“When you said that you – “

“Shut up.”

“That’s an understatement.” Minju finished before flopping down on the floor, all the decorations scattered around them while Hyewon was standing beside her.

Their order arrived yesterday, which was a Friday, and here they are now decorating the apartment with all the decorations that Minju purchased. Maybe she did go overboard with the decorations but it’s not like Christmas is a once in a lifetime event – it happens every year, a great investment if you ask her.

Assembling the tree was easy, it went smoothly given that they both know what it’s supposed to look like. Hyewon was a great help, the older girl knows what she was doing with the tree. This is why Minju expected that Hyewon would be great at decorating – not batting an eye to Hyewon’s declaration that she ‘’ at decorations.

This is not ideal because it seems like Hyewon didn’t lie and Minju just expected too much when the older girl was already slapping her with the truth.

Because the once plain Christmas tree is now decorated – a sorry excuse of decoration that Minju would prefer it being plain that decorated.

Mostly, people would say that a Christmas tree should be full of colors – anything could be put on a Christmas tree, it’s a season to be happy. But Minju is not exaggerating when she says that Santa would definitely cry if he saw their tree.

It’s just a… mess.

There’s no color coordination – yes, it’s a season to be happy but at least let it be aesthetically pleasing. The decorations just look uneven and uncoordinated.

She couldn’t help but give Hyewon a look of disbelief, the latter avoiding her gaze as she hangs another Christmas ball.

“Don’t look at me like that.” Hyewon groaned before flopping down beside Minju, wanting to just clean the whole apartment because the decorations are all scattered around – boxes from the tree on the floor just irritate her eyes. She couldn’t even look at the actual tree.

In her defense, she hasn’t really celebrated Christmas in years – since Sora left. She would always be invited by either Sakura or Eunbi to their houses, or even the whole gang would celebrate together. But in general, Hyewon just doesn’t have that spirit to celebrate the holiday all out.

It’s draining for her, Sora even used to drag her out of the apartment to personally buy decorations. The only thing she’s good at is during the time when they need to assemble the tree, after the tree? She would leave Sora to let her do her thing.

Everyone knows that other than not having the energy to celebrate and spend money on the holiday for decorations, Hyewon just at decorating in general.

“I told you I’m not great at this.” She sighed, already tired from doing the bare minimum. She wonders how Sora managed to do all of this by herself.

Minju laughed and laid her head down on Hyewon’s lap, grabbing the latter’s hand in the process. “I thought you were joking, you know. Being humble and all that.”

Hyewon scoffed at the assumption, “Obviously, I was not.”

“Obviously.” Minju chuckled before glancing at the mess they just made, “So, what’s the plan?”

Hyewon groaned out loud which earned a laugh from the younger girl, she doesn’t even have a plan. She just wants to lay down and maybe clean a little bit but she knows that Minju is adamant about decorating the apartment.

That’s when she realized the time, it was almost lunch and they haven’t eaten anything since morning – well maybe the toast counts but the activity just took a toll on her and she’s exceptionally hungry.

“How about lunch?”

Minju nodded her head, “Great idea, what’s the meal you’re planning?”

Honestly speaking, Hyewon cannot even think about anything – she was that hungry and tired. “I can’t even think about cooking right now, can we do takeout instead?”

Minju stared at the older girl in amusement, a laugh building inside her and Hyewon just groaned.

“Fine, I’ll do it myself.” Hyewon announced before pushing Minju off her, “Excuse me while I order my lunch.”

Minju laughed out loud before standing up and following Hyewon to get her own phone, hugging the older girl from behind, she pressed a soft kiss on the older girl’s nape. Making a mental note to ask Hyewon about her body soap.

“You’re really cute when you’re tired.”

Hyewon rolled her eyes but interlaced her fingers with the younger girl, looking over her shoulder and nuzzling her nose towards Minju’s face. “And easily annoyed.”

Minju just stuck her tongue out at the older girl before overtaking Hyewon and grabbing her own phone. Way before she started eating homecooked meals courtesy of the older girl, she has saved a number of restaurants for her own takeout cravings. She even categorized it by cuisine.

“Any cravings?”

Hyewon just flopped down to their couch and the television, not even looking at the show. It was just mainly for background, mostly to forget the mess that she needs to clean later.

“Seriously, anything is fine for me.”

Minju nodded her head, “For every vague craving, Japanese is the way.”

The older girl smiled and pulled Minju down to the couch, surprising the latter. It resulted in Minju almost laying on top of Hyewon, the older girl just smiling innocently at the other girl. “You’re perfect.”

Minju smiled down at Hyewon, momentarily forgetting the task she needs to do. “Oh really, now?”

Hyewon nodded her head, “Yeah, and I can’t just think about another day without you in it.”

And that’s the thing about Hyewon, she just says things whenever she wants to – no matter what the circumstance is. That’s why Minju knows that she won’t get used to it because Hyewon does it spontaneously.

She’s not the type to say cringe-worthy things, she’s just – just honest. Apologetically honest that Minju cannot help but feel the blush forming on her face.

“Great to know but we need to eat lunch first,” Minju said as she clears , but before she can push herself away from the older girl, the latter pulled her back in to give her a quick kiss.

And goodness is it just her hunger or what, but the kiss they’re having is really great and she couldn’t help but deepen it. Lunch all forgotten, Minju suddenly wants to just stay there with Hyewon, and all of a sudden, a sound that made them both stop came from… – she was not even sure.

They’re not sure who it came from, but Minju quickly pulled away as Hyewon pushed herself up and coughed. Suddenly finding the show really interesting, while Minju quickly scrolled through her contacts to look for the best Japanese restaurant she had once.

“Uhh, I’ll just order our lunch. Anything will do right?”

Hyewon quickly nodded her head and didn’t even look at Minju, “Yeah, sushi is a must.”

Minju then jumped off the couch, “Okay, sushi. Noted, I’ll just go to our – I mean my room, yeah.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

Awkward silence.

Minju shakes her head and quickly entered her room, slamming it shut. How could she be embarrassed when they’re not sure who it came from? She doesn’t even know what came inside Hyewon’s mind to do that out of nowhere – don’t get her wrong, they don’t schedule their kisses but that’s probably the most – okay she’s going to stop there.

Just… “What the .”

“Excuse me?”

Minju jumped out of surprise and almost dropped her phone, grateful for her quick reflexes – she composed herself before answering the call again. “No, sorry I just saw something.”

“Okay…”

Minju then immediately cleared and started ordering their lunch, hoping that it will keep her mind occupied even just for a few minutes.

On the other hand, just outside the younger girl’s room is Hyewon walking back and forth in the living room as she tries to process what just happened – in courtesy of her doing. She tries to forget whatever happened a few minutes ago but she just keeps thinking about it.

This is the best time to leave and go to her own place but unfortunately for her, this is her place as well.

Now, the thing she needs to do is to stop whatever she was doing or thinking.

What the , why did I even do that?

But the thing is, Minju just looks absolutely perfect at that time that she couldn’t help but kiss the younger girl. It just so happened that she didn’t notice that it would escalate into something more – well, almost if they didn’t stop.

Grabbing her phone, she quickly dialed someone’s number – hoping to forget what just happened, and maybe she could clean their messy apartment after lunch. Glancing at the Christmas tree and decorations behind her, Hyewon groaned at the sight.

“Hey, you good there?”

Hyewon immediately smiled and answered the person – talking to them to waste time as Minju is busy ordering for their lunch.

/

Lunch was a quiet and awkward event between Minju and Hyewon, neither of them even bothered starting a conversation – still feeling embarrassed with the kiss earlier. Both of them are just thankful that the movie playing – which they didn’t even bother knowing the title of, had their attention because of its interesting plot.

Everything went well after that when Hyewon started asking Minju about her idea of what would happen next – the usual thing she does when she and Sora used to watch movies together. It’s just a habit for her, it makes everything more interesting – knowing how other people view a scene and whatnot.

They didn’t open the subject regarding their kiss but the conversation flowed after that, the embarrassing moment all forgotten and the two of them are in sync once again.

What Minju didn’t expect is that they would have a visitor in the middle of the day – they were almost finished with their lunch when they heard a knock coming from outside. Minju looked at Hyewon confusedly while the latter just smiled awkwardly, muttering an ‘I’ll get it’ as she scrambled to her feet.

That’s when Minju heard voices, familiar ones – more than one, and all she could do is stare as they enter their still-messy apartment.

“Oh wow, you’re putting up decorations.” Sakura said before greeting Minju, “Hey Minju, sorry for visiting unannounced.”

“And wow, you’re having Japanese for lunch,” Yena said from behind, smiling at Minju before sitting down at the floor. “Can I have some?”

Minju could just only nod her head before the others started going through their apartment, roaming around and checking the decorations, while some are eating their takeout – it was too much for her and Hyewon anyway.

The once awkward atmosphere was replaced by something warm, despite the ruckus that the others are doing because when she says others – she means that everyone is there in their apartment, and Minju didn’t have any idea that they would go here.

That’s when she looked at Hyewon, the older girl standing and looking down guiltily. The latter then quickly sat down beside Minju, glaring at Yena who was busy finishing the remaining sushi.

“Sorry, I only asked Sakura and coincidentally she was at Yena’s and then Yujin was there and the – “ The older girl started rambling and Minju just chuckled and squeezed Hyewon’s hand for her to stop.

“It’s fine, I was just surprised.”

Hyewon sighed and rested her forehead against the girl’s shoulder, “Me too.”

“Kang-chan, were you decorating the tree?” Sakura asked while she leans her body to Chaeyeon, the latter chuckling at her girlfriend’s question.

Hyewon rolled her eyes and didn’t answer, instead opting to just stuff with sushi – fighting with Yena as the girl is finishing it already.

“Unnie, you made her do that?” Yujin asked Minju, looking at the tree in disgust. “I feel sorry for the tree.”

“Shut up.” Hyewon glared at the younger girl before slapping Yena’s hands away, “Didn’t you eat already? Hey Yuri, can you get your pet here?!”

Yuri just hummed and looked at Yena, the latter staring at her with puppy eyes – and unfortunately for Hyewon, that’s Yuri’s weakness. “She’s hungry, let her have some.”

Hyewon just groaned and started regretting that she invited them to come just because of her own embarrassment earlier, now here she is – dealing with the disaster she brought to their apartment. Minju couldn’t help but laugh slightly at the older girl, grabbing Hyewon’s cheeks and pinching them slightly.

“Stop sulking, it’s fun to decorate with friends anyway,” Minju said, trying to appease Hyewon’s mood.

“It’s not when they’re only going to tease me.”

Minju laughed at the snickering she heard from the others – Hitomi and Nako looking at them, specifically at Hyewon and then at the tree.

“Kang-chan, we don’t know how you can’t decorate a tree properly,” Hitomi said before Nako continued.

“It’s like Sora got all the artistic side between the two of you.”

It’s an on-going joke in their friend group, with how Sora managed to be as creative as possible while Hyewon always sticks to the basic – plain old Jane.

Hyewon sighed and looked at them, “I was sleeping when God decided to bless everyone with creativity.”

“Must be one hell of a sleep for you to make the tree ugly.” Chaewon butted in which earned a laugh from everyone – even Yena choked on her food.

Eunbi, God bless her soul for stopping everyone from teasing Hyewon – even Minju didn’t have anything to say because it’s really funny to see Hyewon all embarrassed with her lack of creativity. Eunbi won’t do it if Hyewon wasn’t looking at her pleadingly.

“Okay guys, that’s enough.” She announced before standing up, “It seems like you’re full already, we should clean this up.” She said before grabbing some empty takeout boxes from the table, the others following her orders.

“After this, we can decorate the tree and the apartment.” Eunbi said and looked at everyone, “No teasing.”

She glanced back, seeing the smile on Hyewon’s face and she couldn’t help herself – it’s just great to see this kind of Hyewon. They didn’t realize how everything is changing for the better until today, and it feels light. As if everyone was influenced by Hyewon’s change – everything was just bright.

“Unless necessary.” She said before going to the kitchen, a look of betrayal on Hyewon’s face as the older girl started cleaning up.

Minju can only laugh at everyone and place a kiss on Hyewon’s cheeks – she didn’t know that having people with her would be something that she’d like. But right now, with everyone rummaging through the decorations, playing with the Christmas balls, garlands, and everything, she doesn’t know what she would be doing right now if she didn’t meet them.

And that’s all thanks to Yujin and Hyewon.

She then felt a nudge only to see Wonyoung, smiling brightly at her. “You look happy.”

Minju smiles at the younger girl, “I could say the same thing to you.”

“It’s great to have them, right?” Wonyoung asked as she looks at everyone in the apartment, suddenly feeling too much. “It’s only been a few months but it feels like – “

“Years.” Minju finished her sentence and looked at everyone as well, “It’s absolutely amazing how simple things could mean everything with the right people.”

Wonyoung nodded her head at the statement, glancing at Minju then at Hyewon – catching the small smile the two exchanged. “I’m glad for you two.”

Minju couldn’t help but smile every time someone says something like that about her and Hyewon – because she knows they mean it. Their situation is like a long bumpy ride, two different worlds that never once bumped with each other – it might have touched a little bit, but never intertwined until they did.

Minju didn’t imagine herself as someone who would have a person she could lean on to, to love and be loved – but Hyewon just came knocking in her door all mysterious and everything just went on from there. And Minju couldn’t be any more thankful than that, because now that she had a taste of it – she couldn’t imagine losing Hyewon.

“Christmas at your place?” Minju decided to ask and Wonyoung nodded enthusiastically, grabbing Minju by the arm and dragging her to where the others at.

“Of course, I already told everyone on the way here and they all agreed.” Wonyoung said, “Don’t worry, I already told our parents so it won’t be a problem.”

Minju smiled at her cousin and that’s when she noticed that she was already standing beside Hyewon, the older girl grinning at her before putting something on Minju’s face. The younger girl frowned because she doesn’t have any idea what Hyewon put at her.

“What did you – “ She looked at her hands as she wiped her face only to stop and glare at the older girl, “Glitters?!”

Hyewom shrugged nonchalantly, “To sparkle your life.”

“Let her be Minju,” Chaeyeon told Minju before grinning at Hyewon, “She can’t decorate for , so she’ll just annoy you for the whole time.”

“Hey!”

“1 point for Chaeyeon!”

Minju laughed and stuck her tongue out Hyewon, the latter pouting but immediately smiled when Minju passed some decorations to her. “Make yourself useful and put this there, just follow my instructions.”

Hyewon grinned proudly, ignoring the teasing looks from everyone as she followed Minju. The others then started doing their own thing, some were putting up decorations on the apartment while some were on the tree. Others were cleaning up some of the boxes to make the workplace much decent and to avoid accidents – it was great bonding for everyone.

And Hyewon knows that Sora would be proud of her for helping to put up the decorations – God knows how much Sora tried to force Hyewon to do the same but she would always do the bare minimum.

This is one hell of a task but it’s fun, huh? No wonder you always do this. Hyewon thought to herself as she grabs another decoration from Minju, looking at where the latter is pointing and following her.

Yeah, she may at this but Minju was there to save her.

Everyone was there to save her and she’s thankful for them – always.

//

“That’s the last one,” Eunbi said as she set aside everything, looking at the newly decorated apartment. The Christmas tree placed just at the right spot where it won’t take up too much space, she then looks around and proudly smiles at the successful job they have done.

“Great work guys!” She clapped her hands and the others just replied a weak ‘woohoo’ as a celebration. Almost everyone is laying down either on the couch or at the floor, some were at the kitchen – Yena and the two younger Japanese girls. Yujin on the other hand is busy looking for an interesting show to watch as Wonyoung leans her head on the latter’s shoulder.

Chaeyeon and Sakura are both busy talking to one another while Hyewon and Minju are beside them, just casually laying down on the couch with Minju in between Hyewon’s legs. Yuri and Chaewon decided to join the three girls in the kitchen to look for snacks.

It’s been a few hours already, almost 5 and all of them are hungry from all the work that they did. Even Eunbi can’t deny that but at the same time, it was something that she won’t exchange for anything else. As if on cue, Yena and the others brought out some snacks from the kitchen – properly putting it all on the table, some freshly sliced fruits, chips, and other snacks that Eunbi knows would never belong to Hyewon.

Everyone then started grabbing some foods from the table, with Hyewon obviously choosing the fruits. Yujin then decided to play a random show hoping it will be interesting enough for all of them to watch.

“You really hoarded our kitchen,” Minju looked at Yena and the other culprits, the girls didn’t even look guilty at all. “Are you sure we still have enough for the whole week?”

Chaewon just waved her hand, “You can restock tomorrow, it’s a Sunday.”

That’s when Hyewon decided to in the conversation, “What’s the plan on Christmas anyway?”

And that caught everyone’s attention.

“What do you usually do on that day?” Wonyoung asked the others before continuing, “We don’t really celebrate it together, well we did when we were young. But it’s always with our parents then we just stopped when we grew up and everyone became busy.”

“Right, unnie?” Wonyoung said looking at Minju, the older girl nodding her head in affirmation.

“It just became dinner with our family, we never celebrated it with friends.”

“Because you don’t have friends.” Chaewon deadpanned which earned a smack from Minju and a laugh from others.

Eunbi didn’t comment on that but chuckle at Minju, putting a hand on the latter’s shoulder as if saying it was okay. “Well, we mostly celebrate it with each other but we don’t always get together.”

“Oh, really?” Chaewon asked as she chews her food.

Hitomi nodded her head before stealing the fruit that Chaewon was holding, “Kang-chan would sometimes go to our house to celebrate it, sometimes it would be at Sakura’s. Then Yena and Yuri will go there.”

“It will mostly be us just playing games, watching movies, and of course eating.” Yena added which earned a nod from everyone, “Nothing too fancy, we even decided to just eat ramen one time because we were too lazy to cook.”

And it made Minju pause because that was how they celebrated with Hyewon – just Hyewon. How about the times when Sora and Hyewon are with them? She didn’t voice out her curiosity but it seems like Hyewon felt it because the latter hugged Minju’s waist tighter before grabbing a sliced apple.

“We used to spend it all in our apartment,” She said carefully, memories flooded her again during the time she spent her first Christmas in Korea with Sora and the others. “Sora insisted that we spend it there, you know mess the apartment then clean it after.”

Everyone then looked at her worriedly, they have always been careful since they could remember. Not mentioning Sora, especially during holidays that Hyewon used to spend with the girl like a ritual. But with the way Hyewon was smiling at herself, obviously reminiscing everything – they know that the girl is alright with it.

Because Hyewon is indeed okay, she wants to share it with Minju – because the only reason she couldn’t handle it before because of the idea that she won’t experience that kind of happiness again. But she was proved wrong because here she is probably experiencing the kind of happiness different from before but still – it makes her happy.

“Hyewon’s a bomb chef,” Yujin said out of nowhere, “Like wow, we could eat an entire plate of whatever she cooks.”

Chaeyeon laughed and nodded her head when Minju looked at her in confirmation, why was she even surprised? Hyewon cooks for her every day, of course Hyewon would cook during Christmas.

“Unfortunately, when she’s lazy to cook, she is lazy to cook.” Sakura emphasized and Hyewon just shrugged her shoulders.

“It’s too tiring.”

Wonyoung then said something that made everyone shout in agreement, “Well, she can cook this year.”

“Yes!”

“I second that!”

“I agree, I miss your cooking Kang-chan.”

Hyewon looked around, wanting to object but everyone is in a high and she knows that she won’t be heard. She looked at Minju for help but the girl just smiled at her and shrugged her shoulders. “I really love your cooking so I can’t help you.”

“Guys, that’s enough,” Eunbi said when she knows that no one will help the girl. “Cooking for all of us is too much, how about we bring out own foods to share?”

“Like a potluck?” Yujin asked and the older girl nodded.

“Exactly like that.”

“We call dibs on the drinks!” Yena shouted as she hugged Yuri.

Wonyoung shrugged her shoulders, “I won’t bring anything, it’s my house anyway.”

“Point taken.” Yujin nodded her head and the others looked at one another, various dishes and snacks being shouted from left and right.

And everyone knows that Christmas will probably a day they would never forget.

/

It’s a 1 and a half-hour drive to Wonyoung’s house and just like before when they went to visit Sora, they all dec