"Come in!" Hana said, "welcome to our place." She said, taking her coat off. 

Their house was much bigger than Jongin's studio apartment. It was a landed townhouse in the outskirts of the city. The walls where clean and white, and there were several Christmas decoration around the house despite the fact that it was only late November. A few pictures of Chanyeol and Hana were hung on the wall, next to a picture of their family. There was a Christmas tree in the corner of the living room (Chanyeol always set one up on the week of his birthday), where there were mock gifts put under the tree, and there was a table next to the Christmas tree, where Chanyeol had set up a nativity set. They were a religious family, except Hana, who have sworn to herself that she would never enter a Church in her life after her divorce.

"My brother is going to be home in two hours or so," Hana said, "I should start cooking."

"Let me help," Jongin said, "I was a chef, remember? Well, I am not right now." He chuckled, following Hana to the kitchen.

Hana chuckled, "of course. Come here and help me make some mandu. I need to make some miyeokguk, it's not a birthday without seaweed soup." She said, opening the pantry door. "Sorry about the festivity. My brother loves to put up Christmas decorations during the week of his birthday. Weird habit, but well, it's his house," she said, taking out flour from the pantry.

"That's alright. I find it cute, to be honest. I don't really decorate my place," Jongin said, washing his hands. He quickly helped making the mandu as she made seaweed soup. "I used to cook for my family. It's fun to do that." He said with a chuckle, "sorry," he then realized that he was projecting his past to Hana, which might make her uncomfortable. "I must've made you uncomfortable with all my sob stories."

"No, not at all!" Hana said, shaking her head, "let it all out, it's fine. We should have each other's backs. Isn't that what we learned from Living Sober?" She smiled at the man standing not far from her. The woman genuinely cared, especially since she felt like she should be listening and be there for him the way her brother was towards her when she was stuck in the darkest pits of alcoholism for months.

Jongin let out a smile, and he took a quick glance at the woman standing next to him. She was beautiful. He had never seen someone that way after his late ex-wife, and it honestly made him question himself; was he ready to move forward with life, and maybe take his chances with the woman that made him stand in awe of her beauty and patience? He didn't know. Maybe he was.

Hana looked outside, and she tilted her head, "oh, it started snowing," she said, "it's only November and it's already snowing," she chuckled. Hana had a love-hate relationship with snow––she did not like having snow in her hair, and she did not like walking on it; and the bigger reason was she got married when it was snowing outside. "I hate the snow, but I have to admit that it is beautiful. Feels like Christmas already, huh?" she asked Jongin, looking at him with a small smile on her face. "Alright, the seaweed soup is done..."

God, she is so beautiful, he thought to himself, as he watched the woman. Stealing glances and stares, he was obsessed with the way she looked, the way she talked, he way she moved her hands and even the way she cuts onions. She took Jongin's attention and it felt like there was no other woman in the world who could make him react that way other than his late ex-wife and this woman.

Once they were done, Hana took out a bottle of kinderpunsch from the drawer, and a bottle of wine for her brother. "Here's to us being former alcoholics." She said with a chuckle. "It's so funny, people always question why I do not drink. It shouldn't be like that––so many people benefit from not drinking," she poured the non-alcoholic drink into a pot and started warming the non-alcoholic drink up. 

Jongin chuckled, "I can relate to that." He said shortly, as he took out glasses from the cupboard, setting the glasses on the table. "Oh, did you ask your brother if it's alright to have me here?" he asked. He was worried that her brother might not like that she had a man over, especially a man he did not know before. 

"Meh, Chanyeol doesn't care. I did send him a text message, but he just read it. He is at the Church right now, so I don't expect him to reply," she said, shrugging. Her brother was quite the religious man, just like how she used to. Chanyeol was not preachy, even if he visited the Church quite often; he always claimed that he liked the atmosphere in it. "Don't worry, he's not a preachy, annoying guy. He just loves his relationship with God." She said with a small chuckle. 

Jongin looked up at Hana and shook his head, "oh, I competely understand. I used to visit the Church a lot." He had stopped going after the death of his late ex-wife, the last time he visited one was for his late ex-wife's funeral service. "I stopped though. I just feel like He's giving me too much for me to handle. Why would He do that if He truly loves us?" he asked, shaking his head. "Sorry––if I offended you."

"Oh, you're right." Hana said with a chuckle, "you're right. I have the same question." She said.

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