Leaving Winter didn't get any easier the second time around. If anything, it became more difficult now that Winter understood what was happening.
"I go with Yooji," Winter whined to Giselle as the Japanese girl held her back from the door. Karina stood in the doorway, biting her lip and hesitating to leave.
"You're coming shopping with us today, Winter," Ningning piped up. "Karina will be back soon." Giselle waved her hand at Karina, motioning for her to leave. Karina sighed and slipped out the door while Winter was distracted.
"Yoojiiii," Winter cried, trying to wiggle out of Giselle's grasp. Giselle held on tightly to the small girl. She glanced at Ningning questioningly.
"It's like we're raising a child," Ningning mumbled. Winter was still trying to run for the door, and Giselle was struggling to hold onto her.
"Karina's gone, Winter," Giselle said firmly. she was growing increasingly frustrated with the fact that Winter was so persistent on being by Karina's side 24/7. the smaller girl turned around and looked at Giselle angrily.
Giselle's hands were still tightly gripping Winter's wrists, so the smaller girl settled on kicking her legs forwards and hitting the leg of the small table by the door. the wood cracked easily under the force of her kick, causing the table to fall over and bring the glass vase on top of it crashing to the floor. Ningning and Giselle both gasped as glass scattered everywhere. Winter immediately cried out and covered her ears with her hands, which Giselle had released out of shock.
"Why the hell would you do that?!" Giselle yelled, turning around and glaring at Winter. the smaller girl took a few steps back and brought her hands up in front of her face.
"Please," she shook her head violently. Giselle and Ningning exchanged confused glances as Winter continued to take slow steps away from them.
"Bad," Winter mumbled, knocking on her head with her fist. "Bad, Stupid," she shook her head and hit her head even harder. Giselle raised an eyebrow at Ningning, who was just as lost as she was.
"Stupid," Winter uttered under her breath. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," her voice grew louder and she began violently pummeling her head with both fists. her back slid down against the wall and she continued punching herself with her balled up fists.
"Winter, don't do that," Giselle quickly ran over to the girl and slid down next to her. "Hey, hey, you're not stupid," she grabbed Winter's hands and held them away from her face.
Winter looked up at Giselle, her bottom lip trembling. the Japanese girl felt extremely guilty for snapping at her. she glanced back at Ningning, who was already using the broom to sweep up the pictures of broken glass.
"Stupid," Winter shook her head and tried to bring her hands back to her face. Giselle kept a firm grip on her wrists, and Winter whined in frustration. "Stupid, bad, bad Winter."
Giselle bit her lip and sat down next to the girl. "You're not bad or stupid," Giselle said softly, unsure how she should go about comforting Winter.
"I killed it," Winter whimpered, pointing to the vase and table by the door. she began to cry softly, tears flowing down her cheeks and spotting her shirt.
"It's okay, Winter, it's just a vase. we can just buy a new one," Giselle shook her head. "It's okay, I promise. Do you want something to eat?" she tried to distract the smaller girl, hoping food would take her mind off of what she'd done.
Winter shook her head violently, sobbing even harder than before. she dropped her head onto her knees and covered her face with her hands as the sobs became uncontrollable.
"Winter, you don't have to cry," Ningning piped up, joining Giselle on the floor next to the girl. "It's all cleaned up, see?" she pointed to the doorway. Winter didn't respond to their attempts at comforting her, she just continued crying into her hands.
Giselle and Ningning exchanged glances. Neither one of them knew what they were supposed to do. Sighing softly, Giselle motioned towards the door.
"Go ahead, she doesn't need to be there when you buy her clothes," Giselle said. "Just get whatever you think she needs, I'll stay here with her."
Ningning nodded silently. Giselle scooted closer to Winter and slowly reached out to place a hand on the girl's back. Winter continued crying, and the two roommates felt powerless. Sighing, Ningning grabbed her purse and gave Giselle one last sympathetic wave before slipping out the door.
For the next hour, no matter what Giselle said, Winter continued crying. Giselle sat quietly next to her, even considering texting Karina for help. But she refrained, knowing it was a bad idea.
"My Yooji," Winter whispered, looking up slowly and scanning the apartment. Giselle glanced over at the girl, whose cheeks were now tear stained. Winter looked pleadingly at her.
"Karina's at school right now, Winter," Giselle sighed. There was no way she could fix that problem for the other girl. She saw the look of disappointment on Winter's face. Without another word, Winter crawled to her feet and shuffled up the stairs. Confused, Giselle followed close behind.
Winter tiptoed into Karina's room and went straight for the bed. Giselle peeked her head in the door, finding the girl nestled under the covers. Sighing heavily, Giselle closed the door to Karina's bedroom to try and give Winter some peace and quiet.
Meanwhile, Karina was aimlessly scrolling through her phone in the library of her college. She had a 20 minute break in between classes and never how to occupy her time. While scrolling through Facebook, she saw a familiar face on her 'Recommended Friends list'.
She quickly clicked on the the user's profile, recognizing Shin Ryujin as one of the cheerleaders that Winter was friends with in high school. Karina had never thought of contacting them.
For some reason, she felt guilty for looking through Winter's past life. But she decided that she needed some sort of explanation for how Winter had ended up on their doorway. Ryujin's profile was public, so Karina began scrolling through her photos.
Winter wasn't featured in anything recent, but Karina finally recognized the younger girl's face in an album of photos from the first party of the summer, celebrating their high school graduation. Karina and her friends hadn't been present. They were already on the road to New York.
It was obvious that everyone at the party was either drunk or high. Or both. Karina bit her lip as she scrolled through the pictures, going back even earlier. She found pictures of Winter with the cheer team, smiling brightly. Karina got chills from looking at these photos and thinking just how different Winter seemed, compared to how she'd been in high school.
She paused on a certain picture, though, raising her eyebrows. It was a picture of the cheerleaders and their boyfriends, Winter included. Karina had completely forgotten that Winter was dating someone at the time they graduated. She furrowed her eyebrows together, thinking for a moment. What was his name? Jaemin.
His name had been Jaemin, Karina remembered. She crinkled her nose at the mention of his name, wondering when he and Winter ended.
She reached the end of Ryujin's photos, and slumped back in her chair. She was still dying for information. Checking the time, Karina realized she had ten minutes left until she had to leave for her next class. Gathering her things, she made her way to the computer in the corner of the library.
Taking a deep breath, convincing herself that this was the right thing to do, Karina opened a new tab and stared hesitantly at the screen. A few moments later, she typed 'Winter Kim' in the search bar and hit enter before she could change her mind.
Seconds later, results popped up and Karina scanned them with baited breath. The first news article that appeared made her gasp. She quickly looked around to see if anyone had heard her, and luckily she hadn't caught anyone's attention.
Car accident leaves Seoul student in fatal condition, authorities are still on the search for the students involved
Karina had to remind herself to breathe and she quickly scrolled down. She nearly gasped again when she saw the picture of the completely totaled car. Upon further inspection, Karina realized the car was upside down at the bottom of a ditch. Surprisingly enough, she knew exactly where this picture had been taken.
She hesitated before scrolling down to the actual article. Did she want to know? of course she did. She was just scared. Shaking it off, Karina scrolled down and leaned in closer to the screen.
Last night, a Seoul trooper called in an overturned car at the bottom of the ditch bordering Grove Street. Police believed the car to be abandoned, but upon further inspection they found the body of 18-year-old Winter Kim, a student from Seoul.
Kim was revived at the scene and rushed to the hospital, where she remains in critical condition. The other occupants of the car are yet to come forward. Any information regarding the accident should be reported directly to Seoul Police.
Karina brought her hand to her face, wiping the tears that had brimmed her eyes. Things were starting to slowly make sense, but she was still left with millions of unanswered questions. She scanned the related articles out of curiosity and quickly clicked the first one that caught her eye.
UPDATE: Seoul students involved in severe car crash provide critical information
Taking a deep breath, she prepared herself for what was about to come.
The car accident that left 18-year-old Winter Kim in critical condition last Tuesday is still undergoing investigation. The students involved in the collision have been brought forward and questioned.
Police revealed that two cars had been involved in a reckless driving incident while coming home from a school party. Both students at the wheel were under the influence of alcohol at the time. The vehicles were racing around the corner when the car Kim inhabited lost control and rolled into a ditch on the side of the road. The other car involved in the accident has yet to be found.
The driver of the car, Kim's alleged boyfriend, survived unharmed. He claimed he hadn't realized Winter was in the car, due to his drunken state. Instead of calling for help, he simply fled the scene. Kim was found over an hour later by a Seoul trooper and revived on the way to the hospital. Kim is said to have been completely sober upon arrival at the hospital.
Kim remains in critical condition. Sources revealed that she suffered from a broken leg, a severe cut that required over 100 stitches, and a fractured skull. The doctors also believe that the accident was so violent that it caused a traumatic brain injury. The Kim family has yet to speak out regarding the accident.
Karina's blood boiled when she realized who had been driving during the accident. Winter had been sober, too. Everyone at school knew Winter didn't drink. She never said why though. Checking the time, Karina groaned.
She slung her bag over her shoulder, and exited out of the tabs and trudged to her next class. Now, a million new questions began circling in her head. She wanted to get home. She couldn't keep this to herself much longer, and she knew she needed to show her roommates what she had found. More importantly, she needed to talk to Winter.
While Karina suffered through her last class, Ningning was out shopping for Winter as Giselle stayed home with the distraught girl. pulling into the parking lot of the shopping mall, Ningning jogged inside just as it started to rain.
She wasn't exactly sure what to get Winter, all the girl ever wore were Karina's t-shirts. Ningning strolled into Urban Outfitters and purchased a few baggy t-shirts, hoping it'll do the trick.
As she continued shopping, she ended up in Forever 21. There was a rack of adorable summery dresses against the wall, and she immediately thought of Winter. Giving into temptation, she bought a couple dresses and a pair of comfortable converse.
She made her rounds through the store, and ended up buying a few pairs of leggings and pajama pants along the way. Once she was finished, she had a handful of bags and a long list of receipts, Ningning headed back to her car, hoping that she'd done a good enough job.
Once she made it back to the apartment, she found Giselle in the kitchen, poking at a piece of leftover pizza. She looked just as exhausted as Ningning felt.
"Hey," Ningning sighed, placing the shopping bags on the island. "Where's Winter?"
"Where do you think?" Giselle raised an eyebrow. Ningning laughed softly, not responding since she knew exactly where the smaller girl was.
"She cried for over an hour, Ning," Giselle sighed and leaned against the counter. "I couldn't get her to calm down."
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Ningning asked, biting her lip and hopping up onto the counter so she could face Giselle. "Letting her get close to Karina and all... I mean you know how Karina is."
Giselle nodded, knowing what her roommate meant. "We can talk to Ji once she gets home."
"Ji?" Ningning smirked.
Giselle raised an eyebrow. "What? it fits," she laughed, knowing she'd accidentally used Winter's nickname for Karina. There was a long pause of silence, and then the sound of keys jostling in the front door.
"Speak of the devil," Ningning mumbled, causing Giselle to laugh. Karina appeared moments later. tossing her backpack onto the couch.
"Where's Winter?" she asked, jogging into the kitchen and looking around anxiously.
"Upstairs," Giselle nodded once and grabbed Karina's arm before she could run off. "We need to talk to you about something, Rina."
"Me too, actually," Karina breathed out a nervous laugh and motioned for the girls to follow her into the living room.
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