DAHLIA - Xu Minghao

Chapter 13 - First Snow

"Like, "Where you at tonight?" Got no alibi,
I was all alone with the love of my life."

***

Monday morning, December 17th, at 10 o'clock, Meilin was watching the first snowflakes of this winter cover the streets in a coat of white with a smile on her face. No words were enough to describe how happy she felt.

Minghao appeared next to her, bumping her shoulder in the process. He smiled when he saw her wide grin and wrapped an arm around her. Meilin leaned against his shoulder, sighing softly. Once again, the winter weather proved just how much she loved snow, and Meilin couldn't wait to go outside. Though, as an idol trainee, she had to watch out for her health.

Minutes passed, and Meilin and Minghao didn't exchange a word. Though the silence didn't bother them. Meilin enjoyed it, in fact. It was a comforting silence, but, like every silence, it was eventually broken.

"Let's go out." Meilin suddenly said. Minghao's eyes widened, but when he turned to look at her, her smile was so bright that he didn't dare to say no. So instead, he nodded, smiling too.

"What about classes though? And you have school in an hour." He said, his mind wandering to what the staff would say. They were still strict now, and the trainees still got punished and scolded for the pettiest reasons. He was afraid that that would never go away again. "What if they do something?"

Meilin turned to him, smirking. "Let them do their worst. I'll be damned if I allow a couple of cranky adults ruin my first snow. It's not my fault they don't know how to have fun, they can screw off." Her eyes softened. "Sorry. But first snow is really special to me. I won't spend it locked up in a basement." She paused for a moment, looking outside again. Several emotions flashed through her eyes before she found the courage to look up at him again. "So are you coming or not?"

Minghao took her hand and smiled. "What are we waiting for?"

Meilin grinned before running back to the bedroom, pulling Minghao along. They got ready quickly so they could leave before anyone else woke up. The only one awake when they left was Jisoo, and he gave them extra money for breakfast and lunch.

"Thanks oppa," Meilin said, reaching up and kissing his cheek. "If anyone at the company asks, I'm so sick I can't even get out of bed, and Minghao stayed home to take care of me." Jisoo chuckled, but nodded nonetheless before he pushed her out the front door, where Minghao was already waiting for the girl.

"Have fun, you two." Jisoo said. "Don't come back too late." He added, and then he closed the door.

Meilin smiled at Minghao, and made her way to the stairs, cursing the elevator for being out of service 'until further notice'. That meant that it would probably never be repaired.

"So where are we going?" Minghao asked, putting his hands in his pockets to keep them warm. They didn't bring anything other than their wallets and their phones, but Meilin didn't see why they would need anything else.

Meilin shrugged. "Not sure yet. I know for sure I need to get Chao a birthday present, because his birthday is tomorrow and I still don't have anything. Other than that, no idea. But first, we need breakfast, come on." She grabbed his arm and pulled him to a nearby coffee shop, the same one they always went to. She sat down at a table in front of the window. "Stay here, I'll go order." She said. "What do you want?"

"Just get me the same as you." Minghao replied, and Meilin nodded, skipping away to the counter.

She came back a few minutes later with two croissants and two hot chocolates. As they ate breakfast, Minghao asked her about her life at home. Only about the time she had lived with her father, because he didn't want put her in a bad mood on her favorite day of the year. In return, Meilin asked him about his home life too, since it wasn't a subject they discussed very often. So Minghao told her all about where he was from, his parents, how supportive they were, and how it was for him, growing up.