I flinched, pulling away as if snapped out of a dream. Bae was standing there, hair sticking up in all directions, looking between us with a look that was part curiosity, part amusement.
Wynter cleared his throat, stepping back. "Bae, you're awake. I— Uh… got caught in the storm getting Yesoh's bag."
Bae raised an eyebrow, her gaze darting between us, her mouth curving into a knowing smirk. "Mm-hmm. And here I thought I was the one who needed coffee to snap out of it."
Heat rushed to my face as I took a step back, suddenly aware of everything—the soaked towel, the slight lingering ache where Wynter's hand had been, and the way his gaze dropped, as if he felt it too. I tried to hide my smile, busying myself with fixing the towel around him, feeling his eyes still on me, even with the distance between us.
"Guess… I'll get that coffee started," he mumbled, heading to the kitchen, and I was left standing there, every inch of me alive and buzzing with everything unspoken, everything we both knew we'd just barely kept hidden. "Thanks for drying me off."
"Anytime," I smiled shyly, then made my way to the bathroom and closed the door, taking heavy breaths.
What the hell was that?
22
The Summer Of Hannah
P.S I Know Who You Did Last Summer
Summer ‘16
Yesoh 16, Wynter 18
The summer Sydney’s cousin Hannah came to visit, it rained almost every day.
Summer Sixteen felt different. Maybe it was the way the sun hung longer in the sky or how everyone seemed a littlemore grown up, wearing their edges sharper, like armour. Even Wynter felt different—more self-assured. Like he was finally stepping into the charm he used to shrug off. He was cockier now, leaning into his confidence with a smile that had half the people around him hooked. Including me.
But no one knew that. Or at least I’d tried my very best to conceal it all. Boys at school were starting to notice me more as I’d gotten older, that or it was the fact that I’d gone from a training bra to a solid B cup. Their glances lingered and questions turned bold, but none of them meant anything to me. They faded into the distance because who I truly desired remained in full focus. They didn’t matter to me, Theycouldn’t.
I was branded by Wynter Andy Kwon, and it was a mark that couldn’t be erased.
I waited for Wynter like an owl in hibernation waiting to see a season it would never witness. I knew I belonged in the cold, I would never see spring, I would never watch his love blossom for me like it did for Hannah. Even at sixteen, I knew that much.
But that summer, he still just saw me as Jiwon’s friend, his best friend's baby sister and nothing more.
And maybe that would never change.
And so, one warm afternoon, Jiwon and I lay stretched out on the grass at the park while she seemed lost in thought, her face softer and a little more vulnerable than usual as we shared watermelon ice pops, lips stained pink.
“Jiwon, what’s on your mind?” I asked, nudging her arm.
For a moment, she just stared up at the sky, as if searching for the right words. “I’ve…I’ve been writing to someone,” she said finally, her voice soft.
I propped myself up on my elbow, watching her. “Yeah? Who?”
She hesitated, cheeks flushing a little. “Sydney’s cousin, Hannah.”
“The one who’s visiting this summer?” I questioned as if there was any other Hannah. There was only one in this story.
Hannah was a force, a storm wrapped in silk. She had the same carefully spun bundles of golden hair atop Sydney's head. Eyes oceans of blue. Her bright eyes held an intensity that made you feel both small and challenged, like she could peel back your secrets with a single glance. Her beauty was almost unsettling, softened only by the hint of a smirk that always played on her lips, as if she held some secret she’d never share. She moved with the confidence of someone who knew the world bent to her will—American royalty in her own right, expecting no refusals, accustomed to getting everything she desired. She didn’t demand attention; it followed her, pulled along by her quiet arrogance and the mystery that lingered in her wake.
“Wait… Hannah? You guys have been writing?” I asked, genuinely surprised. “She can spell—”
Jiwon nodded, smiling a little. “Yes she can spell, don’t be mean. It started small. Sydney gave her my address last year, and she sent me a letter just to introduce herself. We wrote a little, and then… I don’t know. We started talking about things that I haven’t really talked about with anyone else. I talked to her about Mum and everything.”
If the Kwons were talking to you about their mother out of their own free will youknewyou were close.
Her voice grew quieter, almost shy, and I could tell that whatever she thought she’d found with Hannah, it was something important to her. This was the only thing that led me to ask,
