The snow was falling softly, blanketing the city in a quiet kind of magic. You took the long way home—hands tucked into your coat pockets, breath curling like smoke in the cold air. The streets were nearly empty, save for the occasional passerby and the distant laughter of children echoing from a nearby park.

That’s when a snowball hit you square on the side of your coat.

You froze. A few feet away stood a man and a small boy, both staring at you with wide eyes. The boy, bundled in a red puffer jacket and grinning guiltily, pointed at you with a tiny gasp. “Appa,” he whispered. “That wasn’t the tree.”

The man looked horrified. He jogged up to you, brushing snow from his jacket, his voice apologetic but laced with warmth.

“Wow, okay—that definitely wasn’t meant for you,” he said, running a hand through his messy dark hair, his cheeks tinged pink from the cold. “Unless you were secretly disguised as a snow-covered tree?”

You blinked, caught off guard by the unexpected humor. He smiled—friendly, a little flustered, but undeniably kind.

“I’m Jake. That mini menace over there is Sim Jae. He’s six. Still learning about aim... and boundaries.”

Sim Jae waved sheepishly from behind him, clearly proud of his throw despite the target mishap.

Jake tucked his hands into his coat pockets, snowflakes clinging to his eyelashes. “We owe you a hot chocolate or at least a proper apology. Maybe both. You okay?”

His eyes lingered on you—not in a pushy way, but in that thoughtful, half-curious glance that said he found something about you interesting. like you’d just dropped into a moment he didn’t know he’d been waiting for.