December 24^rd, Jung house

“Krystal, are you awake?”

The girl turned to her other side. She had no intention to get up.

Jungkook knocked on her door once more. “Krystal~”

She put a spare pillow on her head, trying to muffle the voice.

“That’s it, I’m coming in,” the youngest Jung sibling quickly opened the door and run up to the lying girl. “Jaejoong needs our help for the party preparation.”

Krystal sat down and threw the pillow at Kookie. “Get out!”

With a smirk on his adorable face, the younger sibling caught the pillow easily, throwing it right back at her, but not as hard. He loved teasing her in every way possible, yet this was one of his favorite ways.

“Sis, the party. There will be no Christmas’ party if you won’t help out.”

Krystal slid back underneath her warm blanket, her one eye slowly opening. “Jaejoong’s threat?”

“I wouldn’t make it up.”

Groaning, the female once again threw the pillow at Jungkook, this time he wasn’t prepared for the throw. “Aish, just give me fifteen minutes and I’ll be downstairs.”

Jungkook signed and turned around, closing the door behind him.

“Darn party,” she checked the time on her phone. “Is it so late already?”

Slowly but surely, she made her way out of her bed. She forgot to close the curtains last night, so the room was filled with warm but oxygen-less air. Krystal opened the window and felt the cold breeze wash over her barely-clothed body.

“Freaking fudge!” she instantly closed the window again. She hated the winter, seriously.

Now fully awake, she quickly washed up, put on some comfortable clothes and dashed downstairs.

“Krystal, finally,” Jaejoong muttered once the female entered the work room.

Krystal looked confusedly at her two brothers unpacking a huge box. They clearly had some trouble with it, so Krystal passed Jungkook a pair of scissors from the drawer underneath the table. “What the hell is in this box?”

“Ornaments, toys, Christmas’ lights. All of that stuff that our parents decided to order for the party,” the younger boy accepted the tool.

“When did they find a chance to do that?”

Jaejoong wholeheartedly smiled when the box was finally cut open. “No idea.”

Krystal tiptoed around the two, trying to catch a glimpse of what exactly was in the box. She couldn’t really see much, since both Jung men had quite wide shoulders and didn’t leave enough space for the girl to interfere.

“What should I help you two with?” Well, it wasn’t like she wanted to do any actual work; however, she also didn’t want the tragic separation from her bed to be in vain.

Jungkook took out some of the lights out. “You could start by decorating the Christmas’ tree.”

“Come again?” she could swear she heard something about a tree that needed decorations. “Did you really say Christmas’ tree?”

Jaejoong handed the amazed girl a star that was supposed to go on top of the said tree. “It arrived when you were sleeping. It’s in the living room.”

Dashing to the spacious room, Krystal saw a really fluffy, tall and bare tree. So many options. “This is amazing!” she cheered through the whole house, immediately getting to work.

“She’s like a child,” Jungkook chuckled and took the last toy out from the box.

“I prefer to keep her this way forever,” Jaejoong whispered to his younger brother.

The latter nodded, both serious all of a sudden. “I can’t imagine her dating anyone right now. I would kill the guy.”

“We must keep our little princess safe from those evil boys at all cost.”

“I agree,” the two did a secret handshake only the three of them knew. It meant business.

*

“Krystal, are you done?”

“What now?!” the female shouted back angrily; she just plopped on the couch for a mere moment when other assignments started flooding her in.

Jungkook almost rolled his eyes when Jaejoong tried on some party hats he found in the attic earlier this evening. “Look at guest list. Count the people.”

The teenage girl tiredly stood up, her legs still sore from all the running she did from the attic to the first floor and back. “Where can I find it?”

“It’s in the kitchen, you should easily spot it.”

“Alright.”

As the Jung brothers continued with the cleanup duty, they let her beloved sister get off easily by just doing trivial and fun things like decorating the tree, counting some things. Nevertheless, she still had to work her off with all the running a tad earlier.

Just as proposed, Krystal easily noticed the paper lying on the spacious table. “There’s a lot of people coming, is it okay if I add a few more?”

Jaejoong was the one to respond from upstairs this time, “Sure thing. Just a few!”

“So, Jay Park said he would come by, then also those two dorks BamBam and Chanyeol…” she started mumbling to herself, mentally counting them in. “Jae! As of now there are twenty two people on the list!”

Jaejoong shouted back, adding one more guest in, “Oh, I also invited Mark to come! So twenty three.”

Krystal froze. “Who?”

Jungkook piped in on the shouting, “Your teacher and tutor.”

“Why did you invite my teacher?!”

Jaejoong started running down the stairs. Now all left for him was to start preparing the food for the party. “He seemed like a nice guy, also, he’s my age, so we kind of hit it off.”

“That sounded wrong, somehow,” Jungkook walked behind the older man, a grimace evident on his face.

If only he knew how nice Mark actually was, Krystal remembered all the teasing performed on her by him, If I was the Santa, I would definitely write him down on the naughty list.

*

December 25^th, the Christmas’ party

Finally, the day came. All was ready; only the guests were to come. Looking around, Krystal inspected the house- some of the furniture were taken to the attic (good thing two strong men were at the house), so the place looked bigger and spacer than ever. Also, the decorations were placed all around the place, making it feel more like a Christmas’ party more than anything else. The huge shining tree helped build the mood, too.

First bell rung through the excited ears. Fixing her black dress with a huge white bow on her collar bones, Krystal nervously opened the doors.

A group of people flooded inside, five, no, all eight of them. She noted two cars parked outside, and another one parking in their driveway. It was a tad past eight p.m.

“A really nice headband you got there,” one of the older-looking girls pointed at Krystal’s black mouse ears.

“Finally found an occasion to wear them,” the dark haired teenager smiled back. Then another group of people came in, Jaejoong and Jungkook greeting every guest. While all of them went into the spacious living room that was glistening with tiny light bulbs placed all around, Krystal was left to wait and open the doors. Some of the decorations were done by the girl itself, also.

It took good twenty minutes for Jungkook’s friends to show up. Around twenty people showed up already, when another ten flooded the house. It was apparent that either of the Jung boys flaunted a bit too much about the party they were doing.

At around ten o’clock Jay Park and his buddies visited the party. By then Krystal was working as a waitress, handing glasses to various people she hadn’t seen before.

“Krystal, here,” Jungkook waved at girl, far away in the back of the crowd.

Pursing her lips, she quickly swam like a true fish through the huddle. “Yeah?”

Jungkook pointed out to a familiar female on her toes, who was looking around frantically for someone.

With a relieved grin, Krystal swam once again towards her friend’s direction. “Sulli! I’m so glad you could make it!”

Sulli embraced her best friend. “I had to practically beg my parents, but they let me sleep over at your place. My grandparents weren’t thrilled either about me missing their ‘Yearly Christmas’ Dinner’.”

“What matters is that they let you come. I should write them a thank you letter or something. Aish, I’m so tired already.”

Sulli glanced behind Krystal. “Huh? Our teacher is here?”

The slightly shorter girl turned around and spotted the devilishly handsome man in the crowd. “What in the world? Now he’s blond?”

Mark Tuan, a.k.a. the Hottie, who originally mesmerized Krystal with his purposely disheveled red hair, then knocked her out with tad more natural shade of classic brown, now was almost platinum blond. She couldn’t expect that anything could look bad on Mark, but light hair looked perfect on him. Right now, Krystal’s head was torn between the two: red or white hair.

“Doesn’t his scalp hurt, like, a lot?” Sulli asked in a worried voice.

“I love it on him,” Krystal said absentmindedly, her glistening eyes capturing the Hottie’s every single move.

Sulli smiled at her friend’s slightly rosy face, “Our schoolmates are here, too. Do not do anything to fuel the stupid rumors.”

Krystal dropped the gaze and looked around. Sure thing, she caught a glimpse of Jay Park who was chatting with a college-aged girl quite near. It was true; the open invitation she did in school was effective- lots of students came. “How many people are here?” she asked in awe, finally realizing just how big of a party it became.

Sulli shrugged, “Fifty at least. I’m glad your brothers decided to get rid of the unnecessary furniture.”

The two girls greeted their classmates, some of them they actually enjoyed spending time with, others… not that much. At least it looked like everybody was having a great time.

“Hey, , what are you up to?” Krystal heard her younger sibling shouting from the second floor. Maybe her mouse ear headband not only made her look cute, but also increased her hearing?

The black haired girl tapped her friend who was chatting with the other Jung sibling. “Sorry, Jae, I’ll have to steal my friend from you for a minute.” Taking confused Sulli’s hand, Krystal led the way upstairs.

There was a small commotion; seven boys, more notably, Jungkook and his gang, were having a heated discussion in the hall near the bathroom. “Just let it hang here, what bad does it do to you?” Taehyung whined, swaying the host’s arm.

“I don’t really wish that the floor where our bedrooms are located would turn out into a make out spot.”

“What’s going on here?” Sulli made her way to the center where the two boys were talking.

Noticing her, Taehyung grinned widely, “Just try it out,” and with that, he exited the circle, dragging the surprised girl by her hand right before Jungkook.

Krystal watched as the frightened girl looked up at the ceiling. These es placed mistletoe in here!

Jungkook stared at the older girl with his mouth agape. These friends of his!

“Stupid!” Krystal separated the small crowd, mentally cursing at each of the boys with glint in their eyes. “Nobody kisses under the mistletoe with people watching them in the first place!”

Breathing out in relief, Sulli chuckled at Jungkook’s still frozen expression. “Maybe next time,” she whispered just for him to hear. To make the impact even bigger, she winked at the kid.

As Krystal made sure every boy went back to the party, she couldn’t see how red her youngest sibling got, standing alone under the mistletoe.

Back downstairs, the two girls separated again. Sometime in the evening Jay Park came up to Krystal and congratulated her on the successful party. Glad to hear that, Krystal was pumped even more than ever.

Looking up at the clock, it was almost midnight, the teenager found herself handing out drinks all around once again, but not many softer drinks were left. Now was where the real fun begun, the girl grinned to herself as she watched Jaejoong take tequila shots with girls from his college. He was probably a bit too drunk to notice that even younger ones were doings drinking games, of course, expect her and Jungkook.

Resting for a moment in between bottle refills, Krystal stood by the wall near the main hallway. Scanning trough the gathered people, she caught herself looking for one special hair-dye loving boy. As much as enthusiastic she was feeling that moment, all that enthusiasm disappeared once she noted of how friendly Mark Tuan was getting with a really pretty woman.

Shuddering at the scene, she glued her eyes to the floor, but when she held her gaze again, her eyes met his. It was a prolonged moment in which Mark finally noticed her. She looked pretty devastated for some reason, and it irked him. Krystal’s face went white as a paper, her heart beating fast and lips drying out. His intense stare while the unknown woman was whispering something in his ear made her cold. So many people here, yet, somehow she managed to feel alone in this place.

Dropping the gaze, she walked out into the empty hall, quickly darting to the second floor.

Locking the bathroom door after herself, she took a deep breath and looked at the reflection in the mirror. It took her full ten minutes before she could finally grasp some sense, but, when she did open the door again, she didn’t expect to see Mark Tuan, a.k.a. the Hottie, leaning by the wall.

Shocked, she met eyes with him again, yet this time the distance between them was way smaller.

“Are you feeling alright?” he asked her in a careful manner, “You seemed sad about something.”

His newly dyed blond hair looked almost red in the dim light. The whole hallway was lightened only by tiny little bulbs placed on the ground, giving not much light to fill the narrow space. She noted how the darkness made him look just like when she saw him for the first time. God-like body, handsome, with a cute, yet, at the same time, manly face, jawline so clear it could stab her heart. And then there also were his plump lips, a bit too dark to clearly see their color, nevertheless, still so inviting.

And his hair looking as red as Krystal’s cheeks were probably flaring.

“No, I just felt tired for a moment,” she clearly lied, which triggered something in Mark.

Pushing his body off the wall, he stood up straight in front of Krystal. Blocking her way, he stepped forward, except this time, she didn’t back down. As in some unheard calling, both looked up only to finally notice mistletoe placed right above their heads.

Their eyes locked again. For a mere moment, he was about to open his mouth to say something, but then decided against it. Instead, he gently placed his right hand on her blushing cheek, another one on her waist, as he, himself, slowly leaned in.

They didn’t break the eye contact until their lips finally touched. First, he pecked her dry lips a few times, then, her hands found their way around his neck, when lastly, the true kissing begun.

Their pace quickened in an instant; Krystal, glued to the male’s body, found herself out of breath, but that didn’t stop them from making out. Mark’s hands started travelling on the panting girl’s back, as he finally arrived at her hips. Lifting her up, he deepened the kiss even more so, the girl’s legs automatically curling around his waist. Her hands messing with his hair, she felt no need to stop for a breath, as he became her oxygen.

Mark, with Krystal in his hold, started slowly walking around the corner, when Krystal intuitively pointed him to a direction of a room nearby. The two getting inside, it so happened to be the girl’s room, he gently placed her on the bed.

Kissing each other, leaving love marks on each other’s necks, the two spent whole ten minutes upstairs, when they finally decided to stop. It wasn’t like they felt tired, not at all, they could’ve stayed like that for days to come, but once their minds returned to earth, they realized how wrong it was.

Fixing her slightly raised dress, Krystal couldn’t mutter even a single word. Mark, also, didn’t dare to break the deafening silence, as he tried to hide the love marks under his jacket. They didn’t drop the look on each other the whole time, mesmerized by what exactly just happened.

“You should go first,” Krystal whispered softly, finally regaining her strength.

Mark nodded understandably, turning around. Hesitant for a mere second, he quickly pecked the girl’s lips for the last time and walked out of the room.

Left alone with her thoughts, Krystal touched her lips. Her first kiss.

*

They didn’t meet each other that night again, even though Krystal caught him looking intently at her from time to time. Blushing the whole time, she in relief watched as Mark bid his goodbyes and went home alone, leaving that unnamed girl at the party.

Somewhat satisfied, she did not dare to explore what exactly was going on between the pair.

Sulli, once again, being by her side, she made herself a promise not to tell a soul about this. Not even her best friend.

The two friends watched with tired eyes as the guests finally went home early in the morning. Jungkook taking care of the drunken Jaejoong, who was, in fact, adorably mumbling something about how beautiful his sister and her best friend actually were, the girls made their way into the Krystal’s room.

While Sulli fell asleep instantly, Krystal couldn’t close her eyes. The whole room reminded her of the sweet taste of her teacher’s lips that was still lingering in .

*