Even though he'd already prepared his gifts for his family and all his friends and has no desire to buy anything when he doesn't have a girlfriend anymore, Minho couldn't help but join Taemin into the gift shop where the gifts and lights decorating the room would astound him. Every year, he would visit the shop even if he had no interest in buying it.

Minho's mouth opened slightly as he opened the door, ringing the bell that made that familiar jingle. He would never get used to the spectacle. There was a glimmer in on the bright wooden floor, it wasn't lights or sparkles--it felt like a little like walking on water only the ground was hard as ever. Crystal balls hung on different lengths of string attached to the ceiling and if look closely here and there, you might see flecks of silver.

The other shops were too fancy, with multi-colored lights, confetti, fake snow, and worse, those 'ho ho ho' sounds from speakers. They were too much and kind of cheezy. At least these were simple, were added to the magnifency.

Taemin was just as awestruck as it took him a light tap on the back and a, 'hey' for him to snap out of it and search for his gift. There were wasky metal loops that looked like rings but are actually necklaces for little figures, rosepetals glued on top of each other (meant to be a matteress for a tiny doll), glass shards pasted to look like a bird, and other knick knacks of the sort.

Of course there were ordinary gifts too, like the usual jewelery, snow globes, clothing, and picture frames. He'd never understand why every year there were so many picture frames.

Meanwhile, Taemin seemed to be roaming the snowglobe area, picking a snow cube and a tiny one with red dust.

"Really? You're gonna buy a snow globe?" Minho sniggered.

"For Krystal," he replied, to which he stopped smiling.

"What are you buying her that for? Do you like her?" He sneered.

"I don't think she's getting that many presents this year, what with her parents busy and not having a lot of friends and-" He broke off, glancing at Minho. He looked away. Obviously that was deliberate on his part.

"How do you know about her parents?" He couldn't help asking.

"She told me."

"She-you mean you just asked her and she told you?" He was incredulous. Taemin nodded, setting down the one with red dust, and choosing the cube which enclosed a smooth glass heart hanging on the top, floating around in the liquid with the usual snow fluttering inside.

"You're gonna choose that? She'll probably get the wrong impression of you..." He trailed off. His friend shrugged, with a smile on his face. 

"I've seen girls give heart presents to each other. Besides, Krystal's not in it for romance at the moment." Minho looked up at the tiny, twinkling lights, not wanting to meet Taemin's eyes.

"Let's just buy our stuff. I wanna go home." It was getting dark outside and he preferred to be at home when it gets cold and dark.

"Hold on, if you're not gonna buy anything for anyone, at least let me buy you something. Choose a snowglobe you like," offered Taemin.

Minho didn't want to take money from him but the snow globes did look eye-catching. After a long moment, he chose a perfectly big, round one with a metallic base that shimmered the same way the ground of the shop did. Inside it was a house of some sort only it didn't look like a normal house. The building was cereal box shaped, also metallic, shimmering and had no windows to see through. There was a tiny opening in the bottom like a mousehole but it was too small and dark for Minho to see what was inside it.

The ground of the globe was also made of the same metallic substance but instead of shimmering, there was a slight glow in it. There was no snow, unlike most snowglobes. Although he could see that the liquid in the globe had a dark tinge to it and looked murky; it even dimmed the glow a bit.

"That? It looks so depressing," Taemin couldn't help saying aloud. And indeed it did, in other's eyes. But to Minho, it seemed special. He was entranced.

"I'll take it and pay you back," he declared, without bothering to know what the price was, eyes fixed on the globe.

The pair asked the cashier, who couldn't help overhearing the whole conversation with interest, the price of the globe. He smiled and said that it was free. There was a stunned silence, then the look on Minho's face turned to delight while Taemin's turned to amazement and suspicion.

"It's near Christmas and...no one's ever had interest in that before so it might as well be given away."

And so Minho took it home (he refused to have it put in the bag, much to the annoyance of Taemin) with a gleeful expression on his face that frightened his parents.

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Don't worry, Yoona will come soon. Please comment on what you think of it.