Story Note
Hello again! Here's another chapter update for you all.
Just to mention, I also have another book called Just Like Venom. It's actually a Blackpink Jenlisa story but Winrina are main characters and have a big part in the plot so if you're enjoying this story, then you might like that one too if you're looking to read more Winrina content.
Anyway, happy reading and thanks for supporting this book!
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Thursday 4am
Karina's P.O.V.
My perfect paradise did exist, it was entirely revolved around this moment that I wished to never end.
The storm had eventually subsided and finally the haze had settled into a calmingly clear night. Winter and I were in her room where we'd talked for hours until we fell asleep. Currently she was snuggled up beside me, clutching tightly to my sweatshirt as if it was her pillow. Her face was buried deep in my neck as she smiled and hummed sleepily in her dreamy state.
I brushed her hair gently that fell across her face, making her stir slowly awake by whispering gently in her ear. "Goodmorning."
She stretched and yawned before glancing back at me with a sleepy smile. "Hey, what time is it?"
"Just after 4. We've got a few more hours before the sun rises."I continued to brush my fingers through her hair as if tenderly helping her back to sleep.
"Then why are you awake?" She asked, rubbing her tired eyes before blinking repeatedly to adjust to the dim light.
"I wanted to watch you sleep." I whispered quietly, her stunning beauty captivating the scene.
"Well that sounds creepy so don't." She chuckled, playfully turning onto her side to face me better.
"I prefer to think it's romantic." I replied with a grin, making her roll her eyes.
We stayed like that a while just staring at one another. It was fair to say if time was frozen then I'd have been more than content to live in that moment forever.
I must have been lost in deep thought when she suddenly cupped my cheek with her palm, leaning in closely. "You look really pretty, Rina especially by moonlight."
Her minty breathy brushed against my lips, the universe seeming to fade away around us. Only she ever had this effect on me, like everything sad and trivial drifted away and it was simply the 2 of us.
"I do?" I questioned when she shyly nodded. The moonlight was the only source of light in the room, casting shadows that silently danced in the breeze of the slightly opened window.
"You're like a ray of light on an otherwise misty night. You have a heart of gold and this way of putting me first. But sometimes you seem so sad and lost Rina and I just... I want you to know that you deserve to be happy too. Always." There was humble smile on her face thst never faulted. I never been around someone who made me feel happiness quite in the way she did.
I leaned forward to press my lips gently on hers, a kiss that spoke a thousand words of bliss and admiration. Pulling back after a few moments of bliss, I kept our faces close together to memorise every detail of her. "And you wonder why I can't stay away from you when you say things like that."
"It wasn't that I wanted you to stay away. It's just that I needed some space to think about us." She mumbled, fumbling with the fabric of the duvet around us.
I held her tightly in my arms, whispering quietly each word I'd longed to tell her. "When you left Seoul, it was really hard for me to pretend to be okay. I don't think I realised until then how deeply I cared for you."
"Rina..." Her eyes were glossy from the tears that shimmered in the light.
Smiling at her, I wiped away the tear that fell on her cheek. "It wasn't until I met you that I realised how much happier life could be. I just wanted another chance to show you how much you mean to me."
"You mean a lot to me too." She whispered gently, snuggling into my embrace.
It felt like a special moment, a night to commemorate as I reached into my jacket to retrieve a small box I'd been carrying with me ever since she reentered my life on that beautiful Winter's day. "I got you something. I wanted to give you it a while ago but... well I can now. Here."
She looked between me and the gift in confusion before sitting up to rest her back on the headboard. I smiled in anticipation, watching as she opened the box in intrigue.
It was a necklace made of the finest silver that I'd had hand designed with a simple snowflake pendent that hung loosely around the chain. She stared at it speechless, taking it in her hand carefully as if it was so fragile it might suddenly disappear like a real snowflake.
I placed it around her neck, fastening the back and watching as the pendent fell gracefully. The diamond in the center glistened in the moonlight. She stared in the reflection of the mirror across the room, her fingertip still training the silver. "This is so beautiful, Rina."
"It is and that's why it reminds me of you." I whispered, placing a kiss on the corner of her lips and savouring the next few hours of our time alone when we could just be together without the distraction of the rest of the world.
Thursday 6pm
Winter's P.O.V.
Rina and I had spent the day together, initially at my parent's house in Busan before taking a long coastal drive to simply enjoy the scenary. It had been so romantic, it seemed when it was just the 2 of us things couldn't be more perfect. It was only when we were around other people that the problems seems to surface.
My friends had messaged me about the beach party that had been arranged for today due to a big improvement in the weather. The sun was setting showcasing an orange sunset across the horizon reflected in the crystal blue waters of the sea below.
On the beach, music was playing with a large campfire burning brightly. My friends were sat around it, chatting and joking as they waved in my direction.
"Winter! Finally you made it back!" Ning Ning yelled cheerfully as she rushed over to give me a hug only to pause upon seeing my hand intertwined with Rina's who was stood emotionless beside me. She didn't exactly want to be here at the party tonight but Ning Ning had messaged me and I'd already promised to go so it had taken some pursuading for Rina to join too. The change in her demeanour from earlier though was already immediately evident.
"What's going on..?" Ning Ning asked as my friends too seemed to noticed the change in attitude between the student council president and I as well as our matching sweatshirts that Rina insisted on.
"Hey... we're sorry we're late. We kind of got distracted." I giggled as Rina smirked beside me, resting her hand on my waist.
"Distracted doing what?" Wendy asked making me blush red at the thought of my romantic day with Rina, filled with passionate kisses and loving embraces.
"I wasn't distracted, I just didn't want to be here." Rina stated bluntly towards the others as she scowled at Ning Ning as if it was her fault for interrupting our perfect day together.
"Charming as always." Ning Ning muttered under her breath.
Wendy, who was standing beside me, seemed to notice Rina hadn't left my side. "So Winter... you and Jimin..."
"We're dating." Rina quickly interrupted, making me nudge her shoulder.
"What?!" Everyone simultaneously gasped expect Ning Ning who was stood with crossed arms and a sullen expression.
"I'm gonna go get us some hot chocolate while they all struggle to process the obvious." Rina stated bluntly, kissing my lips before she wandered away to a small picnic table that was serving drinks and snacks by several members of the student council who'd helped organise the trip.
I blushed red, watching as she wandered away. She was like a model, so effortlessly beautiful in her every movement. As I was lost in dreamy thoughts, my best friend suddenly tugged my sleeve to sit beside her. "You're gone for a few hours and you're suddenly dating Jimin?!"
"We're taking things slow and it was just sudden." I muttered shyly, noticing Rina was still watching me in the distance.
"Okay, I just have one question for you and I say this in the nicest way possible as your best friend. Why?!" She whisper yelled, trying her best not to make a scene.
"Because I really care about her Ning Ning... There's a side to her personality that is so sweet and caring." I played with the snowflake pendent around my neck and thought back to the amazing morning we'd had. It was replicated by the perfect evening last night and how happy we'd been just like when we met on vacation.
"Wow well you certainly changed your tune." Ning Ning replied. In some ways she was right. Yet there was something about this enigmatic side of Rina's personality that I was drawn to and couldn't help but be strongly attracted to her romantic nature.
"Jimin really doesn't like us, does she?" Taeyeon suddenly said out of the blue, when we all glanced up to see her collecting our drinks in the distance whilst glaring at my friends.
Ning Ning rolled her eyes before patting my shoulder. "Don't take it personal, Tae. I see it as a compliment. She doesn't seem to like anyone but this one here."
"I'm sure she does like you all..." I mumbled quietly, feeling in the middle between my girlfriend and my friends who clearly had never gotten on well.
"What exactly are you basing that on?" Giselle suddenly said, appearing from behind us and starling both Ning Ning and I. She took a seat around the campfire, a book in her hand that she was reading as she seemed to drown out the rest of the crowd.
"Listen, Rina is just sometimes complicated..." I shrugged, trying to find the best way to describe how she sometimes acted.
"Complicated? Winter she's been completely rude to us for weeks. I mean if you wanted a definition of someone being arrogant then there's literally a classic example." Ning Ning gestured towards Rina across the beach who was still staring at us, stirring the drink in her hand rather forcefully whilst ignoring her peers from the student council who were trying to talk to her.
"I wonder why she's so cold all the time." Wendy suddenly said, it was something I too had wondered for a while.
"I know you'd think being so like the devil she'd be firey like hell." Ning Ning stated with a scoff.
"She's not the devil! She's just... she likes her own company." I said, playing with the sand between my fingertips, watching as the grains fell through my fingers.
"And yours 100% of the time." Taeyeon smirked, making me sigh loudly.
"Can we please maybe not talk about Rina all evening?" I pleaded, having already had the awkward conversation with my parents that morning.
They chuckled nodding their head as Ning Ning was stealing glances at Giselle who continued to read silently. "Sorry, we're just all getting used to you having a new girlfriend that despises us all."
"Ning Ning..." I sighed. She was always protective of me and I knew since her own break up with Giselle that she was worried Rina would get too possessive.
"Okay, I won't say anything else but if she upsets you or gets between our friendship, I will kick her ass." She definantely exclaimed, making me chuckle.
"Well that would be amusing." Rina suddenly said as she made her way back over towards the group. I stood up giving her space to sit down but she quickly pulled me onto her lap, handing me the hot chocolate before wrapping her arms around my waist. I took a sip of the warming drink, a smile instantly making it's way to my face.
She started trailing kisses along my neck, making me giggle when strands of her hair tickled the side of my face until the others began whispering and I couldn't help but to glare at them.
"So this is how this evening's gonna be? Brilliant..." Giselle replied sarcastically, glancing up from her book with a look of disinterest around her.
"I know it might take some getting used to seeing Rina and I together." I shyly replied as Rina continued to kiss my neck gently, ignoring the rest of the group.
"Yeah, quiet frankly I see no difference from before." Ning Ning bluntly replied, gazing up at the stars above reflected in the currents of the sea as we all continued to enjoy the peaceful serenity. The snow gently began to fall again, each snowflake a work of art engrained on the blank canvas of the beach.
It was an interesting night, one I would never forget for the ambience was different somehow. The clouds seemed to create a mist that scattered across the horizon, creating shadows that danced by the fire. The illuminated moon shone down as if it was bewitched by a greater spell being cast across the the night sky.
It was as if the moon knew something that night as the snow began to settle. Perhaps it knew of what was really lurking in the shadows and how it would soon disrupt the peaceful mood that warmed the scene around us. Perhaps it knew of the venomous sense of chaos that would soon emerge from the depths, capturing the night in it's grasp before setting it ablaze.
The moon knew of many things on that beautiful winter's night. It watched the flames of the campfire dance from a distance but it's attention was never far from the beauty of that lone snowflake that had fallen under it's spell.
Yet sadly, it remained in a sense of apprehension. What if the snowflake melted upon the presence of the fire or grew lost within the waves that crashed against the shore? For the moon this would be a tragedy, perhaps even a curse. It wanted to be the hero, to save the night and rescue that one snowflake from the flames that continued to burn.