(author's note: i'd say this writing quality is extremely poor and the plot is also, but i created it as i went along and i want to finish this before christmas so that it still makes sense haha. so, i apologise! if it's boring, if you don't like it, if you don't want to read it, it's fine~)

“Dude, Soonyoung and Seokmin already bought us presents for Christmas. They beat us. Now we have to go buy presents for everyone too,” Hansol sighed to Jisoo, a refreshing beginning of English conversation which had been unspoken for so long that it was almost forgotten.  Since they had come to Korea, all they did was speak Korean (who would’ve guessed?). Hansol and Jisoo were walking along the shore of the prettiest beach in the nation, close to the water but prohibiting the waves from touching their bare feet. Samuel trailed a fair way behind them, getting further and further away as he stopped to inspect shells, rocks, crabs, jellyfish, and whatever else he could see. Since he was still young, his curiosity was at the level of peaking and Hansol guessed that he had no thoughts except what is that?

“Well, what are we meant to get them?” Jisoo inquired, looking Hansol in the eyes and then shifting his gaze to the sun that was shining on his face. It was sunset, which meant it would be dark soon, which meant that all the shops were going to be closing soon, which meant that they should buy the presents soon. Hansol seemed to be in deep thought when the sound of sand moving behind the two could be heard.

“Guys, look what I found!” Samuel yelled from behind, panting as he ran as fast as he could with an outstretched hand which held an object that wasn’t quite visible yet, a backpack jumping around his shoulders, and a grin as wide as the ocean beside them plastered on his face. “It’s a—“

“You shouldn’t play with stuff on the beach! It could be illegal or something!” Hansol exclaimed, worries obvious as he playfully pushed Samuel to the side, as if to portray that you really shouldn’t do that. As Samuel had his backpack, heavy as bricks, still on his shoulders, and his balance not so healthy as he hadn’t stopped running yet, the playful push turned into a slight shove and threw Samuel off his balance further, tripping his feet and causing him to tumble into the water, whatever was in his hand flying high above any of their heads and landing somewhere far away in the water with a small, yet still audible, plonk.

Without a word, Samuel stood up with water dripping down from his hair and clothes, a look of hatred on his face which needed nothing but silence to explain.  

“Uh… maybe we should go get some dinner…?” Jisoo suggested, an attempt to alleviate the awkward atmosphere and possibly make Samuel forget about what just happened. “What do you want?” received an excited “jjajjangmyeon!” from Hansol and a stare which seemed to come from almost under his eyelids from Samuel. “Okay, jjajjangmyeon it is.”

“Why do you always take Hansol’s side?!”

“You didn’t even say anything!”

“So what, I thought you would be able to tell because you like me more than Hansol.”

“Samuel, I’m not taking sides. I don’t do that. I can’t because I’m the oldest, if you remember. You guys should be listening to me. So… let’s just get instant ramen from the convenience store. It’s easier and cheaper, anyway.”

Jisoo’s half lecture earned a full grunt from both of the boys, but they followed his lead to the convenience store. “Get your ramen and bring it to the counter, I’ll wait here and pay for you.”

A few minutes later, Samuel came back with something that was not ramen in his hands, unsurprisingly to Jisoo. “What do you have now?”

“Look!” Samuel excitedly said, the slight raspiness in his voice disappearing for a moment, “They’re Korean to English dictionaries! The guys are always wanting to learn English so they can get girlfriends from overseas or whatever, aren’t they? They’re just too lazy to even come to the convenience store. So, we can give them these as a Christmas present and say it’s from all of us English-speaking people!”

“Uh…” Jisoo began as Hansol interrupted him.

“That’s so stupid, we can just teach them ourselves.”

“Actually,” Jisoo continued, “I think it’s an awesome idea. Plus, it’s already dark and we have to get home, so this will be a good way to save time and money. They’ll really like it, trust me. Especially Mingyu. His English is alright but… not quite fluent yet. With this, he’ll be able to fix it.”

Hansol eventually agreed, and so ramen was ate, and dictionaries were bought, and Christmas was one day closer. 

While the three were walking home, Hansol suddenly remembered something and thought he should ask about it just to confirm his thoughts weren't his imagination playing up again. "Samuel, didn't you say you're going back to America for Christmas to stay with your family?"

"Oh, yeah. And... they said I might not come back, that I'm too young to stay in Korea and they think I'd be more successful there, with them."

"Oh.." Jisoo and Hansol whispered in unison. "Well, we'll be thinking of you when we give and open the presents, okay? Think of us too! And try and convince your parents that we will look after you if you stay here!"

"I've tried. I'll try again. I'll think of you guys, even Hansol. I'll really miss you while I'm there. I hope when I come back to Korea, it's not to say my final goodbyes..."

"Don't think of the worst case scenario," Hansol started, "it will be fine." He seemed a little shy to be expressing his feelings, but he really did love Samuel as his little brother. "We'll ring you on Christmas."

"Ring me on Christmas," Samuel nodded. "Talk to you then."