Taekwoon knew something was wrong with Seojun the moment he stepped out of the wide open big double doors of the school building. He wasn’t running with the other kids like usual, rejoicing the freedom after a long day of classes. In fact, he was one of the last to come out, walking with a stiff determination that Taekwoon knew from experience was a sign that he was barely keeping himself together.

“Hi, appa!”

Taekwoon almost startled at his oldest coming up to him to give him a quick hug around the waist before climbing into her seat in the back of the car.

“Oh- Hi, Hyejinie… How was your day?” He tore his eyes off his son to focus on Hyejin, who was already busy putting her seatbelt on.

She shrugged in answer.

“Nothing special. I do have a homework I might need your help with, though.”

Taekwoon nodded.

“Of course. Show me later, ok?”

She nodded, and Taekwoon turned around again as he spotted a movement out of the corner of his eyes. It was Seojun, who’d finally reached them.

“Seojun-ah! Hurry up, why are you so slow? I want to go home!” Hyejin shouted from inside the car, and Seojun stiffened.

Taekwoon frowned. If he’d noticed from afar that his son was barely holding it together, he definitely couldn’t miss the signs from up close.

He crouched down to accept Seojun’s greeting hug, holding him just that bit tighter when the child buried his face into his shoulder, clearly hiding. He let him, prolonging the usually short hug.

“Tell me at home?” Taekwoon murmured quietly, so that only Seojun could hear him. The boy nodded against his shoulder, and Taekwoon could feel his reluctance to let go of him before he stepped back. He helped him into his booster seat quietly, strapping him in and rounding the car to the driver’s seat without further conversation. If Seojun was trying to hold it together until they got home, he wouldn’t sabotage his efforts by trying to get him to talk before that.

Hyejin wasn’t quite as sensible, finding the silence in the car on the way home quite unsettling.

“What’s wrong with you today? Why are you so quiet?” She asked when they were about halfway home.

Through the rearview mirror, Taekwoon could see the tears threatening to fall in Seojun’s eyes, which he kept stubbornly averted from his sister.

“Not now, Hyejinie. He’d tell you if he wanted you to know.”

Hyejin frowned, but had to admit to herself her father was right on that one. If Seojun didn’t mind her knowing why he was upset, there would be no way to stop him from telling it, over and over again, at varying volume, even if she didn’t care to know. Seeing him this quiet worried her, though.

“If it was that horrible Chungha again… Tell me and I’ll beat him up for you!”

Taekwoon almost stepped too hard on the brakes hearing his daughter’s threat.

“Hyejin-ah! While it is quite noble of you to want to defend your brother, you are not going to beat anyone up! Do you hear me?!”

Hyejin pouted, finding her father’s gaze in the rearview mirror.

“But Chungha is horrible! And he’s always picking on smaller kids, not just Seojun!”

Taekwoon shook his head.

“You are not allowed to beat him up for that, though. Ever! You’ll be in big trouble if you do, I can promise you that much!”

Hyejin huffed.

“No, I won’t. I’m stronger than him even on my worst day!”

Taekwoon narrowed his eyes slightly, torn between having to focus on the road and wanting to convey his message all too clearly to his daughter.

“Cha Hyejin, should we ever get notified by the school that you were involved in any kind of physical fight, you’ll be grounded until neither Hakyeon nor I can remember why we grounded you in the first place, and that is if neither you nor the other kid get hurt.”

Hyejin swallowed hard, knowing there wasn’t a chance in hell Hakyeon would ever forget why he did something, which meant she’d be grounded for the rest of eternity.

“That’s not fair, though! He deserves for someone to kick his !”

Taekwoon almost slammed his foot on the brake pedal for the second time that day.

“Language, Hyejin! Who even taught you that?!”

Hyejin shrugged, not looking the least bit remorseful as she was still heated about the previous argument.

“No one ever deserves to be hurt, Hyejin, and most definitely not a child, no matter how mean they are to others. And I don’t ever want to hear that a child of mine went out of their way to hurt someone else, and that’s the end of that. Did I make myself clear?”

Hyejin was still frowning, but the hard tone in her father’s voice that was rarely ever present there gave her pause.

“But…” She tried one more time, trailing off when her eyes met her father’s in the rearview mirror.

“Did I make myself clear, Hyejin?” Taekwoon asked again, and the girl sighed.

“Yes, appa.”

Taekwoon nodded, satisfied with her answer.

“Good.” He muttered, just as he was turning into their road, slowing down to pull up into their driveway.

It was only when he helped Seojun out of his seat, after Hyejin had already climbed out of hers and walked up to the front door, that he noticed his son’s tear-streaked face.

He sighed quietly, wiping at the boy’s wet face.

“I’m sorry baby, I didn’t mean to fight with your sister in front of you like that.”

Seojun only hiccupped in response, but held Taekwoon back by his sleeve without budging when Taekwoon shut the car door and turned to walk up to the house.

Taekwoon turned around with a questioning look, only to be met with Seojun’s pleading one.

“Huh?” Taekwoon asked, trying to read his son’s silent question, but he understood soon enough.

“Go bring your things up to your room and change into something comfortable while I get the others distracted and then we’ll meet in my office, ok?”

Seojun took a shaky breath before he nodded.

“Appa, too.” He whispered, his voice hoarse, and Taekwoon’s heart lurched.

“Ok. I’ll get Hakyeon to come, too. Shall we go inside now? It’s cold out here.”

Seojun didn’t object and Taekwoon led them to the front door, which had long fallen shut again behind Hyejin, letting them into the warmth of their home, too.

Seojun went upstairs immediately, while Taekwoon found Hakyeon with the two youngest in the living room. His husband gave him a worried look as greeting as he got up.

“What’s wrong with you lot?”

Taekwoon sighed, leaning into his greeting hug without answering and ringing Hakyeon’s alarm bells.

“Taekwoon? Tell me. Why did Hyejin come in pulling a face as if Christmas was cancelled and now Seojun goes upstairs without a peep, and you…” he gestured at all of Taekwoon to point out the problem, which was apparently evident in him from head to toe.

“Seojun needs to talk to us -both of us, but no siblings- because of something that upset him at school. Hyejin is pouting because I forbid her to beat up another kid at school and threatened to ground her until both of us forgot why she was grounded if she ever did. I’m upset because my fighting with Hyejin made Seojun cry.”

Hakyeon observed him for a while after he finished his explanation, then nodded slowly.

“Ok. How did Hyejin take it?”

“She’s not convinced.”

Hakyeon grimaced.

“Of course not. I’ll talk to her, too, but later. Seojun?”

“I told him to go change and meet us in my office.”

Hakyeon nodded, letting his gaze wander over to where Jieun was sleeping on the couch and then to Heejoon, who was busy explaining the hatching system of ostriches to a half sleeping but still purring Suri in his lap.

“Hyejin will be pouting for a while, and these two are busy. Let’s go see what Seojun needs to tell us.”

Taekwoon sighed, reluctantly stepping out of Hakyeon’s loose embrace to lead the way to his office. He was almost certain Seojun would already be there, most likely having taken the back staircase to come down to avoid passing through the living room. He was proven right when they stepped inside the room, finding Seojun sitting in the corner of the couch by the window already.

“Hi, Seojunie.” Hakyeon greeted softly, sitting down on the couch next to the boy.

“Hi, appa…” Seojun answered quietly, waiting for Taekwoon to close the door and sit down, too.

“Taekwoon told me you were upset and wanted to talk to us…” Hakyeon prompted carefully, and Seojun nodded, but stayed quiet for a moment longer.

“You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?” He asked eventually, voice still small and filled with an uncertainty that hurt both of his parents.

“Of course not!” Hakyeon was quick to answer, unable to completely keep that hurt out of his voice. Taekwoon was sure he was the only one able to hear it, though.

Seojun took a deep breath before he continued, unprompted this time.

“I’m asking because… because some kids in my class… they… they said today that-” His voice broke, and Taekwoon and Hakyeon exchanged a worried glance before Hakyeon scooted closer to Seojun and passed a comforting arm around his back.

“It’s ok, baby. What did those kids say that makes you so upset?”

Seojun took another shaky breath.

“They said… they said Santa-… isn’t real!” The last words came out in a sob, and Taekwoon could have sworn he saw the same ice freeze over Hakyeon’s insides that he felt freezing his own.

“They said Santa is just a lie that all parents tell their kids to fool them and only babies believe in Santa, but I told them you wouldn’t tell me lies but they all laughed at me and called me a baby and a fool and they said you were liars and they wouldn’t stop until Mr Park came and sent them away, but then Mr Park said it was true that Santa isn’t real and now-… Now I don’t know… I don’t know anymore.” He broke off his sudden rant, wiping angrily at the tears streaming down his face again. The room fell into an eerie silence in which a pin dropping would have sounded like a bang if it wasn’t for Seojun’s quiet sniffles.

“Seojun-ah…” Hakyeon eventually started carefully, making the boy look up at him. Hakyeon swallowed, for once out of words, and looked helplessly at Taekwoon, who was just as lost for words as he was.

“It’s not that we lied to you, Seojunie, but… your teacher and classmates are kind of right when they say that Santa isn’t real…”

Never in their entire life had the parents seen someone wear an expression that screamed accusing betrayal as much as Seojun’s in that moment.

“What?” The boy gasped, shifting away from Hakyeon’s arm around his back as he stared at the two of them.

“Well, Santa… Santa isn’t a real person that flies around delivering gifts to children on Christmas. That… that much is only a story for children… Like a fairytale, you know…?”

Seojun shook his head.

“No… But… I saw him! I saw him last year! I saw him with my own eyes, he was here! You saw him, too! He gave all of us presents! I didn’t dream that, it was real!”

Taekwoon shook his head slowly.

“That was your uncle Hongbin, dressed as Santa to give you the presents…”

Seojun’s jaw dropped.

“Uncle Hongbin knows about this, too? He lied to me, too?!”

Hakyeon flinched, kneading his hands in his lap.

“He didn’t lie to you, Seojunie… Neither of us did. We just…”

“You pretended that something that doesn’t exist existed. That is lying! Why would you do that?”

Hakyeon closed his eyes, sighing, not knowing what to answer.

“It’s not like that, Seojun… See, when you go around outside now, you see Santa everywhere, right? In shop windows, in ads, on banners, on buses... He’s on TV all the time, and everywhere in the stores, where you can get chocolate Santa’s and Santa figurines… That does make him real, in a way, doesn’t it?” Taekwoon tried, but Seojun shook his head.

“It doesn’t, if he’s not a real person. And you really did lie to me.”

He got up, making to walk out, but neither of his parents moved to stop him. They sat in silence as Seojun walked out and down the hallway, to the back staircase. When he was out of hearing range, Hakyeon finally exhaled a shaky breath.

“We messed up.”

Taekwoon could only agree, but didn’t find the strength to express it.

“What do we do?”

Hakyeon shook his head.

“I have no idea. I was not prepared for this. Hyejin took it so well, she wasn’t even surprised, I didn’t even think… We should have thought about this before. Oh, Seojunie…!”

Hakyeon let out a noise that sounded almost like a whimper, and while it expressed perfectly how Taekwoon felt, he still moved to sit next to Hakyeon to lend him a comforting hug.

“We’ll have to work to get his trust back…”

Hakyeon sighed.

“It’s going to be hard with this one…”

Taekwoon nodded, agreeing.

“No doubt. But… We’ll manage, eventually. For now… We still need to look after the others, too. Hyejin has a homework she said she’ll need help with, but I doubt she’ll want it from me now, after our fight earlier…”

Hakyeon nodded

“You’re right. I still need to talk to her anyway. I’ll go check on her. You take over nappy duty and whatever Heejoon has no doubt done in the meantime?”

Taekwoon hummed, nodding.

“Will do.”

Hakyeon sighed, getting up, but Taekwoon held on to him to keep him from leaving just yet. He got up as well, gathering Hakyeon in a hug once again and hooking his chin over his shoulder.

“We can do this, Yeon. We’ll manage to fix Seojun’s trust eventually. He won’t be upset with us forever…”

Hakyeon swallowed.

“I know. It just hurts that we broke it in the first place.”

Taekwoon nodded quietly, understanding exactly what Hakyeon meant.

“We’ll do better from now on, though.”

Hakyeon’s hold on him tightened.

“We will. We have to.”

With that, they let go of each other, each going after their assigned tasks.

It was much later, when Taekwoon was just finishing preparing dinner, that the doorbell rang.

Hakyeon must not have heard it, because it rang a second time after a while, and with a silent curse, Taekwoon hurried out of the kitchen to get it. He wasn’t even surprised to find Jaehwan standing in front of the door.

“That took you long enough, hyung, I’m freezing out here! What’s going on, another Big Emergency that kept you all busy?”

Taekwoon shook his head as he stepped aside to let Jaehwan in.

“Hakyeon is upstairs helping Hyejin with homework and I’m cooking.”

Jaehwan nodded as he slipped his shoes off and peeled out of his jacket, beanie, scarf and gloves, to then follow Taekwoon to the kitchen.

“Doesn’t Hyejin prefer to do her homework on the table in the dining room?”

Taekwoon nodded and sighed.

“She’s sulking with me because I forbid her to beat up another kid at school.”

Jaehwan blinked at him.

“O…kay. Right. I’d say good parenting on your part, but why did she want to beat them up?”

“Does it matter? She can’t go around beating other kids up.” Taekwoon grumped

“True. That’s more trouble than it’s worth and I’d hate for her to hurt her fingers. Still, what was her reason?”

Taekwoon rolled his eyes, turning to check the food.

“Apparently there’s a boy who picks on weaker kids, and one of those kids seems to be Seojun, from what I got. She wants to avenge her brother.”

Jaehwan’s eyes narrowed.

“You know what? Scratch everything I said. I’m coming with her when she beats his a-… abominable self up to cheer her on, and then I’ll go find his parents and-”

“Jaehwan.”

Jaehwan shut up under Taekwoon’s disapproving stare, but huffed.

“What. No one gets to pick on our Seojunie for free on my watch. Don’t tell me you’re not going to do anything about it!” He grumbled, making sure no kids had come into the kitchen in the meantime.

“We’ll do something, but it won’t involve beating anyone up.” Taekwoon reassured him as he turned off the stove and pushed the pot on it onto a cold spot.

Jaehwan hummed approvingly, then took a moment to take in his surroundings with more attention.

“Isn’t it awfully quiet right now? I feel like there is some noise missing. Usually by now I would have seen each of the kids five times, but so far, nothing…”

Taekwoon sighed, joining Jaehwan sitting down on another chair at the table.

“It’s complicated today… Heejoon is just upstairs playing with Lego and Jieun is sleeping. Hyejin is doing homework, and Seojun…” he broke off, only spiking Jaehwan’s curiosity.

“And Seojun…? What’s with him?”

Taekwoon dropped his head in his hands, defeated.

“He currently hates us, all of us.”

Jaehwan’s eyes widened, incredulous.

“What? How is that even possible?!”

Taekwoon looked up, his expression obviously pained as his gaze met Jaehwan’s.

“He found out today that Santa isn’t real and called us out on lying to him.”

Jaehwan inhaled sharply.

“I take it he didn’t take that well?”

Taekwoon shook his head.

“Hakyeon and I were so caught by surprise we didn’t really know what to tell him, either. It didn’t go well.”

Jaehwan hummed.

“Should I try talking to him?”

Taekwoon gave him a doubtful look.

“You think you can make him forgive us for lying to him?”

Jaehwan thought for a moment.

“I might find the right words to make him see you weren’t lying to him in the first place…”

Taekwoon’s curiosity grew.

“You do?”

“Let me try?”

Taekwoon sighed.

“Just… don’t hurt him further, ok?”

Jaehwan placed his hand on his heart in what could look like a mock swearing gesture, but his expression was dead serious.

“I would never.”

Taekwoon nodded at him, giving him the go ahead, and Jaehwan rose from his chair.

“Good luck. I’ll wait a while longer before I call everyone to dinner.”

Jaehwan only nodded, heading for the stairs. He knew the house as if it was his own, and was familiar with which room belonged to which kid. Gently, he knocked on Seojun’s door when he reached it.

“Who is it?” The child asked, suspicious.

“Jaehwan. Can I come in?”

Silence answered him for a while.

“Why?” Seojun eventually asked.

“I have something to tell you. And besides, I miss my favourite Seojun in the world. It’s already been almost two weeks since I last got to play with you!”

He could hear soft steps from the other side of the door, approaching it, before the door opened a little, just enough for Seojun to peek through.

“Are you going to lie to me, too?”

Jaehwan rose an eyebrow.

“Lie to you? Why should I lie to you?”

Seojun narrowed his eyes.

“Everyone lied to me. About Santa. I just can’t remember if you lied to me, too, or not.”

Jaehwan frowned a little.

“What is there to lie about Santa?”

Seojun shrugged, but Jaehwan could tell even through the narrow gap between the door and the frame that the boy was everything but indifferent to the subject.

“About him being real.”

Jaehwan nodded slowly.

“Ah… that. I see. That’s a tricky subject…”

Seojun tilted his head, curious but also suspicious.

“What’s tricky about that? Either he’s real or he isn’t.”

Jaehwan grimaced.

“If it was that easy to explain it wouldn’t be tricky, now would it?”

Seojun thought about it for a moment, then agreed.

“Will you try to explain?”

Jaehwan nodded.

“If you want me to.”

In lieu of an answer, Seojun stepped back and opened the door to his room wider, allowing Jaehwan to step inside.

Jaehwan took a seat on the beanbag in the middle of the room while Seojun climbed up to sit on his bed, looking at Jaehwan expectantly.

“So, is Santa real or not?”

Jaehwan tapped his chin pensively.

“Well, you know, first of all, we should probably establish what ‘being real’ even means to you. If by real you mean there is a big old man out there, with white hair and beard and wearing a red coat, flying across the sky on a sled pulled by reindeers and giving out presents to all the kids in the world in one night… Does that sound like it can even be real?”

Seojun looked full of doubt, but also hope, and Jaehwan continued.

“You see, that isn’t very realistic. Especially if you consider there are over a billion children in the world. For one old man to go and visit every single one of them to deliver their presents, he would need a lot of time, more than just one night. Also, he would have to go around the whole world! Even our fastest planes take half a day to do that, and they don’t stop in between. And flying sleds and reindeers? The idea is cute, but sadly, reindeers are land-dwellers like us, and don’t tend to fly much. So, that version of Santa, no, that doesn’t exist.”

Seojun averted his gaze to the floor, sad, but Jaehwan’s words still made him think. Jaehwan gave him the time to think, not interrupting the silence they fell into. Eventually, Seojun looked up again.

“You said ‘that version of Santa’… Is there another version?”

Jaehwan smiled softly.

“Of course there is. You see, the old man dressed in red, flying with his sled… that’s merely a way to explain something a lot more complex for children to have an easier time to understand it. Like a fairytale; each of them has a moral, and it’s no different for Santa, even if the fairytale about Santa is told in a slightly different way than most other fairytales.”

Seojun silently asked him to elaborate, with his gaze alone, and Jaehwan complied easily.

“The story about Santa Clause… an old man who has a lot of little helpers that make toys to reward all the children that have been good throughout the year… It’s a story about rewarding kindness and being selfless. It’s a story that brings warmth and hope to us with it’s magic, in a season where it’s cold and grey, the days are short and it would be very bleak without that shining light in our lives.”

Seojun contemplated that explanation for a while.

“But… why do people pretend to be Santa to children if Santa isn’t real? What for?”

Jaehwan puffed his cheeks in thought for a moment, pondering over Seojun’s question.

“I don’t know for sure, but I think it is to make children really feel the magic behind the story… You know, even when you grow up, you never forget that day as a child when Santa gave you a present. Santa himself. Gave you a present. Because you have been good enough to deserve it. That moment, or the memory of that moment, never really loses its magic. Even when you find out later that Santa was in fact your uncle dressed up in a costume. That reward for being good that one time as a child is a strong motivator to make you want to keep being a good person, and that way that magic will make you an even better person as you get older and start to understand the story of Santa better. It will also make you want to bring that magic to other kids, so they can experience that happiness you felt when you got a present from Santa, too.

“So… Yes, I guess that’s why people dress up as Santa for children. To bring them magic and happiness. For the kids, but also for themselves, because there is nothing more beautiful than happiness in a child’s eyes.”

Seojun listened carefully, thinking so hard about Jaehwan’s words that a crease formed on his forehead.

“But still… despite all that… if Santa isn’t real… it doesn’t make sense…” The child sighed eventually.

Jaehwan hummed thoughtfully.

“But Santa is real, though…”

Seojun frowned at him, and Jaehwan shook his head.

“No, listen. The person Santa that flies on a sled pulled by reindeers, that does not exist in real life. But Santa is real in that memory you have. And there he will always be real, because to you, he was real in that moment of the memory. And through the magic of that moment, Santa will always be real. No matter what anyone tells you.”

Seojun sighed.

“So Santa… is real. Not in actual real life, but in… the magic of the moment when we thought he was real?”

“Exactly.” Jaehwan nodded sagely.

Seojun rested his head in his hands, rubbing at his temples.

“That is so confusing.”

“I told you it wasn’t easy to explain.”

Seojun sighed.

“I liked it better when I still thought Santa was a real person… That wasn’t this confusing.”

Nodding, Jaehwan hummed again.

“I get that. I was very confused when I found out about the real Santa, too. I still am, a little, sometimes. But it’s ok, I guess.”

Seojun grimaced, though.

“It’s not ok… I accused my appas of lying to me, but all this means they didn’t…” He hid his face in his hands, sighing deeply as he rubbed at his face.

Jaehwan stood up and switched seats so he was sitting next to Seojun now, patting his shoulder lightly.

“It’s not your fault, though, Seojun. You’d only found out the half truth about Santa, and your appas didn’t know how to explain the other half to you, so of course you must have thought that they had been lying to you. But you should maybe go talk to them about all this at some point, so they know if you are still mad at them or not.”

Seojun sighed, letting his hands drop and sagging against Jaehwan’s side.

“I’m not mad at them anymore. I wasn’t really mad from the beginning. I was just… really hurt. The kids at school are so mean, and I thought now even my appas had betrayed me by telling me lies that made me look even more stupid in front of the others and give them more reason to be mean to me…”

Jaehwan felt several pangs of hurt at the same time at that.

“Your appas would never do that to you, Seojun…”

Seojun nodded slowly.

“I know… Or… I should have known.”

Jaehwan patted the boy’s shoulder again, letting him lean on him.

“Sometimes everyone needs a little reminder. As for those kids at your school… Don’t believe everything they say. They are probably being mean on purpose because someone was mean to them before and they don’t know better than to act out their revenge on others. Just don’t become like them, ok?”

Seojun shook his head.

“I’d never. I don’t want anyone to get hurt. I don’t want noona to hurt the others, either.”

“You should tell her that. She’s not a mean person, surely she won’t do it if you ask her not to.”

Seojun sighed deeply again.

“So many people I need to talk to…”

Jaehwan rose an eyebrow.

“You don’t want to talk?”

Seojun shrugged, averting his gaze.

“Not now. I’m tired…”

Jaehwan hummed, faintly hearing Taekwoon call from downstairs.

“It’s dinner time, though. Maybe food will make you stronger; strong enough to talk?”

Seojun’s stomach growled at the mere mention of food, and Jaehwan chuckled. Seojun at the very least smiled, then sat up again.

“We should go eat dinner.”

“We should.” Jaehwan agreed, and together they made their way down to the kitchen, where the rest of the family was already getting seated.

Seojun sat down quietly, his gaze turned down, and missed the questioning looks his fathers were giving Jaehwan, who merely smiled reassuringly.

Dinner was quieter than usual, but still rambunctious enough. Once they were done, Jaehwan took it upon himself to get Heejoon and Hyejin out of the kitchen to allow Seojun for some alone time with his parents.

Seojun was both grateful and nervous, but in the end he decided to just hug his fathers, even if he had to make them crouch to his level to be able to do that.

“I’m sorry appa.” He mumbled as he hugged Hakyeon, who stood up with him, arms firmly secured around him.

“Uncle Jaehwan explained to me why Santa isn’t real… And is real, too. I can’t explain it again, but I think uncle Jaehwan can if you ask him. I really am sorry that I said that you were lying to me, though.”

By then, Taekwoon had stepped closer to them, too, and Seojun reached out to hug him, too, as he conveyed his apologies. Hakyeon passed the child into Taekwoon’s arms, smoothing down his hair once his hands were free.

“We forgive you. And we are sorry we couldn’t explain everything about Santa as well as Jaehwan did. It could have saved us all a lot of grief.”

Seojun sighed.

“That’s ok… Santa may not be real, but he is really complicated…”

Taekwoon and Hakyeon chuckled at that, and a smile bloomed on Seojun’s face, too, before worry clouded it again.

“Does this mean… what happens to my letter to Santa now?”

Taekwoon laughed softly, shifting Seojun’s weight to his other arm, since he was slowly getting heavy.

“It’s going to be rerouted to an address where it will be read with the utmost attention and taken into serious consideration to make sure you only get the best presents for Christmas.” He explained then, and Seojun’s face lit up again.

“I still get Christmas presents?!”

“Of course!” Hakyeon reassured him.

“And… what about next year?”

“Next year, too. If you write a nice letter to Santa.”

“I still get to do that?”

Hakyeon smiled softly at him.

“Absolutely.”

Seojun sagged with relief.

“All of this is so confusing… But if everything stays the same… You know what, I think I’m going to try to understand all of this again next year! I’m not old enough yet.”

Hakyeon and Taekwoon laughed at that, and Seojun smiled happily now. He didn’t need to understand Santa. Not yet. Maybe not next year, either. Maybe even never. He was already as happy knowing his parents hadn’t lied to him as he had been when Santa had given him his presents last year.