A/N: And here is the first official drabble for our new C&L collection! Written for Lyciaange, a lovely subscriber of mine who actually inspired all of this! Love you, baby! Please remember that this is unedited. Enjoy! xoxo

 

He has to say, he isn't quite sure how Lily puts up with this every day.

 

“I asked for a grande, not a tall. Could you switch that for me? And also, lift off all that whipped cream, would you? Way too much fat that I don't need.”

 

Chanyeol does his best to stay calm and level headed, reminding himself that the customer is always right, that this is just the way retail is like. But still, that doesn't stop him from making a face when he turns around, back towards the customer. He takes a spoon and levels off as much whipped cream as he can, transferring the drink to the designated cup size forlornly. What kind of person doesn't like whipped cream? And can you even blame him for mixing up the sizes—they were similar to start out with anyway.

 

He eventually manages to satisfy the huffy customer, wiping his hands off on a towel. Never in a million years had he thought this job at the diner would be so difficult.

 

A sigh leaves his lips. Chanyeol is a capable young man, but with the combination of music and school taking up his younger years, a part time job was just never able to wheedle itself in. And as a result, even after three weeks at work, Chanyeol is still taking quite some time adapting to his new working environment.

 

He blames it on his mom, and he blames it on his girlfriend.

 

“Chanyeol, what exactly have you gotten done since you came back here?” His mom sat him down one day. “Summer's over, and I've let you fool around enough now for months on end. So what have you got to show me, hm?”

 

Chanyeol knew he was screwed the moment his mother forced him down onto his kitchen table seat. Trying his best to derail the situation, he responded smoothly, “I've been working on my music. Haven't you heard me recording?”

 

“Yes, I have,” his mom said matter-of-factly, “when the whole house is asleep.”

 

Chanyeol shrugged. “I get late night inspiration.”

 

“Recording is one thing, Chanyeol.” Something firmed on Ms. Park’s face. Chanyeol internally cringed. Great, he thought, here comes the lecture.

 

“But I'm sorry to break it to you, but ‘late night inspiration' doesn't pay the bills. You're graduated and an adult now, so don't expect me to let you leech off of my paycheck.” Chanyeol's mom was serious, her tone unbudging and non-negotiating. “Starting from this week, you're going to get yourself a job.”

 

“But Mom—”

 

“Don't start whining on me now, Park Chanyeol! I'm not saying you can't record or make your music. I'm just telling you, you need to start making your own money and your own paycheck. I'm not going to be alive forever, you know.”

 

Chanyeol sighed. As any college graduate would, he had to admit, he was just a tad bit afraid of getting a job. Getting a job meant growing up, getting responsibilities, being an adult. And Chanyeol wasn't too sure he was ready for that yet.

 

His mom put a hand over his. Her expression was much more gentle now, understanding. She knew how hard it was for Chanyeol to sacrifice even a shred of time of his music, but for his sake, this had to be done. Her son couldn't simply live off instant noodles and lemon honey tea forever.

 

“Besides,” Ms. Park reasoned, “don't you want to treat Poppy to something nice? Something without borrowing my money?” She raised an eyebrow at her son.

 

At the thought, Chanyeol simply couldn't not relent. He sighed again, but this time in defeat, with a slight tinge of hope.

 

“You're right,” Chanyeol said. “Okay, Mom. I'll see what I can do.”

 

To say Ms. Park was incredibly proud would have been an understatement.

 

“Oh my gosh, you should get a job at the diner!”

 

To say Lily was incredibly excited would have been an understatement.

 

Words were falling from a mile a minute, unstoppable and unbreakable. Even though Chanyeol had his mouth poised to begin speaking, she completely ignored it and continued to ramble.

 

“No seriously, my dad has been looking for somebody to fill in extra spots because holiday season is coming up and we definitely need more people around to help—Lord knows the people in this town are hot chocolate crazy—and plus, my dad already knows you, he’ll hire you for sure, baby!”

 

Hearing the word of endearment come from Lily’s mouth was still such a surprise to Chanyeol—every time the sound reached his ears, a little spot of pink appeared at the tips of his ears. It made him think about just how long they had been together, even before they had started to date. And here she was now, in his room, relaxing on a nice Wednesday afternoon. Sitting on the floor with him. (“Not on the bed,” Ms. Park had clearly instructed.) So happy he was. So, so happy.

 

But with this predicament, he wasn’t exactly thrilled.

 

“I don’t know,” Chanyeol said. “I would have no idea where to start. How do I write a resume? What is an interview like? What questions are they going to ask?” All of his worries were beginning to spill out, but Lily was an easy reassurer.

 

“Trust me, my dad will hire you. And interviews are a piece of cake. You’ll do just fine!” She put her hands on Chanyeol’s shoulders. “Plus, you know what I get to do?”

 

He smiled at her cute cheeks, her passion for this new idea clearly evident. “What?”

 

“I get to train you. Finally, for once, I will get to have the upper hand!” Lily pumped her fist with an excitement that Chanyeol did not exactly share. She full out grinned. “It’s going to be awesome.”

 

“Hey! I’ve been waiting here for ten minutes. Could you hurry it up, I’m kind of in a rush here!”

 

Chanyeol grits his teeth. If he gets one more impatient and fussy customer, he’s going to spontaneously combust. He knows it. Gripping the towel and tossing on a sloppy hi-how-may-I-help-you smile, he turns around towards the cash register, mentally preparing himself for yet another ridiculously complicated order. “Yes, how may I help y—”

 

High cheekbones.

 

Adorable button nose.

 

Lily.

 

At the sight of his girlfriend, Chanyeol breathes a sigh of relief, a real, true smile flooding his face. Thank the Lord, he thinks, she’s an angel.

 

Lily laughs out loud, unafraid of the judgemental looks from customers sitting around the diner. “You should have seen your face!”

 

She does a crappy imitation of him, forcing her lips to pull too wide and all her teeth showing in a heinous manner. “‘Hi, how may I help you?’” Her voice is mocking and playful, but he knows that she’s always been this way, so Chanyeol lets it off. He’s still older than her—he’ll get her back later.

 

“Dammit, I really thought I was screwed there.” Chanyeol throws the towel in his hands off to the side, the sense of freedom finally returned to him at the sight of his angel.

 

Outdoors, the sun has set and evening has settled in, stars dotted the sky. Chanyeol leans over the counter, reaching for Lily’s hands. Still shy after months of dating, she relents her fingers to him.

 

“Too much homework today?” Chanyeol asks. “You came so late. It’s almost eight o’clock.” He pouts, clearly unhappy.

 

Lily’s face wrinkles, not too pleased with his topic choice. She plays with his fingers while she speaks, staring at their hands intertwined together. “Let’s just say that Pre-AP Chem is not exactly my strong suit.”

 

“Do you want me to tutor you?”

 

She shakes her head. Sighs. “I’m fine, baby. I know you’re busy. Plus, if we started doing schoolwork together, I might have to break up with you.”

 

Chanyeol retracts his hands, shooting her a look. “You’re no fun.”

 

“School’s no fun,” Lily counters back easily.

 

At her statement, Chanyeol can agree. He puts out a palm for an easy high-five and receives a smooth return in a matter of seconds. “Agreed.”

 

“Ahem.” Somebody coughs behind them, an impatient tone underneath.

 

Lily’s eyes widen, and she immediately stifles her laughter, forcing her lips into a tight line. She meets Chanyeol’s eyes and he gestures over his shoulder. “You wanna come to the back?”

 

She nods frantically, untying her scarf from her neck and rushing to get behind the bar.

 

Chanyeol just chuckles to himself, shaking his head. Then he looks up at his next customer, and with an actual smile and pleasant tone, asks for the millionth time, “Hi, how may I help you?”

 

Christmas break comes too fast, and the diner becomes filled with students twenty-four seven.

 

Mr. Song instructs the two kids carefully in the kitchen, the sounds of knives on cutting boards and the sizzling of hot oil in pans blending into his words. He crosses his arms over his chest. “I know I usually don’t let the two of you work together—for obvious reasons, but during the break it can’t be helped. So, you two, no goofing off, you hear me?” For once, Mr. Song is actually stern. The diner is his baby, and he won’t let the two rascals mess up his business.

 

Chanyeol and Lily nod their heads in sync.

 

“Of course, Mr. Song.”

 

“Sure, Dad.”

 

Mr. Song’s face lights up at their answers, a jolly smile on his face. “Good. Geez, even being serious for those two minutes was really hard! Ugh, I hate running my business like that. But honestly, I can trust you two?” His eyebrows raise in question.

 

The couple open their mouths to answer yet again, but Mr. Song waves them off. “Yeah, I know you little lovebirds will.”

 

And their boss returns back to his usual, happy-go-lucky self, whistling a tune and passing through the swinging door back to the customers.

 

Chanyeol looks over at Lily. “For somebody with such a happy dad, you’re especially fierce, you know?”

 

Lily bats her lashes and puts on a fake smile. When she speaks, her tone is much too sugary for Chanyeol’s liking. “Would you rather me be like this all the time, honey? You know I like you sososo much, Oppa!~”

 

Chanyeol cringes. “Yeah, aegyo’s definitely not your strong suit.”

 

“Alright everybody, listen up.”

 

Lily stands at the front of the meeting table (actually just three dining tables pushed together). Dressed in her usual attire of t-shirt, jeans, and apron, she hands two stacks of papers to the people sitting nearest to her—on the right, Chanyeol, and her left, Mr. Song. “If you guys could each take a couple sheets and pass them down, please.”

 

Chanyeol has never been to a diner meeting before, and he has to say, he is a quite in awe.

 

He has always known that Lily was a very dominating presence, but the way she conducts herself during the meeting is absolutely captivating. Chanyeol finds himself unable to move of his own accord, as if Lily controls his each and every movement. Her hold on him is so strong, Chanyeol thinks that if she asked him to jump off of a cliff, he would do it in a heartbeat.

 

Around the table seat the various employees at the diner. Chanyeol takes a look at the attendees—he sees Jeff, who’s pool he threw up in once when he was younger, and also Mindy, who winks at him smartly. Other workers, most of whom work in the back kitchen, are in attendance as well.

 

Pens and pencil stubs are scattered across the table, and every person grabs a few for themselves. Chanyeol and Mr. Song pass the paper down as Lily talks up at the front.

 

“As you all know, this Saturday, we’ll be holding our annual town Christmas party. In true diner fashion, everybody has been procrastinating on this until today. So,” Lily sits down in her own chair, “nobody is going home until we’ve planned this whole entire thing out.”

 

Chanyeol’s jaw drops. “What?” he exclaims, thinking about his half recorded guitar piece at home.

 

Nobody other than him seems surprised, though. A few even chuckle, as if his shock at not being able to return home before midnight is hilarious.

 

“Thought you’d date the smart type, Poppy,” a guy from the end calls out. He snickers, playing with the ring of his gauge on his earlobe.

 

Chanyeol gives a huff down the table, ready to spout something about his degree from Seoul’s greatest university, but Lily shuts both of them down real quick.

 

“Oh please, Brad, as if you don’t bring a bimbo to the backroom of the kitchen every other week,” she scoffs. “And Chanyeol, if you’re not willing to sit it out like the rest of us, you’re free to leave now.” Her face is deadpan, but in her eyes, he can tell that she doesn’t want to be so harsh.

 

I can’t give you any special treatment, baby.

 

“Well, I guess I’m not going anywhere any time soon.” Chanyeol says. He sits up, takes his pen, and begins writing on his paper MLA heading style. Name, teacher (he just puts “Lily” down), course (“Diner Meeting #1”), date.

 

Lily smiles, returning back to the topic at hand. “That’s my boy.”

 

“Christmas in the Sands.”

 

“Done before.”

 

“Winter Wonderland.”

 

“Way too cliche.”

 

“Christmas Candyland.”

 

“Overhyped. Plus, we’re trying to cut back on the amount of sweets the children of this town intake. Not really good idea.”

 

Lily swiftly accepts or denies all of the themes that come her way. They’ve been at this for about twenty minutes so far, at least as Chanyeol can tell, and nobody has come up with anything of substantial value yet. How does one rehash the same Christmas party year after year? How does one top what was deemed as the best?

 

Chanyeol’s been doodling around for at least half an hour since the meeting started. Though he knows that he shouldn’t, Lily said so herself that any sort of creativity can be expressed. Most of the staff settles for writing different ideas down on paper, making thought bubbles, pros and cons lists. Nothing can be “wrong”, technically. Unless you’re Lily, that is.

 

She taps her pen onto her paper. “In the past, we’ve done very traditional themes—most of you guys know this already, whether you were a guest or you were a worker. But how can we really create something different, something unique this year?”

 

Mr. Song suggests lightly, “Maybe we should just take something from the past. It’ll be easier, Lily.”

 

Lily immediately shakes her head, stubborn as usual. “No. No way I’m going to let it go down like this.”

 

The other employees are already starting to look wary, though it’s still hours until midnight strikes. It feels like they’ve been through this before, with Lily being pushy and adamant. Though everybody loves her, there are times when she can get just the tiniest bit frustrating.

 

Chanyeol bites his lower lip, scanning what he has on his paper. He’s written a couple of lines that remind him of Christmas, drawn some crappy stars and a Santa that looks squishy as . But he hasn’t supplied anything yet, and he doesn’t want to seem like somebody who is just dragging the team down. When he was back in college, he was known for his great ideas and innovation. So what can he do now?

 

He looks over the words yet again.

 

On this white snow I follow your steps

 

Do you still remember our sparkling times together

 

You give me yours, I’ll give you mine

 

What theme…?

 

A thought pinches at the back of Chanyeol’s mind. He stares at the words deeper, closer, knows that it’ll come to him, soon, sooner, now—

 

“Winter Love.”

 

The words stay stark, hanging in the air.

 

Everybody stares at him, a silence quieting all of their initial chit chatter. They don’t know how to respond to Chanyeol—he looks so sure of himself, so proud, standing tall at his great height, his paper in his hands.

 

“Winter Love,” he says determinedly.

 

Lily scrunches up her nose. “Too mushy.”

 

…And Chanyeol’s heart deflates.

 

But then she stares hard into the table. Leans back in her chair, changing her gaze to Chanyeol. Jerks her chin up.

 

“Sell it to me.”

 

Chanyeol clicks into “College Presentation” mode, lifting up his paper and staring at the words he originally had written. When he looks at them, what does he think…What does he feel…

 

“We live next to the coast,” he begins carefully, knowing very well that if he s this up, everybody is probably just going to disregard him and laugh it off. “So of course, everybody expects us to do the traditional ‘Christmas in the Sands’ sort of theme, right?”

 

He waits for his audience to slowly nod their heads.

 

“Well, what if we did the exact opposite? When we think of winter, we think of a snowy white. When we think of love, we think of a warm red. What if we combined these elements to give them not the traditional bright and happy colors, but a more elegant, ier vibe? Glowing golds and pitch blacks paired with iridescent whites and auburns. It wouldn’t necessarily be an ‘adults only’ party, we could keep it a little more open for kids, and by using ‘winter’ instead of ‘Christmas’, this party makes it open to people who might be of different faiths as well.”

 

He speaks firmly, in control of himself, but the minute he ends he stutters a little bit. “B-but I mean, that was just my, um, my idea.” Lifts up his paper. “I just wrote some lyrics and that’s what I came up with.”

 

Lily, who had her eyes closed the whole time, trying to envision the scene, opens them. Chanyeol sees the bright brilliance of her irises, and he knows that he’s got it. It’s his idea—that’s the theme. It has to be.

 

“All in favor raise your hands,” Lily says, already outstretching hers.

 

Everybody except one.

 

Chanyeol fidgets.

 

At the end of the table, Brad gives a small huff. “I still think ‘Christmas in the Sands’ is better.”

 

A swift kick is heard from under the table.

 

“Stop being an , Brad,” Mindy says. The black glasses framing her face make her seem much more intimidating than usual (she mostly wears contacts at work). “Chanyeol went to college in Seoul, he knows what he’s doing.”

 

“Just because he went to college in Seoul doesn’t mean anything!” Brad exclaims exasperatedly. “Why is everybody always talking about that?”

 

And every single person at the table stares at him like he’s insane.

 

Chanyeol’s seen this happen before, especially at large gatherings where somebody, be it a parent or a kid, tired of Chanyeol-is-so-amazing-he-went-to-college-in-Seoul talk, would say something annoyingly such as, “The kid got a degree, so what?” It never ceases to amaze him how the whole entire group would just fall silent and stare at that person as if they came down from another planet and declared Earth as their new home.

 

The thing is, their town is tiny—a population of only a couple hundred, maybe only just now reaching around their first thousand. To have somebody from their tiny, tiny town go to a big shot college in Seoul? Unheard of. But now that Chanyeol’s done it, he’s become sort of a legend since his return. And whenever somebody tries to discredit him, they are immediately cut off (sometimes a bit too harshly, he might add, but there’s not much he can do).

 

Being smart has its perks.

 

“Okay, okay!” Brad puts up his hands like the cops have come after him, ducking his neck a bit. “Winter Love. Great, let’s do it.”

 

Though sarcasm is heavily evident in his tone, his words change the mood of the atmosphere drastically. Suddenly, everybody is talking rapidly at the table, spouting off different ideas for decorations and entrees and what should be on the menu, what kind of drinks should be served, where the kids should go, yadda yadda yadda, Chanyeol forgotten.

 

Chanyeol places his paper down on the table, sits back in his seat. He’s glad that the idea has taken off on its own—too much attention gets to him sometimes.

 

“Just what exactly did you write…” Lily mutters teasingly, trying to steal Chanyeol’s paper from him. A smile plays over her lips.

 

“Ah ah ah,” Chanyeol snatches his paper back. “You don’t get to see.”

 

Lily rolls her eyes. “Uh-huh, see how long that keeps up. I’ll find out soon enough.”

 

It’s cold out on the beach, but that doesn’t stop them from sneaking in a morning walk.

 

Hand in hand, the pair stroll down the beach. It’s too windy for loose clothes, and wet sand is even worse than dry sand. So instead of swimsuits and kimono covers, they opt for coats and Doc Martens, bundling up against the cold drafts coming from the coast.

 

Chanyeol wraps an arm around Lily’s shoulder, rubbing it soothingly. “You hanging in there? I know you’ve been working hard these past few days.”

 

Lily just chuckles, albeit a bit tiredly. Parties are always hectic at the diner, but the Christmas one is especially crazy. Though she doesn’t like to show it, she does have to admit, her head sort of hurts all of the time now. She’s the manager of everything: decor, menu, advertising, budget, everything has to have her approval.

 

She nuzzles herself into the crook of Chanyeol’s arm, enjoying the warmth. “I’ll be fine. Sorry we haven’t been able to have alone time—I’ll listen to your new demo as soon as I can, alright?”

 

Chanyeol looks down at her, a tad shocked. “What?”

 

“What is it?” Lily frowns. “Did you not want me to listen to it?”

 

“No, I do, it’s just—”

 

Your own schedule is flooded, yet you still apologize because you don’t have time for me?

 

Something so simple as that makes Chanyeol feel as if he is unworthy, unworthy of such a loving and tender girl, who sacrifices practically every minute of the day for somebody or something else. He wants to bundle her up in a thousand blankets and spoon feed her meals for a whole entire day, wants to force her to think of nothing except herself—she’s too selfless, much too selfless, for somebody her age.

 

“You okay?” She reaches up a hand to wipe away a grain of sand on Chanyeol’s face. “I’m overworking you guys, aren’t I?”

 

“Not in the least,” Chanyeol reassures her, though his waist slightly aches from moving too many boxes of decorations. “You should give yourself some rest. I’m worried.”

 

She shakes her head, looking out at the waves. “I can’t. I have to get this done.”

 

“Sweetheart—”

 

“You know you sound like an old man when you say that?” And, as usual, she smoothly changes the subject.

 

Chanyeol wrinkles his nose at her. “Why? Do you not like it?”

 

“No,” she says, giggling, her tongue between her teeth. “I love it.” She breathes deeply, swelling with Chanyeol’s love, her eyes glassy. “Makes me feel happy.”    

 

“You make me happy.”

 

Lily looks up at Chanyeol, not laughing, not making fun this time.

 

He stares down at her, his beautiful girlfriend, and grins. If it were anybody other than her, he would stutter and flush a hot tomato red, but it’s her, it’s Poppy, it’s Lily.

 

“You make me happy, too.”

 

The amount of potential paper cuts in Lily’s hands scares Chanyeol.

 

She holds a stack of A4’s, everything labeled and stapled and printed out to perfection. Lily’s always been a leader, and she believes that leaders need to be organized. But her insane need to have everything in crisp-cut clean boxes could possibly rival even Leslie Knope’s (or not, Chanyeol thinks. Leslie Knope is pretty crazy.)

 

It’s seven AM in the morning on Saturday, and everybody is in a frenzy for party preparations. The diner will be closed the majority of the day, and open later in the evening, when the guests should come flooding in.

 

Thinking about tonight’s party fills Chanyeol’s veins with a tingling that only comes along during Christmas time. He’s been to every single party since he was in first grade, and to be behind the scenes this time gives him a thrill. His mind can’t stop wandering towards the end result—how fantastic the diner will look, how in awe the guests will be.

 

Lily’s voice snaps him back to reality.

 

“Is everyone here?” She scans the group in front of her, checking off people on her mental list. Chanyeol, Mindy, Brad… It seems that the crew is all present, which makes her happy.

 

“Okay, everybody grab your packet!” Lily takes one for herself and passes the huge stack to her father on the side. He peels his off the top, handing the rest down.

 

“This packet lines out what should be done today. Your personal assignments have already been highlighted with a specific color. If you look at the very first page, it will show you the approximate time frame you should finish your jobs in. If you complete anything early, don’t be a lazy bug. Help somebody out—the kitchen is going to be working all day, so they’ll definitely need a hand. Got it?” Lily scans the group.

 

She is reassured with the nods of her coworkers.

 

“Alright then!” Lily claps her hands loudly, giving a little “Whoop!”

 

“Let’s get to work!”

 

Everybody disperses to wherever they need to go to, be it the kitchen or the backroom, or staying in the main area to begin putting up decorations.

 

Chanyeol flips through his packet first, looking at whatever jobs that he’s been assigned. He skims through the time table at the front, and then focuses on his highlighted jobs. Then he realizes…

 

He has none.

 

Chanyeol frowns, flips back to the very first page. It clearly writes “Park Chanyeol” at the very top, which only confuses him even more. He heard Lily correctly, right? So why doesn’t he have any personal jobs?

 

Somebody grabs a hold of his packet and flips it over for him. And there, right in the center of the blank sheet:

 

Be my assistant. :)

 

Chanyeol looks up, and of course, there his baby girl is, smiling at him.

 

Lily points at the job she’s written down especially for him. “Okay?” she asks. “It’s not going to be fun, but you won’t be bored, either.”

 

Chanyeol smirks. “I thought you weren’t supposed to give me any special treatment.”

 

“Well,” she says, blushing just the tiniest bit, “I am managing this whole thing. I can pull some strings.”

 

“I’m glad you did you so, Madame Song,” Chanyeol teases. “I would be happy to help.”

 

Lily squeals a little bit too loudly, but by now, Chanyeol is more than a little used to it. “Yay! Okay, first thing we need to do—”

 

And even before anyone can say “Three, two, one”, she’s off like a bullet.

 

“No, Chanyeol, hand me that one!”

 

Standing at the base of the huge diner Christmas tree, Chanyeol fears quite a bit for his girlfriend’s life. She’s standing at the very top rung of the ladder, gesturing to a specific ornament amongst the boxes and boxes of ornaments. Chanyeol’s frantically trying to locate whichever one she’s pointing to, but of course, it’s harder than he expects.

 

Ornaments are a huge tradition in their town. Whenever Christmas break rolls around, the local elementary school lets their fifth graders decorate their very own ornaments to be added to the diner’s Christmas tree. Chanyeol remembers making his own—he’s bound to find his in the five thousand boxes strewn on the floor—and he feels warm, remembers the little felt soldier with his initials and the date written on the bottom.

 

In order to keep the ornaments with the theme for the party this year, Lily had decided to take every child’s project and place them in a frosted plastic orb to preserve them. They all look beautiful, like snow globes, but the only downturn is that Chanyeol really has no idea which one is which.

 

“Lily, I seriously don’t know what you’re talking about!” Chanyeol holds a box of ornaments and stares up at his girlfriend.

 

Lily sighs. They all look about the same unless you look closely, so she guesses that it doesn’t matter that much anyways. “Alright, just hand them to me.”

 

Giant long legs and arms coming in handy, finally, Chanyeol carefully takes each one and hands them Lily. The process is slow and grueling, but they don’t mind it too much—work is work. Chanyeol notices how exhausted Lily looks, the dark circles underneath her eyes becoming much more prominent than usual, and he does his best to keep her spirits up with stupid jokes and stories that are completely irrelevant, but funny.

 

“Chanyeol, stop it! If I fall over, it’s gonna be your fault,” Lily warns, unable to stop laughing from her boyfriend’s stupidity. She loves it, but she also needs to stay concentrated on work.

 

Chanyeol low-key places a hand on her waist, just in case, and Lily gives him a dirty look.

 

“Don’t you dare try anything!”

 

Chanyeol chuckles, a hand covering his mouth. “I won’t, I won’t. Just trying to keep my girlfriend from falling to her death, that’s all.”

 

“Swell.”

 

“I know, right?”

 

They finish hanging up the ornaments and continue with the rest of the design that they agreed on, attaching things and hoping they don’t fall off, until their arms hurt and their palms are permanently covered in glitter.

 

But they’ve barely accomplished anything on the list.

 

Lily skims the crazy-long checklist that she created for herself the night before. “Create dining layout… set the tables… arrange deck furniture—oh, that.” She looks up and makes a face. Staring through the glass outside, she assesses the small deck that they have. It’s nothing special, just a traditional wooden boardwalk for citizens to shop and stroll on. They’ve got two tables, with two chairs each.

 

“What’s wrong?” Chanyeol asks. He leans over to skim the list. “Is everything okay?”

 

Lily bites her lower lip, deep in thought. “It’s the patio furniture.”

 

Chanyeol’s still confused. “What about it?”

 

“It’s really ratchet.”

 

“How so?”

 

“It hasn’t been cleaned like, ever. I’m thinking maybe we should just not offer outside seats. Nobody wants to sit out in the cold anyway. Right?”

 

Chanyeol weighs the two options. It would be nice to offer people a choice to sit outside or indoors, whichever they preferred, but he doesn’t want to risk the idea of having the patio furniture be stark different than what is inside.

 

“Let’s just move on,” Chanyeol tells Lily. “We can come back to it later. How about we start inside?”

 

Lily nods, strands of pink and grey falling from bun atop her head. Chanyeol pushes the baby hairs behind her ears. Gentle.

 

She looks up at Chanyeol, gives him an affirmative smile. “Yeah, let’s do that.”

 

The day ensues in the same fashion, with the constant checking off of tasks on Lily’s list. They move furniture into the new layouts, set the table with the appropriate silverware, check up on the kitchen to make sure everything is running smoothly. And so far, it is. Nobody’s burned themselves or gotten hurt, nobody’s been hit by decorations hanging from the ceiling—all in all, Lily’s quite pleased.

 

And if Lily’s pleased, then so is Chanyeol.

 

The sun rises to its peak and begins its descent below the horizon, brilliant pinks and yellows and red bathing the whole street. The light filters into the diner, showering the tables and Christmas tree in a dewy glow.

 

Exhaust clearly showing on her face, Lily puts on a brave mask and calls everybody out from their jobs.

 

Nobody’s smiling. No matter who did what, everybody is tired. The kitchen workers are bathed in sweat and grease, and everyone in between has a heavy look in their eyes, a visible slump to their shoulders.

 

“Good work today,” Lily says. “Give yourselves a round of applause.” She lifts her hands up and claps loudly, the rest of the crew joining in. Though the work is grueling, Lily has this way of pumping energy and fire into every human body present.

 

Chanyeol grins. He’s so proud.

 

“I’ll be letting everybody go back home for now,” Lily says. “Since most of the prep work has been done, you all can rest for about an hour and half. Then, before six, everybody must be present. Kitchen workers will return to their posts. Anyone else is doing the actual catering and grunt work. Okay?”

 

As usual, there are no complaints. Lily deals work fairly and with a finesse that leaves nobody unsatisfied.

 

“Terrific job! I’m so happy with the outcome so far. Go give yourselves a break, you all deserve it.” Lily smiles, and it’s evident that she really, really is happy. The week’s daily grind was worth it—just as she had hoped. Now, all she has to do is cross her fingers and hope that everything will run smoothly.

 

A little thought lingers in the back of her mind for a second, but she waves it away immediately.

 

You’re not going to let it get to you.

 

Get over it.

 

You know better.

 

The crew disperses, the chefs hanging up their aprons and the employees all wearily leaving the diner to their respective homes. Lily stands there alone in the middle of the main room, eyes shut. She forces the bad thoughts away and focuses on the now. She has an amazing team, a loving boyfriend. What else could she want?

 

Chanyeol walks up to her, runs his hands over her arms. He gently pulls her in for a hug, breathing deeply. “You okay, sweetheart?” As if she’s an infant, he pats her back gently.

 

“Oh my lord I’m so tired,” Lily breathes out, the fatigue in her voice saying it all.

 

“Hang in there. It’s almost over.”

 

“Oh, I know,” Lily says. She wraps around Chanyeol’s waist. Burrowing her cheek into his chest. Shutting her eyes, even it’s just for a second. “Hang in there, Yeol. Once this is all over, you’ve got me for the rest of the weekend, I promise.”

 

Yeol.

 

It used to be an affectionate name, when she was younger.

 

“‘Chanyeol’ is too long,” she would complain. “‘Yeollie’ sounds much nicer!”

 

Call her lazy, call her affectionate, but you couldn’t deny that she had been the sweetest thing ever—she still was, though sharpened a bit around the edges.

 

Hearing the name again, a more mature, more refined version, Chanyeol can’t stop his smile from spreading across his face. He ducks his eyes, a light spruce of pink decorating the apples of his cheeks. Running a hand across Lily’s hair, he breathes in her sweet scent.

 

“Don’t feel bad, Lily,” he says, using her name for once. She stiffens slightly in his arms, noticing the particular word. Chanyeol doesn’t call her “Lily” often, most of the time preferring to use endearments instead.

 

She knows he’s serious, but she can’t help it. What with her school and his work, they don’t much time together anymore. This break was supposed to be alone time for them, but of course, it didn’t work out the way that she wished it could’ve.  

 

“Really.” And from his tone, Lily can tell that he’s serious. He breaks away and looks down at her, cradling her face in his huge hands. He used to do it all the time when she was younger, whether it was to wipe a spot of spaghetti sauce away from the corner of or to just make sure she was happy. “I don’t want you to over stress, okay? Can you do that for me, sweetie?”

 

Lily stares at Chanyeol.

 

She nods slightly, eyes towards the floor. “Okay, Chanyeol. I’ll do my best.”

 

And that’s enough to comfort Chanyeol.

 

For now.

 

Six P.M. rolls around, and Chanyeol is bubbling, absolutely overflowing with excitement.

 

Unfortunately, during the actual dinner, Chanyeol can no longer be Lily’s assistant, as this is when they begin to split ways. As Mr. Song is the host of the party, Lily must be present to welcome guests, whereas Chanyeol is merely a caterer, walking around and serving food to their fellow townsfolk.

 

Preparations and shouts are in the air, bustling people all about. They’re carrying food, fixing decorations, making sure that anything that has been laid out is set to perfection, double checking and triple checking, again and again and again. Even though Lily isn’t here to direct everybody, they all know already the way that she wants things, the way that she needs things—the way that everything should be.

 

As Mindy and Chanyeol check the table settings one last time, they converse lightly.

 

“She’s precious, isn’t she?” Mindy asks. Chanyeol doesn’t need to ask to know that she’s talking about Lily.

 

Chanyeol fixes the alignment of a fork for a second. “She is.”

 

“Gosh, you’re so whipped.”

 

Chanyeol’s face begins turning red, and Mindy, of course, laughs quietly to herself. “So what if I am?” Chanyeol replies. “It’s better than being a total douchebag from her World History class, or something.”

 

“Very true,” Mindy agrees. She seems brighter today, happier than usual. There’s a little Christmas spark to her that Chanyeol sees year in and year out.

 

“I just wish that we had more time to spend together, you know?” Chanyeol sighs. “Sometimes it’s hard.”

 

“Of course it is,” Mindy says. “It’s not supposed to be easy.”

 

“But it’s different.”

 

“Different how?”

 

“Different…” Chanyeol his head, slightly exasperated with the effort of trying to find the right words. “You know what I mean. The age difference.”

 

“So what?” Mindy shrugs. “In the long run, nobody’s going to care anyways, right?”

 

“Yeah, but—”

 

“When she’s eighteen and you’re twenty-six, are you really going to care that much?”

 

Chanyeol thinks for a minute. Yes, of course their schedule’s differ greatly from each other’s right now, but in the future, just as Mindy said, it will be completely irrelevant. He thinks just a teensy bit farther, when Lily and him are both older, more mature. Will the age difference play a part then? In the end, does the change his love for her in any way?

 

He shakes his head.

 

No, it won’t.

 

“Exactly,” Mindy says. She reaches the end of the table, looks back up at Chanyeol with a satisfied expression on her face. “I told you. You’re going to be fine.” She pauses, checks the table, looks up again. “We’re good here.”

 

“Yeah, okay… Thanks, Mindy.”

 

“Ha, don’t sweat it! You’re in good hands, Chanyeol. Trust me.”

 

 

Lily stands in front of the mirror, adjusting her dress one last time.

 

“You look gorgeous,” Guy says. He swivels in his salon chair, watching Lily internally freak out. She fixes the fabric over and over again, eyes darting towards the clock on the wall.

 

It’s nearly six, but she can’t bring herself to leave.

 

Her dress is long and flowy, and her hair is freshly done, makeup already set in place, but she can’t help but feel an unnecessary flutter through her flesh. And it’s not about Chanyeol, it’s not about her relationship at all, actually.

 

But she can’t exactly let anybody know that, can she?

 

Ten to five.

 

Guy, dressed in his usual sleeveless tank and ripped skinny jeans, finally stands up. He agreed to do this one thing for her tonight, just so she wouldn’t feel too terribly about her situation, but though Lily is grateful, she isn’t sure that it is enough. She wanted to make herself feel amazing, empowered, able to do anything the way that she always shows to the outside world, but her heart beats yet again.

 

Too loudly in her chest.

 

Too loudly in her ears.  

 

Guy walks up to Lily, places his hands on her shoulders. He’s known Lily since she was practically born—he’s been her hairdresser since she was a toddler—and his presence makes Lily feel just a tad bit more at peace. She’s not the best at calming herself down, and when she can’t, she makes sure to surround herself with people who can.

 

“Lily,” Guy begins, a warning tone apparent in his words, “you can do this. Just don’t give a , okay? They can go and it—they’re not worth it.”

 

Lily averts his intense gaze.

 

“I’m so screwed if Chanyeol finds out,” she murmurs under her breath, and the thought scares her off the flipping moon. She doesn’t want Chanyeol to know about her situation for a reason. She’s not being immature at all. Lily knows the way that Chanyeol works, the way that Chanyeol ticks. And if he finds out, it’s not going to be pretty.

 

“Don’t worry about that,” Guy says. “Just focus on what you need to do, okay? And what is it that you need to do right now? Well, let me remind you—put on a smile and greet your guests with warmth and happiness, not death and depressingness. You look amazing. You are amazing. Just be yourself.” He flips the ends of her hair, twirls the ends to enunciate the curls.

 

Lily nods, forcing herself to think positive thoughts. She can’t be so gloomy and nasty—nobody wants to spend Christmas like that. She needs to put on a good face and be wise about her personality right now. Even if they are there, as they most likely will, she will not let them get to her. They can jabber on and on about all they want, but she isn’t going to let them break her walls down.

 

She’s better than that.

 

Lily shoves the words out of . “Alright.”

 

“I’m going.”

 

It’s five minutes to six, and God forbid she be late to her own party.

 

Chanyeol honestly can’t even believe that his smile isn’t forced.

 

The guests have begun to pour in, one by one, and they’re all so amazed at the set up that Chanyeol full out grins whenever he sees their awed faces. And he has to say, it truly does look magical.

 

Winter Love really was a good idea, he applauds himself silently.

 

Starting from the center of the ceiling are lengths of champagne colored tulle, outstretching towards the corners of the diner in a circular fashion, forming a slight tent effect. The middle is illuminated, Christmas lights brightly lit and following the path of the billowy fabric.

 

The diner’s tables have all been pushed into one rows. Tall illuminated candles run along the middle of the table, paired with rich auburn tablemats and napkins. Golden white silverware has already been placed out, layered with both precision and perfection. Families are recommended to sit at the booths along the sides of the diner (away from the candles), which have also been decorated as well. Blank gingerbread men have been set aside in a small tin at each of the tables with bags of frosting and peppermint pillows for the children to decorate.

 

Chanyeol stands off to the side, holding his platter of food for passerby to sample. He nods, asks questions, makes conversation, the way a proper team member would. But even though he tries his best to keep his attention on the people, he can’t tear his eyes away from the centerpiece in the room, smack dab in the middle—

 

The Christmas tree.

 

He thinks of Lily standing at the top of the tree just a few days ago, as he gave her ornaments to hang up one by one. The frosted ornaments paired with tulle and Christmas lights bathe the room in a warm, cozy glow, and if Chanyeol closes his eyes, he can almost imagine it snowing outside, hear the guests chat about how cold it is outside, feel the mink furs and heavy jackets being taken off.

 

Chanyeol opens his eyes, watching the people bustling about. Townsfolk are beginning to spill in now, and Chanyeol hopes that nothing sets on fire.

 

Dinner officially starts at six thirty, but people are clearly in no rush to be seated. Chanyeol catches the eyes of Junmyeon and Grandma Sue, and then he hears the shouts of his name.

 

“Park!”

 

“Chanyeol, what the hell?”
 

“Are you just working for the food? Because I don’t blame you, man.”

 

He turns his head to the front of the room, where he sees his group of friends waving and shouting like madmen. Baekhyun, Jongdae—and Chanyeol even sees that they managed to bring Jongin, back for the holidays from his dance academy.

 

“Hey guys!” he says, trying his best to give them each a half hug and not spill the food on his tray at the same time.

 

“What is this?” Jongdae already has the cookies upon Chanyeol’s platter in hand, taking a bite of the sweet treat.

 

“They’re cookies, what else could they be?” Chanyeol inspects the sugar cookie, white frosting and a rose ontop. Inside the frosting is the imprint of a floral design—Mindy had told him the secret earlier, by pressing a doily atop the frosting before it had set. He has to say, it does look quite elegant, exactly the way that he had pictured when he was coming up with his theme idea.

 

“This is really good.” Jongdae munches a little more.

 

Baekhyun nudges Jongin quickly, pointing in the vague direction of the crowd. “Hey, there she is! You should go talk to her!”

 

Jongin turns around, already ready to dart. “What?! No!”

 

“Oh?” Chanyeol raises an eyebrow. He’s already ready to tease Jongin, tell him how much of a sap he is. “Who is this girl?”

 

Baekhyun smirks over at Chanyeol. “Remember Andrea?”

 

“What.”

 

Baekhyun scoffs, clearly annoyed by Chanyeol’s poor memory. Jongdae nudges him. “Blonde curly hair. Wouldn’t shut up in Chemistry. Remember?”

 

“Ah.” Chanyeol nods his head. Now he does.

 

“Anyways,” Baekhyun continues, “Jongin has been meaning to talk to her before he leaves again for the academy, but he’s being too much of wimp. It’s actually quite annoying.”

 

Jongin ducks his head. “Oh , I think she’s coming over here.”

 

“Here,” Chanyeol gives him a once-over, fixes his tie slightly and pushes back a stray strand of hair. “Now you look at least halfway decent.”

 

Jongin shoots him a dirty look, but Chanyeol get fit in a response before Andrea is upon them and she’s bright, smiling, her lips a crimson red to match her dress.

 

“Hey Jongin,” she says. She tucks a stray curl behind her ear. “How are you?”

 

“Oh, Andrea!” Jongin exclaims, and Chanyeol wants to cringe at how loud and awkward he’s being. “I’ve been good, totally fine. How's your life going?”

 

...And cue nervous awkward laughter.

 

Baekhyun and Jongdae snort at Chanyeol's side, doing their best to avoid from full out laughing. Chanyeol tries to mediate the situation, or else the two love birds will soon be staring at each other in awkward silence--Jongin’s not exactly prime talk material when he's flustered.

 

“Care for a cookie? They're sugar cookie with raspberry vanilla.” Chanyeol offers his platter with the brightest smile he can muster without bursting into laughter at Jongin's face.

 

“Ooh, of course!” Andrea smiles. “Do you want one too, Jongin?”

 

“Um, ha ha, yes!”

 

Goodness gracious, Chanyeol thinks. He needs to learn how communicate all over again.

 

“Would you both like to go out to the patio? We've refurbished the furniture especially for tonight, and it is quite romantic, if I do say so myself.” Chanyeol doesn't remember when he became so good at smooth talking, but he has to say, he doesn't mind it at all.

 

Jongin forces a smile, but his eyes pierce into Chanyeol's with the intention of murdering his old friend.

 

“Well, then we have to go see, don't we?” Andrea's still as bubbly as she used to be, a stark contrast to Jongin's puppy demeanor. She grabs his arm. “Let's go look at the stars, Jongin. Is that okay?”

 

Chanyeol can only wave as he watches Jongin being dragged away from the party.

 

And then he hears his name being called all over again.

 

“Chanyeol!”

 

“Park, look over there!”

 

And Chanyeol turns his head, follows the pointing fingers of his fellow friends—

 

There she is.

 

The first thing he notices is that the pink is gone, instead the whole thing replaced with an ash grey, falling in wispy waves around her face.

 

She’s dressed in the most extravagant garment he’s seen yet this evening, a floor-brushing sheer gown, embroidered with flowers from top to bottom. Her sleeves billow out and cuff again at the wrist, all of it the faintest hydrangea blue.

 

Her lips are dipped in a burgundy, her eyelids washed with gold.

 

And Chanyeol can only watch, watch her scan the room slowly, looking for a tall, giant-ish boy carrying a platter of food dressed in a black and white uniform.

 

She finds him.

 

Chanyeol can barely process anything as she begins to walk towards him, the candle and Christmas lights shining the most incredible glow on her. He’s not exaggerating when he says that she’s the only thing he can see in the room. He can nearly, almost tune out the loud whoops and hollers of Jongdae and Baekhyun in the background.

 

“Baby,” he breathes, staring down at his girlfriend. “What are you wearing?”

 

He’s not quite sure this can be appropriate for only a sixteen year-old.

 

Lily smiles, her lips curling upwards. “I’ll take that as a compliment,” she chirps. “You don’t look too bad yourself.”

 

“Excuse me?” Chanyeol plays along with her flirty attitude, glad to see Lily not in a stressed out mood for once. After a whole week of staring at her frowns and hearing her tantrums, he’s more than relieved to see the smile on her face. “Do I not look dashing as hell?”

 

She guffaws out loud, much more inappropriately than she should. Then, in true Lily fashion, biting her lip and shying away from eye contact, she relents, “You look even better than that, babe.”

 

And Baekhyun and Jongdae won’t ing shut up.

 

“Aaah,” Baekhyun whines loudly, “Lily, why don’t you date me instead? I’m a much better choice than Chanyeol!”

 

“Oh, be quiet,” Jongdae says, shoving Baekhyun in the side. “There’s no use. Even if you groveled on your knees, she would probably just laugh at you, Baek.”

 

Lily laughs along with the rest of the group (excluding a pouty Baekhyun). “Honestly, I probably would.”

 

“Do you like the setup?” The minute the two boys leave to bother other people, Chanyeol jumps at the chance to ask his question.

 

Lily is already nodding before he can finish, her eyes sparkling as she scans the room again. “It’s so beautiful.” Then adding, “It wouldn’t be like this without you, you know.”

 

Chanyeol flushes—compliments are nice, but they’re ten times sweeter when they come from Lily, who is usually so quick to judge. “It wouldn’t be like this without you, either.”

 

“Team effort.” She puts out a hand, and Chanyeol is quick at the get-go for his complimentary high five.

 

“Well,” Lily says, reluctance in her voice, “I have to go appease hundreds of people with my dad now, so wish me luck that my wrist won’t fall off from too many handshakes, yes?”

 

“Good luck with that,” Chanyeol says. “If you need anything, just holler.”

 

Lily nods. She already taking off, but before she can be quite out of his grasp, he takes her wrist.

 

Turns her around.

 

Puts down his goddamn cookie platter.

 

Looks her in the eyes, adorned with glitter and heavy lashes.

 

“Did I tell you that you look beautiful?”

 

And Shy Lily makes another reappearance, pulling away and blushing furiously and gushing. “No.”

 

Chanyeol squeezes her hands quickly.

 

“Well, now I have.”

 

But an hour into the party, Chanyeol begins to sense that something’s off.

 

The dinner had begun smoothly enough. People seated themselves, Mr. Song made a nice speech with Lily by his side, smiling as usual (though Chanyeol could tell it was just the teeniest bit forced). The meal began. Chanyeol marches to and fro between customers and the kitchen, making sure that everybody gets the meal that they paid for, cleaning up dishes and refilling glasses with wine or eggnog or apple juice, whatever.

 

He’s serving Grandma Sue and Junmyeon when he hears snippets of a conversation that he isn’t sure he wants to eavesdrop in. But there’s no such thing as “turning off your ears”, though Chanyeol very much wants there to be.

 

A group of teenage girls, perhaps about Lily’s age, give or take, sit farther down the table. A particular sentence emitted makes Chanyeol perk up. He doesn’t turn his head, rather, keeps his face straight and continues to serve Junmyeon his designated course.

 

“Look at her wearing that dress—what a . That’s probably why she’s dating a guy that’s way too old for her.”

 

Snarky and snipey, just exactly the way Chanyeol hates them.

 

But the statement makes his head turn gears, because there can only be one person that she’s talking about, the girl’s eyes staring straight at… her.

 

Across the room.

 

Talking with her father.

 

Chanyeol works his way down the center table, moving closer to the group of girls. It’s a wonder their parents can’t hear their conversation, though they’re so engrossed in their own laughter it’s not exactly surprising.

 

“I know, right? And look at that hair, what is she trying to do? Be a grandma at sixteen?”

 

Chanyeol sets his jaw.

 

He finally gets close enough to the girls to assess all of them. They’re a group of four, definitely about Lily’s age, though they’re acting much, much more immature. Their plates are generally untouched, silverware casually tossed aside and dishes pushed inwards towards the table as if they pushed them away in distaste. I don’t like it. Gross.

 

Now that he’s actually serving the girls, Chanyeol can hear their conversation very, much too clearly. But it changes so drastically that he almost does a double take.

 

“Girl, you look so pretty!”

 

“You should wear that color more often, it works with your eyes so well, I’m jealous!”

 

A girl even goes as far to put a hand on Chanyeol’s arm as he bends down to clear their dishes. “You’re strong, right?”

 

She squeezes.

 

Chanyeol eyes immediately dart up, meeting Lily’s in an instant. She’s at the very front of the table, carefully watching the staff. And by the looks of her face, she’s not exactly happy about what’s happening.

 

Chanyeol expects her to blow up furiously, march over, and smack the girl in the face. In fact, he almost wants that to happen. He already see it happening—Lily would walk strongly, a cut-a- look on her face, and claim back what’s hers (Chanyeol).

 

But instead of jumping into protective women power mode, Lily just does the exact opposite. She covers her face with a hand, to hide the trembling of her lower lip, the redness of her eyes, and walks swiftly out of the diner altogether.

 

And Chanyeol immediately knows something’s wrong.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

Chanyeol’s attention is returned to the girl, who stares up him with what he’s guessing is her best attempt at a seductive face. But there’s something so absolutely sickening about it—her lips are swollen and her blush too strong—that makes Chanyeol want to intensely vomit. Her fake lashes are stuck all over the place in an attempt to look mature, her eyebrows look like blocks on top of her face.

 

She’s such a contrast to Lily that Chanyeol can’t even believe it. Because the pieces click together, the words and the snarky comments and questions—

 

Lily.

 

He needs to talk to Lily.

 

“I-I’m sorry,” Chanyeol sputters as quickly as he can. Even from inside, he can see the silhouette of Lily outside. His heart is already bursting with worry—her dress is so thin, and it’s much, much too cold outside for her to be out there without a jacket. He knows what’s going on now, and he has to say, he’s not one bit happy about it.

 

“I need to go. If you’ll excuse me,” he says as politely as he can, slipping out of the situation of the girl’s rude scoff and already threatening complaints.

 

“Ugh, he probably has to go his girlfriend somewhere in the back or something. Of course, seeing how much of a she is.”

 

The comment almost makes him turn around right then and there, just to give this girl a piece of his mind. But he knows he can’t—so instead, he does his best to distract himself, remind himself that his priority is not beating up these girls, but to go protect the one that matters most in his life.

 

Before he knows it, he’s pushing open the door and running out, ignoring the stares of all the customers.

 

“Lily!” he shouts. “Lily!”

 

She’s a bit farther down the street, holds her arms tightly to her chest. If Chanyeol looks closely, he can see the outline of her body lightly, lightly shaking.

 

She doesn’t turn around.

 

“Lily!” Chanyeol calls her name, desperate. He runs, unable to keep his emotions bottled up the same way he did in front of the customers.

 

And all of a sudden he’s there, right there in the flesh, grasping her, turning her around, shaking.

 

“Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you say anything?” Chanyeol’s voice is so loud it echoes off the empty street.

 

But she doesn’t say anything, just cries, tears flowing down her cheeks. She’s practically vibrating at this point, both from emotional over wreck and the heavy, intense cold. Her hair falls in front of her face as she sobs—she wants to be strong, she wants to be over this, but she can’t, how can she when the girls are always there to sneer at her, and taunt her about her relationship, her looks, her everything?

 

She refuses to look up at Chanyeol.

 

It’s all her fault anyway.

 

If maybe she’d kept away from Chanyeol, if maybe she hadn’t said anything the time they met at the beach, then maybe, just maybe, he wouldn’t have this burden. She didn’t want to harm him, she never did, but if loving him meant to hurt him, then that’s something that she can live without. She can live without Chanyeol.

 

As long as it makes him happy, right?

 

“Lily!” Chanyeol’s shouting, he can’t stop. He’s clutching her shoulders, shaking her for an answer because he’s so afraid, he’s so afraid that he doesn’t get an answer it means that she’ll be blocked away from him forever. She couldn’t even trust him with this information of suffering at school, how can he expect her to say anything at all?

 

“How could you not tell me you were being bullied? Did you think you could keep that from me forever?!”

 

“I-I’m sorry,” Lily chokes out. That’s the least she can do. “It’s all my fault.”

 

Her chest is heaving, and with those words, the rest just come falling out.

 

“It’s all my fault, Chanyeol. I don’t want to hurt you—I never want to hurt you. But it’s all my fault, isn’t it? I started this. I did this. I, I, I—” She’s so emotional, she can’t even say what she wants to say, and it only makes her sob harder.

 

Useless.

 

Maybe the girls were right.

 

Something snaps in Chanyeol.

 

He’s not angry anymore. Instead, he’s only heartbroken, his pulse slowing down. All he can think is:

 

She thinks it’s her fault.

 

She’s blaming herself for something that she didn’t even do.

 

And rather than worry about herself, rather than cry for herself, who does she cry for?

 

She cries for him.

 

“No.” Chanyeol is firm, though his voice cracks ever so slightly. “No, it’s not your fault, sweetheart.”

 

And he swallows her up in him, wraps his arms around her as if he can be her blanket, as if he can shield her away from the harsh and cruel world.

 

When they had first begun dating, Chanyeol was so smitten that he never for a second gave thought to what it would be like for Lily, a sixteen year-old, a high schooler, to date a full grown legal adult. He never thought about it, not even once.

 

And this poor girl was sobbing her heart out for him, because she didn’t want him to be hurt or feel ashamed or be embarrassed, so she put on a brave face and kept everything burrowed underneath, just so that Chanyeol might enjoy life and live it well, the way that she wanted.

 

She swallowed her sorrows for him.

 

She held back her tears for him.

 

“How can it not be, Chanyeol? How can it not be my fault—” Her voice drops off so suddenly Chanyeol almost has a heart attack, but she’s only choking back another sob.

 

“It’s not you, do you understand? It’s them. The girls. They have no right to make you feel like about yourself, no right to bully you the way that they were earlier. If it’s anybody’s fault, it’s theirs’, do you hear me?”

 

Because she needs to know—

 

Needs to know that it’s not her.

 

It’s never, never because of her.

 

“I’m sorry,” Chanyeol whispers. He smooths down her hair, runs his hand down to her back. As if they turned back time, as if they were just a kids again. He can almost see it—times when she fell off her bicycle, times when she was having a fight, times when she was heartbroken. First ride, first argument, first boyfriend—Chanyeol was there for all of them.

 

But he hadn’t been there for her this time.

 

“I’m sorry,” he says again. Just to hear it once more. “I was too late, wasn’t I?”

 

He can feel her shaking her head, but he knows that he’s right.

 

“This won’t happen again,” he says, doing his best to comfort her. “It can’t. I won’t let anybody hurt you again, do you hear my words, sweetheart? You just say the word, and I’ll go fix it for you. I’ll always be here.”

 

He presses his lips to the top of her forehead.

 

“If I ever leave you, it’ll be because I’ve died.”

 

And then he scoops her up, a child in his arms yet again.

 

“Where are we going?”

 

Her voice is tiny.

 

But Chanyeol makes sure that his is strong.

 

“Home.”

 

“Let’s get you cleaned up.”

 

Chanyeol sets her on the couch. The house is completely empty, silent—Ms. Park is out at the party—so it’s just the two of them. He tries to ignores the awkward feelings that come with thinking of them alone together, so he does his best and focuses on his task on hand. He needs to help her. He needs to be there for her, now.

 

She sits back on the sofa, a wrinkled tissue in her hand, tear and makeup stained. It’s like she’s in some sort of daze, going through life in a daydream.   

 

Chanyeol already misses seeing her smile. She sits there, slumped, like a mochi that’s been out in the sun for too long.

 

He comes back to her as soon as possible, laying some clothes on the couch beside her. He sits himself down slightly behind her to reach for the zipper of her dress.

 

“C-Chanyeol,” Lily stutters. “I-I’m not a baby, I can change clothes myself.”

 

His hands are too warm on her cold skin, and it’s making her think of other thoughts. And God forbid they do anything—they still have to wait two years.

 

The movements stop.

 

Chanyeol knows he’s crossed a border that he shouldn’t cross, but he can’t help himself—how can he? After tonight’s situation, he doesn’t want to let her out of his sight for a second. He’s scared, scared that the bullies will be back, whether or not they are physical or mental.

 

He’s trembling. Hands nonstop shaking, the zipper still in between his fingers.

 

“Please,” he whispers, hoping she understands.

 

And she does.

 

Lily understands completely.

 

She knows the way that Chanyeol works, the way that he runs. And after everything’s that’s happened, she knows that he won’t let up. Even though it’s slightly humiliating and Chanyeol himself is so tentative about it, Lily knows that he’s going to end up changing her whether she likes it or not, simply because Chanyeol needs to feel like he’s doing something. He needs to feel that he is doing his job in protecting her, making her feel safe, making sure that she is safe.

 

So she gulps. “Promise you won’t look?”

 

Strong arms wrap around her waist and Chanyeol is cradling her from behind, breathing deeply. “Even if I did, I would still love you.”

 

“Chanyeol,” she says, her voice the tiniest bit whiny. “Seriously.”

 

“Okay, sweetheart. I won’t look.”

 

And the zipper is pulling down.

 

But Chanyeol’s smart (he did go to university in Seoul, after all), and as he gently tugs the top half off, he slips on the sweatshirt to avoid any problems. He kneels down on the floor to pull off the bottom half, and Lily’s eyes are looking anywhere, anywhere but down. He chuckles at her shy behavior, but keeps his eyes lowered. He knows she’s not ready, and he has to respect that, no matter how much he wants to screw it and do what he wants.

 

“Here,” he says, handing her a pair of his boxer shorts. “Can you slip these on?”

 

He shuts his eyes in all seriousness, and Lily finds the sight so comical that she giggles right out loud.

 

Chanyeol’s heart skips a beat.

 

It’s working.

 

He hears movement, and then a hand on his shoulder startles him, cueing another fit of laughter from Lily’s end.

 

“I’m done, Yeol. You can open your eyes now.”

 

So Chanyeol does.

 

And he has to say, his girlfriend wears anything well.

 

Even in a sweatshirt that’s two sizes too large and boxer shorts, she manages to look gorgeous. Chanyeol smiles, full out grins.

 

“Hey, beautiful,” he teases.

 

“Yeol, stop!” She shrieks with laughter, his gawky flirting only making her find him more and more ridiculous. She puts her dress to the side, takes Chanyeol face into her hands (he’s still on the floor). “Can I go wash my face now?”

 

He immediately reaches up to intertwine their fingers together. “You sure you don’t need me to do it for you?”

 

“I’m not five, Chanyeol.”

 

He relents. “Alright. You know where the bathroom is.”

 

“Thank you, baby.” She pecks his forehead before getting up to go, her wispy grey hair a waterfall behind the back of her head.

 

“Ugh, I look like trash,” Lily mutters the minute she gets to the bathroom. She looks at her reflection and wonders how in the world Chanyeol managed to call her “beautiful” with a messed up face like hers. Her foundation is tear streaked, her mascara dripping down her face. Her once-perfect burgundy lips are now blurred and she looks like she’s swelling in multiple parts of her cheeks.

 

Knowing where Ms. Park keeps the makeup remover wipes, Lily bends down to reach for the pack in the lower drawer. She begins to wipe away her hour’s worth of hard work. So much for empowering herself, right?

 

The whole circumstances are so bizarre. Never in a thousand years could Lily have dreamed up a situation like this, and she has an active imagination. Though everything has left her scarred, she can’t help but feel the most grateful that she has such a loving, tender boyfriend. But those first few minutes—the shaking, the hollering—she doesn’t know if he’s quite over it yet. It’s typical of Chanyeol to linger on some things longer than he should, and she knows that they have to talk about it eventually, no matter how much Chanyeol tries to avoid it altogether.

 

He’s probably guilty, Lily thinks, taking off the first half of her face and working on the second. And hurt.

 

Guilt pangs in her own chest. She knows that she shouldn’t have kept her secret as long as she did, but every time she saw Chanyeol looking so absolutely over the moon, she didn’t want to pop his warm bubble.

 

Lily shakes her head. First things first, she chides herself.

 

She finishes blotting off the rest of her lipstick, rinses her face a little, and throws away the makeup wipe.

 

If she looked like trash earlier, then she absolutely looks like garbage now.

 

Her face is pasty and pale, the tone of it sullen with her emotional outburst. Her cheekbones are a little too sunken in, her lips have a bluish tinge to them. Once again, Lily wonders how the hell Chanyeol finds her attractive. She pinches her cheeks, wishing for that poppy flush to come back and at least make her decently presentable.

 

She flops her arms to her sides. It’s hopeless—sunken cheekbones and sullen skin it is.

 

Lily makes her way out of the bathroom, her feet padding along the wooden flooring that they just updated last year. She smells something now, and the hallway lights are all off—after she had just turned them on.

 

“Chanyeol?” Lily calls out. Those girls couldn’t have gotten into the house, could they? That was impossible, right?

 

Nothing’s impossible, Lily.

 

The thought does nothing to reassure her.

 

Her slow footsteps suddenly speed up into a brisk walk, as if she is trying to escape the cage of bad thoughts that threaten to swallow her up whole.

 

And then she sees the living room, and closes.

 

It’s no wonder why the lights were off, because there he is.

 

There he is.

 

The Christmas tree is lit, the fireplace crackling. Somewhere in the background, Lily can smell the chocolate and warm pine scent mixing together, and the only thing that is in her mind is Christmas Christmas Christmas Christmas Christmas.

 

Chanyeol stands there in the center, hands outstretched.

 

In a matter of minutes, Chanyeol managed to turn everything about the night upside down.

 

Michael Buble’s Baby, It’s Cold Outside reaches Lily’s ears, and she smiles. Her favorite Christmas song—even after all these years, even after everything they’ve been through, Chanyeol still manages to remember what she holds deeply in her heart.

 

“Come here.” Chanyeol takes her into his arms, protective and safe, the way that he always is. He puts a hand on her waist, intertwines their hands. Lily can’t help but laugh, shoving her face into his chest in embarrassment.

 

“Chanyeol, what is this?” She mumbles.

 

They start swaying all alone, just them. The music. The glow of a sweet, honey atmosphere that could only have been created for the couple and the couple alone.

 

“Remember when you said that once the party was all over, you would be mine for the rest of the weekend?”

 

A tentative nod.

 

“Well, starting right now…”

 

Leaning in.

 

Lips brushing next to her ear.

 

“You’re mine.”

 

And Lily can’t hide her smile.

 

They stay like that for who-knows-how-long, just breathing in each other’s scent and feeling each other in a way that they haven’t been able to do for a long, long time. The song changes behind them, playing different Christmas tracks that Lily’s forgotten since long ago. She thinks to when she was younger, when Chanyeol was a huge part of her life. No matter what happened, she knew that she could go to him and everything, everything would be alright.

 

“...Are you mad?”

 

Her voice is barely audible, her eyelids closed with swirling colors of gold and red.

 

Chanyeol takes a minute to respond, and Lily’s afraid that he actually is. He’s upset that he didn’t trust her, upset that she wasn’t mature the way that she should be. She should have told him her problems.

 

“No.”

 

Chanyeol sighs, his grip on her waist tightening, pressing her into his hold.

 

“I’m upset because you kept it a secret from me. Do you not trust me?”

 

Lily shakes her head. “I trust you, Chanyeol, I really do.”

 

“Then why?”

 

“I was…” Her voice grows even quieter.

 

“I was afraid that you would break up with me.”

 

Chanyeol freezes.

 

“What?” He’s incredulous the thought could even enter her head in the first place. Chanyeol’s been nothing short of sweet and attentive and showering her with adoration, and yet she was afraid that he would break up with her? Was he doing something wrong or something?

 

“Why would you think that?” Chanyeol moves his hands to her face, forcing Lily to look up at him. “Why in the world would you think I would do that?”

 

Lily’s gaze moves away, her own hand curling around Chanyeol’s. “I thought you would do it to protect me, the way you always do. Stop dating me, stop the bullying, right? Why wouldn’t you do something like that? It’s not like I’m that amazing of a girlfriend anyways. I mean, I can’t go with you to a bar, I have to go to school, I can’t even sit on the bed with you—”

 

And all of a sudden Lily finds herself rudely interrupted, stopped midsentence—   

 

With a pair of lips.

 

They’ve grown up together.

 

They’ve taken care of each other.

 

But they’ve never, never kissed.

 

Yet now that they are, Lily drowns herself into the feel, his lips warm and firm and hers moving along with his. She’s being pulled tighter, she’s wrapping her arms around his neck, a tingling sensation running along her whole entire body, screaming at her in a million different ways:

 

Chanyeol Chanyeol Chanyeol.

 

He’s all she can think about, he’s all that is on her mind. He consumes her, the same exact way that she consumes him. They don’t see anybody else, they can’t be with anybody else.

 

Because how could you even dare to leave when the person who knows you the best is right, right there in front of you?

 

Who cares for you the most.

 

Who thinks of you the most.

 

Who loves you the most.

 

Nobody else can compete, Lily realizes.

 

It’s Chanyeol. It will always be Chanyeol.

 

Park Chanyeol.

 

He breaks away from her, lungs heaving but lips already begging for more. He presses his forehead to hers, heavy breathing surrounding the two of them for a silent, quiet second.

 

“I won’t.”

 

Lily gulps, gasping for air. “You won’t what?”

 

“I won’t leave you.”

 

Chanyeol stares at her, and Lily swears that he might even be tearing up.

 

“I just found you again, Lily. Not such a thing is going to happen on my watch, do you understand? I’m always going to be here. I can’t—” His voice cracks. “—I can’t just sit on the sidelines and watch you suffer, do you understand?”

 

Lily nods, biting back a sob. And though she was apprehensive before, now she knows, she knows that Chanyeol isn’t thinking of anybody but her. He only cares her.

 

He only loves her.

 

“I’m not breaking up with you.” Chanyeol forces Lily’s chin up, and he swears upon his heart that she has never been more breathtaking in his life. Christmas gold and burning auburn bathe both of them in a  mistletoe-like light. She’s an angel, her face framed in the most opulent silver locks.    

 

“I told you before, didn’t I?”

 

“If I ever leave you, it’ll be because I died.”

 

And all Lily can see is him.

 

He’s handsome, he’s sweet, he’s perfect. And as ridiculous his promise may be—there’s something about it—

 

Something about it that rings utterly and completely true.  

 

    

 

A/N: Hopefully this wasn't too fluffy, or too angsty either, haha! I'm looking forward to the Christmas season so I can finally sit down and write some more holiday oneshots as well. If you enjoyed this piece, make sure to vote, comment, and SUBSCRIBE! For more Chanyeol and Lily goodness, feel free to prompt me through my personal inbox. Thank you all for reading! xoxo