“Yah! Where are you going? I just said I’m lonely,” Kim Hanbin shouted before he pouted at his friend. He looked so heartbroken.

                His friend, Kwon Sohyun, shook her head as she grabbed her things. She threw Hanbin a glare, “Don’t ‘yah’ me. I’m older than you by 2 years.”

                Hanbin sulked and afterwards threw Sohyun the same look the girl gave him. He crossed his arms like a brat as he told her that he doesn’t really care about their age difference because their maturity is on the same level – she laughed out loud when he said that – and he doesn’t really care because she’s being ‘insensitive’.

                Before their little fight started, Hanbin was ranting. He was being a little mad because it was Christmas yet the flirty, irritating couples made the holiday look like Hearts’ day or White day. The PDA monsters were ruling the streets of Seoul and they were making the man’s head ache. They were eyesores for him.

                Another thing that made him angry was the couples in the theaters. Just the other day, he watched some action movie in the movie house. Though the movie’s genre was action, there were a lot of couples inside the theater. Hanbin couldn’t concentrate on the movie since the couples surrounding him were being too touchy. And for a single young man like him, the sight was quite disturbing.

                Hanbin even said, “Their couple shirts or rings are disgusting. Spending money on those would be wastage.”

                Sohyun just laughed at him, telling him that he’s just jealous of the things that couples do. Her words made Hanbin flabbergasted. He found her words unbelievable. He would never be jealous of stupid couples – according to him. He defended himself by saying that the money that those couples wasted could be given to a charity. Sohyun retorted back by asking if he, as a single, was donating to the poor. When he couldn’t answer, he just scoffed.

                “You’re really going to leave me here, Kwonsso? The boys invited me out to a party and you know that I couldn’t come without you,” Hanbin asked, adding his thoughts to convince the lady to stay. He stared at her, trying his best to act cute but not being too obvious about it, “There would be a lot of couples there.”

                Sohyun rolled her eyes as she put on her jacket. She straightened her clothes with her hands as she talked to the man, “I know. I was also invited, right? And Kim Hanbin, my mom called. That means I have to go. No worries though, I’ll come back here before the Christmas Eve party starts.”

                “Fine,” the man sighed as he opened the door for his friend. The woman hurriedly went out. Before the woman could ride a taxi, Hanbin didn’t fail to shout at her to keep her promise to come back or else, he would fetch her in her house. Sohyun immediately shouted back that she would be back. She didn’t want Hanbin to go in her place because her oppa doesn’t really approve her to have male friends. There were only limited guys in her brother’s list and Hanbin isn’t one of them. Hanbin is particularly hated by Sohyun’s brother. Well, short-tempered meets short-tempered; just everything could go wrong.

                Hanbin slumped on the sofa after he closed his door after seeing his dear friend off. He groaned as he closed his eyes. He talked to himself and he even asked himself as to what he should do while waiting for Sohyun. After some minutes of his self-discussion, he finally stood up and grabbed his stack of DVDs. He scanned the covers and kept on looking. When he saw a blonde kid on the cover, he opened his DVD player and placed in the DVD.

                “I’ll spend my Christmas with Kevin,” Hanbin laughed to himself as he threw the ‘Home Alone’ DVD case on the table.

                He was intensely watching the first part of the movie. He was laughing and laughing and laughing real hard. But at the middle part of the movie, he somehow became bored. The thoughts of loneliness then entered his mind. He remembered his loneliness in his nineteen years of existence. Sure, his family and friends were there for him but of course, he was also craving for some romance. He’s in his teens and that means love experiences. Man, he couldn’t help but be jealous of the younger people around him. Well, even primary school students were holding hands and were staring lovingly at each other.

                Maybe Sohyun was right; he was jealous of the couples. He was just being too bitter about his own love life. He was just so… so lonely. But still, primary school kids shouldn’t flirt that early yet.

                “What the,” the man hissed as he glared at his phone. While Hanbin was swallowed by his thoughts, his cellphone suddenly rang and his ringtone gave him a shock.

                He looked at the caller’s I.D and it read: ‘KimBab!’. His eyes immediately averted at the clock. It was almost 11:00 p.m. It was almost that ‘party’ time.

                Hanbin murmured some curses before he answered the call from his hyung. A whine followed by continuous laughs welcomed Hanbin’s ears after he pressed answer. Bobby, that ‘Kimbab!’ caller, complained about the younger boy answering his call so late. Hanbin silently listened to his hyung’s drunken rants. He was just thinking that Bobby must have drunk about 4 bottles of beer or soju already.

                “B.I, don’t you dare think that I’m drunk,” Bobby warned the younger man by calling the male by his nickname. “The Christmas Eve party hasn’t even started yet so I’m not wasted yet. Anyway, get your lazy here. The others are waiting for you.”

                Hanbin inwardly groaned as he intensely stared at the clock. He tried to soothe his nerves before replying to Bobby, “Sohyun’s still not here.”

                “You’re a man! You can go here by yourself.”

                Hanbin’s reply was a grunt out of frustration. He couldn’t say no to that. Hanbin is just the type of person who wouldn’t let his pride down. And Bobby’s sentences, my dear friends, were questioning Hanbin’s masculinity.

                “Fine, I’ll be arriving there soon!”

                His ego just drives him to crazy things.

                The young man heard cheers from the other line, “Okay, B.I! We’ll be waiting for you.”

                After dropping the phone call, the young man immediately grabbed a pillow from his sofa and screamed against it. He continued on letting out his frustration but then his concerned mother came and asked him about his problems. He just kind of disturbed her from baking their Christmas cake.

The boy then stopped shrieking and gave his mother a small smile, “It’s nothing, mom.”

                “Is Sohyunnie coming over again?” his mom asked him as he stood up from the sofa. His mother knew that he wants no more questions about his dilemma.

                “Yeah, supposedly,” Hanbin answered and then grabbed the clothes he prepared.

                His mom didn’t question him further and just let him proceed to his room. He then changed his clothes. He wore a black sweater with cross-like patterns over his white sando. He then matched it with black jeans. He fixed his jet black hair up. He placed two silver earrings on his left ear. After fixing himself, he blankly stared at his reflection.

                And after some seconds, he threw fits while trying not to make a sound. He was just kicking and punching the air. He regretted his decision of coming to the party. He knows that he would be jealous of the sight of couples there but because of his pride, he still agreed to go. And now, things are even worse than before; Sohyun wasn’t there by his side.

                Don’t think about KwonSso. You’re a man, B.I.

                And after his little self-encouragement, he grabbed his phone and dialed the girl’s number. He was anxiously waiting for her to pick up his call. A side of his wanted her not to pick the call because he doesn’t know whether the next words he would be stating be true – which is probably not really the truth he knows. But then the other side of his wanted her to pick up the call because he wants to prove that he’s manly.

                After some seconds, he finally heard the girl’s voice, “Hey Hanbin, I’m sorry it’s just that mom wants to take some pictures and my oppa just doesn’t want me to leave – but I already told them that I need to go to your place. Anyways, I just finished showering because oppa threw a piece of cake on my hair and face. But I’m on my way-”

                “Let’s just meet at the party,” the man interrupted. He felt like his wanted to throw up because of the lie he just said.

                Of course the woman’s reply was, “What?”

                Hanbin squinted his eyes as he massaged his forehead. Making him repeat those dreadful lies makes him want to puke.

                “You get it. Just – ugh. Bye.”

                The young man almost threw his phone out the window after ending the call. He was so frustrated that he was pathetically going against his will because of his ‘pride’ and ‘dignity’.

                Hanbin might have surprised and confused Sohyun so much because she immediately called back. The man dropped her calls because he doesn’t want to be tempted. With his consistent dropping the calls, the woman resorted to sending him text messages, asking him as to what he really meant. But all he replied was, ‘I said: SEE YOU AT THE PARTY.’

                “Mom, I’ll be going!” Hanbin bade farewell to his mom and then kissed her cheek afterwards. His little sister hugged his leg and said her goodbyes to him. He smiled and ruffled his sister’s hair. His mom then said goodbye to him and of course, she didn’t forget to tell him to have a blast (which the young man thinks that is impossible – except if his mom was actually talking about a blast of his head and heart literally).

                After the goodbyes, Hanbin braced himself and headed towards the door. His beginning-to-sweat palms touched the doorknob and man, it was his first time to find something like opening a door be so hard. And he obviously took time since his mom asked him if he forgot anything. That made him snap back to reality, so he just smiled at his mom and he finally open the door and went outside.

                As soon as Hanbin closed the door behind him, his smile vanished. As he sighed to himself, his cellphone rang again. And this time, it was Bobby again. He immediately answered for the older man greet him with no complains. But it seemed like Bobby called him to complain.

                “Kim Hanbin, where are you?” the man from the other line asked. He was whining a bit when he asked the young man. “You sure took your time, dude. Are you still waiting for Sohyun?”

                “No, I’m on my way,” Hanbin immediately argued back. His pride was speaking for him. And because of that pride, he instantly forgot about his hesitations and called for a taxi. Without thinking twice, he told the taxi driver the location of the party. He was still on the phone with Bobby with the older man taunting him, so he just did the opposite things the man thinks that he was doing.

                 After dropping Bobby’s call, Hanbin angrily shoved his phone inside the pocket of his jeans. He inwardly cursed as his thoughts came back to his conversation with his hyung. How dare that Kimbab about not attending the party just because Sohyun’s not with him? Now, Kim Bobby would be proven wrong. Hanbin even told the driver the exact location of the party.

                Oh wait, he told the cab driver the exact location.

                “Crap!” Hanbin silently hissed and immediately looked outside. Too good that he’s like three streets away from the location.

                The young man immediately told the driver to stop. The driver was obviously confused because they were not yet there. Hanbin, of course, made a ridiculous reason, “I want to walk so that I could exercise! You know, to impress the chicks.”

                 The cab driver didn’t fail to give him a weird look before dropping him. He just disregarded the weird stare he’s receiving and just paid his fare. He gave the driver a childish grin before closing the door.

                 The next emotion Hanbin felt was being horrified after the taxi sped away when he turned around to look at the street. It was because he was currently facing the horror of his night – the couples.

                 Cold sweat ran down his forehead as he saw the cringe-worthy PDA from the couples around him. A lot of couples around there were flirting. Some were holding hands. Some guys were having their arms around their girl’s shoulders or waist. Some girls were hugging their man from the man’s side. And there were other couples who were sharing kisses they thought that nobody could see. Well, nobody would really see because all of them were busy with their partners – but then Hanbin’s there. The only single guy left to witness the love radiating on the street; the kind of love that he was horrified of.

                 The young man then immediately tried to calm himself down. He should focus himself on escaping the frightening place. He then gave himself a little encouragement as he composed himself. Calm yourself down, Kim Hanbin. You could totally pass through this. This is just a street. You’ll be safe on the next street. It’s not that hard.

                And who said that passing through a street couldn’t be that hard?

                Hanbin was sweating buckets of cold sweat. A lot of people were glancing at him. At first, he gave himself a little optimism. He thought that they might have thought that he’s good-looking and fashionable that’s why they kept on staring at him. But then he realized that he was the only single guy on the street. Maybe he stood out because of his loneliness.

                That thought made him frantic. He felt himself stiffen up and he felt his head go in circles. He thought that he would lose his consciousness but then his savior for the night came. It was none other than one of his best friends, Kim Jinhwan.

                Coincidentally, Jinhwan was also on his way to the party. He was driving his car when he passed by the street Hanbin was walking on. Fortunately, he recognized Hanbin’s stiff figure and called out his name.

                It was obvious that Hanbin was so ecstatic that moment. He felt like his face literally lightened up when he saw his dearest friend. That moment felt like a miracle for him.

                “What are you doing out here? I thought you rode a taxi. Bobby told me so,” Jinhwan questioned as Hanbin joined him inside his car.

                Hanbin pretended not to hear his friend’s question and just arranged his seatbelt. He smiled at Jinhwan and suggested that they should proceed to the party. Jinhwan gave Hanbin a weird look before he stepped on the gas.

                Hanbin was pretty thankful that Jinhwan saved him from the so-called ‘Couple Street’. But somehow, Hanbin also thinks that Jinhwan was nothing like a savior to him that night. Well, blame it on Jinhwan’s driving skills. He moves fast and smooth causing them to arrive really early.

                All the young man could do was curse under his breath as Jinhwan parked his car. So this is it. It is the time wherein a part of him will die in loneliness or will grow in envy; his moment of truth.

                Before going out of the car, Jinhwan asked him if he was alright since he seems pale. Hanbin just joked that Jinhwan’s driving skills were bad. But of course the truth is that he’s nervous to attend the party. He’s nervous to see his friends. He’s nervous without Sohyun by his side. And of course, he’s nervous of the love going on the party.

                Hanbin gave Jinhwan a faint smile as they proceeded to the party. He tried to straighten up himself. Of course he’s still shielded with his ego. He needs to appear cool. He needs his swag and carelessness on. He needs to act like a party animal. All of that for his pride.

                “Oh hey!” Hanbin greeted his friend with a handshake. He patted his friend’s head and then ruffled his friend’s hair, “Nice look, Junhoe!”

                The said man pushed away Hanbin’s hand and then tried to rearrange his tousled hair. “Hyung, I fixed my hair for hours!”

                Junhoe threw his hands up in defeat as he lost hope in perfecting back his hairstyle. He gave Hanbin a glare but the older man just laughed it off.

After calming down, Hanbin sat with his other peers. They exchanged greetings. They talked about how their Christmas break was. They talked about how the party was exciting. And of course, they talked about picking up girls in the party. Well, Hanbin was uncomfortable with the latter topic so he decided to change the subject of the discussion. He just asked to where Kim Bobby was since he didn’t see him yet.

                “B.I!” a familiar raspy voice greeted.

                Speak of the devil.

                Hanbin looked up to see the man who taunted him nonstop that night. He first made a quick observation about how he walked, smelled and talked. It seems like the ‘kimbab’ was honest. He wasn’t really drunk.

                “It’s surprising to see you still standing straight on your two feet,” Hanbin said to the older man. Bobby just laughed and said that he was really waiting for Hanbin to come before drinking. He joked that if he already became drunk, Hanbin might not come to party. Hanbin shook his head as he told him that even if Bobby was drunk, he would still come. He said that he’s not the type to skip parties or anything likewise. Well, that was what he had said but not what he had thought.

                Bobby just agreed and patted Hanbin’s back. The two of them drank some light alcoholic drinks afterwards. After finishing a glass, they decided to stop. They weren’t the type to push themselves to their limit in drinking. None from the both of them wanted a messy hangover for the next day.

                “We’re done drinking so I supposed that we should…”

                Hanbin’s breath hitched after Bobby wiggled his eyebrows as he pointed the dance floor. He was nervous as hell. It’s either he’ll make it or break it. If he could score some chick tonight, that’ll be great – but if the otherwise happens, that’ll be traumatic.

                Bobby smirked at Hanbin as he proceeded to the dance floor. He gave the younger man a taunting glance, as if challenging him into a dare. When Hanbin saw the smug look on Bobby’s face, he immediately followed the older man on the dance floor. His ego just kicks in.

                At first, he was moving from left to right, following the rhythm. He was observing the people around him. He was looking at the way they talked or moved with each other. His eyes wandered around to the sea of people, looking for couples that he wanted to avoid. He was also looking for single ladies that he may approach but none of the girls seemed free. All of them were already with their partners – even Bobby found his match.

                Hanbin felt his heart dropped to his feet. He knew that he’s bad with events like this. Or to be more correct, he’s just bad with girls. He was never the guy to think of romantic love as his priority until he reached the age of seventeen. That is why having a communication with a girl is awkward for him – except the girls he knew for a long time or he met for school purposes.

                He was about to lose hope when he saw a girl dancing alone on the dance floor. His hopes suddenly raised up high. She might be it.

                He slowly went towards her while dancing. When he was just a meter away from her, he saw her looking at him. He thought that she would give him a bitter look but she just smiled, as if she’s welcoming him.

                And just like that, Hanbin felt himself smiling. It was like the gates of the heaven opened for him.

                “Hey, mind to dance with me?” Hanbin asked as he moved in front of the girl.

                “Nah,” she smiled as she gently grabbed Hanbin’s forearm, leading him to outer circle of the dance floor. “Come, let’s dance!”

                The woman then began dancing in front of him. At first, he was frozen because it’s his first time to dance with girl who’s not his relative, schoolmate, friend or someone in dance class. He soon danced when the girl gave him a look.

                “My friends call me B.I. What’s your name?” he asked as they danced. He felt so awkward with their distance. He felt even more awkward when she placed her arms around his neck. No one else except his mom, sister and Sohyun did that (Sohyun did it for a dance). He even pushed Sohyun away when she did that in their dance practices.

                “Is that a nickname?” the girl asked. Hanbin nodded. The girl laughed a little, “What a weird nickname. My name’s Ae young by the way.”

                So there, they danced and talked and danced and talked. After some minutes of doing those, Hanbin grew comfortable. He danced naturally and he didn’t stiffen anymore. He was also naturally laughing to the girl’s funny sentences.

                “So you came here alone?” Hanbin asked the woman while giving her a smile.

                The look on the woman’s changed for a bit but returned to her usual smiling face, “Yes, of course.”

                Hanbin sensed something odd with the girl’s facial expression, “Hey, are you o-”

                “Look, I know that you’re a good guy and… I’m sorry,” the woman interrupted his sentence. Her words confused him more. He then noticed her staring at something behind his back. When he was about to ask her as to what she means as he looked behind him to see what she’s looking at, she suddenly hugged him. “I’m sorry.”

                The young man should have been happy. A girl was hugging him. He wasn’t going to be lonely for the night! He might actually have a girlfriend. But the thing is, everything moved so fast that he didn’t feel happiness in him. He didn’t get a chance to feel something.

                In a matter of seconds, the woman was peeled off from him. With a blink of an eye, he saw an angry guy glaring at him with the woman he previously danced with in the man’s arms.

                “Why are you touching her?”

                Then everything clicked together in his mind. Damn.

                 “Jisook, don’t hurt him!” the woman pleaded as she hugged the mentioned man. “He has nothing to do with this.”

                “But he was hugging y-”

                “We were just dancing,” Hanbin interrupted. He saw some people staring at them, probably curious of the scene they just caused. He felt embarrassed. People might have thought he’s flirting with a woman who’s in a relationship.

                Hanbin looked at the guy and smiled at him, “Your girl’s waiting for you and she was bored so we danced.”

                The angry man chilled down and then scratched his nape. He gave Hanbin a small smile, apologizing for the accusation he just made. The man explained that he and his girlfriend had a fight earlier so he thought that the girl found somebody new when he saw them.

Hanbin acted coolly, letting it off with a smile. He then bade farewell and then wished the couple a good night. He acted like a total gentleman. He didn’t spare the girl glance though. He could feel that his anger will explode if he sees her face.

                He immediately walked back to the liquor side. He immediately grabbed a shot of gin and drank it. He never felt so embarrassed and heartbroken and angry in his life. For the first time, he thought that he has chance with a girl. He thought he finally clicked with someone. But then it turned out that she only used him.

                What a horrible night.

               “Chanwoo, I’ll just walk outside for a while,” Hanbin said to one of his peers before walking out.

               When the young man was finally out of the party, he ran away and shouted. It was good that almost nobody was outside in that street. It felt good to actually just shout his anger out. He was about to tear up when he tried to control his temper.

                Lines of profanities came out of the young’s man mouth as he continued running away from the party. After some minutes, he finally sat down on the side of the concrete road. He realized that he was on the quiet part of the subdivision. It’s either the people were out to spend Christmas or they’re sleeping. It was just so quite. He found that comforting anyway.

                He was talking a breather when he felt something in his pocket vibrate. He then grabbed his phone from his pocket and saw that someone’s calling him.

                “Hello?”

                “What the hell? Kim Hanbin, where are you?” a woman’s voice screeched from the other line. Hanbin could hear her panting despite the loud party music.

                The said man lifted his phone away from his ear for a second and peeked at the caller’s name. It read ‘Sohyun’.

                “I’m in a dark street. The darkness is eating me,” he said and sighed afterwards.

                “What the hell is with that emo-ness?” Sohyun replied. She sounded worried but disgusted at the same time. Hanbin heard the music slowly fainting from the other line. It seemed like the woman went out of the party.

                 Hanbin didn’t remove the phone away from his ear. He waited for her next words but all he could hear were faint music and grunts. After a while, the girl spoke again. “Hey, you went to the left side, right? The dark part?”

                 “Yeah.”

                 The young man looked around him, scanning for the woman’s figure. He then caught a sight of a figure that’s quite far from him. The figure was almost a silhouette but Hanbin immediately recognized who it was. And for some reason, he felt a warm feeling inside of him.

The figure came closer to him. The street lamps gave color and definition to her face. She was running towards him, her eyebrows knitted together in worry as her distance from him was slowly diminishing. The cold night air and exhaustion gave color to her cheeks.

“Oh my goodness, Hanbin,” Sohyun breathed out as she approached the said guy. When she arrived in front of him, she squeezed his cheeks together, “I told you to wait for me in your house.”

The young man looked up at her. He didn’t bother to slap her hands away from his face – or rather he was comforted by the touch of her hand. Sure, her hand wasn’t warm at all (Hell, she was freezing!) but he felt warm inside. It was probably because of her concern for him. Or it was because she was finally there. She is his best friend anyways.

Sohyun removed her hands away from his face and sat beside him. She gave him an angry pout, “I even forced my brother to drive me to your house! He was angry at me but when he learned that you weren’t there, he was a bit happy to not see your face. But still…”

The woman’s eyes fell on the Hanbin’s hands. She suddenly grabbed his hands. He was so cold! She then grabbed the hand warmers from her jacket. She gave it to the young man.

“You are such a big idiot, Kim Hanbin.”

Hanbin wanted to laugh when she said those words. For him, she was the idiot. Her hands were freezing but still, she gave him her hand warmers. And she was an idiot for following him in the dark cold isolated place. She could’ve partied with the other people (because she wasn’t really against couples or such), but she still went with him. Well, she could either be a good friend or an idiot but Hanbin chose the latter.

“Did something happen?” the woman asked as she made an eye contact with him.

Hanbin stared back at her. He was contemplating whether to tell her of what happened to him. If he tells her, he could look like a fool. If he doesn’t, he could keep his pride intact but his internal suffering would be much painful.

He thought of not telling her because he doesn’t want to look weak in front of her or anyone else but the thought of his pride made him look back to the things it did for him that day. Maybe he could let his ego down just for this time. So he did. He told her of what happened.

“Idiot,” was the first word Sohyun said as the young man finished his story. Hanbin wanted to retort back but when he saw the emotions present on the woman’s face, his heart melted down.

He then covered her face with his hand, “Hey, stop acting like it happened to you.”

Sohyun slapped his hand away. She looked annoyed and sad. She was, in fact, crying because of the deluge of emotions she felt for him. She actually wanted to lecture him of many things. She wanted to go back to the party to punch the daylights out of the girl in Hanbin’s story. But after much thought, she just said these words, “You could’ve chosen not to show up, you know? You could’ve celebrated together with your family. You could’ve celebrated with me. I would’ve force my brother. There are just so many people you could’ve celebrated Christmas.”

She paused for a while and wiped the tears that kissed her cheeks. She looked at her watch and stood up before pulling him up, “If we go home now, we could celebrate with your family, come on. Hey Hanbin.”

“I don’t think we can catch up. It’s about-” Hanbin paused and looked at his watch, “A minute before Christmas.”

The woman gave him a look. She continued to make him stand up, “We don’t have to be on time. The important thing is to celebrate with them. So, come on. Stand up, lazy .”

Hanbin looked at her and then shifted his eyes to somewhere else. After staring somewhere, he then sighed and stood up, “Fine, let’s go.”

They began walking. Sohyun was leading the young man. She was walking fast. Once in a while, she would turn around and tell him to go faster.

When they were about to reach the illuminated part of the street, they heard some people chanting the countdown for Christmas. Sohyun sighed and turned around to look at Hanbin, “Hey, can’t you go any-”

All of a sudden, Hanbin pulled her towards him. Sohyun bumped into his chest and then she pushed him lightly. She was surprised because he wasn’t really the skinship type. She looked at him with a suspicious look. She looked behind him and saw that they were standing in front of a door of a café.

Sohyun had her hands on his chest. She was lightly pushing him away but he wouldn’t budge. His arms were not letting go around her waist. She felt a bit embarrassed, “What are you doing?”

“5!”

Hanbin continued to look at her. He actually didn’t know what actually came to him. He just planned things in his head and then he couldn’t stop doing what he thought of. “4!”

The two continued to stare at each other. Red was creeping on the woman’s face. She was really confused. The man wasn’t answering her question. The young man, on the other hand was also confused. He didn’t know why his hands wouldn’t let go of her waist. “3!”

“H-hey Hanbin!”

“2!”

Maybe he was just feeling the moment. After all, he was just another boy longing for something.

“1!”

“Merry Christmas, Sohyun.”

Cheers from the people filled the night air. It was finally the 25^th of December. People in their houses opened presents. The youths partied hard. Some people ate. Everyone was happily cheering of the Christmas’ entrance.

While people inside the buildings or structures exchanged gift-wrapped presents, Hanbin and Sohyun exchanged something else. Or rather, Sohyun received something unexpected from the young man.

Hanbin then gently parted his lips away from Sohyun’s. He was blushing red as his hands came back to his sides. He felt shocked because of what he did, but it somehow didn’t feel wrong.

Sohyun was also blushing in embarrassment. She was so shocked. She didn’t expect him to kiss her. It was too sudden. And it was just… just purely unexpected. She then touched her lips and looked at him. When she looked at him, they accidentally made eye contact and that made their embarrassments worse. The woman just shifted her vision from the ground to his face then back to the ground while talking, “W-why did you do that?!”

Hanbin immediately looked up and pointed at something on the café’s upper door frame, “Because there’s mistletoe here.”

                “A mistletoe!” she cried as she covered her face in embarrassment. “Of course, a mistletoe!”

                The young man scratched his head, not knowing what to say. He thought of apologizing but there’s nothing to apologize, really. He liked it and he doesn’t regret it. But maybe he does need to say it. After all, girls are creatures who are really hard to understand (for him). Maybe, she does need a ‘sorry’ from him.

                “So-”

                “Why did you do it?” Sohyun asked as she slowly lowered her hands. “You don’t even like me in that way-”

                “You can’t say that!” Hanbin immediately interrupted the woman. He looked so worked up. His voice was stern, so as the look on his face.

The girl looked at Hanbin as if he grew three heads or something. She looked horrified. Her reaction made Hanbin gather his composure. He then cleared his throat before calmly repeating his words, “You can’t say that.”

“You are really confusing me,” Sohyun whimpered. “Aren’t we just friends?”

“I don’t know either,” the young man responded as he shrugged his shoulders. And that was actually the truth. He was not sure of their current status. The only thing he was sure of was that they were not just friends but not more than friends either. Well, they had confusion just because of his action. Just an hour ago, they were the best of friends and now they were a bit complicated.

Well, way to go, Hanbin. You just turned your Childhood friend to a potential childhood sweetheart or first love.

The young man shook those thoughts off as he smiled at Sohyun. “Why don’t figure this out at home? Come on, mom baked a cake.”

Sohyun studied him for some seconds and then sighed to herself. She gave the younger man a small smile as she nodded her head, “Fine, let’s go.”

They were about to walk but Hanbin placed his hand out to Sohyun. The woman gave him a weird look, “What do you want?”

“Your hand,” the young man responded as if everything’s just chill and as if they didn’t discuss about his confusing action. The girl was about to protest but Hanbin already grabbed her hand. They then started walking. Sohyun buried her face in her coat as she mumbled ‘You’re confusing me more’ that the young man actually heard.

Hanbin chuckled, causing the woman to look at him. He then squeezed her hand as he grinned at her. “Hey, don’t worry about it. We’ll figure it out at home. Just enjoy the warmth we’re sharing, ey?”

 Sohyun looked down, a bit flustered. She cleared and then glared at the young man, “I don’t know if we could figure this out. Ugh, why did you kiss me?”

Hanbin rolled his eyes as Sohyun continued on saying her protests. He suddenly grabbed her closer to him, causing her to bump against him. Afterwards, he stared at her eyes and asked, “If you didn’t like it that much, why didn’t you fight back?”

Sohyun lowered her gaze but the young man placed their intertwined hands in front of the woman’s face, “And why are you holding my hand tightly?”

“I don’t know either!” Sohyun shouted as she forced to lower their interlaced hands. She was beet red. The young man didn’t know whether it was because of the weather or something else (like blushing). Sohyun looked at him and gave him a glare, “And on your part, aren’t you gross out by this?!”

Hanbin looked at their hands. He thought about his feelings about their intertwined hands. Strange enough, he didn’t feel disgusted nor angry. He even felt happy when he saw their hands.

Because of the odd feeling he was having, he just laughed it off and continued on walking, “Let’s not think about it.”

                After deciding to just let it off, Hanbin and Sohyun began to walk home. They talked about different topics while walking. They tried to completely erase their kissing memory.

Sohyun told Hanbin to give Bobby a message saying that he and Sohyun would celebrate Christmas together. At first, Bobby doesn’t want to believe but when Sohyun called through Hanbin’s phone, he finally did. Bobby told them that they would regret not spending their time in the party because they wouldn’t find someone they could hook up with. When the KimBab said those words, the two youngsters blushed and then bade farewell to the other line.

                The two ‘friends’ were surprised when they arrived in front of Hanbin’s house. It seemed like the time was so fast. And for some reason, their hands were compatible with each other. They enjoyed each other’s touch.

                The two of them let go of each other’s hands. Sohyun then cleaned the bottom of her shoe on the doormat. Hanbin looked at her as he asked, “Sohyun, if we find out that we’re more than friends, do you think it’s alright to be, uh, lovers?”

                The young woman knocked at the door. Hanbin’s mom shouted from the other side, “Come in!”

                Hanbin looked at Sohyun and she stared back at him as she grasped the doorknob. She gave Hanbin a small sweet smile, causing the young man to feel butterflies in his stomach and hope building up in him, but then her face turned dead serious, “What are you talking about, you punk? It was just one… k-kiss!”

                It was almost convincing that the woman rejected the young man but then she stuttered. And her face totally blew her cover. Her cheeks were blushing crimson.

                “Hey, you’re lying,” Hanbin sang as he tried to reach for the woman’s face but she slapped his hands away.

                “I’m not!” Sohyun denied and used Hanbin’s house as her scapegoat. She immediately called out Hanbin’s mom in order to escape their conversation. Hanbin couldn’t but laugh when he saw how panicky and flustered Sohyun looked like. But before the woman could even run towards Hanbin’s mom, the young man had a grip of her hand.

                “Hey, give me your true answer.”

                Sohyun looked at the young man. Her face was painted with embarrassment. She tried to look serious but failed to do so. Hanbin waited for her answer but she was just silent. The young man was about to protest (or whine) but the woman already started speaking, “Merry Christmas, Hanbin.”

                The said man looked at the woman with confusion. He was about to question her about what she just said but she suddenly squeezed his hand. Hanbin looked at her face and saw that she was wearing this cute shy smile. Then he suddenly got her message.

                He chuckled at her sly action. He pulled her towards him, giving her a hug. He could feel her tense up at first but then she soon relaxed. Her hands were slowly lifted up in the air, ready to hug him back, but she stopped when she heard something.

                “Hanbin? Sohyun-ie?”

                Sohyun immediately pushed the young man away when she heard Hanbin’s mom’s voice. Her head was hung low as she rushed to the kitchen, “I-I’ll help with the p-preparation!”

                Hanbin felt disappointed because of their interrupted moment but he couldn’t help but chuckle at Sohyun’s reaction. He was all smiles to himself until he heard his mom cleared .

                “What was that?” his mom asked in a serious voice. If the young man only listened to her voice, he would’ve thought that she was dead serious but he also looked at her face. She was also like him – She was all smiles. Her eyes added to that.

                The young man shrugged as he smiled suggestively. “I don’t know. We’re just… you know.”

                When Hanbin ended his sentence like that, Hanbin’s mom suppressed a squeal. But it was obvious that she was so happy too, “She’s a very nice girl. And she’s also pretty and – Oh my gosh, you just made the right choice!”

                Hanbin chuckled as his mom continued on chattering about how she likes Sohyun so much. They both went to the kitchen and saw Sohyun preparing the table. Hanbin’s mom immediately rushed towards Sohyun. She hugged her tightly as she cheered, “You’re the perfect one! I want four grandchildren, by the way!”

                 “What?”

                Hanbin’s mom chuckled in response to the girl’s confusion. She just pushed Sohyun towards Hanbin, “Enjoy the night, kids. Let me finish preparing the dishes. You go watch the television. Don’t worry, Hanbyul is already asleep in her room.”

                The two teenagers went to the living room and sat on the sofa. Sohyun immediately grabbed the remote control to turn on the television. She focused her eyes on the screen but she was talking to Hanbin, “I can’t believe that auntie just said that. We were just hugging and then she thought of babies.”

                The young man tried to suppress a laugh because of the woman’s outburst but he failed to do so. The woman then turned her head towards him and glared at him. “What are you laughing at?”

                “Nothing,” Hanbin chuckled as he leaned towards Sohyun. He then blew into her ear, causing her to squeak. And in his devious low tone, he whispered something in her ear, “Noona.”

                Sohyun immediately pushed him away immediately. She looked crossed yet she was blushing red, “And who do you think you are to do that?”

                “You know,” the young man trailed off as he laid his head comfortably on the woman’s lap. Sohyun stared down at him and he stared back. He gave her a boyish grin that would definitely melt anyone who sees it, “I’m just another boy longing for someone like you.”

 

                                                              

HOW'S THAT FOR A CRAPPY ONESHOT?! HAHAHA *cries*

To be honest, it's really long for a oneshot, ain't it?

Well, IDK. I'm, like, partly puzzled as to how to end it.

I was contemplating whether romance should really blossom between these two.

I planned that they would just give hints of liking to upgarde their relationship. And by hints, I mean

SMALL hints. But since it's Christmas I wanted to try to write a light kissing scene

(HAHA PLEASE SLAP ME).

So there it goes. HAHA.

Oh by the way, these couple ain't random. Back then, Sohyun did a featuring stage on song wherein

Hanbin was also featured. So there, I pretty much ship them. They're so cute (Sohyun and Hanbin in their puberty).

Anyways, Merry Christmas everyone~ Love ya!