Year Three

Chanyeol wasn’t even surprised when his parents told him Wei Lin would be joining them again this year for Christmas. It was starting to become tradition for the Chinese girl to do so.

This year, Chanyeol wasn’t as excited at the prospect of her joining them. He could still recall her tear filled eyes and the resoluteness with which she had avoided him for the rest of Christmas Day last year.

He had tried to apologize to her, but she’d darted away from his presence the minute he came within a foot of her.

He’d lay off the teasing this year, Chanyeol decided. To curb the awkwardness that was bound to come up between the two, he decided to invite his own friends over for Christmas Dinner.

Byun Baekhyun and Kim Jongdae lived in the same neighborhood as Chanyeol and he’d been friends with them all through his childhood. This reflected in their personalities and tastes, which were almost exactly the same.

Of course, this just meant that Baekhyun and Jongdae were very interested in seeing the Chinese girl who allegedly looked like a doll and turned red almost every other second.

When Li Wei Lin showed up at their doorstep with Yoora, the boys shoved each other to get to the front and catch a glimpse of the girl.

Chanyeol noticed almost immediately that Wei Lin had grown a few inches taller. She still retained her plump cheeks though which were currently flushed from the cold.

Beside him, Baekhyun and Jongdae snickered, whispering to each other about how Wei Lin was already red.

The Chinese girl hung her coat up on the rack and walked past the three boys, not even sparing them a glance.

Chanyeol paused, brows furrowed.

She couldn’t possibly still be ignoring him, could she?

It turned out, that Li Wei Lin wasn’t just ignoring him. She was trying to pretend that Park Chanyeol didn’t exist.

It started with her refusing to look at him or speak to him. During dinner, when he asked her to pass the salt, she didn’t even pause her conversation with Yoora to acknowledge his request. After dinner, when everyone settled down in the living room with mugs of hot cocoa, Wei Lin consciously took the seat farthest from Chanyeol.

Her actions were starting to anger him. He didn’t think it was fair of her to ignore his existence because of some harmless teasing.

So when Wei Lin excused herself from the living room to go to the washroom, Chanyeol waited for exactly a minute before he said he was heading up to his room and dragged Baekhyun and Jongdae up the stairs along with him.

The three boys cornered the girl as she was leaving the hallway leading to the washroom.

She froze when she noticed their presence, and Chanyeol found himself feeling a little relieved at this minute acknowledgment of him. But almost immediately after, Wei Lin schooled her features and tried to side step them.

Chanyeol quickly stuck out his arm, trapping Wei Lin in.

He watched as she tried to duck around him but Baekhyun and Jongdae were quick to block off all exits.

Wei Lin breathed deeply through her nose before looking into Chanyeol’s eyes with a glare.

“Excuse me,” she uttered, voice quiet but steely.

“What’s wrong Wei Lin?” Chanyeol asked, his voice naturally taking on a humorous tone. “You seemed distracted all day. Didn’t even say hi to little ol’ me.”

Wei Lin flushed just the slightest and Chanyeol was glad to know her terrible habit hadn’t changed.

“Let me through, Chanyeol,” she said instead.

Jongdae snorted. “Aren’t you a year younger? You should be more respectful to your elders,” he teased.

“Yeah, whale-in,” Baekhyun jumped in.

Chanyeol winced, regretting telling his friends about the nickname he’d coined. He watched Wei Lin’s face turn redder.

“Get it?” Baekhyun turned to Jongdae, ignorant of the girl’s reaction. “Whale-in? Because she’s as big as a whale. What’s it like being named after the biggest fish in the sea?”

Wei Lin looked like she was going to burst and to prevent a repeat of last Christmas, Chanyeol grabbed Baekhyun by the shoulder, fully intending to tell him to shut up but the Chinese girl beat him to it.

“Whales aren’t fishes, . They’re mammals! If you paid attention during biology class instead of thinking up stupid jokes and ways to bully people, maybe you wouldn’t come off as a total idiot,” Wei Lin hissed, eyes glaring at the three boys.

Her face was still red and it was only then that Chanyeol realized she wasn’t red with embarrassment but with anger.

Baekhyun sputtered, not having expected the girl who was supposedly shy to talk back to him.

Jongdae snickered obnoxiously into his hand while Chanyeol just watched Wei Lin take deep calming breaths.

He continued to gape as she fixed all three of them with vicious looks before shoving past them and down the stairs.

“Looks like the whale grew a backbone,” Chanyeol smirked.