I could only frown once again and mutter a curse when I heard the same computerised voice of the women that tells the caller that the person on the other line has not picked up their phone and is currently busy. Seungcheol looked at me with raised eyebrows, asking if I had any luck. I let out a sigh and shook my head as he copied my action. I gestured for him to get the other kids so that we could head out from the crowd and discuss this over in a more peaceful place. 

I caught sight of Chan and so I tugged him by the arm, dragging him over to where Seungcheol had already taken the others. "So did you guys find him?" 
Mumbles of 'no' and 'I'm sorry' were heard. I sighed and ruffled my hair. "God, where has he gone?" I groaned in frustration. It's only been half an hour since we've left the hotel but Hyukjae has already managed to get himself lost. What's worse is that he isn't picking up his phone. I didn't feel it before, but I can already feel the jet lag sinking into my body. And it was obvious that it was sinking into the kids as well. I smiled softly towards them. "Hey kids, thanks for helping." I averted their attention from the ground to me. "But you can all go back to the hotel now, get some rest. Make sure you all don't get lost, okay? Seungcheol? Doyoon?" I narrowed my eyes playfully towards the two eldest. Of course there was Junghan and Jisoo, but I didn't mention them because Junghan was chatting with Dongjin whilst Jisoo was too busy eating his twix bars and just happily being in his home country. 

"But..." Doyoon started with a frown.

"You'd be by yourself..." Seungcheol finished, also with a frown. "Are you sure you'll be okay, Hyung?" 

"I'll be 100% fine." I smiled. "I'm superman after all." I grinned childishly as those who were listening chuckled. "Alright? So get home. If anything happens I'll call you two." 
After much complaining, consideration and 'buts', the group left. I waved as they all waved back with worry. Once they were out of sight, I sighed and dropped my hands lifelessly. Ah the cold air right now...

I gave up on calling him and decided to walk around. He should be in this area; he shouldn't have gone that far. Digging my hands into my pockets, I walked around the crowd, looking for my boyfriend. What was he wearing...he had changed into a thick black coat with skinny jeans. He also had a red checkered scarf. I cursed as I noticed that a lot of the Americans here had dressed kind of similarly. Maybe I should just look for his brown-like-orange hair.
At this current time, I seriously wished that Hyukjae would have picked up his phone. I'm starting to develop a major headache and walking around this crowd of people partying wasn't helping. I stopped and just stood there in the crowd for a bit, staring at the performances that were still ongoing from since we came. I felt dizzy all of a sudden and suddenly stumbled a bit, however the man next to me caught me by my arm.

"Woah man," he spoke in English. "You okay?"

I smiled and nodded. "Yes...thank you." I thanked him in my limited amount of English. He nodded as well before focusing on the performance while I walked off, attempting to find Hyukjae again. Man why is he so troublesome. He was the one who wanted to come out on a Christmas date as well...but then again, he probably wanted to come with only us. Well you can't blame the other kids, they came out after hearing me exclaim ‘Christmas date’. Ah...the mistakes I make. 
I wondered around a bit more. To be honest, for some reason I wasn't feeling as worried as I should be. If you suddenly lost someone in a crowd of Americans, possibly some tourists, that were partying and celebrating Christmas, wouldn't you usually be worried to death? ...maybe it's because of my jet lag again...I don't seem to be in my right mind right now. I took out my phone and checked what time it was. In Seoul, it'd be 12:45pm, but the 8th. I quickly went over to my time zone conversion app and tapped in the conversions. So it's 10:45pm here, but obviously it was the 7th. I sighed. The time-zone difference was huge but I’m going to have to fight it so that I can find Hyukjae.
I still can’t get over how he managed to get himself lost and not be able to pick up his phone.

“HELLO THERE EVERYONE!” Someone suddenly boomed from the stage. I winced at the sudden loudness. “ARE YOU ALL HAVING A GOOD TIME RIGHT NOW?!” The crowd screamed their response. My headache was getting worse.  I started to sweat a lot more than I should have as well. It’s winter for god’s sake.
“WE’LL BE PERFORMING JINGLE BELLS ROCK TONIGHT. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!”
I was only one of the few that groaned. I didn’t need another song to be blasting right now. If anything I’d rather be lying in bed and sleeping away my jetlag that will probably stay for a longer time now. I’m starting to feel a bit fatigue as well.

All of a sudden I heard someone shout over this loud, loud music. Someone with such a familiar voice to me that suddenly my feeling of fatigue momentarily disappeared. It was Hyukjae.
“HAE....”
I could hear him shout again. I rushed over to the direction where I heard him. “YAH! WHERE ARE YOU GOI-...” After that one shout, he stopped and so I blindly followed where I last heard his voice. I stopped in the middle of the crowd and turned around, searching for him anxiously. I finally spotted him, his brown-like-orange hair sticking out from the crowd. I was about to call out his name, however something stopped him and his words were stuck in the back of his throat as he choked on them.

Narrator’s POV

Far off in the distance, Hyukjae was standing there. A woman was also there and she was kissing him on the cheek.
It didn’t enrage him as much. The woman could have been drunk for all he knew. However, what did enrage him was the fact that Hyukjae was smiling and not pulling away. He even hugged her.
After what seemed like 5 minutes of hugging. They pulled away before exchanging a short conversation that Donghae could not hear from being too far away and the music that was currently adding to his irritation, headache and dizziness. Suddenly she gave him a card and as Donghae squinted his eyes, he could see numbers and...An address? They bid their farewells as Hyukjae turned around, immediately spotting Donghae. Hyukjae’s grin widened as he ran over to his boyfriend.
“Hae!” Hyukjae was delighted to see his boyfriend. He had been running all across the plaza and he was tired.  Not to mention the sudden time difference had given him jet lag.  However despite his jet lag and all, he knew that his boyfriend wasn’t behaving as he was an hour ago. “...Hae?”
Donghae remained silently and emotionless.

“Honey? What’s wrong?”

Donghae stayed quiet for another minute before turning around and mumbling “let’s get back to the hotel.”

Hyukjae stared at the back of his lover who slowly descended back into the crowd. He finally realised that he’d lose him and rushed to be by his side. He left occasional glances at the younger, worried.  Why was Donghae reacting like this? Why was he ignoring him? Why were they both like this on a late Christmas night?
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This update was made up of just over 1000 words. It's short, but I just wanted to update you guys that I am still alive even though I feel like death right now. I am as sick as ever and so I didn't update when I came home from my trip. Sorry guys orz
Well anyway, yeah, a real short update to tell you guys that I am still here, and am working on the future updates, thanks for sticking with me <3 
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SuJuELFforeva: Hehe, Merry Advanced Christmas!~ ＼(^o^)／ I should have been shot dead by the cuteness of this chapter by now, so treat it as this is my spirit xD Hope you enjoy Christmas~ 

Awww thank you ♥ I did enjoy Christmas XD Hope you enjoyed Christmas too, even though it's been 13-ish days since Chritstmas XD
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PaboForSJ: Haha~ Poor Hyukjae~ Did Donghae invited Seventeen along or they came by themselves? Ö Aww~ Hyukjae~ :D Have a nice holiday! And Merry Christmas to you too~ :D 

Hyukjae: -cautiously looks over to Donghae- 
Seventeen: We chipped in on their date O/ 
Yes I had a nice holiday, not as how I planned it to be, but it was nice ^^ Thank you ♥
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sungs0ngmin15 : ahhh . . so cute . . hyuk you will have your time with hae, just be patient and wait . . 
OMO . . who is the child?? and where is hae ? ? ? 
merry christmas author-nim . . . 

Hyukjae: -grins slightly- yeah, I hope so
Haeri: -looks around-
Hyukjae: I swear to god if you're lost again...
Thank you readernim XD ♥ 
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Seriously guys, thank you so much for putting up with me, I love you all ♥

Also, condolences to Teuk's family at the loss of his father and grandparents. #StayStrongParkJungsoo. ELF are here for you and this time we will be protecting you ♥
-superELFjunior AKA Nana