“I can't believe this Jiyong! What the hell are you doing?”

“Wait, listen to me. It's not what you think! I swear, please hear me out.”

“Hear you out?! Hear you out?! You want me to HEAR YOU OUT!? All I know is I caught you red handed spending the night with another woman Kwon Jiyong and you want me to HEAR YOU OUT?! It's over Jiyong! IT. IS. OVER. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU TOO BASTARD!”

“Chaeeun wait—”

I slammed the phone down onto the receiver, rattling the small table it sat on, causing the stuffed reindeer Jiyong bought for me the day before to tumble off the table and onto the carpeted floor with a soft squeak. I stared at the fallen reindeer angrily. Its one glossy black eye that was exposed stared back at me, almost disapprovingly with the way its red nose was squashed against the carpet. I sighed and picked it up from the ground, the soft fur grudgingly.

“Myungsoo, what am I going to do? Do you know how stupid your owner is? He was with another woman yesterday night!” I wailed pitifully at the stuffed toy. “You won't betray me will you? If you do, I'm going to rip that bright red nose off!” I threatened while shaking the toy. I shook my head as I placed the reindeer gently back onto the table. I must be going insane, I'm actually talking to a stuffed toy.

I spotted a photograph of Jiyong and I stuck underneath a pillow on my couch. I pulled it out from its hiding spot as a wicked idea formed in my mind. I glanced at the present I had been slaving over the night before, a collage of pictures of Jiyong and I since we began dating. It's been two years and we were so happy together. He just had to cheat on me on Christmas eve! Jerk. Bastard. Weakling. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. Jerk. I sat down at the coffee table, pushing aside the collage as I searched for a marker. I doodled furiously on Jiyong in the photograph, ruining his perfect smile and stupid perfect face. I scribbled Kwon Jiyong Babo!!!!!!! on the top of the Polaroid to complete my masterpiece before tossing the marker aside.

The phone began ringing again, no doubt it’s the jerk who’s calling again, trying to win back my favour. Well too bad for you, Kwon Jiyong. There’s no way I’m going to skip back into your arms just like that. I ignored the blaring rings, grabbing my wallet and phone off the counter before leaving the apartment. The sound of the rings getting cut off as I slammed the door shut. I spot a myriad of heels and high tops littered outside my next door neighbor, Jaein’s door and wondered whether I should go crash her party with the other guys. She did invite me after all but I had declined, already having plans with Jiyong…

That bastard! Just thinking about him makes my blood boil!

I stomped down my apartment stairs and nearly collided into two men arguing loudly in the entrance to the stairwell. A girl stood off to the side, she looked extremely bored, her arms crossed as she tapped her foot impatiently. One guy towered over the other. The taller one had shaggy hair with a guitar strapped to his back as he flailed his lanky arms around. The shorter one had small eyes that were scrunched up in anger and also, not that I was staring at it or anything, a cute . The two guys were so distracted by their argument that they failed to notice a tall man with impossibly platinum blonde hair slink over to the girl, a sly smirk playing on his lips. He cupped his hand over her ear and whispered something that made her giggle. And in a blink of an eye, they were gone. The girl was laughing happily, her hand clamped in the platinum blonde's as they slipped away. Mr Guitar and Mr Cute finally noticed that they were gone and they dashed over in chase of the couple.

“Nichkhun Horvejkul! No fair! Come back here!”

“Ryuuta stop! She’s supposed to spend Christmas eve with me today!” 

I snorted at the scene I just witnessed and continued on my way towards the café. I chose a table on the outside of the shop, deciding that being in a confined space with twenty or so other couples wasn’t necessarily good for my health. My phone buzzed endlessly, the incoming messages beginning to pile up as I continued ignoring them, only replying the ones that weren’t from ‘Nae Sarang, Kwon Jiyong~’.

A tall man with a bowl haircut that was messily styled sped walked into the corner of my eye, his arms were folded and he looked slightly irritated. Strangely, he had a tiny panda toy perched atop his mess of hair.

“Junsu! Wait up! I love you more! And that panda looks great on you!” A young girl with an oversized panda toy clutched in her arms trotted behind the man as she pulled on his shirtsleeve. 

“Ree, don't leave me!” Another man came rushing up to the duo. He also had a panda, though a much smaller one, in his hands. He whined loudly as he clung into the young girl. The one named Junsu shot him a look of disgust as he continued to stomp up the street. 

“Let's go, Ree. Leave the stupid tree behind,” he spat at the ‘tree’ before dragging the girl away with him.

“Noooooooooooooooo!”

The trio soon disappeared from my line of sight, just as my phone began to ring with a tone that wasn’t Jiyong’s personalized ringtone. I checked the number and frowned when I saw Choi Seunghyun flashing on my screen.

“Yobosaeyo?” There was no reply from the other line. “Yobosaeyo? Seunghyun? Do you need something?” 

“Yobosaeyo?” I disconnected the line immediately once his voice came crackling through the receiver. I searched up another contact on my phone book and dialed it. 

“Hello?” Her voice was thick with sleep as she answered the phone and I briefly wondered why in the world was she still in bed at this time. 

“Hello? Jena?” 

“Uh huh?”

“Tell your dear Seunghyun that I'm never speaking to him ever again and that I hate him for life. Thanks. Bye.”

“Wha—?”

I disconnected the line and stuffed my phone back into my bag, muttering darkly. Stupid Jiyong. And stupid Seunghyun for letting him borrow his phone. Idiots.

I made the mistake of glancing at the table next to mine. There were two couples cuddling and being all mushy with each other as one ignored the other, completely immersed in their own little worlds. The guy in Couple Number One had dark, wavy brown hair and huge, shiny eyes. He laughed deviously as he swiped whipped cream onto the younger girl's nose and kissed it off lovingly. The girl blushed furiously and tried to hide her face in her hands. Couple Number Two laughed at the antics of their younger friends and proceeded to snuggle closer to each other.

“Yah, just because she's younger doesn't mean you get to make fun of her, Minho.” The older male nagged.

“Ah hyuuuuung, she's too cute for her own good!”

I tossed some cash and coins on the table and took my leave. The table next to me exploding with cheerful laughter only further fueled my bad temper. Being close to a pair of lovey dovey couples left a sour taste in my mouth.

I got a large chocolate chip cookie to go to drown my sorrows in as I continued wandering around the street. It felt like the outside temperature had dropped even more as I left the comfort of the small cafe. My hands were freezing and I cursed silently for leaving my gloves in my apartment. A bus came rumbling along and I quickly jumped into it to escape the chilly air. There was only one empty seat left so I slid into it, being careful not to touch the pink hooded man who looked like he was asleep, headphones stuffed into ears. I took out my cookie and was about to bite into it when there was a small scuffle from next to me. I turned to see the pink hooded man staring at my cookie with an alarming intensity in his eyes, almost like he was possessed. He looked at me and I jumped a little, which was actually really, really embarrassing in retrospect.

“You...gonna eat that?”

“Huh?”

“The cookie. You gonna eat that?” 

“Uh. Yeah?”

“Oh. Okay.”

The bus came rumbling to a stop seconds later and I rejoiced silently. I jumped up eagerly and hurried to the front. Still feeling weirded out, I peeked back at the pink hooded man who was now grinning cheekily at me, his cheeks that were a few shades lighter than his hoodie contrasting nicely with his milky skin.

Huh.

He was pretty cute. In a weird way.

I continued to wander around aimlessly, snacking on my cookie absent-mindedly. I walked past a pet shop and snuck a peek at the animals at the window. The only things that were moving was the large critter of seven hamsters, the rest of the animals were dozing in their respective cages. One of the hamsters trotted towards the window, its dark brown ears twitching erratically as it looked up at me with its beady eyes. My staring contest with this particularly eye-catching hamster ended when it was scooped up away from its brothers. The hamsters that were left behind squeaked and clawed at the cage furiously, as if trying to get their brother back.

The new owners of the hamster turned out to be another couple. A bell dinged loudly as they exited the shop together, the hamster now in another petite looking cage. The girl was squealing happily.

“Thank you so much Sanghyun ah! It’s adorable!” She smiled up and cuddled closer to him. “And thank you for getting me the Neverland album too! I’ve wanted that since forever!”

“You’re welcome. As long as you like me the most. Not U-Kiss.”

“Oh great,” I groaned as I felt a droplet of water fall onto my hand. I looked up at the sky, flinching when I saw a bright flash of lightning in between the dark, ominous-looking clouds.

I hurried towards a nearby bookshop, getting under the cover just before the rain began to pour. The rain fell in waterfalls, limiting my vision to just a few feet beyond my safe haven. A dark shadow materialized in the rain suddenly and I jerked backwards when I realized the thing was heading straight towards my direction. The person barreled straight out of the rain and into the tiny shelter and I couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped my throat when I noticed who it was. He was panting heavily and completely soaked, his clothes clinging to his body, his hair sticking out in strange directions as he swept the bangs that were in his eyes away.

I held my breath as we locked eyes, heat surging to my cheeks and the rest of my body. The tiny space we were in suddenly became really uncomfortable as heat swirled around us despite the heavy rain falling on the outside. It really isn’t fair that God decided to leave me with one Kwon Jiyong who looks like he just stepped out of a damn advertisement when I was trying to be mad at him.

“Kim Chaeeun. I finally found you,” he breathed, chest heaving.

“Yay.” I made my voice as flat as possible, breaking eye contact with him quickly. Remember Chaeeun. You’re mad at him. No matter how y he looks right now. You are mad at him. Kim Chaeeun. Are you listening? You. Are. Mad. At. Him.

“Hey. Hey. Look at me.”

“N-no.” And why the heck did I stutter? Stupid, stupid.

“I don't deny the fact that I spent the night with another woman yesterday night—NO! WAIT! HEAR ME OUT!” I released the front of his collar, growling furiously. He searched his pockets clumsily, producing his phone with a flourish. He fumbled with it a little before handing the phone to me. I received it disapprovingly, glancing at the screen which showed Jiyong and a young girl, posing together with victory signs. I looked back at him confusedly. He just shrugged in reply.

“The woman I spent the night with is actually a girl, she’s my younger cousin.”

“Excuse me?”

“She’s my younger cousin. Though she likes calling me her husband. We used to pretend being married to each other when we were younger and it just stuck with her. You can call her up if don’t believe me.”

“Oh.”

‘Oh’ was a complete understatement for all the feelings that was raging through me right now. Embarrassment being the dominating emotion. I buried my face in my hands, shocked speechless that everything had been a big misunderstanding. How could I have doubted him like that? Why didn’t I give him a chance to explain himself? Why why why. Ugh.

I peeked up at him and buried my face in my hands again. He wasn’t even mad. He was just smiling. What did I do to deserve someone like him?

“Hey look.” He poked my arm, coaxing me out of the hole I was burying myself in. “It's mistletoe.” He pointed at the hanging decoration above us.

“Well would you look at that,” I smiled wryly at him, face still pink from embarrassment from the misunderstanding.

“You know what that means don't you?” He grinned mischievously.

“Enlighten me.”

His grin grew as he leaned in slowly. I waited with bated breath, an idea growing in my mind as I watched his face come closer and closer...

SLAP.

Jiyong clutched his reddening cheek as he groaned loudly. I fought to keep myself upright, howling with laughter, ignoring the throbbing sensation spreading through my right palm.

“Still, you shouldn’t have spent the night with another woman, whether it’s a girl or not. And you shouldn’t let her call you her husband.” I hugged him, grinning as I pecked him on the lips.

“Merry Christmas. Jerk.”