Unsurprisingly, Winter spends her Friday night someplace other than the Yu' house, and she's still out by Saturday afternoon. This grants Karina the whole day of peace and quiet, and she decides to celebrate by testing her new nibs after a blissfully silent dinner.
She got into calligraphy when she was in eighth grade and to this day it's an extremely soothing and satisfying hobby of hers. Maybe she should introduce Winter to it. Sometimes, she sounds like she needs it.
She grits her teeth, willing the image of the infuriating blonde away. Even absent Winter somehow manages to mess with her day. She won't let her. With that decided, Karina retrieves the package from her desk, excitement in her fingertips as she takes out the nibs and the lighter. Most people get rid of factory coating on their nibs by rubbing them with alcohol, but Karina uses the flame method, holding the nib over fire. It feels more authentic.
She's almost finished with the first nib when a loud door slam downstairs startles her, making her burn her finger. Winter is home. Karina listens carefully for a moment. Home, and not alone, either. But the sounds are different from the ones that usually resonate through the house when she's with a 'date'.
Karina tries to get back into her calm mindset, but her fragile peace is gone. Winter and her guests put music on and loudly tell each other jokes Karina has no interest in understanding. Karina's not one for making assumptions about people, but Winter and her friends are so, so typical at times. Loud music and loud laughter and loud fucking, all without real substance. Without essence and care for anything.
When she marches down into the living room, she's greeted by two people she wants to see even less than Winter. Aeri Uchinaga and Lee Chaeryeong, high school juniors, suspected delinquents, and of course Winter's best friends are sprawled out on her spacious couch, and they aren't happy to see her, either. The dimming of Aeri's smile and Chaeryeong's exaggerated eye-roll let her know as much. Karina ignores them.
"Winter," she grits through her teeth. The blonde is the only one in the room whose good mood is still present. "Could you please be quieter? I'm trying to study." She puts an emphasis on trying just in case Winter misses it, and watches as Aeri joins Chaeryeong in excessive eye-rolling. Karina thinks it's a pity they can't actually get stuck that way.
Winter cocks her head to the side, letting her blonde hair fall over one shoulder. She's still wearing her sunglasses from outside, and she's got bedhead, like always, blonde tresses brushed through with impatient fingers. If they were hers or someone else's hungry ones this morning, Karina's not sure. It still looks unfairly good.
"Well," Winter says. "You have headphones, don't you?"
Karina locks her jaw, glaring at Winter silently, but all she gets in response is a lazy, amused smile.
Chaeryeong snickers in her hand as Karina turns around and leaves.
"Your sister's kind of a bitch," she hears Aeri say as she climbs the stairs.
"She's not my fucking sister," Winter snaps, and Karina definitely catches steel in her voice.
She wonders, not for the first time, what she could've possibly done to offend Winter. She's been nothing but coldly polite when she asked Winter to stop having sex so loudly. Maybe it's the 'coldly' part. Or, maybe, Winter's just kind of a bitch herself.
Karina enters her room and maybe she slams the door behind her a little harder than necessary, but it's not like they'll hear her, too engrossed in whatever it is average junior high school students do on a Saturday evening.
She's assumed Winter would be out partying the whole weekend. She sincerely hopes this doesn't mean she's brought the party home. But Aeri and Chaeryeong leave rather quickly, and Karina sighs with relief as the house once again grows quiet, save for occasional noise coming from Winter's bedroom. As long as it's not moans, Karina doesn't mind much. Her standards are that low nowadays.
Since Winter has decided to take it easy tonight, Karina manages to squeeze in a little bit of calligraphy practice before bed. Her mood elevates even higher when she emerges from her night shower, fresh and squeaky clean, and she's surprised to find herself humming under her breath. All that music, she laughs under her breath.
Suddenly overcome with desire to listen to her new playlist before falling asleep, she reaches for her phone, only to find it isn't there. She must've left it on the kitchen counter, or in the living room. Karina would've been content with leaving it there, but she has to wake up earlier than usual tomorrow, and she won't hear the alarm all the way from downstairs. So she sighs and throws her sleeping shorts on, not bothering with wearing anything else. The house is quiet, so Winter must've left. Fascinating, she thinks - how quickly she was conditioned to think 'quiet' equals 'no Winter'.
She pads to the stairwell, lazily toweling her hair dry and looking under her feet. It's only thanks to her fast reflexes, fostered through fencing and lacrosse, that she manages to grab onto the rail and not tumble down the stairs when she hears someone gasp. Well, this serves as a reminder that being conditioned to think something doesn't necessarily make it true. Exhibit A: Winter standing on the middle of stairs and gaping at her, both of them surrounded by complete silence save for Karina's thumping heart.
'Quiet' doesn't equal 'no Winter', after all.
Karina scrambles to put the towel around her chest, but those praised reflexes fail her when she needs them the most, and she watches, mortified, as it falls to the ground. Leaving her standing practically naked before her step sister. She thanks her past self for at least tugging her shorts on. She also promises to throttle her for thinking it was a good idea to wander around with nothing else on. Karina keeps forgetting she's not the sole owner of this house anymore.
Winter's eyes are wide and her jaw is slacked as it hits the floor like the towel did a moment ago. When Karina bends to retrieve the traitorous piece of cloth from the ground, Winter sucks in a sharp breath and then looks like she isn't breathing at all. Karina freezes, again.
Winter's eyes are the only part of the blonde that moves, and they move all over her body. Her step sister is unashamedly drinking her in, and Karina's never felt more exposed than in this moment, despite being (barely) covered by a towel and underwear.
Winter's still not blinking and not breathing, and her eyes are still roaming over her. Karina scowls.
"Can you turn around?" She snaps, not even bothering with pretending to be polite.
Politeness can be overlooked when one is practically violated. For once, Winter listens, mutely turning her back on her and standing perfectly still. She's tense and coiled, gripping onto the rail, but Karina doesn't have time for her step sister's inner turmoil. She practically runs away, clutching the towel to her chest and exhaling shakily once she's within the safe confines of her room. Her cheeks feel hot, as do the tips of her ears.
Well. That was eventful. Karina forces herself not to think about Winter's astonished gaze as she frantically puts a duffel bag together for tomorrow's fencing practice - usually she does it in the morning, but if she doesn't busy herself with something, she'll probably burst. Knickers — check. Winter's eyes were almost comically wide. Perhaps, she'll find it funny once the mortification wears off. Jacket - check. Why did Winter even stare at her? Why didn't she avert her gaze? Would Karina have done it if roles were reversed? That's too many questions and she can't find her water bottle. She stuffs her gloves inside next. Gloves - check. A mask. Mask - check. Winter looked beyond shocked, as astonished as Karina felt, probably. But something in her gaze left Karina's stomach unsettled. Almost primal. Almost hungry.
Karina curses as her finger gets caught in the bag's zipper, and gives up on trying to locate her water bottle. She'll do it in the morning.
It's only once she slips into sweatpants and a t-shirt that she realizes she completely forgot about her phone, but she's already in bed and frankly dreading facing Winter again after what just happened.
Winter is quiet for the rest of the night.