♡---------------------------------------------------------------♡

♡-------------------------------------------------------♡

Some place deep inside this dream, into the endless dark

I temporarily get lost inside the thick layered fog and distant

I reach my hand out, in hopes it’ll touch

But I go round and round, 

Will I wander once more?

Someday our night will probably all pass too right? 

Even when the endless dark comes

I will never be scared again

Let's hold our hands tightly together 

And I will walk the end of the darkness together with you~

Yena continued to stare vacantly at the enormous Christmas tree in front of her. As much as she loved Christmas colors and bling, she hated the actual holiday more than anything. Christmas for her only marked another year of having to dreadfully suffer from a condition she had no power over. It symbolized an unfulfilled wish, a present Santa would never be able to give; Not that she still believed in Santa anymore. 

Here she was though. Mesmerized by the colorful lights around the tree. She stood firm to the melting snow painting on the tip of her nose.

♡-------------------------------------------------------♡

At the end of the street 6:30 P.M

“Go talk to her.” Chaeyoung and Hyewon pushed Yuri.

“Why me?" The girl complained while digging her feet into the stone path.

“Look at her. She looks like a freak standing in the middle of the shopping center staring at the ing tree.” Tzuyu urged, pointing at the lone girl. Yuri had to admit that someone definitely had to snap some sense into the girl. They had all gone through three stores together and each time they came out, she was still staring at the tree.

“I’ll do it.” Minju nodding confidently. Yujin was quick to hold the shopping bag from the older girl and watched as Minju boldly strutted towards her roommate.

“Wow, Minju unnie is so cool.” Wonyoung was entranced.  “Ouch.” She rubbed her shoulder.

“Back off she’s mine.” Yujin threatened her best friend.

♡-------------------------------------------------------♡

“Hey.” Minju brushed the layered snow off of Yena’s right shoulder. Yena grinned to her newfound company before returning her gaze to the tree.

“This tree can’t be that mesmerizing can it?” Minju chewed on her lip while sinking her hand into her fluffy coat-pocket. 

“Not really.” 

“Why are you staring at it then?” She tilted her head towards the older girl.

“Who said I was looking at just the tree?” 

Minju raised a confused eyebrow. 

“Can’t you see I'm just admiring my own beauty in the ornament?”

Minju stopped to stare at a green one in front of her face. She was met with two diluted images of herself and Yena but with fatter noses and oval-like foreheads. Minju snickered at how silly they both looked.

'At least her roommate hadn’t lost her sense of humor', she thought to herself.

“We’re about to head into the main gift shop, care to join?”

Exhaling deeply and watching as the steam escaped from and thinned out around her. “Why not. I want to buy Mina and Nayeon unnie something cute to give them tomorrow on Christmas.”

“That’s the spirit.” Minju wrapped her hands around Yena’s.

♡-------------------------------------------------------♡

thirty minutes later

“How about this one?” Yena refocused her attention on Yuri who held up a pair of pink pajama sets. They had walked and went through almost every store in the mini shopping village. Most of the girls stayed outside to watch a street performance but Yena’s eye was caught into particular attention to this last antique store at the corner. They didn’t even think it was a store at first glance because of how shabby and ancient it looked compared to all the modern stores around it. At first entrance, they realized it truly was a store as they were both greeted by a frail old lady sitting on a rocking chair. She was knitting a red scarf and seemed oftly surprised to hear two visitors enter.

“Yeah, it looks great.” She grinned at her lovely best friend but the former only frowned back at her... “What?” 

“What do you mean what?” Yuri rolled her eyes before taking a seat next to her on a bench in the middle of the tiny store. “You didn’t even point out the miniature ducks on the pants.” She waved the pants exaggeratedly. 

The older girl had run out of excuses for the day. She only sighed and cast her gaze back to the floor in front of her. 

“What’s got you troubled? I know my best friend wouldn’t let some girl put a thunderstorm over her head.” Yuri pouted again.

“It hurts.” Yena woefully choked while avoiding eye contact. In Yuri’s twenty years of life, she has never seen Yena so gloomy. She was always that one person in their friend group that can twist a positive spin on any bad day. “I'm going to kill that Kim Chaewon.” Yuri chewed on her bottom lip while soothing Yena.

“I don’t want to get up.” Yena fought back the sudden tugging on her sleeve.

“Come on, we still haven’t gotten a gift for Mina Unnie.” Yuri dragged her roommate off the bench.

The two girls silently strolled through the remaining aisles. Finding a gift for Nayeon was easy for Yena. It only took her a minute to walk into the first store they had entered before she found the perfect item. Mina, however, proved more difficult for the young girl. 

“How bout this?” Yena turned her head to Yuri holding up a tacky 'World’s Best Mom' mug. 

“Chaewon said she bought Mina a mom mug before.” She smiled while walking up to hold the cup. Chaewon told her it was one of the biggest regrets of her life and the sole reason why Mina called her ‘daughter’ to this day. It was only one of the many memories they held together from texting each other at night. The two regularly engaged in sometimes deep, but mostly cute conversations all night until they both had heard the birds chirping outside their respective rooms.

“If you bring Chaewon up one more time Yena I'm going to have to personally take this home-made necklace and strangle you with it.” 

Yena pouted but ignored responding to the girl’s violent threat. 

They had wrapped around the whole store to no avail. Shopping in a small store of only hand-made items didn’t seem quite like the right taste for a twenty-three-year-old medical student. Yuri was the first to exit saying she was going to gather up everyone else so they could head back for dinner at the hotel. Before Yena could leave, she paused at a rack in front of the wooden check-out counter. She held up a mini mint green keychain that was attached to a singing mic. A euphoric rush seeped deep through her body. She spotted the fact that she was about to buy Chaewon something, but it was just so perfect. Glancing around the dimly lit store and checking outside the tinted window to make sure none of her friends would see her, she quietly slid the key chain across the check out table. The old lady behind the table smiled underneath the lamplight as this was probably the only sale she had made all day. 

“Would you like to get a name engraved on the back of it?” She gave a toothless grin while stretching her back from the rocking chair she had been positioned on.

Yena was caught off guard from the sudden question. “Uh-uhm..can you just put...Wonnie on it please?” She awkwardly smiled at the old lady.

“For a significant other?” The lady peered at the younger girl behind her circular glasses. Yena could tell the lady yearned for some form of human interaction. Part of her pitied the old lady, whose livelihood depended on the rundown shop. 'I wonder if she has any grandchildren,' she thought to herself. Being raised around a neighborhood full of elderly individuals, Yena hated how some of them didn’t have grandchildren around the holidays to warmly greet them. It was why she spent most of her childhood visiting her various neighbors to keep them company. 

“Sort of?” Yena gulped as she timidly watched the lady insert the keychain under a special engraving tool. 

Yena’s shoulders dropped. “I wish.” She mumbled, knowing damn well where she lived in Chaewon’s heart in comparison to Eunbi. Part of her wanted to change her mind and put the keychain back on the rack but the lady had already finished carving half the name. Checking her empty wallet, Yena gave a triumphal sigh of relief once she dug out her remaining two-dollar bills. It was the exact amount for the keychain, no change. She politely slid the dollar bills across the table before she felt a wrinkly warm pair of hands halt her.

“Don’t worry sweetie, it’s on the house tonight.” 

Yena frowned not understanding why the older lady wouldn’t let her pay. She knew better than to argue with the elderly though and retracted her hand with the two crumbled dollars.

“Good luck. I’m sure that girl will reciprocate the same feelings if you push her hard enough.” The old lady winked as if she knew everything Yena was going through.

Yena blinked rapidly, unable to form a coherent sentence. Her ears perked at the sound of Chaeyeon and the rest of the gang calling her from the entrance of the shop. Taking a step back, Yena closed her eyes and politely wrapped her hands around her waist. She shifted her weight forward, doing a formal 90-degree bow to show her gratitude. Before leaving, she clumsy stuffed her last two dollars into an empty and broken tip jar on the counter. Scrambling for the door and towards her roommates, she waved “Merry Christmas!”. Yena would take an empty wallet any day if it meant seeing the same joyful face the shop-keeper made before her exit. 

“What did you buy?” She was stopped by Minju who pointed at the wrapped box in her hand. 

“Something for my brother.” She lied, “He likes home-made stuff.”

“I'm starving!” Yujin clenched her stomach to prevent it from growling any louder. 

“Let's head back now before the snow gets heavier.” Chaeyeon ushered everyone to follow.

Huddled like a group of penguins, the ten girls waddled back to the hotel. It was perfect timing too as the wind relented on the poor girls while dimming their vision. After a few minutes of blind walking, Yena heaved up the final step and was accepted into the warmth of the hotel lobby. 

“We’re gonna head up real quick to drop off our bags.” Yujin waved as Wonyoung and her headed for the elevator.  Most of the girls followed in pursuit leaving only Yena and Yuri who relieved themselves on the cushioned chairs.

“You okay?” Yuri worriedly frowned at her roommate. Everybody was flushed from the freezing temperature, but Yena’s cheeks were an unnatural bruised purple. She also observed a dab of precipitation on the side of her neck. 

“All that walking is taking a toll.”  She thankfully accepted a glass of hot chocolate from a lobby worker.

Yuri frowned, “let’s head to the bathroom and wash your face a little.” She helped Yena onto her feet and they headed deeper into the hotel.

...

“Hey Yena, have you noticed this painting?” 

“Yena-, Yena look at this!.” Yuri tried desperately to distract her roommate so she wouldn't notice the two approaching bodies from afar. It was far too late, however. Yena had already noticed the stock figure of Eunbi and Chaewon headed towards them from the opposite side of the hall.

Yuri’s shoulder slumped ‘There was no getting out of this was there?'

The bathroom door that was only five feet away, looked further than the mountain Eunbi had shown Yena the other morning. She refused to make eye contact with either of them. Seeing Chaewon’s smile as she conversed with her ex was an image she didn’t want to materialize. 

Chaewon hadn’t even noticed Yuri and her were approaching past her. She was too immersed in the conversation she was having with the older girl.

Yena prematurely heaved a sigh of relief thinking that Chaewon and Eunbi had not noticed them. It only took one word to cause both their hairs to stand on their necks.

‘Of course, this would be the first time Eunbi had acknowledged them.’

Yena re-spread her bangs to clear her vision. Apparently the “If I can’t see you, you can’t see me tactic.” didn’t work after all. “Hi, Eunbi.” She grimaced.

Yena noticed Chaewon’s smile disappeared and a small lump formed in as she watched the red-head reactively take a step closer to Eunbi.

“Heading to dinner already?” Eunbi smiled. They both were still snow-covered from head to toe due to their late excursion up the mountain. 

“We were headed to the bathroom actually.” Yuri budded in. She tried being confident for her roommate but man oh man was Eunbi unnie so much more intimidating up close.

“Are-are you okay?” Chaewon softly whispered. She recognized Yena sported the same paleness when they had performed at the festival.

Yena was quick to hide her complex. “Yeah, of course, Wonnie!” She made her best attempt to sound genuine to the girl, but the flatness of her voice was undeniable. 

Before Chaewon could continue she heard a voice from the end of the hall she had not heard for a very, very, long time.

“Chaewonnie~” A tall and slender woman had taken off her sunglasses,( even though it was already night-time) She strutted towards the four girls while a shorter and more stout older man followed with the same energy.

Chaewon was stunned as she felt the plump lips of her mother stain her cheeks with red lipstick. ‘Why the hell are my parents here?’

“Is that you Eunbi dear?”

Yena and Yuri were star-struck as they watched the luxurious woman hug and kiss Eunbi in the same fashion she did to Chaewon.

“Who are these two?” They both gulped as they realized the lady was pointing at themselves.

“These are our friends from college.” Yuri scuffed at the difference in Eunbi's voice as she explained.

“Why are you guys even here?” Chaewon was not thrilled at the two adults' presence. 

“What do you mean why are we here? We own this place, my daughter.” The lady obnoxiously giggled while waving her hands around the hall.

Yuri’s and Yena’s mouth dropped simultaneously but for different reasons. While Yuri was more stuck on the idea that the person in front of her owned this supremely lavish resort. Yena was puzzled at the “Daughter” part of the expression. If there was one conversation Chaewon had avoided talking about with Yena over the phone, it was about her parents. She wasn't raised in the most "Family"  orientated atmosphere. Childhood Chaewon was often forsaken for affection from her parents busy work details. It was probably most of the reason she turned out to be so independent. 

“Own this place? I thought you guys were done investing in services after the mess you two caused on the last cruise ship we bought.” Chaewon growled at her parents.

“Calm down sweetie.” The man, presumingly Chaewon's father, pinched the young girl’s cheek before patting her hair. “Daddy is holding this resort for a friend while he pitches another business idea.”

Chaewon rolled her eyes annoyed. “Well isn’t this quite a coincidence”

“Coincidence?” Chaewon’s mother frowned. “You really didn’t think we knew you weren't coming here?”

All four girls stared at the older lady bewildered.

“Who do you think gifted Seoul University free tickets for the festival in the first place!” Chaewon’s parents obnoxiously laughed in the most snobby fashion Yuri could've ever imagined.