How did it turn out like this?

It was absolutely horrible. I couldn’t bear to think about what happened. Out of everyone in the world, why did it have to be me? Just thinking about it made me want to cry.

“And what do you want for Christmas, little girl?” I, the man commonly known as C.A.P, asked.

That’s right. I was stuck pretending to be Santa Clause at the mall for reasons I don’t even know. Was it supposed to help us bond with our fans?

The child told me the usual thing little girls’ wanted that year. This brand new Barbie doll, that was just like any other Barbie doll but somehow better than the rest in the eyes of children. I smiled at her. I didn’t want to smile. “I’ll tell my elves to get working on that for you, then.”

Meanwhile my fellow band members were having just as bad as a time as me. Ricky and Changjo were stuck behind me, dressed in green with pointy ears. Yeah, they were my elves.

“Hyunggg, this is boringggg,” Ricky whined as he doubled over, letting his arms hang loose. I rolled my eyes. Like I can do anything about it, I thought, as I placed the girl back onto the ground. One more hour until my break.

Changjo scoffed at the other maknae, but smirked teasingly. “Yeah, I bet it’s boring to you. You’d rather be the one sitting on Santa’s lap.”

He perked back up, his eyes lit with excitement. “Can I?!” He asked excitedly, causing me to turn around. “No, now stand there and act like elves!”I turned back around to greet the next child.

“Hey, I’m Mr. Simple~,” Ricky sung, causing Changjo to burst out laughing. “Hey Changjo, why am I getting no presents this year? Because I naughty naughty~.” I kind of wanted to get up right then and shove his head in a toilet.

The next hour or so dragged on forever. Ricky and Changjo were being dumb and angering me more, and I had no idea where the rest of the band was. Niel was supposed to be relieving me of my Santa duties any moment, but he wasn’t showing up.

“He’s probably hiding,” Ricky said, as if he could read my mind. “I’m a bit afraid for the children!” He giggled, making Changjo grin and nod. “Either that or he’s strutting around the mall in a Santa costume scaring kids!” The older of the two joined in. I just ignored them to the best of my abilities.

About fifteen minutes later Niel finally showed up. I stood up immediately and let out a relieved groan. “Finally!” I shouted, storming out of the Santa section. He didn’t look too thrilled.

And neither did his elves. Or rather, elf. L.Joe followed after him, giving Niel’s back a murderous glare. I couldn’t help but wonder where Chunji was.

“Where’s Chunji, L.Joe?”

“Oh, you’ll see him soon,” He sneered, taking Ricky’s place. I raised my eyebrow. What was that supposed to mean?

A few seconds later I saw Chunji walking out, looking more miserable than Niel and L.Joe combined. I tried to hold back a snort.

“They made me put a squirrel costume on. .” He mumbled as he passed me, hesitantly taking Changjo’s place now. The two maknaes eagerly ran off to change, but I stood standing there for another moment, taking in Chunji’s costume. A squirrel. With a Santa hat. How festive.

I wanted to see how Niel would do at his Santa job however, so I hurried off to change myself. As soon as I walked out, I could tell things weren’t going well.

“I can’t give you a baby brother, that’s impossible! Go tell your dad to up your mom and then talk to me next year about a baby brother!”

It was hilarious and I wanted to laugh, but I knew I had to calm Niel down. I mean, bad behavior on another members’ part looks bad, but I’m the one who ultimately took all the blame. I rushed over to him and put my hand on his shoulder.

“Calm down, do you want to give the band a bad name? Just agree with whatever they say and tell them you’ll get your elves. . elf on it,” I whispered to him, but he just scoffed and shrugged my hand off his shoulder. I pursed my lips, trying to figure out a better method of calming him down. “Act nicer to the kids, and I’ll be real nice to you tonight. . ~” I smirked at the blush that crossed the younger boy’s face. “. . Deal,” He mumbled quickly, and I let out a single laugh. I couldn’t believe that actually worked.

I stood back and watched for a while to make sure Niel did his job right. Surprisingly, he didn’t have any more outbursts. Could I tell he was irritated and hated every minute of this? Yes, I could. But he could it up, I did it too.

A little while later Ricky and Changjo ran up to me. “C.A.P, they have a cookie decorating thingy! I made one for you,” Ricky told me as he held out the angel-shaped cookie. I was wary of him; I knew his tricks. But I took the cookie, figuring he couldn’t do much to it if it was already made and all he did was decorate it. I scanned over it carefully for anything wrong, but it looked like a normal cookie with sprinkles. So I took a bite. It wasn’t that bad at first, but soon an overwhelming salty taste filled my mouth. I ran over to a trash can and spit it out while the two laughed.

“What did you do to it?!” I growled, and Ricky held up a salt shaker. “Those sprinkles weren’t really sprinkles, just salt!” He shouted, running off with his partner-in-crime before I could say anything else. I just groaned.

I couldn’t wait for this day to be over.

I found my way to the food court a bit later. My elbow was resting on the table while I propped my head up with it, and I stared out the window. No snow at all. Just rain. It didn’t feel like Christmas at all.

“Hyunggg,” A familiar voice called. I looked over to see Ricky, without Changjo this time.

“What?” I asked, expecting some other prank. He just smiled at me, but not a mischievous smile. A genuine smile. “I know you’re annoyed and all, but you should still try to have fun.” I raised my eyebrow. “And how am I supposed to do that?”

He grinned a bit at me. “Well. . ‘tis the season to be jolly,” He quoted and let out a laugh. I crinkled my nose. “It doesn’t feel like Christmas.”

“Why, ‘cause there’s no snow?” The maknae asked, taking a seat across from me. “Is that why you’re so grumpy? Normally you love kids.” He continued grinning. “Snow doesn’t make Christmas. It’s your friends and family.” I raised my eyebrow again.

“What movie did you get this from?” I asked, but he responded with another laugh. “I’m sure it’s from some movie or something, but I don’t know. I just said it. So try to be happier! I already cheered up L.Joe, Chunji, and Niel, and if I can cheer them up, then I can cheer you up too.” He had a point.

Ricky took off again, back to the others I assumed. I thought about what he said, and decided he was right. A Christmas without snow wasn’t that bad, and some people went without snow for Christmas every year. I thought about L.Joe and how he used to live in California. If he could survive it, so could we.

And right then the sun started to break through the rain clouds. I glanced out the window and smiled, wondering how the maknae did it. It was like he knew the sun would break through.

I stood up and walked back to the others, more cheerful than I had been before. In my head, I decided that somehow, even without snow, this would be the best Christmas ever.