Day 6 – December 20^th

Ryeowook bundled the scarf tighter around his neck, fighting off the winter chills as he hurried from store to store. Each time, the cashiers would shake their heads, shrugging apologetically. He understood that it was rare…he just hadn’t realized that it was that rare.

Pushing on a door, he stepped inside and bristled, shaking off the snow flurries. Ryeowook shuffled up to the counter, looking at all of the confections inside the glass case. This wasn’t what he was looking for, but everyone needs a break from Christmas shopping. Checking his watch, he frowned. There was less time than he remembered to get back to the office.

“What would you like?” the bakery owner smiled.

Ryeowook returned the smile a little breathlessly, “Could I have one order of truffles, peppermint bark, and the caramel chocolate bites? Oh, and one container of dark hot chocolate,” he added, “Thank you.”

Walking away from the counter, he took out his phone, calling Kyuhyun. On the second ring, the male picked up and Ryeowook said, “Are you still at the office?”

“Did you think I ditched while you weren’t looking?” he questioned, sounding like he was smirking.

He frowned, absently touching a table of sweets. “Well, it is close to Christmas and you’ve been working a lot recently. I’m worried that you’re giving up.”

Kyuhyun scoffed, “You would just drag me to this hell hole anyway.”

“I’m not going to be back until later, so make sure you go to that early dinner date,” Ryeowook reminded.

“Of course, yeobo,” he drawled.

“Kyuhyun…”

“I told you yes!”

“Swear on your video games,” Ryeowook demanded, walking back over to the counter to pay and get his order, “I’m giving you until the count of three to do it.”

The bakery owner nodded understandingly. “Kids, huh?”

“Indeed,” he nodded tiredly, smiling before turning away, “One…two…—”

“—Okay, okay! I swear on my video games,” he huffed.

“Uncross your fingers, Mr. Cho,” Ryeowook scolded, shivering as he stepped out into the cold again.

“God, why are you such a nag?” Kyuhyun whined, “Fine, I get it! Bye.”

“Bye,” Ryeowook grinned. The moment he hung up, his eyes were drawn to a display window across the street. Looking up at it, he smiled a little. It would probably piss off Kyuhyun, but Ryeowook would just have to make sure that he didn’t find out.

Kyuhyun exited the store, slipping his purchase deep inside his pocket. Blowing hot air into his cold hands, he looked around for a taxi, hailing one after a minute or two. Closing the door, he gave the driver his address and leaned back as the car rolled through the slow drift of snow.

Bzzt… bzzt…

He answered the call without checking.

“Hey, Kyubaby.”

The color drained from Kyuhyun’s face. He sat up straight, looking around as if the person on the other line was somehow nearby. “What do you want?” Kyuhyun gripped the door handle, muscles tensed for action.

“Just called to chat. Anything wrong with that?” the person questioned, sounding rather amused. “Or maybe you’re just not very fond of me anymore?”

“Cut it out,” Kyuhyun stated lowly, “what is it?” He stared out the window, not really seeing anything, but needing to appear normal. So long as he could lie to himself a little bit, everything was better out of appearance alone.

“Your parents have been trying to get you with Victoria again, huh?” he chuckled.

“What of it?”

The person’s voice was deep and masculine – cool, even. “I’ve been living in Paris for the past year supervising the new factory here. You should come and see me this Christmas. I’m sure you would prefer that much more over spending time with Vic.”

“It’s a harder decision than you might be thinking,” Kyuhyun responded tightly.

“I don’t think it is and deep down I’m sure you don’t either.”

“Telling me what to think? That’s not normal of you,” he retorted, gaining some confidence from the adrenaline polluting his veins.

“I can’t believe that you would let things go that easily. You’ve really become pathetic, Kyubaby. Maybe I don’t want to see you after all.”

“That’s fine by me,” he said without missing a beat, “I don’t need you in my life anymore.”

“So you admit that you needed me at some point?” the man teased.

“I’ll admit right now that you need to shut up and get away from me. Don’t come popping up like this. It’s bothersome.”

“I’m sending you my address. Come anytime you want.” The call ended.

Kyuhyun dropped the phone to his lap, rubbing his face, aggravated. His heart was daring to leap out of his chest and his fingers refused to cease their shaking. Swears tumbled from him like insane mantras. Lifting his head, he stared foreword at the taxi seat. The faster he cleared his head of that voice, the better.

*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Hello Readers! ^^

Can I just say...WOW. I can't believe how enthusiastic everyone is about this story haha

So, I'm trying to thank you guys, but I feel like there's nothing I can do. So in honor(?) or more like to show my gratitude for the insane amount of support Winning Hearts is getting, I'll take requests for a special chapter (separate from the main story of course!)

I will write any scene you guys want from Kyuhyun and Ryeowook's past. That is, anything you've been craving to read from their first few years of knowing each other.

On another note, I hope you guys are feeling satisfied with the updates because I'm not going to be around until Thursday or Friday ^^;; 

See you guys then! I'll try to check in and read your comments :' )

Sincerely,

Pandorasv13