Winter Hearts

Non. None. N.

Min awoke to find two messages: one from Siana saying she was going for a walk, and another from N inviting her for breakfast.

"Breakfast it is," she said as she texted back a short message and swung out of bed.

She washed up and dressed, knowing that the morning chill would soon give way to the bright Mediterranean sun, and the day could heat up before noon if the weather stayed good. She could afford to dress more like herself if she brought a heavy coat with her in case the day remained chilly.

She pulled on a pair of warm leggings and slipped a miniskirt over the top. On top of her thin, long sleeved body top she threw on a loose peasant shirt, leaving the string ties undone, then finally pulled on her soft leather boots and grabbed her army surplus hooded jacket which was lined with sheepskin. Finally, she grabbed her fringed suede sling bag and crossed it over her body.

It was comfortable, slightly bohemian and tomboyish, and accentuated all her curves without being too revealing.

She took the train to Syntagma and walked the short distance to the boys' hotel.

She liked that N didn't beat around the bush.

It was obvious they clicked, although she wondered if they would have had they met under other circumstances. He seemed to her to be someone who needed everything to be just right, and his initial prim impression wasn't something she usually went for. She had learned that, rather than being particularly nitpicky or obsessive, he was just pleased by seeing to the proper order of things.

However, catching him making sure Hongbin didn't see more than he needed to spoke of something she wouldn't have guessed about him if she had just taken his first impression at face value.

He had heart, and a lot of it.

That he cared deeply for his members was something that struck her as surprisingly attractive. She felt it was surprising because she often preferred to keep her interactions with the opposite sex purely physical and as unattached as possible. She never bothered to find out more about them than whether they were interested in her or not.

She had often had conversations with Siana about her predilection for emotionless hookups, and they had come up empty about why she was like that. She had no hang ups about it: happy home, happy childhood, and all that.

After recognising something familiar in N last night, it occurred to her that perhaps she was just indulging her physical appetite whilst keeping her heart for some future someone. In that sense, she realised that she was probably more prudish about love than Siana, who seemed to have strangely blasé feelings about her relationship with Leo.

Min shook her head. Siana probably thought she was acting like the pragmatic one, but Min felt she wasn't fully acknowledging the force of Leo's desire for her, let alone her obvious attraction for him. If she wasn't careful, she could hurt him with her lassitude about their relationship. She either had to go for it... or cut it off, for his sake.

Even more worrying to Min was the thought that maybe Siana was actually scared, and was trying to protect herself by hanging on to the idea that this couldn't work, even if she wanted it to. And judging from her ignorance of Hongbin's feelings for her, Min could felt that she was walking around oblivious to a few things, even her own heart. Still, Min didn't want to underestimate Siana. She was sure that Siana, despite her ignorance of Hongbin's feelings, had a good understanding of her own.

Perhaps it was for this concern that N wanted to meet with her. She certainly wanted to speak to him about what was going on, but she wondered if it was any of her business to do so. She knew once she had some time alone with Siana, they would talk to some extent - but she didn't know how forthcoming Siana would be about something private between her and Leo. After all, this was the first time Siana was involved with someone like this.