That night, I was instructed to go up to my room and get ready. I knew I had a few dresses in my wardrobe and not knowing anything about femininity at that age, I just picked whatever clothing I could get my eyes and hands on in my closet. I picked then, if I remember correctly, a white ruffled dress with a bowtie at the back. It was a favorite of mine because I thought it looked so pretty, the design and everything. 

I was brushing my hair and about to open the door to go down when mother enetered and stopped me in my tracks.

"What are you wearing, Joo Hyun?" she asked demandingly, hands on her hips. When she did this it was a sure sign of superiority. I backed off and sat back down on my bourdoir and allowed mother to do her work on me.

"You're not going to go down there looking like that. First and foremost, your dress. Change it into something else. Not that one, heavens no! You look like a flower girl!" she said. Mother herself flung my abinet doors oepn and searched for a dress apt for me. Then, she picked out a puffy sleeved, red dress without a ribbon and a petticoat underneath. 

"I don't like that one!" I recalled my aunty giving that as a gift to me back then, for me to wear when I got older, she said. 

"You have to wear this one! It fits the Christmas spirit perfectly! Come on now, darling. Get out of that dress!" mother demanded. Having no other choice but to follow her whim, I slipped out of the dress with mother's assitance and allowed her to fit the dress on my body. Wearing that dress for the first time made me feel weird. I always kept it at the back of my wardrobe, the very back because that was how much I hated it. I never wanted to wear it but I didn't and wouldn't probably be able to throw it away, lest mother caught me doing so. I wouldn't risk it. 

Mother spent quite a great amount of time doing my hair. She curled the ends and put a bunch of it up to make me look like a living doll. 

"There. All done. Now, let us go down and wait for our relatives to come."  I folowed my mom like a duckling would down the stairs and we waited int he living room for our relatives to arrive. Me and mother sat on the couch while watching TV. 

[doorbell rings]

I jumped to my eet and ran to the door while my mother stood up calmly in her pastel A-line dress, unlocked the door and welcomed my Aunt Ji-hye and Uncle Hwang-bin. She gave them pecks on the cheek and welcomed them into our humble home. Theirs was nothing like ours. Theirs was far bigger, far nicer, far more comfortable.

"What a lovely lady you've become!" said Aunt Ji Hye, grabbing my face and cupping it in her hands. Aunt Ji Hye was Daddy's sister and Uncle Hwang bin was his brother in law. Every Christmas they came to our house to celebrate and mother would prepare a delicious dinner for us all.

"Ji hye!" came father's voice from the staircase. He approached Aunt Ji Hye and kissed her on the cheek with an embrace to follow. "So glad you could make it this year."

"Would we ever fail you?" asked Aunt Ji hye with a smirk. Mother led them to the dining room where a delicious banquet was laid out on the table to honor the holiday season. We all took our seats. I was seated next to Uncle Hwang bin. Mother was seated next to Aunt Ji hye and father was at the very center, being the head of the family and all. There was chicken, kimbap, pot pies, apple pie and all sorts of food that I didn't know the names of when I was that young. Anyways, I sure did stuff myself for it was dinner time that was the most exciting for me whenever Christmastime rolled around. Maybe it's because mother rarely prepared dishes as such and would just subject us to ready to eat food, disallowing herself the opportunity to showcase her culinary talent. 

"How old are you, sport?" asked Uncle Hwang bin. The way he stared at me wasn't exactly furious or anything mad but he looked very scared and his face frightened me greatly. It was menacing with it smiling. 

"I'm 9." I told him, face almost scrunched, frightened greatly. He smirked and smiled, grinning almost. It looked as if he was plotting something evil towards me. I didn't want to think that way but unfortunately for me, that was the reality. He dawned upon me and focused on his eating.

"Your daughter's getting very beautiful." he told father. Father smiled, thinking this to be just a mere compliment and agreed.

"Time surely does fly fast, doesn't it Hwang-bin?" 

"It really does. Just yesterday she was in her diapers and now here she is, glowing and lovely in red." For some reason whenever uncle Hwangbin complimented me it felt weird. It felt different. It certainly did not feel good or anything to be grateful for. 

"Aunt Ji hye and Uncle Hwangbin will be staying the night, alright sport?" my father spoke. "So be on your best behavior because we have guests alright"

My heart sank when my father said that. They were staying the night? Did this mean that Iwas  going to have to see him longer tonight? Am I going to have to deal with his face? The meancing and devilish grin? Oh I was most fearful that I ooked at my mother with great dread in my eyes as if mentally begging her, trying to mentally beg her to save me and let her stay with me, to not let me sleep alone in my room for he was the Boogeyman that would capture me and make me disappear. 

That night, I was having trouble sleeping. I was in my room, sitting on my bed and staring at the door,, hoping that my mother would hear my silent cries and take me away from this horrible place. Alas, there was no mother at the door, rather I heard a rapping. My heart raced, I prayed hard that mother would come in and tell me to sleep in between her and daddy. 

Much to my horror, in the doorway stood uncle Hwangbin. I, a child, was too defeneseless to voice out my feelings, to fight back. All I could do was watch with fearful doe eyes as he came closer and closed the door silently behind him, putting an index finger over his lips. 

Some things are better left to the imagination than described.