Been lovin' you for quite some time | Winrina

9

"Here," the sweater that falls in her lap is soft and heavy, the material crumpling into a comfortable heap over her knees and she darts back, almost spilling the tea cupped between her hands. She turns to stare up at where Winter is sauntering casually past, as if it means nothing and blinks at her in surprise.

"What is this?" She sets down the mug to finger the sweater uncertainly, brows creasing in confusion when Winter just rolls her eyes.

"Don't tell me you're not cold, I could see you shivering from all the way over here. You don't have anything thick enough for this sort of weather." Winter curls her feet, clad in thickly padded socks, up beside her on the couch until her toes can poke at Karina's thigh.

"I'm fine," she says automatically, even as spreads the sweater out, feeling for the arm holes and shrugging it on over her shirt. The neck gets caught on the glasses perched on her head and she is momentarily blind before gentle fingers ply the material away from her head and guide her through the soft fabric.

"There," Winter smiles, satisfied at the sight of her just as Jisoo, who is sat by the coffee table on the floor, watching as Rosé who is munching something from the bowl in her lap, lets out a bellowing laugh.

"Oh Karina, welcome to the family."

She looks down at the sweater and feels her cheeks heat up at the sight of the blue background with a happy penguin dancing across it, clad in a red scarf and hat.

"Hey, you two match." Jennie frowns between their sweaters as she enters the room, and Karina's mouth falls open when she glances at Winter and sees the red wool with the familiar penguin dancing across it."They're cute, where did you get them?"

"No, we didn't buy them-" Karina hurries to explain even as Winter rushes over her, cheeks heating into a delicate pink.

"That was an accident, Karina was cold."

Jennie is still frowning at them, perplexed by their rambling responses and Karina continues, desperately.

"Where are Kai and Mino? I haven't seen them for hours."

"I gave them free reign over the kitchen," Ms Pi raises her eyebrow from beneath her reading glasses, looking up from the paper she's attacking with her red pen. "Definitely a decision I'll come to regret, but oh well."

"How're the essays mom?" Winter turns to look at her mother, her toes brushing against Karina's leg as she does so and her mother lets out a groan, folding up the papers and set them on the floor at her feet with a defeated sigh.

"I should never have agreed to cover Kang's winter class, I'm a writer not a teacher."

"Come on Ms Pi, you're a great teacher." Rosé doesn't look up from her bowl and Jennie butts in before Ms Pi can do any more than raise an eyebrow in her direction.

"Yeah, come on. You taught me how to ride a bike! I still remember it!"

" How ?" Rosé is incredulous enough to finally lift her head and Jisoo chuckles again, quietly, as Winter puts in.

"Because she was like fourteen."

"You didn't learn to ride a bike until you were fourteen?" Karina teases, gently, but Jennie still turns pink, glaring at where Winter is smiling on the couch.

"Only because you and Mino would constantly push me off Winter!"

"I don't know what you're laughing at Karina," Jisoo stands, stretching her arms up above her head as she saunters past them and pauses in the doorway. "You didn't learn to swim until you were thirteen."

"Oh my god," Winter giggles at her, smiling widely when Karina tries to bury her head in her hands.

"Sisters," Ms Pi rolls her eyes in sympathy, her lips tilted up in a curious expression. "How old are you Karina?"

"20."

The answer comes, not from her, but from the short-haired at her side and Winter blinks as she looks up at the startled expressions watching her, as if only just realising what she has said.

"Yeah," Karina speaks awkwardly into the silence, trying her best not to look at where Winter busies herself with a loose thread on the throw cushion in her arms, "Jisoo is a few years older than me."

"Did you get on as kids?" Ms Pi seems to have decided to overlook Winter mishap and Karina swallows against her dry throat as she nods.

"Yeah, our parents are great but very busy, she was always around for me."

"That's nice," Ms Pi's eyes dart to Winter so quickly that Karina is sure nobody else has seen it, "it's good to have people around when your parents can't quite be there."

"They tried," Karina excuses them quickly, "but they've always been very focused on their careers; it's good actually, it gave Jisoo and I a good work ethic."

"Really? What do you study?"

"Poli-sci." Winter answers without looking up from her hands and then hurriedly continues, before anyone can question her, "we, uh, met at a course mixer."

"Poli-sci and bio-med?" Rosé raises an eyebrow again.

Winter just shoots her a glare, though Rosé doesn't drop her gaze and so Ms Pi continues, eyeing them both curiously.

"That's excellent, there must be a lot of reading, hmm?"

"A fair amount," Karina shrugs, smiling, "but I like books, I like to read a lot around something and feel I know it very well. I feel like the philosophy side of the subject is so interesting, each thing I read makes me look at the world a little bit differently..." she trails off when she senses eyes on her and turns just in time to catch Winter's hurriedly downturned gaze, the smile playing on the corners of her lips and Karina struggles to push away the butterflies in her stomach.

"Well, hopefully you can change the world." Ms Pi reaches out to pick up her essays again from their place on the table just as Jisoo appears in the doorway again.

Karina sniggers at the sight of her, breathless and with a dash of white flour smudged across her cheek as her sister leans against the doorway, wide eyes moving back to the kitchen. "I tried to contain them Ms Pi but they're wild. You might want to go and save your kitchen."

"Oh god ," though she shoots from her chair there is a tone of amusement in Ms Pi's voice, a twinkle of laughter sparkling in her eyes as she rushes past them all and Karina ponders on it in the quiet.

She is interrupted only by Winter wiggling her feet further under Karina's thigh to keep them warm.

"Your mom really likes having a full house at Christmas, doesn't she?"

"She loves it," Winter's smile is tinged with just the slightest note of sadness and Karina hesitates over it, almost asks a tentative question before Winter continues and the flush on her cheeks is enough of a distraction, "sorry that she quizzed you so much."

"I don't care, I hope she likes me," she speaks without thinking and Winter giggles at her words, leaning closer to touch at Karina's shoulder.

"Of course she likes you, don't be stupid. How could she not?"

The words make them both blush again and Karina rubs at her hot neck, tilting her face away a little in hopes that Winter won't catch the grin lifting her cheeks.

"Anyway," Winter continues hurriedly, "why do you care if she likes you?" She lowers her voice just slightly so that the others can't hear her, "it's not like we're dating."

"I know," Karina's answer is almost too quick, too defensive and she sees Winter startle back in surprise, "I'm a parent person, okay? I want parents to like me."

"Nerd."

Somehow, it seems more like a pet name than an insult when it falls from Winter's smiling lips.