10 days until Christmas

  "Now Sungjae, if you continue being a good boy to umma and appa the rest of the year, Santa will get your baseball bat for sure."

 Squatting down to be at eye level with the young boy, Jessica couldn't help but scoff at Nichkhun's lies. It was nighttime and the mall was having a wonderful Christmas tree sale to help all those lazy people who forgot to buy a festive tree more than a month ago.

 The little boy nodded his head. "Okay Santa!" he replied with joy.

 Nickhun smiled and stood up, moving the freshly chopped Christmas tree over to his father. "Good boy, oh, and don't tell people that you want to be a New York Yankee. The ahjummas might just go crazy." Both Sungjae and his father chuckled, then thanked Santa Claus as they walked away with the very last Christmas tree.

 "That's why you're so good with kids!" Jessica remarked, strutting towards the jolly Santa. "It's because you are one yourself."

 Nichkhun nodded his head. "I know, I know. It's a blessing and a curse."

 Before Jessica could even make fun of Khun even more, a warm arm wrapped around her neck. She looked off to her side and smiled. "I'm almost done with work," she replied.

 "Looks like it," Changmin stated, looking at the emptiness of the dump known as I'Park. His eyes met with Khun's and he offered his hand. "I don't think we officially met, I'm Lee Changmin, Vice President of Marketing at SM Enterprises."

 Khun shooked his hand and introduced himself as well, "Nichkhun Horvejkul, Santa Claus."

 Changmin looked back at his watch, a quarter before 9 pm. "We better get going Jess, or else our reservations will be cancelled."

 "Oh but I -"

 "It's fine." Nichkhun reassured, already knowing what Jessica wanted to do. "I got the place down, you two lovebirds go ahead." Jessica looked at Nichkhun and noticed how insisting his facial expressions conveyed. She didn't want to leave right away, she wanted to talk to Nichkhun, try to get a decent conversation out of him before they never see each other ever again.

 No. Jessica needed to put her boyfriend first, in this case. "Thanks Nickhun." she said, she watched the two men say their goodbyes and she slowly trailed behind Changmin. She turned around one last time to look at Khun, who was picking up the trash that was covered in snow. 10 more days Jessica, you only need him for 10 more days, her mind repeated.

 "Come on Jess!" she could hear Changmin call from his car. Finally, she turned around and walked away. As Jessica walked away, Nichkhun kicked the snow, for once, he actually thought he would be the first of her priorities.

 "So for Christmas," Changmin stated, stirring his fork that was jabbing the flimsy lettuce. "Me and my family go to our log cabin in Aspen, go snowboarding, have marshmallows roasting on an open fire. It's like a tradition for us."

 Jessica smiled as she took another sip of her water. "Sounds beautiful."

  "It is." he replied. His mind drifted back to all the holiday memories that happened in that log cabin. The place where he lost his ity with a random Greek woman, the place where he discovered his true passion in marketing, not only was this temporary home just a nice gathering, it meant a lot to Changmin because it helped realize the man he is today.

 "Changmin?" Jessica called out to her boyfriend. She thought that he was going to continue his conversation, yet he managed to blank out before he could even finish.

 "Oh right," Changmin said, recollecting himself. "I already asked my parents ahead of time, and I would love for you to come join us."

 Jess dropped her fork in surprise and covered with her dainty hands. This was a big step for them, he wanted to take their relationship to the next level. "Are you sure this is fine? I mean I haven't even met your parents."

 Changmin, not surprised by his girlfriend's doubt, reached his arm over the table to grab her hand and smiled. "We've been going out for more than two years? I think this would be the perfect opportunity to meet the parents." He noticed that Jessica still wasn't convinced and he proceeded to grab both of her hands now. "I know it's big, to go overseas to a world you probably never experienced, but this place is special to me, and I want the most special person in my world to be with me. Just think about it, okay?"

 She wasn't sure if she wanted to go with Changmin to Aspens for multiple reasons, but she couldn't just decline it. The best she could do was nod her head, and think about it later.

 "Good morning Korea! I am Park Kahi here with I'Park Mall's y Santa Nichkhun Horvejkul and his lovely reindeer partner Kim Hyuna."

 Watching from the side, Jessica tried not to look so anxious in front of a huge audience to watch the interview. So far, so good, she reassured herself. No lights fell onto the interviewer's head, no crazy girls were jumping on stage to kiss Nichkhun, and neither Santa or his reindeer were completely embarassing themselves on national tv.

 "... I just knew I had to help her." Nichkhun stated, answering Kahi's previous question on Mrs. Ahn's incident. "I needed to be with her the entire time, because I didn't want her grandchildren to find out right before Christmas that their grandma was in a severe accident."

 "But she's alright now?"

 Nichkhun looked over to Jessica, their eyes meeting for a single second, then back at Kahi with a grin. "I check up on her every day, she's doing better."

 Hyoyeon, who noticed the intense contact between the two, playfully pushed Jessica. ("Stop smiling like an idiot Hyoyeon, everyone's watching.") Even though Changmin might've won Jessica over with a Christmas trip to Aspen, but she knew that fear of commitment wasn't the only reason why she hesistated to give a proper response.

 She knew that Nichkhun was crushing on Jess big time, but only insiders like Hyoyeon could even think of such.

 "Now to you two," Kahi addressed, looking at Santa and his reindeer. "I feel like there's something more than just a dancing partner between you two, is there anything romantic that goes on behind the curtain?"

 Before Nichkhun could even laugh about how absurd that question was, Hyuna placed her hand on his knee and smiled. "I wouldn't want to kiss and tell," she answered teasingly. The audience was a mess of emotions, filled with teenagers beginning to cry, older women ready to rip off Hyuna's hair, and of course the normal people who were cheering at the two.

 "I guess that's all I have to ask," Kahi concluded, "I wish the best for the both of you."

 "What the hell was that?"

 "I was just trying to spice things up!"

 "Do you not realize the position you put both of us through!"

 Hyuna stood there, glaring at Nichkhun. She wanted a relationship with Nichkhun, and if all of Korea knew of it first, then maybe they could just end up together. It wasn't a bright idea, but when will she ever get an opportunity to do that in front of television ever again? Yolo.

 Nichkhun, on the other hand, was not amused. He didn't want to go on a date sometime in the near future then suddenly be brought up about him dating an intern. He didn't want his family to interrogate him or judge him forever by going out with a coworker. More importantly, he didn't want Jessica to think he really did have a thing with Hyuna.

 "Girls will start writing death notes about you," Nichkhun explained. "Not only that, less people will actually come to this mall to sit on my lap knowing that my eyes are averted elsewhere. We won't be getting any money!"

 Hyuna scoffed, "I'm an intern, I wasn't going to get paid anyways."

 He turned to his right and pleaded, "Please help me."

 Jessica, who was sitting on top of the make up table watching the two argue, shrugged. "I think both of you are right and wrong at the same time. What Hyuna did say, did make the interview more interesting, but will probably cause a slight decrease in our customers."

 "Can I leave now?" Hyuna asked, fed up with this whole business deal anyways. Jessica nodded her head, and the young girl dismissed herself.

 Jessica wasn't too sure if Nichkhun and Hyuna actually do have a thing. She knew of Hyuna's blatant feelings for him, but Khun didn't seem to bat an eyelash at her. He was mysterious - it was hard to tell what he was feeling because he always had that happy-go-lucky look plastered on his face. Maybe he was confused about his feelings, not about Hyuna, but about everything that's going on in his life.

 Regardless of the amount of fights they had, Jessica would always consider (but not say aloud) that Nickhun Horvejkul was her friend.

 "... You guys don't have a thing though, right?"