TAEYEON

“Merry Christmas!” Chanyeol and I both greeted as we walked in the living room of the Park ancestral house turning the heads of the people who were already there.

“Chanyeol! Taeyeon!” collective greetings were then heard from Parks and the Lees. I’ve found out that ever since Chanyeol was born, the two families always celebrated these kinds of celebrations altogether and would alternately host the get-togethers, this year, the Parks are the host. As usual his family welcomed me warmly. We exchanged greetings with everyone present and hand over our Christmas gifts for them.

Four months after changing my family name into ‘Park’ happened so fast. I couldn’t recall when hearing ‘babe’ become so natural to me nor could I recall when I became so welcome in his family and most especially, I couldn’t point out when I started to just respond to his actions and get all mushy with him even in front of my father, his relative and our friends.

It’s like things just fell into place like it was already pre-determined.

Maybe, this is really what is supposed to happen.

“babe,” Chanyeol called out making me turn to his direction. He leaned in to whisper in my ear, “you look so beautiful”.

“you’re not bad yourself babe” I whispered back. He smiled and added, “I love you”. He then placed a kiss on my cheek and I blushed like I always do. His sweet little gestures never fail to make my heart flutter.

“I love you too. Are you on drugs?” I asked joking at him while pinching his cheeks.

“hi uncle Chanie! Hi auntie Taeyeon! Merry Christmas!” Dara’s two little boys, Minho and Jinwoo ran down the stairs to greet us leaving their game behind. Chanyeol lowered himself to their level to hug them but was just passed by them as they clung to me. “yah, why are you just hugging Taeyeon? How about your uncle?” Chanyeol pouted narrowing his eyes on the his two little nephews.

“because we love auntie Taeyeon more” Minho answered while his little brother Jinwoo just grinned at Chanyeol. “aw, I love you both too. Merry Christmas!” I cooed and hugged the two of them. After hugging and giving the kids their presents, the two of them went back to their game.

“aigoo, I never thought even kids would be my rival when it comes to you” Chanyeol said as he placed his hand on my waist. “you should have thought of that when you decided to marry a woman as beautiful as I am” I answered cheekily and placed my hand on his waist too.

“you two really are so sweet” Dara unnie squealed followed by Jiyong oppa who tapped Chanyeol’s shoulder. “yeah, I wish Kyuhyun was here. Too sad he needs to be somewhere else” Yoona added.

“they’re not sweet unnie. I tell you, you should’ve come with us when we went to Boracay. They had so much drama. Even Yoona had so much drama there, ugh” Sojin joined in and rolled her eyes. “oh come on Sojinie, it’s not like you didn’t have such drama before” Dara defended.

“yeah, come on Sojin. I remembered those events that were ruined by you when you had a little argument with Kris before” Yoona retorted sticking her tongue out.

“you’re just jealous Sojinie” Chanyeol teased.

“excuse me? Why would I be jealous?” Sojin asked unfazed by Chanyeol. “because Chansung hyung isn’t here and you can’t have someone to be all mushy with” Chanyeol replied making Sojin blush and hit him by the arm. “why are you talking about that buffoon?!” Sojin whined flustered by what Chanyeol just said. We all laughed at her cute reaction.

Few minutes passed and Cheondung oppa arrived alone. “Merry Christmas everyone! Sorry for arriving late” he greeted. “where is Minah?” Sojin asked noticing that her best friend wasn’t around. Cheondung oppa clenched his teeth before smiling. “she’s not coming” he simply answered.

“well, shall we have dinner now?” Park Junsu, their father suggested to which Grandpa JinYoung and Grandpa SooMan agreed to. The whole family had dinner and some little talks. We talked about our trip to Boracay, Chanyeol’s recent music video with Kim Hyuna which is currently one of the most viewed videos, Chanyeol’s collaboration with Kim Hyorin which is now at the top of the charts and his upcoming piano participation for Bae Suzy's concert.

“are you just okay with that Taeyeon?” Jiyong oppa asked after Chanyeol mentioned all those women that Chanyeol worked with. “well, at first it wasn’t okay especially when he acted real close Hyuna” I turned to Chanyeol who was sitting beside me and smiled a guilty smile. “but then at the end of the day, I am the one who receives his ‘I love you’s, I am the one that he goes home to, I am the one who wakes up next to him each day. So, now, I am kind of used and okay to it already” I answered

“I love you” he whispered and kissed my temple

“get a room and make me a grandchild already” SooMan haraboji teased us making Chanyeol flustered up and blushing. We were all having a good laugh when suddenly Cheondung oppa made his announcement.

“Everyone, I want  all of you to know that… Minah and I….we broke up”

All of us fell silent at what he just said.

“b-b-b-but weren’t you supposed to be engaged already?” Yoona asked and Cheondung just nodded his head. “but, w-“ Dara’s question was cut off when Cheondung decided to explain.

“I kind of cheated on her four months ago. But, it was just a spur of the moment and it didn’t mean anything nor did I do something really heavy. But, seems like that little mistake ashed down our four year relationship because things were never the same since then”

“I can totally feel you oppa, it was even more painful for me because Kris really had no valid reason for breaking up with me after the 5 years that we’ve been together. But I’m fine now, Kris and I are fine now. We might not be lovers anymore like how we used to be but at least we are still friends” Sojin nonchalantly answered. Dara hugged Sojin to give her comfort. It was evident in Sojin’s face and voice that she was still hurting despite the strong façade that she’s been putting up

“me too, hyung” Chanyeol added while raising his hand.

“I’m sorry Yeol” Cheondung apologized.

“hyung, it is all in the past. If it’s not meant to be no matter how long you’ve been together it can all change in a snap of a finger. But when a door closes another one opens. And if the right one comes” he stopped for a moment, held my hand tighter and looked at me. “everything will just happen smoothly like magic” he added.

“well, maybe it is already in our bloodline. The three of you experienced long term relationships that ended. But for me and Jiyong, it was a one-shot big-time thing. We met, a week after that we started dating. Two months after, we got married and now we have our Minho and Jinwoo” Dara proudly remarked.

“and same goes for Taeyeon and Chanyeol. Chanyeol came back from the US, met Taeyeon that same day, stalked Taeyeon for awhile and now they are four months married and are so in love with each other” Jiyong remarked while placing his hand over Dara’s shoulder.

“pain is part of loving, and I am so happy to see my grandchild acting so maturely right now. You make me so proud of you four” Jinyoung haraboji commented. “what do you expect haraboji? We are family and because we are family we will always be there for each other” Chanyeol said making everyone agree with him.

According to Chanyeol, he hasn’t attended their family affairs for the past four years. It made me so happy to see them together like that. Last night was like magic, we talked, we laughed, we dance, we sang with his family.

Last night, he endlessly told me how much he loves me and I did the same. He showed me how much he loves me and I showed him how much I love him when we made love last night. He told me how happy he is to have me and I feel the same. He is the best thing in my life and his love is the best Christmas gift that I ever had.

“baby, are you ready?” Chanyeol called out from the living room. “just a minute more” I answered as I fixed the things in my bag. “are the things that we need already in the car?” I asked as I started to walk out of our bedroom.  “yup, ahjumma already placed them there” he answered as he got up from the sofa and walked towards me.

“have I ever told you that you are the most beautiful woman in the world?” he asked as he grabbed my hand. “you’re flattering me too much, Mr. Park” I answered and he smiled. “I am so blessed to have you, my very beautiful wife. I love you so much” he answered. I tiptoed and pecked his lips, “I know”

He kissed me briefly and smiled. “let’s go?” he tugged my hand and I nodded.

We walked to our destination with our hand clasped together. We passed by my old apartment where Jongdae is currently living at to pick him up.

“Merry Christmas noona! Merry Christmas hyung!” Jongdae greeted upon entering the car.

“Merry Christmas Jongdae ah!” the two of us greeted Jongdae together. “come here, my precious little brother” I reached out for Jongdae who was seating in the backseat so that I could kiss him. “I miss you so much. How’s medical school?” I asked as I kissed his cheek. “I miss you too so much, noona. School’s great. You look real pretty noona. How did your trip go? Have hyung been taking care of you well?” he asked back as he held unto my hand.

“of course Jongdae ah, I love your sister so much. I don’t want to lose her” Chanyeol butted in and I just smiled at Jongdae who smiled back at me. “that’s very good to hear, hyung. I don’t want my beloved noona in the hospital bed again because you had a lover’s quarrel” Jongdae remarked.

“you can count on me with that” Chanyeol reassured him