It's Christmas and my favourite cousin Aeyoung could no longer bear to watch me spend another lonely holiday season. Despite my protests, my older cousin dragged me to her college Christmas party, hoping that I would find someone special that very night. Unsurprisingly, while she was hanging out with her friends, I found myself increasingly bored by this party filled with college kids, all older than high school senior me. Though I felt horrible about it, I decided to ditch Aeyoung and sneak out of the party. As I was moving around the food table and Christmas tree inconspicuously, a couple ran pass and knocked heavily into me.

As if fate could not be more cruel that night (it already brought me to a party I disliked), I lost my balance. And as I struggled to grab onto thin air, I felt my body crash into the very thing that would make me the centre of attention for the night - the shining centrepiece of the event, the Christmas tree. Along with me and my dignity, the tree toppled over, creating a deafening crash that was accompanied by a chain of residual cling-clangs as the lights and decorations rolled across the dance floor, ensuring that everyone in the whole vicinity knew of my great fall. 

There was silence in the room. Or rather I could feel everyone hold their breaths while the DJ continued to work the music, as if to mock my embarrassment with lowgrade party BGM. Nobody moved as I lay there in the thick prickly plastic branches of the Christmas tree, trying to steady myself from an ensuing dizziness while fighting the loud booming music, and also hoping that all this was just a nightmare. It took me a few moments to finally not see double, but when I stretched out my arm in an attempt to lift myself up from the tree/ floor, I gasped in horror when I heard a faint grunt below me, and my hand touched something soft. 

Oh my-

"-goodness, Yura!" From a distance I could see my cousin roughly shove her glass of champagne into her tall friend's hand before rushing over (as fast as she could on six-inch heels) to seperate me from the wrecked Christmas tree on the floor. She dramatically grabbed me by my shoulders, aggressively checking me left and right, up and down to make sure I was alright. 

"YURA!"

My cousin looked like she was on the verge of tears, so I stuffed a hand in her face to stop her from embarrassing me any further. 

"Stop shouting my name, it's not like I need everyone to know who I am. And I'm feeling better now, so stop turning me around and making me dizzy all over again."

It was only when both Aeyoung and I heard another whimper from behind me, did we turn to look at the tree and its outstretched arms. 

Wait, why does the tree have arms?

Wait-

"Uhm, could someone get this tree off me now?"

A few helping hands rushed over immediately to lift the tree as gently as possible so as not to hurt whoever was underneath. 

A pale, handsome face looked up at us, looking clearly dazed. There was a huge bump on his forehead, and I immediately felt a pang of guilt welling up inside me. 

"You alright?" Ironically, it was he who spoke first as his half-opened eyes stared gently into mine.

"Ya," I whispered back. My guilt was making me timid. My soft voice surprised me, because suddenly it made me feel like this conversation was almost intimate. 

I answered his soft question in an equally quiet voice. It was as if we only had each other, in that vast hall, after both suffering from an ill-fated fall together. It was oddly touching to hear him ask about me, given his state. 

"Good," he smiled, "I guess I'm the best gift one can find under a Christmas tree then."

With that, he was knocked out cold. 

I stared at him for a minute. 

Somewhere, someone (probably his friend) shouted his name out loud before carrying him off to the hospital. I stood rooted to the ground, and my cousin took it as a potential sign for concussion. I allowed her to drag me out of the hall and hop onto a taxi bound for the hospital too, as my mind tried to grapple on with what the guy just said. 

Because...

DID HE JUST ING MAKE A CHRISTMAS TREE DAD JOKE!?

--------

A nurse gave my knees a stern look as she passed me by along the corridor, entering a room in the distance with a clipboard in hand. I locked gazes with her, wondering desperately if she could be the excuse I use to enter the room in front of me. Unfortunately all she did was to judge my nervously shaking legs that were making a constant pitter-patter on the hospital floor. 

I spent my whole visit to the hospital last night pestering my cousin to find out who my fellow victim was. Or rather, who the victim was, since it was really me who pushed the tree onto him. The doctor I met ruled out the possibilities of concussion, and save for a few negligible bruises and my wounded self-esteem, I was mostly unharmed. By the end of my cosultation, Aeyoung had found out through various connections that the boy was called Kim Junmyeon, a college senior a year older than her. 

"Oh ," she gasped when she scrolled through her messages about said Kim Junmyeon. 

"What?"I was rubbing my temples, not because of a concussion, but because I could sense more trouble coming my way. 

"So I told you about entering the Academic Decathlon Club in school right?" Yes, nerd? "Well he is the Kim Junmyeon, the guy who is in-charge of the club."

Fast forward a few hours, here I was outside his hospital room (that's right, he had a concussion and had to be hospitalised), hoping to apologise for my clumsiness and making sure that Aeyoung would still stand a chance to enter Kim Junmyeon's precious nerd club. 

Just when I decided to back out and escape after a full hour of deliberation outside the door, a guy came out of Junmyeon's room with an empty jug in hand, presumably to refill it at the pantry. 

"Oh it's you! The nightmare before Christmas!" He exclaimed when he set his eyes on me. 

Rude but not untrue. 

"Huang Zitao, I need my water! And don't be rude to guests!" Another voice came from inside the hospital room. 

Zitao made a face and stuck his tongue out at me, before throwing me a "don't you hurt my hyung again" warning and making his way to get water. 

"You can come in now. I know you're been outside for really long." Junmyeon sounded slightly gentler this time, but in my head it sounded like he was getting weaker.  should I get the nurse. 

I entered the room to find Junmyeon seated up in bed, a mountain of pillows stacked behind him like a makeshift throne. He smiled warmly at me as I entered, clearly not in the most confidence stance. 

My apologies were replaying like a broken record in my head. 

Tell him you are sorry. Tell him a couple knocked into you and you did not actually mean it. Do not tell him you are affiliated with Aeyoung and if he finds out, tell him she is smart, intelligent, freakishly good in Mathematics and Linguistics. Tell him you are willing to work at Subway for the next few months to pay for his hospital bills...

"Hi," Junmyeon started the conversation with a weak but warm smile, "have a seat over there. Zitao sat in the other one so that might be warm and uncomfortable."

I took a seat in the chair he indicated, which was on his left. Something about him made me want to sit up so straight I was like a robot next to him. Probably because I was the reason why he landed in a hospital bed. 

"Before you say anything else, thank you for letting me in here. I just wanted to say..." I swallowed hard, "that I am really sorry for what happened. Sorry I ruined your Christmas this year. A couple knocked into me and that's how I lost my balance and that is why I knocked into the tree and then it fell and then you got hurt ohmygosh and how much are your hospitalisation fees I will work at Subway until I pay your bills fully!"

Junmyeon's raised hand shut me up. To my surprise, he chuckled. "Breathe in, breathe out. You're going to give me a headache again for speaking so fast."

I clasped my lips tightly together and puffed out my cheeks. How could I be so careless? What if meeting me worsened his condition? Would that Zitao guy come in and kick me out? Will he carry out his threat? 

"First of all, you don't have to pay for my bills. It's just my parents and Zitao being a bit too over the top. It was not that serious and I could have gone home much earlier."

I looked at him hesitantly. "Are you sure you are really alright though? You were unconscious last night and your friend had to carry you."

He chuckled to himself again, his eyes morphing into single lines, as he mumbled to himself about having drama queen friends. 

"I mean, even if you don't want me to pay for your bills...how should I compensate? There must be something I can do? Do you need some food? Have you had lunch?"

He nodded, pointing to the hospital food on his bedside. 

"Are you tired? Do you need me to draw the curtains so that you can sleep?" 

He shook his head, telling me that he had slept for the whole night to rest his concussion. 

Out of desperation, I asked, "Would you like to punch me instead? So that we are even? Or just push me or something." 

I knew those were very stupid words, but I just wanted to do something to ease my guilt. It was swelling to a massive size before the extremely kind Junmyeon. 

He tilted his head a little, as if to give my suggestion a serious thought. After a moment, he gestured for me to stand next to his bed, right next to him. 

"You said I could punch you in return?" 

I gulped, but what's been said had been said, so I nodded regretfully.

"You sure about that?" 

I nodded again, pulling my lips tight to brace myself for the impact. Because beneath his loose hospital wear, I could tell Junmyeon had outstanding arms. At least that was what I remembered seeing beneath the tree the night before. 

"Alright, brace yourself then."

I shut my eyes so tight I thought I was going to hurt my own lids. There was a gust of wind before me, before I felt something approach myself. 

I was ready to fall on the ground without complaint, but instead, a row of knuckles lightly brushed pass my cheeks, before two of them lightly pinched me. 

I opened my eyes, probably making a dumb expression because Junmyeon was laughing while pretending to shadow box. 

"C'mon you don't think I was really going to punch you right? It's Boxing Day today, of course I would," he threw a couple of fake boxes into the air, "shadow box." 

I felt a cold chill enter my body at the bad joke once again. 

"Oh that's not the end," he winked cheerily at me, "that was officially my punchlin