Those Winter Days (A Winrina Jiminjeong Story)

CHAPTER 19

Sunday 12pm (continues simultaneously at the end of the last chapter)

Giselle's P.O.V.

It had been only a few hours since we'd awoken after our night out at the club and things felt so cloudy and peculiar. Jimin ended the call rather quickly after I'd called her regarding where she and Winter had gone. I just sensed that something sinister was on the horizon.

"That was Winter's voice in the background!" Ning Ning said frantically, hearing her best friend call my name.

There was only one place I could think of that Rina had been so passionate about. "I think she's taken her to that cottage outside the city. Her winter wonderland."

"Well that just sounds beyond creepy." Ning Ning muttered to which I too agreed.

She paced back and forth in the dorm, clearly anxious. "Aeri, where is this cottage?"

"I don't know, I just saw a photograph once when she was at her house in Gangnam and I had to deliver some student council documents there." It had been many months ago when Rina first joined the student council that I had visited her home in the city, noticing a rather eerie atmosphere.

She let out a sigh, the sarcasm evident in her voice." Great! So we have no idea where Winter is and the team of campus isn't helping! I'm pretty sure whenever you mention Jimin's name, they're totally in her favour."

"Let me just call her again." I tried dialling in her number to try and make any sense of the situation.

"Because that worked spectacularly well last time?" Ning Ning continued to sarcastically reply.

"Your sarcasm isn't helping right now~" I said in a sing-song voice, searching again through my phone.

"Fine, call her again." The phone rang twice and then stopped, indicating Jimin had ukely switched it off.

"Now she isn't even answering!" Ning Ning sighed with impatience.

I placed my phone back into my pocket, deep in thought at my previous conversation with Jimin just days before. "Wait, listen. There wasn't an international dial tone so they're possibly still nearby."

"So we've narrowed it down from the universe to somewhere randomly on the outskirts of the city!" She rolled her eyes, crossing her arms to stare out of the window. The expression on her face was one of anxiousness.

I placed my arms around her into a gentle hug which she quickly reciprocated. "Let's visit Rina's house in the city. If we can see the photograph of the cottage or get an idea from there where it is then we can go to Winter."

"We can't just show up there." Ning Ning mumbled against my shoulder.

"Okay, then I'll go. You can stay here and I'll let you know as soon as I find out where she is." Not knowing what Jimin had planned, I wanted to protect Ning Ning and made it my goal to do so.

"I don't want you to go there by yourself..." She said quietly, making my heart skip a beat.

As usual, I tried to keep my cool. "Then go with me? It's up to you."

She nodded her head, mirroring me to put on her coat and scarf but it was evident she was still apprehensive and rightly so. I cupped her cheeks to gain her attention. "Hey... we will find where Winter went and when we do we'll bring her back here to campus. I promise."

Though things between us had been somewhat awkward for a while, I wanted her to know she could always rely on me and that I would be there for her whenever she needed me. The grateful smile on her face told me it meant a lot to her.