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.

I knew Lady Luck was not on my side the moment I stepped into this college party. Just a few minutes ago I had narrowly escaped Aeyoung's grasp and fifth attempt to matchmake with one of her classmates. Then a very drunk girl on the dance floor stepped on my brand new sneakers, so now my white Adidas had a huge print of a stiletto at the front. When I excused myself to the bathroom earlier, all the taps were broken and I had to sneak into the male bathroom for a quick wash of my hands. So of course, the natural trajectory of the night was that I could not save myself from this inevitable fall. I felt the force of impact push me, and with a cliched motion of tripping on my own laces, I fell back onto the Christmas tree. 

Fortunately, whoever had set this tree up had the sense to hold it down with some sandbags at the bottom. Save for a terrible shake and mad jingle of the decorations on the tree, it was otherwise intact and standing at its full height. I, on the other hand, let out a small yelp. As I breathed in through seething teeth, I lifted my arms to examine the stinging pain. The cheap materials of the decorations and plastic bristles of the tree had made multiple small cuts along my arm, and where my right palm grabbed onto the tree for support, a weird looking Santa ornament had created a gash across. My calves, similarly, were not spared from minor cuts and injuries. All in all, the tree had definitely harmed me way more than I ever did to it. The only things that I had destroyed, however, were the gifts placed beneath the tree. I gasped, looking at the boxes I had either stepped on or stained dirty with the blood in my hand. The lucky draw tonight was not going to go well. 

The only saving grace in the whole situation was that nobody was looking this way, and everyone seemed occupied with whatever the DJ was playing right now. My cousin was showing off her dance moves in the middle of the dance floor, unwittingly directing all attention away from me. 

Well, all except for one. 

I looked away from my hand to the pair of well-shined leather shoes that had just stopped right before me. Whoever it was, I did not know. But the first "word" we exchanged was a shared gasp. 

I lifted my eyes to see a boy in a fluffy oversized Christmas sweater with a clipboard in his hand. He looked at me with horror in his eyes, and I wasn't sure if he was going to reprimand me for crashing a college party, or for destroying the gifts for lucky draw, or both. So out of instinct I raised my hands up and clapped them together, hoping to apologise and ask for mercy. 

That was a grave mistake, because I now had two bloodied palms and a very very painful wound. 

"Oh !" I took in another deep breath as I turned my back to the stranger to examine my wound again. 

To my surprise the stranger simply set his clipboard down at the foot of the tree, before tapping on my shoulder to ask me to follow him out of the hall and into the hallway of the campus. At the hall's entrance, he was stopped by another classmate who gave off very aggressive bossy vibes. 

"Hey Minseok, where are you going?" The girl demanded, looking between me and the guy who was now holding onto the only uninjured part of my arm; my wrist. 

"Emergency. She fell on the tree. I'm bringing her to the First Aid room," Minseok said hastily. He seemed even more concerned than I was. 

"Well, the Lucky Draw is starting soon, and I need you to organise the gifts because you're the one in-charge of this segment! She can go to the First Aid Room herself, everyone knows where it is," she reasoned, "otherwise, I could bring her too." 

"It's okay Bomi, I'll bring her," Minseok said hurriedly as he stepped out of the door, "besides, I've placed the checklist and instructions at the foot of the tree, so why don't you handle it instead." With that, Minseok the college boy brisk-walked me down the hallway, where the First Aid room was. He seemed very familiar with supplies and facilities, because he did not hesitate at all as he opened the various cupboards and drawers to grab the apporpriate supplies for my injuries. 

"This is going to sting, but please hang tight for a while." Minseok said, looking into my eyes gently. Maybe Minseok was a medical student, because for some reason, he was very effective in reassuring me and allaying my fears. 

Despite his quick and adept skills though, the sting he mentioned was still giving me hell. My toes curled when he washed my palm with antiseptic and bandaged it. I was glad he seemed quite proficient, but that did not mean that I was not in extreme pain. 

"Sorry, sorry!" 

Minseok dotted the entire process with soft and high-pitched exclamations of apologies, which I found quite amusing despite my suffering. 

When he was done and was packing the supplies back to the respective spots, I finally found the courage to face the music. 

"Hey, Minseok sunbae?" 

"Yea?" He seemed surprised that I called his name directly, but what I saw was also a flash of panic as he gave me a quick once over, checking if there were any unattended wounds. 

"I just want to say sorry. You were in-charge of the lucky draw and I basically wrecked the gifts. I really didn't mean for it to happen, but someone bumped into me and-"

"It's okay." 

I shook my head vehemently. 

"No it's not! I came to this college party when I don't even belong here, and all I wanted to do was to go home, but instead I singlehandedly destroyed your project, wasted all your efforts and you're still kind enough to attend to my wounds! I'm really sorry!"

To my astonishment, Minseok started laughing. Genuinely. A heartfelt laughter. 

"Hey it's really okay! I did not want to do it anyway. This was easily the lamest segment of the whole night. They made me shop for all these lame gifts that I doubted anyone even wanted, so it's perfectly alright if they're no longer given out." 

I stared at him, still feeling guilty. 

"You spent a lot of time shopping?" 

He shook his head kindly, his smile still hanging between his prominent cheeks. 

An image of the demanding senior floated into my head. 

"Would your leader, from just now, blame you for it? I could explain to her!" 

It was as if a light bulb went off in Minseok's head, because he suddenly rushed me to stand up. 

"That's right, we got to run." 

What?

"Er, I estimated five minutes for Bomi to find out the full extent of the situation. She usually bullies her juniors into running errands for her, so before another minion informs her of this, we have to escape her wrath," he looked at me apologetically.

Hence somehow, with my wound-covered limbs and Minseok's spare jacket over my shoulders, I achieved the very mission that I had set out to do in the first place. 

Escape this boring party. 

"You sure you don't have to be back there?" I asked him one last time as he snuck out of the hall with our belongings in hand. 

"Nope, I just caught sight of her hunting me down," he grinned, "honestly I was tempted to step on the gift boxes myself if you hadn't done it. Really despise working with her in the Council." 

We walked hastily down the driveway leading up to tthe carpark, where Minseok said he had parked his motorcycle. 

"That sounds important. Would you be kicked out of the Council?" I said as he handed me a helmet marked 99. 

He tilted his hand and tapped his chin thoughtfully. 

"It is important, but I really doubt Bomi would kick me out of Council," his cheeks lifted once again as he smiled confidently at me. I was fighting the urge to pinch them. I hopped on the back of his bike, completely leaving my fate to him for the night. In no time, we arrived at my doorstep. 

"Why won't Bomi kick you out of Council?" I asked as I handed him his helmet back. 

I would have to say what happened next, thankfully, happened after Minseok had already driven me home. If he had shown me this side to him in the First Aid room, I would have screamed for help. 

Because said boy in his cute oversized sweater casually placed an arm on the handle of his vehicle and leaned in close to me, looking me directly in the eye as our noses were merely inches apart. This sudden suave was causing my heart to beat wildly. 

"Because, as you would know," he said, "I'm too good and cool in what I do." 

I stared back at his hazel round eyes, wide-eyed and blushing madly. What happened to soft medical student Minseok? I could only answer with a nervous hiccup, and that broke the bad boy act that he was putting on. 

Patting the top of my head that was messed up by the helmet, Minseok asked in the same jovial tone from when we were in the First Aid room. 

"So, what's your number?"

--------

Do not judge a book by its cover. 

For all the cuteness and fluffiness that people (myself included) associated with Minseok for his cheeks and Christmas sweaters, I realised this guy was lot smarter and astute in his observations than people thought he was. 

Not only was he the first person to notice my demise at the tree, he revealed to me on the day I returned his jacket