It was Christmas morning.

 

      She knew this by the snowflakes falling gracefully against her window as she drove through the endless road filled with patches of snow and signs of a plow having only just cleared the road. Even though no one ever seemed to care much about the snow in Busan, as she had figured out from her previous speech to her older brother about the plotline of Zelda, something that she sometimes felt would make a good inspirational speech to the starving kids in Africa.

 

      Either way, it felt like she and been driving for hours with no stopping her tireless journey in a world of vast unknown terrain that was this empty, desolate road. She wasn’t really much for driving in an open and snowing road and would much rather be in a cozy embrace of a warm fire, holding a steamy cup of coco to calm her nerves and near frost bitten hands.

 

      Danielle wasn’t much for sentaments, but she would have preferred to have a loving husband of some sort, driving the car in her stead. That or just anyone in general. Or better yet, if she had he option of making wishes for this fine Christmas, then she would flat out prefer to be at home already with a quiet fire and a hot cup of tea.

 

      Or maybe a long, steamy bubble bath of sort.

 

      Either way, she was ten second away from pulling over at the next holiday inn and spending the night there. Christmas and trees. It wasn’t like there was anyone waiting for her at home, considering that she’d already kicked out her roommate for too much friendly intimacy, which she had never been a fan of in the first place.

 

      An inn began to sound more and more exciting as the seconds ticked by with her broken car heater and broken clock being just as useless as when she bought the car. So who even knew just how long she’d been driving in the first place, but it felt like hours since she’d last seen the light of an illuminated building as all she’d seen as of late was the endless road of piling snow, which she was beginning to hate as all she wanted was to glide over the road and go home, maybe even play Legend of Zelda, but instead she was stuck on a bumpy snow covered and rather endless, desert of some sort, forced to sit in a cold car and watch her hands slowly freeze to her steering wheel.

 

      Crash.

 

      Great. And now one of the chains on her tire just broke.

 

      Thank you God. You are always just letting bad luck come my way, huh?

 

      On Christmas.

 

      Well.

 

      everyone.

 

      I wanna die now.

 

      One side of her car was currently a bit higher up and she could tell a bit of the chain was still hanging onto her tire by the way the car was making a jingling  noise as it tilted to one side over and over.

 

      .

 

      She quickly pushed onto the brakes, but obviously not quick enough as she heard a low slush of the air in her tires start to depart from the rubber through whatever hole had descended on them from the pits of hell. She leaned her head back against her seat, not bothering to move her hands from the steering wheel, especially since she was fairly certain that they were stuck to the damn contraption at this point. She let out a sigh, watching as her breath turned into a foggy mist the moment it left her lips.

 

      She didn’t know just how long she sat there, contemplating what she did wrong in her life and just why God was punishing her so much on Christmas. Maybe he was pissed that people are giving more attention to Jesus than Him? Well buddy, I got news for you, I’m in it for the free stuff.

 

      She gave another long sigh as she watched in horror as her car began to emit a black smog from the engine, right in front of her very eyes.

 

      She began to consider just lighting the cheap vehicle on fire. It would be the nicest thing the car would have ever done for her.

 

      Again her own laziness kept her from exiting the vehicle as she was kind of hoping it would just blow up and give her a bit of warmth for the time being…before her untimely death that is. A vey painful death.

 

      Knock, knock, knock.

 

      She turned her head slightly as she heard the knock against her car window, just next to her face. The entire thing seemed strange, a sound against her door, awakening her from a stupor in the middle of nowhere.

 

      She couldn’t really see their face, as it was blurry through the frosty glass. She saw ice collecting on her eyelashes and when she tried to blink it away, it only seemed to aggravate her eyes, causing her to wince. She made a move to take her hands off the steering wheel, but quickly found that they were stuck, almost molded onto the wheel. She gave a hissing sound of annoyance as she tried to tear her hand away from the wheel, but only managed to get one off very painfully she felt her skin already begin to redden on her palm and she gave a low grunt of pain as she opened the door, hearing a crunching noise of the icy frost of her door slowly break off so she could make her way out.

 

      Still, she didn’t look up at the man responsible for the knocking as she was more focused on the two feet of snow that was blocking her door from opening even further, and it especially didn’t help since her one good hand was stuck to the wheel.

 

      “Are you alright?” The man asked and she gave a tiny grunt as she tore her other hand off the wheel, finding a burning pain run through her palm and up her arm all at once. She grunted at the pain, but didn’t do anything else but rub the blood against her black leggings before looking up at the main in front of her, finding that there were in fact two.

 

      The one closest to her looked normal enough, and had dark black hair that was just barely visible through a blue beany that covered most of his head. He seemed warm enough, since he was wearing what looked like six layers of clothing and mittens, which resembled wool.  Along with his excessive amount of layers, he had a giant bulky and rather furry hood that was pulled over his beany.

 

      He felt rather underdressed looking at him, although she could already release her worry that he wasn’t some kind of since his layers and layers of clothing would surely come as a problem if he tried to tear it off in order to attack her naught parts.

 

      Danielle, boys = , as her mom used to say before she was sent to the hospital one time. Too much with strangers was what her dad would say.

 

      The other boy was underdressed if anything, and was even more so than her as his tall and lanky body was covered with a rather thin pair of pants that were baggy enough to let more cold air in rather than keep it out. His shirt was no different and he wasn’t even covered by a jacket.

 

      “Yeah I’m fine. Just a little car trouble,” she finally got out, finding that the cold was making her voice come out husky and rough rather than her usual tone. She hoped no one noticed.

    

      “That’s more than a little.” The over layered man stated evenly, his eyes narrowed on her face, almost humorously.

 

      “Yeah well, nothing a little fire won’t fix.” Danielle replied, standing up and climbing out of the piling of snow that blocked her way. She ignored the helping hand of the layer dude and continued on her Olympic climbing all by herself. When she finally got out she turned to give her car the most annoyed look she could muster before she kicked the door closed. It seemed like it had a soul or something because as it did a mountain of snow fell off the roof of the car and fell on her. “Oh .” She muttered, and watched in slow motion the icy white fill her vision. An arm pulled her out of the way before much of it could hit her.

 

      “’Oh ’?” The boy stated, almost mechanically. “Do you have to go to the bathroom?”
 

      “No Zelo, that’s a phrase used in annoyance. Like a curse. I taught you about those.” The over layered man stated, and Danielle blinked a few times at the interaction.

 

      “O…kay. Well, as lovely as this has been, can someone direct me to the nearest inn or hovel or igloo or something. I’ll take a phone maybe. I broke mine in half yesterday.” She stated, brushing off the arm of the tall lanky guy who was still gripping onto her.

 

      “You’re funny.” Layered guy stated, but his expression never changed to amusement.

 

      She felt a grow glide on her lips, finding it rather annoying that a stranger was mocking her when she was so obviously freezing and cute and in the middle of nowhere.

 

      “They nearest gas station is over 60 miles away. The nearest city is more than 140 miles away.” The lanky guy stated and Danielle almost immediately frowned.

 

      “Where did I drive to? ing Narnia?” She muttered and once again lanky guy looked confused.

 

      “Another curse, Zelo.” Layered guy stated simply.

 

      She was beginning to think she may have been driving the wrong way home, much to her annoyance. That was definitely the last time she was going to take a ‘short cut’ home.

 

      “Would you like to warm up at our house?” Layered guy asked, almost reluctantly.

 

      “Don’t exactly wanna stay here.” She muttered in response, and the two almost immediately started to walk away, not looking back at her for even a second before she followed, finding her boots sinking easily into the snow.

 

      “I’m Yongguk. That is Zelo,” Layered guy stated, glancing at the other guy for a moment before going back to staring at the snow.

 

      “Yeah.” She replied, not really listening as she tried to control her shivering. She was slightly curses the layered guy, Yongguk apparently, for not lending her even one jacket.

 

      .

 

      “Danielle. My name is Danielle.” She finally stated, forcing her teeth to stop chattering for a moment so she could actually speak.

 

      They walked for quite a while, her eyes watching their backs as they walked through the freezing, almost solid, ice that made her almost want to cry. She tried to focus on heating her hands, but rubbing them up against her icy top didn’t really do much. For a moment she felt that she was making a mistake, following two strangers to their house in the middle of nowhere, but she quickly decided that that she’d rather be murdered by two, rather attractive, guys than let the frost be a and do her in.

 

      She felt slightly relieved when she saw the outline of a house, finding that she was rather expecting it to be some kind of torture chamber that would be where she would die. She’d rather not have to deal with two sadistic murderers.

 

      The moment she entered the house she was hit was very little change in the temperature, causing her to once again reconsider her life choices. But at least inside she wouldn’t have to deal with snow, pummeling her head.

 

      “Zelo will take you to a room so you can warm up.” Yongguk muttered, before quickly walking away. Obviously not much for conversation.

 

      “Well, neither am I so…” She whispered to herself, and Zelo looked at her confused for a moment. She was impressed and annoyed at just how good his hearing was. “Just talking to myself.”

 

      “Yongguk says it’s bad to talk to yourself.” He said in returned, and Danielle felt slightly annoyed for a moment.

 

      Yeah, well, Yongguk can go fu-

 

      She paused for a moment before deciding that she was just cold, tired, and very, very, hungry.

 

      “Do you have anything to eat?” She asked, and Zelo turned to her for a moment causing her to realize that he had already led her to the kitchen with her unknowingly following.

 

      “I don’t know much about food, but I am sure you can find something in this establishment.” He said, robotically. Her lips slightly twitched upwards before she shook her head and began digging through the two men’s food, taking a couple bites of snacks that she found lying around, but for the most part couldn’t find much food apart from the hundreds of snacks everywhere.

 

      “Are you nourished?”

 

      “Bro, what are you, from the 1950s or something,” Danielle asked, glancing up at him and away from her chips for a moment before she began to eat a couple pieces of cake, one after another.

 

      “I was born in 2009.” He stated effortlessly, to which she laughed at.

 

      “Bull.” She replied and almost immediately noticed that he was confused again. “It’s a phrase. Dude, get with the era.” He looked confused again. “It’s another phrase.”

 

      “Hyung doesn’t teach me much about those ‘phrases’.” Zelo stated simply, his arms hanging limply at his side while the girl rummaged through all the food before taking out a cup of instant ramen with a sly grin. She hardly even paid attention to the trained eyes that were watching her every movement as she went through the process of preparing the slightly disappointing meal. Hardly being the key word here.

 

      “You stare too much,” she stated simply, stirring the ramen in a pot, skillfully pretending that it was an actual meal she was making and not a cup of salty noodles that will probably have her sent to the hospital one day.

 

      “Do I?” He asked, and she glanced at him through thick bangs before closing her eyes and smiling.

 

      “Not that I’m complaining or anything, but do you guys not celebrate Christmas?” She asked, a little offhandedly as she tried to stop herself from collapsing on the ground. She was fairly certain that she was coming down with a cold…or she was just hungrier than she had originally thought.

 

      “Christmas?” Zelo asked, and Danielle gave a sorrowful sigh.

 

      “Don’t tell me your hyung never taught you about Christmas either? Man, what are you, a robot?” She stated simply.

 

      “One of my best designs.” Yongguk said, entering the room with a cup of what looked to be tea, judging by the smell that the steam emitted.

 

      “Ha, ha, very funny.” She replied, letting out an annoyed and rather weak sigh.

 

      “Here, drink this.” Yongguk said, well, ordered while he handed her the steaming cup of liquid that she knew nothing about. His lips twitched up for a moment when he caught her giving the cup a suspicious glare. “I assure you, if I wanted to poison you I would find a better way of doing it rather than going through the trouble of brewing tea.”

 

      Danielle’s nose curled, slightly miffed, but she held back her own annoyance and grabbed the tea from his hands with an annoyed point that barely reached her eyes. She gave Yongguk a challenging glance as she raised the glace up to her lips, her eyes narrowed like that of a cat.  His eyes hadn’t changed and the lapse of emotion from before quickly vanished.

 

      “Well, that wasn’t so hard. You’ll be dead within the hour now.” He said simply, and she almost dropped the cup in surprise. “I’m joking.”

 

      “Very funny.” She snapped, taking another sip. The effects of the drink were very quick, as she already began to feel warmth spreading throughout her body like that of a warm fire. The more she drank the better she began to feel, as if the previous snow incident had never happened at all. The warmth glided down her fingertips causing her to have an almost cozy feeling of serenity and almost made her forget how hungry she was.

 

      “Do you feel better?” He asked, and the moment of warmth instantly shattered at the chill of his voice.

 

      “I’m fine thank you. Your concern was unnecessary.” She stated in return, and he smirked, almost looking amused.

 

      “Yes. Concern. That’s what it was,” he didn’t have enough care to tell her that she was his test project for a concoction he had been working on to cure frost related illnesses.

 

      “Do you have a phone?” She asked, and Yongguk tilted his head, glancing over to Zelo for a suspicious instant before looking back over to her.

 

      “I’m afraid not. Phones are very…troublesome to use in this weather.” Yongguk replied, and she almost scoffed in reply.

 

      “Please, the weather was fine last I ch-” somewhere down in hell, God must really hate her for sending one of the largest storms in the last decade her way right when she was trying to make her point.

 

      The sound of a tree crashing through the window cut her off and she found herself swiftly pulled away from the glass by two strong and rather long arms that wrapped around her stomach just before the glass could cut into her face. She found herself almost shivering as she watched a giant shard of glass fly past her face and stab into the wall behind her.

 

      Yongguk didn’t look too effected as he was getting a glass of water from the sink with a calm expression lingering on his face. “Well. That’s unfortunate.” He said simply, going over to inspect the damages made into his house.

 

      “MY NOODLES!” She exclaimed, ripping Zelo’s arms from her waist to stir the ramen that was currently boiling in the pot.  She sipped the last of the tea, which she had thankfully and luckily managed to hold onto without spilling during the drastic near death experience.

 

      It was another five minutes before she finally began to dig into her food, stuffing it into like a starving child with no regards for whether it was too hot or not.

 

      “Sit down,” she order with a mouthful of food a bit of noodles hanging from her chin as she gazed over to Zelo who was standing, rather awkwardly (in her opinion) in the corner of the kitchen. He said nothing in response, merely sitting down on the chair across from her with an empty expression on his rather pale face.

 

      She grew annoyed when she noticed just how little imperfections the boy had. His face was smooth like a child or even porcelain, much to her further annoyance. She felt her cheeks while she munched on her food, feeling a tiny bit more annoyed as she decided that his face was much smoother than her own.

 

     “Are you alright noona?” He asked and she instantly looked up at him, slightly surprised.

 

      “Noona?” She muttered to herself, flabbergasted as she took another bite from her food. She didn’t feel older than him and she doubted she looked older. The idea of being called that didn’t sit right with her.

 

      He looked confused at her sudden growth in what resembled depression, which only caused her to eat more and faster. It never even crossed her mind to ask if he was hungry, and even if it did, the idea of sharing her food didn’t sit too well with her stomach.

 

      “So, why don’t you celebrate Christmas?” She asked, finding her attempt at conversation quite lame, but she said it anyway; and she ignored her instincts that were telling her to stay quiet.

 

      “I’m sorry, but I am not sure what you mean about Christmas.” Zelo replied and she laughed a bit, leaning back in her chair as she took more slurps from her ramen.

 

      “Do you ever go outside?” She asked, rhetorically.

 

      “Yes. I go outside quite often to shovel snow and fix up the house.” He answered anyway, to which the girl made no response and ignored the sarcastic remarks that were just itching to glide off her tongue. She kind of felt like insulting the kid would be like kicking a puppy.

 

      She liked puppies.

 

      She would probably have no problem saying such things to Yongguk since the slightly rude kind of reminded of a bag of dog she would fling on someone’s front door and light on fire. Preferably Yongguk’s door. Or her brother’s door.

 

      What kind of sadistic kicks his own sister out on Christmas?

 

      …Oh right. Daehyun would. Only Daehyun. Of course, her brother would sell her out and hide her body if it meant that he would get free food, so she didn’t know why she was so surprised. She was pretty sure that he really would kill her and hide her body somewhere, just so he could collect the insurance money.

 

      Her fists clenched in anger for a moment before she quickly calmed down, not allowing herself to feel anymore for a brother who would sooner drown her than say ‘I love you,’ not that she was complaining, as she would sooner do the same.

 

      “Are you alright noona? You look a little pale.” Zelo commented, his eyes looking at her with an expression that resembled that of a child. A very…very attractive child, but a child nonetheless.

 

      “Yeah…just adding more people on my death list.” She answered, muttering the last part to herself and at that point she wasn’t very surprised that he could hear her.

 

      Yongguk came back before Zelo could respond, and his face was consorted into an almost annoyed frown. It was probably the most emotion she had seen on his face the entire evening. Zelo instantly sat up, as if he was greeting his master or something. Danielle rolled her eyes at that, finding the entire transaction to be rather disgusting.

 

      “Something wrong, Hyung?” Zelo asked, and Yongguk’s frown deepened.

 

      “Take the tree out of my house.” Yongguk ordered, as if Zelo were his own personal servant. His didn’t look like he wanted to stick around longer, but Danielle interrupted him before he could depart.

 

      “You’re going to make him lug that thing by himself…in this weather?” Yongguk stopped, a sly look began to set into his face as he slowly turned towards her with a glance that kind of reminded her of Satan…or her brother. She didn’t know which was worse.

 

      Actually, she sometimes wondered if maybe Satan and her brother were the same person.

 

      “That’s a great idea…why don’t you help him? He could really use your help.” Yongguk said simply, and Danielle flinched. She wasn’t actually offering her help…

 

      “Hyung…?” Zelo began, but didn’t said anymore as Yongguk offered him a parting glance before completely disappearing into another room.

 

      She was beginning to see why the guy lived in the middle of nowhere…away from society and all humanity. She was fairly certain at this point that he was a complete ; being raised side by side with one, she had a fairly good standpoint on the s in society.

 

      “Well, let’s get this done Zelo.” Danielle stated, journeying into the next room. She had her own doubts that the tumble of the tree in the house was even that bad. She could definitely lift the tiny twig that scared off Yongguk. Definitely.

 

      She stopped abruptly, finding herself frozen as she stared at the ‘twig’ that had fallen through into her life from the pits of hell. At this point she was fairly certain that she was cursed and that someone in hell was watching her misery as if she were a character from When the Seagulls Cry. She was certain that somewhere, something was getting a kick out of her misery. Absolutely certain.

 

      First, she gets kicked out of her brothers house (because apparently her car was parked in the wrong spot, but she felt like that was an excuse so he wouldn’t have to share any of his food), then she gets lost in the middle of nowhere, then her car craps out on her in the middle of god damn nowhere, then she gets picked up by a rude as caveman who doesn’t have a single phone in his house, and now this. All on Christmas.

 

      This was a cruel game indeed.

 

      It didn’t help that she was fairly certain she was coming down with ing pneumonia or some . Yongguk’s drink was . In fact it was beginning to make her feel even worse.  That for brains psycho.

 

      “Noona? Are you alright?” Zelo asked, and it took her a moment to realize that he was right in her face, examining her face as if she were a specimen on a lab table. “Your face is more flushed than a normal human face should be in the cold.”

 

      “I’m fine,” she replied, gathering up her strength to not sound weak. She refused to let for brains win her over. Not today. Not ever. “Let’s take care of the damn tree.” She rolled up her sleeves, trying to prove that she was down for business, although she almost instantly regretted it as the hole in the house made the place quite chilly, and with her sleeves rolled up it was almost unbearable. Her own stubbornness caused her to keep them rolled down, as she didn’t want to appear weak in front of the kid who was walking around in the same kind of attire she would wear in summer.

 

      “Okay.” He replied monotonously, walking ahead of her and she frowned as she watched his back retreat out the door. She was a little miffed that he was taking the cold so well, when all she wanted to do was chop her body up into bits like logs and feed it to a warm, cozy fire.

 

      As soon as she stepped outside the cold winter breeze found its way through her hair like a high-powered propeller, causing her hair to smack into her face like a horse whip. She felt the heel of her boots almost twist and drag her down, but once again she found a sturdy arm wrap around her waist and catch her fall. She winced at the feeling of her back popping in the man’s grasp, but other than that she didn’t say much.

 

      “Sorry Ze- holy !” She shouted, falling further into his arm, which stayed firmly locked and unmoving around her waist. It felt as if she was cushioned against a ing poll. In his other arm, he held the entire tree up as if he were some kind of tow truck and she found her eyes locked onto his arm which held up the giant tree as if it were a twig that weighed so little that he almost even forgot it was there himself.

 

      Her head began formulating possible words she could say in this moment, but so far all that was coming through her mind was quotes from Twilight that she found quite befitting in the current situation, much to her own dismay. (I know what you are. Say it. Out loud.  Ninja turtle) She had a feeling that that wasn’t what the kid was, but it wouldn’t be too bad if he were one. She did always like turtles.

 

      She quickly tore out from his embrace and went to help him with the tree, to which she felt useless on as she found it increasingly difficult to get him to let her take some of the load off his shoulders. He made her feel like one of those people who stood around moving lazily during unpacking furniture and let their friends do all the work while they pretend like they are actually lifting with them.

 

      She figured questioning if he was Superman or not would best be a series of questions set for later. She did have to sleep in the creepy house, so she’d prefer not freezing her off from the cold. She might as well sleep in her car (which she noticed was completely buried in snow at this point and the only thing visible was the tiny antenna that had a plastic Rilakkuma attached to it and was sticking out from the snow).

 

      When ‘they’ set the tree down he didn’t waste a moment to head back to the house while she was still shivering in the cold…. her sleeves were still rolled up with little warmth coming her way. She sighed before running after him, which she found quite useless in the snow, forcing her to go into a slow walking pace from behind him.

 

      “Hey? How did you do that?” She asked, just after they entered the house. Zelo turned to her, his face tilting to the side as if he were confused.

 

      “I do not understand.” He replied simply, his voice as monotonous as ever.

 

      “The tree thing. You lifted a giant building sized tree with just one arm. That’s not normal.” He didn’t seem to be too alarmed, so she forced her annoyance to a halt.

 

      “Oh. I was made that way.”

 

      “That doesn’t even make since. What are you? A vampire. Oh my god…you’re not a vampire are you, cause I ain’t into that undead .” Yeah, she read Twilight, among many, many others, but that didn’t mean she wanted her blood and to sleep in a coffin and only wake up at night. Yeah, she loved night time, and yeah, the sunlight , but nothing fun was open at night. She’d never get to go on a cool roller-coaster or to any of her favorite restaurants. Being a vampire would .

 

      Sure, she’d get to live forever, but that would be a y life if she never got to go anywhere.

 

      “He’s not a vampire, ,” Yongguk stated, strolling in like he owned the place (oh…wait). He was holding what looked to be a giant sheet, to which he wasted no time throwing at her, to which she barely managed to catch. A part of it still wacked her in the face rather roughly, much to her own sadness as she flinched away from it even though it was already on top of her head.

 

      “Then what is he?” She asked, her voice muffled from under the blanket. She got no reply, so she pulled the cover from her face and saw that the unfriendly Yongguk was already gone. “.”

 

      “Do you need any assistance noona?” Zelo asked monotonously, and she sighed, glancing over to him for a moment before slowly nodding as she brought up a chair next to the opening in wall.

 

      “Tacks? Thumb tacks? Do you have any?” She asked and he was gone in what felt like an instant. She barely had time to get used to his missing presence before he was in front of her again, holding out an outstretched hand of tacks, to which she quickly took.

 

      She felt kind of like a slave at this point, fixing up Yongguk’s mess when all she actually got in return was phenomena and crappy ramen. Maybe she really should have just stayed in her car…although, she kind of got the feeling like her vehicle was trying to kill her.

 

      Taking an intake of breath, she reached up to place the corner of the sheet into the wall a little bit above the giant hole that extended out from broken window. She frowned when she just barely managed to reach it, her short arms now just barely unable to push in the tack into the wall. She almost gasped when she felt someone reach out over her and lightly push her hand into the tack, causing it to go smoothly into the wall.

 

      Her eyes went wide as she felt a body slightly press away from her, emitting a bit of warmth that she could just barely feel. She was surprised at herself when she felt her cheeks slightly inflame…surprised and annoyed.

 

      Maybe she could go for the vampire ….

 

      She shook her head and forced out those weak thoughts, turning to focus on putting in the rest of the tacks. She went to continue her job before noticing Zelo putting in the last one. She almost felt like falling to the floor in annoyance at that moment.

 

      “I could have done it myself.” She stated, and was instantly surprised when she suddenly felt him invade her personal five foot bubble in order to place his surprisingly warm hand onto her forehead.

 

      “You are flushed. Your temperature is rising and your voice is raspy. Humans are not supposed to give off the aura you are emitting.” He stated simply, his voice falling even more monotone.

 

      I’ll give you something to emit you personal bubble popper. Despite her annoyed thoughts, her face continued to flush in spite of herself, ignoring all her thoughts on getting better.

 

      “What are you a doctor? An hour ago you didn’t even know common slang.” She replied, lightly shooing his hand away so she could get back her personal space. He didn’t seem to mind, which made her slightly relieved as she didn’t want to deal with a sappy child who would tell on her. Would Yongguk kick her out for making Zelo sad? She couldn’t really see Yongguk crying at anything as he was now...

 

      “I’ve made you angry? I apologize.” He stated simply, standing away from her. He didn’t look particularly sorry, and neither did he look smug. He didn’t look…anything.

 

      “You never answered my question. What are you?” Danielle asked, her head tilting to the side for a moment as she examined his frame. He didn’t particularly look like he would be a vampire, at least not the vampires she’d seen in old movies and animes.

 

      “Oh, I am a-” His statement was cut off when she passed out, falling into his arms.

 

      “Well, aren’t you two chummy?” Yongguk stated, entering the room to find the new girl in Zelo’s arms.

 

      “She fainted.” Zelo stated simply.

 

      “Oh.”

 

      “I think your concoction didn’t work.”

 

      “Yeah. I didn’t think it would.”

 

❄☃❄

 

      It took her a little longer than she usually would to realize that she was in fact, well, alive. And almost minutes after she kind of wished she was dead or far away from the humiliation of her own memories. She buried her face into her hands, able to practically feel her own annoyance trail in through her fingers.

 

      She couldn’t believe she fainted from a cold. Like a weak child who went to the hospital for a tiny sprain of the foot, like how people did in Korean dramas in general. She was stronger than that.

 

      She kicked her feet for a moment, instantly regretting it as it let in an unnecessary chill through the opening of her blankets.

 

      “You should be moving so much.” Stated a voice, surprising her out of her own wallowing of self-pity.

 

      “God?” She asked, staring up at the ceiling.

 

      “I don’t understand.”

 

      “Oh. Uh. Zelo. Why are you always around me to catch me when I fall?” She asked, rhetorically with the tiniest idea of just how gay that all sounded. “Just let me crash into the floor. On my face. Teach me a lesson.” She covered her face with her palms again, practically able to feel the heat of embarrassment seep in through the pore in her skin.

 

      “That would be bad for your health.” He stated, and she found her face growing hotter.

 

      “Whatever,” she replied, not wanting to further make herself feel like .

 

      “Do you need anything?” He asked, and she groaned, muttering her response with a frown that was muffled by her own palms. “I did not understand that.”

 

      “Why are my legs tied to the bed?” She asked as she tried to move her legs so she could get out from under the covers.

 

      “Hyung did that. You kept on kicking whenever we moved you.” Zelo replied, as if it wasn’t strange () that she was tied to a bed, with her legs spread apart like a .

 

      She didn’t even respond as she right away made her attempt to untie the double knot that she strangely felt was Yongguk’s own sly way in causing her to suffer. She kind of felt like that was how it was.

 

      “Do you require assistance?” He asked, and she gave him a look that clearly said ‘ off’ before she realized that he probably couldn’t read anything a person’s face said. She especially got that idea when he snapped off the ropes as if they were noodles when she had clearly felt like she could have done that herself…eventually.

 

      “I could have done it.” She stated, but other than that made no further indication of caring that she just got put in damsel in distress mode

 

      She didn’t even bother asking what he was. She firmly decided that she didn’t even give a anymore and that Christmas and if she had the choice she would choose to burn her brother’s house to the ground…preferably with him in it to be completely honest.

 

      “So…do you guys not celebrate Christmas?” She asked, trying to make conversation with the lifeless boy across from her while she tried to get out of bed and ignore the fact that her legs felt like fourteen jello shots later.

 

      “Christmas?” He asked, and she paused for a moment before she realized that he wasn’t bullting her and that he was completely and genuinely ignorant.

 

      “Hey, Zelo, do you want me to teach you a few customs that people celebrate?” She asked, once again rhetorically as she stared at him through heavy lids as she fought back her own sleeping form.

 

      He merely tilted his head back, but other than that made no response.

 

❄☃❄

 

      “What are you doing?” Yongguk asked, his calm exterior slightly halting as he watched the strange girl hang up random decorations that she found around the house, including his watch, his remote, random paper and cardboard cut outs. It looked rather nice for something that could come from a dumpster. It was rather ironic that she was using the tip of the tree that crashed into his house as a Christmas tree. The ironic part was she put it in front of the hole that that same tree made.

 

      “Why is there a tree in my house?” Yongguk finally asked, finding it impossible not to ask.

 

      “This is a bizarre holiday, Hyung.” Zelo stated, and Yongguk found himself almost immediately leaving as he found the aura of happy spirit sicken him.

 

      He had a feeling like that girl was infecting his robot with sappy sentimental garbage, but he cared so little that he couldn’t get himself stop her.

 

❄☃❄

 

      “It looks nice.” Danielle stated, turning to Zelo who was in almost what resembled awe at the sight of the tree that was balanced in front of him. She curled her nose as she reprimanded herself for thinking that he looked cute.

 

      “I don’t understand. You explained Christmas, but why a tree? Is there some reason?” He asked and she frowned, contemplating making up a reason as she never really questioned why as she mostly focused on the fact she got free stuff.

 

      She decided not to answer him at all, and quickly found that the body didn’t seem to get the memo of her own lack of knowledge. It almost felt like his personal off to her at the moment.

 

      “Look a mistletoe.” She muttered, pointing to the tiny branch that stuck out above their heads. She instantly regretted saying anything.

 

      “What is that?”

 

      “Uhh. A branch. It means good luck…” She really didn’t want to go around explaining kissing to a stranger. She could only handle too much intimacy at once and she truly hated the little she had already let him have, with her falling into his arms so many times.

 

      “Oh. That’s weird. A very bizarre tradition.”

 

      “Yeah. I guess it is.” She kind of hated everything right now. “Why do you live with that jerk and not celebrate the holiday?” She asked, not really caring if she got the answer.

 

      “Hyung doesn’t very much care for ‘holidays’ or people, as I have gathered.” Zelo replied, almost as if the words came out mandatorily.

 

      “You talk like a robot.” Danielle muttered, laying down on the couch, finding her body grow weak.

 

      “I am a robot.” Zelo stated simply, as if it were obvious.

 

      “Seriously?” She questioned, not quite buying it. “Like a really cool one or C3PO?”

 

      “I don’t know what that is.”

 

      “Yongguk built you, but he didn’t make you have any of the most important aspects of life. Star Wars is a classic.” She yawned, lying up against the cushion again. She began to imagine what he felt like, human or metal, or maybe if he had s. Many things popped into her head that weren’t exactly rated PG, to which she found herself giggling at as she tried to remember how to stay awake. “Maybe…someday…we can watch it together…or something.”

 

      She saw a ghost of a smile linger on his face for a mere instant before it disappeared. “Yeah. Maybe someday.”

 

      “Merry Christmas Zelo.”

 

      “Am I supposed to say it back?”

 

      “Haha…Yes Zelo.”

 

      “Merry Christmas Zelo.”

 

      “Good enough.”

 

❄☃❄

 

      Somewhere, in the deep pits of snow, underneath piles of white, a sound of rumbling howled below the surface as all the snow that covered a hunk of metal was suddenly shook off like cotton. A car rumbled, as if it were alive in the mitts of the inanimate before it finally roared to life, the headlights flashing red for a moment and pointed in the direction of a giant house, barely seeable in the distance.

 

      “Someday,” Optimus Prime promised as it shook off the remaining snow from its hood.

 

      Moral of the story?

 

      If you think your car is trying to kill you…it probably is.

 

      Merry Christmas.