Min Ho’s sleep was interrupted by the incessant ringing of his phone. He groggily opened one eye and tried to reject the call with his mind. When that didn’t work out, he grumbled and reluctantly grabbed the phone from his nightstand. One look at the caller ID and he had half a mind to throw his phone on the wall. ‘Aish.’ He was still sane so he buried the phone under his blanket instead, and went back to sleep.

After just a few seconds of peace, the phone rang again. Min Ho tried to muffle the sound by covering his face with a pillow. In the end, he cursed under his breath before feeling for the phone with his hands.

‘WAE?’ He answered, half-asleep and very annoyed.

‘Ya! I called you so many times. Odiya?’ the guy at the other end replied.

‘What do you mean where am I? You woke me up, ima!’

‘I know that, but where are you sleeping? Are you home?’

‘Eh? Where else would I be sleeping?’

‘Arasso.’ The caller hung up the phone.

‘Yobuseyo? Yobuseyo?’ Min Ho looked at the screen and saw that the call had been ended. ‘What the?’

‘MIN HO-YAH!’ A guy called out from somewhere inside the house.

Min Ho let out a sigh and hid himself under his blanket. All he wanted was a good eight hour sleep. It hasn’t even been five hours. He seriously considered moving to another house.

‘Lee Min Ho! Are you still asleep?’ Il Woo sat on his bed and pulled his blanket, revealing a half- Min Ho.

‘YA! What are you doing in someone else’s house?’ He kicked Il Woo’s rear. ‘Get out!’

‘It’s your fault for being too lazy to change your pass code. I also know your Mother’s birthday, bongchonga!’

‘Ah, shikro! Let me sleep, please? I just got back from Busan and I honestly haven’t slept since China,’ Min Ho begged as he tried to cover himself with the blanket again. Il Woo stopped him by snatching it away.

‘You haven’t called your friends either! So are you going to just send me away when I came all the way here just for you? It’s Christmas eve!’ Il Woo complained. ‘Fine, if you want me to leave, I’ll leave.’

Min Ho gave him a menacing stare. Il Woo beamed at him. ‘Come on, I brought you breakfast. Your favorite!’

Min Ho’s ears perked up. ‘Breakfast?’

‘Of course. Do you think I’d come barging in here without something to tame you?’

It was a bright winter morning and Shin Hye was playing with her dogs, Bongji and Nori. While filming for Heirs, she had left them in her parents’ care because she was barely home and she missed them a lot. She hadn’t gotten them back yet because her schedule was still very tight, and she was flying from one country to another.

‘Shin Hye-ah, come and have breakfast!’ She heard her Mother call out.

When she got to the table, her Mother and Father were already seated and laughing about something. Shin Hye crossed her arms and frowned.

‘Are you really going to be like this? I’m still sitting here and you’re already excluding me.’

‘Aigoo, you’re so sensitive, honey. I told you that we’ve planned this for weeks already,’ her mother started putting food on her rice bowl, like she usually does. Shin Hye knew she was never going to win against her so she turned to the only person in the world who loses to her every time.

‘Can’t I come, Appa? Please?’ She made cute faces. He could never resist them. He was about to respond when her Mother interjected.

‘It’s a couples’ trip! We can’t be the only couple who brings a daughter with them just because she doesn’t have a boyfriend to spend Christmas with.’

‘Omma!’ Shin Hye cried out.

‘Come on, honey. You’re a hallyu star. I’m sure you’ll find people to spend Christmas Eve with?’

Just then, her brother came out of his room to join them. She decided to change her strategy last-minute. Shin Hye greeted him excitedly. ‘Oppa, good morning! I have a proposal…’

He quickly cut her off. ‘I can’t. My girlfriend is coming over later. You better not stay around, that will just be awkward.’ He sat down and grinned at her. ‘Good morning.’

‘AISH. You guys are the worst,’ she scowled. ‘What am I supposed to do tonight, then?’

‘Can’t you stay with your friends?’ her Father asked.

‘I don’t know,’ she sighed. ‘You guys have fun. I’ll figure it out.’

Jung Il Woo watched Min Ho eat heartily. ‘Aigoo, what will you do without me?’

Min Ho didn’t reply and continued to down his food. Apart from lack of sleep, he hasn’t been eating all too well lately. His schedule after the drama was too tight, and he preferred to use up his free time by sleeping than eating. Today was the only day in a long time he could eat freely.

‘Don’t you have a family? Why do you always hang around me?’ Min Ho asked Il Woo when he finally finished.

‘Because you’re the richest, most famous friend I have. I figured that if my acting career tanks, I’ll always have you,’ he retorted.

‘You should go to more variety shows,’ Min Ho told him as he stood up to get water. ‘If your acting career tanks, you can be a comedian, since you think you’re so funny and all.’

‘Should I?’ Il Woo said. ‘I love our friendship. So much brutal honesty. Which reminds me… Christmas is also about being honest. Have you finally admitted to yourself that you like Shin Hye?’

Min Ho sat back on his chair and looked at Il Woo. ‘So what if I have?’

‘Hallelujah! Finally. I was starting to think there was something wrong with you. So what did you do about it?’

‘What do you mean? It’s just a crush,’ he replied.

‘Crush?’ Il Woo looked at him in disbelief. ‘A crush is what I have on Song Hye Kyo and Kim Tae Hee. I even have an inexplicable crush on Go Hyun Jung noona. You don’t have a crush on Park Shin Hye. You like her,’ Il Woo explained.

‘Really? Okay then,’ Min Ho replied nonchalantly and focused his attention on his phone.

‘Ya… you really are made of stone. Kure. Go and have a relationship with your career! I hope you live happily ever after.’

Min Ho was snickering when his phone started ringing. He looked at the screen and stood up. ‘Wait a minute,’ he told Il Woo and went to the living room. When he thought Il Woo was out of earshot, he answered the call.

‘Good morning.’ He smiled. ‘I did, Il Woo brought food.’ ‘He just barged in and cut off my sleep. Did you sleep well?’ ‘That’s good.’ ‘Chincha? Ottoke?’ ‘I can cancel if you like, I’d rather spend time with you.’ ‘No, she won’t hate you.’ ‘Are you sure? You know I’ll just worry.’ ‘Arasso. I’ll talk to you later. I have to get back to my clingy friend.’ ‘Hmm.’

As soon as she hung up, Min Ho turned back to head to the kitchen. He almost jumped in surprise when he saw Il Woo sitting on the couch. ‘Omo, kamchagiya!’

‘Clingy friend?’

‘How long have you been there?’

‘Long enough to know that you’re obviously flirting with a girl! Is that why you don’t care about Park Shin Hye anymore? Who was that?’

‘Eh?’

‘Never mind. I don’t want to know about your flings,’ Il Woo waved his hand. ‘What are you doing for Christmas eve later? Are you going to spend it with that girl?’

‘Anya, I’m planning on going to my sister’s place tonight. Although I’m starting to think maybe I should spend it with this girl instead.’

Il Woo shook his head. ‘That’s not a very good idea. You can’t spend Christmas eve with a girl unless you’re serious about her.’

Min Ho smiled. ‘I know.’

Shin Hye racked her brain for ideas as she drove back to her pad. Her Mother couldn’t wait to get rid of her and prepare for their trip. She acted like a brat that morning, but she was glad her parents were spending Christmas together. She sighed. Had she known, she would have made plans with her other friends instead. Now, it’s too late to try to insert herself in other people’s Christmas plans.

‘Tesso. I will have to spend Christmas alone like a mature career woman. It could be good. Cathartic, even,’ Shin Hye told herself. But first, I’ll have to shop for essentials. She drove to a grocery store near her place. As soon as she parked, she realized there were so many people shopping last-minute. She hesitated going through with it, but she convinced herself that if she were to spend Christmas alone, she should at least have food and drinks to keep her company.

She wore the most inconspicuous hat and sunglasses she owned and went inside. The store was buzzing with people. She wondered if they were also last-minute shoppers because they were abandoned by their families. She got a push cart and started looking for products to buy.

Because there were so many people, it couldn’t be helped that there was pushing and bumping into each other. Shin Hye didn’t mind though because amazingly, no one seemed to recognize her. She attributed it to Christmas mania where people were too busy shopping as fast as they can and minding their own business so they can go home right away. It was a bit of a hassle, but it was the first time she felt a little normal in a public place.

She started putting things in her cart: wine (of course), fruits, chocolate and ice cream (a must-have for alone time with the television), bread, jams, cheese. She thought about whether she should cook anything. She decided it could be good to pass the time so she went with simple tomato pasta. After getting the ingredients, she headed to the cashier area.

While she was queuing to pay for her stuff, her phone rang. She saw the screen and smiled.

‘Oppa,’ she answered.

‘Ahh, Il Woo is finally gone. He’s been driving me crazy,’ Min Ho told her.

‘Eyy, you know he just cares about you,’ Shin Hye replied. ‘If he hadn’t come, you wouldn’t have eaten anything.’ She noticed that some people were starting to look at her. She lowered her cap.

‘So what did your friend say? Is she coming over at your place tonight?’ Min Ho asked.

‘Oh? Yeah, yeah. She’s coming. It’s a good thing she’s also single,’ she replied.

‘But you’re not single.’

‘Well, technically I am. We decided we aren’t officially together, remember?’ Shin Hye looked down. More and more people were looking at her now.

‘That’s only because you insisted. Anyway, those are just terms. Doesn’t mean we’re not dating,’ he argued.

‘Ya, let me remind you that we haven’t seen each other since that… that night,’ Shin Hye was whispering now. Why is this queue so slow?

‘Don’t you think I know that? I’ve seen all of your photos from your activities but I haven’t seen you.’

‘Isn’t that Park Shin Hye? It’s Park Shin Hye!’ ‘Ya, daebak, Park Shin Hye!’ ‘Cha Eun Sang, Kim Tan odiso?’ ‘Noona, saranghae!’

Min Ho must have heard from the other end because he was suddenly silent. ‘Ya, what’s happening? Where are you?’ Min Ho asked.

‘I’m at the supermarket. I don’t have food at the house so I decided to shop,’ Shin Hye re