By the time the last of Jihoon’s relatives had left, I felt drained. But as tiring as the cooking and hosting was, it was still a really fun Christmas. Seongwoo had been fascinated by everything, from the cookies to the fairy lights on the tree to the egg nog. Off course angels didn’t really need to intake foods or liquids since it had no effect on their bodies. It basically burned away the moment they ingested it. Still, it didn’t stop him from trying everything laid out on the table. He had made a funny scrunched up face after tasting wine for the first time, trying to get rid of the taste by on a candy cane.

He, Daehwi, Guanlin and I were outside building snowmen. It was a competition that my aunt and uncle were going to blindly judge. Seongwoo and I were on a team together and he and Guanlin had both promised to not use their powers in any way to build it. It seemed odd that they were able to use their powers at all without any circumstances. I had been so against Daniel using his own, that I had forgotten just how normal it really was for the covens. Before we could even begin, I had to google images for Seongwoo and Guanlin since they were under the impression that snowmen were actual humans whose skin was made of snow.

Once they had the gist of what we were about to do, both teams got to work. Seongwoo worked on the base while I worked on the middle layer. Even though I had gloves on, the chill went through it, reaching my fingertips. As if noticing how cold I was, Seongwoo shrugged off his jacket and handed it to me. He didn’t actually need it. It was just part of the illusion he was trying to give that he was also feeling cold like a normal human would in this weather. “Are you sure you don’t want me to?”, he asked. I shook my head. No matter how close we had grown, there had to be some boundaries between us. There was no way I would let him hold me that way he had in bed, even if it meant it would make me warm. It seemed too intimate of a task for someone who was not your boyfriend.

I missed my boyfriend. I wished we were spending Christmas together. I pulled out my phone and one glove and texted him. ‘I miss you more than I miss the warmth’. A moment later, his reply arrived, ‘I miss yo