The snow had piled high when the taxi dropped Jisoo in front of Sehun's house fence. She didn't see any sign of life from the second floor seeing a pile of snow seemed untouched. Sehun was either not coming home overnight or leaving since morning.
Yeonseok volunteered to drive her earlier but Jisoo refused because she had to stop by the stationary shop to stock up on some new equipment for finishing her design model, so there was she, trying to open the fence with one hand and walk on the snow which was almost as tall as her knee. She entered the automatic door lock code and put all the her stuffs on the couch before removing her coat and scarf, then cleaning her hair from snowflakes.
After turning on the heater and humidifier near the table, Jisoo immediately arranged the equipments she needed. The design model for their project was almost finished, Jisoo just needed to finish the details and gave it to Kyungsoo for the last touch when it's all done. She put her work on a table on the side of the window, then to accompany her to work Jisoo connected her iPod to the bluetooth speaker and played her favorite pianist album before finally making herself comfortable sitting on the side of the window, staring at the snow that still came down solemnly.
Jisoo sighed quickly, murmuring 'Inner Peace' under her breath so she could concentrate, then started working. In contrast to the two boys in the team who made the model by copying the print out of the existing designs, Jisoo tended to make the design model imprometely. She put the print out design on the table, then began cutting the board and plywood according to the shape she wanted. Working without copying the print out was her favorite techniques because she could improvise more with the design that she had drawn before. Maybe because of that also, the portion of her work was more in making this design model than the other two.
Jisoo always remembered when she was at the third grade every time she made this kind of design model. It was like making a craft in an art class, he recalled to make her first log cabin using the matches and cardboard. It was her first work that made her want to go to architecture school as soon as she grew older. She even kept her first work until now, neatly stored in her display cabinet in her father's house. And even now, making a design model seemed to be her most favorite activity during her time at college.
Jisoo wasn't aware how long she had worked, when she had concentrated on something she could forget time and sometimes not be aware of the presence of other people around her. She almost jumped when suddenly a cup of tea landed beside her hand. She turned her head to find Sehun stood next to her.
"Why so serious." Sehun commented, pulling another stool to sit next to her and telling her to drink the warm Thai tea he made.
"Thanks." She cupped the clay mug with both hands, and sipped the hot liquid in it. "I thought you weren't home." she said later. She put the mug away from her reach, and continued cutting the board to make a mini window frame.
"I was sleeping all morning." Sehun went and checked what she had done and looked for something he could do from the print out designs that piled on a long table in the middle of the room.
"Then I heard your inner peace." he then pointed at the speaker which was now still playing her favorite piano pieces, "I thought I was dreaming, until I realized the track changed."
"Did you enjoy it?" Jisoo turned to look at Sehun tilted his head to the side, listening, "Dreaming about me?" she asked just to tease him.
He then pulled his chin backward, considering the unexpected question before he replied mischievously.
"Oh, I enjoyed every second of it." he said emphasizing his every word with with a chuckle.
She scoffed and shook her head entertained, it took her a moment to realize that Sehun's answer sounded too sexual that she furrowed her forehead and gave him a disapproval look.
"Yellow card, Oh Sehun." she made a gesture as if taking out a yellow card from her pocket, mimicking the way a soccer referee did the gesture.
"What? You started it." he contended in between his chortle, then he threw a piece of cork at her playfully.
It went much better than she actually thought. Jisoo was being skeptical, thinking it would be better if she didn't meet Sehun because it might be awkward. But what happened was the opposite. When they focused and were serious working on their respective parts, no one even spoke. But then Sehun would ignite the chat again, taking out his typical joke that never failed to make her laugh.
When it was past lunch, Sehun then remembered he hadn't eaten since morning, and because of the cold he suggested to eat ramyun cup. Jisoo didn't really remember when was the last time she ate ramyun because it seemed like a long time ago. Her dad was not a person who liked to eat ramyun, so automatically Jisoo rarely cooked it at home when he was still there. But right now because Sehun mentioned it, she just nodded when Sehun offered her to have one too.
"Sit, sit. I'll do it for you." Sehun said when she was about to rise to help him prepare their ramyun.
He watched Sehun opened the small kitchen cupboard in the corner of the room, took out two instant ramyun bowls then boiled the water. The ramyun was ready as soon as Jisoo finished making the last window.
"This one with less water, you like it savory." Sehun put it on the table with a can of kimchi to share, then sat next to her, 
And Sehun still remembered how she prefered to eat her ramyun. After clearing all the stuffs on the table and putting it on a long table in the middle of the room, Jisoo sat back on the stool and ate her ramyun.
"Ah, ramyun is the best food in this weather." he claimed as he chewed his first bite. Then he turned to watched her eating, "Even you're so serious when you eat ramyun."
"I'm hungry." Jisoo started to chuckle at her own seriousness. She only noticed that she was very hungry after the ramyun bowl was before her eyes. And the funny thing was, she never thought that ramyun could be that delicious.
"How can you not hungry when you did all those all morning."  She just smiled at him, somewhat proud of having completed almost everything they needed.
"You know what? Do you really eat like that in front of your husband?" Sehun pursed his lips, mimicking the way a squirrel ate. This was something that Sehun always said from a long time ago, he always teased her the same name, that Jisoo ate like a squirrel.
Jisoo hit his arm, "I don't eat like that, stop calling me a squirrel." she protested.
"Behave, you spat everything you eat on my face." he added, still teasing her while laughing in amusement.
"Shut up."
Jisoo took a sip of the noodle soup and finished it at once when he saw Sehun had finished eating. She cleared the used bowl, piled them up with Sehun's and took them away to throw it in the trash bin. Because Sehun had prepared ramyun for her earlier, she took two glasses of water for the two of them before returning to the window side table joining him. He propped his elbow on the table and leaned his chin over his hand, staring out the window in silence.
"It's stopped raining." he whispered to himself, but was loud enough for Jisoo to hear. Because then Jisoo also stared out the window and discovered  that the snow was no longer rained. The sky was clear, and there was only a stretch of white carpet out there.
"You right, it's beautiful." she remarked.
"You're beautiful."
She asked him to stop teasing her. But when she turned to him, she didn't see Sehun smiling or laughing like the previous ones. His expression was serious.
He must give a perfect point for her response this time because she could handle this well. She was in a very good mood since this morning, so she could accept all kinds of attitudes positively, even tended to let it pass. Including Sehun's words just now, she didn't take it seriously even though it seemed Sehun was acting the other way around. For some reason, she didn't even consider the statement was special compared to the similar assertion Yeonseok made this morning. In a normal situation, if Sehun used to say such a thing long ago, she must have blushed for liking it a lot. But now all she did was smiled, and replied him Sehun with a joke,
"I know, right."
They were not supposed to be awkward, so she would act jus like that.
But what he did then was unforeseen. Sehun pulled her stool towards him until they collided, then he landed one of his hand on her waist while the other was at her side on the table. She was baffled by the sudden move, and his face was so close that Jisoo pulled her head backwards for the safe distance.
"I broke up with Irene yesterday." was the only thing he said that moment.
Well, even though Jisoo had hoped this would happen some days ago, it was unexpected nonetheless. She had no idea why Sehun told her about this, and she also had no idea what to say. So she said the only thing that came to mind.
"Congratulation?"
He did not respond, just stared at her in silence. And Jisoo knew that gaze, three years she lived to know him and Jisoo really knew what the sign of that look was. She knew that Sehun was thinking of kissing her. What Jisoo didn't know was that he was actually going to do it.
Hence, when he pressed his lips on hers, she pushed him hard subconsciously. Feeling betrayed for the thoughtless move, Jisoo pulled away and left. But before she turned around, Sehun tugged her arm until she sat on the table. Sehun held her shoulder so she didn't move.
"Don't lie to me, you want the kiss too." he indicted.
"I think you're mistaken, Sehun. I have h ---"
"Not that card anymore, Jee, it never works for me. Your eyes always say otherwise." Jisoo wanted to say something but he kept talking, "I know you still think about me, I know you still want me. I know, Jee, in your every breath, I'm always in your head. Why do you keep on denying it?"
"So what?" Jisoo retorted, "Even though it's all true, nothing will change. You said we're letting us go, so that's what I'm doing right now."
"But you can't." he argued.
"I can, Sehun. Even though it's hard, I'll let you go. And I'm getting close to it."
Maybe it was something she said that made him release his grip on her shoulder, he stepped back and fell down on the stool, speechless as it seemed.
"He made you do it?" there was seconds of silence, and Sehun then scoffed as if he just realized something.
"Do you remember when we met that night in the park? I went to see him right after I met you." he looked away to see the outside of the window, his eyes glazed. "I literally begged him to let you go. I said I'm only one who can make you happy. But you know what he said to me back then?"
He turned to look at her, "That proud man said that he's going to do a hundred times better, everything I've done, and everything I'm gonna do for you. He's going to do it a hundred times better. Can you even believe that?"
Jisoo was astonished to the new revealation. This reminded her that night when Sehun accompanied her to Grandma Geunseok's house, there was this moment when she thought she heard him saying something about Yeonseok promised him something but she let it pass because she thought she must have heard it wrong. The fact that Sehun not only went to meet him that night, but also met Yeonseok, and he begged to him for her, and the confidence in Yeonseok's answer; Jisoo had no idea which shocked her the most.
But perhaps from all that made her even more shocked was the fact that how Yeonseok knew what had happened that night all along, he knew how she felt to Sehun, he knew that she met her ex-boyfriend quietly, with all the drama and stuff ..... yet he didn't go back down and played along. Jisoo couldn't believe any of it, why would he do things like that for her? Why would he do it that far for someone like her?
Knowing there were a lot of things she wanted to ask Yeonseok right then and there, Jisoo immediately cleared her belongings. She didn't say goodbye when she left, leaving Sehun who still sat quietly in his chair. Jisoo walked to the nearest bus stop with so many questions in her head. She sat waiting for the bus to come, rethinking what Sehun had said earlier. Then she thought, why was it so easy for her to refuse his kiss? Why did she feel the compliment Yeonseok gave her was more special than if Sehun said it? Then why, her heart was pounding at the image of Yeonseok kissing her last night? What happened to her?
Some questions and she wasn't aware that she was sitting at the bus stop for more than two hours, she was freezing from the winter breeze that she couldn't feel her lips anymore. Luckily the bus she was waiting for immediately came, and Jisoo immediately got up and sat down under the warmers.
It was already dark when she reached home. She remembered that they were supposed to have dinner in Seorae, but now she was late. She walked quickly, it was rather strange to see some people staring at her when she passed them. They returned her greeting with awkward nod and still looked at her even when she had passed by.
Jisoo was contemplating on the strange behavior of the people she met, and entered the house feeling guilty about being late. Yeonseok was sitting on the couch, holding his phone on his ear like he just hang up on some call. His two arms then leaned on his thighs, he bent and looked at something on the table seriously.
"Hi, I'm sorry, I know I suppose to get home early, but I caught up with..." Jisoo stopped what she wanted to say when she saw what Yeonseok was looking at when she stood next to the couch.
It was some pictures.
Of her.
And Sehun.
Candidly taken from the outside of the workshop window.
"Caught up with the kiss?" Yeonseok finished her sentence. He raised his head to look at her, his expression was off. Like he strived so hard to control his anger.
Still not finished with the shock she had brought from Sehun's house, and now it felt like she was hit with a sledgehammer right at her face. Because ... why those photos were here anyway? How could Yeonseok get it?
"Why am I looking at these pictures here? I thought you said you would work on a model design for your project today." he asked, in a tone that was clearly seen trying to hold him in control.
"This is not what you think it is." He looked at Yeonseok and the pictures on the table alternately. She took the pictures and found several separate photos with different angles. The picture of them sitting next to each other eating ramyun, the picture when she laughed at his joke, when she nudged his arm for calling her a squirrel, when he told her that he broke up with Irene, when he kissed her, but there was no picture when she pushed him not a second later. And suddenly something strucked on to her.
"Oh, My God. Did you spy on me?"
"Did I, what did you say?" Yeonseok looked at her in disbelief, "Do you think I have that much free time in my hands?"
He scoffed, shook his head in dismay, "I'm sorry, it's pretty clear that we can't have this conversation right now. I'll just, I'll leave. We'll talk about it again after I sort some things out. "
Jisoo felt even more guilty instantly for accusing Yeonseok of doing this. Of course not him, he wouldn't do this kind of thing to her. What was she thinking about? Now that he is rising from his seat and stepping away, Jisoo held his arm.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't say that, I know you will never do that. I should have known. But I swear my life to you, it's not what you think it is." And subconsciously the tears had run down to her cheek, "We didn't kiss, I swear to you, he tried to kiss me but I didn't ..." She tried to defend herself, but it sounded like she only tried to save herself out of it. She really hated how she sounded right now.
"Please, believe me." she begged.
But Yeonseok didn't respond. He just sighed, then he looked at her.
"I hope I don't need to tell you this." He said in a soft tone. "But whoever did this, he sent the pictures not only to me. Packages with the same contents were sent to all residents of the apartment building. And Changmin just told me on the phone, that he just received the same pictures. This person sent them to every desk at the hospital."
At the time, to say that she felt like she was struck by lightning was an understatement.
At the time, she wished she just died instead.
*