Touch you | Winrina

11

There is no point in putting her phone on silent. There are exactly three people who text her, and zero people who call her. Karina never really considered it all that bad or upsetting. Tonight, it becomes a small blessing. If she had a habit of putting it on mute, there is a good chance she would have slept through a sudden night call.

But it's ringing loud and clear and Karina barely manages to open one eye, blindingly searching for her phone and swearing when she knocks it off the nightstand.

"Hello." her voice is rough and sleep-laden. She doesn't even bother looking at the caller ID. Unless Jisoo is back in town for a surprise visit, there is only one person who would be calling her at 2 in the morning.

On the other end of the line, Winter is silent, and Karina is about to sigh and end the call when she finally speaks. "Can you come pick me up?" These are the first words Winter's said to her in a week. They are slurred and mumbled. Karina imagines her step sister sway in a hallway of someone's house, spilling her drink and holding onto a wall.

She sighs. "It's late, Winter," she points out, voice still scratchy.

"Shit." Winter curses, and she hears a crashing noise before the other girl speaks again. "I know." the words are smudged now. Something coils in the pit of Karina's stomach, then, cold and dreadful. Winter doesn't sound like that. This isn't her usual voice. "I'm – I don't feel so good."

Karina doesn't even realize she's already standing and grabbing her sweatpants when Winter mumbles again. "Karina, please."

"Stay on the phone with me," Karina orders. Her mind is instantly sharp and crisp, jolted out of its sleepy state as soon as the dread starts to rise to her throat. It claws at her chest, urgent and so, so cold. "Where are you?"

"Hyunjin's," Winter mumbles. Hwang Hyunjin. Of course. The complicated mess of an ex. Karina should've known, really. Neither Chaeryeong nor Aeri go to Hyunjin's parties. Neither Chaeryeong nor Aeri would've let this happen. At least she hopes so. She hopes this hasn't happened in the past, when Winter couldn't call her for whatever reasons the girl had at the time. She really, really hopes so.

Winter never sounds like that.

"Winter," she snaps when the girl doesn't reply. "Stay on the phone with me. And don't drink anything else."

She spends her entire ride to Hyunjin's house instructing Winter to lock herself in a bathroom and try to throw up. Thankfully, the girl drank enough to manage that with no problem. Karina's never thought the sound of retching would bring her relief, yet here she is.

Her parking job is far from precise when she pulls up in front of Hyunjin's house, and her fingers tremble just slightly when she clutches her phone, Winter still on speaker, not retching and not saying anything either. There are no sounds. Thank God, Karina thinks.

She doesn't have time to think why Winter hasn't called Heejin first.

She storms inside, bass lines and loud laughter washing over her, and barely refrains from grabbing Hyunjin by his hair when she spots him in the kitchen, mixing drinks. She knows he wasn't the one to spike Winter's drink. She's not even completely sure Winter's drink was spiked, but she knows Winter never drinks to the point of passing out.

Winter's never sounded like that.

Hyunjin's eyes flash with surprise when he sees her. "Karina?" he blinks, rubbing his red eyes. "Am I tripping or are you actually out of bed past ten?" He grins.

Karina doesn't smile back.

"Where's your bathroom?"

He almost chokes on his drink. "Um." She really doesn't have time for his pretty frowns. "You don't have one at your own house?"

"It's Winter." She really should have started with that, she thinks, when he sobers up immediately and puts his drink down.

"Upstairs."

She really doesn't want him to, but Hyunjin follows her, concern written all over his face, and it's so hard not to snap at him. It's his party and his house and Winter's supposedly his friend. He was supposedly in love with her, and Winter had felt something for him, too: something strong enough for her to never talk about it. And yet, it's Karina who is there for her when she needs someone. It's not that she wants a medal or a gratitude fuck. She doesn't care if Winter never acknowledges this. It just irks her. Hyunjin's useless concern that should have been there half an hour ago or so when someone slipped something in Winter's drink in hopes of – but Karina doesn't want to think about it.

She silently fumes at Hyunjin and stops before the bathroom door, glaring at him.

"Thank you," she practically snarls. "I'll take it from here." After a short staring contest, Hyunjin shakes his head and leaves. Karina has precisely zero idea about what happened between him, Winter, and, to some extent, Aeri, if she were to believe school rumors, but the way he didn't even try to get past her is upsetting. Not for her, obviously. Winter.

She knocks on the door, hoping Winter is still awake. The call is still on, and she puts the phone to her ear. "Winter, I'm at the door," she says. "It's me. Open the door."

To her surprise, when the door opens, Winter is standing upright, if a little unstable. She's flushed, and her make up is as smudged as her speech was. But other than that, she appears okay. Karina walks into the bathroom, steading her step sister and looking over her quickly. Checking her dress. (Not torn, not rumpled. The zipper is intact.) Checking her arms. (No bruises. No scratches.) Finally, gently grabbing her face and looking at her eyes.

Her pupils are blown. Fuck.

"Did you throw up?" she asks, pointlessly. She already knows Winter did. She heard her.

Her step sister nods, and Karina is relieved to note some of her fierce flush is fading. "I got most of it out, I think." At Karina's sharp glance, she tries to smile. "Not my first rodeo. I realized I was roofied about halfway through the drink. Tried to find Hyunjin." she sniffed. "Called you."

Karina watches as Winter walks to the toilet, her legs wobbly, and sits on a closed lid, rubbing her temples. They are silent for several seconds, and Karina spends them studying her. The curve of her lips is trembling, most likely uncontrollably, as do her hands when she tries to support her head on them. Residual muscle relaxation, she thinks. Winter's arms give out, finally, and Karina's at her side in an instant, holding her head up.

She's never considered herself to be prone to violence, but right now, she sees the red of Winter's cheeks and her fists itch. She added boxing to her workout routine again. That will be useful when she's tearing the bastard who did this apart with her bare hands.

"Who did this?" her voice is low and calm. Too calm. Winter knows that voice, she's been on the receiving end of it a couple of times. That's why Winter's eyes focus on her face and a pale, cold hand shoots out to grip Karina's forearm.

"Karina, don't. I don't know who it was. I should've paid better attention to my drink anyway."

Karina feels her blood boil. "It's not your fault."

Winter snorts. "I know it's not my fault," she says. "But precautions never hurt anyone." she's still slurring her words, and 'precautions' come out sounding like rather warped 'percussions'. Karina watches pink tongue wet pale lips, and only now realizes she's still holding Winter's head, absentmindedly stroking her hair. The only reason she doesn't yank her hand back is because Winter is leaning into it, and if she makes any sudden movements, her step sister might fall over.

She sighs. "Let's go home."

Winter is silent on the way back, and her hand rests near gear stick, fingers twitching from time to time.