Moments | Sweet Home

Chapter 14

"Is it just me or has it gotten colder?"

"I think there's something wrong with the shower room, it's freezing near there."

The tenants whisper, rubbing their arms as the 1st floor's temperature started to decrease.

Yeonha had disappeared in that direction earlier. No one had seen her since the tenants had got together to bury Jae Heon

Concerned Hyun followed the cold to find the source. Goosebumps prickled his skin and he shivered. The door leading to the showers was covered in frost, and icicles hung from the handle.

He could hear her breaths so knew she was in there. His heart thumped loudly, hoping she was alright, that she hadn't suddenly turned into a complete monster. His monster was starting to stir with discomfort.

Hyuns' hand reached cautiously for the door. Icicles snapped off the handle as he tugged it, and he had to push the door with some force as it had frozen shut. He heard more ice shatter as he opened it, then stepped inside.

His eyes immediately landed on her.

It's Yeonha.

He had to keep reminding himself so he wouldn't slip away too.

He watched as the ice crept up on her, covering her in a blanket of snow and turning her hair an icy white.

"Yeonha?" He calls her name firmly. His brows were furrowed and mouth slightly pouted.

"Go away.." She tried to insist, but her breath crystallising in the air betrayed her. At her words his mouth scrunched up unhappily and he shook his head.

She was turning, and the ice was consuming her, threatening to capture her whole being, slowly she was becoming a divine statue. Were the frozen fractals wrapped over her flesh she had already become numb. How could he just leave her like this?

"I'm not going anywhere." He said softly, almost sadly but she doesn't move, afraid she will hurt him.

She tries to say something else, but her words had frozen in her mouth. He took a step forward and ice crunched under his boot.

He stared and she stared.

She couldn't blink, couldn't turn her head, couldn't curl a finger, couldn't speak- snowflakes had crystalized on her tongue, in her tear ducts, and every struggling breath that left the small gap of her parted lips, spat them out in a cloud of cold vapour.

His hand stretched out towards her face, she swallowed the crystals on her tongue as the heat from his skin radiated underneath hers and started to thaw her.

"Yeonha?" He calls again, his brows were furrowed, eyes looking over her quizzically.

"It hurts." She stutters.

He knows, he knows how much it hurts. He doesn't want her to hurt.

Either dose her monster, who has a much more wicked agenda.

"You'll be tucked away safe. No more pain, no more losing people you care about."

Her monster continues trying to lull her into a false sense of security.

"Just close your eyes and sleep, it'll be like one long sleep full of good dreams. You can have your family, your friends, you can have everything you want."

It was so tempting, Yeonha starts to want it.

"If I stay, you have to stay too alright." He says, trying to convince her against the thoughts of her monster. Would she listen to him?

Hyun. She blinks and looks at him. He was still here.

Her eyes kept flickering between brown and black. He smiles encouragingly at her.

"Stay with me okay?"

Her heart melted a little. She felt a flush of warmth in her cheeks.

Her hands, now able to move, pull him closer. His breath is warm against her cold skin and he hovers over her hesitantly as he thinks. Tentatively he ducks down and touches his mouth to hers, breathing hot air into her frozen lungs. Seeking to chase out the cold she slips her hands under his shirt, over his chest, wrapping her arms around him to keep him locked in place. He shivers, and despite the cold holds her tighter. The ice around her shatters.

Tears melt down her cheeks. Hyun wordlessly wipes them with the paws of his sweater.