It’s finally Christmas! Soojung runs around the house when the clock strikes precisely at twelve, wishing everyone a ‘Merry Christmas’ cheerfully. Her family laughs at her childish act, slightly weird because Soojung seems a little bit energized compared to all the Christmases before, but they’re relieved because it’s a good kind of weird.

Soojung then goes out, not minding that she’s wearing loose pink pants because she’s been sleeping before that, and she only puts on a hoodie over her pyjama. She skips to a few houses beside hers, to Jongin’s, and he has been waiting for her there, leaning against the pillar, looking so sleepy as ever. Soojung smiles, because Jongin is always sleepy.

“Merry Christmas, you sleepyhead!” Soojung cheers, pulling the beanie he’s wearing down that it covers his whole face. She laughs and Jongin groans before he fixes it back.

“Geez, Merry Christmas to you too, miss annoying,” Jongin replies, his voice shows that he wakes up a few minutes ago because he knows she’s coming, just like all the past Christmases. And when Soojung finally gives him a medium-sized box that’s wrapped nicely, his sleepiness is washed away and he shakes it, trying to guess what’s inside.

Soojung shrugs, saying, “Socks,” and Jongin’s face falls. Ignoring the look on his face, she smiles widely and holds out her palm. “Where’s mine?”

Jongin sighs before he finally reveals something that he has been hiding behind his back, a long blood red box, and Soojung eagerly snatches it from him. “Can I open it?” Soojung asks and Jongin could only nod. Soojung looks very child-like at the moment, even though he realises that she’s grown a lot for the past few years. He smiles secretly, very glad that he’s not in love with her anymore, because if he does, then things surely won’t be easy for him. He knows he’ll be losing for the second time, and losing is not a great feeling at all.

“A bracelet?” Soojung asks, shock is evident is her voice. “This bracelet?”

Jongin shrugs, smiling brightly. “I know you’ve been eyeing that for a quite some t—“ he couldn’t even finish her sentence because Soojung jumps to him, attacking him with a tight bear hug that he couldn’t catch a breath.

“Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you—“

Jongin thinks he might be dying if Soojung doesn’t let him go seconds later. He looks at her with wide eyes, trying to catch his breath again, but his face softens when he notices how happy she is at the moment. She puts on the bracelet right away, staring at it in awe and he feels like he’s done a good deed.

“Have you wished him too?” Jongin asks out of a sudden, and Soojung freezes for a while. She doesn’t need to ask what he means by ‘him’, she understands what he means just like how Jongin understands her. And Soojung thinks, I haven’t, but I really want to, what should I do?

And, as if they’re in 6 years back, Jongin smiles to her, giving her the same exact sincere smile back in the school library, and he says, “Go.”

+

It’s 12.13 in the morning, and Soojung sits on the porch of her house, thinking whether she should go to his house to wish him or just give him a call—in which she got his number by her mom, who asked Myungsoo’s mom for it because she’s too shy to ask by herself. She looks up and his light is off, but she knows he’s not sleeping because who’s sleeping on Christmas night? And then she wonders, why doesn’t he wish her one? Does he forget? Or is there someone else before her? She feels nervous and scared suddenly.

And then, she gets up, her hands frozen in the pocket of her hoodie as she walks through the cold to his house. Without hesitation, she rings the bell, and waits. She hears a laugh, his laugh, and she thinks maybe fate really loves to play with her. The laugh gets louder to her ears, and the door’s opened—just like how it happened 6 years ago.

Myungsoo stands there, looking as beautifully as ever, and Soojung’s perfectly built sentences disappear into the fog of her breath. She clears , and he raises his brows—playfully and Soojung holds herself in from shooting him a glare. Why does he still have the charm to make her nervous all the time? And it’s even worse when they were a thing before and why is that—that’s the biggest question she has in her mind since a few days ago. Why when they’re nothing at all she feels like the butterflies are crazier than any other days before?

“Soojung?” he calls as he waves his hand in front of her eyes. “Are you okay?” he’s not smiling, but she knows he’s holding back from laughing at her. She closes her eyes for a moment, regaining her composure and opens her eyes back.

“Yeah, I’m totally okay,” she replies, unnecessarily scratching the back of her head. “I come to wish you a Merry Christmas, so yeah,” she stops i