Winter Hearts

Mountain High

Siana was kept busy answering questions from N, Hyuk and Hongbin, who had cornered her at the table and wanted to find out more about her life. She answered demurely, aware that everyone else was listening, although quiet. She relaxed a little when she found the three of them responding with stories and observations about their own lives. Much as she had thought, they were like most human beings with dreams and passions of their own. Being with them in such proximity hit it home about their normalcy. They were just boys, just men, just dreaming, just working.

She observed that she hardly felt any of those fangirly feelings she had felt when she only knew them from a distance. At a distance, they seemed unreal, godly. Up close, they were guys, just like her cousins, and they were both familiar and unfamiliar to her as Vixx at the same time.

Familiar because they looked the same, and had the same expressions and behaviour as she had seen in videos.

Unfamiliar because they were still strangers that she was getting to know, and they had moods, and they were showing sides of themselves she hadn't seen before, not being close to them.

She could see that Leo was listening intently, though focused on his eating with Ravi and Ken. Every now and then they would make a comment to each other but she couldn't hear them. He seemed to turn over her words in his mind, sometimes nodding, or looking at her. It seemed as if the three boys talking to her voiced his thoughts for him, so he didn't need to ask or say anything.

She wondered if that was a product of them working so closely together. She knew that in a group dynamic, some people became louder or quieter, more dominant or more reserved, and that when the group changed numbers, their behaviour changed accordingly too. Perhaps he was just quiet because it was him listening to her story, and they had had a shared past that was a game-changer for them? Or maybe he always listened quietly, ruminating, going over the details in his mind?

She liked that, because it signalled a single-mindedness that she wished she possessed. She felt that she often let her feelings decide her actions for her, and it was only that she happened to have very grounded sort of feelings that were rooted in reality and pragmatism, that she didn't end up acting like an idiot.

People tended to think she was level-headed, but she felt that it was more the fact that she felt for other people, that stopped her from being inconsiderately wanton about her actions. She had certainly had her share of awful moments where she had spoken without thinking, or hadn't listened properly to someone. The effects of her actions on others taught her to be more aware of them, because she couldn't stand hurting people, especially from being tactless or thoughtless.

Siana realised she was trying to give him character traits she couldn't confirm he possessed, just by watching him listening and eating at the same time.

Maybe he has a listening problem and processes dialogue slowly, Siana thought humorously.

Well, that made him adorable too, so she surmised that she needn't bother analysing, since her feeling was that anything he did was lovely.

She smiled as she chatted with N and Hyuk, feeling a warmth rise up inside. It was like a well of hormones and heated blood had combined to fill up the imaginary loveheart-space in her body that went from her belly to the top of her chest.

Lunch was brief, and the boys soon came out of the restaurant to take in the view outside, warm takeaway coffees in their hands.

Siana said her goodbyes to the owner and came outside to join them. They still had an hour before the operator would arrive to set up their equipment. That would take time, so they would have slightly more time even than that.

"What are we going to do for an hour?" Hyuk asked. He hung an arm around Leo's neck and leaned on him. She had to look at Leo when she looked at Hyuk.

She pointed to a copse of trees that stood on a hill that rose out of the plateau, on the way up to the mountain.

"There's a cave up there, wanna go see?" She was answering Hyuk, but was waiting for Leo's response. He turned to look in the direction she was pointing.

"What would we do there?" asked N.

"Look inside. Turn back," Siana said. It was true, there wasn't much else to do there. Leo looked back at her, amused. Ken who was behind them, laughed.

"Anything inside?" Asked Hongbin.

"Yes, there is a stalactite and stalagmite formation. Pagans used to worship Pan up there because they thought it resembled him," Siana explained.

"Who was Pan?" Asked Ravi.

"The god of nature. And uhm, sexuality," Siana answered. She saw N and Ravi perk up.

"Let's go!" They said at the same time, starting toward the car. Hongbin and Hyuk laughed, following after them. As Hyuk left, he brushed past Leo, who let him go on ahead.

He stood before Siana, who was still smiling. He took a few steps towards her, watching her face for a reaction. Her smile softened as she realised he was coming closer and she gazed into his eyes as he moved.

He still had a small smile lingering on his lips, but it was the look in his eyes that caught her unawares. It was a strange mixture of gentleness coupled with the eagle-eyed gaze of a man on the hunt.

She broke the gaze for a moment by looking down at her feet, completely overcome by the intensity of that look. It was only for a moment, because she wanted to face him - it wasn't like she was frightened by it. She found it very compelling, and she was sure if she didn't break the stare she would react inappropriately - like reach out to him and pull him close.

But before she could look up she heard Ken yell, "Let's go Hyung!" and come up from behind Leo to take him by the shoulders and steer him towards the car. Leo looked at her one more moment before he was forced to turn away.

They insisted she sat in front so that she could show MIn Seok the way.

The continued on the road as if to go up to the mountain, but took a left just before the turn to the right that would take them up. The road was gravel and went into a sudden incline and before they knew it, it had narrowed to just wide enough for one car to pass. Every few hundred metres there was some extra space that allowed any oncoming car to slide past safely.

Min Seok, who was driving up, felt like he was teetering along the edge of the road.

They got to the end of the drive, and the road opened up just enough to allow a car to do a five-point turn and go back. Min Seok turned the car very, very carefully, so that it faced the direction they came from. Then they got out to have a look.