Her Safe Haven

Chapter 27 - A Series of Firsts

AUTHOR'S NOTE: After a year break, without further ado, I present to you a new arc for Winter and Rohan (and co.) ;)

Updates every Friday/Saturday/Sunday until I take another break <3

Previously on Her Safe Haven: After finding out the truth of Rohan's past, Rohan finally let Winter in. So starting with the Fireworks Festival on the last day of the Spring Break Exchange Programme, the two finally began their journey of permanently imprinting themselves in each other's life.

Contrary to what people believed, the first time Rohan "held" Winter's hand was not on the day of the fireworks.

It was exactly ninety-nine days beforehand. Before the Spring Break Sports Festival and even before the entire Rohan-and-Winter-ignoring-each-other debacle.

It was either one of those long Saturdays. They were sitting down on the library of the Institute of Mental Health, each doing their own things when one of his hands reached for the book that was on the table in front of them and the end of his pinky finger accidentally touched the end of hers.

She and he had both looked up from their work at that moment and blinked at each other — he with a tentative curiosity, and she with a pleasant surprise and the ever-present hint of devilish mischief when it came to everything regarding Rohan and his development in handling physical contacts. After about ten-seconds of that silent confrontation with their eyes, he had merely shrugged and continued reading the papers in front of him, his chin resting on his other hand and his eyebrows furrowing just so slightly in boredom.

She thought that it wasn't a particularly comfortable position for reading, but he didn't move his pinky finger for the remainder of the day, so neither did she.

Of course, the three months fight that followed afterwards put a wave in the still fragile water that was the relationship of Winter and Rohan — but that was not to say that the two didn't know how to pick up lost time. Because a similar thing happened again afterwards, merely a week after the Firework Festival, but this time, instead of just his pinky finger, three of his fingers moved and interlaced with three of hers and stayed there.

The feeling of butterflies around her thumping heart was overwhelming, but on her part she tried her best not to make any sudden movements for the rest of the day so that he didn't pull his fingers away.

+++

Now the first time he really held her hand was a different story.

It was slow and took place almost a month after the Fireworks. They were taking a stroll in Lakeside Park after their Sunday sessions in the hospital, and she was in the middle of telling something about her brothers when his hand took the opportunity of a second that she wasn't signing anything to grab her left one and tugged it forward.

She was surprised at his almost rude interruption, but was pleasantly so after realising that his sudden hurried movement was not out of annoyance but rather a rush of adrenaline. Because she could see that he was tense: his hand was holding hers hard as if scared that she would let go, yet not too hard that she could pull away at any moment without difficulties. He was looking straight ahead, his jaw clenching in anticipation of any hint of rejection.

But she just gave a light shrug and a smile and pulled his hand forward. 'I can tell the rest of the story later,' she tried to say with her eyes and her smile.

And from the way he exhaled and smiled back, she knew that he had understood her.

+++

The first time everyone noticed the change in their interaction was a messy story, and marked the point where their relationship reached a point of no return.