Minutes later Karina was opening the passenger side door for Winter, who crawled out excitedly and began walking in the opposite direction of the store. Shaking her head, Karina ran after her and grabbed her hand.
"This way," Karina laughed. Winter held onto her hand tightly, skipping behind Karina with an excited smile on her face. Karina led them both into the store, ignoring the confused stares from the other customers when Winter continued to skip once they were inside.
Karina grabbed two of the bowls from the counter and handed one to Winter. "Do you know how to do this?"
Winter looked at her blankly and Karina sighed. "Here, I'll show you," she led Winter, who was still holding her hand, over to the wall of the self-serve yogurt.
"These are the flavours," she nodded to the pictures at the top of the machines. Winter nodded and studied each one intently. Karina let go of her hand so she could hold her bowl underneath the machine that dispensed cookies & cream flavoured yogurt.
"See, you just pull the lever and—," Karina paused when she turned around and saw Winter already filling up her cup with banana flavoured frozen yogurt. She ran over and stopped the lever just before Winter's cup overflowed.
"That's enough for now," Karina laughed. Winter pouted.
"Again," she pointed to the machine, going to fill up her cup even more. Karina shook her head quickly and pulled Winter over to the cookies & cream machine.
"Here," she handed Winter her empty cup. "You can fill up mine with this one."
Winter nodded happily, taking Karina's bowl but walking over to a different machine. Before Karina could stop her, Winter was filling her cup with raspberry flavoured yogurt. Karina shook her head, sighing and accepting the cup from a satisfied Winter.
"There's toppings over there," she pointed to the counter next to them. Karina grabbed Winter's hand before she could run over and followed her. "Don't use too many."
Winter nodded, bending down and studying all of her different options. Karina was adding strawberry slices into her cup when Winter tapped her on the shoulder and proudly held up her frozen yogurt, which was now covered neatly with banana slices.
"You really like bananas, don't you?" Karina asked, laughing softly.
"Yes, yellow," Winter nodded. She smiled proudly, and Karina led her over to the cashier. They set their cups down on the scale and Karina paid. She sent a warning glare to the man behind the counter when he began eyeing Winter, who was clapping her hands in excitement. He quickly gave her the change and she thanked him.
Karina handed Winter a spoon, walking over to one of the tables. Winter sat down, crossing her legs underneath her in the small chair. Karina laughed, sitting down across from her and taking a bite of her ice cream. She hadn't expected to like the raspberry flavour, but it was actually pretty good.
Winter started eating her ice cream by picking the bananas off and popping them into her mouth one by one. Karina watched as Winter happily chewed on her food. She looked up from her bowl and smiled widely at Karina.
"Is it good?" Karina asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yellow," Winter nodded, as if it were a completely reasonable answer. By now, Karina had realized that it was to Winter.
"Pink," Karina pointed to her cup. Winter nodded excitedly, smiling at Karina as if she'd just unlocked one of the deepest secrets of the world. Karina liked that feeling.
Winter finished half of her ice cream before she looked up at Karina nervously. Noticing this, Karina pointed to her cup. "Are you full?"
Winter nodded slowly. Karina just nodded and took both of their cups, throwing them away. She saw the smaller girl sigh in relief, wondering why it bothered her so much to tell her when she was full.
"You don't have to be scared of me, y'know," Karina broke the silence as they were walking back to the car. Winter was walking beside her, looking straight up at the sky and watching the clouds.
"I know," Winter turned to look at Karina. "You are Yooji. You have a big heart," she reached out and knocked on Karina's chest, as if to show her that her heart was there. Karina's breath caught in her throat and all she could do was nod.
Once they reached the apartment, Winter skipped inside and looked around happily. Karina checked the time, realizing they'd been out for longer than she thought. Rushed footsteps came down the stairs and Karina turned around to find Giselle studying them both.
"You found her?" Giselle glanced at Winter, who was sitting on the floor and flipping through one of the magazines from the coffee table. Karina nodded. "What took so long?" The Japanese girl plopped down on the couch.
"Yooji got ice cream," Winter spoke up, smiling widely and holding up the yellow plastic spoon that she'd saved from the store. Giselle raised an eyebrow at Karina and smirked.
"What?" Karina shrugged, sitting down on the couch next to the other girl. She tried to play off the time she spent with Winter as merely something she had to do, but she was starting to realize that she enjoyed the company of the younger girl.
"Nothing," Giselle gave Karina a knowing smirk. The brown eyed girl rolled her eyes, pulling her phone out of her pocket and checking the time. She sat up quickly when she realized she had classes the next day.
"Shit," Karina shook her head, groaning. She was supposed to turn in three sketches for her first class tomorrow. She had finished them all, until Winter got to them with a marker. Giselle raised an eyebrow at her, silently asking for an explanation.
"I have some... homework I need to work on," Karina said, trying not to let Winter know that she had inconvenienced her by ruining her sketchbook. Giselle looked at her questioningly, but didn't say anything, allowing Karina to disappear up the stairs and leave Winter under the Japanese girl's watchful eye.
The rest of Karina's night was spent sprawled out on her bedroom, trying to recreate the sketches she had planned to turn in. After multiple hours of frustrated groans and crumpled up pieces of paper, Karina finally produced three sketches that she considered mediocre, but she was too exhausted to try again. Telling herself they were good enough, she changed into an old shirt to wear to bed.
Just as she was about to turn her light off, a noise in the hallway caught her attention.
"No," Winter's voice rang out. Karina heard footsteps and then her doorknob jiggled, but it stopped moments later.
"My room is this way," Giselle huffed, trying to pull the other girl in the direction of the other door.
"Nooooo," Winter groaned, shaking her head and reaching for Karina's doorknob once more. "Yooji."
"She doesn't want you in her room, Winter," Giselle sighed in frustration.
Unable to listen to their power struggle for any longer, Karina got up from her bed and opened her door slightly.
"Yooji!" Winter smiled widely, wiggling out of Giselle's grip and walking over in front of Karina's door. "Knock knock."
Karina raised an eyebrow. "Who's there?"
Winter stared at her blankly. Karina and Giselle exchanged glances, and the Japanese girl grabbed Winter's wrist, trying to pull her away from Karina's door.
"Nooooooooo," Winter mumbled. She shook her head and tried to pull away.
"Winter, I swear, s—," Giselle started.
"It's fine," Karina sighed, opening the door wider and motioning for Winter to come in. Giselle looked shocked, and Karina just shrugged. "If you want sleep, this is the only way you're going to get it."
Obviously not buying her excuse, Giselle smirked and winked at Karina. Clapping her hands excitedly, Winter ran into Karina's room and dived onto her bed. Karina quickly picked up her art supplies off of the floor and hid them on the top shelf of her closet where Winter wouldn't find them. When she turned back into her room, Winter was rummaging through her dresser.
The small girl held up a yellow shirt that Karina had gotten from a school fundraiser. She tilted her head to the side. "Yellow?"
"You can wear it, yeah," Karina sighed, walking over to her bed and sitting down. Winter nodded, tugging off her shirt and revealing the same bruises Karina had seen the night before. The thought of someone doing that to Winter made her sick to her stomach, so Karina had tried to tell herself they were probably just from cheerleading.
"Do they hurt?" Karina asked before she could stop herself. Winter looked at her, tilting her head to the side. The brown eyed girl stood up and ran her fingertips over one of the bruises on Winter's shoulder. "These, the bruises, do they hurt?"
Winter looked at her arm and bit her lip. She blinked a few times, trying to remember if they hurt or not. "Once upon a time they did," she looked back up at Karina, trying to explain as best as she could.
Karina nodded softly. "Did someone do this to you?" She asked, being driven by general concern for the younger girl. She saw Winter's face drain of colour and instantly regretted it, but before she could apologize, the smaller girl spoke.
"Bedtime," Winter nodded once, keeping her voice calm. Karina decided not to push anything else, and helped Winter pull her shirt on over her head. Both girls crawled into bed, and Winter lay in the same spot as the night before, staying as close to Karina as she could without actually touching her. It was as if there was some invisible barrier between them. Karina fell asleep quickly, exhausted from a long day of chasing Winter around.
Karina broke the barrier.
She was awoken a little after midnight by panicked whimpers. She rubbed her eyes, lifting her head and looking at the trembling girl beside her. Winter was in the same state as she had been the night before when she came into Karina's room.
"Winter?" Karina whispered, nudging the girl's shoulder. There was no response.
"Winter, wake up," she said louder, grabbing the girl's face in her hands. Winter's eyes opened instantly, and a look of terror crossed her face. Karina quickly let go of her, not wanting to scare her. The smaller girl instantly relaxed when she saw who it was, though.
"Yooji," her voice trembled. Winter sat up, hugging the pillow to her chest and looking around frantically. "Yooji there are bad things," she whimpered. Karina sat up and shook her head quickly.
"There are no bad things," Karina reached out and set her hand on Winter's knee, being cautious in case physical touch would scare the girl. Winter looked down at Karina's hand, gently taking it between her own two hands and bringing it up to her face. She pressed the palm of Karina's hand against her cheek, causing the brown eyed girl to shiver.
"There's nothing to be afraid of," Karina said after a few moments of silence, Winter was still holding the older girl's hand against the side of her face, and Karina ran her thumb over Winter's cheek soothingly. "There are no bad things here, I promise."
"Will you keep the bad things away?" Winter asked slowly, as if she were considering each word carefully. Karina bit her lip and nodded softly. "Promise?"
"Promise," Karina whispered. She saw Winter attempt a small smile, but it faltered. She could tell the small girl was still scared, and it was killing her. All she wanted to do was figure out what was hurting Winter and make sure it never hurt her again. The smaller girl looked anxiously around the room and her bottom lip began to tremble.
"Winter," Karina whispered, feeling horrible that she didn't know what was bothering her. The smaller girl continued holding Karina's hand against her cheek, as if it had some magical healing powers.
"Yooji," Winter mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut. Karina saw how close she was to crying and gave in.
"C'mere," Karina said softly, using her free hand to pull Winter closer to her. Winter looked up in shook, but quickly crawled closer to Karina, still looking at her hesitantly.
"You're safe here, okay?" Karina nodded slowly. Winter nodded, trying to believe the older girl, but she was still trembling in fear. The first tear broke against her waterline and ran down her face.
"Hey, hey, no tears," Karina shook her head and pulled her hand away from Winter's face. The smaller girl whimpered, but silenced when Karina wrapped her arms around her waist and Winter was pulled into her lap. The brown eyed girl hugged Winter close to her chest, feeling just how fast the girl's heart was beating.
Winter melted into Karina instantly, knowing Karina had broken the invisible barrier between them by allowing her to be held. She sniffed, hiding her face in the crook of the girl's neck.
"I don't know what's scaring you so badly, Winter," Karina sighed, rubbing circles in the younger girl's back. "But if it helps, I'll try and help you get rid of the scary things."
Winter looked up slowly. Karina's heart broke when she saw the small girl's face. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but she wasn't making any noises. It looked as if she was trying to cry silently, not to disturb anyone. It made Karina's heart ache.
"Yooji," Winter whispered, reaching out and pressing her own palm against Karina's cheek. "Yooji is good," she nodded, reaffirming the fact to herself. Karina's breath caught in her throat and she felt her cheeks blush red.
Winter reached up and scratched her face, becoming frustrated when the tears didn't go away. Karina noticed this and used the sleeve of her hoodie to wipe the tears from the younger girl's cheeks. "Do you want to try and sleep?" Karina asked after they sat there for a few minutes in silence.
Nodding slowly, Winter sniffed and wiped her eyes just as Karina had done. The older girl grabbed her phone, turning on soft music in hopes that it would sooth Winter to sleep.
Karina lay down, only to find Winter curled up against her side moments later, with legs wrapped around hers. It was as if Winter couldn't get close enough to her. Sighing, Karina realized she was already in way too deep.
Both girls fell asleep very easily, comforted in knowing that the other was right beside them.
—