"Sunghoon!"

The young man paused while shoving his belongings into his sports bag to look up at his manager. "Yes?"

"Where are you headed to? In a rush?"

Sunghoon rubbed the back of his head. "Oh, I was going to meet a friend..."

"Your girlfriend?" The manager smirked and came up to him to nudge him with his elbow. "Saejin, is it?"

"What? Sunghoon has a girlfriend?" A girl in the distance, sitting on one of the seats around the ice rink whispered to her friend in sheer disapproval.

Somehow Sunghoon heard that and he fought his life to not act flustered. He sighed and continued packing his things. "We're just friends, hyung-nim."

"Mhmm, for now." His manager nearly chortled and was hit with a glare from the younger man. "What? You always go running to her as soon as you're free! You seem to really care about your 'friend'. She visits you a lot, too."

"We're close friends since childhood." Sunghoon gave him a straight faced smile and swerved around him, slinging his bag over his shoulder. "I'm leaving now."

Sunghoon was panicking inside, thinking no way they would be dating, right? She was a very important and cherished person to him for many many years now, and losing her because of his feelings would be worse than anything. He was more than happy to be by her side and to be able to care and protect her.

Something in him wanted to be a protector of his loved one.

He brought his phone out of his pocket to call Saejin when someone stopped in front of him on his way. He halted in his steps and looked at the blue haired woman in confusion and irritation.

"Excuse me, you're in the way," he said as politely as he could but not without a little sting.

The woman smiled. "My bad. I didn't think I'd run into the star of this rink."

Sunghoon raised an eyebrow, growing more confused. Bada, on the other hand, had many emotions swirling inside her.

"Do I know you?" Sunghoon asked her, and among all the emotions in her, dull pain was emerging from his question.

It was naive and stupid of her to even assume that he would know her or even recognize her. She did not know what she was expecting but she had to deal with the reality.

"I'm just a fan of yours, and I wanted to remind you to work harder." She smiled halfheartedly but he was growing annoyed by her probing. "You should be dedicating your mind and body to being an amazing athlete. Success just doesn't come for everyone, you know that, right?"

Sunghoon wanted to snap and tell her to go away, but he couldn't. "Thanks for your concern but I'm fully capable of knowing and doing what's right for me."

He walked past her and she turned around to shout, "Wasting your time on a girl wouldn't be what's right for you, Hoon."

Something in him snapped at that and he turned back to give her a piece of his mind, but she was gone. A ridiculous stranger girl who insulted his friend and called him by a nickname acting like she's close to him.

"Who even..."

But the one who remembered was always in pain. Then again, it was her fault that she appeared in front of him. How come she was looking forward to the others' future but never letting go of her own past?

"Bada."

Jin placed his hand on top of hers on the sand. Bada lifted her gaze up from the ocean waters to hold his soft one.

She smiled. "You're here again."

He smiled back at her. "You seem troubled."

"No it's just..." She sighed and faced down again. "I don't know if what I'm doing- or what I did... was right or not."

The waves started crashing against the shore stronger and the sounds filled the emptiness that followed her endless thoughts. Jin placed a hand against her temple and gently pulled her closer to lay her head on his shoulder.

"You have to trust them."

Bada blinked. "Trust...?"

He hummed. "You did all that because you trust them, didn't you?"

She stared at the warm sun in the horizon beyond the sea. He did not question anything.

"You were always indecisive," he suddenly said, making her eyebrows twitch.

"What?"

He chuckled. "I mean, you always weigh your options to the point of being unable to decide. But when you do make a move, you know what's best."

Bada relaxed against him. His words seemed warm. It was as if he melted her worries.

"You can do anything, so..." The wind blew against her skin. "You have to let me go, Bada."

Her breath seized. "W-What?"

"I've been gone for a long time now..."

Temperance sat up and looked at him. He was there. He was really there, sitting next to her so what was he saying?

"Bada," he whispered, holding her face with a tearful smile. "You have to let go. The past won't go anywhere. The present is here for you. Embrace it."

She looked into his eyes and realized it, but she did not want to realize it after all this time. Maybe she pulled everyone back together because she could not let go of the past and wanted everyone to do the same. Still, the past wouldn't go anywhere.

She thought and thought as he looked at her in reassurance. In the end, she lowered her head with teary eyes and nodded.

"That's my girl," Jin whispered and hugged her for one last time.

•───────────⋅⚜️⋅───────────•

"Sae..."

Jimin put on a hair band on her head, making her widen her eyes.

"Hm? What is it?" She touched it and felt a snowflake shape on the side.

"I thought it'd look good on you." Jimin grinned and reached out a hand for her to hold. "Like a snow princess."

She snorted and took his hand. "What's this?"

He pulled her into a small dance in the middle of a quiet street under the falling snow. There was no helping his heart towards her. Even if he tried to hide it, seeing her would bring his heart out to the world, so plain to see.

Unrequited love never stopped people from having feelings.

Eunsook, too, was a victim. Her heart could not stop beating harder and louder every time Jungkook's fingers brushed against her skin and back as he braided her long hair. Maybe she should have denied his want to braid her hair but she did not want it otherwise. Jungkook was putting in all the care he could into making the prettiest braid ever and his fingers were shaking in nervousness. He had to remind himself to breathe properly.

As a final touch, he pulled out the hairpin he brought and put it on top of her hair, making her pause.

"What did you put?"

He smiled sheepishly. "Just something I bought because I thought it would look nice on you."

She took out her phone to look at the reflection. A star hairpin sat snugly on her temple.

"You always paint stars and night skies." He cleared his throat and looked away.

She fought back a blush and cleared her throat as well. "It's pretty... Thank you, I like it."

He nodded and had to ask before his confidence could drop lower than it had to.

"D-Do you want to watch the stars with me?"

┗━━━━━━༻♔༺━━━━━━┛

The time is coming aaaahhh 🔥🔥