.·°¯°·.¸.->Snow Falls<-.¸.·°¯°·.

18

Leilani walked alone today. She was going back to the portrait shop, the first thing she had done with Sunoo to celebrate the completion of her first final exam, if that makes sense.

Admiring the leaf-less trees that surrounded the streets, and the cold wind that would occasionally make her hair fly into her face, Leilani finally reached her destination. The small and comfortable shop sandwhiched between a dainty coffee shop and an Italian resteraunt.

It was empty. To her delight.

The man from before looked up from his laptop as she walked in, the bell from the door jingling loudly as she did so. Recognition splattered across his face before he got up and made his way to the girl.

"My dear, you came later than I expected." He beckoned, arms wide open

What does that mean? Did the man know that Leilani would come back for it some time soon?

"I'm guessing you know why I'm here?" Leilani asked, allowing herself to sit down in the chair opposite the man.

The man grinned and poured a cup of tea, handing the hot beverage to the freezing  girl. "Ofcourse I knew." He muttered, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

The two paused and let silence envelope them. Leilani had not seen the painting in the window, the place where she had last seen the man hang it.

"Um, so..."

The man shook his head knowingly. "I'm afraid you're a bit too late. The other one already came to collect it."

The other one, did he mean Sunoo?

"You and your 'friend' are the purest form of love, I wish you all the best." He added

Leilani didn't know what to say. Why would Sunoo take the portrait?

The girl looked up and smiled at the man. She got up, but not before exchanging pleasantries with the artist and finishing her cup of tea. Walking out of the comfort of the store, Leilani knew one thing.

The memory of her and Sunoo would be kept alive somewhere else.

Somehwere less expected.

-

"Why'd you want to meet? Now of all times?" Sunoo asked, meeting the girl extremely later that night.

"Here." Leilani handed him an envelope. The very same one that Sunoo had given her, containing the cash.

She had chosen not to bring up the painting as she was sure the boy had his own perculiar reasons as to why he had taken. Secretly at that.

"What's this?" The boy couldn't believe his eyes. His precious money had finally made its way home

"I'm not dumb, I know it was Sunghoon that day." Sunoo shouldn't have to pay for his friends actions. "How could my Sunoo ever make anyone uncomfortable?"

Sunoo huffed and wiggled the hair out of his eyes. It was getting a little too long, he would have to cut it one of these days. "So you knew it wasn't me? And yet you still accpeted the money?"

"Hey." Leilani put her arms up in defence. "If I didn't do that, we wouldn't have become friends. You should thank me Kim."

Sunoo looked back down at the envelope. He would rather keep Lani with him. Next to her, his money seemed oh so worthless. If only it could be that way

Sunoo smacked Leilani's arm and handed her a can of some sort of fizzy drink that he had produced from the plastic bag in his hands. "Go study now, your last exam is tomorrow."

The mention of her exam broke the mood.

"What if we spend the night together?"

Sunoo looked bewildered. He acted as if the girls suggestions were plain offensive. "If you fail, you'll blame it on me."

"Nonsense. I've had plenty of time to study, seeing that all my other tests are done. I'm prepared. And I want to spend time with you."

She was acting kind of clingy all of a sudden, Sunoos heart broke because he knew why.

She would be leaving in a day. And so, Kim Sunoo let out a sigh and held his arm out, gesturing for the girl to grab it with her own.

"Let's go for a walk."

-

It was midnight and the two were still inseperable.

The boy let out a stiffled yawn, trying to hide it from the girl at his side. Truth be told, he was extremly tired and was ready to go to bed hours ago. But he couldn't let down or disappoint his Lani, could he?

Unluckily, Leilani noticed his actions and put on a solemn face. "Go home now, make sure you sleep well."

Sunoo shook his head aggressivly. "It's fine, don't worry."

Leilani detangled her hand from his. "I'm serious, if you don't take care of yourself, you'll grow huge eyebags."

Sunoo looked at the girl.

"I don't think you can be an idol after that."

Finally, laughter was shared between the two.

Finally, they got to see eachother in their highest forms of happiness.

Sunoo reluctantly agreed and walked the girl home, leaving her just outside the house.

Looking into the girls eyes, he spoke seriously.

"I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'll see you."