She stared at the bright blobs of colors on her palette again. Then back to the painting. Then back to the colors. Which would she choose for her next brushstroke? What if it didn't turn out perfect? And why oh earth did she decide on acrylic painting, not color pencils and ink like her other drawings?

Chaeyoung groaned inwardly in frustration at her inability to make a simple decision, at the same time, her heart fluttered with the excitement of Mina seeing her present. No, she would just have to keep trying and not give up on this. As she dipped her paintbrush in the titanium white once again, her mind wandered back to yesterday when Jihyo brought up the idea of secret Santa. 

"Everyone it's that time of year againnnn~ You all know what that means!" Jihyo's melodious voice sang with the holiday spirit. Tzuyu, who was sprawled on the couch, looked up from her phone and quizzically arched an eyebrow.

"Jihyo unnie, why do you sound so excited?" she asked, though her resigned tone made it sound like she knew what was coming. "Are you gonna make everyone do secret Santa again like last year?"

"Secret santa again? Aww, can we try something new? It's just that I still have no idea what to do with all the selca portraits that Nayeon gifted me with last year," Jeongyeon looked over at the two, pausing in the midst of hanging a string of brightly colored Christmas lights over the fireplace.

"You can still look at them every night before bed to remind you of my gorgeous existence," Nayeon called from the kitchen, where she was drinking hot cocoa with Momo. Jeongyeon rolled her eyes at Nayeon's typical remark before continuing her work.

"Yes," Jihyo clapped her hands together, her smile beaming warmly. "Let's do secret santa. But this time, we'll make it different. To change things up a little."

"Oh? How so?" Tzuyu still looked a little skeptical. Her last year's present from Sana was highly impractical, not to mention barely appropriate for the innocent maknae.

"Trust me on this, my dear Tzuyu. We'll have everyone give each other handmade gifts this year, no store-bought gifts allowed! It'll be a fun and heartfelt way to express our love for each other as one big TWICE family," Jihyo winked, already set to work on writing out everyone's names on slips of paper.

And that was how TWICE ended up sitting in a circle, cuddling up in big comfy blankets, sipping hot drinks. Everyone pulled the name of their secret gift recipient from a hat, with much giggling and teasing one another about who might have gotten who.

Chaeyoung was both surprised and pleased to read "~Myoui Mina~" on her slip of paper. She tried not to be too obvious and did not glance immediately at Mina who was sitting across from her, leaning gently on Momo's shoulder and sipping her cocoa thoughtfully. Instead, she just cracked a lame joke with Jeongyeon sitting beside her, though inwardly she was blushing like crazy. Her mind set to work wondering what kind of handmade present Mina would appreciate from her. Besides rapping and dancing, drawing was one of Chaeyoung's many passions and seemed like the perfect idea to create a work of art for Mina's gift.

The snow was falling delicately on the darkened city outside, and Mina could feel the friendly feeling of the Christmas holidays spreading slowly over her. She could hear the voices of Dahyun, Sana, Nayeon, and Jeongyeon downstairs playing some card game and Jeongyeon's outraged voice at Nayeon's obvious cheating. She gazed out the frosted window, feeling so lucky to be spending the holidays with some of her most favorite people in the whole world.  curled in a slight smile at the thought of Chaeyoung unwrapping her present.

Of course, Mina tried not to give away her secret too easily. She avoided looking at Chaeyoung right after drawing her name from the hat and pretended to cuddle next to Momo. But she already knew the perfect gift Chaeyoung might like from her. Knitting was always one of those therapeutic, yet hardly used skills Mina always thought she had, so it seemed natural to knit Chaeyoung something. She'd challenge herself by making a pair of gloves, the design of which she had seen in Pinterest boards online, and decided it wouldn't be too difficult to DIY.

Finally deciding on starting up her little project again, Mina picked up the knitting needles and picked up from where she last left off. The wool was a cute, wintery blue color, and Mina already kenw it would be the perfect size for Chaeyoung's smol hands by furtively measuring some old leather gloves from her closet (also, leather gloves? When she found them, Mina wondered when Chaeoyoung stopped wearing something as cool as those).

These warm gloves would be the perfect accessory for the winter season. Motivated by the thought of Chaeyoung happy and pleasantly surprised at the gift, Mina continued her knitting and began to softly sing the notes of a classy holiday carol, a gentle smile on her face.

"Ready? Ok, don't look yet," Chaeyoung made her final arrangements, as Mina sat on the couch with her eyes covered. "Ok now, 3..2..1.."

Mina opened her eyes and gasped. There, in front of her displayed on the coffee table in a frame, was an artistic rendering of her, painted against a snowy landscape. The Mina in the painting looked off into the distance, her graceful and delicate expression filled with hope and longing. In the painting, her beauty, sadness, and rare quirkiness was captured all at once in a single frame. Snowflakes cascaded all around in the portrait, and one could almost be reminded of a penguin at the south pole.

"I..I.." For a moment, she was lost for words.

"Do you like it?" Chaeyoung looked at her, hopeful and anxious at the same time. She'd spent the whole afternoon on the painting. After so many years of friendship, it was the first time Chaeyoung had drawn Mina and she was eager to see her reaction.

"I love it." A huge smile lit up her elegant features. "Chaeyoung, this is amazing! Thank you." Her look of humble gratitude and fondness spoke a thousand words to Chaeyoung. They embraced by the warmth of the fireplace, the bond of friendship between them strengthened like the bow of a Christmas ribbon.

"This is for you," Mina presented an impeccably neatly wrapped gift box, decorated with cute penguins and polar bears on the wrapping paper.

"No way! You got me for secret Santa too?" Chaeyoung said, her hand covering her delighted surprise. She opened it excitedly and took out the contents. "Ah, these are so cute! And warm," she tried the gloves on and put both hands, warmed by the soft wool, to her face. The knowledge that Mina had hand-knit these gloves, just for her, made her cherish them even more.

"This is the best Christmas I could have ever hoped for," Chaeyoung's words reflected her genuine happiness.

Mina felt a tingling warmth at seeing her Chae's adorable smile. For now, as the other members still lay sound asleep upstairs, only she could share this rare moment with her baby lion cub, and it brought her unspeakable joy. 

As they sat there on the couch, treasuring each other's presence in the brightness of the early winter morning, the future felt infinitely hopeful.