Jimin admits, he didn’t hate his job, but he was embarrassed by it.  Especially when he would see a group of kids from his school staring at him as he cleaned up a spilt drink in the mall.  No, he didn’t hate it.  He was just embarrassed by the idea that his classmates will have the vivid image of Jimin cleaning up vomit in the middle of the mall, or unknown stains from the restroom stalls.  But as he stood there trying to put on the big red suit, he cursed his job and everything involving it under his breath.

    A week before Christmas, everyone, including his dreaded classmates, are at the mall, rushing to buy presents.  Then there’s those people who want pictures of their precious children with Santa.  Jimin was also cursing at those parents at the present moment as he put on the hat to complete the outfit.

    “It doesn’t fit.”  Karen clucked her tongue when Jimin arrived in front of her.  She tried to push up the sleeves that only showed the tips of Jimin’s fingers, but they refused to stay up.  “But it will have to do!  Sorry about this last minute thing.  I didn’t think Peter would quit.”

    Peter was the previous Santa.  Jimin witnessed Peter becoming the “previous Santa” while cleaning near the food court.  Peter was “an hour late” according to Karen, the woman organizing this event, who was yelling at him in front of everyone.  Peter made up his mind right there and while getting yelled at, started to strip.  Everyone let out a small sigh of relief when he took off the suit to reveal a white shirt and long johns and not a fully old man.  But no one really knew what to do when Jolly Old St. Nick walked away.

    Jimin watched Karen tell the crowd that it might take a little longer to get a picture with Santa.  Many of the people turned around and left, and Jimin just watched them.  He felt lightly pulled to the woman and pitied her, and before he knew it, he was asking her if he could help.

    Maybe the thing pulling him was guilt.  After all, he knew why Peter was late.  While cleaning the male's restroom, in came Mr. Clause.  Jimin stiffened when he realized that he was being all handsy with someone who definitely wasn’t Mrs. Clause.  It was when the Not-Mrs. Clause pushed Peter into a stall, Jimin hastily left.

     It didn’t matter if it was guilt over not kicking them out, or just sympathy, that is how Jimin ended up seated in a big candy cane throne, drowning in his white beard and mistakes.

    After all, many people didn’t mind that Santa was a young, fine man.  They really didn’t mind. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

After a while, Jimin didn’t mind the suit too much.  He enjoyed watching the kids’ smiles light up when he told them that he’ll try his best to make his wish come true.  He felt as if he was actually becoming the human embodiment of the Santa Spirit.

He quickly forgot the feeling of bringing smiles to people’s faces when he caught sight of one young man’s face.  People didn’t know why his cheeks were becoming more red, but they didn’t care either, it made him more jolly.

Jimin knew that the closer that person got in line, the brighter the red on his cheeks got.  So bright, that when the man and his younger sister were next in line, Karen popped next to him to ask if he was okay and if he wanted a break.

“I’m okay, but…” responded Jimin as he stared at the next ones in line.  

“Okay!  That’s great!  Just keep at it.  You’re great.”  Karen said as she walked away, leaving the end of Jimin’s sentence lingering in the air.

“Jungkook, I’m nervous.”  Jimin could barely hear the little girl as she stared at Jimin from behind Jungkook’s back.

Oh.  What are the odds, thought Jimin as he continued to stare at his classmate, the young man, his love interest.

“Why are you worried?”  

“That’s Santa. He sees all.”  She looked at Jimin with eyes filled to the brim with amazement and intimidation.  Jimin had to fight the urge to snort.