Winter Hearts

Conversation

Siana walked out, seeing Leo straight away. Despite the strange atmosphere towards the end of the evening, she still felt her heart leap a little seeing him.

His eyes met hers, and she knew for sure there was something going on. Beside him, Hongbin also looked tense and was trying not to look like he was watching her.

She saw N come forward to speak to her dad. It seemed natural, but from the tense atmosphere she could feel between the three of them, she realised N was giving her and Leo some space.

Leo was still gazing at her, his eyes concerned. She turned to her dad, interrupting him and N.

"Dad, would you mind if I go for a walk?" Mikhalis glanced at Leo, then looked around at the boys. Hongbin immediately smiled a little to try to lighten the atmosphere, stepping away from Leo and going over to N. Mikhalis looked back to Siana, who just waited patiently for his answer.

"Of course not. It's a beautiful night, a nice walk is in order," Mikhalis said, slowly and carefully, still watching Siana. She was quiet, but her eyes betrayed no anxiety. Mikhalis could see that, despite his wish to spend a little time with Siana after the evening, it could wait.

"Let's have lunch tomorrow? You hear that, N? She will be spending some time with me tomorrow," he said to N, an eyebrow raised. N nodded, laughing.

Siana said goodnight to him with a kiss and waited for N, Hongbin and her father to walk down the lane back towards home.

She turned to Leo, but was interrupted by Hyuk, who came hurrying out of the hotel with two bags full of leftovers.

"Siana-ssi, look! Enough for midnight lunch haha!" he exclaimed joyously, before noticing Leo.

"Ah, okay, I see. Goodnight. Thank you!" he nodded as she laughed. Then he scurried off, catching up with the others.

Siana finally was alone with Leo.

He looked down at her, his hands in his coat pockets, his breath misting the air before him. His dark hair seemed to have a halo of light around it, from the moonlight. In the cold, the light seemed to cast a strange blueness in the air.

"Will you go for a walk with me?" she stepped closer to him, hooking a finger onto his pocket flap. He stepped closer too, something in his eyes changing, softening. Whatever was on his mind was gone for now, replaced by something else, something that had started off the evening and had been going somewhere on the dance floor - til everything changed. She looked up at him without blinking, feeling like her eyes couldn't see enough of him.

"Anything with you," he said breathlessly.

Siana couldn't help feeling herself grow warm. She took a breath, pulling on that pocket flap with her finger.

Without a word, she walked past him, out into the car park and down towards the sea.

The water was gently lapping on the shore, the waves making tinkling noises on the tiny pebbles. High above them, the moon shone white, and created an atmosphere of glassiness as its light went through the miniscule water molecules that were suspended in the cold air.

She stopped before reaching the beach, at the edge of the car park, turning to face him as he walked up behind her. She could see into the large hotel windows, and noticed there were still people on the dance floor, even though it was late.

Before he could reach her, she turned and continued down towards the water, her shoes scrunching into the pebbles. He glanced behind him to see what she was looking at, and realised she didn't want to be in view of the others. The beach dipped towards the sea and soon he saw, they were out of sight of the hotel windows.