Your Voice Ringing My Bells || Winrina

eight

Winter knocked on the white door like she usually did every week. When the voice from the inside told her to come in, Winter slowly twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open.

"Good afternoon, Miss Kim", the doctor said before WInter closed the white door shut.

"Afternoon, doctor", Winter smiled as she took her seat across the desk.

"How do you feel these days?", the doctor asked her with one eyebrow lifted, reaching for a ball pen to start jotting some information on a piece of paper.

"The meds help, but the pain keeps coming", Winter sighed as the doctor wrote something on the paper. "Can I ask for more stronger prescriptions?".

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Miss Kim. Again, I greatly suggest that you have your surgery as soon as possible. Holding it back would only bring greater pain to you day by day", the doctor's brows furrow worriedly.

Winter shakes her head softly. "I can't. My audition is in two months, and I can't waste my time any longer. I can't let those free times I had to let my hands heal from the surgery".

"But, miss Kim. Your hands will bring you lots of trouble. From failure to buttoning your own shirts to permanent sensory loss, the longer time you take, the worse it will be", the doctor placed her pen gently on the desk.

"Miss Kim, please— do the surgery", the doctor pleads again, but Winter still hesitates knowing how important that audition is for her. She prepared herself for that audition for her entire life.

She won't fail again.

"I can't".

*****

Karina always thought that her neighbor next door was jobless, but what she didn't know was that Winter was a trainee at a big entertainment company.

She got accepted back when she was just sixteen years old, but sadly, she never debuted.

Her trainee friends like Somi, Yunjin, and Chaehyun all debuted years later. Only Winter failed to follow their steps.

"Your guitar skills are not good enough for you to be in the band, Winter".

"You need more training with your guitar. You plucked the wrong notes".

"Winter, just— please. More training".

That is what the people inside the company always told her, that she isn't good enough. She practiced her heart out to be better, to get accepted again.

And that audition will be Winter's final resort before she gives up on them to start a new life.

But the thing is that Winter hasn't had a plan for a new life yet. She loves playing guitar as much as she loves seeing the stars in the sky at night. She loves singing as much as she loves seeing the lights decorating the buildings.

Winter just wanted to do things that she loved.

She picks up her guitar from the guitar stand before she sits on her balcony, strumming some random melodies as she watches the busy streets trailed by cars and vehicles.

*A/N - RECOMMENDED TO PLAY THIS BEFORE YOU READ!! (Ai Song )
*It's not Winter singing this (I've made them into Karina, but whatever)...

I've seen the world, done it all, had my cake now,

Diamonds, brilliant, and Bel Air now,

Hot summer nights, mid-July,

When you and I were forever wild,

The crazy days, city lights,

The way you'd play with me like a child,

Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful?

Will you still love me when I got nothing but my aching soul?

I know you will—

"Arghh!", Winter retreats her hand immediately from her guitar as the painful sensation hits her sensor. Her eyes squinted, crouching on the floor, a tear drops from the corner of her eyes.

Why now out of all times?

"Stupid hands... stupid syndrome... stupid sickness!"

Winter cried silently on the balcony, and she was glad that it was just five in the evening. At least Karina won't hear how much she've been crying since the day she moved in.

******

Like usual, Karina ended her shift at eleven that night, but as soon as she opened her locker to change her uniform, a nurse came in calling her name.

"Karina, someone's here, at the front desk, asking for you?", Irene said between the slightly opened door.

"Who?"

"I don't know. It's a man. Is it your ex-boyfriend?", Irene continued, and hearing the older woman's statement, Karina hurriedly closed the door shut before she walked out towards the front desk.

Irene is right. There's Jeno waiting for her, there.

"What are you doing here?", Karina called for him, snapping him from any possible daydreams that he was having just now.

"Karina— Oh, god! Please, Rina. I'm begging you—", Jeno tried to reach out the girl's hand before Karina quickly swat them away.

"I told you clearly that I don't want to have anything with you anymore, Jeno. Please, go", she answered with a heavy sigh before she turned around from him. But Jeno quickly grabs Karina by her wrist, still pleading.

"Rina— Babe, please. I know I made a mistake. Please, forgive me! I can't live without you!"

"We are inside the hospital, Jeno. Bring down your voice, please", Karina answered her with her unbothered low voice. She totally lost interest in him ever since. Why should she give herself again to a douche?

Aeri came out from nowhere, making a body barricade between the two, slicing the holds on Karina's wrist with her hand. "Don't you dare touch my best friend!", she said angrily with a low scowl to the man.

"Rina, go home. I'll handle him", Aeri said as she sliced and swatted Jeno's hand again and again from trying to reach Karina's.

With a thankful nod and a little smile, Karina walked away from the front desk, leaving Aeri barricading her ex-boyfriend from meeting her.

She headed back to the locker room, opened the door before locking it shut. She won't lie that the feelings might still be there even a little bit. She won't lie that she still feels sad about it despite three weeks after their break up. She won't lie that her heart still aches from the experience.

When her legs finally gave in, she knelt down, lying on the walls as she sobbed softly between her knees.