Christmas came. Byeol and Ryeowook went to their mother's house just for the night because the Kim boy wanted his sister to be with her step-father and step-brother. Not that he didn't like them, but he wasn't too nice with them either. They had a nice meal, forgetting for a couple of hours their troubles and they exchanged their presents around midnight.

Mr. and Mrs. Lee offered their son a new mobile phone and they offered their daughter books, lot of books. Byeol didn't really mind and she even appreciated it. Yet, she felt like they had spent a lot of money for Hongbin's present and not for her own.

Ryeowook had bought her something back in Japan but she didn't mind, his presence was her present.

The biggest surprise came form Hongbin. They had never offered each other a present but this year, he had apparently decided to change their routine a bit. Indeed, he offered her something which left her speechless. Wrapped in a beautiful red paper, it seemed like a tall and thin book, but when she opened it, she saw a sheet protector hiding the complete partition of Piano sonata op 80, first movement by Tchaikovsky, her favorite piano piece ever. It was the only one she ever knew by heart and the one she played when she first stood in front of an audience. It meant a lot to her but sadly, she had gotten rid of the previous partition she had during an excess of anger.

“I hope you like it,” Hongbin smiled, his dimples appearing into his cheeks, “it's nothing much but I thought it would be great for you to have it again you know... in case you want to play.”

“T-thank you,” she stuttered, not knowing what to say or to do.

He quickly hugged her and then, the Kim siblings left to go back at Cho Kyuhyun's place.

“You didn't seem to like Hongbin's present.”

“It was unexpected.”

“Yet you should be happy.”

“I don't play anymore, it's a kind of useless.”

“Yah,” Ryeowook ruffled her hair, “don't say that. You should totally try to play again.”

“I'm not sure it's what I want though.”

“You know, once you're back to school, you should join the group you told me about once.”

“No it's clearly not a good idea,” she blushed but because of the darkness of the night, he couldn't see her.

“Why?”

“I...” flashbacks of Hakyeon kissing her suddenly came back to her mind, “no, I don't want to.”

“Too bad,” her older brother shrugged not-so-innocently, “I was planning on going to the school's show at the end of the year to see you play since I'm coming back to Korea, but since you don't want to...”

She stopped in the middle of the pavement and Ryeowook carried on walking, though he stopped a few meters away and turned around, trying without really trying to hide his obviously smile.

“What do you mean coming back?”

“I'm coming back to live here in two months, I've gotten transferred to an entertainment company here.”

“You're lying, aren't you?”

“No, Byeol, I'm not lying at all.”

“You're coming back here, in Korea? We'll be able to see each other every single day if we want to?”

“Yep, whenever you'll want.”

She screamed with joy and jumped into his arms, hugging him tightly as she started crying. Ryeowook didn't cry because he was a man and was older, so he had to stay strong but he had tears into his eyes. He knew what his return meant for her, and he was also happy about being back to his country no matter how much he loved Japan. It was just that Byeol needed him in order to heal and since he was the only one she trusted, he knew what he had to do (and Byeol loved him too much and she was really naive too, he knew she was going to do whatever he was asking her to do blindly).

And ever since she had told him about the music group at school, he had planned to force her to join it so that she would be with other people from her age and would be able to play the piano and to sing once again.

*

“What do you mean you kissed Kim Byeol?” Jaehwan asked his best friend, looking at him with his eyes wide opened.

One week of holidays had already flown by and they still had another one during which one they were going to celebrate New Year. For this occasion, Hakyeon had invited Jaehwan and Hyuk to a boys version of a pajama party. They were watching movies and eating pizza while waiting for midnight to come. And somehow, they found themselves talking about Kim Wonshik's Christmas party and Hakyeon had accidentally told them about his and Byeol's kiss. So obviously, Jaehwan the diva and Hyuk the curious wanted details.

“We were talking in the garden and then she started crying because Jung Taekwoon left with Im Yoora and so to comfort her... I don't know!” he ran a nervous hand through his hair, “I don't know what happened to me! But we stopped under the mistletoe and then we kissed.”

“I told you he was crushing on her,” Hyuk whispered to Jaehwan.

“I swear he told me he didn't know whom she was!”

“But I told you he did know her!”

“Boys,” Hakyeon cleared his throat and glared at them, “I'm still here.”

“You know her, right? Kim Byeol, you obviously know her,”the younger of them all stated.

“Hum, well... maybe... I've heard a few times about her before but-”

“And he is still lying,” Jaehwan rolled his eyes, “I swear you're the worst, Cha Hakyeon.”

“We might have met a few times before high school, alright?” Hakyeon admitted, “but, I don't know her this much.”

Jaehwan kept looking straight at him with a raised brow while Hyuk was shaking his head, defeated.

“I know her!” Hakyeon mumbled and looked away to hide his blushing face, “I do know her? So what? What are you going to do with this now?”

“You've kissed her... you've kissed the only girl who is probably going to ignore you when you'll next see each other.”

“And she is probably going to tell it has never happened,” Hyuk gave Hakyeon a sad smile.

“Does Yun know about it? Maybe I should call her and-”

“You're not calling anyone, Jae.”

“But-”

“No!”

Jaehwan frowned but didn't say anything more.

“You should send her a message when it's midnight to wish her a happy new year,” Hyuk said after a short while of silence.

“W-why would I do that?”

“To see if she actually answers you.”

“That's right!” Jaehwan exclaimed, “if she answers, she acknowledges the kiss and she is probably going to talk to you, but if she doesn't answer, then it's over for you before it has even started!”

“Really?” Hakyeon said with knitted brows, really considering this option.

“Yes, really!”

They waited for midnight to finally arrived and they first greeted each other and Hakyeon's parents who were in the living room, and then, back into Hakyeon's bedroom, he took his mobile phone, ignored all the messages he was receiving from his friend and then he stopped when he realized he didn't have Byeol's phone number.

“You must be kidding me,” Jaehwan sighed, “you're really an idiot. Here,” he pulled out his phone out of the pocket of his trousers, “take this.”

“Why?”

“Because I've got her number?”

“How does it come?” Hyuk asked, curious.

“Yun gave it to me.”

Hakyeon took Jaehwan's phone, quickly noted down Byeol's number and then he wrote the message.

To: Kim Byeol

Happy new year.

CHK.

“Do you think it's good?”

“Too simple,” Hyuk said.

“No I think it's good.”

“A bit too cold, no?”Hakyeon frowned.

“No no no, just send it!”

Hakyeon did so and kept looking at the screen while waiting for an answer.

“She's not going to answer.”

“She will,” Jaehwan said, “I'm sure she will.”

“Was it her first kiss?”

“Hyuk, is that a question you can ever ask?” Jaehwan rolled his eyes.

“Why couldn't I?”

“You're too young.”

“One year younger than you, yes.”

“Yet, one year is a lot. I know more then you'll ever know.”

“Oh yes?! And why is that?!” Hyuk folded his arms over his chest.

“Because-”

“She answered!” Hakyeon stood up, stumbled and nearly fell off his bed, “Byeol answered!”

From: Kim Byeol.

Thank you, sunbae.

Happy new year to you too.

KB.

“She really answered,” Jaehwan mumbled, really surprised.

Hakyeon didn't sleep this night.

*

“I ed up,” Taekwoon sighed.

“Why?” Wonshik took a sip of his beer.

“I really ed up, Byeol is going to hate me...”

“Oh, you're still talking about that,” Wonshik rolled his eyes,.

“Wonshik, it's a serious matter.”

“Why? Why is it? You were drunk at a party where she wasn't supposed to be, and you ended up sleeping with a girl. It doesn't matter!”

“It matters to me!” Taekwoon who was usually silent and shy nearly shouted, “it does matter a lot to me! I've spend months even years following Byeol hopping that one day I would be able to actually to talk to her and to confess my feelings for her and now that we were finally able to talk to each other without being too awkward, I've ruined everything!”

“But you're not together, she doesn't have to be mad at you for sleeping with who you want to.”

“I was drunk, I wasn't even myself!”

“Then you have your excuse!”

“But Byeol-”

“Do you know if she loves you?” Wonshik sighed and finally looked at his friend who had frozen.

“W-what?”

“Do you know if Byeol loves you? Are you sure she wants to date you?”

“N-no I don't know! How would I know that?!”

“She probably doesn't even love you, so why do you care about her being hurt by your behavior?”

Taekwoon didn't answer because Wonshik was right. He had no clues concerning Byeol's feelings and yet, he was acting as if she was loving him.

“But... Byeol... I may have been drunk, but she was sad and she cried this night... I remember that.”

“She was probably crying because of somebody else.”

Taekwoon frowned, he remembered Hakyeon being by her sides during the party, so there was a high possibly it was the head boy's fault. But deep inside him he couldn't help feeling like it was his fault.

When midnight arrived, he sent Byeol a simple text message. Nothing to fancy, but just something to show her he was thinking about her.

To: Byeol

I wish you a happy new year, Byeol.

JTK.

He actually never had an answer.

I feel like this chapter could totally look like a filler chapter, but I swear it's really important for the rest of the story, this is the real turning point and I bet we can all see why.

So if you liked this chapter, or if you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave me a comment

And thank you to all of the subscribers 

We've reached the middle of this story, since it will have 30 chapters in toal + an epilogue. As usual, what I do with all my other stories, is that once I will be done writing it on my side, I will upload it more frequently. But it won't happen by now since I'm far from being done with the writing ^^

And btw, I've got a very random question: who is/are your favorite ship(s) in VIXX ? (this is just bc I want to know, it won't have something to do this story). 

Thx :)

xx

Mae