Banff, Canada
Areum could hardly keep her excitement to herself as she exited the plane with Joon by her side, pulling her carry-on behind her. From the clear glass surrounding the airport, all she could see were other planes. But that didn't deter her from the fact that they were in Canada, a country which she had always dreamed of traveling to.
"You're really a big fan of Canada, huh?" Joon said as he pulled his carry-on behind him, walking beside her.
"Well yeah, have you seen their prime minister?" she asked. Joon looked over at her with a picture of Justin's Trudeau in mind and rolled his eyes. Ever since he had become the new prime minister of Canada, it seemed as if all the world cared about was his looks.
"I'm just kidding," she said after a few moments.
He looked over at her with his brow raised slightly, wondering how true her words really were. She laughed as they continued to walk towards the baggage claim area, memories of what had happened on their last day at Argentina long gone.
"You don't look like you believe me," she said to him jokingly.
"Would you believe yourself?" he asked in reply. She remained silent for a few moments as she considered his question. And when she came to a conclusion, she shook her head.
"No I wouldn't." Joon laughed as soon as he heard her reply which caused her to laugh too. And when they had both stopped laughing, they smiled at each other for a brief moment. And at that moment, Areum felt as if Joon was a close friend and not a stranger whom she had met at the airport.
They stood behind the conveyor belt which carried all the luggage from their plane, looking intently for their bags. And after they found their bags, they were able to leave the airport.
As soon as they left the building, they couldn't ignore the cool air which surrounded them. And they also didn't miss the blanket of snow which covered the ground.
"I can already tell that Canada is beautiful," Areum said as she looked around even though she couldn't see much since it had already started to get dark. Joon didn't say anything and only smiled before he went to call for a taxi from a payphone.
---
After dropping off their luggage in their hotel suite, they decided to have dinner at the hotel's restaurant. When they finished eating, they were walking towards the lobby of the hotel when Joon suddenly looked at Areum, causing her to lift her eyebrow in curiosity as she turned her head to look at him.
"I feel like we should do something on our first day. You know, it'd be a shame to let it go to waste."
"What do you mean?" she asked, not entirely sure of what he meant.
Joon looked at her with a small smile and asked,
"How do you feel about ice skating?"
She laughed as soon as she heard his question.
"I can't skate for sh—" she cut her sentence short as soon as she noticed some children walking by with their parents and cleared her throat before rephrasing her sentence, "I mean I can't skate well."
Joon's smile widened slightly.
"That's great."
"How's that great?" she immediately asked him, unsure of what he meant. He chuckled.
"It means that I can teach you."
"I'm not sure I want to ice skate─"
"There's a rink close by, I saw it when I was researching this city before I made reservations. Come on," he said as he reached for her wrist and dragged her behind him.
---
"This is embarrassing," Areum found herself saying when Joon had made her skate by holding onto a metal skating aid.
"It's the best way to learn skating," Joon told her.
"Yeah, when you're two."
She watched as two little girls skated past her and giggled. She stuck out her tongue after them, causing Joon to chuckle.
"You're so childish."
She ignored his comment and pushed the skating aid aside, immediately losing her balance. But fortunately, Joon was able to hold onto her before she fell.
"If those kids can do it, why can't I?" she said in an angry tone. He looked at her, and found himself admiring her determination and because of that, he offered his hand to her and smiled.
"Why don't you hold onto my hand until you get used to it?" She looked at his gloved hand, unsure of whether or not she should hold on.
"Don't you trust me?" he asked, putting his hand by his side. She kept her eyes on his hand as she shook her head.
"It's not that I don't trust you."
"Good. Then there's no reason why you can't hold onto my hand," he said as he offered his hand again, "here."
She felt her lips turning into a small smile as she reached for his hand and held on. He smiled at her before standing beside her.
"Let's take it slow," he said as he began to skate. Areum followed his lead, keeping her eyes towards the ice.
"Don't look down, it'll just make you nervous about falling."
She nodded her head before finally looking up and they began to skate together.
* *
Seoul, South Korea
Jimin paced around her room, biting her fingernails nervously as memories of how she had seen Jin happily with another man filled her mind. She contemplated on whether or not to tell her mother about what had happened between her brother and Jin. But she didn't know whether it would have been a good or bad thing.
Her mother had been completely against their relationship since the day she had met Jin. And she wasn't sure if her brother would appreciate it if she went ahead and told their mother, especially when he wasn't there.
She had been so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't notice when her mother had entered her room until she felt someone touch her arm, causing her to almost jump.
"I'm sorry sweetie, I didn't mean to scare you," her mother said.
"I-it's okay," she managed to say as she placed a hand on her quick beating heart.
"Is something bothering you?" her mother asked. She immediately shook her head.
"No why do you ask?"
"You didn't even notice when I called your name almost five times."
"Oh, I was just thinking about work," she lied.
"Is everything alright at work?" her mother asked as a worried expression took over her face.
"No, I just have a new assignment to work on, that's all."
"Okay, I'm going to sleep then. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, mom," she said before she escorted her mother out of her room.
When she closed the door, she looked towards her desk where her phone lay and decided to call her brother. She walked towards her desk and picked up her phone, searching for her brother's name in her contacts before calling. There were a few rings before the call was answered.
"Hello?" she heard a female voice ask.
"Who is this?" she asked the person on the other side when she didn't recognize the voice. But as soon as she spoke, the line went silent, causing her to look at the phone to find that the call had been disconnected.
Who just picked up my brother's phone, she wondered as she continued to look at the phone.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
