amidst the winter season | kittyz

seven

Within a short period of time, Hanni and Yunjin grew quite close. Hanni continued to go over to the café almost everyday, helping Yunjin with her work and baking together whenever they had the time. For Hanni, Yunjin almost felt like a big sister she never had or a young, cool aunt. Since Haerin still went skiing often, Hanni frequently took Cola to the café. Yunjin even bought a little pillow for him to lie down onto and some treats that they gave him occasionally. It seemed like Yunjin adored the little dog almost as much as Haerin did.

At the beginning of February, not quite a month after Hanni had arrived in Tokki Town, Hanni made the mistake to forget the time. She had spent the day at the café again and today, Yunjin had closed a little earlier. She had told Hanni that Kazuha wanted to take her on a date and that she wanted to bring some cookies. Hanni helped her bake and decorate them when suddenly, she noticed it was already 4 pm.

"Oh, crap!" Hanni cried out, accidentally knocking over a can of sprinkles, "Oh no, sorry!"

"What's wrong?" Yunjin asked as they both scooped up the sprinkles that had not fallen to the floor.

"I completely lost track of time!" Hanni said, "And Haerin will be back by now! She doesn't know that I go here so often and she'll be really angry if she sees that I took Cola again."

"I mean, we're almost done here already, so you can go quickly," Yunjin replied, "maybe you'll get there in time!"

"But the sprinkles..." Hanni looked at the mess on the ground but Yunjin shook her head.

"It's okay. You can vacuum the floor next time you're here as a compensation." She said with a chuckle and Hanni laughed quietly.

"Thank you," she giggled.

As fast as possible, she put on her jacket, stuffed her beanie and gloves into her pockets – no time for any of that - grabbed her scarf, threw it around her neck messily and stormed out to the front. She grabbed Cola, scooping him up in her arms and waved Yunjin a quick goodbye before she practically ran out of the café. The weather was nice today, the sun was shining and it was not as cold so at least Haerin could not yell at her for exposing Cola to cruel conditions. Hopefully the redhead was not home yet!

Hanni sprinted down the road, up the stairs that led to the house and unlocked the door with the key Sung-kyung had given her. As soon as she entered the hallway, she was greeted by an oddly calm voice.

"Where have you been?" Haerin stood in the kitchen, pouring herself a glass of water and side-eyeing Hanni. As soon as she noticed Cola in her guest's arms, she went over to Hanni and took the dog from her, cuddling the little dog to her chest.

"He's ice cold, what did you do with him? I came home ten minutes ago and nobody was here!" She said, still very composed. Hanni knew that Cola was indeed not ice cold but she decided not to say anything.

"l just took him out for a quick wee," Hanni lied, taking off her jacket, "didn't you see us?"

"No, I didn't," Haerin replied. It was obvious that she did not believe Hanni for one moment - or that she did not want to believe her but she did not say anything other than that. Now Hanni also noticed why she was so weirdly calm instead of throwing her usual tantrums. Behind her on the couch, all of Haerin's friends were sitting, watching TV and looking over to where Hanni and Haerin stood. Of course, the redhead did not want to embarrass herself in front of her friends and act unnecessarily rude towards her guest. What a hypocrite! Hanni shyly waved at the others and got a few smiles and waves in return. That was until Haerin moved to block her view.

"We're having a sleepover tonight," she announced cheerfully before dropping her voice to a whisper, "we'll talk about this when they're gone."

"No, we won't," Hanni muttered back and finally slid out of her boots when Haerin turned around to join her friends.