Chapter 28 – The Best Christmas Present

Days passed and the semester finally ended. As far as Tae was concerned, we had patched things up and resumed our usual schedule of texting and late night phone calls. Though my coworkers hadn’t brought the subject up again after that initial first time, I still had a nagging feeling about it, but Taehyung was such a good boyfriend to me, I couldn’t help but selfishly ignore it. Soon, it was almost time for the 2^nd part of their Japan “tour” and I started excitedly counting down the days ‘til the time I’d be able to go meet him in Kobe.

A few days before Christmas, he emailed me a copy of a reservation in my name for a hotel from the 25^th until the 29^th; Their first show was on the 26^th, but I was starting to get used to his habit of showing up a day early, so I started packing.

I was ready to go two days before the date, and got up pretty early on the day of the 25^th to get on the shinkansen. I was giddy with excitement, and being able to see my baby boy was probably the best Christmas present I could’ve ever received at that time.

I arrived in Kobe early in the afternoon and made my way to the hotel. It was conveniently located only one teleport stop away from the concert venue, but that wasn’t the most impressive thing about it. When I finally reached the address on my google map, my mouth dropped and I did several double-takes because I stood in front of an enormous skyscraper. There was no doubt about it though; the name matched the one on the printout of my reservation so, hesitantly, I made my way in.

But if I was surprised by the outside, it was nothing against what it felt like when I walked into my room. It was on the 22^nd floor of the building, and had large windows at the back of the room overlooking the entire city. I walked over, in a daze and pressed my face against the glass, muttering “wow…” without even realizing it. The room itself was quite big, for just one person, and beautiful decorated, with a massive king-sized bed that looked incredibly comfortable. I wondered how much all this was costing Tae, but I had learned that it was better not to ask about those things, so I put it out of my mind.

I started unpacking my things and dressing up prettily in a cute dress I’d selected for the occasion – it was Christmas after all – and set off to wait. I knew he was already in Japan but I had no idea how long it would be ‘til he could come meet me, so there was nothing else to do.

*

It was almost midnight when a knock on my door came to rouse me from the sleepy state I’d fallen into, watching boring Japanese TV. Though the voice on the other side called out “room service!!” loudly, I knew there was only one person it could really be.

I jumped off the bed and practically ran towards the door, pulling it back violently to reveal a beaming Tae on the other side. He stood there, looking irritatingly handsome in a stylish long grey jacket; holding a bottle of champagne in one hand, and a bucket of KFC* in the other.

“This is what you do in Japan, right?” he said, raising the chicken a little higher as I stared at it, and I just started laughing.

I held the door wider so he could come in and closed it behind him. In that time, he had managed to deposit his offerings on the table and turn around to sweep me in a dramatic embrace.

“Hi,” he said, with a cheeky grin, his face inches away from mine.

I didn’t wait. I leaned in and pressed my lips against his, wrapping my arms around his neck. He pulled me a little closer as he responded in kind.

After a few minutes of this, we finally pulled apart and he took his jacket off. He was wearing a black button-up dress shirt underneath with black trousers. I didn’t know if he had made an effort for this, or if he was just coming back from some schedule that had styled him up like that, but he did look very nice dressed up so formally, and he seemed very amused when he caught me staring.

We had to call room service to get champagne glasses, and once it came we set off eating our chicken and drinking – though it was mostly him doing the eating, since I’d already had dinner earlier in the evening. We chatted, catching each other up on what had happened in our lives since we’d last seen each other, and he held onto my hand across the table for the entire time. In fact, the only time that he let go was when he got a call on his phone and he excused himself to go take it in the bathroom.

Since he was taking an awfully long time in there, I got up and walked over to the window, staring out at the beautiful night view. It was really amazing to be able to spend this day in a place such as this. I sighed happily as a small smile crept over my lips.

“You thinking about me?” I heard his low, breathy voice close to my ear and my smile grew wider.

His arms slipped around my waist, pulling me close against his chest, and he rested his chin against my neck as we looked onto the city, cheek-to-cheek.

“Thanks.” I told him after a moment, and I felt him smile upon my cheek.

“That’s not the present, you know.” he answered, reading my thoughts.

“It’s not?” I turned my head a fraction of an inch to stare at him questioningly.

He smirked and lifted up his right hand to my face. It was holding a small little brown box, wrapped in a red-and-gold ribbon.

“What’s this?” I asked in surprise, “It’s not a ring, is it?” I added, joking.

“Just open it.”

The smirk fell off my lips as he refused to answer, placing the small object in my hand.

“Tae…”

“Open it!” he repeated, grinning, and clearly enjoying torturing me.

I pulled the ribbon off and opened the little box. Inside was a small piece of paper with a series of numbers on it. I looked at it, puzzled; definitely underwhelmed.

“Eh?”

He just stood there grinning at me, ever the over-eager puppy.

“What does it mean?” I pressed on, totally confused.

“It’s the code,” he said, with a somewhat softer smile, “for an apartment in Korea.”

“…I still don’t get it,” I replied, flatly. So he turned me around, took my hands together in both of his and looked right into my eyes. I stared back at him like a perplexed little animal.

“For you. Move to Korea.”

There was a moment where he just stared at me after he’d said that, smiling as silence hung in the air and I registered the meaning of his words.

“Eeeeeeehhhh?!?!!!!!!”

Was my reply, once I finally got it and my eyes went wide with shock. He laughed in response; a full, loud, delightful sound – his shoulders shaking and his eyes disappearing into little black lines. I stared at him ‘til he stopped.

“You said I don’t think our future. So I think. And you’re right. Japan is too far. I want to be with you any time. So I want you come to Korea.” he said all in one go, taking my hands in his again and looking into my eyes while I just stared at him with round, stunned eyes.

“Please, move to Korea.” he asked again, holding my hands closer to his face, “For me.”

He wasn’t smiling as he waited for my answer, but his eyes were the brightest thing in the universe. I felt mine starting to water.

“But… but…” I argued, “Tae, I can’t. What about my job? I need a work visa…”

He placed a finger over my lips, shushing me. “Don’t worry, I think all. My father friend has hagwon in Seoul, he take you.”

I just stared at him, once again, stunned.

“You can email him after and do paperwork stuff… maybe start in one or two months after your school finish here, yes?” he went on and I just blinked at him.

He really had thought of everything.

He grinned at me, so pleased with himself, then his expression softened and he caressed my cheek with one of his hands. “See. I think our future. I want you with me.”

This time I couldn’t help it, I started to cry. And with that same hand, he brushed those tears away and leaned in to place a soft kiss over my eyelids.

“No tears, my noona.” he whispered, looking down at me with eyes that were both tender and heated at the same time. “You say yes?”

I looked back at him and could only nod, unable to grant his request of no tears. He didn’t seem to care though as he pulled me in for an extra tight, extra long hug, where I could almost feel his heart beat through the fabric of his shirt.

“Noona…?” he asked, a minute later, though we remained in the same position.

“Yes?” I replied, eyes closed, not wanting to move.

“I’m really, really happy.” he simply said, holding me a little tighter, and I could hear the smile in his voice.

I smiled into his chest, not bothering to open my eyes. This boy. This precious, way-too-young-for-me baby boy. He had broken down all of my defenses and had kept all his promises. And he was still here.

I started tearing up again.

“Me too, babe. Me too.”

*Note: in Japan, people eat fried chicken (preferably KFC) and shortcake on Christmas Eve, and couples usually have a special date together, a bit like our Valentine's Day. It’s such a silly tradition but if you tell a Japanese person that it’s not like that in the West, they will look at you completely baffled like you just told them the sky is not blue.