Winter's Secrets | BTS ✓

10

"You promise this time you're not lying?" June asks, her arms crossed as Jin watches the sisters standing in the living room while he lounges on the couch.

"I swear," Lily says, her eyes wide. "I haven't seen this movie."

"I'm watching you," June says, pointing her finger in her sister's face. "If you so much as mouth one single line from this movie, I'm slicing you up and serving you as our Christmas Eve dinner."

Lily rolls her eyes. "You're supposed to watch the movie, not watch me watch the movie. Don't be weird."

June purses her lips, glaring at Lily for a moment before turning to slip the DVD into the player. While Jin can still smell Lily's scent on his skin, it's already fading away. So, he made sure to "accidentally" knock a leg off the chair to break it before they got home.

That way, all three will be forced to sit on the couch together. And he made sure to get on the couch first so he could sit in the middle.

Lily stares at Jin's position for a moment, hesitating. After a moment, Lily shakes her head slightly and moves to sit on Jin's left. He turns to send her a reassuring smile, desperately trying to convey how sorry he is for making her feel so uncomfortable.

She smiles back at him, but he can't tell what emotion is swimming in her eyes as she turns back to the television before he can decipher it.

June turns the living room light off, moving quickly to cuddle underneath the blanket Jin is using and resting her head on her boyfriend's shoulder.

As the movie begins, Jin knows this will be hard.

He wants to reach out and entangle himself with Lily - have her use him as his sense of comfort.

But while June is snuggled up against Jin, her arms wrapped around one of his while her head rests against his shoulder, Lily is leaning against the arm of the couch, putting as much space between the two of them as she can without falling into the floor.

Jin feels the pain hit his chest, the movie falling away from his attention as he begins to stare at Lily out of the corner of his eye.

She's fully engrossed in the movie, eyes wide as she bites on her lower lip.

Jin feels June move to intertwine the fingers of one of her hands with his, but his attention doesn't leave the girl who is determined to put space between the two.

His pity party is interrupted when he sees Lily mouthing the characters' lines at the same time they're being spoken. Jin commends himself for holding back the laugh that threatens to bubble up in his throat. But it's not long until the pain once again replaces the lightened mood he felt for a moment.

He wants to prove to her that he would never purposefully do anything bad to her.

So, in a measure of good faith, Jin reaches out his free hand slowly, careful not to jostle June.

His fingertips fall gently against the side of Lily's head, her hair bristling against his trembling hand.

Lily's head snaps to look at Jin, her muscles tensing as she glares at him.

He pulls his hand back slightly, sending her a soft smile and raising his eyebrows slightly. He knows she loves to have her hair played with. He watches June play with her sister's hair all the time, Lily's eyes always drifting to some faraway daydream.

Lily stares at Jin for a long moment, the glare turning into something more resigned and calm. Jin nearly cries in relief when he sees Lily smile at him and nod her head, and she turns back to the television, not pulling away this time when Jin's fingertips find her hair again.

It's even softer than he imagined; her honey blonde hair falls along her shoulders just like a bottle of honey was poured along her scalp, the warm liquid cascading down her shoulders. Jin knows Lily sees this gesture as something of an apology from her friend.

Though it is an apology, a sincere one, Jin can't stand the thought of calling himself Lily's friend.