------------" E n e m i e s  T o  L o v e r s "------------ [Part one]

---

  It’s Christmas Eve.

you had decided on hurrying out to the mall before it closed to get the big panda after working her off the past few days. The Christmas party her friends held had started and she was probably the last to arrive, but she didn’t care. She had to get the last item before it was too late.

  The mall was actually pretty crowded and it was probably open for people to go there to celebrate or for people who still had to shop at the very last minute.

  When she entered the gift shop, she saw the same cashier from before.

  “Oh! You came back?” she smiled.

  “How come you’re not out celebrating?” you asked the older woman.

  “My boyfriend is going to come celebrate it with me here… I had a feeling you would be coming so I decided to extend the shop hour.”

  “I see…”

  “What’re you looking for?” she smiled and walked out from behind the counter.

  “A big panda bear…”

  “Ah, you mean the one you wanted the other day?”

  “Ne…”

  “We don’t have it anymore… sadly…” the cashier shook her head.

  “E-Eh?” her eyes widened. “But…”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Do you know who bought it?”

  “I don’t have a good memory,” she chuckled and rubbed the back of her head.

  “A-Ah… well… I should get going then…”

  “Wait! Here.”

  The cashier hurried to the back of the counter and pulled out a big bag. She handed it to you and smiled. The young woman blinked and pulled out a really cute and fluffy medium panda bear, with a panda key chain in its arms. Her eyes widened and smiled.

  “Thank you,” you said. “-what’s it for?”

  “Christmas of course! Haha, it’s a gift from me, don’t worry,” the cashier smiled.

  “I see… I don’t have anything to give you though…”

  “It’s alright. I’m happy enough that you like it! I hope you have a nice Christmas!”

  The young woman waved at her before leaving the store, rushing out of the mall, before getting a phone call. She pulled her phone out from her jacket pocket and picked it up.

  “Hello?” she asked.

  “Where are you?” a familiar voice said.

  “…Zitao?” her heart leaped and she stopped running. Her eyes widened and she felt butterflies in her stomach.

  “Haha…You didn’t answer my question, babe.”

  “U-Um… I’m on my way to the party right now.”

  “Why’re you late?”

  “I had one last thing to buy, so I’ll be there in a couple minutes.”

  “I’ll pick you up.”

  “N-No, it’s okay…”

  “It’s cold outside, now tell me where you are.”

  “But-“

  “No buts, missy. I’m already in the car.”

  you just sighed and smiled lightly.

  She waited five minutes before seeing a familiar car pulling up in front of her. She opened the passenger seat door and got in, seeing a breath-taking view beside her. Her eyes widened to see Zitao dressed a very fancy suit. Well, she knew it was a Christmas party, but… was the theme fancy or what? She didn’t hear anything about attending in a fancy attire.

  “You were planning on going to the party dressed like that?” His brow arched, staring at her outfit.

  “What’s wrong with it?” she frowned. “I didn’t know we had to dress fancy.”

  “Tsk… I guess she left it out for a reason…” he mumbled and unlocked the door. “Hurry and get in. We’re already late.”

  “We?” her eyes widened as she opened the door and got in. “I thought you were already at the party…”

  “No… I just got a call from Sehun, saying that you weren’t there, so I figured you were late as well.”

  “Why were you late?”

  “…Is it a sin to look good?” he smirked and pressed on the gas pedal when she buckled herself in. She rolled her eyes, knowing what he meant and glanced down at the bag she had.

  “Is that what you were buying?” Zitao asked, glancing at the bag as well.

  “Not really…” she muttered. “What I wanted to buy wasn’t there…”

 “That’s too bad…”

  “Hey, Zitao?” she looked at him sadly.

  “What?” he frowned, noticing the look in her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

  “…Um…oh never mind…” she shook her head and looked away, wanting to ask him if he knew who bought the big panda, but decided not to.

 “Just tell me. I hate dragging things out.”

  “…Do you…happen to know who bought that big panda from last time?”

  “…Why?”

  “…”

  “Is that what you went back to buy? That panda?” he chuckled.

  “Yeah…” she muttered softly, nodding her head as well.

  “For what reason? Did you want it that bad?”

  “…I just… had an urge to buy it… I was working full-time and even over-time these past few days trying to save money to buy it… ugh…” she sighed.

  “Huh…” he just said. “To answer your question… yes. I do know who bought it.” 

  “W-What?! Who?!” her eyes widened as she got excited.

  He just laughed at her.

  “Why should I tell you?”

  “Because… Ah, you truly are mean! Gosh!” she scowled and looked out the window, crossing her arms.

  “If I tell you… will you stop being angry?” he asked.

 “…Will you tell me?”

  “…Not really, no,” he smirked.

  “UGH! You’re such an !” she yelled.

  “And you love me because of that.”

  Her eyes widened and she felt her heart pound.

  ... Oh right…

  you was in deep thoughts, she didn’t notice that the male had taken her hand and entwined it with his, until she felt a sudden warm up her cold hand. She looked to her left to see him holding her hand as he drove. He didn’t have to look at her to know that she was blushing.

  She just blinked and didn’t ask. Instead, she looked away, embarrassed and gently squeezed his hand in hers.

  “Your hand is cold,” he spoke, chuckling.

  “I know it is, you idiot…” she murmured, still blushing.

  “…Is it still cold?”

  “…No…”

  “You’re so cute…” he chuckled and smirked.

  “Shut up…” she replied quietly as he tightened his grip on her hand.

---

  They arrived at the big house the party was held at and Zitao parked the car behind another on the curb. He didn’t let go of her hand. She just blinked and looked at him.

  “You know…” he chuckled and stared at her. “I was looking forward to seeing you in a dress…”

  “W-Wae…?” Her cheeks burned in red.

  “…So I can tease you on how short you look in it,” he winked and pulled his hand away, before getting out of the car. Her eyes widened and she bit the bottom of her lips.

  Geez… stupid idiot got me excited for nothing… Why did I have to fall for him?

  Zitao opened her door and she got out with the bag in her hands. He wrapped his arm around hers in a gentleman style and led her to the front door.

  “You two are so late!” Baekhyun gaped as they entered the house. “What were you two doing?!”

  “Probably making out somewhere,” Jongdae snickered.

  “Nice one,” Zitao rolled his eyes. “-where’s Hye-Su?”

  “With Sehun…as usual,” Jongin appeared with some soda. “-hey, Hye-Su-ah!”

  “Ne?!” she replied somewhere. “What is it?!”

  “Zitao and you are here!”

  “Coming!!”

  The much shorter woman appeared in a light baby pink chiffon type dress with a black checkered pattern on the collarbone part of the dress. Her black hair was straightened and her bangs were pinned up to reveal her bright, baby face.

  “Did you get it?” she asked, eyes widened.

  “No…” you replied. “Someone had already bought it…”

  “Oh… well, I need to get you dressed before we reveal our Secret Santas!” Hye-Su said, dragging her upstairs.

  “Make her look nice, Hye-Su-ah,” Zitao had his hands in his pockets with a smirk on his face.

  “Don’t I always?” she laughed and dragged her into the guest room Joonmyun had lent her to keep her stuff in for the night. “I already have the perfect dress for you, so don’t complain.”

  Hye-Su walked into the open closet and walked out with a sea green chiffon dress with slight short ruffle sleeves. She also got out a pair of cream-colored heels and accessories.

  “There,” she smiled at the taller woman. “-what do you think?”

  “It’s cute…” you nodded. “But… do you think-“

  “Oh sweetie… Zitao is going to love it,” the older woman chuckled.

  “…How did you-“

  “I knew you finally realized your heart for him when I saw you walk into my café with that longing look in your eyes,” Hye-Su smiled. “-it took you a while, didn’t it?”

  “…I don’t know if I want to surrender over…”

  “Is it because of your ex?”

  “…Yeah…”

  “Get over it,” Hye-Su frowned. “-it’s time to move on. you-ah… You’ve know Zitao for almost two years now… that other guy… not as long… You know him long enough to know he’s not the type of guy to leave a girl like that. He’s smarter than that and you know it. Your mind may not be ready, but your heart is. And it’s telling you to move on.”

  “…What if he doesn’t feel the same way?”

  Hye-Su just scoffed, confusing the taller woman.

  “We’ll see about that,” she said with a motion of a nod. “-now hurry and get into the dress! I wanna know who my Secret Santa is!”

  you nodded and got the dress, heels and accessories into the restroom. It took her about three minutes to finish and by the time she came out, Hye-Su had gotten the makeup and hair curler out.

  “Well? Hurry!” she said.

  “But-“

  “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna cake your face. I didn’t even cake mine and we both know we don’t like our face caked,” Hye-Su glared at her. “-c’mon!”

  She sat down and Hye-Su immediately worked on her hair, curling it the best as she could, then working on the makeup.

  “You washed your face right?” she asked.

  “Yeah…”

  “Okay, good.”

  Hye-Su put on light moisturizer on the other female’s face, then as it dried, she concealed up some nasties that could ruin the night and fixed the female’s eye brows before moving to her lips.

  Once everything was done in ten minutes, Hye-Su helped the young woman down the stairs. The guys had already entered the living room, chatting up a storm, until Hye-Su appeared with you that is. Zitao’s eyes widened as he had chatted with Yifan.

  “Whoa,” Jongdae’s jaw dropped.

  “Stop staring at another man’s woman, Jongdae…” Joonmyun chuckled.

  “You better,” Zitao noticed and glared at his hyung.

  “Just looking,” Jongdae chuckled, hands up in defense and went back to drinking his soda.

  “So pretty!~” Sehun walked up to Hye-Su and took her hand, making her blush.

  “May I-“ Chanyeol was about to say, when Zitao stepped in between them.

  “I called her first, hyung,” Zitao smirked and Chanyeol just laughed.

  “Sit down,” Baekhyun pulled him down onto the couch with a shake of his head.

  “Now the party’s just started!” Luhan yelled and Minseok cheered. Yixing just sat there with Jongin, observing the males as they continued chatting up a storm.

  “Do you guys want to open the gifts up first or eat?” Kyungsoo walked into the kitchen, hinting that he was done preparing the food.

  “Food!” Xiumin and Luhan cheered as if they weren’t the oldest in the group…

  “You look…amazing,” Zitao chuckled as he took the female’s hand.

  “T-Thanks…” She muttered, looking down, embarrassed.

  “Let’s get something to eat. I’m starving…” he pulled her to the kitchen with a pout. As they all got food to eat, Hye-Su was sorting out the presents, while being fed by Sehun.

  “I wonder who my Secret Santa is…” she murmured as he fed her some Dukbokgi (spicy Korean rice cakes).

  Sehun just sat there with the cutest grin on his face as she kept sorting, not looking at him.

  After everyone had gotten full, or… most of them were, they decided to open the presents. Zitao had you sit beside him as Hye-Su called out their names.

  “Okay! When I call your name to get your present, I want the person’s Secret Santa to give them a back hug!” she smiled.

  “Ah wae!!” Jongdae made a face. “Why can’t we just say it!?”

  “It’s funnier that way!” she pouted and picked up the first wrapped box. “Hm…To Baekhyun!”

  Baekhyun smiled and got up to get his present, then waited for someone to back hug him but nobody stood up. He tilted his head to the side and blinked before feel small arms wrapped around his waist. She had the widest grin on her face.

  “Merry Christmas, Baekhyun!!” Hye-Su laughed.

  “So it was you!” Baekhyun smiled happily and turned around, hugging her back. “Ah, thank you, Hye-Su-ah!!”

  “Hehe,” she said as he went to sit down with his present before she called out the next name.

  “Yifan!!” she smiled and the cold-leader blinked before getting up as if he were getting an award. But before he got the present someone with headphones around their neck wrapped his arms around the male’s waist while stifling a very cute laugh.

  Yifan just sighed.

  “Yixing…” he just said.

  “Ehhh? How did you know??” Yixing blinked, pulling away.

  “Your laugh gave it away…” Yifan chuckled and picked up his present before side hugging the male. “Thanks for the present, Yixing…”

  “Jongin is next!!” Hye-Su called out.

  He got up and the second oldest male quickly put down his plate and hurried up to the younger male and attacking him with a back hug, followed by a laugh.

  “L-Luhan-hyung?!” Jongin’s eyes widened. “That’s why you kept asking me random questions every day!”

  “Haha, aren’t I such a good hyung?” Luhan grinned, not letting go of Jongin.

  “Ah, hyung… you can let go now…”

  “Next is… Jongdae!”

  “Wow, I wonder what I-huh?”

  The tall giant wrapped his arms around Jongdae and rested his head against the back of the shorter male’s head with a smile. It creeped Jongdae out and he made a face.

  “Ewww… Who… Yifan?!”

  “As if.” Yifan commented emotionlessly and continued to eat.

  “Zitao?!”

  “Ah, no hyung,” Zitao made a pained face and Baekhyun snickered.

  “Who else is tall- ah wait…”

  “Ah, hyung! You forgot about me!” Chanyeol whined and pulled away. 

  “Ah, sorry, Chanyeol-ah…” Jongdae turned around rubbing the back of his head, chuckling. “Thank you for the present!”

  Jongdae patted Chanyeol’s chest and got his present.

  “Kyungsoo! It’s your turn!”

  “Oh it’s my turn?” Kyungsoo blinked and a sneaky leader slid his arms around Kyungsoo with a loving smile as he pressed his head on the shorter male’s shoulder. Kyungsoo just had a face of weirdness as he scrunched up his brows.

  “…Joonmyun-hyung…” Kyungsoo said.

  “How did you know?!” Joonmyun’s eyes widened.

  “…Your hugs are creepy… No offense…” the shorter male shook his head and sat down. 

  “Joonmyun, your present!” Hye-Su smiled.

  “Ah, thank-“

  The dancer hugged his hyung and made a face of pain and laughter.

  “Oh?!” Joonmyun’s face lit up. “I wonder… Kyungsoo!?”

  “Ani! Joonmyun!” Kyungsoo frowned. “Think harder!”

  “Um… that laugh…sounds…like… Baekhyun!”

  “Ani, since when did I laugh like that?” Baekhyun pouted. “Aish…”

  “Then-“

  “You’re bad at guessing, hyung,” Jongin chuckled.

  “At, Jongin!!” Joonmyun laughed and turned around to hug the younger male.

  “Ah, no more!” Jongin cried. “Andwae!!”

  “Thank you so much, my sweet dongsaeng,” Joonmyun just smiled and hugged him tightly.

  “Okay… then…” Hye-Su said slowly. “Chanyeol!!”

  When the tall giant got up, Yifan had suddenly groaned loudly.

  Chanyeol stopped and stared at him with a weird look.

  “…Is it Yifan?” Chanyeol asked.

  “Yeah…” Yifan replied. “How’d you-“

  “…I think your groan made it obvious…” you blinked.

  “Oh… oops…”

  “Not acceptable!” Hye-Su frowned. “You still need to give him a hug!”

  “…Do I have to?” Yifan groaned again as he got up.

  “Yes mister!” she whined.

  Chanyeol had on a big grin as he outstretched his arms for the taller male to hug him. Yifan gave him a weird look and walked in, letting the other male hug him.

  “Haha, you’re so nice, Yifan-hyung!”

  “…Yeah…” Yifan just nodded.

  “Yixing!!” she called out.

  “Yay! Present,” he said as he got up before the vocalist side hugged him with a smile. “-oh? Baekhyun?”

  “Merry Christmas, hyung,” Baekhyun said.

  “Ahhh, thank you very much!!” Yixing hugged him back. “Hehe…”

  “Luhan!!” Hye-Su said.

  “My turn?!” his face lit up. “I wanna guess!”

  “Okay?” she blinked.

  “MINSEOK,” he guessed.

  “Ah, no fair…” Minseok muttered as he was an inch away from back hugging Luhan. “Why do you always guess me…”

  “Hehe, thank you hyung!” Luhan turned around and hugged him.

  “Minseok-ah, your present too!”

  “MY TURN!”

  Jongdae attacked Minseok from the back and hugged him tight.

  “It’s not fun if you speak before you hug me, Jongdae-ah…” Minseok pouted.

  “Awww! Okay. I’ll do it again.”

  “Why’re you talking about? He already knows it’s you,” Yifan’s brow arched.

  “Thank you, Jongdae-ah~,” Minseok just chuckled and hugged him too, making the three of them hug.

  “Next is Hye- oh… It’s me!” she smiled and before she looked up, someone hugged her from behind, making her scream. “WHO!?”

  “It’s me…” the maknae said softly, smiling and pressing his lips to the corner of her jaw line. “Sehun.”

  Her face turned bright red and she just stayed quiet as he hugged her. Everyone watched and it just got so cheesy, Yifan stood up and read the next present with a roll of his eyes. 

  “Zitao, your turn,” he said and the tall black-haired male stood up.

  “Wonder who’s left…” Zitao chuckled, staring down at the present.

  Chanyeol, Joonmyun and Baekhyun pushed you towards him and she blushed hard before slowly and gently wrapped her arms around his waist. He just smiled and turned around to hug her with one arm. Everyone cheered and Zitao picked up the last present on the floor, giving it to her.

  “You can already guess who was your secret Santa already, can you?” he asked.

  you stared at him, eyes wide and just smiled.

  “Thank you, Zitao…” she said and hugged him tightly.

  “I have one last present for you,” he said and pulled away, putting his and her present down before taking her hand and pulling her out the living room.

 you wrapped her arms around her as she sat on the bench in front of the house for Zitao. He had went to his car to get the last present and had her close her eyes. She felt a bit nervous, not knowing what was going to happen, but knowing it was Zitao… he trusted him.

  At first she heard the sound of footsteps in the snow… and then they stopped.

  “You can open your eyes now, babe,” he chuckled.

  Slowly, she did and looked up to see the huge panda bear from before. Her eyes widened and she gaped. Zitao peeked out from behind it with a smile.

  “Merry Christmas, you…” he said. “It was me who bought it.”

  “How did…I…”

  “You went back to buy it today for me, right?”

  “…Y-Yeah…”

  “I kind of figured you were my secret Santa when I saw you walking around with Sehun… and I might’ve asked around who their person was and narrowed it down to you,” he chuckled.

  “T-That’s cheating!” she cried.

  “So does that mean I can keep this?” he wiggled the panda bear, but she shot up and hugged it for herself.

  “Ani!!”

  Zitao burst out laughing and placed it on the bench before turning around and taking her hands. She stopped getting angry and looked up at him shocked.

  “Sehun told you I broke up with Sujin, right?” he asked.

  “Y-Yeah…” she just nodded.

  “And he told you there’s this girl I’ve had my eyes on too…”

  “Y-Yeah…”

  “Did he also tell you who it is?”

  She shook her head.

  “Do you know who it is?” Zitao smirked.

  “I-I don’t…”

  “So… he didn’t tell you… that the girl I’ve been in love with since last year…this exact time… and day… was you?”

  “No, he di-“

  you paused… and her eyes widened. Zitao chuckled and hugged her tightly.

  “All our quarrels… it was because I love you… I didn’t want to make it obvious like a sixteen-year old, so I decided to cover it up with arguments with you.”

  Tears welled up in her eyes as she listened to him.

  “When Hye-Su told me that you vowed never to celebrate Christmas again after your ex dumped you on that day… I found myself in love with you on that exact day… except a year later when I actually met you. You remember what I did right?”

  She nodded her head and he chuckled.

  “I pushed you into the snow that night and you ate snow…” he snickered and she just hit his side lightly for ruining the moment with his laugh with tears still in your eyes.

  “But… as time passed… I started falling hard… like really hard. You’re the most beautiful girl in the world… I love everything about you… and… I want to be with you every Christmas from now on,” Zitao pulled away with a smile.

  Christmas had become hell for her when her ex dumped her… but after meeting Zitao… her uncelebrated Christmas was spent with her face in the snow and in … and her re-celebrated Christmas was spent with a confession without an answer.

  “So what do you say? Do you wanna be my girl?” Zitao pulled away from skin contact to let her decide.

  you sniffed and wiped her tears away before looking at the huge panda, then back at Zitao.

  He’s such a panda… But… he’s my Panda…

  “Come here, you big Panda,” she laughed out, still sniffing.

  “Is that a ye-“ She engulfed him into a loving hug before he smiled. “I’ll take that as a yes then… Do you love Christmas now?”

  “…It’s going to be our anniversary after all…” she looked up at him with a bright smile.

  “Funny how enemies could be turned into lovers, huh?” Zitao whispered, pressing his warm lips onto her forehead. 

  “Funny how a big panda could love a small girl like me…” she chuckled.

  “Was that in insult, babe?” he smirked.

  “You’re my big panda…” she kissed his lips, smiling into them with sparks everywhere. He chuckled and pulled away slightly to say… 

 “And you are my Lady…”

  Zitao pulled her back in for a warm, Christmas-holiday kiss and both of them laughed before running into the house as the snow rained down… bad.

  “Ah, babe! Mr. Panda!” you cried in the house.

  “Oh right!” Zitao opened the door and hurried out to get the Panda then ran back inside. “Here you go, jagiya.”

  “I love you, you know…” she said softly.

  “…I love you too, shorty,” he chuckled and she hit him. “Ouch! Jagiya!”

  “Tsk… never learn anything…” she made a disappointed face and walked into the living room.

  “Ah, wait! Jagiya!”

  “You better hurry up, yeobo,” she replied. “-I’m gonna snuggle with Mr. Panda all night . And you don’t get any love tonight.”

  “Ah waeee! Don’t do this!!”