After Jin let Jihoo into the house, I went back into mine and right into my mother's room.

It was also a mess.

She was a mess.

She had also drunken to much and was bawling.

"Mom. Mom!"

She looked up at me for a second before looking away.

"If you are ashamed, why are you doing this?! Huh?"

I took the bottle she had out of her hand as well as the one on her bed. After throwing them away, I took the covers and sheets from her bed. I cleaned and swept the floor. The whole time she just kept crying. I was frustrated.

"Mom, what is it?!"

"Myra, I'm scared..."

I looked down. I knew she was. But when she said it, I softened. I was also scared.

"You know your Dad was in Seoul before he left? I don't think I can go."

"I don't want you to go either, Mom."

Despite the state she was in, I went over to her and hugged her. "Can't you tell them?"

She shook her head. "They said if I go Christmas Eve, I get more vacation time next year. It must be really important to them."

"If you don't?"

"I lose my job."

We sat in silence for a while before I decided to get up and change her sheets. Then I went back to the living room and swept a path for SeoHyun to walk through. I led her to Mom's room and sat her on the bed, and they hugged each other silently. After cleaning the living room so that it looked as if nothing had happened, I helped the two change into clean clothes before changing myself. I did the laundry and we all slept in Mom's bed, safe and sound.

When I woke up, Mom and SeoHyun were still sleeping, and I knew they weren't waking up anytime soon.

I went to the kitchen and made some toast. I decided I should fix some haejangguk to cure their hangover. I learned how to make it from Dad, whose father used to drink a lot. It's a good thing I did, since Mom doesn't know how to cook Korean foods at all.

This made me think, my friends had never eaten Egyptian food. My mother never cooked it for them when they came over and assumed they wanted  American food. At that moment, I thought, Wouldn't they like something different sometimes? Maybe some Egyptian Christmas food? I could give them some on Christmas!

Wait... I don't celebrate Christmas!!

I shook my head and continued cooking.

I put the soup in a stock pot and let it cook slowly. I changed into something warmer and more suitable for outdoor weather and, after checking on Mom and SeoHyun, prepared to go pick up Jihoo.

When I was walking on Jin's driveway, Kyungsoo had just come to the door.

"Hey, Kyungsoo. You're leaving early. It's only 7:30."

"Well, I said I'd leave in the morning. I decided to leave while they're asleep."

"Well, wait for me, okay? Actually, I want you to come over for a sec, so wait 'til I get Jihoo."

"Sure, I'll wait."

I went inside the house. They boys were all sleep in the living room, lighlty snoring. I wasn't sure why, but I decided to sit on the couch for a minute and watch them.

Jin's face was peaceful and was actually pleasant to look at. He had a smile on his face. What is he dreaming about? I wondered and giggled.

I looked at Jihoo, whose arms and legs were flailed in different directions. We're the same: we're restless sleepers.

Then I looked at Vernon, with his hair in his face, his lips parted, and his face relaxed. I didn't know it at first, but I found myself walking over to him and I touched his face.

He woke up almost immediately, and I pulled my hand away quickly.

"Hello, beautiful," he said sleepily, followed by a smile.

"Good morning." I blushed.

"Here to pick up your brother?"

"Yeah."

We just stared at each other for a while.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Myra? It's like you're attracted to me."

I chuckled. "You wish."

"Then why'd you touch my face?"

"I didn't touch your face. You must have been dreaming."

"Sure, I was."

I stood up, and he sat up and woke Jin up. I picked my brother, not bothering to wake him. He must have fallen asleep as soon as he came here, for his games and toys were still packed up and he was in the same clothes he wore the night before. He hadn't even bothered to remove his shoes when he got into the sleeping bag.

Jin looked at me sleepily. "Good morning, Myra."

"Hey, just coming to get my brother. If you two would like to come to my house, I'd love to cook you guys something."

"Sounds delicious," Jin smiled and stood up. "I'll get dressed in a sec." Then he looked around. "Did Kyungsoo leave?"

I looked through the storm door. "Nope. Still outside, freezing, haha. See you guys."

"Yeah."

I walked outside, and Kyungsoo said "Finally!" The cold air woke my brother up, and he looked around and began shivering. But I only lived a few houses down, so it only took less than a minute to walk back to my house.

Kyungsoo smelled the haejangguk as soon as we came in and said, "Did something happen last night that made you bring Jihoo over?"

I shook my head. Now's not the time to tell anyone about it, not when they still can call their jobs and cancel, right? Even if SeoHyun is supposed to leave today, no one needs to know.

"They just had been to a friend's party and had a little too much to drink, that's all."

I took Jihoo to his room and he immediately got his stuff ready so that he could take a bath.

"What about me?" Kyungsoo asked. "I'm gonna be all dirty and stuff. Is this going to be quick?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm fixing you guys something special. There's a shower downstairs you can use, and I got some clothes you can wear."

Kyungsoo looked at me in disgust. "I don't want your clothes!"

I just laughed before entering Mom's room quietly. She and SeoHyun were still sleeping hard. Then I went into the closet and got on the stool to reach the top shelf. There was a bin up there that had all of Dad's clothes.

I brought it down and went to Kyungsoo. "You can wear some of these."

At first, he looked confused as if wondering why there were guy clothes here until he saw something familiar.

"No, I can't wear your Dad's clothes..."

"No, I want you too. You have no clothes with you."

He looked at the shirt I put on his lap. "I promise to return in ASAP."

I shook my head. "I want you to keep it. He said you were like a nephew to him so you should have a piece of him with you."

I continued searching for a pair of pants when I felt his arms wrap around me.

He sniffed. "Thank you, Myra. That means a lot to me."

"I'm just doing what he'd want me to do."

I pulled back so that Kyungsoo would look at me. "He'd want us to be happy, so don't cry." I smiled.

He laughed and wiped his tears away with a nod before saying, "How was I like a nephew though if my sister was like a daughter?"

At that I laughed. "I guess you could have come over more often if you wanted to be his son!"

Then after we pieced together his outfit, I got him some towels and he went downstairs for a shower.

Then, I got to cooking.

Jin and Vernon knocked on my door as soon as Jihoo came out of the bathroom.

"I got it!" he said eagerly, but I wouldn't let him.

"Boy, I'm not letting all that cold air get to you while you're still wet and you're pores are open! You could catch a cold!"

"Why are you always trying to baby me!"

"I trying to protect you, Jihoo." I led him to the dining room where I fixed him some warm hibiscus tea and opened the door.

"Hey, come in, I'm still cooking, but I fixed something for you to drink."

They came to the table and looked at the pink liquid.

"What is it?"

"Hibiscus tea. It's really good, just add a little honey."

They added a lot of honey.

"It's good, but it tastes a little like honey water," Vernon said.

I shook my head and went back to the kitchen.

"Myra, in case you didn't know, we didn't get drunk last night!" Jin said. I hushed them.

"It's for my sister and mother, so shut up!"

My brother immitated me. "You don't want to wake them up!!"

They chuckled and nodded, putting their index fingers to their lips.

"What else is that I smell?" Jin asked.

Jihoo sniffed in the air. "I think she's cooking Mommy's food."

Vernon and Jin looked at me questionably. "Mommy's food?" Vernon asked. "Wait, we're eating Egyptian food?"

Jin raised his hands up in the air as if he was victorious. "Yes! Finally! I've been waiting for this!"

I laughed. "I wanted to fix it on Christmas..." I said slowly while cutting some lamb. "But I figured you guys will want some and we'll all be with our families at that time, anyways, so why not fix you guys some now?"

They smiled and I continued cooking.

Kyungsoo came back from the basement, asking, "Myra, where's the blow dryer?"

Jihoo left the table, saying, "I'll show you! She's cooking right now."

Jin And Vernon gave me a questionable look. Actually, it was kind of scary, and it made me wish that the doorway from the kitchen to the dining room actually had a DOOR!

"He didn't have a change of clothes and felt dirty, so I let him use the shower in the basement and wear Dad's clothes."

Jin nodded. "Yeah, I guess it's fine since you two are practically cousins."

Vernon shrugged and continued to stir his tea.

After Jihoo found the blow dryer, Kyungsoo went back to the basement to dry his hair. It made me smile, that he was being cautious to not wake up my family.

When Jihoo sat down, Vernon asked him, "Do you guys always eat Egyptian food on Christmas?"

"Not really. In Egypt, Christians celebrate on January 7, so we celebrate it like everyone else here with American food, but we eat Egyptian food on January 7 and have a small celebration at the Church down the street."

"The church we passed last night?" Jin asked.

Jihoo nodded. "A lot of Egyptians go there, so they have two Christmas celebrations there."

Jin smiled. "Okay, then. Looks like we're going there tomorrow and in January."

"We have school in January." I said.

"Is the celebration during school?"

"Well, it's an all day celebration, so it's also in the evening."

"Okay, then I'll go in the evening, and I'll celebrate Christmas with your familiy, Myra." Jin smiled at me.

"I'll come too." Vernon smiled and nodded.

Soon, I was finished with the fattah and let it cook and began to prepare making the kahk. Hopefully I make it right, I want them to know how special it is in our culture.

Kyungsoo came up from the basement and commented on how delicious it smelled.

"It's going to take a while, so let's all go outside," I said.

They all looked at me, as if saying, "We came to eat!"

But then Vernon smiled and stood up. "Yes, let's all go and play outside! Get your coats and dress warm!"

As soon as we went out to the backyard, Kyungsoo started throwing snowballs at us.

"Yah, stop!" Jin screached, but he only laughed.

"Make me!" He threw another at me.

"You're on, brotha!"

Jihoo and I teamed up and the others were on their own. We hid behind the shed. I'm sure Jin and Kyungsoo had brought the fight to the front of the yard, so we had to be cautious of Vernon.

"Jihoo, can you make a decent sized ball?"

He grabbed two handfuls of snow and pack it into a messy mass.

"Perfect. Can you throw it hard?"

He nodded excitedly. We peaked through the corner, looking for Vernon. But then I heard something crunching the snow behind us...

I turned around, and Vernon threw the snowball. It was aimed at Jihoo!

"No!" I kneeled and the snowball hit me on the chest.

"Ow! Was that snow or ice?"

"Are you okay?" Vernon asked, concerned, when Jihoo threw his ball square on his face.

Jihoo and I high fived each other and Vernon laughed.

"Aha, you're trying to trick me? That's dirty, Myra."

"No, really, that hurt."

Vernon came over to me but I held my hand up to stop him and stood up.

"It hit me in the chest, there's no way you can help me with that!"

"Haha, okay. I'm sorry."

I coughed, and Vernon told me to go in the house. "I'll stay out here with Jihoo. You shouldn't be out here anymore."

I nodded and went back inside. Turning on the heater, I looked out the window and saw that Jihoo and Vernon had made their way to the front and were attcaked by Jin and Kyungsoo, who had a stack of balls ready made. Obviously, they had teamed up at some point.

I laughed and took a sip of my tea before continuing to cook.

When the boys were finally finished playing int he snow, I had just taken out the finished the fattah and had put the kahk in the oven.

"You boys hungry?"

"We're starved!" Vernon exclaimed, and they all dropped on their chairs at the table. I had already set the plates and forks there, and I sat the casserole dish on the table.

"Whoa..." My friends looked in awe. 

I don't know who Shahy is, btw XD

Jihoo immediately took the spoon and scooped some food onto his plate. "I never had this for breakfast before!" He said excitedly. Everyone else got their share and we all dug in.

"I should make this on Christmas!" Kyungsoo said. His eyes were closed as if he was getting lost in the flavor. A good sign.

"Can you cook this whenever we come over?" Jin asked.

I laughed. "No! It takes a long time!"

The bread and rice was nice and crispy, the sauce was on point, and the lamb was so tender. It was beautiful!

After we finished enjoying our food, I took the dishes into the kitchen and removed the kahk from the oven to cool. I washed the dishes while they started to read through a book of Christmas stories.

I sprinkled the powdered sugar on the the kahk and took it to the table.

Mmmm... I should make some Egyptian food on Christmas XD

They examined it and bit into it, all but Jihoo surprised about the filling in the middle.

"What is this? It's good," Jin asked.

"Agwa."

"Water?" Kyungsoo laughed.

"No, it's a date spread." I giggled. Obviously, it wasn't water. "Kahk is given as a gift in Egypt, on Christmas for Christians and Eid for Muslims."

They all nodded and took more. "I'm going to take some home," Kyungsoo said. "I want to give some to my family."

Mom and SeoHyun woke up half an hour after my friends left. Jihoo was coloring in a book and we were singing along to our Babyface Christmas CD.

They stared at me when they came into the living room.

"Oh, hello." I smiled at them. "I made some haejangguk for you two." I went into the kitchen and looked into the stock pot, which was still stewing slowly. It looked ready to me, so I turned it off and put some in two bowls.

"Come, sit down."

"Myra, I have to get to the airport soon." SeoHyun looked at her watch, but I pulled them to the table. "Nope, you two are going to eat and then you're going to call the company and tell them you're staying home."

"Myra," Mom started, but I shook my head.

"Christmas is coming up real soon. You'll have to call 'em, but right now, you need to eat."

"You're acting different Myra. It's kinda scary," SeoHyun said before eating some before eating the soup.

"Well, I kinda like it," Mom smiled and chowed down.

I hope you had as much fun reading this chapter as I did writing it! I learned quite a bit about Egyptian Christmas and now I want to celebrate with Egyptian food lol. 

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