"Mom, are you serious?"

Soojung stares at her mother disbelievingly, mouth ajar and her eyes as widened as they could be - a complete change from her resting face, and the amusement that twinkles in her mother's eyes only serves to boggle her disbelief. The cereal in her bowl has gone soggy as Soojung's stopped eating them since her parents' announcement around eight minutes ago, and in the corner of her eyes, she can see her older sister choking as she tries to hold her laughter. Soojung's father exhales a breathy laughter upon seeing his youngest daughter's reaction, continuing to flip his newspaper as he does - really, is nobody on her side? - and her mother shakes her head at her disapprovingly, a small frown on her face.

"I don't see why not, Soojung," says her mother as she takes a sip from her herbal tea, the scent of leaves hanging on the air. "It's been a long time since you've gone caroling - "

"Yeah, because caroling are for kids who are like, ten."

" - as I was saying." Soojung's mother coughs as she glares at her daughter, who simply sinks in her seat. "It won't be that horrible, sweetheart. Just a couple hours, and you're doing a good deed! Won't it make you feel better, doing something good just in time for Christmas?" Her mother coos, her gaze pleading as she tries to get her daughter to at least be cooperative. Tough luck though, when your daughter is Jung Soojung.

"No. I don't care about doing a good deed, Santa isn't even real!" Soojung cries out in frustration, a pout forming on her lips. At this, Jessica - actually, her sister's real name is Sooyeon, but Soojung understands why she'd prefer to be called Jessica - bursts out laughing, head thrown back and jaw opened wide as she laughs and laughs. Soojung glares.

"This is not up for discussion." The tone in her mother's voice says it all - everything is final, and there's no such thing as Soojung being able to skip out on caroling - caroling, of all things - and missing out on the embarrassment she knows she'll feel burning into her veins when her classmates from high school spot her singing along with children right before Christmas, possibly humoring them stories about a figure who isn't even real (Santa, that guy). "It won't be that bad. I've heard Mrs. Kim is inviting her friend's son, and he's around your age, really."

Soojung snorts in disbelief. "Yeah, and he's probably forced into it or he's some sort of social outcast."

"There's no need to be rude." Her mother sniffs, and Soojung rolls her eyes but stays quiet - she knows she's said far too much than what she's allowed already, and the last thing she needs is being grounded just in time for the party at her friend's place tonight. "Please, just do it, okay? It's only for one night, and being around with the kids will surely make you less of a Grinch this time of the year."

"I am not a Grinch!"

***

Mrs. Kim's house is located in the city, far away from the suburbs Soojung calls home, and Jessica is the one who drives her to the place where Soojung's completely convinced she'll meet her doom. It's not like she has anything against Christmas - which she doesn't, really! Soojung likes all the free presents she'll be getting, though she's not a fan of last minute Christmas shopping, something she's guilty of - but Soojung has an image. (At least, that's what she says to herself). Nobody expects the Jung Soojung to spend her Christmas eve with kids half her age going around the city caroling, they'd expect her to be at the latest party, turning down guys and acting like she's too good for everyone else. (It's not really an act, Soojung's pride just makes her wince and wrinkle her nose whenever boys who aren't good enough for her come too close in her proximity).

"Have fun caroling." Jessica snickers when they arrive in front of the house, and Soojung shoots her sister a glare before opening the car with a little too much force, and practically stomping on the ground once she's outside. She slams the car door close before she can hear Jessica's bubbling laughter and sighs, looking at the doors standing in front of her. Mrs. Kim's house isn't all that big, but it's dark and cold and all the lights twinkling and lighting up the house - christmas themed, of course - makes it look cozy and inviting. Swallowing her pride, Soojung steps forward and rings the doorbell.

A set of footsteps hurry behind the doors, and Soojung taps her feet as she waits for the door to open, blowing small gusts of cold air from her lips. "Coming!"

The door opens, and Soojung nearly grins from relief when she feels the heat from the heater seep through her clothes. Her mother's friend stands in fornt of her, clad in a red and puffy sweater, a reindeer headband placed on her head. Soojung cringes for a moment, but she quickly covers it up with a charming smile. "Soojung! You're right on time." She steps forward and gives a one-armed hug to Soojung and pecks both of Soojung's cheeks in greeting, like how moms usually would, and steps aside to let Soojung come in.

Feeling her pride sink down drastically, Soojung steps inside and is barraged by the signature scent of Christmas cookies and ginger, and if she strains to listen, there's the sound of a familiar Christmas movie playing from the living room. "The rest of the kids are already in the living room, come on now," says Mrs. Kim as she leads the both of them to the room where everyone's gathered, and the rest of those scheduled to go caroling with her have turned backs from her view, but one of them is suspiciously a lot taller than the others. Must be the one kid her age, Soojung notes. "Soojung's here, let's go!" The children stand up, cheering loudly and they flock towards Mrs. Kim like a pack of ducklings, bouncing and chattering in excitement. Soojung grimaces - maybe she should've brought her earphones. The boy her age is last, standing up silently and brushing off whatever dirt there could be off his trousers before turning around and striding calmly towards the older woman - and upon seeing his face, Soojung is taken aback - he isn't what she expected, at all. When she expected freckles and oversized glasses, braces were a probability, maybe a lanky stature or a chub in his cheeks or stomach, she never would've expected to be meeting someone who looks like they came out straight from Vogue magazine. (And Soojung knows a lot about Vogue magazine, considering the piles of said magazine strewn in her room, courtesy of Jessica).

"It's getting late - " Mrs. Kim begins, but Soojung's face twists into a small grimace, thinking whatever kind of late 7PM could be would be better spent hanging out with her friends or maybe even sleeping, really. " - and I want all of you back here by 8PM, got it?"

One of the kids, a girl with pigtails and oversized earmuffs dangling around her neck, cheeks flushed pink from the warmth of the heater, protests upon hearing it. "Only an hour?" Her voice is scratchy and whiny and Soojung is desperate, trying to not show too much of her displeasure. Despite lacking the ability to tolerate bull, Soojung knows just enough of manners to not look like a disrespectful brat in front of her mother's friends. (She's actually done it once, years ago, and she still hears about it to this day). "We should've started an hour ago!"

"I wouldn't have let any of you gone on without Soojung," snaps Mrs. Kim, and the girl glares heatedly at Soojung, as if all of this is Soojung's fault. Which, it kind of is, but it's not like she even wants to come along anyway. "An hour is still plenty of time to go around the neighbourhood and slightly more." Mrs. Kim pinches the bridge of her nose, as if this is something she deals with every day and she's getting a little too tired, a little too quickly. Soojung feels her on a spiritual level. "Soojung, Sehun, I hope you can take care of them. I'll be having my son come as well, and he's older than the both of you. He also has more experience with the kids, so if you need anything, just ask him." Her demeanor does a complete 180 as Mrs. Kim smiles, warmth radiating from her gaze, at Soojung and the model lookalike - Sehun - and with barely concealed amusement, Soojung watches as the kids almost cower in fear from the change in personality.

"We'll do our best," assures Sehun, although his voice is monotonous and flat, most probably on purpose. Soojung's lips twitch upwards. Mrs. Kim frowns, but she doesn't say anything, instead opting to go to her oldest son's room, most likely to fetch him. Soojung is left with Sehun and four kids most probably half her age (and then some), and the silence envelops them quickly. Nobody speaks up, although Soojung can still feel the penetrating glares from the kids just for reducing their caroling time, and whenever she looks at Sehun, he always seems to be staring at the floor, or the beige walls.

Soojung opens , thinking of a good conversation starter, but before she gets the chance to even sound a vowel, Mrs. Kim returns with her son in hand. Hair disheveled and eyes covered by thick rimmed sunglasses, the older boy scowls at all of them, eyebrows knitted in frustration. Soojung feels taken aback by how angry the guy looks, and if this is a casual situation, she would've told him to chill, but seeing as this isn't, she settles for looking pointedly away from him. Mood downers will be mood downers, or something like that. "This is Taeho, and he'll be taking care of you all. I'll see you soon, don't let them out of your sight!" The last part is directed at Taeho as Mrs. Kim nudges him with a little too much force, as he manages to get swayed over to Sehun, who pushes him away with a small, softer nudge of his own.

Taeho, the permanent scowl still etched on his face (and Soojung's starting to think that's just how his lips and his brows look naturally - mostly because no one should look that angry all the time), glances at the small crowd gathering near him and sighs heavily. "Let's go."

***

Four stops later, Soojung is bored.

She's not even annoyed anymore - that's passed after their first stop at the next door neighbour, who takes one look at them after opening the door - clad in red and green, some of them wearing reindeer hats or noses, the youngest one wearing an oversized Santa hat that covers his eyes - immediately slams the door, pretending nothing happened.

It was kind of funny, actually. (Not the sniffled wails of the kids, or the way one of the girls clung to her shirt and cried into her shirt, effectively soaking some of it. Rather disgusting, but kids will be kids).

"Could we make a stop?" Sehun requests sometime along the way as they trudge through the snow-filled road, sky dark but the streets bright with colours and lights. Taeho stops in his tracks, making a loud screeching noise because of the material of his shoes, and cranes his neck to look at Sehun.

"Why? Don't tell me you're tired already." A competitive edge is obvious in Taeho's voice, but Soojung really doesn't have an idea why the college dropout lookalike would have bad blood with Sehun, who is probably at least three years younger than him - Soojung thinks it's rather pathetic, actually, if he actually feels threatened by Sehun. (To be frank, Taeho should be concerned when it comes to his looks, but other than that, Soojung has no idea why he'd feel threatened by someone younger than him).

Sehun scoffs. "In case you didn't pay enough attention to the kids, they've been complaining about how thirsty they are for the past ten minutes." Sehun forms a smug grin when he sees the panic in Taeho's eyes, and how he immediately looks at the children with a rapid kind of movement. One of the kids whines loudly in agreement, causing the oldest in the group to exhale heavily, shoulders slumping with the weigh of responsibility. "

"Fine," hisses Taeho vehemently - the anger and annoyance coating his tone - and the children cheer. Soojung grins. They walk towards one of the local convenience stores, neon sign buzzing and flashing every so often, the parking lot filled with cretins and young street thugs smoking their asses off. Soojung's nose wrinkles at the scent of cigarettes and alcohol, and the children, as if sensing the possible trouble in the area, lean closer to her, one of them even tugging on her hand for reassurance. In front of her, Sehun doesn't look concerned in the slightest, but Taeho's furrowed brows and the thin coat of sweat layering his forehead shows his worry. (He shouldn't even be sweating. The weather's cold enough to freeze someone's off). "I, uh, I'll go get whatever you guys need in the convenience store." 'Coward.' "So, what do you guys want?"

They start listing off their orders - Soojung requests a warm drink, preferably a stronger kind of coffee, and some chocolate coupled along with peppermint bubblegum - and Taeho scurries inside the store, not once looking back at the group he's left behind. "Let's go sit down," suggests Sehun as he leads the group towards the stools located right out of the convenience stores, right in front of the windows that overlook the interior. They have to squeeze together to fit, Soojung ending up with a young kid on her lap, and Sehun sits alone, ankles of his legs crossed as they don't dangle over the stools like the others.

"I wouldn't have pegged you for the caroling type." Sometime along the line, Soojung starts a conversation, tone casual but slightly prodding. Sehun glances at her and shrugs before answering, his voice as monotonous as usual. His voice is flat, kind of nasally - but it's not the worst voice Soojung's ever had to hear.

"I'm not."

"Forced into it?"

"Nah."

Soojung furrows her brows, because Sehun is growing more and more as a puzzle, and frankly, she doesn't like puzzles. She doesn't like surprises either, period. Soojung likes knowing, and Sehun is providing her with exactly the opposite of that. "Then why are you here?" The question is blunt, and she stares him down with a pinning glance, usually the reason of most people's uncomfortable squirming in her presence. However, Sehun doesn't even budge a muscle.

"What's the fun in telling instead of having you figure it out yourself?" answers Sehun, lips curling to a smirk. Soojung has the sudden urge to wipe the smirk off his face, but she takes a deep breath, and settles for rolling her eyes. As if she'd let him have the pleasure of seeing her lose hold of her emotions.

"I won't push, then." A smug smile makes its way on Soojung's face after seeing how taken aback Sehun looks, and she gives up on her conversation attempt, opting to look at her newly trimmed nails. Black nail polish is a go-to for every occasion, Soojung notes idly as she inspects them.

A few minutes later, Taeho exits the store, a filled plastic bag in hand. The plastic bag is clearly too small for the food and drinks contained, and Soojung rushes forward to help him - she wouldn't want to have her food ruined, after all. "Let's eat some of these first," suggests Soojung, not accepting a word for discussion as she takes the bag from Taeho's hand and settles it on top of the bar, where the children immediately crowd around it, tiny hands flinging inside the bag to rummage around for their snacks. Soojung swipes her pick, and hands over a can of caffeinated drink to Sehun, who accepts it with a nod.

Lips curling upwards when she feels the warmth from her cup of coffee in her hand, Soojung whiffs the scent of the latte and takes a sip, nearly sighing from the heat that envelops . "Thanks." Nodding in acknowledgment at Taeho who's chugging down his can of soda, she takes another sip, this time a little longer than the last.

"Our next stop is," says Taeho in the middle of their break, brows furrowing and eyes squinting as he glares at his phone screen. "The Song residence, it's right around the corner." Soojung freezes upon hearing the name - Song?

"Do you know the name of the owner of the house?" Soojung asks, masking her quiet panic. If any of her friends catch her caroling, she'd never hear the end of it.

"Yeah. Some girl named Song Qian lives there, she's pretty cute." Trying to ignore the half-lecherous grin on Taeho's face (it kind of makes her blood boil, really), Soojung swallows her fear and nods, trying to look as unshaken as possible. Even though Song Qian - or Victoria, really, because that's what everyone calls her - would understand Soojung's reason for caroling better than anyone else in her group of friends ( her life if Amber or Sulli ever caught whiff of it), Soojung doesn't know if her pride can handle it.

"Okay." Nope, there's no quiver in Soojung's voice, not at all.

After a few more minutes, the group gets back on their feet, the kids starting to sing Christmas carols on top of their lungs, despite nobody actually being there to hear it (except for the wannabe thugs, who simply continue smoking and ignore the loud group - thankfully enough), and along the way to her friend's house, Soojung attempts to think of a plan to escape without getting caught.

Much to her surprise, Sehun slows his pace and waits for her to catch up before he starts walking again (seeing as he was somewhere in the front and Soojung prefers to linger in the back), and Soojung glances at him, surprised but not letting it show too much. "What?" The question comes off more brash than she expected, but she doesn't apologize.

"You've been looking utterly mortified for the past five minutes." Sehun speaks as if this is a casual conversation starter, a playful smirk on his lips. Soojung tries not to falter in her steps - is she that obvious?

Trying to muster as much nonchalance as she can, she shrugs. "There are plenty of things to be mortified about."

"Right." Sarcasm oozes in his tone, and Soojung rolls her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest as she picks up her pace, attempting to lose him. It doesn't work, as he simply copies her movement and the both of them are stuck walking in the back together, one of them with a heavy frown and the other looking like they're having the time of their life annoying the other.

"What do you want?" Soojung snaps, eyes narrowing dangerously. 

"Help you? I want to do a good deed, wouldn't want to get on Santa's naughty list and wake up to a bed filled with coal."

"That's... not how it goes." Against her will, she chuckles, and she hates herself for chuckling. She really does. Next to her, Sehun seems to flinch upon hearing her laughter, as if surprised Soojung even has the ability to laugh, but he relaxes in a blink of an eye, demeanor going back to the way it was before.

"I was serious about wanting to do a good deed, you know," says Sehun casually, a smile that actually looks real curving on his thin, pink lips. "No, don't look at me like that. I'm serious. You've been looking like you swallowed a lemon since you arrived, and now you look like someone told you your cat just died."

Soojung snorts in amusement. "Nice comparisons."

"Thanks, I try." Sehun beams proudly, and Soojung tries to nudge his side with her shoulders, trying to get him to knock it off, but the guy must be stronger than she thinks, seeing as he doesn't budge in the slightest. "Taeho hyung!" He suddenly cries out, stopping his tracks and immediately looking like he's suffering something she hasn't seen all along - his face suddenly looks paler than before, bottom lips quivering and shivering more than the rest of them - and Taeho stops in his tracks to look at them, and his eyes widen at the sight of a sick looking Sehun.

"Sehun, are you alright?" Taeho doesn't rush towards Sehun, but he stares at him with concern. If Soojung looks closer though, she's sure she can see a little smugness in Taeho's gaze, which makes her shudder because who the would look happy upon seeing someone looking like they're sick?

"I think my fever got worse," whispers Sehun, quiet enough to sound like talking hurts, but loud enough to be heard. Taeho's brows knit together, and the kids start pouting and wailing and stomping their feet because they just want to get to caroling. "Is it okay if I go back earlier? I don't know the way back, but Soojung says she knows the way, so..." he trails off, and Taeho looks at the two of them, gaze squinting as he tries to interpret something (Soojung doesn't quite know what, and she's not sure if she wants to know), before shrugging.

"Sure. Get well soon."

Just like that, Taeho continues walking and the kids follow him, chattering and a spring in their steps as if nothing had happened. Soojung gapes in disbelief, and as soon as Taeho stops looking over his shoulder every few seconds to check if Sehun hasn't done some sort of dance or cheered in excitement, Sehun drops the act, looking exactly like he did before - perfectly fine, only now, a cheeky kind of smile is on his face.

Not waiting for Soojung to regain her consciousness, Sehun turns around and starts walking, hands shoved deep in the pocket of his pants. "You're welcome, by the way," he calls out to her, not turning his head around to pass her a glance.

Snapping out of her trance, Soojung blinks and hurries after him, ignoring the biting cold the wind gives her as she runs. "What'd you do that for?" She asks, her tone accusatory as soon as she's caught up to him. Sehun stops in his tracks and gives her a wry glance, along with a quirked brow. "Do you want something in return or something?"

Sehun hums in contemplation, and Soojung taps her feet on the ground impatiently. "Well, I really don't know the way back to the house."

"That's it?"

"Yeah."

The complexity that is Sehun simply grows as time goes on, and it frustrates Soojung even more as he continues to be a puzzle she doesn't know how to solve. Biting down any reply, she starts walking towards the direction of the house, not looking back to see whether he follows.

(He does, but the walk back is silent and Soojung wishes she brought her earphones, again).

As soon as the house comes into view, Soojung glances at the roof and her eyes widen when she sees it's possible to climb up there. Restraining a smile, she ignores Sehun who's walking towards the front door and instead walks towards the backyard, trying to look for a possible way to climb up the roof without having to get caught by Mrs. Kim.

"What are you doing?" Sehun asks, a few steps behind her, and Soojung opts to not reply as she climbs up a conveniently placed ladder, and lurches herself on the roof. It's not all that dangerous (at least, she thinks it's not) but maybe her opinion doesn't count, seeing as Soojung's been jumping onto rooftops ever since she could remember. Dangling her legs over the edge and looking at the stars above her, she smiles a genuine smile - this is much better than caroling.

To her surprise, Sehun sits next to her after a few minutes, panting lightly and out of breath. Soojung glances at him and smirks. "Not used to climbing, are you?"

"Shut up," mutters Sehun, and he chooses to cross his legs and keeps some distance between him and her. She doesn't really mind, but maybe a little bit of body heat would be better than having to snuggle up to her sweater alone, so she scoots over, ignoring the raised eyebrow he sends her. "If you wanted to be closer to me, you could've just asked."

"No need to be cocky, hot shot. In case you didn't know, it's freezing," she bites back, enjoying their banter. It's not often Soojung meets someone who chooses to talk back instead of staying silent, their eyes looking at her with fear or disgust. (Honestly, she's not as intimidating or y as people thinks - but of course, people believe what they want to believe).

"Really? You seemed fine without me a few minutes ago."

"..."

"Well?"

"I'm an opportunist."

He snorts in disbelief, but doesn't say anything about it. They sit in silence, Soojung glancing up at the stars and enjoying the view while Sehun  sips on the drink he hadn't finished back in the store. What was a good kind of silence becomes an awkward silence, and out of boredom, Soojung signs.

"Dashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh," sings Soojung quietly, and Sehun bursts out laughing, his laughter loud in the air. Feeling the need to defend herself, she looks back at him with a glare. "What?"

"Are you really singing carol songs?" He wheezes through his laughter, before proceeding to laugh again. Soojung nudges him with force, and she's pleased when she sees him look startled and his laughter dies down.

"Yes, yes I am. It's better than being stuck in awkward silence with you, of all people."

"I'm slightly offended."

"It was meant to offend."

"How charming."

Trying to not let him get to her, Soojung instead sings again, this time slightly louder and thoroughly enjoying the growing disbelief on Sehun's part. "Over the fields we go, laughing all the way!"

"Can you just skip to the chorus?" Sehun suddenly murmurs, stopping Soojung from her singing and she flinches in surprise before looking at him curiously.

"What?"

After a few moments of silence, Sehun sighs in resignation. "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way," sings Sehun sullenly with a sour expression on his face, and Soojung laughs.

"Oh what fun it is to ride on a one horse open sleigh!"

***

lili's corner:

someone please tell me what i'm doing + not proofread because i'm lazy and this actually took me two days to write even tho i could've finished it in one haha i fell asleep loool

this is more brotp ish i guess??? haha ahahaaaa idk

also thank you so much for the comments + reqs so far! i'll keep your pairings in mind :)