The Way You'd Loved Her | winrina

Chapter 6

"Hold up. You're going to a party hosted by Winter Kim?"

"Dude," Giselle sighs, rolling her eyes at Somi who's staring at Karina, bewildered. "They are dating. You really need to choose better things to freak out about."

"We are not dating," Karina corrects, not turning away from the mirror. Her friends are lounging on her bed while she's trying an outfit after an outfit, and so far they proved to be very unhelpful. She's lowkey regretting asking them to come. Not that she'd ever tell them that.

But - it's a dinner party hosted by Winter Kim. And from what Karina gathered, it's going to be a rather intimate, close-knit affair. Ningning's going to be there. People close to Winter - people Winter trusts - are going to be there.

She has to look perfect, whether they are dating or not - which they aren't, at least she doesn't think so. They haven't talked about going exclusive or anything.

Giselle snorts, jarring Karina from her musings. "Honey," she says. "You hold hands and you kiss and you go on dates. Hate to break it to you, but that's dating."

"Okay, then we're casually dating. But we haven't really... discussed the terms."

Except Winter implied she was falling for her and they haven't gone a full day without talking ever since, be it texts or calls or dates. Even if they wanted to see other people, they wouldn't have the time, Karina thinks to herself.

"She invited you to a private party," Somi points out. "This is serious."

"It's not really a private party."

"It's an invitation-only party," Giselle pipes up. "That makes it a private party."

Karina huffs, blowing a strand of hair away from her face. "Do you want to make me even more nervous about tonight?"

And holy crap, is she nervous. Her stomach is an anxious ball of knots, and there's another one lodged in her throat. To Winter, tonight might be a simple step forward in their slowly - seriously, so slowly - evolving relationship. But to Karina - and to Ningning, and to everyone close to Winter - this is a test. When Jeno and her discussed their plan, at the beginning, they assumed it'd be easy because of Winter's affinity for conquests. She didn't even realize that would actually be one of her disadvantages.

Winter's friends, people who care about her - they are used to the likes of Karina. Only there for money and status that Winter Kim's affections bring. Karina has a feeling Ningning was only a tip of the judgmental overprotective iceberg.

So yeah. She's fucking nervous alright.

Her friends remain mostly oblivious to her inner turmoil. Obviously. They don't know about the plan. They don't know the actual reason for Karina's anxiety. For them, it's date jitters, not more.

"Damn," Giselle whistles. "Winter must be good if she got the Karina Yu feeling like a schoolgirl with a crush."

"I am not-"

"Come on, Karina," Somi interrupts, rolling her eyes. "This is the third outfit you tried on and you haven't stopped chewing on your bottom lip since we walked in. Face it. You're crushing. Hard."

That would probably be better than what's actually going on. "Fine," she says throwing her hands up in defeat before tugging a white blazer off. "I have a crush and I have a date with said crush and I have nothing to wear. Now will you help me or not?"

"Technically, that's not a date tho-"

Karina glares. "My ethical stance on murder is rapidly shifting, Giselle."

Her friend raises her hands in a calming gesture. "Okay, geez," she mumbles. "We'll help. Come on," she grabs Somi's arm, hauling her up despite the girl's groan of protest. "Seriously. Karina's right. I mean - it's Winter Kim."