I woke up to the sound of the boys, Baekhyun being the loudest; “Chanyeol! You’re finally back!” I got up from the bed and rubbed my eyes. I slowly opened the door and walked to the living room;

There he was.

Everyone was smiling and in high spirits, Baekhyun was grabbing his arm as usual. He was smiling, “Hey, I missed you guys too.” He looked like he was in a good mood.

I immediately ran up to him and gave him a bear hug. It was that familiar warmth again. I held on to him until I realised that he had tensed up. When I looked at him, he was looking at me, his face held no emotions, he wasn’t smiling nor was he frowning. He was just staring blankly at me.

“Hey.” I called out, smiling.

“Hi.” He replied coldly.

Kris immediately pulled me back. “Welcome back.” He smiled to Chanyeol. Chanyeol simply smiled and nodded.

“Quickly get changed so that we can celebrate your birthday!” I told him. He simply nodded and headed to his room.

I took out the cake from the fridge and set it on the table. Once Chanyeol was out, everyone gathered around the table and sang him birthday songs.

“Happy birthday!” Chen yelled before spraying whipped cream on Chanyeol’s face.

“Yah!” Chanyeol yelled out laughing, he took some of the whipped cream and wiped them on Chen’s face.

Kyung Soo was cutting the cake while everyone sat in the living room to watch tv. Once he gave out the cake to everyone, he sat beside me and we quietly ate the cake as an episode of EXO’s Showtime was being aired.

“Do you like the cake?” I asked Chanyeol.

Chanyeol replied coldly again, “It’s quite hard. Probably because you left it in the fridge overnight but it’s edible. I guess. Who bought this anyway?”

“I bought it but Yoo Kyung chose the type of cake.” Luhan replied.

I smiled; maybe he wouldn’t be so cold if he knew that I had bought it.

Instead he replied, “No wonder.”

What’s going on? He used to always like it when I do something for him… Why is he being so cold now? I grabbed my plate tightly, almost clenching it into a fist when Kris suddenly placed his hand over mind;

“Don’t mind Chanyeol, I liked it.” He whispered. I looked down and blink continuously to stop my tears from falling. Ugh, why am I such a sensitive person?

I turned to look at Kris and smiled, “Thanks.”

“Hey it’s snowing! Let’s all go out!” Suho called out.

Everyone cheered and agreed to Suho’s idea.

As everyone was about to go to their rooms, I sat blankly on the couch. I don’t get it, why is he like that? I turned to look at Chanyeol who was disturbing Baekhyun as usual. Maybe I shouldn’t care so much. I sighed.

Kris suddenly appeared right in front of me and lifted my chin, “What’s wrong?”

I shook my head and smiled, I didn’t want anyone to know that I like Chanyeol. Or maybe I don’t like him. Ugh, how frustrating.

“Are you sure?” Kris tilted his head.

“Yes I am.” I nodded.

“Let’s go and get ready then.” He smiled.

♥ ♥ ♥

I wore the jeans together with the black hoodie and blue jacket that Luhan had bought for me during our, er, “date”.

We went down to a nearby park and it was covered in snow. It looked beautiful.

“The snow is so pretty!” I tugged on Kris’ jacket and he smiled.

“Let’s have a snowball fight! K versus M!” Chen called out, holding a snowball, ready to throw it at anyone.

“What about me?” I pouted. I’m not even part of EXO…

“You can take my place.” Kris called out.

“What, why?” Everyone asked in unison, I furrowed my brows.

“Snow ball fighting is not my style.” Kris replied coolly.

Chen threw the snowball that he was holding and it hit Kris’ face. Everyone burst out laughing, “Are you seriously going to say that hyung?”

“Chicken is not my style- eats it afterwards. Ddeokbokki is not my style- eats it afterwards.” Baekhyun teased.

“Well if I’m playing then,” Kris came up to me and grabbed my hand, “Yoo Kyung will be in my team.” Kris carried me over his shoulder and quickly ran to the M side.

“I can walk you know!” I replied, flailing my arms and legs.

“Don’t make me spank you.” Kris replied coolly.

I gulped at the very thought.

“Forts ready? Once you’re hit on the chest or face, you’re out. May the wars begin!” Chen called out.

I sat near the fort in order to prevent myself from being hit, why did I agree to this. Snowballs were flying everywhere. Most of them usually ended up hitting the members arms or legs.

“Suho out!” Chen yelled out, grinning playfully as he did a mini victory dance. I chuckled at his awkward dance but stopped when I noticed Kai aiming him.

“Chen look out-” Before he could even hear me, the snowball was already coming towards him and hit him in the chest.

“Chen out!” Kai laughed.

“Chen out, Chen out!” Suho copied and laughed loudly.

“That’s not fair!” Chen yelled out and stomped his feet on the icy ground.

Everyone laughed at him.

It was refreshing seeing everyone playing happily. The game escalated quickly. More and more people were getting hit and I haven’t even threw a snowball yet.

One by one, the members were eliminated.

Tao out.

Sehun out.

Luhan out.

Baekhyun out.

Kai out.

Xiumin out.

Kyung Soo out.

Lay out.

Within 20 minutes into the game, 10 members had been eliminated. There were 2 people left on the M side- Kris and I- and 1 person left on the K side- Chanyeol.

I was still sitting down at the fort when Kris came up to me, “Hey, I think we need to move.”

I looked at him and blinked, “Move? Isn’t that dangerous?”

“We don’t have a choice.” Kris looked up at the fort and saw Chanyeol standing up, waiting for the enemy to appear before throwing a snowball at him.

“Come out cold city guy.” Chanyeol called out playfully.

Kris bended his body a little lower, “We need to move.” He stared intently into my eyes. I gulped and nodded. He pointed to the bush nearby and by the count of three we immediately ran over, with him holding my hands.

“Give it to him! Just throw the snowball!” Sehun yelled out from the corner. Chanyeol started firing snowballs, one by one, each of them hitting out legs.

We hid behind the bush. “Are you sure this is a good place?” I asked, panting.

“Nope.” Kris replied, looking over the bush, he confirmed that Chanyeol was out of sight.

“This feels like a survival game. I thought snowball fights were supposed to be fun but this is scaring me.” I pouted and made a snow ball.

“This is fun. I get to spend more time with you.” Kris smirked.

I could feel my face go a little red. “Don’t say things like that.” I looked down, making my neck scarf cover my face.

“It’s true though.” Kris shrugged.

I looked over the bush; Chanyeol was nowhere to be seen. Kris stood up, looking around, trying to find the last K member standing. I patted the snowball into shape and held it close to me.

“Is he here yet?” I asked. Kris shook his head.

“Yah come out so Chanyeol can shoot you both!” Tao yelled out.

I shivered a little, this felt almost like war. Kris noticed and placed an arm over me, “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.” He reassured me and smiled.

I looked up at him, “What should we do?”  I frowned a little.

Kris smirked. “I have a plan.”

♥ ♥ ♥

“This is such a bad idea…” I pouted with furrowed brows and turned to look at Kris who was hiding behind the bush. He gave me thumbs up.

Time to go.

I cradled the snowball with my hands and held it near my chest. Walking slowly, I walked around the play area looking for Chanyeol- he was nowhere to be found.

“Yah Chanyeol hit them already!” Baekhyun yelled out.

Baekhyun’s words sent chills down my spine, how can a game turn out to be so scary.

Out of nowhere, Chanyeol suddenly pounced on me.

“Ah!” I yelled and fell down with Chanyeol on top of me. I closed my eyes tightly as I felt his breath near my face.

As I slowly opened my eyes, I saw Chanyeol’s staring back at mine. He was breathing heavily and the pupils in his eyes widened.

“Are you okay?” He asked softly.

I could feel my face turn red and nodded.

Chanyeol then got up, dusted himself clean and turned away.

Leaving me lying on the ground.

I scrambled to stand up and yelled at him, “Yah, are you going to keep on ignoring me? I thought you liked me-”

He turned around and hissed, “I do like you. But what’s the point in that?” He walked towards me with eyes that were full of rage. He stopped right in front of me and stared straight into my eyes, “What have you ever done for me that I should be thankful for?”

The words hit me.

He was right.

And I teared up.

A few seconds later, Chanyeol was hit by Kris’ snowball.

But that didn’t matter.

I’ve been so selfish. I’ve never considered anyone really liking me.

I fell to my knees and sobbed as the M team did a victory dance.

My heart hurt so badly, I gripped it hard and felt a warm back hug.

“Don’t be sad my love.” He whispered and blew into my ear to warm me up.

It was Kris.

♥ ♥ ♥

Everyone decided to go out, except for me of course. Kris decided to tag along.

I laid in bed the entire time and was still silently sobbing. My nose was red and my eyes were puffy. Kris sat on my bed and handed me a cup of hot chocolate.

“Here sweetie, drink up.”

I shook my head and faced the other direction. “I don’t feel like it.”

I blinked emptily at the window. I could feel the loneliness creep into my soul. I’ve never been this sad over anyone, so why Chanyeol?

“Hey, stop it.” Kris moved over and cradled me on his lap, planting soft kisses on my forehead. “He’s not the only guy you can fall in love with.” He gently pushed my head to his chest.

“He seems to be the only guy that’s serious.” I sighed and nuzzled into his chest, his warmth filling up my cold and empty body.

Kris traced his fingers from my hair down to my chin and lifted it up. He placed a soft kiss on my lip and mumbled on them, “I’m serious too.”

I gulped.

Shivered.

And was drawn in by his warmth.

I couldn’t take being lonely. I never liked being lonely.

I couldn’t help but place my arms around Kris’s neck and kissing him back.

His tongue found mine; his lips tasted sweet. He wasn’t rough nor gentle.

It was just right.

It was everything that I-

“Well. I guess now you know why Chanyeol’s ignoring you.” The familiar voice filled the air and I broke free of Kris and looked at the door.

There, stood the one guy I would never expect saying that to me;

The eldest.

The head of the wolves.

Xiumin.