I arrived home at the dorms later that night and the T.V. A sudden news announcement flashed across the screen. Uh, oh. URGENT!!! It read. I watched intently.

“A large snow storm is quickly approaching the D.C. area. It should hit within two days and cover the city quickly and thouroghly. All of the flights in and out of D.C. have now been cancelled untill further notice.” Dread slowly began to creep through me. “And with only a few more weeks untill Christmas this storm is sending waves of panic throughout the city and the surrounding area. How will all of the people be able to get to their families this holiday? Sadly, there is no escaping this storm. It’s closing in and is about to make its mark. We appoligize for any inconvinience, but sadly, we do not control the weather.” The man smiled wryly at his poorly formed joke and I began to scramble around, ignoring the rest of his useless words.

“Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no!!!~” Panic was building as I searched for my plane ticket. I quickly found it and stared at it. Only a few more days and I would have been home free: away from school and stress and able to visit with all of my friends and family. We’ll, I guess the world had other plans, because I would not be leaving D.C. this Christmas it seemed. I pouted and plopped back down on my couch.

What was I supposed to do now???

The next day it had become official. There was going to be no leaving for Christmas. I didn’t know what to do, so I did the only thing possible. I called Minah.

“Yobuseyo?”

“Minah, ottokae?!” I said.

“What? What’s wrong?” She asked.

“All flights are cancelled. I can’t go home for Christmas.”

“What? Oh no! Hyerin! I’m so sorry!” I pouted. “Oh, ottokae!?” She said back to me.

“I know.” I said. She was silent for a moment.

“Hold on.” I heard talking in the background, and then she came back. “Hyerin, how would you like to stay with me for Christmas? I know it’s not the same, but I can’t have you spend Christmas in the school dorms all alone. No, you should come here and spend it with people who love and care for you, like my family. You know you’re always welcome here. And my parents agree. You should come here. We have an extra room. We really want you to.”

“What? Seriously?”

“Ne!” She stated matter-of-factly.

“Oh, Minah! Thank you so much! I was really dreading having to stay in the dorms all break.”

“Yes! Okay! Well, pack up quickly and you can go ahead and come today. Its supposed to start snowing tonight and it would be harder then.”

“Okay,” I said.

“Great. Well, Eli and I will be by later to get you.”

“…ne…” I faltered.

“Okay, bye!”

“Bye!” I gulped as I put the phone down.

 Eli.

I had forgotten about him...

~~~

True to her word, Minah and Eli arrived later to pick me up. I heard a knock on the door and gulped. It had to be Minah. And Eli. Ugh. This is too much stress. I let them in.

“Hi  Hyerin!” Minah greeted me cheerfully.

“Hi!” I replied. Eli came in after her. He smiled at me,

“Hey.” I smiled back,

“Hi. Thank you again for coming.” He just nodded and pointed to a coule of bags sitting in the corner.

“Is that what you’re taking?”

“Yes,” I replied. He walked over and picked it all up easily. Gosh he was strong.

 “Well, I’ll go ahead and take it to the car. Come on out when you’re done.” He said, heading out.

“O-Okay. Thank you!” I called after him. Minah plopped down on the couch and smiled up at me. “What?” I asked.

“Gah!” She kicked her feet up and flailed around excitedly. I stared at her, totally confused. “This is even more perfect than I could ever have hoped for. I mean, I‘m sorry you can’t spend the holidays with your family and all, but this is seriously going to be worth it. True love is worth it.”

“What are you going on about?” I crossed my arms over my chest and stared down at her.

“Unnie! I’ve always told you two very important and true things. One: you and Eli Kim of UKISS are destined to be together. Two: You and my brother would be perfect together. I have always told you that. And, while they always seemed to countradict each other before, now you know the truth. That Eli Kim and my brother is the same person. My brother is Eli Kim! You two are meant to be together!” I just stared at her.

“Oh, Minah,” I whined, “Let’s just go. My head hurts and I just want to sleep. I‘ve had a really stressful day.”

“Arraso, Unnie…” She said, slightly dejected by my mood.

~~~

We met Eli at the car. Minah started talking and rambling on about whatever had popped into her mind at the moment. There really was never a dull moment with her. I happened to look up and see Eli look back at me and smile in the rearview mirror. I blushed slightly and smiled back.

We soon arrived back at their house and we all filed out.

“Here, I’ll get your stuff. You all go on inside, its cold.” Eli said, opening the trunk where he had stored my stuff.

“Oh, are you sure?” I asked.

“Yes, go.” He shooed us playfully.

“Oh, thank you,” Minah and I hurried inside. Their parents greeted me with hugs.

“Oh, this is going to be such and exciting Christmas! So many people! Hannah will be over alot too.” It seemed that they were super excited to have all their kids, plus one, home for Christmas. Hannah is their oldest. She owns an apartment here in D.C. and visits all the time. I’m good friends with her; Minah and I hang out with her all the time. Eli then came in carrying all of my stuff.

“Here, Hyerin. Follow me. I’ll show you were you’ll be staying.” He said as he passed me.

“Okay!” I followed after him; my shyness toward him was slowly fading away. He led me upstairs.

“Well, here you go.” He walked in a room and put my stuff down next to the bed.

“Thanks,”

“And here’s Minah’s room, our parents room, the bathroom, and then there’s mine; right across the hall.” He smiled.

“Yes, thank you.” I said. We stood there awkwardly for a moment.

“Well, we should be having diner soon, so I guess we should probably head on down…”

“Oh, okay.” I said as I followed him down the stairs.