“Christmas is the best time of the year”. Not. I hate and I will always hate it. Why I hate Christmas so much? Well you can blame my family for that. At Christmas we always had family diners, and my family isn’t that bad but somehow, my family was always fighting whenever it was Christmas. Until that one time ten years ago, our ‘last Christmas’ together, when it got even worse. We caught my mother cheating on my dad, with my uncle; his youngest brother. WHILE HE WAS DRESSED AS SANTA. Yup. I saw mommy kissing Santa Clause. Ironic, huh? Anyway, that’s when hell broke loose. The following year my parents arranged their divorce. But in the mean while the were just fighting. The yelled and screamed and yelled some more. It was terrible. Sometimes when I tried to stop it they blamed it all on me. I know they didn’t mean it but… I still hurt when they did that.

So yeah, since then I hate Christmas and I don’t really like family that much either.

Unlike my best friend, Kim Heechul. Man, does he love Christmas and family, It’s insane. In the beginning he tried to change my thoughts about Christmas but the last few years he gave up. That’s the only big difference between us though, besides that, we have a lot of common. We both seem kind of cold hearted, while we’re actually just shy around people. We both don’t have that much friends. We’re just those two people that no one ever cares about at school, but we have each other, so we’re happy! Even though he’s very good looking in my eyes, girls mostly ignore him. Maybe because he’s Asian or he’s too feminine for them? I don’t know, girls these days are weird. To me, he looks perfect, with his sharp nose, mily white skin, black hair, big eyes…. Hah, you wouldn’t think we’re just friends when you hear me talking like this right? Well maybe there is more, I don’t know. I just don’t want to ruin this by saying something stupid like “I love you”, or whatever. I don’t want to lose him, since he’s the only one who can brighten my day.

“JEANINE! WAAAAIT”. I knew that voice. It was Heechul. He put his hand on my shoulder, panting from running. “W-wait a second” he said. “Sheesh you don’t have to scream that much, I’m not deaf you know”, I laughed. We walked to school together. “Soooo… do you have plans for next Monday?”, he asked smiling. “What? No… Not that I know.” I answered. “Great! Then that’s all set, you’ll come over to my place then and have diner with us!”, he cheered. “Sure, sure” I laughed again. Wait. Diner? Why would he ask me for diner at his home all of a sudden?  Next Monday is- … Oh god no, IT’S CHRISTMAS EVE. “WAIT, NO! No offense, but I don’t want to spend Christmas with you and your family! You know how much I hate it!”, I began. “Too late, my mom was already counting on you anyway”, he smirked. “YOU JERK” I started hitting him, but he ran away laughing. Sigh. That idiot.

And so it was Monday, the 24^th of December. I told Heechul I wouldn’t come, but that idiot just didn’t want to listen. Fine. Whatever.

The doorbell rang. As I wondered who it could be, I opened the door. “Hellooo! I knew you wouldn’t come so I came here to get you!” It was Heechul, he pushed me away and walked inside with a big smile on his face. I sighed really loud. “You’re really a persistent little brat sometimes, you know?” I said to him, but apparently he didn’t care. “Fine, fine, I’ll go with you, sheesh. But only because I don’t have anything better to do! Just give me some time to do my make-up, okay?”. Heechul started doing some weird dance and said “Yeaaahh! Of course! Go and make yourself even prettier!”. I blushed, quicly turned around and walked away to pick an outfit. Why did he say that? I hope he didn’t see me blushing…

“Mom! We’re here!”, Heechul yelled when we got inside. His mother rushed our way. “Oh, welcome dear! I’m glad to see you again!” she said. “Thank you mrs. Kim, it’s nice to see you again!”, I said while smiling. The atmosphere here is so different from home. So… warm.

Heechul quickly pulled me to the dining room, where he introduced me to the rest of his family. Some of them I had seen already before, since I always visited Heechul a lot. We chatted with them a little here and there, and soon afterwards diner was ready. I can’t believe I’m saying this but… I think I was actually having fun! His family was so nice and I felt so welcome, like I already knew them for years. Suddenly Heechul’s grandfather said: “So you two are a couple, right? You look great together, but don’t go too easy on him, Jeanine!” and he winked. Oh god, why did he say that! “N-no, we aren’t-…” I blushed like crazy. But when I looked beside me I noticed I wasn’t the only one. But he recovered quickly and said: “Ehm, thanks for diner mom. Jeanine? Are you coming with me?” and so we went outside for a bit.

We sat down on the stairs of their veranda and looked up to the sky. “Too bad we can’t see any stars here” I said, “I’ve never seen stars before, pretty weird, huh?”. “What!? You can’t be serious!!” Heechul said, looking surprised. “No, I mean it. I wish I could see them someday though… That would be so great! It’s one of my biggest wishes”, I told him. Heechul seemed like he was in deep thought, when suddenly his face lit up. “Hmm, Jeanine, you never do something with Christmas right?” he asked. I nodded. “Great! Then let’s meet tomorrow for a bit, okay? Can you come to Starbucks around 7?”, “Sure! Anything is better than being at home around Christmas…. So let’s have some fun!”, I answered and gave him a smile. “Good!” he said, “I’ll see you there then! I’ll try my best to be on time”, he sticked out his tong. He’s such a child sometimes, and I couldn’t help but keep smiling.

So I stood there, waiting, wearing new clothes and everything. Nothing will probably happen but you can’t blame me for trying to look good, right? Anyway, I know he’s usually late, so I don’t expect it to be different today. Fifteen minutes went by. He’ll probably be here soon. Half an hour went by. He probably doesn’t know what to wear or something. An hour went by. What could have happened to him?  I waited some more, while I was almost freezing to death. My eyes start tearing up. He just forget about me, great. I knew it, I knew something would go wrong today. After all, it’s Christmas! Everything goes wrong with Christmas, Christmas is just one big lie. I ran home as fast as I could, so I could spend another Christmas alone, in my room, like every year.

Then I saw him. I stopped. He was standing in front of my house. I started crying and yelling “YOU JERK! I WAITED FOR HOURS THERE. IT WAS FREAKING COLD AND I WAITED FOR HOURS, FOR YOU! YOU KNOW I HATE CHRISTMAS, AND YOU STILL MADE ME COME OUT THERE AND END UP NOT EVEN SHOWING UP, WELL THANK YOU VERY MUCH”, I yelled and I cried some more, and he just stood there, stumbling “I… I… But… Jeanine….”. Then I heard a CLICK and suddenly all I saw was a big light. And stars. LOTS of stars.  “What….? You… What is this?” I asked, flustered. “I… Jeanine, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I let you wait in the snow for hours. I’m sorry that you’re mad at me. I’m sorry, what happened to you with Christmas and I’m sorry you’ve hated Christmas ever since. ” He started smiled, he smiled that beautiful smile of him. “I just needed some time, to organize all of this, so I had to make sure you wouldn’t come here for a while…”, he pointed at the house. “You were still fast though, I barely finished it”, he chuckled. “Anyway, I just wanted to let you feel the true feeling of Christmas, the warmth, the happiness and show you that it’s not all that bad. I wanted to try and show you Christmas can be special too.”, he said. I looked at the house again. Everything, yes, EVERYTHING, every corner of the house, the trees, the floor, even the doghouse, everything was covered with lights and stars. “S-since you wanted to see the stars… I brought the stars to you”, he stuttered, while looking at the ground. I never saw him like this around me. “I… Thank you, it’s so beautiful, I don’t have any words for it… I’m just so grateful, this is the sweetest thing someone has ever done to me.” and I started crying, not out sadness this time though. I felt two arms around me. “You’re the most beautiful to me though, you’re the brightest shining star in my life” and then he kissed me gently. And guess what? Exactly at that moment, it started snowing!

Then he whispered into my ear:

“Merry Christmas”

And he held me in his arms tightly. You know what? Christmas might not be that bad after all. Just maybe! ‘Jingle Bells Rocks!’