Our Winter

again

Minghao waited and waited, but it always ended the same: he left alone. His father promised to see him off at the airport before he left to Korea for three weeks, but as expected, the man never showed. Sometimes, Minghao wondered if he even cared anymore. Most people would be surprised at the man he'd become, considering how caring and sensitive he'd been when Minghao was a child. He simply smiled sadly and boarded.

Even before the flight had taken off, a young woman, Xiao Zhi, if he wasn't wrong approached him at his seat.

"Uh, excuse me director sir?"
"Yeah?" He said looking up from his book.
"Actually, would you mind swapping seats with me, I booked this seat but I'm not sure why I didn't actually get it, I'm really sorry to bother you." She mumbled.
"Yeah, no problem." He said. The girl looked up with sincere shock.
"Y-you're not mad?"
He chuckled. "This man is your boyfriend right? Don't worry, it's all business class so it's not that much of a difference anyway." He smiled. She bowed down at almost 90º angle, but even from there, he could see how her face lit up.

Young love, he thought to himself. Picking up his things, he moved to the seat Xiao Zhi had directed him to. His heart skipped a beat as he caught a glimpse of the person on the other side of the barrier which had been lowered, probably by Zhi earlier. The girl took a look at him before flashing her sweet smile.

"Hi Hao." She waved, her eyes sinking into her face from the bright smile.
"Hi Mei." He responded, finally sitting down.
"So you're the one who Zhi swapped with."
"Uh, yeah." He couldn't stop smiling, even though he tried.
"I can tell you're excited to go back to Korea, huh." She observed, a hint of sadness hidden in her tone. But he could feel it.
"A bit, I mean some of my friends will be at the event, since I did my internship there before moving back to the Beijing HQ, but hey, I'm really glad I came back. China's always home." He replied, feeling a sudden sense of nostalgia.

"Yeah." She replied. "Wait a minute, you read that book too?"
"What? Ruin and Rising?"
"Yeah! Oh my god, I just finished that one like last week!" She exclaimed, her eyes twinkling. "Really? I loved the first two, so here I am. Wow, I had no idea you still read books like that." He said, shocked she still had the passion for reading that she did in high school.

"You know, I just realised we're friends and all, but we don't know enough about each other. Like what's your favourite colour?"
He thought. "Green."
"Green? Why? I thought you loved black earlier."
"Yeah, I did. But green brings me this kind of nostalgia, it reminds me of that park I used to visit with you, my mom's pistachio cookies, Jia's matcha lattes that she never paid me back for." He recollected with a smile.

"W-wow, I never knew that. Well, why don't you ask me one too? We can keep doing that for a while, till we get bored you know?" She asked eagerly. He nodded.
"Hm, what's, uh, something you've always wanted to try?"
"Oh, that's a hard one, funny enough I've never really thought about that."
"Really?" He asked, the prospect amusing him.
"Yeah," she nodded honestly. "I think it would be to have a nice picnic, on the edge of the river, a bit of food and light music playing in the back, with someone I love you know? A nice little getaway. Who am I kidding, that sounds so stupid."

"No."
"Hm?"
"That's not stupid, I think it's really beautiful."
"You do?"
"Yeah." He met her eyes, and a smile grew on her face. The moment was so serene, so quiet, so tranquil. Minghao was fully aware of everything — his dry lips, his weirdly turned torso, the way his hair was styled on his head; suddenly everything seemed to matter. Mei took a deep breath, opening her mouth to say something when she was suddenly interrupted by the pilot over the intercom.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard Korea Air, my name is Lee Jun Ho, I'm your captain today. Joining me is Yang Xi An, your co-pilot. This is flight GD 179, flying from Beijing, China, to Seoul, South Korea. Weather is good, we hope you have an enjoyable flight."