A certain dark-haired girl switched the ignition off and hopped out of the car with a slight smile on her face. She shut the door and walked to the trunk with light steps, whistling an upbeat tune. The girl opened the trunk and pulled out a long, rectangular box and placed it down on the floor. She pulled out another paper bag before shutting the trunk and locking her vehicle. She lifted the box effortlessly and grabbed the paper bag, walking to the lift lobby.

Once she reached the front door, she placed the box down to fish her key card out of her pocket and tapped it against the electronic lock which beeped along with a small flashing green light. She pushed the door open and dragged the box inside.

“B! I’m back!” She called out from the doorway, kicking her shoes off and placing them neatly on the shoe rack.

“Yeah!” a soft voice called back from one of the rooms. “Where did you- What’s that?” the owner of the voice asked as she emerged from the study. She arched a curious brow at the girl who was currently resting her arm on the box with a proud grin on her face.

“It’s a surprise!” the girl replied with a cheeky grin.

“Right. I totally can’t tell that’s a Christmas tree, Yerin.” Eunbi deadpanned and Yerin looked down at the box before rolling her eyes.

“It won’t kill to act a little surprised, would it?” Yerin sighed as she picked the box up and moved it to an empty corner of the living room. She had cleared up a small area by the couch the night before just so she could place a small Christmas tree there.

“Oh wow! A Christmas tree!” Eunbi exclaimed in mock excitement. Yerin once again proved her quick reflexes by hurdling over the coffee table and jumping onto Eunbi, assaulting the girl with tickles, making her burst into laughter as she tried to escape the clutches of her assailant.

“Okay! Okay!” The younger girl wheezed as she sank down onto the couch, wiping tears from her eyes. Yerin joined the girl on the couch, still giggling. “Why did you get a Christmas tree?”

“Well, we just moved into our apartment this year and we don’t have a Christmas tree yet. Since Christmas is coming soon, I figured why not get into the festive mood by getting a tree? Besides, what is Christmas without… well, a Christmas tree?” Yerin said as she draped her arm around the younger girl’s shoulder, leaning closer to the latter who had a wide smile on her face.

“I like that you said our apartment. It sounds great.” Eunbi giggled. “Are we going to decorate it?”

“Of course! We can’t have a tree in our living room.” Yerin sniggered. “Such a damper on the mood.”

“Are we going to decorate it now?” Eunbi asked, playing with Yerin’s fingers. In the short amount of time that they were on the couch, the younger girl had already made herself comfortable by leaning into Yerin’s torso.

“Do you want to do it now? I can see that you are very comfortable.” Yerin chuckled as she ruffled the girl’s hair.

“Indeed I am. Maybe in an hour.” Eunbi said casually as she looked up at Yerin.

“That hour is going to turn into two hours. Then three, four, five and tree will never be set up or decorated.” The dark-haired girl teased.

“Just one more hour~ We should cuddle first so that we will have more energy to build the tree.” Eunbi said as she pushed Yerin down onto the couch by the shoulders.

“And what logic is that?” the girl asked, shifting her position to lay down and make space for Eunbi to join her.

“My logic.” Eunbi replied simply with a cheeky grin. She lay down on top of Yerin and the latter wrapped her arms around Eunbi’s waist to prevent the girl from falling off.

“Silly.” Yerin whispered with a smile, rubbing small circles on Eunbi’s back.

★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★・・・・・・★

“Ugh. Are we done yet?” Eunbi groaned as she let one of the synthetic branches fall to her lap. They were currently spreading out the smaller wire twigs to fluff up each branch before hooking it onto the tree trunk.

“We’re just left with the top part. I’ll do it.” Yerin said as she took the branch from Eunbi, standing up to hook it. It took another 5 minutes before the tree was complete.

“This tree looks really cute.” Eunbi commented as she stood up. “It’s like my friend.” She chuckled, wrapping an arm around the tree.

“Are you saying that because it’s shorter than you.” Yerin scoffed as she packed the plastic wrappings back into the cardboard box.

“Maybe.” Eunbi stuck out her tongue. “Let’s decorate! What’s first?”

Yerin pulled out a small transparent box and tossed it at Eunbi.

“Pretty blue lights.” Yerin grinned. The younger girl opened the box at pulled out the mess of wires, untangling it before Yerin pulled it into an extension socket. She turned it on and the lights began to twinkle a lovely shade of electric blue.

“Wow, they’re bright.” Eunbi said as she held it away from her face.

“You’re brighter. Let’s put it on!” Yerin laughed and dodged a smack from Eunbi. Yerin wound up the wires and handed the end to Eunbi, slowly feeding the girl as she twirled the strip of lights around the tree. Yerin then pulled out a long strip of white tinsel and twirled it around the tree as well.

“Time for baubles?” the girl asked as she turned around.

“Time for baubles.” Yerin nodded. She walked to the paper bag and pulled out two boxes of baubles; one blue and one silver. Eunbi took the blue ones and they began to hang them up on the tree. Suddenly, Eunbi tossed a bauble at Yerin, shocking the girl. Eunbi burst out in laughter at the side of Yerin unintentionally bouncing the bauble around in a fruitless attempt to catch it before it ricocheted off the gold star in her hand, bouncing onto the floor and rolling away.

“Yah!” Yerin shrieked as she began to chase after Eunbi with the star. The latter quickly leaped over the couch and ran down the hallway. “Come back here!”

Yerin gave chase, following Eunbi down the hall. They ran into their bedroom, running in circles before Eunbi darted out of the door and back to the living room.

“How far are you going to run, B? This house isn’t that big.” Yerin sniggered as she held the star up, ready to throw it at the younger girl who was still laughing. They were now standing on opposite sides of the coffee table.

“Put it down!” Eunbi warned as she picked a candy cane from the box that Yerin had previously taken out earlier, pointing the end at Yerin.

“You want to fight a star with a candy cane? That’s not Harry Potter’s wand!” Yerin snorted as Eunbi began waving the cane in a circular motion, as if trying to cast a spell.

“Expelliarmus!” Eunbi yelled, poking the candy cane towards Yerin who playfully went along with the girl’s act, tossing the gold star onto the couch.

“Oh no!” Yerin cried, sniggering. “You’re a wizard!”

“Be gone!” Eunbi cackled and Yerin jumped to the side, causing both girls to erupt in contagious laughter.

“Hurry up, Eunbi Potter!” Yerin said when she finally garnered the strength to stand back up. She grabbed the star from the couch and walked over to Eunbi, pulling the girl to her feet. The girl hung the last bauble on the branch and Yerin offered the star to her.

“Want to put the star on?” Yerin asked with a gentle smile.

“How about we put it on together?” Eunbi said, holding on to Yerin’s hand. She guided the girl’s hand towards the top of the tree and carefully slipped the star on.

“Yay! It’s complete! And it only took us like… an hour.” Eunbi giggled sheepishly.

“Pretty sure we took more than an hour considering how much we played around.” The dark-haired girl pointed out, turning towards the coffee table. “We’re forgetting something though.”

“Wha- Oh. Right.” Eunbi scoffed as she looked at the candy cane in her hand. Now, how did she manage to forget about that?

“It’s alright. Let’s just put it up. Oh, and save some for the kids.” Yerin said as she picked the box of sweets up, handing some to Eunbi.

“Did you really call someone older than you a kid? Sojung-unnie is going to kill you if she heard that. I can already hear her screams of indignity.” The younger girl sniggered as she scattered a handful of candy canes around the tree.

“Bah, she won’t know I said that. Unless you decide to snitch on me.” Yerin narrowed her eyes and poked Eunbi’s arm with a candy cane.

“My lips are sealed.” Eunbi grinned.

“They better be, or I’ll help you seal them.” Yerin said, trying to sound threatening.

“How do you plan on doing that?” she asked as she hung another cane on a twig. Yerin placed a hand on Eunbi’s shoulder and turned the girl around. Before Eunbi could say another word, Yerin leaned in for a kiss.

“Maybe I should tell Sojung-unnie so that you can continue to shut me up.” Eunbi whispered when Yerin pulled away, making the latter chortle.

“You could. Or you could just ask for a kiss. I’ll be more than happy to give you as many kisses as you want.” The dark-haired girl said with a wink.

“I’ll keep that in mind then.” Eunbi smiled as she unwrapped a candy cane, sticking the end into and holding it between her teeth. “Want one?” she asked, holding up another cane.

“I want that one.” Yerin gave a lopsided grin, pointing at the one hanging between Eunbi’s teeth.

“I just put it into my mouth like 10 seconds ago.” Eunbi frowned.

“I don’t mind.” Yerin chirped as she walked over to Eunbi. Before she could chomp down on the other end, the younger girl took a step back.

“Unnie!” She whined and Yerin laughed.

This was going to be the best Christmas ever.