Forbidden | kth ࿏

01- Winter Wonderland

It was snowing. Light speckles of snowflakes gently cascaded down the dark starry sky, gathering a heap of fresh, pale snow down the road. The streetlamp and brightly lit shops had illuminated the picturesque scenery, and I took my time to really admire my surroundings.  

Although I witnessed this magical sight every year, it never stopped being divinely stunning. I was tempted to take a picture to savor  the moment, but I thought against it. No picture could do justice to this winter wonderland.

I looked down to the ground, with my hands deeply nested in the comfort of my padded jacket, I stamped roughly at the ground, an attempt at creating a print on the snow. I shivered slightly and rubbed my nose into my scarf, knowing it had turned red from the low temperature, but I exhaled deeply into the wool regardless.

"Ha Eun! What are you doing!" I heard the cheerful voice of Mina, who laughed brightly as she ran towards me. 

"Hm?" I asked in a daze. "Nothing really-"

"Come over here, we can go inside already." she placed her hands on my shoulders and pushed me towards the small group of people laughing together. I guessed it would be something about the latest release of a new computer game, or the recent football season of sort- but I couldn't be too sure. 

They were three of my familiar colleagues- Minhyuk, Juwon and Daniel. Along with Mina, the five of us was one of the few employees that worked in a small budding business named 'Alearc'. It aimed to produce sustainable yet creative pieces for the market and strictly prohibits child-labor and any unethical sources in the process of manufacturing these items.

Namely, our department manages the prototype or blueprint of what the pieces could evolve into, then, it is further developed under the designing team before finalizing with the boss. Well, not exactly a small business, but we could definitely use more hands in the employment department. 

I only joined six months back, but I clicked so well with these people that I felt that I worked here for years. Especially Mina and Minhyuk, who has been particularly welcoming and kind towards me, helping me guide through all the procedures and things I needed to know in the company. 

"Gosh, I'm really starving. Let's go eat, he said we could go in first." Daniel whined and his stomach grumbled loudly. He was the only one wearing glasses and it fogged his entire lens, blurring his vision as one might think, but no. He strode straight over to the entrance of the Korean BBQ shop and gestured the lady for a table of six, as always avoiding all obstacles in between like the trash bin and the tree. It was something I've just grown accustomed to. 

Juwon followed suit and waved his hands while jogging to the warm shop to escape the harsh winter, "I'll help look through the menu!"

"Shall we go?" Minhyuk looked over to me and smiled. His dark hair was tousled and he was very pale because of the snow, almost white even, and that somehow made him more captivating. 

"Yea lets go." I looked over to Mina, smiling as she also looked adorable under her beanie and bangs. 

I had to admit that I was a little nervous. I tried to reassure myself that everything would be fine with all my friends here, but my nerves just would not calm down. Very likely, the cold was all to blame, and I hoped that was the case. 

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I had removed my outer coat and remained in my long comfortable jumper, and I was astonished to find that Mina and the rest of the boys dared ventured out with just a casual short-sleeved shirt. The cold was unbearable to me even with the heaters installed in the shop, but it seemed as though they were immune to it. 

I sniffled and reached out to some spicy fishcakes with my chopstick, hoping to soothe my blocked nose as I often heard that spicy food would remove blockages and free the airways in noses. 

I looked up and noticed that all of them were singing along to the song played on the shop, even dancing and mimicking hand gestures shown on the television. I placed the fishcake down on my plate, deciding it was too spicy and doing anything possible for a distraction to help me relax. 

I was somewhat successful, but that was before I heard the ring of the doorbell and the hurried whisper of Mina saying, "The boss is here, stop what you're doing!"

The workers then welcomed and greeted the customer that has entered in a robotic- like manner, bowing slightly. "Welcome! I hope you enjoy your stay!"

Surely enough, a tall and stylish man stepped into the shop with his beige trench coat and dark cashmere wool as his inner fitting. I could tell that everybody in the shop was undeniably arrested by the  attractive sight of him, and even the cruel winter had shown mercy to his hair and face, making sure that nothing was affected and disheveled. 

He ruffled his hair so the snow would fall to the ground and I could tell that he was unhappy with something by the way he furrowed his brows. Perhaps that was why his aura had seemed far more dominating than usual? I didn't really know and there was no way of making certain what he was thinking. Besides, that was Kim Taehyung for you. 

I dug my nails into my skin and chewed the inside of my mouth, suddenly feeling a tremendous wave of frenzy splashing all over me. 

"Welcome, Mr. Kim, did you have a safe journey from the airport?" Juwon spoke as he approached nearer, speaking politely and formally, giving a small awkward smile. All of us greeted him subsequently, bowing slightly, but I didn't dare meet his eyes and just focused on the very interesting signboard plastered behind him. 

"No, actually, the snow has been blocking some part of the main road." He acknowledged all of us by nodding and referred to Juwon's polite question, standing as he gazed around the shop. 

It had been almost three weeks since all of us saw him, and because he had work caught up that needed him overseas, he left and assigned us some work that needed to be done whilst he was away. According to our group chat that consisted of all six of us, we had been notified from him that the director had been pleased with our efforts as we surpassed our set criteria for the month. 

As our head of department, he was supposedly proud of us and wanted to treat us a meal once he got back to Korea. This resulted to where we are now, sitting awfully silent around our boss with the food laid on the table growing colder by the second. 

He pulled the stool from under the table and that was when it truly hit me. His large figure loomed over the food and I could almost touch him if I wanted to. He was seated in the middle of the long table where the guest of honor should be seated, but because of his large built, he  seamlessly overpowered both sides of the people that sat adjacent to him. 

How unlucky was I, that I just had to be the one of the person sitting close to him?

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