Narrator’s POV

“Nice! Ha Neul, please turn a little more towards Jonghyun! Jonghyun, perfect. Keep that smile just like that!” Hara Akiha’s voice resounded through the idyllic silence.

Jonghyun didn’t register a word of it though. All he could hear was the sound of Ha Neul’s hair and the fabric of her dress rustling in the wind… All he could see her slender figure shrouded in waves of lime green and turquoise and her angelic smiling face surrounded by billowing ebony hair… and the fake snowflakes that were dancing around her like fairies around their queen…

He could have lied there forever, at the centre of the clearing and with his back pressed into the cold snow. As long as Ha Neul would be standing right at his side and smiling down on him like she did right now.

However then, at the very moment the photographer asked Jonghyun to do so, he sat up out of his own volition. He had noticed that Ha Neul’s was trying her hardest to keep her hands from shaking and that beneath the make up her lips were slowly but surely turning blue.

He may have been able to ignore the coldness but he was wrapped in warm winter clothes. That wasn’t the case for Ha Neul though. And upon grabbing her arm, her skin-coloured undergarment certainly didn’t feel as warm as she had insisted earlier. Her wrists felt as cold as ice.

Jonghyun cursed and jumped to his feet. “You’re freezing!” He hissed. And without a second thought, he took off his coat and threw it around Ha Neul’s shoulders. But Ha Neul still continued to shiver and Jonghyun cursed Hara Akiha straight to the fiery pits of Hades. That lying bastard! He took a decisive step towards Ha Neul and before anyone, and especially a certain photographer, could say anything against it, he had already pulled her against his chest.

What Jonghyun didn’t know though, was that a certain photographer wasn’t in the least displeased with his actions. That he, in fact, had actually hoped for such a development. Hara Akiha was the type of photographer that, when once stumbled upon a model or emotion he liked, wanted to get to the bottom of it. And that one picture he had taken of Jonghyun a few days ago, that one burning with jealousy; he definitively liked it a lot. Hence he had deliberately given Ha Neul a dress that was bound to make her freeze. Hoping it would trigger Jonghyun’s feelings.

And how it triggered them! Besides the fact that the dress and the location’s atmosphere by itself seemed to already have an effect on Jonghyun, the light dress certainly didn’t defeat its purpose either.

This wasn’t the first time Hara Akiha was shooting pictures of SHINee. Though before, Jonghyun had always been somewhat reserved, cold, and calculated. However not today. The way he alternately rubbed Ha Neul’s back and blew on her hands to make her feel warmer, it couldn’t be more natural. And his worried expression mixed with a tinge of anger showed just how much he cared.

Hara Akiha kept pressing the shutter, a satisfied smile playing around his lips. These kinds of pictures were the reason he’d chosen to become a photographer. Even at a single glance the viewer could feel how every gesture of the models was overflowing with emotions. Ha Neul and Jonghyun had – without even intending to – created an atmosphere so entrancing the staff had stopped in whatever they were doing and simply watched them. Hara Akiha even had to remind his assistants to continue distributing the fake snowflakes. Everyone was completely enchanted.

Ha Neul and Jonghyun didn’t notice any of this though. Too much they were caught in their own little world of dancing snowflakes, sparkling meadows, and each other’s warmth. Ha Neul was surprised at how easily Jonghyun’s closeness managed to chase away the coldness and she snuggled into his chest as much as possible. She knew she had promised herself to keep her distance from him but she couldn’t help it. It may sound like an easy excuse but it was the man she loved after all.

Jonghyun on the other hand held her close and listened to his racing heart. He took a deep breath inhaling her lovely scent of peaches and closed his eyes. A blissful smile stole itself on his lips and he realised he had lost.

Correction, the realization had already come to him some hours ago, to be precise yesterday afternoon during the rehearsal when he had stood in front of the control desk and had looked at Ha Neul for the first time again after a very long week.

He wasn’t stupid. And there had been way too many indications for him to still not get it. In fact, he should have already realised it a long time ago. Why he kept hearing Ha Neul’s voice during the past week… Why he couldn’t stomach to see her cry… Why he couldn’t fall asleep without having her at his side anymore… Why he had kissed her in the hot springs… or at the airport… or on the meadow… And, most importantly, why he always struggled not to kiss her.

Kissing or ual attraction had never been something he’d fought against. It didn’t break with his principles. So why do it now? Why was Ha Neul an exception? The answer was as easy as it could be: Because with Ha Neul, it wasn’t ual attraction. It was more than that.

But that was something he had banned from his life. He had learned anything that went beyond simple ual attraction would bring nothing but suffering. And hence was best to be avoided. Which he therefore had done at all costs.

He had done his utmost to hide the fact that Ha Neul was living at his apartment from s because he feared that once they knew they would just try to push them together even more. He had instantly denied it when Onew had told him he’d noticed his feelings the day before in the van. And he had gotten angry at himself whenever he’d caught himself caring for Ha Neul or when he hadn’t paid enough attention and had let himself get taken in by her charms. Like yesterday evening at his hyung’s cottage when she dried his hair. Or like just now when he had looked at her “completely smitten” as Key had called it.

He had been running away like a coward only to find out it had all been for nothing.  Jonghyun gave a small but ironic chuckle at the thought. He had gone to such lengths to keep this one door shut but in the end a simple two sentences showed it wasn’t even necessary.

“But you are not your father. And it’s not like your mother is the prototype of all women either.” Jonghyun could still Ha Neul’s voice loud and clear. It had been like a bell that rang through his sleep and woke him up to a completely new world.

Because no matter how he twisted and turned her words, he couldn’t prove them wrong. He really was his own person and there was no reason as to why all women should be like his mother. The world may be full of women who are two-faced, greedy, and only concerned about outer appearances but there might also be just one who wasn’t. And what if he passed by that one treasure? Just because he was too afraid to check? That would be simply too stupid.

The only problem was that this checking process needed his involvement. And if he was unlucky and it wasn’t that one treasure then he would only know when it was already too late, when he had already invested too much. Like his father had done.

Jonghyun put his hands on Ha Neul’s shoulders and gently pushed her away a little so that he could take a look at her now curious looking face. Could she be that one treasure? Was she worth checking?

Ha Neul searched his eyes and smiled. “What is it? Ask me so that I can give you an answer.”

Jonghyun thought for a second. “How can people fall in love when they know they might get hurt?”

Ha Neul was a bit surprised by the question but she sensed she had to answer it seriously. “Because the future is unknown and because humans are optimistic creatures by nature. You also drive your car even though you could get into an accident. But because there is also the possibility that you won’t you still drive your car and hope that nothing will happen.”

“So it’s no risk no fun…” Jonghyun concluded thoughtfully and Ha Neul smiled at him approvingly. She lifted her hand and playfully patted Jonghyun’s head.

“Well done,” she said like one would to a dog. Her smile however was gentle and full of affection.

And suddenly Jonghyun knew. He knew she was worth it.

She may be clumsy and absent-minded sometimes. She may be a horrible cook and her little monster a pain in the neck. And she may also have some guy friends he wasn’t particularly fond of. But for as long as he knew her she had not seriously lied to him or betrayed him once. If she wasn’t that one treasure then no one was.

And that very moment, while standing there, seemingly alone in the world with her, Jonghyun finally decided to acknowledge it. To accept what he had realised already 24 hours ago but had tried to deny: That he loved her.

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It's a double update~
:))