December 24

 

“I love you.”

 

“I love you too, Joonie. I just hope my presents came through to you guys over there.” Iori fretted.

 

“Don’t worry, they came through! Kyungsoo placed them under the tree for you.” Joonmyeon said.

 

“Aw, tell him thank you. But still, don’t let them peek at the presents!” Scolded Iori.

 

“I wouldn’t worry, Minseok hyung is watching over them.” He reassured.

 

“Oh alright. Anyways, my flight is in two hours. Flight...EX1349. I have to leave soon. I can’t wait to see you guys again!” She beamed in the laptop frame.

 

“It’s been three months, Iori. It wasn’t that long.” Joonmyeon chuckled.

 

“But I missed being in Korea! I even promised Hunnie and Nini I would come over for Christmas! I also missed you, Joonmyeon.”  

 

“I missed you too, Princess. Just be safe.”

 

“I will. Wait, the Chinese are coming, right?” She playfully questioned.

 

“Yeah, Yifan, Lu-ge, Zitao, and Yixing are driving here already.” He said.

 

“Okay. Tell them I said hi when you see them.”

 

“Alright. Did you forget anything? Extra socks? Toothbrush? Your medicine?” Joonmyeon pestered.

 

“I have everything, eomma, promise!” She laughed.

 

He laughed along with her. In the background, Joonmyeon could hear her older brother Tadashi tell her to get in the car so they could get to the airport.

 

“Assa! You heard onii-chan, Joonmyeon-ah. The next time I see you, it’ll be in the airport. Bye, I love you, Joonie!” She gave him another bright smile before she ended the video call.

 

Joonmyeon gave her one last wave and shut his laptop. He was so happy that after all those day without her, he can finally do the thing he wanted to.

 

That was to propose.

 

-    -

 

“Hyunggg!” Sehun yelled as he practically pounced on Luhan.

 

“Sehun-ah! Happy Christmas Eve!” Luhan said as he embraced his favorite dongsaeng.

 

“Hello, Minseok. It’s great to see you again. Where’s Jongdae? He texted me saying that he needed help on something.” asked Yixing.

 

“Hey Yixing! Nice to see you. He’s in the kitchen, by the way. He’s trying to make cookies.” Minseok said as Yixing hugged Joonmyeon.

 

“Iori told me while we were video chatting to tell you guys hi.” said Joonmyeon.

 

“I can’t wait until my bǎobèi comes so I can greet her in person!” Luhan said giddily.

 

“No fair! I want to greet noona first!” Zitao pouted.

 

“Xing! Come here! How do you ‘cream’ butter?” Jongdae’s muffled voice shouted.

 

“Hold on, Jongdae!” Yixing replied, walking to the kitchen.

 

“Ohhh, I want to help!” Zitao ran after him, eyes lit up in excitement.

 

“Baek, let’s decorate the tree before Iori noona gets here!” Chanyeol said holding a box of christmas lights.

 

“Good idea! Let’s go impress noona!” Baekhyun jumped from his spot on the floor and rushed to get the ornaments.

 

While everyone was chatting amongst themselves, Joonmyeon was on his laptop again searching for the nearest jewelry store.

 

“I need to find the perfect ring for her. But how can I find a ring as beautiful as Iori?” Joonmyeon thought, typing in ‘perfect ring’. Unbeknownst to him, Yifan was right behind him, watching his every move.

 

“How about that one?” Yifan’s slender finger pointed at a beautiful ring encrusted with diamonds at the border and band with a huge squared diamond right in the center.

 

Joonmyeon’s eyes scrutinized the ring and he smiled, considering his selection. And then he screamed.

 

“WU YIFAN, WHAT IN THE WORLD!” Joonmyeon exclaimed, not realizing he was leaning behind him.

 

“So, are you finally getting your guts together to propose to Iori?” Yifan interrogated, undeterred by Joonmyeon’s outburst.

 

“What?! You’re going to ask to marry Iori noona?!” Baekhyun and Chanyeol thundered. Sehun and Jongin stopped watching Totoro to look over at them. Luhan and Minseok stopped discussing about Manchester United and Barcelona. The door creaked and revealed a disheveled and red nosed Kyungsoo, hands overlapping with bags of food.

 

“Hyung! You’re going to propose to noona?” He grinned and his eyes smiled, hands clapping.

 

Joonmyeon looked down at the floor bashfully and said, “Yes.” There was a determined look in his eyes. The boys cheered and Minseok went into the kitchen to tell Jongdae, Yixing, and Zitao.

 

-    -

 

He took a deep breath as he entered the store.

 

“Hi, do you have this ring?” Joonmyeon asked, holding up his phone.

 

The employee smiled and went to the back of the room. He soon returned a small black box ajar, as to see the ring.

Joonmyeon looked to see the man’s name tag. The employee, Park Jimin, smiled once more and said, “I’m sure the recipient would be delighted to receive such a ring. You’ve made a lovely selection sir.”

 

“Thank you. I plan on proposing to my girlfriend.” He gave Jimin a small smile as he scanned the price tag and handed the money over.

 

“I’m sure she’ll say yes. Merry Christmas, sir!” Jimin said as Joonmyeon gave a small nod and a “You too!”

 

“I’m going to have to thank Yifan for the ring.” He pulled out his phone to call Yifan, but then realized his phone was dead thanks to the missing phone changer. He sighed, a bit disappointed and put his phone away.

 

“I’ll just thank him when I- no. Iori and I come home.” Just the thought of his princess made Joonmyeon so very happy inside. He chuckled to himself as he moved the shift gear to drive.

 

“I’m coming, Princess. Just you wait.”

 

-    -

 

It was already 10:30 p.m. and Iori still wasn’t there. Joonmyeon yawned into his palm and rubbed his eyes.

 

“Don’t worry, she’ll be here soon.” He told himself.

 

His beliefs were decreasing by the minute. He did not expect to hear the announcement at 11:33 p.m.

 

“Attention everyone! We are very sorry to tell you this, but flight number EX1439 from Tokyo, Japan has crashed. The plane ran out of fuel whilst circling around in a thick fog. There are no survivors. Again, we are terribly sorry.”

 

His blood ran cold. He couldn’t even breathe. Numb from shock, he cried. Hot tears streamed down his snowy cheeks. His body trembled. He was cold and alone. His heart hurt so much. The girl he held close to his heart, the most important person in his lonely life was gone. The clock chimed midnight and his body shook even more.

 

“This...this can’t be.” Joonmyeon whispered to himself.

 

“Merry Christmas, my princess.”

 

 

December 25

 

 

He was on autopilot. He drove himself home, black box in hand. He stepped in his shared house with the boys. He sat down on the loveseat Iori and him used to cuddle on. Yifan was the first one to approach him.  He handed Joonmyun his phone.

 

“A video?” he wondered. As he pressed play, his heart pounded against his ribcage.

 

“Hello everyone!” It was her. Iori. She was stuck in between a dead corpse and a part of the plane. She had a huge gash on her forehead and it was dripping, mingling with her tears.

 

“I just want you all to know that before I die, I wanted to let you guys know how much I love you all. Especially you, Joonie. It doesn’t look like it, but I’m impaled with glass right now. All of you should have a merry christmas, okay! Please don’t sulk for me. You all are my strong boys, you know. Tell onii-chan I love him and that he needs to take care of himself and finally get a girlfriend.” She laughed and paused, coughing.

 

“Take care of yourselves really well. I wish you all long, happy lives.” Her nose was bleeding.

 

“Joonmyeon, I wanted to marry you someday, but I guess this isn’t the time.” Her voice cracked and Sehun started crying.

“When life is hard, smile like an idiot. Remember. You guys are one. I love you. Smile. For me!” She shut her eyes and the video ended.

 

-    -

 

Joonmyeon gave one last look at the ring. He shut the box and placed it gently on the table.

 

“Merry Christmas everyone!” He solemnly smiled.