our delicate string | 최범규

16: snow on the beach.

"Kang Aera," he held his hand out to the girl. "would you care to have this dance with me?"

Aera's face flushed as the blood rushed into her cheeks. she watched as the vibrant red string from his hands reaching out to her stood out and stopped at her finger. could this really be happening now? she didn't just dream that moment weeks ago?

she stood up and removed her heels, walking down with the boy. as if it were a scene in a film, they stood in the middle, slow dancing. their eyes staring deeply into each others then avoiding, then catching glances yet again. Beomgyu smiled at the girl's red cheeks as he led the steps of the dance. the snow fell on top of her hair as his delicate hands wiped the snowflakes away.

right and back then left and forward, they danced as he twirled her around and caught her in his arms, her back facing his front figure. she saw from behind her the boy looking down at her. as she faced back front, she leaned in before landing her lips onto his, feeling his hand placed on her waist. she felt snow fall onto her eyelashes as she held his cold hands warmly. they pulled apart, as he pulled back in for a deeper kiss.

"thank you for everything, Beomgyu." she smiled. "this was everything i could've wanted."

he smiled. "i haven't even given you my gift yet, it's still at home." a chuckle escaped his lips. Aera checked her phone, seeing the time was close to when their taxi was supposed to arrive.

"should we head back?" Beomgyu said, holding the girl's hand and lightly swinging it back and forth. his other hand occupied holding the straps of the bag with the cake box, her other hand holding the balloons he had given her. his eyes darted to the beach house, double checking to make sure he had closed all the lights and locked up as Taehyun had directed.

"you said this was Taehyun's house?"

"his parents'." he looked at her. "they let me stay for a bit since they're on vacation but they come here every once in a while." he smiled.

"you decorated it so beautifully."

"gosh, if only you knew the hassle everything was. let's just say it took a lot of time and a lot of hot cocoa."

[ ❄️ ]

day one

it was the next day, Aera's real birthday. the sunlight creeped out from her windows as her mother creaked her door open, checking if the girl was awake. as she was beneath her blanket, she opened up one eye to see her mother holding a cake in her hands.

a smile plastered on top of Aera's face as she sat up in her bed, made another wish and blew the candle out, embracing her mother soon afterwards.

"thank you, mom, i love you." she smiled as her mother kissed the top of the girl's head, sitting at the edge of her bed.

"what are your birthday plans today, sweetheart?" her mother asked, placing the small cake up upon Aera's desk.

"Ji-Na wants to call since she's traveling." Aera thought. "and i'm hanging out with my boyfriend today." she mumbled, hoping her mother wouldn't catch that.

"oh yeah, the boy who took you home yesterday after you didn't tell me to pick you up when it was well past midnight?" she asked passive-aggressively. "you're lucky that boy's sweet and brought over flowers." her mother stood up and started to walk over to the door.

"wait, you accept him? like, you don't secretly hate him like you hated Jun-Ho?"

"well," her mother turned back around. "he seemed really sweet but if he hurts you, it's over for that boy." she laughed. "happy birthday, sweetheart. i made breakfast, wash up and come downstairs."