Winter Hearts

What is Love

Leo walked out of the cover of the trees and fell in line with the instructor who was carrying the packed up parachute sail towards the parked bus by the edge of the field where the group were gathered.

It was late afternoon and the sun was warm.

He offered to help carry the equipment, but the older instructor waved him off, passing him the helmets to carry. As he handed them over, he gave Leo a look that he could only describe as knowing, but he said nothing. They fell in, walking in time and in silence.

As they approached the group, Leo could see Siana was standing with Hongbin and Hyuk, who were gesturing to each other about their flights. While she smiled and nodded excitedly, he noticed her become aware of him and look over as he approached.

He was glad to see she looked demure in front of everyone else after her brazen behaviour when they were alone.

He set his mouth in a grim line and shook his head at her, making her smile impishly. When he saw Hongbin notice their glances, he turned his glare on Hongbin too, who raised his eyebrows in surprise. Hyuk leaned in and looked over Hongbin's shoulder, giving Leo his own runway-ready glare as they watched him coming forward. Leo had to smile, but he covered it and looked away as he and the instructor swerved to stack their equipment in the belly of the bus.

The bus had been prepared to collect the instructors and the gear, but they had enough space to give their party a ride to the nearest town, Chrysso, which was tiny and ancient and had barely a coffee shop for them to sit in. They would be doubling back up the mountain but the instructors were heading that way anyway on their return to Arachova. On its outskirts, right on the highway leading back to Itea, there was a well-maintained set of sports courts for general use of the community, and they could be dropped off there where Joon and Min Seok would see them on their way down.

Leo followed N's lead of going around and thanking the instructors for their care, and let his brothers file into the bus along with the others. He saw Siana go in with Hongbin, and realised she was going to sit with him on the bus.

He supposed it was for the best, because he wasn't sure that he and Siana would behave themselves if they were seated together.

He got on, taking one last look at her as she sat down and glanced at him with a shy smile.

Why was she smiling shyly? She wasn't shy, he thought as he sat down at the very front of the bus.

He wondered briefly how much experience she had in relationships. He sensed an innocence about her but there were moments when she threw him off balance with her surprisingly forward behaviour. He heard her begin a conversation in Greek with one of the instructors, and could hear shades of her child's voice he heard in the recording he had found in her father's studio as she spoke. The language was different from his, but the intonations and the vocal gestures seemed so similar. It was like listening to a familiar song he didn't know the lyrics of.

His thoughts turned back to Siana's experience in love. He never thought he would care about the past of the person he fell in love with, but he felt absurdly sore about the possibility that she may have had a serious relationship - which he wished didn't matter as it was none of his business. He didn't want to share anything about her, not even with someone who was now out of her life.

He couldn't understand his sudden irritation with the notion. It wasn't as if he himself had no experience - how could he expect her to have none?

It was a sense of possession over someone that he had never really felt before. He wasn't sure how he came to have it, because it just hit him out of the blue, and had nothing to do with how well he knew Siana. It had come to him almost from the moment he had spied her on the basketball courts on his way to Itea, before they had even met.