DECEMBER 15, 2013

 

I wake up from my deep slumber due to the exceptionally cold weather. I sat up from my bed and noticed that the door to the veranda is open. I face-palmed myself, now I know why it feels cold. I happen to forget to close it last night when I decided to watch the snow falling before I went to sleep.

I climbed out of my bed and closed the door to my veranda. I climbed to bed again and was about to pull the covers over my head when a knock was heard. I let out a groan and climbed out of bed again to get the door.

 

"What?" I asked, irritated. My eyes were still half-open due to my sleepiness. It was Daehyun oppa and he was still in his pajamas, holding a mug of hot milk.

 

"Is that a nice way to greet good morning to your lovely oppa?" He mocks.

 

"You're disturbing me from my sleep."

 

"Anyways, you have a package downstairs." He says and then turns around to where the stairs were.

 

I came out of my room lazily and followed him. 

 

"It's there by the Christmas tree." He points to Christmas tree when we entered the living room. He claims a spot on the couch and turns on the television while I hurried to where my package was. I quickly noticed it because it was the only thing under the tree. It was a medium sized box. I quickly went to sit next Daehyun oppa on the couch.

 

"How'd you get this?" I ask my brother.

 

"I just found it by the doorstep this morning." He replies. He doesn't looks at me because he was busy flipping through the channels with the remote.

 

I opened the box and it was full of small styrofoam. Seriously? A prank during Christmas season is definitely not funny. I threw the box to my brother.

 

"Yah! What's your problem?" He asks, angry.

 

I just roll my eyes at him. "It's not funny. A box full of styrofoam huh?"

 

"What are you talking about?" He asks, still having that angry tone. He opens the box and dug his hands deep and then just in a flick second, he takes out two packs of Dearberry Vitamin Mask Pack (Jeongmin's) and then he throws it back to me together with the box.

 

I sank in my seat feeling embarrassed that I accused him of playing a prank on me.

 

"Next time, try looking first before accusing." He rolls his eyes at me.

 

"Sorry oppa." I rub the back of my neck sheepishly. He just let out a 'tsk'.

 

I dig inside the box hoping if there is any note and just like what I guessed, there was.

 

The note:

 

Dear Jehyun,

 

Hey! Have you already used the masks I sent you yesterday? Here is your second wish, Dearberry Vitamin Mask Pack of Jeongmin's.

 

Be a good girl :) Merry Christmas!

 

XOXO

Santa Claus

 

"I told you Santa Claus is real." I gave him the note.

 

"Dream on." He scoffs.

 

"Aigo~ my babies arguing early in the morning." Omma suddenly comes in inside the living room.

 

"We're not babies anymore." The two of us retort in unison making both my parents let out chuckles.

 

"Let's just eat breakfast you guys." Appa says and we all follow him to the dining room.

 

Appa reads the newspaper while my brother plays with his phone while I help set the table while omma is still preparing the waffles.

 

"Since it's Sunday, how about all of us go out today?" Appa suggests while omma is putting waffles on our plates. She quickly sits down next to appa after she was done.

 

"Family day? That would be nice." I commented.

 

"I suggest we go to the mall so we can start Christmas shopping." Daehyun oppa adds.

 

"So a family day at the mall it is. What do you think hon?" Appa asks omma.

 

"It's fine with me." Omma replies.

 

Appa's arm was around omma's shoulder as we walk while my brother and I have our hands intertwined.

 

"What should be our first stop?" Omma flips her head to us. Daehyun oppa looks at me and a smile plays on his lips then I finally get it what he was trying to say. I took Appa's hand while oppa took omma's hand and we both pull them inside the arcade.

 

"I suddenly feel being young again." Omma chuckles.

 

We enter the arcade and buy tokens so we can avail the booths. The first booth we went to is the basketball. Appa and oppa were the only ones playing.

 

Omma and me just watched them both. One of Appa's balls went flying over to me but I quickly caught it.

 

"Princess, give me the ball." Appa says gesturing me to give him the ball before the time ends.

 

Being the hardheaded, I refused and just shoot the ball on my own.

 

"I'm surely going to win now." Daehyun brags again. Did he just question my ability?

 

"Dear, you did it." Omma squeals, clapping his hands. I was able to shoot the ball inside the ring. Both Appa and oppa had their mouths hung agape.

 

I just shrugged my shoulders in a bragging manner. "Who says that I can't shoot rings?"

 

Appa suddenly runs to me to give me a hug. "I didn't know my princess has basketball skills. Since when did you learn playing basketball?"

 

"Yeah, since when?" Oppa adds.

 

Three pairs of eyes were waiting for me to answer the question. I swallowed my own saliva not wanting to answer the question; it was Kyungjae who taught me how. Back then when we're still together, since Kyungjae was a varsity player; I would always wait for him to finish with his training. After his training, the both of us would stay back in the gymnasium for some minutes and he would teach me how to shoot.

 

"Uhmm…" I was cut off when Daehyun oppa suddenly yells. I wipe imaginary sweats on my forehead. They didn't know about Kyungjae, I kept it a secret. I wasn't allowed to have a boyfriend not until I turn 18 but since I really liked Kyungjae back then, I set aside the rule but clearly, I totally regret it. Now I know why they didn't want me to have a boyfriend, they didn't want me to experience pain, to cry all night because of a painful breakup. That explains the reason why Junhong oppa was the person who was always there to comfort me and be my crying shoulder instead of my own brother because he's the only person who knew about my relationship besides Minjung. How'd he find out? He saw Kyungjae kissed me on the lips one time by the hallways.

 

"Hey! That's our tickets." He scolds the boy who was about to get the tickets that came out from the basketball booth.

 

After playing basketball, we tried other games as well. After playing Dance Revolution with Daehyun oppa, we went to where the crane machines where.

Appa and omma were standing side by side while I was clinging my arms around omma. Daehyun oppa was by the crane machine.

 

"Je, what stuff toy do you want?" He asks.

 

I let out a soft 'hmm…' and scanned the toys that were inside the glass then I spotted Sylvester the Cat. I've always been a big fan of Looney Tunes ever since.

 

"Oppa, I want Sylvester the Cat."

 

Oppa nods and after a few tries; he finally got the stuff toy I wanted.

 

"Here Dongsaeng~ Merry Christmas." My oppa hands it to me with a smiling face.

 

"Thanks oppa. You're the best." I chimed and gave him a quick hug.

 

We finished at the crane machine and we end up inside a KTV room here in the arcade. You just need 5 tokens to enter and you can sing 10 songs.

 

We talked about how many songs we can sing. Appa can sing two as well as omma and since we were the kids, Daehyun oppa and I will sing three songs each.

 

Appa takes the microphone and starts to punch the song's number on the machine.

 

The room was filled with laughter whenever Appa will get mistaken with the lyrics and then when Omma will try to reach a high note but in the end will fail.

 

The room was filled with comments and claps from both our parents when it was my brother's turn.

 

It was my turn now, second to be exact. For my first song, I sang Boyfriend's 'Janus'.

 

"I would like to dedicate this song to the best parents in the whole wide world. If they weren't here then I bet Daehyun oppa and wouldn't be here as well. They might be strict at times but I know they're just doing it for my own good." I declaimed and I felt tears trickling down my cheeks but I quickly wipe it of.

 

I turned to where the machine was and typed the number of the song. I decided to sing "What Is Love by EXO". It was the song Appa sang for Omma during their wedding anniversary last year.

 

The music starts so I start to sing as well.

 

When the song finished, Omma was already crying while Appa is in the verge of tears. Daehyun oppa who hung his head low, I can't see it but I know he's in the verge of tears as well.

 

"Sorry for making you all cry." I mumble.

 

"Dear, your voice was fantastic." Omma says, sniffing at the end.

 

"Go on Je, you still have one song left." Daehyun oppa says.

 

I let out a deep breath.

 

"The next song I am going to sing is dedicated to my family. We may not be perfect in other people's eyes but to me we are. We may have some problems but we always overcome them because we never leave each other's side. To the best oppa I ever had, we might fight at times and he's a lot irritating, he is still my brother who always care for me." I felt tears trickling again down my cheeks but I quickly wipe it off. "Appa, Omma and Oppa, saranghae~"

 

I turned my back to them and now I was facing the machine, I typed the number of the song I wanted to sing.

 

After I sang, everyone was crying and so do I.

 

"You kid, you made me cry." Daehyun oppa hugs me tight.

 

"Kids, you're having your solo time. Let us join." Appa who already is crying pulls us to sit with them and we both hug each other, I was in the middle of the big warm family hug.

 

A family's love is more valuable rather than a piece of gold.