(Marlee’s POV)

I put the address into Eli’s GPS and handed it to him. He turned the van on and sped away from my house. It was dark now so everyone’s Christmas lights were on outside of their houses. My neighborhood didn’t have anything extravagant but a few of the guys seems impressed nonetheless. My family never even put up simple lights because it was “too much trouble” and “costs too much money.” At least we got a real Christmas tree every year… We entered a huge parking lot and I guided Eli on where to go since there were different sections of this place. Once we parked, we all hopped out and a huge smile spread across my face.

Dongho pulled on my sleeve, “Noona, where’s the lights?” I looked at him and smiled.

“Come on, I’ll show you.”

I then led everyone to the path behind the thick trees that blocked off all view from the outside. I admired the owner’s choice of adding the trees because you can’t truly appreciate what they put weeks into preparing from long distance. I saw the path clearing up and I looked back at the guys with anticipation.

“Yall ready?” I smiled ever so brightly and my energy rubbed off onto them. Everyone was smiling and Kiseop and Dongho were jumping up and down. We walked out into the open space and everyone fell silent. After a few seconds of gazing at the beautiful garden I hear Dongho say “OOOH! Look!” I turned in his direction and saw him racing further down the path and to the very center of the garden where the giant Christmas tree made out of lights was.

I went after him and the rest followed me. I stopped beside Dongho and took in the beauty with him. It’s been forever since I was here…

~~~~flashback~~~~

I looked up at the huge Christmas tree when I felt someone take my hand. I snapped out of my daydream and looked at another. Even though we were just in high school, he was the light of my life. He seemed to be glowing more than all of the lights here combined. I smiled softly at him and looked away just for him to pull my face back to where it was.

“Marlee…. I love you.” He closed his eyes and leaned forward.

~~~~end of flashback~~~~

I shook my head hoping the memory would erase itself like an Etch-a-Sketch. I caught Eli’s attention so I just smiled at him. “Hey, there’s more to look at! Why are we just standing around?” I skipped over to another section of the garden.

When I got to the pond area I sat down on the edge of a fountain that had a tall angel statue right in the middle. I looked up and surprisingly only Dongho, Hoon, and Eli followed me. “Kiseop thought it’d be a good idea that we spilt into two groups so we could cover more ground.” Eli said and sat next to me. Dongho sat on my other side and Hoon sat beside Dongho.

“Oh, that’s a good idea. I hope they’re taking pictures.” I said drawing pictures in the water with my finger. Even though it's not freeze temperatures, they still keep this water heated so it doesn't freeze and mess up the fountain's mechanism.

“Kiseop and Kevin are always taking pictures. Don’t worry about that.” He said laughing at his bandmates. Dongho noticed what I was doing and decided to splash Eli with the water. Eli stood up and shook his hair back and forth. Dongho accidently got me a little bit but I didn’t even notice. All I could do was stare at how handsome Eli looked with wet hair. I shook my head slightly and realized I had drool dripping out of my mouth. When my hair touched my face I noticed it was wet too. I was going to yell at Dongho but Eli was chasing him around the pond.

“YA! Be careful!” I shouted to them but they didn’t hear me. Hoon looked over at me and scooted closer and grabbed my wet hair. He used his jacket sleeve to dry it as best as he could and combed it back behind my ear. I smiled and said “Thanks.” I looked down so he wouldn’t see how red my cheeks were. One downfall of being a red head means my face gets SUPER red when I’m angry or embarrassed and there’s nothing I can do to hide it. Luckily it’s still dark even with the surrounding lights so maybe he didn’t see.

Eli finally stopped running and put his hands on his knees as he caught his breath. “HAHA! Hyung’s old!” Dongho laughed at him and sat back beside me.

“Dongho! I’m the same age as Eli, so does that make me old??” I glared at Dongho as he began to panic.

“Ah- no, noona! You’re very young and pretty! Eli is just… not?”

I laughed at his response and pat him on the shoulder, “I was just kidding! Hahaha! And it’s mean to call your hyung ugly especially when he’s not. I think he’s quite handsome.” I spoke before my brain had time to process it all so I mentally slapped myself when I saw their reaction.

“What?? You like Eli hyung??” Dongho voiced everyone’s thoughts but Hoon and Eli just stared at me with their eyes and mouths wide open.

“Uh… I mean yall are all handsome. Any girl would be lucky to be with any of you.” I looked back and forth between the guys hoping they wouldn’t notice I didn’t really give them an answer. Dongho seemed to understand and smiled. He took my hand and dragged me through one of the archways.

“WAIT!” Eli yelled at us causing us to stop in our tracks. We turned back and saw Eli pointing at something on the archway we just walked under. Uh oh… Mistletoe… My cheeks started burning again and I put my hands up in protest.

“No, Eli! That’s just a stupid tradition! There’s no need for that.”

Eli smirked evilly at me as he began explaining the situation to Hoon and Dongho, but mostly Dongho. “This is called mistletoe. When two people walk under it together they have to kiss! It’s a tradition and it must be upheld!” Dongho’s jaw dropped and he slowly looked at me. He seemed to be a little happy about it if you ask me…

“Come on! Just do it so we can move one!” Eli insisted.

I rolled my eyes and said, “Fine! But only on the cheek ok?” Dongho nodded his head and turned his head. I let out a deep breath and puckered my lips. Just as I was about to come in contact with his cheek, Dongho turned his head back around making my lips crash into his. I pulled back immediately and he ran away laughing. “DONGHO!” I started chasing after him but I’m SO out of shape that I had to stop. Instead of chasing Dongho I turned back to Eli and slapped his chest. “See what you did!”

“Yes, I made a young boy very happy with the help of a beautiful young woman.” Eli smiled brightly at me but I just blushed and stomped away in a different direction. Eli followed me leaving Hoon and Dongho behind.

I sat down on a cold stone bench that sat between two lit up trees when Eli slowly came up to me. “Hey… I’m sorry for making you do that… But it did make Dongho happy… I think he kinda likes you to be honest.” Eli chuckled a little bit but he wasn't smiling. I looked up at him and patted the seat beside me. Eli sat down and looked straight ahead. “You can’t tell me you didn’t like it either…” I looked up at him with a what-the-heck-are-you-talking-about expression. “I saw you blushing. You can’t deny that.”

I scoffed. Thank you genetics for making my emotions so obvious… “Yeah, I was blushing but it wasn’t because of Dongho…. Don’t get me wrong, I love Dongho to death, but he’s too young for me.” I looked at the ground and saw Eli’s foot shift.

“Then… why were you blushing?” I froze thinking of a way to get around another question.

“You know… A wise person once told me to never reveal everything I know.” I looked up and smirked at him. He looked amused with my answer but threw another question at me.

“Ok. But what about everything you feel?” Eli stared at me intensely making my stupid blush come back. The smile on his face shows that that was all he needed. He leaned in closer without taking his eyes off of me. I closed my eyes and surprisingly didn’t feel anything... literally. I opened my eyes and saw Eli on the ground and Hoon had his fist raised.

I leaped onto Hoon’s back and yelled “STOP! Hoon! Stop!” Hoon stood back up with me still on his back. I continued to hold on tightly as he walked a few yards away to the next bench. He sat me down on the bench and sat super close to me. He pulled me to his chest and rubbed my back. I had no idea what just happened and was still trying to make sense of it all. I hugged him back anyways because he was warm.

“Are you ok? He didn’t hurt you right?” Hoon softly asked. I pulled back and nodded my head. I looked up to him and stared into his eyes. He was obviously worried about me, but if only he knew he kinda ruined a perfect moment for me. I looked back at Eli and saw him sitting on the bench with Dongho who seemed to be lecturing him. I looked back at Hoon and opened my mouth to say something when someone interrupted me.

“What happened? Is everyone ok?” I looked behind Hoon to see Kevin, Kiseop, AJ, and Soohyun. Kevin came up to me and asked, “Are you ok?” I nodded and stood up and started walking slowly towards the entrance. Everyone, including Dongho and Eli, followed me. I heard them whispering behind me but I paid no attention. I needed to think about things. We got back to the main part of the garden and I looked up at the huge Christmas tree of lights. Let’s change this memory…

“Hey!” I said and everyone looked at me with worry on their faces. “We never took a picture together! Stand right here and I’ll take your picture!” I took my phone out as they were getting positioned. “Say Merry Christmas!” I took one smiling picture and one funny picture of them and it was hilarious!

“Hey! We need to take pictures with you too!” Kevin said. I looked around for a new photographer and saw the cutest old couple slowly walking by.

“Excuse me. Could one of you please take a picture of my friends and me?” They agreed and I showed them which button to push to take the picture. I got in the very middle of the group and we all smiled brightly. After the flash went off, I went back to the old couple and thanked them.

“No problem sweetie! But I think you need to snatch up one of those boys before someone else does.” The woman stated bluntly. I laughed in disbelief when the man shook his head. I wasn't really expecting that out of an older person, especially one from around here.

“Ethel, you have me! Stop looking at those young fellas!”

“Oh, Howard. Stop being such a Scrooge!” She said as they walked away. She turned back around and winked at me. I laughed again at them and went back to the group. I can’t wait till I’m old and in love like them…

We walked back to the van and everyone seemed to be in a better mood. Soohyun the radio and Christmas music was playing. It was in the middle of a song and even though I knew it I didn’t want to be the only one singing. Then the original “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby came on. Soohyun started singing it so I decided to harmonize his voice. Everyone looked at me but I just kept on singing. Soohyun’s manly voice and my higher tone matched perfectly together. I expected everyone else to sing along but then just sat and listened. As we finished and the next song began everyone started clapping for us.

“Marlee! You have a beautiful voice! We definitely need to go sing at a noraebang together sometime!” Kevin suggested.

I smiled and ran my fingers through my hair. “Haha we don’t really have noraebangs here like the ones in Korea.” (AN: Norebang is karaoke. And I didn't highlight the s on noraebangs because it's Konglish... I only highlight the Korean parts.)

“Well maybe we can pull some strings…” Kevin winked at me and I just laughed.

We pulled into my dorm’s parking garage and I let out a big sigh before we stepped out into the cold air. “I had a lot of fun today. I hope we can spend more time together before yall leave… When is that exactly?”

Everyone got really quiet and looked around for someone else to answer. “Actually, we’re leaving the day after tomorrow but tomorrow we have work we need to do. This wasn’t just a vacation. I’m sorry. Maybe we can find some time to have lunch or something?” Kevin said in a really sad voice.

“Don’t worry about it. Work comes before play. I’m just thankful I was able to meet yall.” I almost felt like crying but I was doing a good job of holding it back.

“We’ll definitely stop by before heading to the airport. I promise!” Kevin said and held out his pinky. I laughed and linked my pinky with his forming a sacred pinky promise. “How about AJ and I walk you to your room this time?” I nodded my head and led them inside without looking at either Hoon or Eli. I think Kevin wanted to keep what happened early from happening again. We got to my room and Kevin plopped down on my chair without permission to come in. I looked at him strangely and AJ scooted Hannah’s chair next to Kevin. “Ok. So what happened earlier?” I knew this was coming…

I closed the door behind me and sat on my bed facing them. “Ok… Well Dongho and I walked under a mistletoe and Eli forced us to kiss but I told him only on the cheek but when I was about to kiss him he turned his head like the sneaky devil he is so I stormed off because I was mad mostly at Eli for getting me in the situation in the first place but he then came over and apologizes and we started talking and it maaay have looked like Eli was about to kiss me so Hoon threw him on the ground but I stopped Hoon before his fist came in contact with Eli’s face and then we separated and Hoon made sure I was ok and that’s where yall came in……..” I said all in just one breath. I looked at the two guys and they seemed flabbergasted.

AJ blinked and said, “Uh… So two guys kissed you tonight?”

I shook my head, “No, Eli and I didn’t kiss.” They were silent for a few seconds when Kevin spoke up.

“I see… Well I think everything’s ok now. I’ll make sure Hoon apologizes to Eli for almost starting a fight. We still have to live together… But don’t worry about it. They’re both reasonable guys. I’m sure they’ve already made up.” Kevin reassured me. I really needed it too because I felt awful. Great. I just made their lives that much more difficult… I’m sorry Ukiss! AJ and Kevin stood up and each gave me a hug goodbye. I closed the door behind them and locked it like I always do. I fell back onto my bed and started crying.

Why do I always cause problems? We were having such a good time and then drama just had to appear. Is this karma for not following my parents' wishes? It’s a good thing they’re leaving soon before I can do any more damage...

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Hello! I know this is kind of a sad ending but it'll get better! :) And yall have NO idea how hard I laughed when I wrote about Ethel and Howard... haha

Let me know what you think! It makes me sad not being able to read comments. :(

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