14. Almost Perfect

(Christmas Eve)

Pairing: Seulgi and Jongin [Seulkai]

Concept: Christmas Eve!Au

[Completed]

"What did you give me last year for Christmas?" Seulgi asked as she painfully walked past all the pastries in the bakery shop's vitrine.

"A gift card," Jongin answered.

"For a noodle shop," Seulgi nodded. "And what did I give you?"

"Socks," Jongin recalled with a grimace. "A pretty tasteless gift if you ask me."

Seulgi shrugged.

"They were pretty," she tried to defend. "Can we enter in the next random restaurant we find? I'd eat anything at this point," Seulgi almost whined. "It's freezing Jongin."

The latter simply smiled before wrapping his arm around hers to help with the cold. Seulgi pointed out that it didn't help at all, especially for her hunger but blushed nevertheless.

"Thankfully, you're only this exigeant when it comes to food," Jongin chuckled. "We're almost there, just wait a bit."

As the two walked in the cold packed streets of Seoul, Seulgi truly felt like this was a date. The idea crossed her mind when she was choosing what to wear a few hours ago in front of her mirror but she had brushed it off out of embarrassment. It was Christmas Eve and they were spending it together. It was a first and Seulgi wished it wouldn't be the last as she looked around her with her arm tightly interlocked with Jongin's.

There were couples everywhere and a few individuals who were still looking for the perfect last minute gifts. Whatever way they were looking, Jongin and Seulgi found someone showing affection to their significant other and maybe the thought that they looked like a couple too crossed their mind but not one of them dared to mention it. Instead, they held tighter onto each other and blamed it on the terrible temperature. The warm lights decorating the streets for the holidays and various bright decorations onto the shops' walls made them remember Christmas was only a few hours away and that they hadn't joked about how Christmas was not made for people who weren't in a relationship like them just like they did every year yet.

"Can I at least know where you're bringing me?" Seulgi asked after pushing herself closer to Jongin to avoid bumping into another couple passing by her.

"Do you trust me?" Jongin asked. He waited for Seulgi to nod before smiling. "It's a place I know you'll love."

"Is it an all-you-can-eat?" she asked as her eyes gleamed in delight.

"Not really," Jongin chuckled.

Seulgi's sudden spurt of energy died down as soon which made Jongin laugh.

"It's better than that," he said as he dragged her further down the street.

Seulgi and Jongin reached the restaurant in a matter of minutes in which Seulgi tried her best to not look at all the food they passed by on their way there and Jongin did his best to distract her from her hunger with his lame jokes. When they arrived, a waiter surprised them by welcoming them to a designated table. Well, only Seulgi was genuinely surprised but Jongin didn't think the waiter would have remembered him from his visit about two days ago to do a reservation.

"You should have told me we were coming here, I would have worn something better," Seulgi said a bit self-conscious of her attire.

"You look perfect the way you are now, don't be foolish," Jongin said as he took off his coat. Seulgi slightly blushed and avoided thinking too much about how pretty this restaurant was to not get her hopes up about the reason behind this "date". After all, it was all so sudden: Jongin had called her in the morning to ask her if she had anything planned for tonight and she said she didn't so he came up with this.

"What happened to your night out with your friends? It was cancelled last minute?" Seulgi asked as she scanned the menu.

"I told you I wasn't going last time," Jongin reminded her.

"When?"

"During the calculus class two weeks ago."

"Really? Sorry, I wasn't completely mentally there," Seulgi apologized with an embarrassed laugh.

"Yeah you told me you had a paper to hand in so you didn't get any sleep the night before," he recalled.

Seulgi smiled at how Jongin remembered all these details even when she forgot. She appreciated how he was always so attentive to others.

"So what happened? You simply didn't feel like it?" Seulgi asked after the waiter took their order.

"Something else came up," Jongin said as he shyly scratched his nose.

Seulgi frowned in confusion.

"What?"

"I just thought we could maybe do something together so I canceled it, that's it," Jongin admitted embarrassed.

Seulgi blushed.

"That's… nice of you," she said embarrassed too. "That's nice to have thought of me, thank you."

Jongin shook his head from left to right before laughing at Seulgi's flustered face.

"I'm sorry, I'm making this awkward," he apologized.

"It's only awkward if we say it is," Seulgi reasoned as a smile was forming on her lips. Jongin's laugh was always so contagious.

"We have to make it become normal," Jongin finally said after thinking for a bit. "Isn't that the only way to get accustomed to anything? To repeat it and make it something ordinary."

"So what do you propose? That we spend more time together?" Seulgi asked. "I'm all for it."

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