the charm | winrina

nine

The food was great.

Karina's mood? Not so much.

For one, whichever genius styled Karina had given her a matching emblem with Winter, which the latter had picked up on and decided to relentlessly tease the former about. For two, the seating chart had placed Karina next to Winter, so Karina had to listen to the creative director tease and flirt with her.

"Shut up, please," Karina groaned, swallowing her food. That night's meal was some sort of fancy steak, and although it was great, Winter was slowly making Karina lose her appetite.

"What's wrong? Disappointed it's the food down your throat and not me?"

"What the fuck, Kim," Karina choked, setting down her fork and coughing into her hand. "That's disgusting. Hell no. Please bother someone else, I'm just trying to eat."

Karina tried to ignore the fact that Winter's comment was making her neck feel abnormally hot. And, interestingly, not in a pissed-off way.

"No one's as fun to bother as you."

"Leave me alone, and take me out of it!" Karina snapped, and the table went silent. Everyone stared at them, including Haechan, who looked grossly proud. Karina rolled her eyes at him and went back to her food, convinced that she had quieted Winter (and her beating heart), at least for now.

That impression was dispelled when Winter leaned over and whispered with a snicker, "I'll take you anywhere you want. The bedroom, maybe? You're always waking up pissed, it seems. Someone not satisfying you?"

"Get your face out of my personal matters," Karina bit at her, trying to keep their conversation to a minimum. The new contestants had emerged moments ago, so she trained her eyes on them.

Kim Liz, a makeup artist for Dior.

Kim Dayeon, a magazine assistant for Elle.

Kim Sunoo, a fashion designer.

(So many Kims. Karina felt that her brain would explode simply trying to keep track of them all.)

There were more. Pham Hanni, a Vietnamese chef. Kim Minji, an up-and-coming drummer.

An uneven number.

The couples so far were as follows: Karina and Haechan, Winter and Chaehyun, and Rei and Riki. There were five new contestants, meaning the number had gone from six to eleven- and eleven wasn't divisible by two.

"Yu."

Karina's head snapped up, and she looked into the serious eyes of Winter, who was leaning over, head ducked conspiratorially. "I need to ask a favor."

"I'm not doing anything for you."

"Karina, please," Winter whispered, and she seemed almost... pleading? There was something about her that was different, whether it was the change in attitude or the look in her eyes that made Karina want to stare at her for hours. "You're unhappy with Haechan, right?"

"I..."

"I see the way you look at him. You deserve better than him. He can't give you what you need, but I can."

"I'm sorry, where are you going with this?" Karina snapped, but Winter held up a placating hand.

"Listen. I'm not saying you need to date me. I'm saying you need to pretend to."

Karina's jaw dropped as Winter's request sank in. "You mean... you want to... tag-team getting Haechan eliminated?"

Winter grinned, and the small reward made Karina's heart flip. "You catch on quick, baby girl. So what do you say? You don't like him, and he's a threat to my reputation."