The next day, Bo Woon bid Joon Hee's mother thank you and goodbye as she went out of the house. Today will be the day that she will declare herself free.

It was seven-thirty in the morning when she arrived at the manor, and she rang the doorbell. The stepmother came out, and when she saw it was Bo Woon, she amiably opened the gate and let her in the house.

"So you finally decided to come and live with us?" Stepmom asked.

"Ne," Bo Woon replied.

Appa and her stepbrothers went out the door, and they reunited with her. Appa was crying to see his daughter have a change of heart, and that she was willing to be with them.

"From now on, don't go away from Appa, arasseo?" he told her.

"Arayo (I know)," she replied.

And so, Bo Woon got in the house with them and had breakfast together with the whole family. After breakfast, she offered to drop her namdongsaengs to school and to go to the grocery store. Stepmom said that she would go with her. And so, after the young boys were in school, Bo Woon bonded with her stepmother for a bit.

"What time does your classes start?" Stepmom asked.

"It starts at nine-thirty," Bo Woon said.

"I think you better get ahead, huh?" the kind lady told her stepdaughter.

*******************

Shin and Gyu Won were spotted by Bo Woon at the ice cream shop. The cheerful girl came in and broke another romantic date.

"Good thing we did not kiss," Shin thought to himself.

"Gyu Woon-ah, I am living in my father's house now," Bo Woon shared, and the two friends squealed and hugged each other.

"I wish you all the best, Gyu Won-ah," Shin said to his least favorite person in the world.

"Ne, and I am pretty sure that I will live peacefully starting today," Bo Woon replied.

The three of them exited the shop and went to school.

******

That afternoon, as the Windflower girls bid each other goodbye, Bo Woon met Seok Hyun and Yoon Su.

(And for the first time, I mentioned her.)

"Annyeong haseyo," she greeted the teachers politely and with a jolly mood.

"Oh, annyeong, Bo Woon," Seok Hyun and Yoon Su greeted.

"Well, I have to congratulate you for a job well done," Seok Hyun said. "Perhaps that song will linger in my mind as a Christmas gift."

Yoon Su smiled at her fiance and jabbed his sides.

"Gamsahaeyo," Bo Woon replied.

"Well, two days from now, on Christmas Day, we will be having a lunch celebration at Park Hyatt," Yoon Su said. "Are you free?"

Bo Woon nodded, knowing that her family will celebrate Christmas at night. Seok Hyun said that he met the casts of his play at random, and he invited them over for the party.

"And you have to sing a song with the bassist of The Stupid," Seok Hyun said. "I've heard he can carry a tune."

"Some Christmas carols would do, my dear," Yoon Su said to the student.

Bo Woon smiled and bowed as the teachers waved her goodbye. With all her sacrifices, her luck was beginning to turn around.

***************

That night, over dinner, Stepmother suggested that she and Bo Woon have some spa bonding the next day.

"It's the day before Christmas, right? Just skip classes if you have to, ohohoho...."

"We don't have classes tomorrow," Bo Woon said. "But we will be having a party at Park Hyatt on the noon on Christmas Day."

"Can we come?" the maknae asked.

"No, no, kids," Appa said. "You are too young to join adult events."

"But we want to play with Noona," the first boy answered. 

"I will be here to celebrate Christmas eve with you," Bo Woon said. "We will meet Christmas together."

The children yelled in happiness, and Bo Woon pinched the cheek of the maknae.

**********

The next day, she and her stepmom killed time by going to salons and being pampered from head to toe. Stepmom hated how Bo Woon still sported her pigtails, and had her stepdaughter's hair rebonded.

"You won't get a boyfriend if your hair is all childish," Stepmom winked wickedly.

Once the salon visits were over, they went to the department store where they shopped for clothes and gifts. The expedition lasted till six, and they had to go home. 

Stepmom was driving her car when Bo Woon requested her to stop. They saw two people in a serious conversation, and Bo Woon knew that these two were Hee Joo and Joon Hee. She told her stepmother that she would get out of the car and go home by herself, since she needed to talk to the guy.

"Are those two lovers?" Stepmom asked.

"Ani," Bo Woon replied. "The guy loves her, but the girl did not answer him yet, even if they had been dating for a very long time already."

"Wow, is she playing hard to get?" Stepmom asked, but Bo Woon only shrugged. "Well, why would you want to talk to the guy?"

Just as Bo Woon was about to answer, they saw Hee Joo slap Joon Hee again.

"Lovers' quarrel much?" Stepmom asked scandalously.

"Anio," Bo Woon insisted, and explained that she just needed to talk to her guy friend.

"Hmmm.... Just be careful with your heart, my dear," Stepmom with her advice.

Bo Woon frowned at her, then went out of the car.

"Be sure to get home for dinner," Stepmom said with a smile before driving away.

************

Meanwhile.

"When will you answer me?" Joon Hee asked helplessly. "We have been dating for months, but you kept me waiting still."

"Will you stop pressuring me?" Hee Joo shouted at him.

"But...but...you love me too, right?"

Hee Joo scoffed. "Love?"

Joon Hee nodded in hope, but got a slap from her instead.

"Wake up, Yeo Joon Hee!" Hee Joo chided him. "I don't love you."

Joon Hee looked at her with a defeated expression in his eyes. "Mwo?"

"I said, I don't love you," Hee Joo said. "I thought I love you, but I realized I was just playing with you."

"You...you are so cruel...." Joon Hee began to sob.

"Cruel? Let's just say I am cruel. But you should be thankful that I told you the truth," Hee Joo said. "Anyway, I get tired of having you follow me around and not doing my instruction at times."

"So...you only look at me as a slave?" he asked in tears.

"Geurae. I don't need a boy," Hee Joo said. "I need a man. And you are not man enough for me."

But Hee Joo was not a lady either.

"What can I do so that you will think of me as a man?" Joon Hee screamed at her.

"Ugh, puh-lease! You are not even 1% of my standards," Hee Joo said. "Wanna know my ideal man?"

Joon Hee shook his head, and she replied that her ideal man used to be Shin.

"Shin-hyung?" Joon Hee asked.

"Ne, but he hurt my pride once, so I dropped him off my list," she revealed. "My ideal man is..."

And Joon Hee waited.

"Is Ki Young," Hee Joo revealed.

Joon Hee knew that Ki Young had really changed after the 100th celebration last year, and that the latter had proven himself. Yet, he, Joon Hee could not believe that Ki Young would compete for Hee Joo's attention.

"Don't you ever think that he and I dated behind your back, because we never did," Hee Joo said. "Enough said, I wanna stop playing around with you."

She crossed her arms and walked into her car. Joon Hee looked helplessly as the car passed by him.

"Eonni...." he said in tears.

His Christmas would be very lonely, as he never got the girl of his dreams. When he turned around to start walking home, he noticed Bo Woon standing in front of him....

...and he noticed something new about her...

...the makeup...

...the hair....

...the fair face....

...the chic attire....

"Eonni?" he asked.

So why had he not noticed her before?

"Joon Hee-ya," she said as she approached him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I saw you and Hee Joo, and I just thought I might as well tell you about tomorrow's party."

"I know about it," Joon Hee said.

He looked at her in awe, and began to move his hand to her hair. His fingers felt numb as his fingers ran through her hair.

"What have you done to me, Bo Woon-eonni?," he whispered.

He could feel his heart beating fast, and he could feel it banging against his chest and wanting to get out.

"What have I done to you?" Bo Woon calmly asked in hurt.

"You make me....like you..." Joon Hee gasped.

He could not take it that he felt he had to give in. He pulled her into a hug and let his tears run down his face.

"Eversince I knew your secret, I had been feeling this way," he confessed. "I was torn between my love for Hee Joo-eonni and my little crush on you. And now that Hee Joo-eonni left me for good, I think it is time to consider what I had been feeling for you..."

Bo Woon shed tears when she heard him confess. She buried her face and kissed his chest for the third time.

"Everytime you kiss my chest, it made me want to give in and love you," he whispered. "Do you love me, Eonni?"

She nodded though her face was still hidden.

"Was it the real reason why you sang to me that night?" he asked, and she nodded again.

He pulled her away gently and held her face. She could see a new look on his eyes, one that was a look of--

"Saranghae..." he whispered.

Love.

Bo Woon smiled as she let another set of tears fall down her face.

"May I be your boyfriend?" he asked permission.

Bo Woon held his hands (which were still cupping her face), and she nodded in ecstasy.

"Yes, yes, yes!" she replied.

"Geureomyeon....may I...kiss you?" he asked.

She closed her eyes, making him think that it was a hint for him to kiss her. He leaned gently close to her and softly planted a kiss on her lips, while she gave a kiss only meant for him. After a few moments of sharing chaste kisses, they parted and saw blushes on each other's faces.

"You are my first kiss," Bo Woon admitted.

Joon Hee smiled sadly, admitting that she was not her first, as he had kissed some girl way back in middle school.

"Gwaenchanha," she said. "All I am thankful for is that you came to my life and saved me."

He smiled and hugged her again.

"You're the best Christmas gift I ever had," he said with tears.

"Yeah, me too," she replied.

He let her go and jumped in glee for having a girlfriend this Christmas.

*********

They went to her house, and was met with the stepmother and her abeoji at the gate.

"Annyeong haseyo," Joon Hee greeted as he bowed. "Yeo Joon Hee-imnida. Cheoeum boepgetseumnida. Manaseo bangapseumnida (Good day, I am Joon Hee. How are you? I'm glad to meet you)."

Appa and his wife smiled at him for being very polite.

"They're my Appa and my stepmother," Bo Woon said to him.

"Bangapseumnida," the couple said to the young man.

Appa told Joon Hee to come in and have dinner with them. 

************

At dinner time, Stepmom smiled and winked at Bo Woon, and told her that the transformation brought the young lady a boyfriend in time for Christmas. Bo Woon frowned at her.

"You just look cute together," Stepmom said as Appa laughed at her remark.

Appa asked Joon Hee regarding his background, and he was impressed that even if Joon Hee was not well-off, the young man was a responsible and loving son, though they found him to be klutzy at times.

"You remind me of Gyu Won," Appa told him.

"Gyu Won-eonni?" Joon Hee asked. "Waeyo?"

Appa and his wife did not tell him the reason, but he just said that he reminds the young man of Gyu Won.

"I invite you for dinner tomorrow evening," Appa told him.

"Jeongmalyo? May I invite my Eomma?" Joon Hee asked, and he was given permission.

*****

The young man bid the family goodbye, and they watched him walk away. Appa placed his arm around his daughter's shoulder, and told her that she is lucky to have a polite and good boyfriend as Joon Hee.

"Ne, Appa," she told him. "He is the best thing that had happened to me, just as being with you all made me so happy."

She was happy, all right, but her heart also ached for her eomma, who, at that point in time, was with her drunkard friends playing card games and gambling.

****

An hour before Christmas.

The school Chairman and his family had dinner at home, with Ki Young and his parents as Hee Joo's  guests.

Bo Woon's eomeoni was gambling with her friends and drowning herself in soju and whisky.

Joon Hee and his eomeoni shared the simple cake that she baked for the two of them.

Seok Hyun, Yoon Su, Sa Rang, and Soo Myung gathered in the dance teacher's house to celebrate.

Gyu Won, Shin, Jung Hyun, Sun Ki, Ji Young, and Halabeoji stayed outside their houses and played with firecrackers as they waited for the clock to strike twelve.

Bo Woon, her appa, and his new family stayed at the lawn, playing with firecrackers and watching the sky being illuminated with more sky flowers.

And finally, when the clock struck twelve, greetings all over could be heard as people greeted one another.

"Merry Christmas!"