The Cheering Santa : The First Noel
My Dearest Santa
Dongwoon stops playing the piano and looks up to see the girl who also stops her singing the second Dongwoon stops his fingers. He raises his eyebrow, a sign that she should have known the reason he stops playing the piano.
Inyeon sighs heavily and drops her gaze weakly, “I know. I hit the wrong note again. I told you that it won’t work if you ask my help!”
“Yah, I know you can do it!” Dongwoon encourages her, not wanting her to stop trying even after numerous attempts. “They need your help, remember? You are the one who can help them.”
“I know but-“ Inyeon wants to deny again but Dongwoon plays random melodies with his skillful fingers, the gesture he always does whenever he doesn’t want to hear further explanation from Inyeon.
“We still have three days until Christmas and you’re going to be perfect that day for your solo performance,” Dongwoon stares at Inyeon with a wide grin. “Don’t you believe me?”
“You’re just trying to cheer me up, Dongwoon,” Inyeon puffs her cheeks. “If it’s not because of him... Aigoo, maybe I should have given up...”
“Stop complaining,” Dongwoon frowns playfully, trying to pretend that he is alright with her complaint. “I don’t want to hear another complaint. I need you to remember the notes perfectly. Your pitch control is the only problem. Your voice is flawless. You just need help to adjust your control.”
After more attempts, Inyeon finally manages to gain better control over her pitch but it’s not good enough, according to Dongwoon. He wants her to have another training session tomorrow at the same place, the music room of their university, and at the same time because they only have few days until Christmas.
“Thank you, Dongwoon,” Inyeon mumbles to him with a bright smile when they have arrived in front of Inyeon’s home. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
Dongwoon fakes a smile and ruffles her hair, “Just show me a good performance. It’s enough for me. Good night, Inyeon.”
He watches Inyeon enters her house and after he is assured that she’s alright, Dongwoon walks away, heading back to his own apartment with uneasy feeling. He always feels better whenever Inyeon smiles to him but he will be more than just happy if he is the reason behind her smile.
Three days ago, Inyeon asked his help because she got an offer to do a solo performance on Christmas event with the music club. Since Dongwoon is a great pianist who doesn’t care to join the music club, Inyeon asked his help to guide her for the training.
Inyeon is a part of the music club and she is well know because of her beautiful voice yet she never performed solo before since she lacks control over her voice. As much as Dongwoon can refuse her request because he is an easy-going person who doesn’t want to bother with other people’s issues, he agreed to help her.
It’s all because he has a crush on Inyeon. Both of them are classmates and Inyeon became his first friend during their first year. She is probably the only girl who approaches him with friendly objective, unlike the others who only want to befriend him because he is the son of a wealthy CEO of a company.
Unfortunately the feeling of ‘just friends’ didn’t stay too long between him and Inyeon. He became fond of Inyeon and when he wanted to tell her, Inyeon opened up about her crush, Park Sungji, one of the best vocals in the music club. Sungji is their senior and Inyeon falls in love with him.
The reason why she agreed to do the solo performance after the girl, who is supposed to perform on Christmas day has family issues to deal with, resigned is also because Sungji requested her to do it.
Inyeon has no confidence like Dongwoon and that’s why they complete each other. Inyeon is the bright girl who opens up for everyone while Dongwoon closes his heart for almost everyone because he can’t believe people easily. Dongwoon has the confidence of getting what he wants while Inyeon is a pessimistic person when it comes to her own dream of becoming a singer.
Dongwoon cancelled his urge to confess his feeling to her because Inyeon looked really happy when she talked about Sungji. He wants Inyeon to be happy and if Sungji is the one who can make her happy then he will try to accept it, no matter how hard it is for him.
❇❇❇❇❇
“You made it!” Dongwoon does a high-five with Inyeon. Inyeon smiles wider as Dongwoon ruffles her hair playfully. “You will stand out tomorrow! I will make sure to watch your performance!”
“Ah, I hope Sungji Oppa will think the same,” Inyeon murmurs with blushed cheeks. “I’m nervous. I’m nervous.”
Dongwoon feels his heart aches when Inyeon mentions Sungji’s name. For a moment he forgot that Inyeon is doing all of this for Sungji; he is actually helping Inyeon to become closer to Sungji indirectly.
While he is deep in his though, suddenly Inyeon embraces his hand, smiling sweetly to him, “Thank you for helping me, Dongwoon. Thank you for cheering me. I will do my best tomorrow.”
Dongwoon smiles awkwardly and lets her embrace his hand. He is thinking about what kind of words he should tell Inyeon; a good friend will support her to win Sungji’s heart but Dongwoon can’t do it.
“I...,” Inyeon speaks out when they’re on the way to Inyeon’s house; Dongwoon walks her back as usual, “...will confess to Sungji Oppa after the performance. I will tell him about my feeling.”
Dongwoon can feel that an imaginary knife just stabbed his chest. He holds his breath while Inyeon continues, “I feel really nervous since tomorrow will be a really big day. I really need you to cheer me, Dongwoon.”
He clenches his fists tight. He has no idea what kind of encouraging words he need to say to Inyeon. He wants to tell her that everything he does for her is because he loves her... but she will never realize it since she only thinks of him as her best friend.
“If you need me after the whole big day tomorrow, you know I’m always there for you,” Dongwoon pats her head, feeling glad that he can avoid giving her lies of supporting her feeling for Sungji. “We’re going to celebrate our first Christmas together tomorrow, right?”
Inyeon nods with excitement, “Yes! Tomorrow is our first time to celebrate Christmas together! Don’t forget to give me Christmas present!”
“You wish!” Dongwoon laughs and ruffles her hair again, making her laugh along. For moments, he doesn’t want to think about what will happen tomorrow; he just wants to make Inyeon smiles like now.
❇❇❇❇❇
Inyeon intertwines her fingers nervously, waiting for Sungji to come and meet her. She has finished her flawless performance; the audiences are satisfied with her solo performance with ‘The First Noel’.
Right after the performance, she asked Sungji to meet up with her at the backyard. She is preparing herself to confess; she can feel her heart is beating uncontrollably but she has assured herself that she will confess to Sungji no matter what his answer will be.
She is never this determined before but since Dongwoon always supports her through everything, Inyeon has found the courage within her to do something by herself. For this once she wants to do something by herself and for herself.
“Inyeon?”
Inyeon looks up with a bright smile but her smile vanishes when she sees Seungji is with a beautiful girl. Inyeon doesn’t know her name but she is one of the new member of the music club. They are holding hands and Inyeon can see that the girl is blushing obviously.
“I need to talk with Inyeon first, okay?” Sungji pats the girl’s head and smiles. “Wait for me inside, okay? I promise to take you for dinner.”
Inyeon can feel that her heart breaks into pieces as the girl nods slightly to her, excusing herself in silence. Sungji turns to the frozen Inyeon, who just lost every word she has prepared to say to Sungji.
“Is she your girlfriend?” Inyeon manages to ask him with wavering voice since her tears are threatening to fall. “I-I don’t know that you have a girlfriend...”
“Ah, I just confessed to her this morning,” Sungji rubs the back of his neck with nervous smile. “Ami is a sweet girl, isn’t she?”
Inyeon laughs awkwardly, not knowing what to do or what to say. When Sungji asks her about what she is going to talk about, Inyeon only shakes her head slowly and bows to him, “I just want to thank you for guiding me in the music club.”
Sungji bows to her, thanking her for her participation and congratulates her in person for the great performance. He then excuses himself to meet his girlfriend, leaving Inyeon alone with broken heart.
She squats down and buries her face on her knees, biting her bottom lip to prevent tears escape from her eyes. She starts to sob in silence, feeling her first broken heart for the first time.
Dongwoon, who is waiting for her at the front door, decides to look for her when Sungji has walked pass him to meet his girlfriend. He is really surprised to find Inyeon crying alone in the middle of the cold weather.
“Y-Yah, Inyeon!” Dongwoon kneels down to check her condition. “A-Are you alright? What did he do to you? What did he say to you?”
Inyeon looks up to see her best friend and then lets out a sarcasm laughter, “He has a girlfriend, Dongwoon. I’m too blind to see that he likes somene else...”
Dongwoon knows perfectly how Inyeon is feeling because he feels exactly the same. They are loving the persons who don’t love them back, the persons who love someone else.
And now looking at the girl he loves cry in front of him, he feels useless.
He looks around, trying to find something that can cheer her up. An idea crosses his mind and he tells Inyeon to wait for him while he rushes inside the building, grabbing a replica of mistletoe which has been used for the party property before. He rushes back to Inyeon and he lifts up the mistletoe with his hand.
“They said you will be happy if you dance under the mistletoe on Christmas Day!” Dongwoon grins to her, hoping that it will cheer Inyeon in one way or another. “So let’s dance together!”
Inyeon can’t help herself from laughing because of Dongwoon. She laughs until her sad tears turn into happiness tears. Dongwoon looks at him with confused look, don’t understand why she is laughing out loud when he is not joking at all.
“Yah, Dongwoon, it’s not dancing,” Inyeon wipes away her tears and takes the mistletoe from him. “They said it’s a good thing if two people kiss under a mistletoe.”
After hesitating for seconds, Inyeon kisses Dongwoon’s cheek. Both of them blush really hard, making silence fills the air. Dongwoon can’t even think properly because he still don’t believe that Inyeon just kissed his cheek while Inyeon is afraid that Dongwoon will be mad because of her blunt action.
“Merry Christmas,” Inyeon smiles sweetly, “my one and only best friend.”
Dongwoon feels a pang on his chest but then he realizes that perhaps he still has another chance to win Inyeon’s heart.
“Maybe next Christmas,” Dongwoon murmurs and rolls his eyes, making Inyeon to blink in confusion. He grins and lands a quick kiss on her left cheek as the return, “Merry Christmas, Inyeon.”
Inyeon chuckles, ensuring herself to enjoy the Christmas with her always cheerful best friend who has brighten up her Christmas day like a Santa Clause.
“Let’s enjoy our First Christmas, my cheering santa.”
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