Christmas Eve with Lee Taemin
Day by DayTaemin sprinted as fast as he could towards his target, Kai, as if he was catching his prey. Kai was exhausted, but he couldn't stop. Taemin was too fast.
"STOP RUNNING YOU COWARD." Taemin yelled out angrily although his voice clearly indicated that he was as tired as Kai. Kai worriedly looked back to see Taemin dashing towards him like mad from behind and gulped as he was quickly coming closer. Unfortunately, he began to slow down as his tired legs couldn't keep up anymore. Kai collapsed and rolled down onto the middle of the black pavement of the empty street. Taemin harshly tackled him down and got on top of Kai's stomach.
"Hey." Kai whispered with a tired smile.
"WHERE'S TAESUN? WHERE DID THEY TAKE HIM?" Taemin grasped the collar of Kai's worn sweater and held out his fist. Kai panted and paused to swallow.
"He's not here." Kai said in a breathy voice with an emotionless face. Taemin furrowed his eyebrows and let his fist rest.
"What? What do you mean by that?" Taemin said with a much calmer tone to his voice.
"You know exactly what I mean, Taemin. He's gone." Kai said quietly in a considerate manner. Gone? Taemin's eyes grew big in disbelief and dashed around thoughtfully. That can't be.. He has to be alive. He fixed it back on Kai.
"Liar." Taemin growled and gritted his teeth as he held up and clenched his fist that aimed for Kai's face even tighter. Kai didn't even flinch as he calmly laid down and glanced at Taemin's trembling fist, then back at Taemin.
"We've been friends for a while now, Taemin, and I know by now that.. you don't have the guts to hurt me. You never can." Kai spoke softly. Taemin looked at Kai with a bewildered expression.
"Huh?" Kai smiled. Taemin didn't have the chance to say another word as Kai vanished underneath him and everything went completely blank.
Taemin frantically opened his eyes wide and sat up. He panted and sat there in shock although this wasn't actually new. It was the same dream that he had once before. It was a replay of a memory of his past over a year ago that has visited his mind once again as a dream, not a dream actually, but a nightmare.Taemin exhaled deeply as he wiped off the pouring sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. He lazily glanced over at the alarm clock that read 2 o'clock in the afternoon and gasped in shock as he finally remembered what this day was. Christmas Eve with Sulli.
"I don't have enough time to get ready." Taemin said wide eyed and got out of his bed in an instant as everything else, even the dream, was forgotten just like that.
Sulli walked around her house uneasily with her hands nervously fidgeting the edge of her cardigan. Her eyes scanned the room and noticed a pillow on the floor. She hurriedly came over to it and carefully fluffed and placed it on the couch. She paused in surprise of herself.
"Why am I so nervous? This isn't the first time he's been here.. and that we were alone, right?" Sulli puffed her cheeks and plumped down on the couch. She checked the time on her phone.
"It's 6 o' clock. He should be almost here by now." Sulli began to feel her stomach starting to get queasy while staring at the time. She bit her lip and slowly clutched it. Why am I feeling so nervous? Sulli let her head fall on the arms of the couch.
"It's just Taemin. It's just Taemin.." Sulli murmured quietly as she clutched her stomach even tighter. She blinked as she remembered something and quickly sat up. It's Christmas Eve. I didn't even prepare a Christmas gift for him. What should I do? The doorbell suddenly rang continuously. Sulli's heart skipped a beat. HE'S HERE ALREADY? I don't have anything prepared. Great I feel terrible now.. I hope he doesn't have anything prepared.. Sulli cringed as she headed for the door. She took a deep breath and opened it to find Taemin holding a ton of grocery bags in each of his hands. Sulli didn't even have time to open to greet him as Taemin rushed in and immediately placed his bags on the kitchen table. He smiled in relief and stretched his arms in relaxation. And he did... Sulli dropped her head down.
"I didn't have enough time to cook at home. I hope you don't mind if I cook in your kitchen. Do you like spaghetti?" Taemin asked Sulli as he took out the ingredients for the soup from the grocery bags. Sulli winced. Taemin lifted his eyebrows when he noticed her expression and began to look worried.
"You don't like spaghetti?" He stopped what he was doing and waited for her response. Sulli then came back to reality and rapidly shook her head.
"Oh no.. It's just that.. you didn't have to prepare all this.. " Sulli muttered. Taemin twitched his lips and scratched the back of his neck as he looked over at what he had brought.
"No worries. I'll take care of it all myself from the beginning to the end." Taemin gave her a bright smile and put his hands on her shoulders and sat her down on the kitchen chair. "Just sit down and relax. I've prepared a special spaghetti recipe that my grandmother used to make. I brought the recipe list so I'm sure it's going to be as good as my grandmother's."
"Are you sure.. you don't need any help?" Sulli asked.
"I won't allow it. My grandmother's secret ingredient could be revealed." Taemin curled his lips as he dashed his eyes back and forth to check off the ingredients on the list. Sulli stifled a laugh.
"Fine. Use anything you want from the kitchen, but it better taste as good as your grandmother's." Sulli . Taemin rolled his eyes and turned his head back at her.
"Just do whatever you want. Don't look at me or go in the kitchen." Taemin exclaimed as he carefully washed his hand in the sink. Sulli scoffed, then smiled. "Okaay."
One hour later
Sulli walked around the living room and she lifted her head up to face the ceiling. She stopped and rubbed her growling stomach. I'm hungry.. What's taking him so long in the kitchen? Sulli pouted as she poked her own tummy.
Sulli peeked out from behind the kitchen walls to see Taemin diligently working on mixing the spaghetti and adding things in it while humming Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. Sulli stared at him, impressed. He seems to be really focused right now. He wouldn't notice if I come in, right? Sulli put her lips in and stepped silently into the kitchen to reach the refrigerator.
Taemin turned around to pick up a spoon for a taste testing and jumped at the sight of Sulli. He quickly covered his working space with his arms. Sulli awkwardly grinned and waved her other hand that was not holding the bottle of milk.
"YAH. I TOLD YOU TO NOT GO IN THE KITCHEN. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Taemin yelled and flared his nose as he pointed the tip of the spoon he was holding at her. Sulli calmly set the bottle down and grabbed a banana.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to watch you. I'm making banana milk for both of us." Sulli muttered. Taemin grew calm and lifted his spoon down.
"Is that so? You know how to make banana milk?" Taemin lifted an eyebrow at her and smiled as he went back to doing what he was doing.
"No.. but I'm going to try." Sulli said as she plopped a banana in the cup of milk and began smushing it with a spoon. Taemin glanced at her from behind and couldn't help but laugh.
"Is that how you make banana milk?" Taemin . Sulli wrinkled her nose at him as she continued to smush the banana inside the cup of milk.
"Since I'm not criticizing you then don't criticize me." Sulli stabbed the spoon onto the banana even harder. Taemin glanced at her as he on his upper lip then smiled.
"Well in that case..." Taemin took out his iPod from his pocket and pressed play once he finally found the song that he was looking for. He grinned as he turned up the volume on SNSD's Gee. As soon as Sulli recognized the song, she rolled her eyes.
"Let's dance." Taemin gave her a big grin and spun around then slid next to her side and got out some plates. Sulli closed her eyes and laughed as Taemin shook his to the music.
"Gee gee gee gee baby baby baby." Taemin sang while scooping spaghetti onto their plates and bobbed his head to the music as he shook and nudged Sulli by the shoulders. Sulli playfully pushed him away,
"Stop.." Sulli glimpsed at him from the side and couldn't help but form a broad smile on her face. Taemin peeked at her from the corner of his eyes and grinned.
"Ready?" Taemin lifted a corner of his lips and looked at Sulli.
"Ready." Sulli smirked. They both shoved a mouthful of spaghetti into their own mouths. Sulli's eyes lit up as she thoroughly chewed the spaghetti in and swallowed.
"Wah it's actually really good." Sulli exclaimed in awe. Aigoo she likes it. TAEMIN YOU DID IT. Taemin thought though he resisted smiling and kept a straight face in order to keep his 'cool'.
"Of course it would be. I don't always cook, but when I do, it's sure to taste good." Taemin said with his mouth full. Sulli snickered.
"Now it's time for me to judge your banana milk." Taemin said with a sly smile as his hand went over to grab his cup of banana milk. Sulli winced.
"You don't have to.." Taemin shrugged.
"But, I want to." Taemin protested as he smiled, then chugged down the banana milk. Sulli stared at his face with curiousity, waiting for a reaction while he finished and smacked his lips.
"How does it taste?" Sulli asked.
"Hmm.. I'm not used to drinking banana milk that still has chunks of the banana inside of it. Not the best I've tasted, but it's unique." Taemin chuckled and held the cup up to observe the milk through the glass. Sulli furrowed her eyebrows at him and pouted.
"Unique?.." Sulli mumbled in and looked down as she glumly picked up some more spaghetti with her chopsticks. Taemin secretly lifted his eyes up at her as he continued to eat his spaghetti. He stopped and made a little smile. Ahh kyeopta. The spaghetti sauce's is all over mouth. Clueless.. He stared at her while she stayed busy focusing on eating the spaghetti and his smile got wider. He stared at the napkins then proceeded to grab one. He looked at Sulli again and blinked continuously. As he slowly proceeded to lift up the napkin to , Sulli, not noticing Taemin, beat him to it as she got a napkin and wiped with it on her own.Taemin quickly covered himself from further embarassment by wiping the napkin on his own mouth and looked away feeling dumbfounded.
"I heard that Jonghyun's throwing a Christmas Eve party. It makes since that I'm not invited, but why didn't you go?" Sulli suddenly asked, curious of his answer.The question made Taemin jump a little and he gritted his teeth. AIISH. She wasn't supposed to know about it. Taemin straightened up and gave her a clueless look.
"Oh.. that. He didn't invite me." He lied and gave her a crooked smile while trying to look as innocent and clueless as possible. Sulli seemed to believe him as she opened a little in surprise.
"Really? I thought since the two of you were friends that he would invite you for sure."
"I thought he would have, too." Taemin rubbed his chin and pretended to stare at the ceiling thoughtfully and shrugged.
After a while, there was an awkward moment of silence where both didn't say a word to each other and continued to finish their spaghetti. Taemin had been intently staring at her eat while different thoughts began to pop up in his head in a continuing order. Is she annoyed by me? Am I annoying to her? Does she not want me to be here? Is she wishing that I would finally leave? Does she still hate me? I hope she still doesn't hate me. I haven't been mean to her though, right? What is in her mind? Is she thinking of me right now? Or is she thinking of someone else? Would it be Baekhyun? Does she miss him? Is she upset of the fact that I'm here instead of him? What does she think of him anyways?
"What do you think of Baekhyun?" Taemin blurted out, bluntly. Sulli's eyes widened as she coughed from almost choking on a meatball, astonished that he was even thinking about Baekhyun.
"Why does it matter?"
"Just wondering. You guys have been friends for a long time now.. You guys seem to be really close to each other."
"We are.."
"Have you gained feelings towards him?" Taemin folded his arms and leaned forward.
"Not really..."
"Not really?" Taemin repeated and calmly laid his back on the chair, yet inside he couldn't help but wait to scream IN YOUR FACE in Baekhyun's face. Well, not really.
"If he confessed his feelings to you right now, would you accept them?" Sulli began to blush.
"I'm not sure.." His heart dropped. She isn't sure? Not a no? Why didn't she say no? WHY?
"Would you... perhaps.. .. agree to marry him... if your parents made you?" Sulli thought about that for a moment.
"Hmmm.... no." Oh?.. Taemin was starting to become even more interested as he leaned in even closer.
"Why?"
"Well.. I would want to marry someone that I'm sure to love for the rest of my life. Frankly, I only see Baekhyun as a good friend." Sulli said as she drank her cup of banana milk and made a face as she tasted it. Taemin let his chest relax in a relief as he was holding his breath the entire time. She doesn't feel the same way as he does... He looked at her and decided to let out the next question.
"Just asking but.. am I a burden?.. Please be honest. " Taemin stuttered as he managed to ask her that question that had been itching to ask her for a while now. Sulli slightly chuckled.
"Why would you ask that?" Sulli paused and slowly looked up to see Taemin staring at her with a serious look on his face. Their eyes met and Sulli could clearly feel her face begin to burn from his cold stare and she figured out he was dead serious. She hesitantly turned her eyes away. The truth?.. Although she hate to admit it, she had to tell the truth.
"Actually.. I'm thankful. It's been awhile that I've spent this holiday with anyone else but myself for the past years actually. If it wasn't for you, I would be spending my Christmas Eve alone this year again.. To be honest I-I'm really happy that you're here." Sulli lifted her head down to cover her blush behind her long hair, embarassed by her own words. Taemin's face lit up as his heart fluttered by what she had just said. She's.. HAPPY. He felt like his own body was about to burst from happiness with rainbows and unicorns and butterflies. He bit his bottom lip to stop himself from smiling.
Taemin followed Sulli from behind as she stepped towards the living room. Taemin put his hands in his pocket as he went around and observed the living room while Sulli plopped down on the couch. Even from the past times he had barged into her home, he hadn't been to the living room before. It had a warm feeling to it that made it feel relaxing and cozy, perfect for the winter and taking naps.
Taemin continued to look around until something suddenly caught his eyes. He walked towards a beautiful grand piano that seemed to be made of darkish brown wood. It brought him back to his childhood days when he still took piano lessons every Saturday and practiced on it almost everyday. It was like his second best friend. He slowly ran his fingers randomly through the keyboard and smiled warmly as each note that played reminded him of a little memory of a few of his favorite songs. Sulli steadily got up and smiled as she realized Taemin was the one playing those notes and walked closer. Taemin noticed her from behind and smiled.
"I have one at home. It's been a while since I've played though, but this piano really makes nice sounding notes. You play the piano?" Taemin asked as he proceeded to play some more notes.
"Kind of.. not really. My dad used to teach me when I was around six or seven, but he got even more busy as I got older. So he stopped and I began to stop as well. Ever since he did, this piano hasn't been touched for years." Sulli's face grew sullen as she thought about her own father. Taemin stopped playing and his eyes widened.
"Really? What a waste of a good piano." Taemin said in shock and sat on the piano bench. He noticed Sulli's expression becoming dull and instantaneously comprehended that she was missing her father. He smiled as he pulled Sulli down to sit next to him.
"Let's not waste it. Shall I play a song for you then?" Sulli sadly nodded. Taemin paused to think of a song. Since it's Christmas time, why not? He pursued his lips and nodded.
"I got one." He said happily. He started to play the beginning part of We Wish You A Merry Christmas and began to sing it with a soft tone. Sulli blinked in astonishment. I've never heard him sing before.. he sounds almost like an angel.. She thought as he continued to play. She looked at his fingers beautifully play with amazement as it reminded her of her father when he did. She hated thinking about him so much, but she couldn't let the idea of him leaving her here every year. Although it got tiring for her, she still wanted to see him more. Appa... Tears began to build up as memories of her and her father together flashed in her mind.
Her eyes began to grow heavy at the smooth combination of Taemin's singing and piano playing. She lazily dropped her head on Taemin's shoulder with her eyes closed and finally asleep. Taemin flinched at the touch, but continued to the next song, All I Want For Christmas Is You, to keep her asleep and quietly sang it. He started to feel the cloth on his shoulder begin to soak. She's crying.. Taemin's eyes widened and looked at Sulli.
"Don't cry." Taemin said out loud with an angry tone. Sulli? Do you miss your father that much? He kept his eyes on her and his face softened as he stared at it in admiration of its beauty. He decided to leave her alone and began to play again while his eyes remained on her.
"Because all I want for Christmas is you." Taemin whispered the final sentence of the song and played the last note. He half smiled as he watched her peacefully sleeping on his shoulders. He lifted his thumb up to her cheeks and gently wiped the leftover tears away.
"Mr. Choi, please come home sooner." Taemin whispered.
Taemin gently laid Sulli's head on the arm of the couch. He took a pillow on the other couch and carefully lifted Sulli's head so that he could place it underneath. Taemin sighed. He was disappointed that he couldn't spend the rest of the night with Sulli since there was so many things he wanted to do with her. He had imagined watching a romantic movie with her, snuggling, hugging... and maybe even a.. kiss? Taemin shook the idea out of his before it could lead him to do erted things. But, he thought, much to his dismay, that it would be rude to wake her up, so he decided to let her in peace. Sulli curled her body and hugged it. Taemin rushed over to Sulli's side. She must be cold though. He stood up and put his hands on his hips as he looked around the room for a blanket. Taemin groaned.
"There's none here." He whined.
He stepped down the stairs with big blankets on his arms that he had gotten from Sulli's bedroom. Once he finally got to the living room, he dropped the blanket on the floor next to Sulli.
"This should be enough to keep Sulli warm, right?" Taemin exclaimed as he laid a blanket to cover Sulli's body. Taemin frowned and shook his head.
"Not enough." He said as he laid two more blankets on top of the other one until Sulli looked as though she would suffocate from the heaviness being underneath all of them. He grinned in pleasure.
"That should be enough."
Taemin sat with his knees up as he stared at Sulli's face, then back on his palm. He glanced at the ticking clock on the wall. The long hand had switched to the number eleven. It was only around five minutes until Christmas. Taemin sighed as he carried on his doodling on his palm with a little black marker he had found on the coffee table. He had drawn two stick figures next to each other.The one on the right had short hair while the one on the left had longer hair and a skirt. He finished his drawing by connecting the two stick figures' hands together and added on a heart in the middle. He smiled as he wrote his name underneath the male figure and Sulli's name on the female figure. Taemin looked at Sulli's face and idea popped in his head.
"MWAHAHA." He made a silent, but evil laugh as he drew a curly moustache under her nose.
"Man Sulli looks handsome." Taemin chuckled as he added a similar moustache on Sulli's stick figure. He held his hand up and smiled at it. He glanced at the clock which hand was now on twelve.
"Oh! Christmas time!" Taemin exclaimed enthusiastically. He ran over to the kitchen counter and ran through his bags in a hurry.. He found the Santa hat he was looking for and wore it on top of his head.
"I'm going to be Santa Claus this year." Taemin said with a smile. He then began to search for something else in his bag. He grinned as he took the pink, rectangular box out.
"Sulli's present!" Taemin whispered with excitement. He looked in the bag again and found another box inside. He scowled at it in frustration as he took it out.
"I forgot to take out the saeng cream cake that we were supposed to each together.." Taemin angrily groaned.
After Taemin placed the items on the table, he walked back to the living room to see Sulli. He knelt down so he could face Sulli.
"I really wish you were awake right now... but I brought some things for you. Merry Christmas, Sulli." Taemin smiled softly as he patted Sulli's head and got up to turn off the lights.
Sulli woke up and stretched her arms out as she yawned. She scratched her head as she looked around with her eyes half closed. How did I get here? I slept for the rest of the night? Sulli wondered. She lazily stood up and smacked her lips, her eyes still closed as she went forward to the bathroom upstairs.
When she finished washing her face and opened her eyes, she looked at herself in shock.
"MOUSTACHE?" Sulli exclaimed as she tried to rub it off a drawn on moustache on her face. She paused as she figured out who did it and laughed. I really did spend my Christmas Eve with Taemin. Sulli half smiled in somewhat, a relief.
"Aiish Taemin you babo." Sulli rolled her eyes as she giggled at her reflection and turned off the faucet.
Sulli went back to the living room to get her blankets back to her room. She stopped walking as she saw a grocery bag on top of the coffee table.
"Taemin must have left this.. How come I didn't see it when I woke up?" Sulli asked herself and furrowed her eyesbrows as she hurried over to the bag. She looked inside to find a delicious looking saeng cream cake with strawberries through a plastic cover.
"CAKE!" Sulli exclaimed and happily shrugged her shoulders up and down. Her eyes grew bigger as she realized there was something else underneath the cake. A pink, rectangular box decorated with flowers laid there in front of her eyes. She took it out and noticed a small envelope underneath the ribbon.
"From Taemin?" Sulli tilted her head and quickly opened it to read it.
Dear Sulli,
I know this isn't much, but I hope you like it. I didn't know what to get you, but this quickly came to my mind. Anyways.. I hope you didn't have a lonely Christmas Eve. Since you must be awake when it's Christmas now, Merry Christmas. ^^
From,
Stupid.
Sulli's felt butterflies in her stomach and her lips slowly formed a smile. Taemin...
She hesitantly unwrapped the present to find a cute, pretty pink dress underneath the box cover. It was one of the most prettiest dresses she had ever seen and it exactly fit her taste in clothing. Sulli warmly smiled and chuckled at the thought of Taemin shopping for clothes. Sulli tightly hugged the dress against her chest.
"Gomawo, Taemin.."
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