Spring Snow

5

We were now completely surrounded by white, untouched snow- far from the main road where we witnessed drivers contribute to pollution. I looked around us in awe, as I felt snow finally make me change my view of it. 'Satisfying and peaceful', I felt, were the words to have associated with the thick ice blanket I trudged on. It's just all white.

Making our marks beneath, Jungkook and I made our way, side by side, towards a big tree in the middle of the park. Not one upside of any leaf was left uncovered. "I took you to this park because there are no slides or anything plastic. You can just call this a green space- or now a white one." Jungkook's light chuckle entered my numbed ears as the large tree took the role of a snow canopy. We turned around and admired the weather.

"I think nature covered with snow looks breathtaking. We see green for almost 3/4 of the year, so I don't think there's a specific emotion to associate with it. You don't feel anything, you just say 'hey, that's a tree' and you go to work. When snow comes, especially not in winter, I've never not heard one person talk about it. I know you agree." Jungkook rambled, looking at me and grinning knowingly. He's right.
"Yeah." Smiling back in defeat, I agreed.

"Hold your hand out." The tone the younger used was near to sounding demanding, so I became baffled for a second.
"Wha-" Before I got my words out, Jungkook grabbed my left hand with his right, skinny warm one, ripped my glove off of it and held it out, exposing it to the cold. Miniscule particles of ice floated down to my hand, and before I saw them make contact with my palm, they melted.
"Snow feels nice on your hand right?" The student asked, still having hold of my open hand. Whilst I persistently tried to catch the moment snow touched my palm, I nodded in response to Jungkook. "I like trying to catch snow on my hands because it makes me feel calm. When life is stressful, look at an animation of falling snow. It's not as good as the real thing, but it helps somewhat."

Suddenly, both the latter and I heard a buzz, that's not my phone. Jungkook swiftly let go of my hand; I felt his cosy warmth leave instantly. After digging around in his inner blazer pocket, the raven haired whipped out his smartphone and seemed to stare at it for a split second. Afterwards, I saw him breathe a sigh out of sadness. "Oops, my mum said I should go home now, she thinks my blazer isn't enough to keep me warm." Jungkook gave a short, half hearted chuckle. At least she's talking sense, even if Jungkook says he has cold tolerance.
"I agree with her." I spoke, reaching for the metal zip over my mouth and dragging it down.

After I had unzipped my dark coloured winter coat, I casually slipped it off, then chucked it to Jungkook. I ignored the sudden whisp of ice cold air that engulfed me. Seeing how the younger had been clumsy in the past, I was surprised he didn't drop the coat.
"Namjoon I can't take it, you need it." The latter protested, staring down at my gift to him with an open mouth. I simply shrugged.
"I'm going home too anyway, besides, it's a 5 minute bus ride and I have another one at home."
Jungkook thought for a moment, seeming to process my reasons(and hopefully not finding an argument against it). "Well thanks." Finally meeting my eyes and slipping the coat on, the younger smiled warmly. I felt satisfied.

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My music drastically contrasted with the influence of the snow- I had heavy beats booming into my ears through white earphones, but the peaceful pace the ice particles fell at gave a sense of calm.

Not wanting to slip, I firmly stomped into the ice blanket with a smile on my face. I feel like a little kid, especially with this long, massive poofy coat.

Only when I entered the store I was the cashier of, I realised it was just another day at work. Without thought, I slipped my backpack off and placed it on the floor beside the wooden counter. Then I descended onto the chair behind the register, only to get back up. I need to sort out those colouring pencils.

My footsteps were muted by the blue-grey carpeting as I arrived at the soft leaded pencils. I stared at the colour coded compartments: 2 light peaches are in the grass green pencils. I picked up the two odd pencils and placed them in their intended spot. Ok… a ruby red pencil in the  white, and I repeated this process numerous times. Lazy customers.

By the end of it all, my right arm started to ache from moving everything around. As soon as I was going to go back to the cash register, a memory flashed in my mind, triggered by disorganised erasers near by. There was a small box of electric rubbers, but in it were 2 blue rubbers that you'd idealy keep in a pencil case. The image of the mysterious student crossed my mind as I took hold of an electric eraser. It had a grey plastic body, in which batteries were held. A nib of rubber was at one end, and when the button in the middle was pressed, that nib began to vibrate. Chuckling to myself in the empty shop, I turned off the eraser, sorted out the manual ones and returned to the counter before a customer arrived.

≻── ⋆🌸⋆ ──≺

Not one customer had come for an hour and a half after opening the art store. I was feeling somewhat lonely too, missing someone's presence. A frown took over my features as I looked down at my lap and spaced out.

After a moment, I did the only thing I could do, since I didn't take the newly made friend's number- look at the falling snow. I noticed passers by were wrapped up warmer than I was; wearing hats, scarfs and boots (if they were women). I also noticed they all had a similar colour scheme- dark. Dark blue, dark green, dark red, grey and black. The snow brightened up what would be called dull if it was raining, for example. Feeling my mood lighten, I smiled.

A smile caused by Jungkook. Spring snow is so beautiful.