In order to get to Veronica's parent's house, they had to walk along the edge of the road that had been plowed as all the sidewalks were still completely covered. Neither of them said anything as they trudged along the packed snow on the road. Verbena turned her head to the side to look at V as they walked, noticing him looking off across the snowy white plains surrounding them where the houses were peeking up from the snow like prairie dogs.

Just as Verbena was thinking about trying to say something to break the ice, she heard Veronica's happy voice and turned to face forward. Veronica was standing at the end of her driveway waving her mittened hands frantically in the air. Verbena smiled as she approached the young girl.

"You both made it safely! My parents are out back!"

Verbena followed after Veronica as she led her and V out back. As promised, both of her parents were there. They were currently situated near a brick fire pit that they had lit for them to be able to stay warm in between skating. Verbena greeted them both - and as she pulled back from a hug from Veronica's mom - she heard the woman ask, "Who's your friend?"

"This is V," said Verbena as Veronica's eyes lit up.

"Your name starts with a V too?!" asked Veronica. V barely had time to nod his head before she was hugging him. He looked shocked at first before he ended up bending to hug her in return.

"I got bullied for having a name that started with 'V' since it was odd, but then I met Verbena and now you!...Guess it's not so odd after all."

"As I told you before Veronica, who cares if you are odd? There is nothing wrong with that," said Verbena as she moved to grab some skates that were laid out nearby. "Now, shall we get to skating?"

Veronica nodded eagerly as she let go of V to run over to Verbena. Veronica grabbed Verbena's hand and started to tug her towards the frozen lake after grabbing skates for herself. V followed a little further behind as he looked at the glazed over water.

'V, run!'

V looked down to see a bloody hand reaching towards him with an ID card. Taehyung. V could see the red pulsing alarms sweep through the air as he looked down at the ID card; his limbs dripping wet from the water bath he had just stepped out of. Taehyung locked eyes with him when he saw the hesitation.

'You need to run. Don't worry about me. Just run. Run and don't look back.'

"V are you coming?" hollered Veronica.

V snapped out of the flashback that had played out before him when he noticed that both Veronica and Verbena were already by the edge of the lake. He had apparently stopped walking at some point during his flashback and they had noticed. He gave a quick apologetic smile as he nodded his head, walking towards the lake's edge to join them. Verbena kept her eyes on him as he took the skates that Veronica handed to him.

"Do you need help getting them on?" asked Verbena.

V shook his head as he moved to sit down in a nearby snowbank to work on putting them on. Verbena noticed that he was uncharacteristically silent, but chalked it up to it being due to the awkward morning they had had. Her gaze turned away from V as Veronica grabbed her by the hand to tug her to skate. Chuckling, Verbena followed the anxious youngster onto the ice.

V sat in the snowbank for a minute even after figuring out how to get the skates on, watching a smiling Verbena skating about the ice. It almost looked as if Veronica and Verbena were doing some sort of intricate dance.

'Dance with me.'

V watched as Taehyung stayed seated on the couch whilst Verbena stood by a stereo in their apartment. A soft tune tinkled throughout the apartment as Verbena began to sway in time to it. Taehyung pretended not to notice as his eyes stayed glued to his phone. V watched as Verbena went over to Taehyung, grabbing him by the shirt sleeve and trying - but failing - to get him to stand up.

'Taehyung, come on. Dance with me.'

'I'm busy, V,' he replied as he continued scrolling through his feed. 'Besides, aren't you supposed to be packing to head back to the states next week?'

V felt a tear trickle down his cheek followed quickly by another and then yet another. He watched Taehyung continue to remain on his butt on the couch as Verbena pouted, humphing as she went back to the stereo. V could see the hurt in her eyes. It mirrored the hurt that he was feeling himself. V wanted to move towards Verbena and dance with her, but he couldn't which just made the pain he felt all the more unbearable.

"V?"

V snapped out of whatever vision he had been zoning out on, blinking up at Verbena's concerned face that was haloed by the white winter sun.

"Are you okay?" asked Verbena. "You're crying."

V nodded, reaching up his hand to brush the frozen tears off his cheeks. Veronica was still on the ice on her skates, also looking concerned about V crying. Veronica came skating over to be by Verbena's side.

"Maybe he's upset because he can't figure out how to skate and we're leaving him out," said Veronica. "How about you skate with V for a bit, Verbena?"

Verbena blushed as she held out a hand towards V. He looked at the outstretched hand for a moment before grabbing it in his. She helped him to his feet, tightening her grip on his hand when she felt like he was going to teeter back into the snowbank.

"I've got you," assured Verbena as V waddled out onto the ice as if he was a newborn deer. V started to flail with his free hand, so Verbena reached out to grab that one too. Their arms made an oval as they stayed skating about in a ring like shape for a small while. When V appeared to be steadier on his feet, Verbena slowly began to loosen her grip of his hands.

"I'm going to let go...okay?"

Her hands soon fell away from his. V felt himself begin to automatically struggle to stay balanced. As he began to fall backwards, Verbena tried to skate back in to catch him, but was ultimately too late. He landed on his back on the ice with Verbena landing directly on top of him. Their eyes locked as they laid like that for what felt like an eternity.

"Are you okay?" Verbena finally asked.

V nodded though internally he wasn't sure. As he held her, his mind took him back once more.

'You're shivering.'

'It's because I had to walk home in this r-rain storm...'

V watched Taehyung tsk as he immediately moved to wrap a blanket about Verbena's drenched shoulders.

'I'm getting you to bed,' Taehyung said as he led her to her room.

'I'm fine...'

'You say this now and you'll be sick by morning.'

V was soon standing in the doorway to Verbena's bedroom as he watched Taehyung lay her shivering body down on the bed.

'Stay...' she begged.

'I can't...'

'You can.'

V watched as Taehyung stumbled onto the bed when Verbena tugged him by the arm. V moved to stand near the bed, watching as the two of them just stared at each other as if they were frozen. V couldn't understand why Taehyung wasn't making a move. He knew Taehyung liked Verbena. Heck, loved her even. V watched as Taehyung eventually moved to get up from the bed, locking eyes with V.

'Take care of her.'

V's eyes widened when he realized he was no longer in the bedroom. Instead, he was looking up at Taehyung's face from where he laid in his cold bath. He felt his whole body shiver as Taehyung looked down at him.

'Take care of her,' Taehyung repeated. 'You are a new me. A better me. Love her and be the person she deserves to have.'

"V? V?"

The alarm in Verbena's voice caused the scene he was staring at to start to fade from view. The coldness in his limbs remained though along with the inability to move. His head started to ache as he saw Verbena's face come into focus in place of Taehyung's.

"V...V, are you okay?"

"I..."

V stumbled upon finding the right words as a tear or two slid down his cheeks again.

"What's wrong?" asked Verbena.

"My head hurts," he whispered.

The frown remained on Verbena's lips as she helped V to sit up, slipping an arm about him as she helped him to his feet. They made their way off the ice and to the nearby snowbank where they took a seat. As V sat there with his head throbbing, what made it ache worse was the fact that what happened to Taehyung may not have been an accident.

'I think Taehyung developed me into being someone for her,' he thought. 'I think this was always supposed to happen.'