Royally Kissed | ✓

32; the first snow

―thirtytwo―

the first snow

THE FIRST SNOW fell the following day.

It was belated than the previous winter. Where before it began on mid-November, it came down this year as December swooped in. And when Paige woke up this morning later than how she normally would, she realized what made her far slothful than the past few days.

She padded to the sliding doors of her balcony, gazing up at the snowflakes filling up the ground outside, on the branches that were peppered and salted with white crystals, and then at the fog diffusing on the glass each time she gave off a sign of life as the snowfall continued to adorn everything there was in the background.

"Paige?"

Turning around, she pulled up a smile when Aoife slimly lifted a tray with a cup of hot chocolate, marshmallows floating atop. She'd still been helping pulling her up the bed because her stitches were still a little bit sore and then she'd immediately offered coffee, seeing the weather outside.

She refused it and, despite the flashes of memories, she opted for a hot chocolate instead. As she reached for it, the warmth seeping through the pads of her fingers and the length of them, she couldn't help but stare down at it as the nostalgia immediately hit her.

I wonder how Martha is doing, or her cafe. Or Saturn's Camp. Does Arthur remember that night, at least? One that's so special to me?

Funny how even as simple as a beverage could bring so much meaning. So why she'd chosen this instead of coffee, she couldn't tell. It was the instinct that had kicked in, perhaps. She didn't think it was some sort of a tailspin, really.

For some same strange reason, she liked to relish the pain. Not only because it was a beautiful sign that she was still coming through. But because in pain, he was still here. In her heart and mind, she could grasp onto him; no matter how silly that sounded.

She didn't want to let him go. At least, not in her memory. And now, even if they weren't together anymore, she knew she couldn't just dust him off as if he never happened. After all, she cherished people significantly the same; in spite of everything they'd done to her.

"Do you need anything?" Aoife asked quietly, eyeing her in a somewhat timid fashion.

"No. That's all, Aiofe. Thank you," she said, as she clasped the cup tighter in her hands. She carefully reeled back to the pane of glass and took in the picturesque scene before her once again.

"Alright. I'll prepare the tub for you, then."

Once she was alone again, she let out a quiet breath. A deep, long one this time. Then she sopped herself up with chocolate, fully immersing in its rich texture and sweetness. She gulped one marshmallow and as she did all of this, she thought of the first snowfall being first love and first heartbreak. Both had shifted her from one dimension to another. Like a pleasant warmth as those of yesterdays to the beautiful, nipping coldness of today.

Both seasons were special in their own way.

So who was to say that changes weren't graceful in the cold?

﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

Paige mounted towards the Henson King Academic Building where it housed the College of Business. The snow was practically raining down on the students up and about the university, the flakes crumbling beneath her boots as she took the flights of granite stairs.