It was cold the night Lee Junah met him. She was walking home late from university after she had stayed longer at the library studying. As she walked past the park where she usually loved to rest and eat, she decided to have a small break as her feet started to hurt from walking; it was so late at night that the buses had long since stopped.

When she went to sit down however, her spot had been taken. Upon closer inspection she realised it was a boy, seemingly tall, around her age and with long dark brown hair that covered one of his eyes. He was reading, completely alone in the dark. Junah found herself walking towards him as if she was entranced. 

Friendly and polite as usual she greeted happily, “Hi!”

The boy looked up, registered Junah’s presence and simply returned his gaze to the book he was reading.

Slightly intimidated by the cool response she tried again, “My name’s Junah, that looks like an interesting book.”

No response.

“Um, may I sit down here as well?” She asked, folding her hands in front of her and fiddling with her fingers nervously. She thought that it was possibly dangerous talking to random strangers in parks at night but she couldn’t help but feel something that drew her to this boy, loneliness maybe? He even seemed somewhat sad.

“Do what you like.” He muttered back and Junah smiled happily in return to getting even those four words out of him. “My name’s Haru.”

She spent quite a while speaking, mind you it was quite the one-sided conversation but she didn’t really mind. Every now and then Haru would throw in a couple words, even if those ‘words’ happened to be grunts of affirmation or disagreement but she took what she could get at this point. She was unsure what it was about him that got her invested, it wasn’t a habit of hers to approach random people and start talking but there was just something about Haru that had her hooked.

“Do you have somewhere to go tonight?” She asked curiously, “Not that I’m assuming you don’t, but it’s kinda strange for someone to be just sitting at a park bench so late at night.”

“Aren’t you also sitting here late at night?” He replied softly.

“Ah, I suppose you have a point there.” She laughed, a light tinkling sound, which made Haru look up at her.

For a moment, Junah saw a small sliver of softness leak into his eyes but as soon as it came, it was gone again. There was silence after that, but it was not tense, awkward silence as it was before, it was now a little more comfortable.

“As for your question, I am quite used to sleeping outside.” He spoke up, lifting his head again to look into her eyes with an intense gaze.

“But it’s so cold tonight, what if you get sick?” She worried for him, even if she had only met him.  

He let out a bitter chuckle, “I’m pretty sure I won’t get sick. I wouldn’t worry.” His eyes widened slightly, filling with realisation, “Now that I think about it, what’s with the concern?”

Junah smiled brightly, reflecting the moonlight in her eyes, “I don’t know really, there’s just something about you. When I saw you sitting here, I saw loneliness, sadness.” She was never one to hold back on her feelings, only if it was for the benefit of others would she conceal anything at all. She was an open book in quite the literal sense.

Haru scoffed with disbelief showing in his sharp features, “I am hardly sad, I’ve led a solitary life for a long time. I’m not some puppy who needs company.”

“Aren’t you? I don’t know about you, but sometimes we all need someone, even if it’s just one person. The world out there can be cold as ice but other people can help stave off the winter.” She suddenly laughed, “I’m sorry, that was awfully poetic. I love to write you see and sometimes it shows up in my speech. My bad.”

“Oh I know all to well the cruelty of the world. Have no doubts about that.” He muttered quietly, as if he was talking to himself more than Junah herself.

“I’ve made a decision.” Junah said getting up quickly from her seat, “Follow me Haru.”

When he made no effort to move she continued, “I don’t care if you’re used to it or not, I’m not cool with you sleeping outside in the cold.”

Most would be apprehensive about inviting a stranger into their home, but all Junah was worried about was that the beautiful boy she had just met was safe and warm even if just for one night.

. . .

“Surely, this is a joke.” He murmured as the two of them stood outside Junah’s cozy apartment. It was small, only housing her usually but she had a particularly comfy couch at least.

She unlocked the door and raced inside, escaping from the cold night air and letting Haru cautiously step inside after her. He looked at her expressionless, clearly slightly confused as to how he’d ended up agreeing to this. He was such a lone wolf most of the time; he hadn’t planned to stay with anyone, especially with a random girl. But yet, he found himself fascinated by her, by the kind eyes and bright smile. He hadn’t seen so much light in someone before, he was one who dwelled in darkness and it felt like someone had just the lights.

“I wasn’t really expecting guests but I hope it’ll do.” She told him as she busied herself cleaning up the place a bit. It was hardly messy by Haru’s standards, but to be fair, he had reasonably low standards. In the meantime, Haru had taken to looking around his new surroundings curiously, the simple art on the walls and the pastel paint that brightened up the place. It was very suited to Junah’s personality he thought, that’s when his thought process froze. When did he begin to care? He never took notice of such small things; he usually thought them irrelevant. What had changed?

“Is everything okay, Haru? You’re spacing out over there.” Junah called, giving him a look of concern. He gave her an affirmative hum and she smiled back at him.

Soon, Junah had made them a small dinner that they ate side by side at her dinner table. It was quiet, which seemed to be a growing pattern between the two but Haru didn’t feel on edge. It was something else, when he looked at Junah he felt… warm.

When they had both finished, Junah stood up and grabbed both their plates to wash and put back into the cupboards. Haru stood up as well, helping her clear the table. When he looked at her, he noticed a small dab of sauce remained on her lips.

“Ah, Junah, you’ve got some…” He began, pointing at her face. He was uncharacteristically shy he realised but dismissed it regardless.

She tilted her head to the side, her big eyes staring up at him and her hair framing her face.

That’s when he kissed her.

Closing the gap between them quickly, he softly pressed his lips against hers before he knew what he was doing. She squeaked in shock but then her eyes fluttered close and she returned the kiss. Their lips dancing together delicately like the snow softly falling to earth. When they finally pulled away, Junah looked up at him shyly and saw the tenderness in Haru’s eyes that had melted the ice that had once resided there.

“You’re amazing Junah.” Was all he said and of course, she beamed up at him that beautiful smile filling his heart with warmth.

It was very late, time for them to sleep but with the events of recent hours they were not ready to sleep just yet. Haru was now sitting on the couch, Junah lying down with her head resting on his lap as he her hair tenderly.

Before they knew it, they were both fast asleep, happy and peaceful.

. . .

When Junah awoke the next morning, she knew something was wrong. Her eyes flickered open when she realised that she was no longer on Haru’s lap but instead was on a rolled up blanket. She stood up and looked around, calling feebly, “Haru? Are you there? Haru?” Her heart panged with worry and her heartbeat was frantic. Her eyes fell upon a small white note, clearly torn out of one of her notepads with a pencil next to it. She approached it slowly, almost not wanting to, to go back to sleep and when she woke up, Haru would be there again, silent but kind.

She picked it up carefully and it unfolded to reveal small handwriting that was undoubtedly Haru’s small flicks on his letters and careful precision.

Junah,

I was never good at writing letters that could express my feelings properly but for you I’ll try. We only knew each other for such a short time, you brought my guard down, my defences that I had so carefully constructed around myself you broke open with your bright smile.

I wish I could stay with you. God, I wish I could stay. But that bright smile of yours, that reflects so much caring and love, I can’t bear to stay and watch it die. My life is never easy, I never stay in one place for very long. There are things I have to take care of Junah, things that I wouldn’t dare to get you involved in. So I must leave for your sake and for mine.

Please don’t wait for me, just in case you wait in vain. But remember this, I will take your kindness with me, the brightness in your smile and the tenderness of your very self. I will treasure that for as long as I live and one day, I may be able to return. Do not forget the small time we spent together, for that was real and beautiful. In such a short time, you stole my heart. Thank you Junah, for showing me that this world is not completely frozen over. That, like you said, that it can take one person to stave off the winter. You are that one person.

-Haru

Junah fell to her knees as her eyes filled with tears, she clutched the letter to her heart and sobbed. One night was all she got before he was snatched away from her again. It was unfair. So very unfair.

When she walked outside, she found herself eventually making her way to the bench where they’d met. She smiled gently and at that moment snow started to fall, blowing lightly in the wisps of air. She held out her hand as snow melted in her hand and she was reminded of Haru’s lips on her’s, like the tenderness of snow falling from the sky and like the ice melting from Haru’s eyes.

A/N: Hello lovely readers~ ^ ^ I quite like this little oneshot, I think it's kinda atmospheric! Haha, well I hope you enjoyed it~ Better yet, I'm officially on holidays! Hooray~! /throws kenfetti/ So I've been writing a lot and will continue writing and try and get through all your requests. /there are a lot of them you know/ This oneshot was for Venice_98, I hope you like it dear~

Well, I'll hopefully be back soon.

See you next time my wonderful subscribers~