Winter Hearts

When N Sees

Before they reached the clock tower, they had to pass by the council building in front of which Siana had taken her selfie just a week before.

Siana stood by the wayside with Leo a little behind her, their little fingers loosely interlocked, and hidden from view. They didn't speak to each other or look at each other, but she felt as if every fibre of her being was aware of that tiny point of contact between them. Ravi and Hongbin were already walking on ahead to the clocktower which was just a few metres away, and Hyuk and Ken were watching the others taking their selfies.

N, Kkomae and Min Seok were excited to recognise the setting, and were taking their own photos just like she had.

Siana laughed, saying to N, "I made Dad stop on the street so I could do the same when I arrived last week." She wondered again whether they would share their pictures on social media.

"Are you guys going to post any pictures?"

N answered as he flicked through the pictures he had in his phone. "Well, we can't expose our location for security reasons. And we are all supposed to be on hiatus."

"But we can post selfies, right?" asked Ken. "It's been a while."

Siana nodded. N noticed and commented, "You following us on social media, Siana-ssi?"

Siana shrugged, trying to look nonchalant, and avoiding making eye contact with anyone.

OF COURSE I DO, N.

She felt Leo start swinging their hands back and forth gently behind her back, as if they were playing a nursery game. She smiled as she wagged his hand back.

"Won't starlights be wondering why you're all inactive?" she asked.

"Maybe we should post pictures from indoors," ventured Hyuk.

"Why are we hiding our location anyway?" Ken asked N. N looked at Kkomae, who shrugged.

"Noone asked you to hide anything. You're free to post whatever you want," Kkomae said as he shrugged and moved on.

Ken and Hyuk looked accusingly at N. N held up his hands and siad, "Did I ever forbid you to post anything while we were here? It was just something we all assumed to do."

"Well it doesn't matter for you since you post so infrequently," Hyuk said.

"That's only on IG, elsewhere I am pretty active," N countered.

Ken turned to Hyuk with a sour expression.

"And on IG he has the most followers. What a waste," he said, turning up his nose.

"I try not to spoil my followers and always give them quality updates," N drawled, still checking out his pictures on his phone.

"That's the second time in my life I have been called cheap," Hyuk said, clutching his heart and rubbing it as if it were sore.

"You should ask yourself why," N continued, unperturbed.

Ken turned on Hyuk with a laugh, "Yeah, you're an IG slut, Hyukkie." Hyuk nodded happily and smiled till his eyes crinkled up.

Leo smiled to himself as Siana listened to the banter, feeling entertained by their soft-spoken barbs.

"Don't post anything with even a little of the scenery in the background. Someone will figure out where we are, and we still have about two or three more weeks of peace left," Hongbin reminded everyone.

"If you want to post a location, wait til we have left it before you do it," N murmured, eyes on his photos.

Siana felt that familiar regretful feeling she had felt before the flight launch earlier, when she realised how they had to be wary of exposing themselves too much.