𝐈𝐗

The winter morning arrived crisp and crystalline, sunlight piercing through the skeletal branches overhead to paint the frost-dusted ground in soft, hexagonal patches of white. Each breath Minju exhaled formed delicate clouds that dissipated into the sharp air. As she walked down the familiar path, the same worn cobblestones she'd traced countless times. She clutched her wool scarf tighter against the biting chill, fingers curling into the fabric's warmth. Her mind drifted, turning over a realization that had been quietly settling into her consciousness like snowfall.

These days... she thought, and despite the cold nipping at her nose, a small smile touched her lips, softening the line of her mouth. Walking to school with Y/n is...

She turned the corner where the old maple tree stood, its bare branches reaching skyward, and saw him. He was already there, always there first, somehow—a tall, quiet figure wrapped in a dark wool coat and a patterned scarf that caught the morning breeze. His glasses reflected the slanting rays of winter sunlight, turning the lenses momentarily opaque and mysterious.

"Y/n. Good morning," she called out, her voice carrying across the cold air.

He turned at the sound of her voice, unhurried and deliberate. His expression settled into that calm, steady look he always wore, the one that made her feel like the world could slow down, just for a moment. As they fell into step together, their footfalls creating a synchronized rhythm on the path, Minju felt a sense of comfort settle over her shoulders like a warm blanket.

...becoming a routine.

The word felt significant somehow, weighted with meaning she wasn't quite ready to examine.

They reached the school entrance, where the wide glass doors reflected the pale morning sky. All around them, the ambient chatter of other students filled the air, the scrape of shoe lockers opening, the rustle of indoor slippers being retrieved, friends greeting each other with animated gestures and laughter that echoed off the polished floors. Minju glanced up at him, a little crease of perplexity forming between her brows. She had checked the clock on her nightstand specifically this morning, had even left five minutes earlier than usual to beat him here this time.

"I thought I left earlier..." she murmured, looking between him and the crowded hallway beyond, genuinely puzzled. "But today... you always get here before me."

"Right," Y/n replied simply, his tone matter-of-fact, not denying it or offering an explanation.

A twinge of guilt pricked at Minju's chest. I'm sorry for making you wait, she began to think, the apology already forming on her tongue, but Y/n interrupted the thought before she could give it voice.

He turned fully toward her, pivoting on his heel so they stood face to face. His gaze locked onto hers with an intensity that made her breath catch. The sunlight streaming through the entrance seemed to frame him perfectly, softening the sharp angles of his jaw and cheekbones, creating a halo effect around his dark hair.

"Well," he said, his voice lowering into a gentle, sincere register that seemed to bypass her ears and go straight to her chest. "I enjoy the time I spend waiting for you."

Minju's breath hitched, trapped somewhere between her lungs and her throat. The words hung in the cold air between them, impossibly warm. Before she could process the weight of that statement, before she could untangle what it meant or how to respond, Y/n offered her a smile. Not his usual slight upturn of lips, but something genuine and unguarded, one that reached his eyes and made them shine with reflected light behind his lenses, crinkling at the corners.

"Good morning, Minju-ssi," he added softly, the honorific somehow tender in his mouth.

The attack was super effective.

Minju felt the blood rush to her face instantly, a wave of heat that started at her neck and flooded upward, turning her ears a bright, burning shade of red. She stiffened like she'd been struck by lightning, her fingers gripping her bag tightly enough that her knuckles turned white. Her heart hammered a frantic, erratic rhythm against her ribs, a drumbeat that surely everyone in the hallway could hear.

Endure, she commanded herself desperately, squeezing her eyes shut for a fleeting second as a nervous gulp escaped her throat, her Adam's apple bobbing visibly. ...I can do it!

The winter morning remained bright and merciless, sunlight still filtering through the trees in those same geometric patterns. Minju was still reeling from Y/n's comment about enjoying the wait, her heart pounding like a trapped bird, desperately telling herself to endure this onslaught. But Y/n wasn't finished.

He touched his chin thoughtfully with two fingers, his head tilting slightly as a soft, contemplative look entered his eyes. It was the expression he wore when he was recalling something pleasant, something worth savoring.

"Also..." he added, his voice dropping to a murmur that felt almost private despite their public surroundings. "...the way you run when you find me... it's cute."

In his mind, he pictured it clearly—her rushing toward him with quick, eager steps, her scarf trailing behind her, practically sparkling with energy and morning light, her face lighting up with recognition.

For Minju, this was the finishing blow, the critical hit that shattered her remaining defenses. Her knees gave out completely, structural integrity failing, and she slumped into a crouch right there in the middle of the hallway, burying her burning face in her scarf until only her eyes were visible.

"...Agh," she groaned, the sound muffled by wool and mortification.

He's on a roll this morning, again!! She screamed internally, her thoughts a chaotic mess. 

His unintentional charm attacks were coming too fast to defend against. Where are my shields? Why am I so weak?!

Several students glanced at them curiously as they passed, whispering behind their hands, but Minju was beyond caring about appearances.

Once she managed to scrape herself off the floor with Y/n patiently waiting, slightly concerned but not quite understanding what he'd done, and they resumed walking through the corridors, the conversation turned to the changing season.

"I can't believe it's already winter," Minju said, trying desperately to steady her breathing and return her heart rate to something resembling normal.

"Yeah," Y/n agreed, looking ahead as their footsteps created soft echoes in the hallway, passing by classroom windows that glowed with warm yellow light. "Fall passed in the blink of an eye."

The mention of the season brought a specific thought to Minju's mind, arriving with sudden clarity. Her heart gave a nervous thump, different from before, this one tinged with hopeful anticipation.

"By the way..." she ventured, glancing up at him from beneath her lashes. "...Christmas is coming."

The atmosphere around them seemed to amplify the sentiment. Even in the background, she could hear other students chatting excitedly, their voices bright with anticipation. "Hey, what should we do for Christmas?" one girl asked her friend. "I heard there's going to be illuminations at the park!" another responded.

Minju fidgeted with the strap of her bag, stealing glances at Y/n's profile—the straight line of his nose, the way his glasses sat perfectly balanced, the slight movement of his throat as he considered her words.

Christmas! she thought, hope rising in her chest like a balloon filling with warm air. Is he gonna... talk about a date?

The possibility made her pulse quicken again, but this time with excitement rather than embarrassment.

Y/n turned to her, and a bright, pleasant smile spread across his face that suggested he was about to say something he thought was helpful.

"Before that..." he said cheerfully, almost enthusiastically.

Minju leaned in slightly, waiting with bated breath, her imagination already spinning scenarios of winter dates and Christmas lights.

"...we have finals."

Minju froze mid-step. The romantic tension evaporated instantly, like water hitting a hot pan, replaced by the crushing, suffocating weight of academic reality. Y/n just smiled at her, completely oblivious to the emotional whiplash he had just delivered with the efficiency of a sledgehammer.

The weight of Y/n's words crashed down on Minju like an avalanche, burying her in cold, mathematical dread.

"Final exams."

"Oh," she whispered, her face draining of color until she resembled the white snow outside, all the warmth and giddiness from moments before evaporating.

The romantic atmosphere, the one that had wrapped around them like a comfortable blanket, vanished entirely, replaced by a sense of impending doom. She stood there in the hallway, mentally crushed under the weight of textbooks she should have been reading, formulas she should have been memorizing, concepts she should have been understanding.

"I totally... forgot about them," she realized with dawning horror, her eyes widening.

Later that afternoon, the reality of the situation set in with uncomfortable clarity. They sat together at a desk in the library's corner, a quiet alcove usually reserved for serious studying in what felt uncomfortably like a student-teacher conference. The fluorescent lights overhead cast everything in stark, unforgiving illumination. Y/n held her test papers from the last exam, reviewing them with a critical eye, occasionally making small sounds of consideration while Minju sat stiffly across from him, her hands folded in her lap like a repentant student before the principal.

"You relatively did well on liberal arts..." Y/n noted, flipping a page with a crisp rustle that seemed loud in the quiet space, "...but it looks like you are not good at STEM."

Minju physically shrank in her seat, her shoulders hunching inward, trying to make herself smaller. She wanted to disappear into the chair.