Leap Year (✔)

December 21

~70 Days till Leap Day~

Beojun might have been rather shy and awkward, but his family was the exact opposite. Not only was his dad a real estate mogul and his mom a business executive, apparently, his grandpa had sold paintings all over Korea before he emigrated to Chicago and met Beojun's grandma, a famous art critic. Rosie thought it was quite a romantic story, but Beojun never seemed interested in talking about it.

His grandpa had since passed away, but Beojun's grandma had inherited all his artwork. With the sale of just one painting, Beojun's grandma had bought a huge penthouse overlooking Lake Michigan. And by just auctioning off one of her husband's paintings a year, it was more than enough to cover her rent and expenses.

Because finals were over, Beojun had been allowed to spend a night at his grandma's place and he invited the entire lunch table. It had taken some convincing for Rosie's mom to let her spend a night downtown with her girlfriend, but when Rosie explained that Pablo and Hailey would be there, her mom understood they wouldn't have time to have a conversation just the two of them, let alone do anything inappropriate.

Tessa opted not to join them, out of protest when she heard Pablo was coming. All the fighting and avoiding made Rosie want to cover her ears and scream, but she promised herself nothing would ruin her night away.

"Uh...so, this is the living room," Beojun said as they piled in through the front door. "It's pretty nice, right?"

'Pretty nice' did not begin to describe it. The living room looked like an art piece in itself-- with white, squarish sofas and glass tables. The entire back wall was covered in ceiling-high windows that looked out on Lake Michigan.

"Oh my god! This is amazing!" Hailey squealed, dropping her pillow on the sleek, mahogany floors.

Pablo stared up, slack jawed, at the wall near the door. A giant red painting covered almost the entire surface. It was unlike anything Rosie had ever seen, modern and abstract with some Korean characters in the corner.

"Don't touch anything!" Beojun cried as Pablo traced the red paint strokes with his finger. "My grandma bought that for three million. If she sees fingerprints, she will kill me."

"Three...million?" Pablo's jaw dropped. "Dang. If I ever make that kind of bank, no way I'm spending it on a canvas with a few lines of paint. No offense, Beojun's grandpa, wherever you may be."

Brie hesitated in the doorway, behind Rosie. "Your grandma's really okay with letting us sleep here?"

Beojun sighed. "She's visiting friends in Cancun for Christmas. She's doing fine. And it's not you and Rosie I'm worried about..."

Rosie followed Beojun's gaze to Hailey and Pablo, who were standing, with their muddy sneakers, on top of the modern sofas, posing for pictures against the wall of windows.

"What's that over there?" Brie pointed to a cluster of buildings jutting out across the water. "Is that a ferris wheel?"

"It's Navy Pier!" Rosie exclaimed. "Brie, that's on our list. We have to go."

"What list?" Hailey asked, jumping down from the sofa.

"Who cares!" Pablo shouted. "Let's go!"

➣

Rosie was expecting Navy Pier to be gray and gloomy, like the rest of Chicago in December, but when they arrived they found a Winter Wonderland, complete with an ice skating rink, indoor sledding, and hordes of pink-faced visitors.

An icy wind gusted off the lake. Even with her winter coat pulled up around her neck, Rosie shivered.

"Little different from Florida, huh?" Pablo asked, nudging Brie's shoulder. He was in shorts and a sweatshirt. "Hey, let's go on the ferris wheel. HAILEY! VEN AQUÍ! WE'RE GOING ON THE FERRIS WHEEL!"