Seeing Santa Claus
Seeing Santa Claus
Taemin sat up in bed all night, waiting until he was sure everyone had gone to bed.
On the twin bed to the left of him, Jinki was snoring quietly under his mass of covers. Taemin checked the digital clock, reading the green numbers: 1:30AM. Surely his parents were heavily sleeping by now, as they had shuffled off to bed at the early hour of ten.
The young boy was determined to stay up for Santa tonight. He may have failed to do it last year and the year before that and the year before that…but this time was different! Taemin was at the ripe age of eleven and a half; there was no way he was going to miss seeing Santa now.
It took a lot of will power—and a soda he had snuck from the fridge earlier—to stay up, but he finally did it. It was the latest he had ever stayed up before, and that was a thrill in itself.
Now all he had to do was get out of bed as silently as possible, being sure not to wake his brother, and get into the living room to wait for the Jolly man with presents.
It was hard, with it being silent in the house. Every movement Taemin made seemed to be ten times as loud now that he was actually trying to be quiet. The bed creaked, the sheets ruffled, everything was against him. Taemin kept freezing when a noise sounded, keeping his eyes peeled on the lump in the other bed, sure that Jinki was gonna wake up at the slightest sound. Taemin knew, deep in his mind, that his hyung was a deep sleeper, but this would be the night that he would wake up to anything, he just knew it.
So he was quiet, and that made the boy slow. It took ten minutes to get from his bed to the door, and then he had to spend another five minutes getting that open without it squeaking. All of it made Taemin’s heart race. Any noise made him freeze as though caught. His little mind whirled with excuses for him being up so late on Christmas night.
I had to go to the bathroom. I was thirsty. I was sleep walking.
Finally, finally, Taemin made it to the living room. The small space was illuminated by the Christmas tree, decorated beautifully and grand. The TV was also on, because the very rarely turned it off to keep the room lit slightly in case anyone did really have to go use the bathroom in the middle of the dark night. A reality show played, but the sound was muted, so all was silent. Taemin looked at the tree, seeing no presents underneath. Santa hadn’t come yet.
He took a seat on the couch, ready to sit and wait. The TV moved, lights from it flickering on the walls and the boy’s face.
His eyes started to droop, his head jerking up every time he dozed off. The child shook himself, rubbing his tired eyes to try and erase the sleep from them. He couldn’t get tired now…he had to wait for Santa… He had to prove he was real. He had to…
Jinki’s watch beeped under those blankets. It beeped consistently for a long minute, until the older boy shut it off, sitting up sleepily in his bed. His hair stood up in all directions, but he finally woke up enough to glare blearily at the clock, reading the time. He had to go move the presents under the tree for Taemin tomorrow.
It had been a tradition since Jinki turned thirteen, to leave gifts under the tree for his younger brother. Of course, Taemin chalked it up to Santa and neither he or his parent’s denied him. Often, when their parents talked to the young boy about Santa Claus, they’d wink at Jinki discretely, and when his brother wasn’t around, they by calling him Jinki Claus, or Saint Jink—courtesy of his best friend Jonghyun one day when they were doing homework in front of his parents.
“You could be Saint Jink! I hear people in America call him Saint Nick sometimes. It rhymes!”
So every year Jinki was the one who set out Taemin’s presents, and this time was no different. He stood up, still half asleep, and grabbed a Santa hat from under his pillow. It covered his bed head, and matched his red Christmas pajamas his parents had given to him from last year.
The presents were hidden in the hall closet, locked from Taemin’s prying eyes. But he was a good boy and easily walked past the door, never trying to open it to see inside. The gifts were safe and sound, and Jinki pulled out all the wrapped items, some with Taemin’s name on them, some with his, and a couple with his parent’s names on the tags.
He knew most of what Taemin had received, and nothing of what he had gotten. It made him curious, but he refused to look until later in the day.
After ten minutes, the tree had all the presents under it, arranged neatly and organized by size. Jinki stood up, stretching out the kinks in his back and admired his work proudly. Taemin would be so happy when he woke up.
His eyes blinked and he realized he wasn’t in the same position as before. He was lying on the couch, his head tucked beside the arm rest, and his legs pulled up towards his chest. He’d fallen asleep waiting for Santa!
Taemin sat up quickly, black spots forming around his vision before he righted himself. Looking around, the boy froze at the figure standing in front of the tree. He could make out red clothes, and a fluffy hat atop the man’s head. His eyes widened, instantly recognizing the shape.
“Santa!” It was a yelled whisper, but it made the man jump like it had been screamed from a blow horn.
“Taemin?” he whispered.
“Santa! It’s you! I knew you’d come.” Taemin looked at all the presents under the tree, some bigger than he imagined and some were small, but there were so many!
“Y-yes, Taemin. Of course I’m here.” His voice turned deeper and husky, and it made the young boy giggle under his breath.
“I’m so glad, Santa. Thank you for the presents! I’ll have to tell everyone I saw you!”
“No,” The man said quickly, his back still turned to the child. “You can’t tell anyone.”
Taemin’s head tilted to the side in a quizzical manner. “Why not?”
“B-because… if you told everyone about me then they’d know you were up waiting for me when you were supposed to be in sleep. Why aren’t you in bed, young man?”
His heart dropped, suddenly worried about telling anyone. If he told, he’d get in trouble for staying up late when he was supposed to be in bed early. And if he got in trouble, it’d mean no presents for him! Taemin wanted his gifts.
“O-okay Santa. I won’t tell anyone, I swear.”
“Good boy. Don’t tell anyone you saw me, it’ll be our little secret.”
Taemin nodded enthusiastically, zipping his lips shut.
“I’ll be going now, Minnie, why don’t you go to bed and sleep until the morning.”
“Okay Santa. Thank you for coming! I love you.”
The shape’s shoulders slopped a bit, affected by the innocent child’s words. “I love you too, Taemin. Go to bed, sleep tight.”
“Night, Santa.”
Taemin scurried off, and Jinki breathed a sigh of relief. He was so lucky his younger brother was gullible…
The next morning, Mr. and Mrs. Lee awoke their children. Taemin sat up with complete awakeness, shouting that it was Christmas and jumped up and down on his brother’s bed until Jinki finally made his appearance.
Taemin got everything he wanted and more, he sat around the living room opening everything and enjoying it all. Jinki was surprised with what he had received as well, stuff he had wanted but never asked for because it was expensive. He smiled and thanked his parents quietly.
Before the Christmas dinner, the two brothers were in the bathroom, washing their hands before they ate.
Taemin was drying his hands, his insides ready to burst from not telling his secret.
“Hyung,” he said, his tone small.
“Yes, Minnie?”
“I have a secret.”
Jinki’s eyebrow raised, looking at his brother. He had almost forgotten about the incident last night, and his mind traveled back to the time when he saw the look on Taemin’s face.
The boy leaned in close to his brother’s ear, making sure no one else could possibly hear. “I saw Santa Claus.”
“You did?” Jinki whispered back, playing along.
He nodded. “I saw him, and he said not to tell anyone, but I had to tell you.”
“I told you he was real, didn’t I?”
“Yeah…but now I know for sure.”
Jinki stepped back a bit, ruffling Taemin’s hair. “He’s real as real can be. Now go eat dinner before I tell Santa you were a bad boy who stayed up late last night.”
He couldn’t run to the table fast enough.
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