"Should we take pictures together?" Haknyeon asked her. "After all, this project is supposed to document our lives together too. I guess from strangers... to friends?" he asked, looking at her hopefully.
She just nodded, not looking up from her notebook. They'd been working on the project for a little over a week and had gone out to take pictures just twice so far. She was trying to make him choose as many locations as possible as she struggled to think of where else she could take pictures.
The only other place she felt semi-comfortable sharing was the playground near her apartment building, but even that she was trying to push back for as long as possible. The playground would reveal the area that she lived in.
And there were some parts of her life she'd just rather keep private... Well, pretty much everything. She'd always been a very private person, maybe because she was shy. It took her a while to open up to people. Even though she'd been hanging out with Haknyeon and his group of friends, she was still quiet and careful around them.
"Sounds good," she said, wrapping her sweater tighter around her body. They were all hanging out at Eric's house: her, Haknyeon, Hyunjun, Sunwoo, and Seolhee. Eric and Seolhee had gone out to grab snacks from the kitchen downstairs, while Sunwoo and Hyunjun were using the television to play games. She was sitting on the couch with Haknyeon, the two of them doing their individual homework. She was working on her science stuff, writing a giant lab report. She rubbed her forehead, starting to regret the decision to take the hardest level of science. She thought it would be a fun challenge, but now it was just making her head hurt.
It was Friday afternoon, which was her day off from work. Her mom had been bugging her all week too, insisting that she go and spend some time with her new friends. So here she was, spending time with her friends...
And worrying about her mom.
Mikyung sighed, rubbing her forehead again.
"You look like you could use a break," Haknyeon said gently, looking at her in concern. "You want to go to the gardens with me? We can take pictures there," he suggested.
"Okay," she agreed, putting her stuff to the side and following him out of the game room and down the stairs. They grabbed their coats and their shoes and walked outside of the house, going around to the back entrance to the garden, that way they wouldn't be walking with their dirty winter boots inside the house.
It was cold, and she put her hood on, hunching her shoulders and shoving her hands into her pockets, shivering. There was snow everywhere, after all, it was January.
When Haknyeon turned around and saw her, he laughed. "You look very, very cold," he said playfully, his eyes shining with amusement. "Your nose is already turning red."
"I am cold," she mumbled, hopping up and down and trying to warm herself up. She originally hadn't been planning on going anywhere after classes, so her scarf, hat, and gloves were all in her dorm room. Seolhee had invited her right after lunch, which hadn't left her any time to go grab her extra winter gear.
"Here," Haknyeon said, unwrapping his own scarf from around him and gently putting it around her.
"It's okay," she said softly, reaching up with one hand to touch his soft scarf. "Then you'll be cold."
"I'm fine," he insisted, reaching in his jacket pockets and taking out mittens. He took her hands, putting the mittens on her. Lastly, he took off his own hat, pushing back her hood and putting the hat on her head. Then he put her hood back on and pinched her cheeks, grinning at her, making her heart flutter.
"There, now you're all geared up for winter," he told her happily.
Mikyung smiled back, a real smile, not the guarded smiles that she usually gave everyone. "Thanks," she said softly.
"Are you warmer now?" he asked.
She nodded. "Much warmer."
"Good. Now we can have a snowball fight!" he said, picking up snow in his hands and making it into a ball, throwing it at her. She giggled, running away and grabbing snow of her own.
"Oh, you're on."
