You look at the piece of paper you’ve retrieved from the ballot box and frown.

 

‘Nakamoto Yuta’

 

Christmas is coming soon and your team lead has decided to hold a Secret Santa event for the Marketing department. You don’t detest the idea nor the celebration, but you do detest the fact that you now have to think of what to give to someone you barely know.

 

Yuta is in the Marketing team as well and the two of you have spoken a few times, but it was mainly to align on your projects together. You manage social media content whereas he does market analysis, so the two of you need to collaborate every now and then as your work correlates to one another. You’re not particularly close to him, and your interactions with him have only been limited to work and some meaningless but courteous “how are you?” and “how was your weekend?” thrown here and there occasionally. So you can’t hide your surprise when you pick up his name unintentionally. The rest of the team guffaws at your reaction and you hear Haechan sing song “I bet she’s not close to that person!” out loud, leading the rest to snicker and laugh.

 

Doyoung, the one running the name exchange session and is emceeing the event gets everyone to quiet down before asking you the dreaded question, the same thing he had asked the previous people who’ve picked up their Secret Santas.

 

“Do you know this person well?”

 

You sheepishly shake your head and the team gets rowdy again, finding your lack of luck hilarious for some reason. Doyoung clears his throat, “Oh well, now’s the time to build some rapport ay!”, he concludes before signalling you to go back to your spot and he calls for the next person.

 

You shuffle back next to Taeil, whose eyes are glinting for some reason. You roll your eyes when he lets you peek at his piece of paper.

 

‘Irene’

 

“Nice to know your stars are aligning”, you huff before passing him your paper, partly happy for him because he had not shut up about his crush on Irene for months. He immediately chuckle when he sees the name and passes the paper back to you.

 

“And nice to know your stars are keen to you up”, he teases and you give him a good smack on the back, his mouth immediately trailing curses directed to you.

 

 

It’s been a week since the Secret Santa ballot has happened and you find it amusing at how obvious Mark is being. “You have me for Secret Santa, don’t you?”, you ask when he gives your place a visit yet again, something he has been doing a lot lately. His face changes and his ears redden, but he adamantly shakes his head, a curt and urgent “No” leaving his mouth.

 

You laugh.

 

Mark and you both do content. He was an intern previously but due to his excellent performance, your manager decided to hire him permanently. He’s a little younger than you, and every day you are reminded of that fact - especially when he’s extra sheepish like this. The two of you are quite close, and you genuinely like him, but you also don’t talk about personal interests with him. For the most part, Mark is just your colleague. Nothing less, nothing more. But for the past few days, Mark has been asking you a lot of questions - most of them personal and alluding to gifts.

 

“Hey, what do you think of this cover?”

 

“I really like this watch strap, isn’t it pretty?”

 

“Do you think I should get this book?”

 

“Wipe that smirk off your face”, he hisses and you laugh again because you know you’ve caught him red handed. He rolls his eyes, “Just send me your wish-list already” and you coo, “Where’s the fun in that?”. He flips you off before leaving to his desk.

 

 

Lunch time is rowdier than usual. You’re at your usual lunch spot, and the table is currently buzzing about the gift exchange.

 

Taeil has apparently gotten Irene a silver necklace with a butterfly locket. The group doesn’t question the gift of choice - you personally think it’s a tad bit too propose-ey, but the group did ask why a butterfly in particular.

 

“Butterflies are pretty, and so is she”, Taeil reasons and the group groans at his corny reasoning.

 

“Who did you get again?”, Mark asks, his question directed to you and everyone on the table focuses their attention on you.

“Yuta”, you say in between bites and Jaehyun lets out an “Ah” in respond. “Are you guys close?”, Sooyoung asks and you shake your head. “Not at all”, you shrug and she nods understandingly. “I think he likes outdoorsy stuff”, Jaehyun supplies and you mentally take a note. “He’s also big on coffee, apparently”, Taeil adds and you hum, already thinking of buying coffee beans just so you could get it over and done with. Mark laughs, “That’s Johnny”, he corrects and you roll your eyes at Taeil. “Oh well, you can just get him something generic”, Jaehyun suggests and you hum, “I guess so”.

 

 

Turns out, you had no choice but to get Yuta something generic. It is the D-day for gift exchange and you had completely forgotten about it - what more the present. You only realised when the rest talked about it during lunch, and you immediately panic before leaving to go to the nearest supermarket. You ended up picking a few novelty chocolates from the festive display rack, along with a decent looking paper bag with a Christmas card. Jaehyun gave you some of his leftover ribbon so you used those to tie the handle nicely. A little festive touch, according to him.

 

All of you were told to stay back at the office for an early Christmas dinner celebration with the team. It is 6 o’clock and the office is half empty but it is absolutely unruly in the pantry. Everyone’s talking at the same time and bottles of champagnes are being popped simultaneously. You cringe at the sight and the loudness of it all before stealthily picking up your food and standing at a quiet corner that’s a bit secluded from everyone else. Taeil and Mark join you while Jaehyun and Sooyoung busied themselves being social butterflies.

 

When Doyoung announces it’s time to exchange gifts, you pretend to be surprised when Mark passes you yours. “Thank you”, you say while chuckling and he pulls you into a hug. “I had a hard time picking which gift to get”, he says as he pulls away, rolling his eyes. You give him a wink. You ended up giving him your wishlist, and he bought you the Stojo you had listed 5 times in the list.

 

You continue talking to Mark but when you see Yuta from the corner of your eyes, you leave the former.

“Merry Christmas Yuta!”, you greet as you pass him his gift. Unlike yours, his reaction is genuine. “Oh thank you!”, he says, sounding surprised and a little excited. You immediately feel bad. You give him a small smile, planning to exit but his next words stops you immediately. “Lemme open this”, he announces and you chuckle a little sheepishly, “You can do that at home”, you suggest and he shakes his head. “Nah, let me show you my genuine reaction”. He unties the ribbon hurriedly and you wait anxiously, your eyes immediately locked on his face to gauge his reaction.

 

Yuta is beautiful, you realise as you stare at him. You have never really looked at him, and especially not at this distance. His facial features are accentuated at the right places; large and bright eyes, sharp nose, and reasonably sized lips. And when he smiles, his perfectly straight set of teeth makes you green in envy. You watch in silent as his eyes turn into crescents, his smile widening and the two of you lock eyes when he looks up to look at you.

 

As cliche as it sounds, time seems to have stopped right there and then. The two of you are directly looking at each other, both unwavering. For some reason, you don’t feel like breaking off the eye contact, and he doesn’t seem keen on it either. It wasn’t until Doyoung starts speaking over the loudspeaker that you look away, your eyes immediately looking for Doyoung. When you realise Doyoung isn’t announcing anything significant, you turn back your attention to Yuta, who’s still looking at you. You awkwardly clear your throat and the spell breaks.

 

He blinks before looking away. He immediately reaches in the paper bag to pull out one of the chocolates you’ve gotten. He looks at you again, waving the gift in front of you. “Thank you, how’d you know I like chocolate?”, he asks before scrutinising the box.

 

“Uh, I kind of just-“

 

“Oh”, he exclaims and you peer over to what he’s intently looking at. The expiry date printed in red.

 

It has expired. A week ago.

 

You gasp and snatch the chocolate box from him. “I’m so sorry!”, you profusely say and Yuta laughs. He tries to reach for the chocolate but you swiftly hide it behind your back. “It’s fine, one week won’t kill me”, he reasons and you shake your head before chanting, “No no no”.

 

“So you’re gonna throw it away?”

 

“Of course!”

 

“I’m telling you I’d eat it!”

 

“What! I can’t give you this, gimme the paper bag”, you lean over to take the paper bag from his hold but he hides it behind his back too, following your earlier move.

 

“I’m sure the others are fine”, he reassures and you can feel your face reddening from embarrassment, as well as guilt. “I’m so sorry, I should’ve checked properly”, you apologise again and Yuta shakes his head while smiling, “Don’t worry about it, this made my day”. You snort. “Let me buy you coffee tomorrow”, you offer but Yuta’s eyes lock on someone else behind you and you turn to see who it is. Yeri from his team is calling him over for their team’s internal gift exchange and you motion for him to go. “Thanks, and see you tomorrow”, he says pointedly before winking.

 

 

 

“Thank you”, you cheerfully say to your usual barista, who goes by Min - it’s apparently short for Minseok, but you think Min suits his baby-like appearance rather well. You take a photo of the Stojo containing your caramel latte and send it to Mark. He replies with “Niceeeee” and “Glad you like it” consecutively.

 

Once you’re at the office, your eyes immediately search for the man you accidentally gifted expired chocolate to. You don’t see him but spot Yeri instead.

 

“Hey, is Yuta here?”, you ask and she looks away from her files to look at you. She immediately smiles upon meeting your eyes, “He’s at the pantry I think”, she answers and you thank her before prancing away to the said place.

 

When you walk into the pantry, you see the man you’ve been looking for and Jaehyun is talking to him.

 

“Morning”, Jaehyun greets when he sees you walk towards them. Yuta turns his head and smiles when he sees you. He gives you a little wave. “Morning”, you say before standing next to Yuta, “Sorry if I’m interrupting”, you apologise and they both shake their heads.

“Nah, I’m about to leave”, Jaehyun says before patting your back, a gesture he does often but this time you feel like there’s a hidden meaning behind it. He bids you and Yuta goodbye and you turn to look at the latter.

 

“Hope you like Americano”, you say, passing him the large cup of coffee to him. “It’s hot”, you say in warning and he carefully takes it away from your hold. “Thank you”, he says, beaming. “I thought you were kidding”, he chuckles before taking a sip and you shake your head. “I really do feel bad”, you admit before bowing your head slightly and Yuta shakes his hand in panic, “No please don’t be! It’s a minor mistake”, he says alarmingly and you laugh. “I’m glad it was you then, if it were Doyoung I think I would need to buy him more than coffee”, you state, thankful, and Yuta laughs.

 

“That’s no good, should I request for more?”, his nose now scrunched as he ponders in thought. You think he looks cute but you keep that thought in your head and roll your eyes instead, “You wouldn’t do that”, you say, a little too confident, despite not knowing him that well.

 

“Actually, I would”, he smirks,

 

“Would you like to get dinner with me tonight?”