towards the side of the school into the walls. 

 

With a starting run, Winter jumped across the concrete wall, lifting her body up and practically vaulting towards the other side—

 

"EGGS!" she shouted, Yeji widening her eyes and backing away as Winter landed down in front of her, almost knocking her down as the rushing girl did not even give her another look after bolting with a run again, leaving Yeji surprised and out of her wits. 

 

("Eggs…?" Yeji wonders, remembering the woman's face, wondering how she had never seen someone with that face before—who even was she?) 

 

A lot of scuffling, panicking salespeople, panicking Winter and determined housewives later, Winter plopped down the couch of the Yoo residence an hour after the sale had ended, tired out of her wits and still catching her breath as Junyoung celebrated her victory while Karina surveyed what she had bought. 

 

"Five trays of eggs and three tubs of milk… not bad, Win." Karina laughs, putting them all in the refrigerator as she gave back Winter's spent money (courtesy of the money her Joohyun unnie gave her), taking out one tray to make her signature omelette much to Junyoung's delight. 

 

"I am never going near a sale again… now I understand why Mom gets home tired after those." Winter sighed, relaxing upon the soft couch and Junyoung immediately sat on her lap, showing her some of the drawings he'd made in school, Winter complimenting each one of them. 

 

"That's just eggs. You wouldn't survive a clothes sale—" 

 

"Ah, someone actually saw me earlier." Winter brings up all of a sudden, Karina tilting her head at that as she was mixing up the eggs and putting milk plus salt upon them. 

 

"Who?" 

 

"That friend you're always with? Yeji, I think, is her name."

 

Karina flinched at the name, then staring at Winter's present state—no glasses, hair tied up and disheveled revealing her pierced ears as well as her lips and brow, not wearing her outer coat and a button or two open due to intense heat of the summer.

 

"You mean… she saw you in that…state?" Karina asks, Winter nodding absentmindedly while she then colored some doodles with the kid, not even noticing Karina's visibly shaking filled with thoughts of that. 

 

Yeji's seen her. 

 

Somehow, something clicks inside Karina's mind—something insane, something incredibly selfish, something she wanted more than anything else ever in her life—

 

"Is it… is it selfish or insane if I tell you I hate that someone else sees you that way?" Karina says, gesturing to Winter's look, different from the one she shows at school. 

 

Winter frowns at that, and Karina feels like she's done something wrong. 

 

"Uh… okay, forget I ever asked—" 

 

"It isn't."

 

Karina looks up from her task of cooking for their dinner to see Winter already looking at her, that same kind smile upon her lips as she grinned, and Karina could not help but smile back anyways. 

 

"I wouldn't want anyone else to know that side of yours as well, Karina." she says, and Karina wonders how Winter could say something so cheesy without even faltering even just once or twice. 

 

"The Karina at school and the Karina here," Winter starts after she notices that Karina had not spoken for a while, "...do you keep them separate as well? Or does your friends know it too?" 

 

Karina shakes her head, focusing on the task as she could not find it in herself to stare  at Winter while answering her questions, then starting the fire upon the stove while Winter propped her elbows upon the counter, watching her cook. 

 

"I… they don't know." Karina says, Winter smiling—Karina finds herself liking that smile, even though she would not openly admit it. 

 

"Then shall we keep it that way?" Winter asks, the sizzling of the eggs upon the hot pan filling their silence as Karina smiles and nods for a reply, Winter grinning at that while she let the girl focus on her task. 

 

I like your smile, Karina wants to tell her, for she knew the girl seldomly showed that smile in school. 

 

I like it a lot.