Xiumin's POV

(A/N: No, I am not joking. This is the reason why he hasn't shown up yet~ His story starts a week or so back and makes it's way to the present)

It was cold.

Searingly sharp. Piercing. It was stripping away my very flesh, chipping it's way over my cheeks, down my spine, and around my ribs.

I couldn't stop it, I couldn't-

I woke up with a pool of cold set deep within my chest, breathing out puffs of vapor in my chilled room.

What was wrong with me? Was I sick, I wondered? It had been like this ever since I started working at that restaurant. Was I jinxed? Cursed? Should I quit?

No. Quitting wasn't an option, was it? I had bills to pay and a college fund to save up for. I was all on my own out here. No parents, no relatives, no friends. Maybe I should get a cat. No, no, I couldn't feed it at the rate I was going. I needed money.

Seeing a doctor was going to be expensive. I decided to just endure a while longer and see if it got worse. Until then...

I'd be okay. Wear extra layers. Invest in gloves and scarves, maybe a sweater. It might just go away on it's own.

I hoped.

***

It was getting stronger. One of my coworkers was starting to worry for me. How could I explain that I just felt ice in my veins, pumping painfully across my body and through my heart.

It was so cold.

What could I do? I really couldn't see a doctor. I didn't think it was an illness anymore; it was something much bigger than that. I woke up in the morning to find frost covering my pillow and blankets, a light coat of it stuck all around my skin. It took over an hour to melt it all off with the hair dryer, making me late for work. This was no ordinary sickness.

What was this? What could I do?

***

I didn't know what I did. I didn't mean to do it at all. I didn't- it wasn't my fault!

I just wanted to visit my old school. This cursed coldness and infinite shivering kept putting these thoughts into my head of death, dying. Was it going to kill me in the end? Was this how I was to die, curled in on myself and encased in a block of ice? I wanted to visit a few memories before that happened, and-

What happened to me out there? The ice struck my heart painfully as I tried to warm it in nostalgic memory and all of a sudden, there was a flurry of snow in the air and hail shooting out towards the sky and back down hard on the cement and army of students' cars.

And I finally felt numbed to the cold. Or maybe just a bit warmer. Either way, I felt better.

Was I not dying? Was there a way to control this?

***

I think I liked my coworker.

We laughed and talked easily. I liked seeing him smile and I liked the smallest, tiniest warm feeling he put in my chest when I felt particularly cold. He was always trying to keep me warm, swapping jobs with me whenever I was placed outside and stopping to periodically rub his hands over my hands or arms. It was very sweet, but how could I tell Luhan that I barely felt this kind of cold anymore? I must have really turned numb over time. For now, my excuse was bad circulation. I felt sorry for lying, but it seemed necessary.

I was enduring well.

At least, I thought so.

At work, Luhan stopped by the table I was cleaning and slipped a hand-warmer into my apron pocket.

“You look like you've been locked in the freezer. Will you be okay?” he asked.

“Yeah. It's not that bad, really.”

Luhan walked away, glancing back once before being called to wash dishes. I was smiling at the scene and thinking about nonsense futures that would never happen when I noticed the easy glide of the rag circling over the table becoming rough. Looking down, I realized the whole table top was streaked in a layer of ice and the rag I held to be stiff and frozen, grating frost against frost.

I managed to clear it up just before anyone noticed by spilling a pot of tea over it, but it had been a very close call.

It was growing still, this curse.

***

It was so strong, beating harsh and dry in my temples in an icy headache worse than any simple brain-freeze. I tried not to cringe at work, missing Luhan's little attempts in bringing me warmth while he was at school.

Customers complained of the air in the restaurant being frigid and asked several times that the heat be . The heat was already on at full blast. Any hotter and I was sure the metal would melt. And the manager had no one to blame, not knowing that I was the problem. It didn't matter, I was still fired. He didn't even suspect me, he just wanted to show the customers that the restaurant was doing something to deal with this.

It wasn't fair. He shouldn't fire people for show. I would've been fine with it if he had only sincerely thought it was me.

I got angry and the cold got angrier too.

I left quite the crude surprise outside for the manager when it was late and no one was around to see me do it. A sculpture that depicted exactly what I thought about this guy. I noticed the way his eyes lingered on the back of Luhan's neck and the times Luhan would yelp out of surprise and the manager just happened to be walking on by each time this occurred. That was ual harassment.

That guy was a nasally-voiced prick, and that was exactly what my ice sculpture was shaped after. I admired the detail, amazed it turned out so clear and very glad that it had completely frozen the door shut. Of course the customers could get in through the back door if they so wished and they could use heavy machinery to break the ice apart and make it a little more family friendly. But it would cost them. They'd lose business during the time it took to clear it all up.

Maybe I should've frozen the other doors as well to give them even more work. Warmth flooded my fingers for the first time in days, but the cold was still strong beneath my sternum. It wouldn't be too difficult to add to this masterpiece.

I couldn't wait to see the manager's face in the morning.

***

Oh, Luhan, I didn't think they'd call you in even though you had school.

The image of him blowing warm air over his gloved hands as he painstakingly chipped at the ice covering a side door in the middle of spring stung with the cold in my chest. Were the warm fingers and blushing cheeks worth pulling Luhan out of school? This had been a big mistake. He told me he's been held back a few times and was planning on working his hardest to make sure he graduated this year. He couldn't do that if he wasn't in class.

When I was certain that no one else was around, I approached him, holding my breath.

“Luhan?” I called out softly when I was near. The words were accompanied by a trail of vapor, but I didn't think he noticed.

“Ah, Xiumin,” he grinned wide. “Did you see the front door? Isn't that great?”

“Yeah,” I laughed, coughing a little as the warm air assaulted my cold lungs. “Pretty great.”

“You're looking better than usual.” Luhan took off a frost-covered glove, touching slightly chilled fingertips to my cheeks as he inspected my face. “Your eyes look lively, your skin is glowing too... Your lips aren't blue...” As if waking himself from a trance, he shook his head and lifted his eyes away from my lips. And he blushed, beautiful and ruddy.

My jealousy at his warmed face diminished at the realization that he felt something for me. However small, there was an attraction.

I let out a nervous breath and offered to help, but-

“You did this.”

“Uh-What? Me? No-”

“You're a bad liar, Xiumin.” Luhan quirked an eyebrow in silent taunt. “Come on, I know you did it. Where did you get the ice?”

“Ahm, uh-”

“Did you...” He raised his hands in a vague gesture, waving them up and splaying his fingers. Luhan sighed at my silence and studied me for a minute, contemplating something. “I'm going to show you something. Promise you won't tell anyone if it turns out that you don't understand?”

Understand what? What did he mean? I nodded anyways, lost. He couldn't mean what I thought he did.

Right?

Luhan put his glove in his palm and slowly, it lifted and filled, as if an invisible hand were occupying it. The hand waved a peace sign at me and poked me on the tip of my nose. I was stunned. It took me a full second to remember to breathe and cool vapor blocked my vision completely.

The cold was coming back strong again. It felt like ice shards and the next breath I let out, I let fill with soft flakes of snow that hung in the air for just a moment before swirling down between us. Letting out some of the cold, I felt stronger and happier, copying the smile Luhan directed at me.

"I knew it."

“What are you doing here distracting my employees?” came an annoying, nasally voice I both knew and hated. “I just fired you yesterday, Kim Minseok.”

“You were fired?” Luhan asked quietly.

“Yes he was,” the manager chipped in, putting a heavy hand on my shoulder and squeezing too hard to be considered a friendly gesture. He just wanted to keep me away from Luhan. That was probably the real reason why I was fired.

That-

“.” Luhan glared at the shocked manager and walked away, taking my arm and dragging me after. “I quit.” he called back.

“Luhan-”

“Don't worry, Xiumin. I've been wanting to quit for a long time.”

He looked happy, but I remembered him once saying how he could relate to the kind of money problems I had. Would he be okay like this?

“There are some people you need to meet anyways.” said Luhan and I dared to hope that this meant there were many others who were cursed like me. I needed to know that this ice in my chest wasn't going to hinder my plans for the future. I wanted to live life. I wanted to go to college and meet people and eventually own my own coffee shop with a quiet, warm atmosphere and...

And it wouldn't be cold.

***

I'd never seen such a clean home. No clutter, no grime, no broken chunks taken out of the wall, no rats or mice, no mold or mildew. I loved it. I could breathe and relax in such a home. I tried my best to keep my tiny apartment clean, but there was only so much I could do in such a rundown building and on a budget.

The man who answered the door looked friendly and this man on the sofa, Chen I was told to call him, also seemed nice. Everything was going smooth and I was excited to show them what I could do when a third (very tall!) person walked in the living room from down a hall and Luhan's eyes narrowed on him dangerously.

“You!” he shouted, rushing up to the kid with a finger pointed in his face. “Do you know what you did to Baek? To everyone in the group? What the hell were you thinking?”

“Luhan,” the one named Suho warned him, stepping between the two. “I will have no fighting in my parent's house. Especially not when Chanyeol is involved. Sorry, buddy,” He clapped the tall kid on the shoulder and pulled Luhan back a ways. “I can't let you burn everything down again-”

“Burn?” I asked, interest piqued. “As in fire?”

“Yes, flames!” Chanyeol said in a deep, yet cheery voice, smiling wide and displaying a small wisp of dancing flame at his fingertips. I couldn't stop staring in awe, even as it fizzled out in thin smoke.

“Does the heat ever feel like it's burning deep in your chest?” I asked, wondering if he felt like I did, a container for a large and unruly beast – only his beast would be hot and mine cold. Didn't it make sense for him to be like me?

He blinked at me and nodded eagerly. “And it gets better after letting some out?” he asked, voice picking up.

“Yes! The ice always lets up after releasing it!”

“It's you I've been looking for!” he suddenly shouted, pushing away Luhan when he jumped to my defense and taking me towards the door. “We have to go somewhere, okay? The wolf in my dream said so-”

“Wolf?” asked Suho, trying to get ahold of the situation.

“Sorry, Jongdae,” Chanyeol called back to the man on the couch. This Chen had two names? “I thought it was you-”

“Trust me, no hard feelings.” he laughed. “I always had my eye on someone else.”

Luhan tried again to stop the kid, only to be pushed aside like the last time. “Chanyeol, you can't just keep calling everyone your soulmate-” he growled.

“But this time I've found him. I've found my soulmate.” he said with a very confident nod of the head. “Hey, what's your name?” he whispered to me and I told him, confused. “Xiumin? Xiumin, you are my soulmate. Nothing could possibly go together better than fire and ice!”

“Ah, but-”

“Come on, soulmate. I need to take you somewhere.”

But I liked Luhan-

My shoes were shoved into my arms after he'd finished putting on his and before I could even ask Luhan for help or advice or something, this Chanyeol heaved me up and slung me over his shoulders like a sack of potatoes. It was all I could do to keep my shoes from slipping out of my hands.

“Lu-”

The door shut on my old coworker's face. Why did he hesitate? Why didn't he come after me and use his power to stop this guy? We had an attraction, didn't we? We had a spark?

And wasn't this considered kidnapping – only... opposite?

***

Author Note:

In case you didn't know, prick... well, it's slang for .

So yeah...

hahhaahaaHAH

This is my maturity level

(omg that was a stupid idea - WHY DID I WRITE IT IN?)

((not making it rated M because it's only ice, like who even cares?))