Warning: Has not been beta'd or edited.

The evening is spent a little less exiting than ideal.

After giving Wu Yifan a thorough look over and asking Siwon for his opinions on the wounds, Song Qian finally gives in a decides not to think too much about his injuries.

“I told you I’m fine,” Yifan rolls his eyes at her, then gestures a hand around his stomach, “but I’m really hungry. I haven’t ate much today.”

Maybe it was just her imagination, but Song Qian really does think he’s gotten considerably skinnier since the last time she saw him. Which, to be honest, wasn’t that long ago. “Why didn’t you eat?” She pesters, jumping to her feet and rushing to the kitchen.

Then, as though struck by lightning, she glances back at Siwon.

“Coffee!” She exclaims, eyes widened.

Both Siwon and Yifan sputter out a low laugh, chuckling at her odd reaction, and Siwon simply nods at her. “Whatever’s fine, it doesn’t really matter to me.”

It wasn’t coffee he was after, after all.

When she finally disappears into the kitchen, Siwon relaxes back into his seat and glances around curiously. Eventually, his eyes meet with Wu Yifan’s, and he subconsciously tenses up again; the kid is staring at him with a piercing gaze, as though analyzing each and every atom of his body.

“So, I’ve heard you’ve been rather busy lately,” Siwon comments, trying to make for light conversation.

Wu Yifan smiles, but it’s the type of smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. It’s like his skin is smiling but the flesh isn’t moving—a little cold, a little condescending, but not entirely unfriendly. “I heard you and Song Qian started dating.”

“Um, yeah,” Siwon admits, “we have.”

“You’ve known her since high school?” Wu Yifan continues questioning.

Siwon blinks twice before nodding.

“Did you know she already liked you back then?”

“What? No, I—” I had no idea, is what Siwon wants to say but a corner of his chest tugs and he knows whenever this feeling happens, he’s lying. “I thought it was just puppy love.”

Wu Yifan laughs. “Don’t tell her I told you. She’ll kill me.”

“You’ve known her for a long time?” Siwon asks.

The model smirks. “Is it my turn to be interrogated already?”

“How long?”

“Long enough,” Wu Yifan shrugs, “but not quite as long as you have known her. Which, to be honest, I can’t say I’m regretful about.”

Siwon stares at him for a moment, Wu Yifan’s words not quite sitting right with him.

“She can be pretty annoying,” Yifan explains himself.

“I saw a few of your news reports recently.”

Wu Yifan grins. “You didn’t strike me as the gossipy type.”

“I’m not,” Siwon reassures, “I only managed to catch the few that involve Song Qian.”

The young man nods idly, yawning. “The protective boyfriend, I see.”

“I’m the boyfriend, yes,” the ever so intelligent doctor admits, “and don’t take this the wrong way but who are you?”

 Raising his eyes to meet with Siwon’s slowly, Siwon takes a sharp breath when their gazes lock. Wu Yifan’s stare is shockingly piercing—it could cut through his flesh and leave a heavy mark—but Siwon doesn’t back down.

It feels like an eternity before Wu Yifan finally speaks.

“Song Qian’s father is my uncle; my mother was removed from the Song family because she chose to be with my father but my father ultimately abandoned her, too. For most of my life, I was raised by the two of them introspectively but when my father fled the scene my mother hadn’t much health left in her to care for me. Song Qian and my uncle appeared just before my mom passed away and they promised to take me in from then on.”

The story is perhaps supposed to be saddening and tragic; however, Wu Yifan shows neither of the two emotions. Instead, his voice is even and his tone is firm; it’s like he’s telling a story that isn’t his own.

“Basically, Song Qian is my only cousin and the reason she and her family left Beijing all those years ago was because of me.”

There was once in high school as Siwon was walking home when he spotted Song Qian walking down the street with a few other girls. Bringing up his courage, because he was a shy guy who almost rarely spoke to other girls of their grade, he fixes his glasses on his nose and jogs up to them.

“Qian, you have a moment?”

Song Qian looks up at him, because an entire head shorter, and sees how his cheeks are flushed and his eyes are awkwardly glancing around. She doesn’t know if his face is red because of the running or because of his embarrassment but she laughs it off and nods at him.

Her friends make small whistles and a bit before letting her go.

“What’s up?” Song Qian asks, seemingly in a very good mood.

Siwon guides her down the road and a few blocks further to a smoothie shop. “You like Green Tea, right?”

“Why are you suddenly treating me to a smoothie?” Song Qian wonders aloud.

“As a thank you,” Siwon replies.

Song Qian raises an eyebrow. “For?”

“For walking home with me.”

It was spontaneous things like this that made Song Qian feel confused sometimes. It’s not as though Siwon ever made it obvious that he was interested in her, nor did he ever make it apparent that he wanted to be anything more than friends, yet, it was always the small things.

“So, Green Tea flavored?” Siwon asks again.

Song Qian nods. “That’s fine.”

And then, even though Siwon claims that he felt a little lonely walking home alone, he walks Song Qian home first and then returns to his own home on his own.

“I thought you didn’t want to walk alone?” She would ask.

“I don’t live too far from here,” Siwon would retort, “Plus, how could I let a girl walk home on her own?”

After so many times, Song Qian doesn’t bother asking anymore. She sort of just accepts the fact that Siwon wanted company walking away from school and decided that she was probably the most convenient person to walk with.

It didn’t matter how many times he bought her smoothies or how many times he walked her home, nothing between them ever really changed.

Yet, something inside the both of them started transforming—neither spoke of it then but now, now that they look back, it might just have been the small kindles of love.

Song Qian says she needs to leave for Taiwan and she might be staying there for two weeks; there’s a well-known designer who’s working there at the moment and she was able to get an exclusive interview with them for two nights.

A little confused, Siwon asks, “If the interview is two nights then why do you need to stay two weeks?”

“That’s how our line of business works,” Song Qian laughed in his arms, cuddling closer against his warm chest. “Sometimes for just an hour of someone’s time, we might have to put in a whole month’s worth of research and effort. Not everyone plays nice.”

Frankly, Siwon is more or less accustomed to the fact that Song Qian is often off on business trips, however, because his job is rather sedentary, he begins to feel lonelier and lonelier the more she leaves.

Sensing his dissatisfaction, Song Qian plants a kiss on his cheek and curls her fingers into his hands. “If you want, you can meet up with me over there, just like in Japan.”

That’s actually not a bad idea, Siwon thinks.

“Let me know once you find out if you’ll be able to go or not and I’ll get a room and things settled for you over there, too,” she smiles.

Siwon nods and leans forward, catching her lips in a kiss.

The night is cold but they’ve never felt warmer. Sometimes, no matter how far and distant the past may be, bits and pieces of the memories come together and form a picture for the future.

Perhaps back then they never thought there would be a day when they would lie in each other’s arms, relishing in each other’s warmth, savoring up each other’s affection—just like that cup of Green Tea smoothie; it was cold but it brought them together, despite the fact they knew it wasn’t eternal.

Only their desires were important then, unlike now; now, the future seems to weigh much heavier.

-----

A/N: So, I've been pondering on how likely it is that I can make this story any longer, upon request by our fabulous gadisapple. I can probably add a few more twists here and there but I'll take it slow. Therefore, from this point on, updates are going to be considerably scarce until I find a theme I can grasp onto in order to prolong the story ^___^ Thank you for all of your awesome, sweet, and insanely encouraging comments! I love you guys! ♥Xue