Soundtrack: SHINee - Last Christmas

 

 

As soon as we entered Paprika, the milk-tea cafe that the lady mentioned earlier, she pulled her hands away from mine and walked away. The sudden action stunned me, and even if I didn't admit it out loud, I felt a sense of emptiness without the warmth from her hand.

 

I mentally smacked myself as I stared at her moving figure with a confused expression. She confidently took an unnocuppied table looking like she had just entered the cafe alone, as if she didn't just take a man away from his feared ex-girlfriend. I stood stupidly just a few feet from the cafe's entrance, attracting confused looks from the people who passed by me.

 

Embrassment searing hotly in my bloodstream, I quickly went towards the counter and ordered a White Taro Milk Tea and a Strawberry fruit tea to go. The White Taro order was actually more expensive than the Strawberry one, which I bought for myself. I wondered why, but I didn't mind it.

 

However, as I took out my wallet to pay for the drinks, I realized that the young woman never told me to buy the drink for her.

 

What the hell was happening to me?!

 

I didn't know why, but I paid for it anyway.

 

As soon as I got the orders, my eyes scanned the whole cafe for any signs of the girl. I found her pretty shortly, staring out the window to her right side with an uninterested expression. She had her wallet in front of her. 

 

I was already moving towards her when I finally had a good look at her face. Her skin looked really smooth, and she really looked beautiful despite her sad expression. Her eyes seemed to have a dull light in them, though, and I weirdly grew alarmed of it. Those orbs weren't like that just a few moments ago when she made me lead her away from Jaebin-ah...

 

"Here."

 

I just let my mouth do the talking as I sat down and placed the glass of milk tea directly in front of her, which made her look at me disbelievingly with wide eyes.

 

"What's this?" She asked me, and remembering the flavor of the beverage, I answered her.

 

"White Taro Milk Tea."

 

"I know that, Mr. Obvious. That kind of milk tea is my favorite. What I meant with my question was 'Why did you buy this?' because I clearly could have just bought one for myself." She retorted, her tone and expression radiating a slightly offended aura. It must have seemed like I made her look like an idiot.

 

"Well, I wanted to thank you, and this seems like the best way." I shyly answered while letting my hand run by the back of my head, not really knowing why a surge of awkwardness spiked me.

 

I wasn't a person who'd be all awkward, especially after three years of studying law for university. I had always known what to say and when to say it. I had always been confident of my actions and my words. But weirdly, I was at a loss of coherent thought in front of her.

 

"Then, you're welcome." She said, her voice hushing down to a whisper as she took the liquid and sipped it. I couldn't help but stare at her cute face while pure satisfaction coursed through her. At every sip of the milk tea she manages, warmth pooled in my stomach.

 

Silence ruled over the both of us for a while. She continued to enjoy the beverage, while I kept on staring at her. It was like my eyes couldn't break away from her figure, and it was shockingly enjoyable.

 

Gosh, I'm getting weirder by the second.

 

"Who are you really?" I asked her, deciding to break the silence. In response, she huffed a sigh before answering in a casual manner.

 

"Song Shirin. I'm one of your Hoobaes in the university. I'm also taking up law, but I'm a year below yours. I have heard of the news about you and Jaebin Sunbae-nim quite some time ago, and my best bet with the whole thing is that you're still awkward with her because you still don't have a new girl. So, while I was walking to go here and I passed by you and your awkward conversation with Sunbae-nim, I decided to turn around and help you out."

 

My eyes widened at her response, my eyebrows furrowing afterwards because of the realization of how the story got to her.

 

"Don't think that news like that doesn't travel around, especially if it talks about the prominent students like you." She added, making me smoothen out my expression.

 

"Besides, it's just a payback for helping me pick up my law books that I clumsily dropped during first day."

 

At that sentence, the gates of my memories opened wide and I vaguely remembered helping a nerdy-looking girl with about five law books that weighed tons. She blushed and turned beet-red when I helped her, which I found weirdly endearing, before scrambling off quickly. I was about to ask for her name, but I never got the chance to.

 

"So it was you, then?" I asked rhetorically, a small smile crawling up my lips. When she nodded, I added another thing.

 

"You changed a lot. You look sophisticated now."

 

At my words, a faint pink tinted her cheeks, which made my heartbeats pick up pace [to my utter confusion]. I smiled at how I felt, not expecting the next words coming from her.

 

"Not really. No matter how much I changed my style, I still am that girl who liked you silently ever since that time."

 

My eyes widened and my heart stopped beating for a moment as the weight of her words sunk in.

 

Song Shirin, the kind girl who helped me out of a sticky situation, just indirectly confessed to me.

 

It was sudden, but it surprisingly felt nice.

 

"Anyways, I'd have to get going. I promised myself that I'd go back to my boarding house as soon as I get my milk tea. Thanks for this, Sunbae-nim. See you around and Happy Holidays." She said with a smile before standing up and taking her wallet, as well as her milk tea, from the surface of the table. With only a small bow and a sigh, she began to walk away from me.

 

I didn't know what had come over me, but I started after her with my fruit tea in hand as she exited the cafe and grabbed her wrist to stop her from going away.

 

"Wait. Let me walk you back. I don't think I could take it if I just let a cute girl like you walk alone in the streets."

 

The smile that I got sent my heart beating crazily, and I couldn't help but bite my lower lip gently when she nodded shyly.

 

I took her hand and motioned for her to lead the way to her boarding house. She complied, letting one hand hold the milk tea and the other hold my hand. I did the same.

 

I take back what I said earlier about romance in the frosty air not sitting well with me. 

 

In fact, I think I'd be going all out for the rest of this wintry season.