The Mascot:

By Snapplelinz

By nature, Im Yoona was not a cryer.

As a young child, her father had gotten on his haunches, gripped her shoulders tightly and said, ‘Whatever happens, don’t slow down, because the world isn’t going to wait for you.’ In layman’s terms, this meant that tears or any other emotional vices were muted and you had to roll with the metaphorical punches, regardless of whether Life’s punches only stung a little or knocked you unconscious.

Yoona stuck to her father’s philosophy for most of her life and even put on a brave face on the days when she wanted to curl into a ball on her bed and cry her eyes out.

But today was a very different day.

After all her determination and hard work, Yoona had still been called into her boss’ office and been told in no uncertain terms to pack up her belongings.

She was being let go.

It was hours later with a lot more alcohol in her system and Yoona still had trouble understanding how it had all come about. She’d done her best to do a good job and to be a team-player. Her father had always said that hard work and the right attitude would let her get further on in life. Why then hadn’t things worked out the way he had promised they would?

Several of her colleagues had joined her at the bar and offered their condolences. But in the end, they had all gone home with the promise of job security in the morning and she was left to her own inebriated devices. She stumbled precariously out through the swinging doors of the bar, feeling the biting cold form miniscule icicles on her already-too-pale cheeks which were wet with angry tears.

Alcohol had always been her tear ducts’ undoing. Even when she’d been at parties and drinking for fun, Yoona often had to lock herself inside bathrooms just to have a tiny drunk cry where no one would notice. If they couldn’t see you, then they couldn’t know just how much everything hurt, all the time.

Yoona blubbered uncontrollably, her knee-high boots sinking like quicksand through a thick layer of congealed sludge forming on the side-walk. It was two weeks before Christmas and most people had already taken annual leave to be at home with their families. This made Yoona even sadder as she thought about how and when she was going to make money from now on. The job market was over-saturated as it was and she had now been lumped in with the decrepit line managers with high school diplomas who’d been retrenched and the tragic college graduates with their fancy degrees who couldn’t find work either. The thought made her so depressed that she wanted to drink more; but the nausea from consuming too much alcohol on an empty stomach was already pressing mercilessly on her belly and threatening to decorate the curb.

She passed what looked like a toy store, which was still open somehow, given the lateness of the hour. And outside the glass doors stood someone dressed in a costume, twirling a board round and round like a pin wheel. When she got closer, Yoona realised that it was the store mascot: a gigantic brown and white teddy bear wearing a multi-coloured propeller hat. It had a big, ridiculous grin on its artificial face that Yoona couldn’t stop staring at no matter how hard she tried to look away.

To her dismay, the mascot caught her eye and waved without speaking. Yoona took that as her cue to begin walking faster, despite the wobbliness of her drunken legs. But she wasn’t fast enough when the mascot put down the board it had been twirling around and began jogging sideways next to her, waving its fuzzy arms comically to get her attention. Yoona stopped moving and glared at the furry mascot, especially when it stood in front of her and rubbed its eyes with balled fists in perfect imitation of someone who was crying.

Just when Yoona was about to swing a drunken fist at a stupid mascot’s face for making fun of her, the mascot lifted its index finger and waved it emphatically in front of Yoona’s face, possibly as a sign that she mustn’t cry anymore. Try as she might, Yoona was rooted to the spot, staring through blurry eyes at this strange store mascot who was trying to tell her something. The mascot then made two arcs with its paws and put them together in the shape of a heart over its chest. Then it walked closer, stretching out its arms towards her, almost like he wanted to –

 “No, wait a second…”

Yoona’s eyes widened when she realised that the mascot wanted to hug her. She hadn’t been hugged properly by anyone since she was a little kid and the thought terrified her.

“Stop, I don’t want it. Just get away from me and leave me alone –”

Her threats were drowned out when the mascot just went ahead and hugged her anyway. The more Yoona struggled, the more the mascot kept a good hold on her till there was barely any space between them. This was easily the most intimate and obtrusive situation that Im Yoona had found herself in recently. But just when her resistance had reached its peak, it finally gave way like a dam and she cried even harder as the mascot hugged her in earnest.

Despite the fur and mothballs, its arms were surprisingly strong and muscular, like that of a sportsman. They wrapped around her like tight, excruciating cords of steels. But the gesture itself was filled with a tender warmth which robbed her of breath and all her usual defense mechanisms. Her shields were down and she wanted to melt into those strong arms which felt like they’d never let her go. Even though she hadn’t put her arms around the mascot in turn, Yoona had still felt the strength of that mysterious comfort which came from being held and cared for.

Yoona hadn’t wanted a hug. But when it was over, she suddenly realised just how much she’d needed it all along.

And it made her cringe away from the pity which automatically associated itself with insincere ‘there theres’ and preposterous body contact which she hadn’t asked for in the first place. She disentangled herself from the intrusive mascot and jogged as far away from it as possible, her arms now swinging loosely at her sides and free from human contact.

---

Even after that bizarre incident, Yoona found that her dreams were being frequented by the teddy bear mascot time and time again, and always with its comforting arms wrapped tightly around her. And the instances when she met the store mascot again got delightfully stranger.

The second time she met him was in the middle of the day when she was walking along the same block, trying to buy a decent Christmas present for her brother. Once again, it was twirling a sign for the toy store in its furry paws, a few pedestrians stopping to stare at its impressive acrobatics.

Their eyes met and Yoona in a breath when the mascot started tossing the tiny billboard higher in the air and adding a few incredible somersaults into the mix before catching the piece of cardboard without breaking into a sweat. While the crowd which had gathered around it continued cheering, the mascot set the board down and walked towards Yoona with purpose. Like before, she backed up just a little, but only because he started dancing in front of her.

And they weren’t ordinary dance moves either. Yoona watched in a mesh of awe and embarrassment at the teddy bear mascot’s remarkable ability to pop, lock, whip and even nae nae. She shook her head and started laughing in spite of herself when he made the shape of a heart in front of his chest once more before doing ‘the worm’ for her benefit right on the sidewalk.

The real kicker came when she found herself walking past that same toy store a week before Christmas, feeling even more depressed about her circumstances. Still, her eyes picked out that strange mascot while he appeared to be posing in a selfie with what looked like college students who were clearly drunk.

When the mascot spotted Yoona, it quickly broke away from the drunk selfie and jogged towards a flower vendor who still had a stall open after hours. It made a few hand gestures which the vendor seemed to understand and finally came jogging back to Yoona carrying a small bouquet of white and pink orchids.

“No, I can’t accept those,” Yoona said in a flash, going so far as to wave her hands wildly as she spoke.

But with a gentle kind of firmness that Yoona had never seen in anyone else before, the mascot gave her the bouquet anyway. Then it took two index fingers and made an arc over its mouth in the shape of a smile and sauntered back to its designated corner outside the toy store. All Yoona could do after that was walk away in a numb state of bewilderment. She finally sniffed at the flowers while she stood outside her front door 15 minutes later, realising with dizzying clarity that they were the most beautiful things she had ever smelt.

She finally told her girlfriends all about the strange store mascot when they were sitting in a private booth in a club a few nights later.

“Oh my God, that is the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard!” Sunny, the incurable romantic, trilled.

“It wasn’t sweet, Sunny. It was unbelievably creepy and here’s why: he was wearing a costume, he invaded her personal bubble and he may very well be a serial killer.” Jessica, the incurable cynic, countered.

“Don’t listen to either of them, Yoona. Sure, it was a little odd that he (or she) hugged you out of nowhere. But…it was obviously trying to cheer you up given the crappy circumstances, which was a nice thing to do.” Taeyeon, the voice of reason, concluded.

Yoona sighed and pushed her straw around in a circle in her nearly-empty glass. “I don’t even know why I’m thinking so hard about any of this; it’s probably because I have nothing better to do with my time these days. But, it felt like I made this weird connection with…it.”

While Sunny gushed like an idiot and Jessica rolled her eyes, Taeyeon smiled and touched Yoona lightly on the shoulder. “So…when are you going to see…it again?”

---

As for that question, Yoona didn’t answer it till well after Christmas. But before then, she sauntered back into the same bar she’d frequented the night of her first encounter with the store mascot. The bar wasn’t as packed as that night, but there were a substantial amount of people sitting at the bar counter.

One of the patrons was a tall and burly man wearing a white tee which showed off his muscles in all the right places, black jeans and grey and white Nike Air Force 1’s. He glanced spontaneously at Yoona’s entrance and did a sudden double take. He shook his head like he was shaking water out of his ears and took a long gulp of his cocktail known as a ‘Teddy Bear’ made with root beer schnapps and vodka.

His intense stare hadn’t been lost on Yoona when she took her seat at the bar. She locked eyes with the stranger and frowned speculatively. Finally, he looked away and laughed sardonically to himself, which irritated her even more.

“Do you have a problem or something?”

“Excuse me?”

“I asked if you have a problem. Why are you staring at me like that? Do I have green in my teeth?”

“No, not at all. I’m really sorry, you…remind me of someone. Please just ignore me and continue having a lovely evening.” The man apologised.

Yoona was surprised by the apology which had seemed 100% sincere. But instead of acknowledging it further, she took off her jacket and hung it over the back of her seat before ordering a drink.

The man couldn’t stop himself from turning to face Yoona a second time while she was checking her cellphone for any messages. “I’m Ok Taecyeon by the way.”

Yoona looked up at the persistent stranger with a grimace. “Charmed.”

“I’m sorry, I know I’m being totally weird right now. It’s just…do you come here often?” Taecyeon asked in a flash.

“Wow, that pick-up line is so lame.” Yoona quipped.

“No, that’s not what I meant! Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I am saying and doing all the wrong things tonight. I was just wondering whether you’ve been in this neighbourhood at all the past few weeks, maybe doing some Christmas shopping. I feel like I’ve seen you before.” Taecyeon amended, cursing how absurdly tongue-tied he sounded.

Yet again, Yoona seemed to deflate even under the intensity of this man’s gaze and sudden interest in her. “Oh. Um, yeah, I’ve been to this neighbourhood a couple of times for Christmas shopping. How about you?” she asked purely to be polite.

“Same. And a friend of mine owns a store around here, so I help – I mean, hang out there a lot,” Taecyeon answered, sipping on his cocktail yet again to clear his hoarse throat.

“Really? Which store does your friend own?”

“The toy store across from here.”

“That’s cool. I walk by there often.”

“Excellent. That’s probably where I saw you.”

Yoona and Taecyeon fell into an awkward silence for close to 20 seconds after that. The bartender had finished mixing Yoona’s cocktail and handed it to her with a genial smile.

“That looks good. What is it?”

In spite of the fact that she just wanted to be alone, Yoona was still courteous since the man was just talking to her and not being rude. “It’s Irish Cream and hot chocolate. The bartender calls it ‘The Big Hug’.”

This time, Taecyeon didn’t bother hiding his grin while sipping on his ‘Teddy Bear’. “That’s a really original drink. Kinda like the one you made for me too, GD.” He added, giving his friend a sidelong look as if to say ‘are you kidding me’.

“I thought it suited you well,” the bartended offered with a sly wink in Taecyeon’s direction, which confused Yoona. She got the distinct impression that it was an inside joke between Taecyeon and the bartender.

Taeyeon cleared his throat and turned in his seat to face Yoona. “So are you finally going to take me off the bench and tell me your name?”

Yoona chuckled mirthlessly and took a delicate sip of her drink. “Using sports metaphors. I had you pegged for a beef cake.”

“Is that a thinly veiled insult?”

“Honey, there’s no veil anywhere on that insult.”

Instead of putting Taecyeon off, he smiled all the wider at this intriguing woman who had come into his life in a short space of time.

Yoona stole a glance at the handsome stranger and sighed, feeling her defenses crumbling down all around her. “I’m Im Yoona.”

“Yoona.” Taecyeon sounded out the name on his tongue and Yoona was struck anew by the unusual lilt in his accent, like he’d spent time abroad in the States, which was oddly intriguing. “That’s a pretty name, it suits you.”

“Another pick-up line?”

“Nope, that one was all me.”

“Or just one you heard on The Bachelor before.”

Taecyeon sniggered at this and sipped on his drink, grimacing just a little at the bitter sting of vodka which laced his tongue. He’d always been a ‘beer-and-nothing-else’ kind of guy, but GD constantly found sneaky ways to convince him to try his latest concoctions. The schnapps took him back to summers spent at the local diner near his house growing up, dining on salty French fries and root beer floats. Now GD was trying out the same nostalgic tricks on Yoona with his ‘Big Hug’ concoction, which was obviously meant to tell her something. Taeyeon shook off the forbidden thought and focused on the way the dim bar lighting subtly illuminated the thick veins along the inside of Yoona’s wrist while she admired her fingernails.

“So what do you do?” he asked while snacking on some bar nuts in a bowl close to him.

The hurt was still fresh and smarted for Yoona every time someone asked her that question.

“Nothing at the moment, I got laid off two weeks ago.”

Taecyeon’s eyes crinkled with sadness when he heard this. “I’m so sorry, Yoona.”

Yoona shrugged and looked straight ahead at GD mixing a Piña Colada for another female customer who’d just walked in with a few of her friends. It made her wonder why she wasn’t with her friends or family tonight and talking to a complete stranger about her problems instead. In a bizarre way, Taecyeon reminded her of the faceless and voiceless toy store mascot. “It’s ok, it happens all the time, right? I’ll find something else soon.”

“Sure,” Taecyeon replied, staring pensively at the bar counter; he could still pick out the tiniest fragments of dust where GD hadn’t sufficiently cleaned it. “If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of work did you do before?”

This time, Yoona grimaced in a comical way before she answered. “Only the most boring kind: clerical.”

Taecyeon laughed at this while finally ordering himself a beer. “That sounds like torture.”

“That’s enough out of you,” Yoona quipped, pretending to toss a straw at Taecyeon. “What do you do for a living, hotshot?”

“Something far worse than clerical work: I’m a banker.”

Yoona laughed hysterically at the unexpected joke, which made Taecyeon smile wryly in turn. “Oh, you poor thing,” she intoned with faux sympathy.

GD watched the exchange between the two and smiled to himself while cleaning some glasses. Somewhere in the midst of their banter, Yoona and Taecyeon had moved to a private booth and ordered a plate of nachos with dripping cheese to share between them. Even though she hadn’t been interested in the beginning, Yoona found that Taecyeon was excellent company: not too pushy, attentive and a good conversationalist. After talking for close to an hour together, she felt like had known him for much longer.

“You’re really lucky, Yoona,” Taecyeon said out of the blue, smothering a nacho chip in the remnants of cheese grease left on the plate.

Yoona, who’d been busy with building a nacho chip pyramid on a saucer, stared in confusion at Taecyeon. “How do you figure that? I’m unemployed and alone around Christmas.”

“True. But anyone else in your position would be hanging on by a thread during the festive season. All things considered, you’re holding up well. You’ve still got your family, your friends and your health.” Taecyeon explained.

“Thanks, I guess? I’m just a little confused by why you sound like you should be talking in front of a pulpit right now.”

Taecyeon blushed and shoved another nacho chip into his mouth. “Blame it on having a pastor for a father.”

“A pastor huh? Does that mean you were a choir boy too?” Yoona asked with a wide smirk on her face.

Taecyeon ignored the obvious jab at his religious upbringing and continued. “All I’m saying is that you’re lucky. Maybe everything that’s happened lately has been for a reason.”

“But I lost my job! How is that a good thing?”

“Did you like your job that much?”

Yoona stopped short. Then she thought long and hard about the question for several tense-filled seconds. A sardonic smile dotted her lovely face when she finally had her answer.

“No. I hated my job.” It irked her that someone as handsome as Taecyeon could still look so damn y while still being smug talking about her life. “So what? Most people on the planet hate their jobs. A job equals money and money equals life.”

“Money doesn’t equal life. Life equals life. Happiness equals life.” Taecyeon argued more seriously.

“Don’t tell me you actually believe that crap? Since it’s Christmas, I’ll say it a different way: ‘Bah humbug!’”

Taecyeon shook his head and chuckled at Yoona’s glibness. How could a beautiful woman be such an incurable cynic?

“Were you born sardonic, Im Yoona?”

“Were you born a self-righteous tool, Ok Taecyeon?”

Taecyeon shrugged off yet another insult aimed at him and tried again. “Life is filled with blessings waiting to happen at times when we need it most. Maybe losing your job was a hidden blessing.”

“A hidden blessing…” Yoona tittered at this and rang a finger over the smooth rim of her now empty glass. “Ok, Mr. Dalai Lama. Since you already admitted that your job is boring too, where exactly is your hidden blessing?”

“I got to meet you.” Taecyeon answered without thinking.

That floored Yoona completely. Her insides suddenly felt excruciatingly hot and she was in desperate need of a cool breeze from somewhere. She lifted herself up from the cramped booth and tried to squeeze her way out into the walkway between the tables.

“I just need a moment to –”

Yoona’s legs, which had been subtly cramping up from sitting in that booth all along, suddenly gave way beneath her. And given the fact that she was wearing ginormous stilettos too made matters worse.

Just when she was about to topple downwards and twist an ankle, Taecyeon leapt out of his seat and grabbed her. And he held her against his rock-hard chest with one hand while steadying both of their bodies with his other hand holding onto the edge of the table. Being pressed against another human being like this should’ve made Yoona a lot more uncomfortable. But given her vulnerable state of mind these days, this moment was just among a list of many that made her believe she was prone to letting her guard down for unexpected people. So much so that she found herself holding on tighter to Taecyeon, encircling his arms with her hands just to feel the sinewy veins protruding from bronzed skin folding over rigid muscles.

There was something familiar about the way Taecyeon held her which tugged at the cords of Yoona’s memory. And just as she was about to voice her haphazard thoughts, Taecyeon was putting her against the edge of the table instead and taking a decided step back.

To Yoona’s surprise, she realised that she already missed him somehow.

“I’m sorry, I just realised that there’s somewhere I need to be first thing in the morning, so I should probably head home now and sleep.”

Yoona knew immediately that it was a lie, but it still took an absurdly long time for her confused brain to process the humiliation of somehow misreading the situation. It still didn’t stop her heart from tugging mercilessly in her chest when Taecyeon offered her a sad smile and dug his hands into his pockets.

“Get home safely, Yoona. Have a wonderful Christmas.”

And then he was gone.

Thankfully, Yoona did get home later that night without incident. But she tossed and turned through hours of fitful sleep dreaming only of her toy store teddy bear and Ok Taecyeon suddenly merging into one.

---

Christmas came and went in a blur for Yoona. She spent it with her family and in her own way, she was happy. But her thoughts were penciled in dark shades of just one thing: Ok Taecyeon.

They’d only met once and she had no way of contacting him. But she thought of him on a gangrenous loop till it felt like her mind might crack with abject frustration. In the end, she decided there was nothing to be done there unless he magically stopped by that the same bar which she liked to frequent. After that, she realised she could ask GD the barman more about Taecyeon, but her pride also wouldn’t let her shamelessly chase after a man that she barely knew.

Even if he’d made her feel more things in just one night than a few dates spent with anyone else.

But there was still one more mystery to solve, and that was to do with the toy store mascot. If she couldn’t hash things out with Taecyeon for leaving so abruptly that night, she was definitely going to have it out with that confounded teddy bear for turning her inside out just as much. She grabbed her purse and jumped into her car, her palms feeling distinctly sweaty on the steering wheel as she drove.

She parked her car on a street corner across from the toy store. As per usual, the store was open and there was a person in a teddy bear costume standing outside, swirling an advertisement banner with the utmost precision. Yoona in her breath and stalked towards the mascot with the utmost determination.

“Look, you, I’ve had just about enough of your mind games,” Yoona said by way of introduction.

The mascot turned to stare at her with deadened plastic eyes made out of buttons.

“You’ve taken me on a real emotional rollercoaster ride the past few weeks and I can’t take it anymore. No one’s hugged me in years and then you just come along and…erase all my defenses. You wore me down somehow and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you in the past few weeks. I’m here today because I’ve had enough. So let’s just stop the madness and…do something about it.”

The mascot studied her for the longest time and then removed the head of its costume. Yoona gasped sharply when she confronted a beautiful woman with long black hair and a cocky smile on her face.

“Well I’d love to do something about it if I knew your name or what the hell you were talking about, Beautiful.” The woman declared, giving Yoona a less-than-subtle once-over.

Yoona gulped and blushed profusely under the attractive woman’s penetrating stare. This was not what she had planned for the day at all.

“Look, um…I think there’s been a misunderstanding here.”

“You’re telling me, um –”

“Yoona. It’s Yoona.”

“Pretty name,” the woman replied in earnest, which made Yoona smile wryly in turn. It reminded her of what Taecyeon had said to her that night at the bar. “I’m Tiffany.”

“Nice to meet you. How long have you been the toy store mascot for?” Yoona asked curiously.

“Not long, I just started this morning. And I’m already hating the costume, it’s itchy as hell.” Tiffany answered, scratching her side as she spoke.

“So there’s another store mascot?”

“Yip, he’s just about to clock off. Which for me because I’m guessing that you’re looking for him.” Tiffany deduced, looking just a little disappointed.

Even though Yoona was well out of her depths with this entire situation, she nodded meekly at Tiffany. “I am, sorry.”

Tiffany whistled through her teeth and gave Yoona a sidelong look. “Not as sorry as I am,” she murmured in resignation, shooting Yoona a shimmering eye-smile just as another teddy bear mascot came walking towards them.

Yoona stared wide-eyed at this toy store mascot, who had frozen on the spot when he caught sight of her.

“Yoona?”

The voice was a little muffled, but Yoona was stunned just as well.

“You know my name, which means that you’re the store mascot who hugged me, danced for me and gave me flowers.”

The mascot didn’t speak this time, but only nodded in response.

Yoona sighed loudly, surprising herself with how relieved she felt in the moment.  

And just when Yoona felt she could happily leap into those familiar arms and possibly another sweet hug, the mascot took off its teddy-bear head. She reeled when she saw Taecyeon standing before her, smiling wryly.

“Oh my God.”

“Hi there.”

Yoona flushed deep red, caught between intense embarrassment and anger at being deceived.

“It’s you? It’s been you this entire time?”

Taecyeon chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, it was me.”

“But that night at the bar –”

“I just came in to have a drink after working at the store, I had no idea you’d be there. But something came over me and I wanted to talk to you. You seemed so sad all those times before, it made me want to get to know you better.”

The cold wind was biting into Yoona’s cheeks as she stared in consternation at Taecyeon, who still had the body of a teddy bear.

“Why did you hug me?”

Taecyeon blushed just a little before answering. “Because you looked like you needed one. And after a while, I needed them too.”

“You could’ve told me that night at the bar.”

“Honestly…I didn’t wanna scare you off. When I recognized you, I was curious about your life. And after I stopped talking to you, I realised that I didn’t want to hug you close to Christmas anymore.”

Yoona’s heart plummeted into her stomach at his words. Nonetheless, Taecyeon stepped a fraction closer, which made Yoona fuss with the loose tendrils of her hair currently fanning her pale cheeks.

“I realised that I want to hug you all the time; not just when you’re sad, but when you’re happy. I wanna hug you on Christmas Day, and every other damn day after that. And I especially wanna hug you just once when I’m wearing my regular clothes.”

This made Yoona laugh, both out of relief and a new, growing anticipation. 

“I thought you were a banker.”

“I am, but my friend’s other mascot quit unexpectedly a month ago. So I’ve been helping out nightly and on a few of my days off till he could get a replacement, who you just met a few minutes ago.” Taecyeon explained, his heart racing happily at the fact that Yoona was still standing and talking to him.

Yoona chuckled mirthlessly to herself and held her head in her hands. “This is so crazy. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before.”

This time, Taecyeon moved closer and took Yoona’s hands off of her face, replacing them with his artificial paws instead. “This is really new for me too. But I’m so glad I met you. You’re interesting, funny, beautiful, and I haven’t stopped thinking about you since the night I hugged you.” He murmured, their lips just inches apart now.

“You ran away from me that night at the bar.” Yoona pointed out.

Taecyeon sighed and looked very dejected, which Yoona found adorable. “I’m so sorry, I panicked. I thought you were close to figuring out that I was also the mascot; that idiot GD almost gave me away too. But more than that, I was worried about breaking all off my self-imposed rules and taking you home with me that night.”

Yoona giggled self-consciously, struggling to make eye contact with Taecyeon for the briefest moment. “You really are a bad teddy bear.”

Just when Taecyeon was about to apologise again, Yoona surprised him by moving her face closer to his and kissing him. His tongue tasted minty fresh and the feeling of his arms surrounding her in familiar fashion filled Yoona with a warm feeling starting in her belly all the way down to her toes. The sensation became even stronger when Taecyeon’s artificial paws ran through her honey-brown hair, making her whimper in pleasure as he kissed her with everything he had.

When they finally pulled apart, they were both breathing heavily with light snow falling overhead and dusting their heads.

“I need to change out of this bear costume before I break out into hives. But afterwards…do you wanna get some coffee?” Taecyeon asked hopefully.

Yoona smiled radiantly and looped her arm through Taecyeon’s as they started walking down the street together.

“Is it normal for store mascots to catch feelings just from one hug close to Christmas?”

“Nope. But I guess it’s a hidden blessing too.”

 

 

 

The End

---

*This story prompt with Yoona being hugged by a teddy bear was inspired by a scene in Celeste & Jesse Forever starring Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg ;-)*