amidst the winter season | kittyz

three

"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?"

Just as Hanni came back upstairs after fetching herself something to drink, she encountered Haerin - who awaited her at the top of the stairs.

"Uh, sure," Hanni said. She was a little surprised at the fact that Haerin wanted to talk to her. When Hanni had returned from her visit at Mr. Byun's shop, Haerin had still been gone. Only Cola had been there to welcome her back, lazily wagging his little tail. Haerin's mother had come home almost at the same time as Hanni and shortly after, the other adults arrived. Haerin had been the last to come back, red cheeks and her skis in hand. She had ignored Hanni - and her parents - and had disappeared into her room. There, she had stayed, until now.

"Is something wrong?" Hanni asked when she noticed that the redhead at the top of the stairs was looking a little displeased.

"I guess you could say that, yes," Haerin said, crossing her arms in front of her chest, "where were you today? And why didn't you tell me you were planning on going out?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Hanni replied completely caught off guard.

"I came home for lunch around one and you were gone," Haerin explained, "you left Cola alone."

"Is... is this about your dog?" Hanni asked, still utterly confused.

"Cola is fourteen years old," replied Haerin, "you can't just leave him alone for hours on end!"

"Well, how was I supposed to know that?" Hanni asked defensively. Haerin was hovering over her and still blocking the way up the stairs. Also, Hanni really did not like the way Haerin was talking to her but also did not want to provoke a fight. Still, she thought that her behavior was a little unjustified.

Haerin opened her mouth to answer but a voice from downstairs interrupted their
conversation.

"Dinner is ready!"

Haerin groaned and walked down the stairs with her arms still crossed, squeezing past Hanni. Without thinking about it, Hanni extended an arm and grabbed Haerin's sweater by the sleeve.

"Look, I'm sorry I left Cola all alone," Hanni said calmly in conciliatory and took a step towards the taller girl, "I didn't know, okay? I'm really sorry."

"Whatever," Haerin just shook her guest off and ran down the stairs. Hanni sighed and followed slowly, not taking her eyes off her glass of water.

In the kitchen, Sung-kyung had cooked some chicken and vegetables for everyone. Hanni went over to her own parents who were sitting on the couch, looking at some plants and other nature-objects they had spread out on the coffee table.

"Oh, is this what you collected today?" Hanni asked and carefully picked up a pine cone.

"Yes, these are some of the things we found," said Jong-suk, "but let's look at that later, dinner is ready."

Hanni nodded and followed her parents back to the table, sitting down on the same seat she had already sat in yesterday. However, the situation was now a little awkward since every time Hanni looked up from her plate, she was looking directly at Haerin. The other seemed rather icy; she did not meet Hanni's gaze a single time and stared at her plate throughout the whole meal.

Her parents tried to get her to engage in the conversation but Haerin stayed silent except for short answers to questions and a request for a bottle of water.

"It was very delicious," Jong-suk complimented his colleague and leaned back in his chair, "absolutely magnificent."

"Thank you, I appreciate the compliment," Sung-kyung smiled, "shall we take a look at what you collected today? I'd love to see all the photos you took!"