winter flower ; zhong chenle

seventeen

a knock on the door interrupted the group of five who were drinking hot chocolate on the couches and watching movies. areum up to get the door, surprisingly finding chenle on her doorstep.

"chenle!" she threw her arms around his neck in a tight hug, and he wrapped his arms around her waist with a smile, "merry christmas!" the two pulled away and she pulled him inside and out of the cold snow.

"i thought you were in shanghai until new years?" jisung asked and he shrugged, "my family decided to come home. we even brought my grandma!" they all caught up with chenle, exchanging gifts as they talked. it was fun. though she was still heartbroken from her recent breakup, areum was happy.

"so you guys had a snowball fight without me?" chenle asked, feeling somewhat offended and they all laughed, "it's okay, lele. we can have another one tomorrow." areum said but he shook his head, "it's not the same!"
"we can have one later!" she suggested and chenle smiled, gazing at the girl. he loved seeing her smile and so happy, she deserved only happiness.

the boys realized the way chenle was looking at areum and looked at each other with smirks. "areum, chenle, could you guys go to the store and get more ramen?" donghyuck asked and chenle frowned, "it's snowing. plus it's your house."

"that's why areum's going with you."

areum sighed, going to go put her shoes on. chenle noticed the way they were looking at him and glared, "i hate you." he mouthed, getting up and walking to the door. areum looked up at chenle and smiled, "are you ready?" chenle nodded and grabbed his keys.

areum ran to chenle's car, trying to escape the cold. chenle chuckled as he watched areum basically jump into his car, trying to not get snow everywhere. he got in and handed the aux to areum, a habit that they've developed over the past few months.

it was silent, a comfortable silence. they were listening to music and just enjoying each other's company. the song winter flower by younha started playing and by the end of it, they were parked, and staring at each other.

"chenle."

"yeah?"

"merry christmas."

"merry christmas, areum."

he took her small hand in his and placed a soft kiss onto her knuckles. "let's go, yeah?" he asked her and she nodded, giving him a small smile. he took his hand away and areum felt cold again. so she hurriedly got out the car and made her way to chenle, locking her fingers with his.

he didn't mind. in fact, he liked it. her hands fit perfectly in his and he let her drag him around the convenience store. after about half an hour, and many texts from donghyuck and jisung to hurry up, the two were finally on their way back, not telling anyone about the moment they had in the car.