LITTLE PIECE OF HEAVEN | WINRINA AU

CHAPTER 7

Karina finishes her breakfast before walking towards Winter on the couch.

"I'll be back in the evening, okay?" Karina rubs her exposed belly. She's actually a little concerned. Winter loses her appetite these pasts of few days. "I'll leave some food in the fridge and in the bowl."

Karina then leaves her alone. When she's arrived at her company, she walks straight to her office. Not only she has to work on her script, her side work as a scriptwriter is also what makes her busier.

"hey..." her boss comes in. "the director wants to make a few edits. You can do that, right?"

"sure. send me the script." Karina smiles a little.

"you look terrible. What's wrong?"

"I'm fine, sir." Karina looks at him. "I will submit my work after lunch."

"alright. It's getting better." He purses his lips. "I don't know what's your inspiration to write those. Whatever it is, I want you to keep doing that."

"okay."

Karina misses her lunch just to finish her deadline. She then walks towards her boss's office.

"just put it there." The boss said, not looking up from his computer. "I already sent the details about the script and what to change."

"on it, sir."

-

Meanwhile, Winter comes back to the hill. Feeling her powers coming back really makes her satisfied. Feeling a little bored, she decides to walk down to the calmer stream of water, leaving her stuff.

She takes off all her clothes and jumps in. she keeps hoping that her brother will come back here. She spends her afternoon swimming until the sun starts to set. Feeling a little cold, she dries her body quickly with her power and put on her clothes back.

Winter walks a little slowly back up the hill. To her surprise, she hears howling again, just like the other night. The sounds of bushes rubs against each other, as if something is hiding behind them, makes Winter gets her guards up. She fasten her pace.

Winter looks back and suddenly the pack of wolf she saw the other day starts chasing her. she runs fast to her place, not looking back.

"run!" a girl shouts.

Winter doesn't have time to check on her. she arrived at the top, panting heavily. She can see from the distance that the girl is holding a torch, waving it in front of the pack bravely. She then sees the pack walks back and runs away.

"what are you doing here?" the girl approaches her. Winter stays silent. "are you homeless or a runaway?" the girl sits down, stabbing the soft ground to stick the torch in. "are you mute?"

Winter joins her. sitting in front of the torch.

"it's not safe being here alone. Unless you're like me."

"what do you mean?" Winter asks.

"oh. I thought you're really mute." The girl stifles a laugh. "I have my van not far from here. I camp."

"so you live here?" she asks again.

"not really. I move around a lot but this is my favorite spot. I thought no one can find this place." The girl looks at Winter. "I'm Giselle."

"I'm Winter." she looks down. "I found this place accidentally."

"you don't bring that much thing. Must be tiring." Giselle shrugs. "it can be a little cold here. Let's go." She stands up and take the torch.

Both of them walks through the woods. Giselle guides them to her van. She drops all her stuff inside and gives Winter something to drink.

"so... you like to hike?" Giselle sits down on a cut down tree near her van.

Winter is still scanning the place. This place really looks maintained. There's bonfire, seating, a small table, also a little place to cook something. Well, this is nice.

"yeah." Winter plays along.

"that's cool. You gotta be careful though. I'm sure you've heard about the panther." Giselle sips her drink.

"have you seen him?" Winter asks, getting intrigued.

"him?" Giselle raises an eyebrow. She then shakes it off. "sure. I've travelled around the woods and hills in this city. Last time I saw... him... he looks lost and weak. I don't wanna mess with him. he looks scary."

"scary." Winter scoffs. She misses him even more. Even sad to think about him.

"wait... you wanna hunt for him don't you?" Giselle gives her a look. Since she loves nature, she despise anyone who ruins it.

"no. not hunt." Winter denies. "I just wanna see... if that's true."

"I tried to get to him once. No one ever sees a majestic creature like that. earth never fails to amaze me." Giselle daydreams about the first time she looks into his bright golden eyes. "I can say I'm lucky."

"you are."

With that, they spend the night talking casually. They eat together too. Winter gets comfortable around her. it's nice to not have to change her form all the time to hide.

"I'll be going to the Marshall Woods tomorrow. I've stayed here long enough." Giselle stands up and stretched. "you're not sleepy?"

"not yet. You can sleep first." Winter replies. Giselle just nods and goes into the van.

Winter remembers that name. it's where her brother was last seen. Maybe it's not too late to look around there.

-

Winter fell asleep outside. She wakes up to the sound of Giselle packing her things.

"how can you sleep well?" Giselle offers her a warm tea. "it's been a while since I have a company."

"by the way..." Winter starts. "can I come with you to the Marshall hills?"

"sure, I guess." Giselle looks at her. "if you have no plan of coming back here. It's quite far. I won't be coming back here."

"oh." Winter looks down. that means, she has to leave Karina too. She haven't said a proper goodbye to her despite Karina being all nice to her. she needs to set her priorities straight. Her first intention is to bring Daniel back but Karina really takes some space on her mind. "it's okay. I'll come back here by myself."

"alright. Come on in."

With that they starts their way to the Marshall Hills.

-

Yeji is sitting beside Karina, rubbing her back. Karina have been crying all day since Winter haven't come home yet.

"I don't understand. How can he be gone when you're not even here?" Yeji pities her friend.

Karina knows exactly what happened. Of course, she can't tell her.

"I'm sure he'll be back, Karina. Do you want me to help you find him?" Yeji offers.

"no." Karina sobs. "if he remembers, he can come back here." Karina has to let go of Winter. it's not her intention to be someone's pet. She's here for her brother.

"should I find you another dog?" Yeji asks.

"no. thank you, though."