[CONTENTID1]Deck The Halls With Ugly Sweaters[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]Final[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]

Wendy looked down at her phone and stared at the text message (which she had received a couple of minutes ago) for a few seconds longer than she really needed to. She read it over and over, double checking that she wasn't going insane before wondering if her friend had gone insane.

Hey! Jongin and I are holding a Christmas party at our place on Christmas night at 6, and you're invited! Actually, forget the invited, you're coming no matter what. I expect you to be there - Seulgi

She leaned her head back against her chair and groaned. Why, just why, must she be forced to leave her warm house on Christmas? She was just planning on video calling her family and eating a lot of cookies alone in her apartment like she always did. It was a day everyone spent with their families, but Wendy’s family was in Canada while she studied abroad in Korea. She always went home home for Chuseok which was just a month or so after Christmas, so there wasn't a point to go home now. She wasn't planning on meeting up with her friends till New Year's anyways which gave her a few extra days to buy their presents (at a cheaper price, of course), but now she had to go buy them. Like today. Groaning again, she hit the call button next to her friend's contact.

"Hello?"

"Seulgi, please. Don't make me come," Wendy immediately begged.

"No. You have to come!" Seulgi retorted. Wendy began to respond with a random excuse, but she heard a male's voice coming through the phone asking who is it?! Seulgi's voice got quieter as she responded to the male, who Wendy guessed was Jongin.

"I have plans!" she responded anyways.

"No, you don't,” came Seulgi’s reply a few seconds later.

"How would you know?"

"I'm your best friend. Of course I know. Besides, you're always home alone." Damn it. “Come on, Wendy! It’ll be fun! And it's the first Christmas Jongin and I are spending in our new apartment. Also, guess what?” Seulgi sounded way too excited for Wendy’s liking.

“What?” Wendy asked morosely, twirling a strand of her red hair around her finger.

“Taemin’s coming too,” Seulgi responded slyly. Wendy shot up in her chair as an effort to sit up straighter before banging her elbow on her desk. She hissed in pain.

“Seriously?” Wendy asked, trying not to let the excitement sneak into her voice.

“Yes. Your latest eye candy will be there, which by the way, I can’t believe that you aren’t crushing on. Are you sure he’s just eye candy? And besides, you’re forgetting that he’s Jongin’s best friend. And just like my boyfriend’s best friend is coming, you have to come as my best friend.” Wendy stayed quiet for a few seconds as to pretend to think when really, she had made up her mind as soon as Taemin was brought up.

“Fine. I’ll come,” Wendy resigned. Seulgi cheered.

“Okay! I’ll see you then!”

The two hung up, and Wendy grinned to herself until she realized that Christmas was in four days, and if she didn't buy the presents today, she would never be able to thanks to everyone else going last minute shopping.

Sighing, Wendy closed her laptop, but not before sending a few wistful glances at the paused faces of Gong Yoo and Lee Dong Wook, and she stood up to get ready to face the biting cold air of mid-December. On her way out, she glanced at her closet wondering what to wear. The message didn't specify if the party was casual or semi-formal or formal (and she’d forgotten to ask Seulgi on the phone), but considering it was Jongin, chances were that he was going to show up in a sweatshirt, so it was completely okay to be wearing casual clothes. Even though it was quite early to be deciding on an outfit, she quickly decided on a Christmas sweater (that her older sister had sent over from Canada to be in true Christmas spirit) and a pair of denim jeans. She pulled out the sweater from the closet to admire it. Even though it was quite ugly and tacky, that was the charm of it. It was bright green with snowflakes, and in the middle of the front was the face of a cat that popped out of the sweater. In the middle of the back was a small tail that was also popping out of the sweater.

Ten minutes later, she was walking through Hongdae while humming to music playing in her ears from her phone. As an aspiring writer and lyricist, she was always listening to music wherever she went, and to her, music was a form of therapy for her to cope with her problems when she couldn't call her family that was living thousands and thousands of kilometers away. The wind was blowing harder and harder the more time she spent outside, so she tightened the scarf around her neck and moved to tie her red hair into a ponytail. Walking into the first clothing store she spotted, she began on the mission to find presents for all her friends. After all, at such short notice, the only decent gifts she was going to be able to get were either gift cards (but that wasn’t too personal) or clothes, and the safer (and cheaper) choice was definitely clothes.

Chanyeol flopped down on his bed and sighed, feeling as though he was drowning in his soft, warm, comfortable bed. He had a long day at work what with all the people coming in the cafe to get their warm drinks to help fight off the cold winter, and he was just ready to sleep. He didn’t even care that it was only 6PM. Sleep was more important.

The man had just about drifted off into dreamland when his phone buzzed incredibly loudly on his bedside table. Jerking up, Chanyeol blinked the sleep out of his eyes and turned towards his phone. He leaned over to pick up the phone and proceeded to unlock it. He blinked blearily at the bright screen before the words finally registered to him.

Christmas party. My house. Be there. Dec 25, 6PM - Jongin

“Short and to the point,” Chanyeol murmured looking at the message the conveyed the absolute minimum that Jongin had to get across. Chanyeol opened the calendar app on his phone and clicked on the box for the 25th to check his schedule. He somewhat hoped he had work in the morning, so he could avoid going to the party in the evening with the excuse that he was too tired. But then again, it would be the last time the group of friends would be together for the next couple of weeks until the semester started back up since they were all busy with vacations, work, and other activities. No matter what, he was most excited to wear his new Christmas sweater that he had bought on a vacation to America last winter. He hadn’t gotten a chance to wear it then, but he definitely was going to this year. It was bright red with the face of a pug popping out of the front and a tail poking out from the back.

Sighed, he just locked his phone again - this time putting his notifications on silent first - and laid face down back onto his bed, simply choosing to take a nap.

Or he’ll just sleep through the night.

Soon enough the assigned time and date for the party had arrived, and Wendy nudged her purse back up on her shoulder after it had slid down her jacket a bit. Night had already fallen, and snow was lightly falling from the sky. There wasn’t enough