Jimin stood before the mysterious portal, a swirling mass of colors and lights that spun and twinkled as if it were a disco ball in the middle of a cosmic rave. “How did you even get here?” she muttered, scratching her head as confusion settled in. One moment she was just another face in the crowd, and the next, she was face-to-face with an anomaly straight out of a sci-fi movie. If she had known the portal would lead her to a whirlwind of emotions and a chance encounter with Winter—a girl so enchanting she could probably charm a cactus out of its spines—she might have donned a cape just for dramatic flair.
With a hesitance that could rival a cat’s reluctance to hop into water, Jimin considered the portal for a moment longer. She was friends with Jungkook, the king of reckless adventures, so why not blaze her own trail? After a deep breath, she stepped through, not quite sure if she was ready to be a superhero or just another lost wanderer in a bizarre dream.
And, wowza, did she get more than she bargained for.
• • •
Jimin stumbled through the other side of the portal and—lo and behold!—there was Winter, standing there like a winter wonderland, complete with frosty breath and a smile that made Jimin feel all sorts of butterflies and bees—mainly the bees, but they were more like fluffy little clouds buzzing with sweetness. They spent what felt like a blink of an eye together, laughing and sharing stories like they had known each other for eons.
But now, back on the home front, the realization hit Jimin like a ton of bricks or, more humorously, like an oversized pie in a slapstick comedy. “I’m about to disappear!” she thought, not entirely sure how portals worked or if they had diabolical plans to swallow her whole. Deep down, she felt her connection with Winter deepen, growing roots she didn’t know she could cultivate. This girl had truly sparked something inside her, something she wasn’t ready to articulate yet, possibly because she still couldn’t wrap her head around how to turn a fancy gadget Winter had handed her—a phone—into anything useful.
Part of her wished she could erase every bobble and embrace the whirlwind of chaos that followed.
Meanwhile, poor Winter was stuck back at her place, fiddling with her own feelings uphill. She slipped the phone into her pocket, attempting to look nonchalant. There was a time when hanboks didn’t come with pockets—an abomination, really—but this modern wonder had one, and Winter was reeling in all the possibilities it brought. She was not only excited; she was also bewildered. “What if she doesn’t come back? What if I get turned into a witch—trick people into thinking I have a magical item?” There were far too many hypothetical dark alleys her thoughts wandered down, but she refocused, daring to input her number into that magical box, believing maybe—just maybe—Jimin would find it.
• • •
As soon as Jimin materialized back home, she was met with a barrage of questions from Jungkook, who looked like an over-caffeinated squirrel trying to pry information from an unwilling acorn. “Jimin! You’re back! Where have you been?????” He had an exclamation mark for every letter, evidently more worried than a chicken at a hawk convention.
“I met Winter,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. Her heart fluttered in nostalgia, half sad she had left and half happy to remember those brief moments of bliss. “She’s quite… breathtaking.”
“Oh! Tell me everything! Are you in love? Did you two set off fireworks in the sky? Or at least eat rice cakes together?” Jungkook exclaimed, bouncing on his heels.
“I don’t even know what I am!” Various emotions swirled chaotically in Jimin. “I felt happy, sad, confused… It was like I was on an emotional rollercoaster, but instead of screaming, I kept squeaking like a toy.”
“Listen,” Jungkook said with a far-too-serious gaze for the topic at hand. “You left in… what did you call it? A ‘state’? What does that even mean? And do I need to be your emotional support animal?”
“Please don’t sit on me,” Jimin replied, wrestling between humor and the weight of her thoughts. “I left Winter confused, and I don’t know if I’ll get to see her again! What if she’s lost in the multiverse, navigating some quantum existential crisis?”
“You’re crazy,” Jungkook snorted. “But you’re right. We need to tackle this. Let’s unfreeze your emotions faster than a bad film!”
“Funny,” Jimin said, rolling her eyes.
Meanwhile, Winter was back home, feeling like a hamster that had accidentally run off the track in her wheel. Her mother bombarded her with a barrage of questions that melted together into a long-winded lecture on punctuality. “Have you eaten dinner? Where have you been? Who were you with? Hey!” But all Winter could think about was Jimin, a spark of brightness in her otherwise ordinary world. “Maybe I was with her… in a parallel universe where everybody says ‘yes’ to adventure…” she fantasized.
• • •
Back at Jimin’s place, she discovered the phone hiding in her clothing like a shy potato in a mixed salad. “What’s this funky thing? Is it an alien artifact?” she mused, apprehensively pressing buttons as if it might unleash a dragon. With some trial and error that would put a clumsy magician to shame, she figured out how to unlock it just as Jungkook barged in, clearly having taken a brief break from the “I’m going to solve all Jimin’s life problems” show.
“Show it to me! Come on,” he demanded, his voice a mix of nervous excitement and curiosity. It was just a phone, but to him, it might’ve well have been Cinderella’s slipper freshly polished by a fairy godmother.
24 minutes later and after Jungkook’s incessant pestering—“Is it a weapon? A cursed mirror?”—Jimin finally revealed the phone.
“Wow, what is this? Is this a weapon?” His wide eyes gleamed with childlike innocence as he leaned closer and inspected it like it had just grown sprouted eyes.
“Yeah, totally,” Jimin replied, struggling not to laugh. “It’s a magic box of doom that sucks the soul out of you. Right? First the poison apple, now this?”
Jungkook recoiled, half-jokingly. “You mean like a gun? I’m too young for this!”
“Pfft! No, silly! It’s used as a means of communication!” Jimin exclaimed, her excitement bubbling over. “Do you want to meet Winter?”
“Absolutely!” he shouted, eyes gleaming with mischief.
“Okay,” Jimin replied, grappling with a strange, heady mix of excitement and nervous energy. “But first, we need to crack the code of this thing. Let’s see if you can dial Winter without causing an intergalactic incident!”
And thus began their wacky journey of phone’s features to connect with Winter amidst a tornado of emotions and bewilderment. With each button pressed, they dove deeper into a world of possibilities, realizing it might just be the key that connects two souls who had tasted a fleeting piece of happiness.
After all, who needs a traditional love story when you have portals, phones, and the unshakeable bond of destiny—sprinkled with just the right amount of hilarity?
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ATTACHED • Winrina
FanfictionWinter kept receiving letters from an unknown recipient. One day, the recipient wrote her name and date. She discovered they were decades apart. ❗Winter × Karina❗
