“What are you doing here out alone for so long?” Naeun had come out as well, searching for Taemin, after finishing her project of baking the gingerbread cookies alone after all.

Only if she knew he was going to run away after promising to do it together, she wouldn’t have suggested doing it in the first place.

He was busy playing with the snow in the yard all this while, as two balls of snow were ready which were probably for the snowman he was making since last 30 minutes, 

“Making a snowman!” he still answered the obvious, busy packing more snow on one of the snowballs making it larger,

“You said you’ll help me with the cookies, that's why I learned the whole recipe” she was out to scold him, but he looked very relaxed, unbothered that she was actually upset with him, “Here you are, having fun on your own, leaving me alone inside?” her voice had a hint of complaint, as he took a glance at her face to confirm, seeing her frowned eyebrows & sullen face, to smile back, “You wanted to bake!” 

“And you were doing pretty well” “...without my help!” He extended his snobbish smile, waiting for her to react.

He had chosen to start the war, she was amazed by his words as a curt scoff left her lips, “Wait till I get back at you for this!” she muttered under her breath, making him smile before he could return back to building his snowman again.

“I also want to make a snowman” she sat down, with her knees to her chest, watching him almost complete his figure.

“I haven’t stopped you” he was done arranging the balls on each other, only to add details like eyes, nose and lips now.

“Not like this” she reached to push the balls he had arranged on each other, crashing them to mix with the ice again, “Let’s start again!”

He was dumbfounded, watching her return that snobbish smile to him this time, as his expression was stuck between laughing and getting pissed, seeing her excited face now.

She was already on her job of making the snowball, making him stare at her silently, 

“Let’s see who makes the biggest one first now?” she gave him the challenging gaze, making him shrug nonchalantly, starting to make the snowballs again.

She had turned quiet, lost in doing the work, serious & invested in the challenge, as he was taking a few glances at her once in a while.

“Aren’t you too serious about this?” he mumbled, eyeing her gloved hands actively doing the work than what he had expected, her eyes had the light of enthusiasm as she gazed back at him, “I have to be serious” 

“I need to win,” she sang, making him chuckle, “What does the winning person get?” he asked, making her think for a second to answer, “As I’m going to win, be ready to complete my wish then?” she gave him a cheeky smile, making him smirk.

He was done making both of his snowballs, placing the small over the bigger one, watching her snowman that was a bit shorter when she was also almost done with hers, 

“But-” “I won” he announced, making her notice his completed product, 

“But-” “I was done before you” she was trying to make an argument, not wanting to let it go so easily. 

“Stop cheating, you know you’ve lost” he scrunched his nose, adoring her cute face trying to come back with a statement but ended up pouting sadly, eyeing her own snowman, “Mine is still better looking” she clicked her tongue, patting the smaller snowball on the top of the larger one of her snowman. 

“Let’s make two little ones” he suggested, eyeing the two snowfigures they had made, 

“Why?” she laughed, confused now, Why two more? That too little one? 

It would be cute but still why?

“Snow family” “The couple and their two kids” he innocently let that out, as she went silent after that, occupying herself in making the tiny snowballs to react much, when he took a glance at her, surprised by her sudden silence.

“What happened?” he asked, observing her flushed face, “What is going on in your head, Naeun-ssi?”

She had to press her lips to hide the smile, as he was smiling himself watching her be sneaky about it now, kind of guessing her thoughts, when she took a glance at him, making their eyes match for him to raise his eyes on her, pushing her to answer him,

“Nothing!” she shook her head, blinking innocently to convince him, as he decided to leave her alone for now by simply nodding back.

She had made two little balls, placing them on each other as she stood up now, “I’ll bring the carrots from inside” she walked away to disappear through the balcony door in no time,

As he was watching all the four snow figures they had made, he got a new idea again. He picked more snow and started packing it again to shape it into a small heart this time.

Till she came back, his not-so-perfect but small handmade heart was placed in front of the four snowdolls.

He had also plucked in the rocks for the eyes & lips into a smile, as she was back with much more stuff other than carrots like red santa hat & red mufflers, that they had bought before for the Christmas party. 

She thought it would be good to use them here now as Christmas was over anyway.

It was already past dawn, and was getting darker now, as the fairy lights on the tree under which they were making the snow family were by Naeun before she came out.

They decorated the snow dolls fixing the nose with pieces of carrot, and also adding the oversized mufflers and caps to make all of them look cuter now, as it was finally a complete picture.

“Why did you make the heart?” Naeun couldn’t stop herself from laughing, noticing his uneven ice heart again.

“It’s a family made with love” he answered naively, like some kindergarten kid, giving away his dreamy smile, as she blushed, cringing on his words for a second, but then reached for the ice herself to draw a heart on it, picking out the drawn shape out from the ice like a piece of styrofoam then, making Taemin’s eyes go wide in surprise, “How did you do that?” 

Naeun was only laughing now, seeing his genuinely surprised face, “You haven’t seen this?” she was enjoying the look on his face getting more and more innocent with his genuine amazement, as he shook his head in denial,

“Look!” “I’ll show you again” she leveled the ice to have a flat surface again drawing a smaller heart, and picked it up this time to throw it quickly on his closed black jacket.

She had stood up immediately to watch his startled face from above, waiting for more of his reaction now.

But he was stunned to say anything right away, making her bite on her lip, awaiting his response, as he finally looked up to find her eyes on him, “You started this!” 

She had run away before he could even stand up, as she chose to run into the house directly, making him chase her with the fist of ice now.

“Don’t bring the ice in the house” she warned, seeing him at the door of the balcony, ice in his hands, as he was watching her dumbfounded, stunned by her order, but still was convinced to drop the ice out at the door,

“Fine!” he removed his sneakers to walk in, “Let’s do this without it” 

“You come here!” He was trying to keep a cool face, but her giggles were making him smile in no time, as she was trying to maintain the distance between them.

Both were running around the whole living room now, till they disturbed their two cats cozying themselves on the warm sofa, as those tiny furballs left the space to move into another room and have their gentle peace again.

Seeing Naeun not giving in, Taemin had settled himself on the sofa, giving up first, out of breath by running around for almost 10 minutes.

He removed his coat, feeling hot now, while catching on his shortened breath.

He had relaxed on the sofa, resting his head back to close his eyes, as he felt a dip in the space beside him, knowing she had come to settle down as well.

“What were you thinking?” she heard him whisper, as soon he had opened his eyes to watch her, catching her having a bite of cookies she had made earlier, which were on the plate, on the table there..

She looked at him confused, not sure what he was talking about, busy in getting back her own energy now, crunching down the cookie in .

“Back outside” he repeated, raising himself up to face her, “Tell me” “What were you thinking?” he continued, and she remembered too now, but him actually waiting for her to answer that question was only making her more shy, “Me?” 

”What was I thinking?” she wasn’t ready to have this conversation with him yet, knowing it can get a bit serious if she starts it, so she was gonna keep it to herself for now, “What are you talking about?” 

She ended up thinking about that image she had in her head outside, feeling flushed again, but was trying her best to keep herself together in front of him, though his playful smile was increasing, warning her instincts now, when her nervous eyes were trying to fight his mischievous gaze.

He reached for the cookie in her hand, grabbing it to put it into his mouth, munching it down as he moved closer, reducing the space between them, extending one of his arm on the back of the sofa, making her flinch with the uncertainty of his mind now, as she kept watching his eyes glow up with the smile on his lips rising to his cheeks again.

“The snow family…” he uttered, making her look away immediately, as he couldn’t help himself from blushing, almost confirming her thoughts now with that.

“Like the family made with-” he was embarrassed to complete his own words, biting on his lip, blinking to hide the butterflies in his stomach, as she ended up breaking her poker face, bursting into a chuckle, “Huh?” She could this time, as he was all red by now, trying to recover from his own shot of embarrassment.

“You thought about it first!” he argued, flipping the emotion back on her, to get her flustered expression, as her jaw dropped in shock of his retaliation.

He had eventually reached for her hand, to make sure she couldn’t leave, “Didn’t you?” 

She wasn’t planning to walk away but she also couldn’t keep looking back at him, when he had that interrogating gaze on her, as she found the glass pane of window behind the sofa at the right time, to distract her attention….

The moon was out in the sky luckily, helping her stay mesmerized & busy, as her nervousness went down, but that sudden calm was stirring her deep thoughts now.

She was amused by how she had started thinking more of Taemin in her future these days. She was afraid this day would come as much as she was waiting for this moment when she could have such confirmation of her mind. 

Her decision was getting clearer, but his intentions were still at the level of questions to her..

She was busy communicating with the celestial body internally, when she felt his fingers on her skin, pushing her hair behind her ear, “Should we-”

“Are you proposing like that?” she snapped, making him laugh at her reaction before answering, “No!” 

She was baffled by herself, she was so occupied with her thoughts to blurt them out like that before he could even complete his words.

She ended up starting the conversation herself now, which she was trying to avoid till now.

“Why would I propose out of nowhere?” Before she could respond, he added more to his answer, making her face turn pale now, as she was suddenly feeling so dumb, and so more sad for expressing her mind out & feeling the way she didn’t want to..

She lowered her eyes to the floor, not able to get her mind back to normal again, “Right, why would you?” she hummed, trying to pull out her hand from his grip.

He was watching her face change drastically in seconds, and he could guess how he had crushed some expectations there, as he let her hand escape his grip only to hold onto her wrist instead, leaving her no option but to still stay there, in front of him.

He leaned forward trying to get her attention back, making her finally turn her eyes on him again, “I need to go” she was requesting, as he was feeling bad seeing her smile vanish in a split second.

“You can't,” he urged, as she let out a sigh, looking away, she knew she might be overreacting, but she was stuck in her disappointment for the moment to have any other conversation again.

He had stood up, leaving her hand, as she watched him walk to the Christmas tree they still had, decorated in the hall. 

He picked the snow globe he had kept there since Christmas.

She stayed seated, confused, what was he planning to do with the snowglobe now?.

He came back, sitting before her again, to take her hand, placing the snowglobe in her palm, 

“What?” she asked, scanning his face having a consistent soft smile, “Open it”

She didn’t know what was the deal with the snowglobe?

She was definitely not in the mood for pranks right now.

“Open this?” she asked again, confused, she had no idea why he was asking her to open that snowglobe suddenly. And how was she even supposed to open that thing?

She looked down to observe the whole thing properly in her hand, finding a way to open it,

“How-?” she was trying to twist it, but incidentally pressed the small pin behind in the attempt of twisting it harder, as they heard the click, shocking her that it actually had opened.

But before opening it completely to look inside, she paused, feeling nervous for some reason, as she looked up at Taemin, “What is it inside?”

“See yourself” he urged, giving a quick smile to her, though he seemed to be sweating now, as she noticed the sweat dripping down his nape, reaching to wipe it off, making her search his eyes again, “Why are you sweating?”

“Because I’m kind of scared?” he blinked nervously, biting on his lip trying to smile again, as he looked down at the box, and then her again, with his anxious gaze getting more obvious, 

“Scared?” she was surprised, observing him, he was genuinely worried to take this as a prank now,

“What would make you-?” She paused on her words, thinking for a second, as her eyes widened back on him, “You’re not joking?” she asked, making him blink again speechlessly only to shake his head in denial, as he took a deep breath, making her mimic him, as she looked down, staring at the half opened snow-globe in her hand for a moment, bewildered, losing the strength to open it now.

The question was gonna pop-up finally, and she knew her answer, but this was still nerve wracking.

The heart in her chest that had lost its purpose a while ago was racing again, and she didn’t know how to handle this plot-twist that had turned around on her.

Taemin’s impatience & anxiety couldn’t keep up till her overwhelmed heart could calm down, as he reached to get the snowglobe from her hand, opening it himself, getting the ring out, as he looked up to find her teary eyes staring at him, “Why would you bring this out of nowhere?” she cried, hitting his arm lightly, bursting into tears now, “Why was it there the whole time?” she looked at the spot where the snow globe has been since a month now.

“And for how long, you even had this on your mind?” she had too many questions for him to start answering with one.

He reached to take her hand again, to go and sit on his knee in front of her, “Marry me!”

She couldn't help herself from bursting into more tears, while trying to laugh at his way of not giving her question but the only option, “what if I don't want to?” 

“What about our family made with love then?” He was relaxed seeing her laugh again, though tears continued to roll down her cheeks, making her sniff in between.

“Why do you keep saying that?” She wanted to play hard to get back at him for running around the bush for so long, but he was just too cute using the word ‘our’, making her lose her stance, as she couldn’t stop herself from smiling now. 

He had palmed her face on both sides, raising up to kiss her forehead, which melted her to calm down, as he came down to sit in front of her again, flashing the ring in his hand in front of her, raising his eyes to her silently, to see her smile widely, staring at his hands, before nodding back, making him burst into a bigger smile.

The bubbles in his heart were bursting loudly now, as he took her hand to push the ring he was holding in her ring-finger finally, and went back to search her face again without knowing he was tearing down himself, making her smile seeing his wet eyes.

He raised to stand, sitting back on the sofa beside her, as she had turned to him, opening her arms for a hug, making him hug back, crossing his arms around her waist tightly, she was caressing the back of his head lovingly.

How he wished to never break that hug, as he reached to kiss her shoulder, “Thank you for the family made with love” he heard her, making him crack into a chuckle, “My pleasure!” he whispered, smiling to himself, resting the side of head on her shoulders to close his eyes, “I love you”

“Love you too” he heard her whisper near his ear, as he was smiling more with the closed eyes.

A/N : Winter just got a bit too romantic this time, this was the last story for the winter theme, I wanted to make it special, so I ended up adding a Post-Christmas proposal here ^^

Though we live & believe in the world of trial & error, in love as well, I am also the person who equally believes in eternity, and winter vibes r so good for such one warm story.

I hope it was fine & entertaining.

I tried to keep it lowkey but uk proposals r proposals.... Anyway as long as it was worth making you guys smile, I can handle the cringe as the author, hope you had fun reading it...

Will update again soon!! Thank you for reading again!!