*********

Eunmi, Miri, and Jooyoung sat around one of the many tables in a large open area that was usually the town’s square, the tables and chairs set up there by Mrs. Hong, the Chinese food restaurant owner, and Mr. Lee, the tavern owner, for the Christmas town fair.

The square was full of people, waiting to hear the night’s entertainment. A nice stage had been set up in front of the square, and on the stage, were a group of boys from Eunmi’s high school, setting up and testing various sound equipment and instruments.

The group of boys from Eunmi’s high school formed a local town band called Infinite. For about three years now, they had performed at the Christmas fair yearly, as sort of the town’s mascot band. Eunmi’s cousin, Nam Woohyun, was a guitarist in the band, while her neighbor, Lee Sungjong, played the keyboards.

Soon enough, the crowd got quiet and the band started off with one of their old songs, a rather corny song that Eunmi recalled them first writing from her middle school days.

Aside from her neighbor Sungjong and her cousin Woohyun, Eunmi was not incredibly close with the rest of the Infinite members. There were six of them in all. The one on the drums, Jang Dongwoo, was the one Miri had a crush on. Kim Myungsoo, the other guitarist, was the Mayor’s son. The basest, Lee Sungyeol, had moved to the town when Eunmi was in 4th grade, and Eunmi couldn’t recall exactly, but she was sure that Sungyeol’s dad worked away, and so he mostly lived with his mom. The singer, Kim Sunggyu, was the school music teacher’s son.

The band’s first song ended and the boys started off with their next one right away. It was an old-time Christmas tune, Sleigh Ride, with the band’s own rock and roll twist. Sunggyu’s melodic voice complimented the bubbly and upbeat song perfectly, and Eunmi found herself swaying her head from side to side, enjoying the music.

Everyone in the band seemed to be having a blast on stage. Dongwoo, the drummer, shook his head wildly as he thrashed the drums, his mouth slightly agape. Sungyeol wore a wide grin that stretched his cheeks and formed small wrinkles next to his eyes, as he jammed his head to the beat with his base. Sungjong wore a similar but more reserved smile, absorbed in the keys of his keyboard. Myungsoo, other than his beating foot and nodding head, was unmoving, with a slight smirk just visible over his mouth. Woohyun jumped up and down and took to making wild poses and gestures while he jammed on his guitar, occasionally winking toward the audience. But the singer, Sunggyu, seemed to Eunmi to be having the most fun of all, singing his heart out with a flawless ease, eyes drawn into thin lines with his wide grin, interacting with the audience, leaping about all over the stage, having the time of his life. And in her seat, Eunmi beamed as well, absorbed in the spirit, cheer, and fun of the town fair, of the Christmas the townspeople shared together. 

A shower of applause and occasional hollers followed once the song ended. After their first two songs, Infinite briefly introduced themselves to the town, although everyone knew them well enough, and sent out Christmas greetings to the audience. Eunmi noticed that when Sunggyu spoke on behalf of the band, he still had the same old lisp he had when he was a child. All of the kids in town had grown up together since they were infants, with the exception of a few like Sungyeol , and Eunmi remembered all too well how the townspeople had adored Sunggyu’s lisp when he sang in school productions during their elementary school days. Eunmi chuckled to herself, thinking it rather ironic that even now, when Sunggyu had become a singer with such a perfectly refined voice and tone, still had that slight lisp.

The girls stayed until the end Infinite’s performance, after another four songs. Eunmi was sad to see the band members go off stage and the crowd disperse. The merry, cheerful feeling that had filled up the town square quickly dissolved before Eunmi’s eyes, and she found herself being dragged away by her two friends.

Eunmi and her friends were now done with the fair, as far as Miri and Jooyoung were concerned. There was no more to see, and they had more “important” things to do. Eunmi disliked the whole ordeal. She wanted to stay at the fair, to celebrate Christmas with everyone in town. But Miri and Jooyoung would not allow it. They were in high school, they would say. Since everyone else is too busy at the fair, it was the perfect opportunity for the high school kids in town to break out all the booze and drugs they would get in so much trouble with if they got caught, because they wouldn’t get caught tonight. Apparently, it was some sort of a tradition, for the high school kids to sneak away during the Christmas fair each year and have a party of their own. As Miri, Jooyoung, and a lot of her other friends would say, the high school party was where the real fun was, not at some childish fair.

More forced there than anything else, Eunmi arrived at the school field with her friends. That was another thing that saddened and frustrated Eunmi, that the high school kids had the nerve to use the school field as the sight for their illegal party, out of anywhere in town. The school itself was too far away from the fair for anyone to catch the high school kids, but still, it seemed wrong, that a field meant for innocent, school activities was being abused this way. Eunmi sighed deeply, regarding the handful of kids who had already arrived and set up a bonfire, a small iPod player with music, and coolers full of booze.

In less than a few moments, Eunmi found herself seated on a little bench, a can of beer in hand. With a sigh, she took a sip. Eunmi did not mind the taste of beer; it wasn’t bad at all, and she understood why at times of sadness, it could work as a buffer to forget. However, she never went as far as to become mindlessly drunk. The ones who did, whenever Christmas came around, just looked stupid and did stupid things, like relieve themselves in front of everyone. Drugs, which Eunmi completely stayed away from, made kids do even crazier things, like scramble around in nothing but socks and underwear. The eerie scent of smoke had already begun to waft its way around to Eunmi. She knew very well that it wasn’t from the fire.

Eunmi didn’t feel like even trying to enjoy the beer in her hand; she was saddened by the fact that she was missing out on the Christmas fair, yet another year. She looked over at Jooyoung who was busy digging through a plastic bag for a particular snack she liked with her alcohol. Last year, Eunmi had been tied down by friends until after midnight. Maybe this year, she could sneak away early, since there didn’t seem to be too many people yet…

Just then, the Infinite members arrived, and with them, a crowd of at least thirty. Thinking the fresh crowd may just do her some good, Eunmi stood up, making sure her friends were preoccupied. Jooyoung was still rummaging, and Miri was nowhere to be found. But as she began to weave through a few boys who reeked of cigarette, she felt someone’s hard grip encircle her wrist.

“Eunmi-ya~”

When Eunmi turned, she came face to face, a little too close, with a boy with heavily lidded eyes. She was also greeted with the stench of probably every single one of the alcoholic drinks at the party all jumbled together. “Long time no see!” The boy said, voice raising toward the end of his phrase, obviously wasted and unable to control his speech.

Lee Howon had grown up in the little town like the rest of them. He had been a reserved and quiet child in his youth, until he took up dancing with a group of his friends. Howon and his friends often skipped out on school for weeks to travel to other towns to compete in dance competitions, despite the protests of their parents. Although he was most likely too drunk to make complete sense of what he was saying, he was right about not having seen Eunmi for a long time, since he was never at school any more. 

“Hey Howon,” Eunmi said simply.

“I’d appreciate it if you’d call me Hoya,” Howon breathed, his words slurred.

“Oh, well hey Hoya,” Eunmi retorted. She tried to free her wrist from his grip, but the boy tightened his hold.

“You’re not going anywhere, are you? A pretty girl like you needs to stay and party,” Hoya grumbled. He slugged at a bottle in his hand, spilling some of the alcohol on his chin.

“No, I’m fine, Hoya, but thanks,” said Eunmi, and turned to go. But Hoya pulled her back harshly, and she bumped into him with a hard thump. “Ow!”

“No no no Eunmi, I’m keeping you right here all night,” Blowing his alcohol stench all over Eunmi, Hoya tried to trap her with his arms. Eunmi struggled against him roughly, but he was too strong.

“Hey! What the hell are you doing?” Someone shouted at them. Eunmi stopped struggling long enough to see Kim Sunggyu standing next to her, grasping Hoya by the shoulder.

“Leave me alone Sunggyu! I’m trying to have fun with Eunmi,” Hoya hissed, staggering a little as Eunmi kept struggling against him. Eunmi looked at Sunggyu, eyes pleading for him to help her. Sunggyu seemed to understand. He took Eunmi with one arm and pushed Hoya off of her in one shove with the other. Surprisingly, Hoya just fell over easily and passed out on the ground, face bright red from drunkenness.

“You okay?” Sunggyu asked. Eunmi dusted herself off, trying to rid Hoya’s stench off of her. She grimaced as the smell lingered in her nostrils. “I’m fine,” she replied, “thanks.” She turned to leave like she’d planned, but Jooyoung seemed to be making her way over to her with a concerned look on her face. Crap.

“Hey will you do me another favor?” She looked up at Sunggyu, who stood slightly over her.

“Uhhhh, sure.”

“Will you pretend like we’re kinda casually going off to have a private conversation or something? I just don’t want Jooyoung to come over here,” Eunmi requested, sticking herself a little closer to the boy.

“What? Oh,” Sunggyu seemed to spot Jooyoung a few feet away, eyeing the two of them. He nodded and took Eunmi’s arm, leading her in the opposite direction of Jooyoung. Eunmi looked back at Jooyoung and smiled. Her friend nodded and smiled back, gesturing with her hand for Eunmi to go on.

Sunggyu led Eunmi out of the crowd of drunken high school kids to the edge of the school field. Along the way, they spotted Miri and Dongwoo, having broken away from the crowd, absorbed in their own private make-out session. “Whoa,” Sunggyu said, and they quickly turned away from the pair.

“Well, thanks again, and have fun,” Eunmi said to Sunggyu, turning to leave.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“Home.”

“Oh,” said Sunggyu, scratching his head, “Then… uhmmm… well do you want to go to the fair with me instead? It’s still early.”

“You wanna go to the fair?” Eunmi looked at Sunggyu, surprised.

“I’ve never been into this whole high school party thing. I’d rather just hang out at the fair. I mean, the fair is the real town tradition,” Sunggyu looked at Eunmi shyly.

Eunmi stared at the boy, thinking how she felt exactly the same. With a sigh, she said, “Okay. I don’t wanna miss another year of the fair either.”

“Alright, let’s go!”

****

Before entering the main fair area, both Eunmi and Sunggyu checked their breaths to make sure they didn’t smell of alcohol. Luckily, Hoya’s smell had dissolved into the air over time, and the two had barely consumed any.

Eunmi darted excitedly into the busy, crowded fair area, letting the scent of warmth and heartiness from the various food stalls fill up her nose, and the flowing Christmas music, her ears. Everything in the fair was lit with bright Christmas lights and decorations, and many people were even dressed in goofy Christmas sweaters and Santa hats. A small group of children who had been running about greeted Eunmi and Sunggyu with loud, cheerful shouts. With a grin plastered on her face, Eunmi found herself rushing toward the section of the fair where the games were set up, the exact same way she used to when she was a kid.

“Eunmi-ya, hold up!” Sunggyu called, rushing after her. He chuckled at the girl, already in the midst of starting a ring toss game run by Mr. Shin, who owned the town grocery store.

“If you can get three of your ten rings around the Christmas elves, you get the smallest prize, six for the medium, and ten for the biggest,” Mr. Shin instructed, handing Eunmi a set of red and green rings. Eunmi eyed the miniature Christmas elf figures, deciding which would be the easiest to target. Sunggyu watched next to her.

Eunmi had never been great at these games, so it didn’t exactly surprise her too much when she only managed to get one ring around a particularly tall and lean elf. “Ohh, I’m so sorry Eunmi,” said Mr. Shin, collecting the rings she’d thrown all over the place.

“Darn it!” Eunmi pouted, crossing her arms. She looked at the stuffed penguin she’d hoped to win as the prize in the back of the stall with longing. “I’ll try it,” said Sunggyu, next to her.

It took Sunggyu no time to hook four of his rings around the elf figurines. “Whoo hoo!” Eunmi cheered, clapping.

“Which prize would you like, Sunggyu?” asked Mr. Shin.

“The penguin, please.”

“Aww really? I wanted that one,” Eunmi said enviously.

“Haha, good then! Merry Christmas Eunmi,” replied Sunggyu, receiving the stuffed penguin from Mr. Shin and then handing it to Eunmi.

“Huh? Are you sure you want to give it to me?” said Eunmi, holding the penguin in her hands with a puzzled expression.

“Just say it’s a Christmas present to you from me. What would I do with a stuffed penguin anyway?” Sunggyu said with a shrug.

The penguin stared at Eunmi with a mischievous grin. “Okay, if you insist,” said Eunmi happily, “Thanks.”

Waving at Mr. Shin, the two began walking, Eunmi still focused on her penguin. “Hey!” She perked, “Remember when in 7th grade, you, Woohyun, and Dongwoo played that strength testing game, and Woohyun failed at it miserably?”

Sunggyu burst out laughing, stopping in his track. Nodding he added, “Yupp, I remember. I won, if you recall.”

“You laughed so hard in Woohyun and Dongwoo’s face.” Eunmi teased with a smile.

Still snickering, Sunggyu replied, “Not one of the most mature moments of my life.” Eunmi nodded in agreement, joining Sunggyu in his laughter.

****

“Remember when we had that talent show in 4th grade, and Hoya got so mad because he got 2nd place while Sungjong got 1st place with his y dance medley?” said Sunggyu, as he and Eunmi rounded the shopping stalls.

Clutching her stomach and laughing out loud, Eunmi exclaimed, “Ohh, but Sungjong was soooo y! And prettier than any girl in town, I’d say.”

“Ha, I don’t know about that,” Sunggyu chimed.

Somehow, as Eunmi and Sunggyu sauntered through the fair, the two had started recalling various memories from their childhood days. It felt to Eunmi slightly odd, since she and Sunggyu hadn’t really been friends since they were very young. But the memories they shared were the same, and they certainly brought back the Christmas cheer, though they didn’t exactly have to do with Christmas or the fair every time.

Eunmi stopped in front of a particularly large semi-tent, where Mr. and Mrs. Jung sold their clay products and Mrs. Ahn put out for sale the sowing circle’s creations. Sunggyu peered at the clay Christmas ornaments and smiled to himself. “Eunmi-ya, remember when in 1st grade, we were making clay ornaments for the tree, but you accidentally squished mine?” he said.

“Ohhh, and I felt so bad, that I finished making mine and then made yours for you too,” Eunmi continued, the memory gradually filling her mind.

“Haha, and then I got a gold star for the best ornament! I bet you were mad about that,” said Sunggyu giddily. Eunmi began to laugh, remembering exactly what the ornament had looked like. She hadn’t been THAT mad, or at least she didn’t think.

“I think after that was when I started having the biggest crush on you,” Sunggyu mentioned, out of the blue. For some reason, Eunmi felt herself blush. To make it not so obvious, she busied herself by examining a beautifully knitted red and gold scarf from the sowing circle. With a sudden thought, she grabbed the scarf and walked over to Sunggyu.

“What do you think of this?” Eunmi asked, wrapping the scarf around Sunggyu’s neck. He looked at her questioningly, then at the scarf at his neck. “Fine. It’s really warm,” he answered.

“Good! It can be my Christmas present to you,” Eunmi said, turning to Mrs. Ahn to pay.

“Huh? No wait Eunmi, you don’t have to do that!” Sunggyu argued.

“No no, you got me a gift, it would be impolite if I accepted it without a gift in return,” Eunmi reasoned, “And besides, don’t you think the scarf suits him, Mrs. Ahn?”

Mrs. Ahn nodded warmly toward Sunggyu. He wanted to protest further, but Eunmi had already paid.

Eunmi started walking off, and Sunggyu followed. However, she stopped shortly after and turned to him questioningly. “Wait, you had a crush on me in 1st grade?” she asked, an eyebrow raised.

Sunggyu scratched his head with a sheepish grin, eyes thinning into lines.

The blush was coming again. Without looking at Sunggyu, Eunmi admitted, “I had a crush on you for some time in elementary school. But then I made the mistake of telling Jooyoung. She called me Mrs. Kim Sunggyu behind your back every single day, and I was so embarrassed you would hear. It took me forever to convince her that I didn’t have a crush on you anymore.”

After confessing their crushes for each other as kids, Eunmi and Sunggyu stopped conversation for a while, until they met up with a group of primary school kids. “Sunggyu hyung!!” a tiny boy called, rushing over to Sunggyu, bringing the whole pack with him.

“Hyung, what do you do with this?” The little boy asked, holding up the small branch of a mistletoe.

Sunggyu took the mistletoe from the boy. Then, with a grin, he grabbed a little girl and had her stand beside the little boy, holding the mistletoe above the boy’s and the girl’s heads. “It goes above your heads, like this,” said Sunggyu, “and then, the two of you have to kiss!”

Immediately, the boy, the girl, and the rest of the kids screamed in a unified “ewww~!”, throwing miniature fits. The boy gestured for Sunggyu to give back the mistletoe, and once he got it back,  seemed to contemplate in his head a bit, before ordering, “hyung and noona, get down.” He gestured for Sunggyu and Eunmi to scrunch to his level. They both had to kneel to match the little boy’s height.

Grinning mischievously, the boy stretched his arm and held the mistletoe in front of Sunggyu and Eunmi’s foreheads. “Now you have to kiss!” He exclaimed.

“Oh, no…” Eunmi started, but was interrupted when she felt Sunggyu’s hand touch her cheek, turning her head toward him, his lips pressing onto hers. Around them, all the primary school kids threw another round of fits, giggling and screaming.

Sunggyu pulled back slowly, his eyes lingering on Eunmi’s for just a moment before he turned to the little boy and said, “See, that’s how you do it!”

“Ewww!!!!” The kids shouted, and scrambled away noisily.

When the kids were out of sight, it became unusually quiet. Even the Christmas music seemed to have died down to a low hum. Eunmi’s cheeks were now definitely flushed, and she was at a loss for words. “Sorry if I surprised you,” said Sunggyu, his lisp adding a comical touch to the apology, “Wanna get a snack?”

****

Eunmi and Sunggyu arrived in front of the big spectacle of the town’s Christmas fair - the enormous Christmas tree. Very little conversation had taken place between the two since they had picked up holiday goodies from Mr. Park, the baker, partly because both were busy nibbling on the churro they had split in half.

“I forgot to write a Christmas wish on an ornament this year,” said Sunggyu absentmindedly, “Did you?”

"Yeah, before the band's performance," Eunmi answered, following Sunggyu to the base of the tree where some of the blank paper ornaments still remained.

“What did you wish for?” Sunggyu asked, grabbing a paper ornament for himself. Eunmi recalled what she had written on her ornament, stared at Sunggyu for a good moment, and then gasped loudly.

“What?”

A broad smile spread across Eunmi’s face, her eyes widening. “You made my wish come true,” said Eunmi. “You made my wish come true!” she repeated, almost squealing.

“I did?” said Sunggyu, puzzled. Eunmi nodded, face full of excitement.

“I wished I could enjoy tonight at the fair, like I used to when I was a kid,” Eunmi explained, “You brought me here. Plus, we got to remember back to when we used to have fun as kids. It was literally everything I wished for.”

Eunmi stared at Sunggyu, then at the stuffed penguin she’d been carrying around. She was awestruck at how everything she had wanted had occurred to her, just like that. “Thank you Sunggyu,” she said, truly meaning it. “Now you make your wish. Maybe it’ll come true too.”

Sunggyu laughed, his laughter filling the air. He then looked down sheepishly at his blank paper ornament.

“Is it okay if I wish for something you can make happen too?” he asked.

“Yes! That would be perfect!” Eunmi exclaimed, brightening even more.

“I wish…” Sunggyu glanced at Eunmi, then scoffed at himself. “Go on!” Eunmi beckoned.

Sunggyu’s eyes thinned into the dark lines they always did when he smiled, and he muttered, “I wish I could kiss you again.”

Without intending to, Eunmi burst into a snicker. “I don’t know if I can make that wish come true, Sunggyu,” she replied jokingly, taking a step toward him. Sunggyu did the same, allowing them to stand face to face with each other, about a foot apart. Eunmi then edged a half a step more, leaving Sunggyu the other half step. But instead of filling the last half step, Sunggyu just leaned down, his hand drawing Eunmi’s face close, as before. For some odd reason, when Sunggyu’s lips touched Eunmi’s, she thought it tasted strangely like Christmas. Strangely, but wonderfully, like the joyful spirit of the beautiful holiday. She felt sorry that some of her friends wouldn’t get to know this feeling.

It lasted longer this second time, but after a while, the two drew part. Now they were even; he had granted her wish, and she had granted his.

“Remember when we were in 6th grade, you asked Woohyun to hang your wish up higher than everyone else’s, but I insisted that I could get it higher?” Sunggyu asked.

Eunmi nodded. “But in the end, Sungyeol was the one who could get it highest, since he was the tallest,” she continued.

“I still had a crush on you, until then,” said Sunggyu, “but for some reason I thought you liked Sungyeol after that, just because he hung your ornament up for you.”

Eunmi laughed, giving Sunggyu a mocking glance for such a childish assumption. “I might have liked him, if he hadn’t been such a couple with Myungsoo then. And it turned out I could just come back to the tree with my dad later and ask him to hang it up, much higher." She slid her hand into Sunggyu's, relishing the warmth of the touch. Then her eyes lit up, remembering the time when...

The End. 

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Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and Happy 2012!!!