I don't know when I learned that cold was the absence of heat, but I suspect it was during a grade school science class. They never gave me an explanation of why in school, so I looked it up.
It turns out that heat comes from kinetic energy; that is, the movement of molecules. The faster they vibrate, the hotter it gets. We as humans become warm because heat sources (themselves quickly vibrating the molecules of air) transfer warmth to us.
If cold is the absence of warmth (pardon the switching up of the synonym; I have a purpose), then how does this translate to people and relationships?
I think the metaphor works well. Someone who is cold seems elementally so; without movement, glacial, without emotion (which could be considered heat).
I think about this because I have a character in the Christmas romance I'm writing, Brent Oberhauser, who believes he's cold. The truth of the matter is that he's trying to deny himself feelings, which is not the same thing. He has feelings; he has heat but is suppressing it.
One of the other characters, Santa Jack, points out that this isn't true. But I don't put in the cold/heat metaphor. Should I?
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