Somi has always prepared thoroughly for Christmas: decorations, invitations, food. Everything was supposed to be perfect on this holiday, but the girl miscalculated a little with the last point: food. Therefore, right now, in home clothes with only a jacket pulled on, she ran to the nearest store to buy this special sauce for meat and a couple of sweets.

The line was long, apparently not only she forgot the ingredients. But what terrified her more than usual was the fact that some people bought everything just now, as if they had not prepared for the holiday at all and only now remembered about it.

And here in front of her stood the same kind of idiot. He not only bought a whole cart of groceries just a couple of hours before Christmas, but he also very leisurely laid out the goods and collected them in a bag.

For a while, Somi just stood there, looking displeased at the guy and at the wristwatch, then stamping her foot impatiently, but in the end she could not stand it. The girl came closer to the guy, muttered let me help, and began to put all his groceries in his bag faster.

The guy didn’t even have time to answer, looking at the girl in shock, and while he was thinking of what to say, Somi had already managed to put all his things and handed the bag to him. The young man smiled and only wanted to say thank you, but the girl immediately turned away, already buying her goods.

She no longer cared about everything around, she threw everything in a bag and flew out of the store like a hurricane, almost knocking down the same slow guy. The girl was too in a hurry, and did not even notice, rushing into her building. Her floor was twenty-first, and she immediately pressed the elevator button, but it was already on the thirtieth floor and the girl groaned in agony.

Going up the stairs was not an option, so she had to wait. She leaned against the wall, closing her eyes. She tried to calm herself, counting in her head, but at exactly fifty-six the entrance opened again, and another resident entered to wait for the elevator. The girl glanced over the person and recognized the same guy from the store. So he also lives with her?

The guy apparently recognized her too, but did not dare to talk, meeting her gloomy eyes. He stared at the board with the changing red numbers, as did the girl. The guy was very uncomfortable in this silence, but the girl just thought about something else.

Finally the elevator showed signs of life and the doors opened smoothly. The girl went inside first, and a guy followed her into the elevator. They simultaneously reached for the button, and their fingers touched on the same floor. The guy immediately pulled his hand away, and the girl at that time pressed on her floor. The guy didn't move, letting the elevator go, and the girl realized that they lived on the same floor.

For a while, the pleasant music of the elevator played, and the girl regretted not taking her phone with her. She could at least call Lucas and ask what he would like for dessert. The guy stared at his phone, trying not to pay attention to the girl's presence.

At one moment, the light in the elevator flickered suspiciously, forcing both to raise a puzzled look, as the elevator shook sharply, and both grabbed the walls of the elevator so as not to fall. The elevator froze in place, and Somi looked with horror at the floorboard: it stopped exactly on the seventeenth. Oh no.

Panic slowly began to squeeze her chest, but she took a deep breath as she approached the door. The guy at this time just stood still, thinking about what to do. He checked his phone and sighed regretfully.

The girl tried to open the doors, but she didn't have enough strength, and the call button hadn't worked for a long time - she remembered that. Somi sighed resignedly, but a positive thought flashed through her head. She turned around and saw the guy who was also looking at her.

“Hey, do you have a phone?” She smiled at him friendly, seeing the phone in his hands. “I forgot mine at home, and we need to call the emergency service.”

The guy shook his head lightly and pointed to the elevator buttons. The girl already mentally hated his sluggishness, but still stretched her lips in a smile.

“The call button does not work, did you know?” She held out her hand to him, as if asking for a phone. The guy hesitated for a very long time that Somi wanted to howl in frustration, but he finally gave her the phone. “Thank you, I'll call now.”

She happily opened the call menu on the guy’s phone. She knew the number of emergency services by heart, and already rushed the phone to her ear, but she heard a language she did not understand. The girl looked in surprise at the screen with Chinese characters. What?

“Sorry,” the girl heard the guy's soft voice, and turned to him in absolute shock. He looked down awkwardly. “I recently arrived from China, I do not have a local number.”

The girl was ready to howl in despair, gave the guy the phone, and she leaned against the wall of the elevator, clutching her head. What should she do now?

“Maybe…” he fell silent, and the girl turned her frightened eyes on him. She was afraid of getting stuck in the elevator, but even more she was afraid to miss Christmas and spend it here. “sooner or later they will notice that the elevator is not working. Then maybe ... we’ll just wait here?”

“We have no other choice,” the girl sagged on the floor in displeasure, looking at the guy with a studying look. He seemed a little embarrassed by this, and repeated after her movement, also sat down on the floor. “What's your name?”

Since they will be sitting in the elevator for a long time, why not at least to know each other's names? The guy ran his eyes along the elevator, and the girl smiled lightly, noting that he was rather awkward.

“Kun,” he said quietly, but in the dark elevator everything was perfectly audible. The girl smiled slightly at him, but the thoughts of Lucas and the lost Christmas were still in her head.

“I’m Somi,” she gave him her hand, and the guy squeezed it weakly, and the girl noted his warm palms. Was he nervous? “Kun, you said you’ve been to China?”

The guy nodded lightly, turning his phone over in his hands.

“What did you do in China?”

“I live in China,” he said a little awkwardly, but Somi was already used to it. She looked closely at the guy, and already wanted to ask something else, but he answered earlier. “I'm here for my studies.”

“And I have lived here all my life,” she sighed, realizing how long she would have to hang around in this cramped elevator with a completely unfamiliar guy. She turned a lazy gaze to him, and he did not even look at her, avoiding her gaze. She chuckled, “Kun, tell me something about yourself.”

Kun was quite an interesting conversationalist, Somi realized. He confused some words in Korean, and sometimes he did not know how to say something which made the girl laugh, and the guy just smiled shyly.

It turned out that they were of the same age, and their birthday was on the same day. What a coincidence! He spent Christmas alone, because his family is far away, and he has not yet had time to make friends here. Somi smiled and chatted: she asked the guy, talked about herself. Mostly she spoke, and the guy was kindly silent, listening to her every word.