HERSHE - WINRINA

Offline

Monday - - 8:07 am

Karina sat back at her table after getting coffee from the pantry. She immediately opened their company IM to check if a certain person is already in. To her dismay she found this:

Kim Minjeong is offline.

Her eyebrows furrowed.

Hmm? Late for work?

It has become her habit to check on Winter by looking at her IM status every day. And without her complete awareness, she's not just doing it every morning but she's doing it like every hour of the entire shift.

She checked her phone to see if there were messages, apparently none.

Where could she be? Don't tell me she's absent? Or maybe she'll work half day? Should I call her? But what if she'll ignore me?

The status didn't change the entire day, making Karina feel weary. If it wasn't for the thought that Soobin would find it weird for her to ask about Wintershe might have already asked him. In fact, she was so close to doing that.

She glanced at Mr. Lee and stretched out her hand to pet it.

Aish. Where are you, Winter?

--

"Something bothering you?"

Heesung's voice had broken Karina's reverie. She turned to him with a confused face, barely heard what he said.

"Are you alright? You're spacing out again.." he asked.

Karina propped her elbows against the car door and gazed out the window.

"I'm just thinking of something."

"Penny for your thoughts?"

She leaned her hear against her hand and turned to him. "Mmm, it's mostly about work," she lied. She was actually thinking where on earth could Winter be and why on earth she didn't go to work today.

"Work?" Heeseung didn't sound convinced. "That work has certainly been bothering you for days now, huh?"

Karina raised a confused eyebrow.

As if getting what Karina was thinking, Heeseung continued, "You were not yourself over the weekend --- oh, no, let me rephrase that - - you were not yourself since I picked you up from work last Friday. Something wrong?"

Knowing that he's right, Karina lifted her head from her hand and turned back to the window. That Friday conversation had surely disturbed her entire weekend to the point that she didn't enjoy whatever they did. Everything was boring for her. Everything was lifeless.

As much as she wanted to stay and talked to Winter that night, she can't.

Heeseung needs to pick her up and they were supposed to have dinner with her mom somewhere in the city. And as much as she wanted to tell Winter the truth that night, she just can't. She was not prepared for that kind of talk yet. somehow it scared her.

All the troubles from the past few days sunk into her that night; her mom, Heeseung, Winter -- she just can't sort them out yet. In the end, she knows she said things that she didn't mean. She avoided the questions. But she never thought that running away that night would hurt her the way she's hurting now.

During the interrogation, questions started popping out of her head: are her harbored feelings for Winter enough reason to be in a relationship with her? And how serious is Winter about this too? Will it be worth it to risk everything now to be with her?

While Winter was cornering her with questions, Karina felt the need to escape because she doesn't want to make impulsive decisions that she'll regret in the end.