the warmth of a stranger

tales of the commons and of the strange || drabble collection
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title: the warmth of a stranger
author: amusingmurdermachine
characters: Krystal (f(x)), Chanyeol (EXO), mentions of D.O. (EXO) and Jessica Jung
genre/theme: slice of life; christmas, existential growing pains, angst
a/n: try listening to sing for you while you're at it :)

chanyeol tried to think of a christmas wish, but found that he doesn't want anything in particular at the moment. he's happy and content. and even though he is not without burden on his shoulders, he feels more thankful than wishful. and so, he decided to do some of the usual busking tonight – on christmas eve – despite the weather. he cut short the usual duration of performance, but decided to endorse free hugs at his post for about ten minutes before he heads home.

sure, it's a little bit crazy, considering the temperature outside of any establishment (even his busking buddy, kyungsoo passed up this gig), but chanyeol felt the need to share his good feelings somehow.

seven minutes into the free hugs promo, jung soojung, a college student passes by chanyeol’s corner.

‘he's alone today, huh?' the girl comments in her head. she’s seen the tall boy with elfish ears a few nights in the past few months, playing music with his short friend with the cute big eyes. as they’re both good-looking by the general standard, it doesn’t surprise her that they're usually surrounded by teenage girls. and although their genre is not exactly her favorite, she remembers handing the two boys cups of coffee one time as a token of appreciation for the comforting effect of their music and their passion for sharing it.

soojung stands near her favorite cafe in the area, from where she usually sits whenever she happens to catch the duo performing. were it any normal night, she would have scoffed and thought: 'what's this idiot doing outside when it's freezing?' however, soojung, herself, has been out of her apartment, too, taking a stroll around hongdae for about an hour now.

christmas in korea isn't typically a family holiday and is rather usually celebrated by couples. granted, soojung is full korean by blood. however, she grew up in the states and has started living in korea by herself only three years ago. moreover, she is currently single (not that she's particularly sad about this, but it’s a considerable factor to her feeling of loneliness), her parents are on the other side of the globe, and her sister probably has just landed in china to attend to an important matter for her newly-established business.

thinking of her sister, she couldn't help but worry about sooyeon feeling lonely too, being away from home. soojung, then, tries calling her.

she listens quietly to the ringing, but in the end, only sooyeon's voice mail answers. soojung blinks a few times and slightly frowns when the cold wind blows, and then she slips her phone back in her jacket's pocket.

it saddens her that her sister's chosen path doesn't allow her to pick which days to work at the moment. soojung, at least, is on a break of some sort from the university (though there's still a load of requirements to get done) and their parents are most probably at a gathering with their friends and family in the states.

soojung fondly recalls the memory of their american christmases during their childhood: staying up late

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lustal28 #1
Krystal-taehyung or krystal-jungkook please authornim:) :)
orange-shadows
#2
Chapter 5: AYOKO NA. WASAK NA WASAK NA HAHAHAHA. major OOF
Wasak na ako para sa KaiStal. Hahahaha. Sehun, oh, ikaw na lang. Charing.

On the plus side, medj ship ko rin naman sina Seulgi at Jongin.
orange-shadows
#3
Chapter 1: OMG I A M CONFUSED ? ? ?? the way i understood it eh hindi anak ni jihyun si jungkook?? so, anak ng guy that she loved sa ibang babae ???

w aaa A A H H H HH . or maybe iba talaga pero ganoon lang pagkaka-interpret ko huhu omg pero ang clever nitong isang 'to
lustal28 #4
Kang daniel-krystal please authornim :) :) :)
lustal28 #5
Chapter 3: Like...like..like :) :) :D:D