Kim Chaewon isn’t a stalker.

Sure, she may have been discreetly following a first year every lunch break but she isn’t a creep. She’d prefer to call it scouting. Target analysis, if you will. Yena did tell her to just approach her instead of being a weirdo. She considered it.

However, takes a peek at the corner and spots her, giggling with her friends. The smile in her eyes and pleasant melody reaching her ears confirmed that she wasn’t going anywhere near her. Not when her mere laughter causes Chaewon to malfunction.

So she leaves them alone, else her heart will explode.

 

//

 

“Have you learned anything?”

“Nope.”

 That was a lie. 

Honda Hitomi would always line up early in the canteen for a cinnamon roll bun and then get some strawberry milk at the vending machine. Her friend group consisted of Minju who is in choir with her, Nako who was surprisingly tiny for her blunt attitude, and Yuri who at a glance she confused for Yena except shorter. Hitomi was sensitive to the cold and often wore sweaters. She thought she had something until Yena heard from Yuri that she had too many sweaters already.

Hitomi was also talented. She knows how to cheer dance— she had spotted her demonstrating a few moves to her friends. Her handwriting was also very pretty, having seen the posters she helped Chaeyeon design for the journalism club. 

Chaewon did learn a lot this past week, but nothing to help her buy a gift.

During the beginning of the school year, the group of second and third years used to be five (excluding Eunbi who is now in university). After Sakura introduced two of the Japanese first years to them and Hyewon dragged two others, their friend group expanded. 

Chaeyeon suggested a Secret Santa and a majority of them agreed. With her luck, she ended up last to pick and pulled Hitomi’s name from the box.

Chaewon doesn’t hate her. If anything, she thinks she’s a cool person. They just weren’t that close. With a lot of people in a group, it was inevitable for some of them to be closer compared to the others. 

This was apparent with how the first years were together more often, how Sakura and Hyewon spend a lot of time in computer games, and how she confesses everything to Yena- even the small crush she had on Ms. Kwang back in third grade.

“What do I do?”

“Talk to her?” 

Chaewon rolls her eyes as if to say ‘Are you stupid?’

“Just admit that you-” Yena stops herself, clearly done with her. “God you’re even denser than me,” she groans.

“I take offense to that.” Surely she wasn’t as bad as Yena. In what exactly? Chaewon refuses to think about it, instead, she switches the subject.

“How about you?” 

“Already got a gift! Sakura’s been posting about Breath of the Wild since we drew lots.” Yena unlocks her phone and pulls up Sakura’s Twitter account. Different tweets with just pictures of the game and no merchandise filled her timeline. 

“If only things went that well on my end,” she sighs, leaning her body back into the chair. She looks at the clock in front of the classroom, realizing break time is almost over.

“You could just get her a normal Christmas present, you know.”

“I could,” she says. She doesn’t need to explain how that wasn’t even an option. She’d rather embarrass herself trying to impress Hitomi than see her disappointed face when she gets a plain present.

Yena observes the frustrated look on Chaewon’s face. She feels her phone vibrate so she opens her messages and she lights up, an idea springing to mind.

“It’s alright, I have a plan,” she stands up, hands on her waist with a confident grin.  “You can trust me on this one.”

She doesn’t trust her at all, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

 

//

 

Not even half a day later, they find themselves in front of a coffee shop near the school.

The four of them enter the cafe. Minju and Hitomi were at the front, checking the menu. Yena nudged her, raising her eyebrows at the quiet state Chaewon was in. 

The cafe was only a few minutes away, making the walk towards the coffee shop nerve-wracking. Thankfully, Yena was able to chat them up and made the atmosphere normal. She just hopes she’d be fine by the time they arrive.

However, the scent of roasted beans and hot coffee did nothing to help calm her nerves.

She was reminded of what Yena told her before they left school.

“I’ll make sure you sit beside her so you can talk to her.”

If she were being honest, this was not a bad plan. Compared to when she told her to breakdance while wearing a costume during her part-time job and the time they bought live crabs and stuffed them in their bags to surprise their teacher, this was genius.

She almost trusts Yena now. Almost.

“I’ll get our orders, what do you guys want?” Yena offered. 

Minju and Hitomi start listing their orders to her, while Chaewon perks up, staring hard at Yena hoping she’d get the message. Stay with me, you said you will.

“I know, I know. You’ll be getting your disgusting mint choco ice cream float,” Yena assured her.

So much for helping her.

Chaewon wants to let out a whimper but is reminded that two first years were with her when Minju leads them to a table in the corner.

"I'll go help Yena with the drinks." Minju stands up, leaving the two of them alone. Hitomi sitting beside her made it easier to avoid her gaze, but her presence couldn’t be ignored, their shoulders almost touching with how they were seated on the couch.

Chaewon really did try hard, keeping her eyes solely on that one dust particle stuck on the window. But she hears a yelp to her right so her head turns there, and she catches Hitomi looking at her.

“Sorry, I hit the table.” Hitomi rubs her elbow, blushing a little from embarrassment.

“It’s alright.”

The conversation ends there, and awkward silence ensues. Hitomi proceeds to play with the free napkins on the table. Chaewon realizes that she probably should try talking to her. She doesn’t want to look cold, nor does she want to scare her away in the near future.

Now, make small talk, that should be easy. 

“So, uh, how’s school?”

“It’s going well, unnie.”

They make eye contact, and Hitomi leans forward and smiles. Unlike lunch a while ago, her hair is tied in half pony, making her cheeks more visible. 

Oh yeah, she needs to reply.

“Have you adjusted to Korea yet?”

She learned that she only recently moved to Korea this summer. Honestly, they were pretty impressed that the Japanese first years were this fluent in Korean without having stepped in the country. 

Hitomi looks away for a second to think. “I’m having a little trouble in history class, but I’m getting used to everything else.” 

“That’s good.” Chaewon leans in and whispers, “You know, Ms. Gyuri likes being called pretty so writing that in your homework is a good idea.”

“Really?” Hitomi nods, storing her advice in her mind. “Didn’t know you were a teacher’s pet.” 

Chaewon leans forward pensively, resting her chin on her interlaced hands. “I do what I must.” 

“No wonder Yuri kept kissing her before she left.”

Hearing Hitomi curse was refreshing, she was used to her soft yet hilarious rebuttals to the other first years (Chaewon is reminded that she shouldn’t bring it up, remembering that this was only the 3rd time they spoke to each other). Hitomi doesn’t even notice until her eyes open in realization.

“Oh god, I’m sorry-”

“It’s alright! Don’t worry,” Chaewon laughs it off. “I like it.”

Hitomi tilts her head in confusion. 

“I meant I like you being open! Not that you curse, not that cursing is bad but-”

Chaewon stops when she hears Hitomi giggle.

“Don’t worry, I understand what you mean,” she assures her.

Right before she could reply, Yena arrives with their drinks in hand. Minju hands Hitomi her drink and takes a seat on the opposite side together with Yena.

Minju sips on her drink and gags, frowning.

“This might be yours.” She hands the drink to Chaewon, who gives her the stink eye before claiming her drink. They trade drinks before chatting with one another, their previous conversation cut off.

While Minju and Hitomi talk about classes, Chaewon silently frowns. She was this close to having a five minute long proper conversation but no, they had to come back early.

Yena raises her eyebrows at Chaewon, who replies with another frown. Yena discreetly winks at her then coughs, catching the table’s attention.

“Oh by the way, can I get your number Hitomi? You too Minju.” 

Minju perks up, bringing out her phone and hands it to Yena. Hitomi does the same.

“We should’ve done this earlier.” Minju takes Yena’s phone and inputs her own number. 

“Here you go, you're welcome my dearest fan!”

Yena hands her phone back and Minju punches her playfully after seeing that Yena named herself as ‘Pretty Yena’.

Chaewon feels a tap on her shoulder. She looks at Hitomi who slides her phone to Chaewon, the contact list already open.

“Can I have yours too? Maybe you could give me more tips for class,” she suggests.

Yena you sly , I love you.

Chaewon enters her number, her fingers bumping into the strawberry mascot keychain on her phone case. She internally pumps her fist before joining their conversation about school and the like.

Her lunch break escapades stopped, but Hitomi’s number gathers dust in her contact list.

 

//

 

With no other option, she decides to go with a simple gift package from the mall, and hope that she was kind enough to not hate her present. Not that she wasn’t kind. If anything, she’d be too nice that she would accept a roll of toilet paper with a smile.

She could’ve messaged her and asked directly but of course, she’ll freeze to death before she ever does.

The mall was filled with people doing their last minute Christmas shopping like Chaewon. She stood in front of a generic holiday gift display, holding up a mug before sighing.

“For the secret santa?”

Chaewon jumps at the voice behind her.

Hitomi stood next to her, wearing a padding coat that covered what seemed to be even more layers than what the people around them wore.

“Uh, yeah. What about you? I mean, why are you here?” Chaewon facepalms internally at her reply. Thankfully Hitomi doesn’t notice her weird wording.

“Looking for a present too. I’m not sure what to buy for them.”

At this moment Chaewon remembers that she wasn’t the only one who had to buy presents. There were only two days before their party at Chaeyeon’s. If Hitomi still hasn’t bought a present, she must be having a hard time.

“Is there any way I can help?” Chaewon puts the reindeer-shaped mug back in place. “Oh, you don’t have to tell me who it is,” she tells her.

Hitomi hums in consideration.

They realize that they were blocking the way for others who wanted to look at the goods, an elderly man nudging them harder than he should, so they move to the side. 

The man sneers at them before continuing his shopping spree. The two could only mouth an apology. 

“Wanna look around together?” Hitomi asks.

There was no reason to deny her offer. 

The thing with malls is that combined with a capitalist holiday and sales, attracts a lot of customers creating mobs of people walking around. Unfortunately for them, they were in the middle of that mob. It took less than a minute for them to lose track of each other.

Chaewon stands on her toes, hoping she’ll catch sight of the first year. She feels a tug on her sleeve and indeed it was Hitomi. People kept bumping into them so Hitomi locked her arm around Chaewon’s.

“You haven’t texted me,” she brings up. They were in a less crowded area but they remained close to each other, so they wouldn’t get lost.

“Oh, uh. I’ve been busy.”

She really was busy. Well, busy doing homework days earlier than their due date. She was actually really bored. Most of her winter vacation was spent rewatching dramas or calling her friends to rant about her troubles.

Hitomi pouts. It doesn’t hide her disappointed expression. Chaewon doesn’t like it.

“Hitomi,” she calls out.

Chaewon raises her phone, pointing the camera towards them. Hitomi notices and poses, poking her right cheek with her index finger. Chaewon sticks with a simple peace sign and takes a picture.

“I’ll send you the picture.” Chaewon waves her phone. “So I won’t forget to text you,” she adds.

Feeling embarrassed with her forward move, she looks around for a distraction. She spots an arcade and points to it.

“Look, an arcade.”

Hitomi forgets about the previous conversation and instead drags Chaewon to the arcade, the claw machine getting her attention. She tells Chaewon to wait there while she gets some change at the counter.

Chaewon takes her time to look at the different prizes. She always ignored the ones that cost a lot of tickets, not one for spending hours in an arcade. Instead she looks at the little trinkets in the machines.

A certain stuffed keychain catches her eye— a buck-tooth peach mascot with an apparent blush on it’s cheeks. 

Hitomi returns and Chaewon looks at her, then the keychain. The similarity between the two makes her laugh.

“What’s wrong?” Hitomi pouts.

“Nothing, do you want to get anything?”

Her eyes stop at the pile of different fairies in the farthest machine before returning to Chaewon. She moves behind her and stands in front of a machine containing different bread mascots.

She inserts a coin and moves the joystick, aiming at the white bread loaf before dropping the claw. Hitomi fails. She tries again, looking at the side and front. Hitomi fails again, barely gripping onto the plushie. She spends the remaining coins she has but to no avail. She groans, making Chaewon chuckle.

“Why don’t you try?”

“Is that a challenge?” Chaewon raises her eyebrows.

Hitomi shrugs, a smug grin on her face as she crosses her arms. God, that is cute but mildly annoying.

“I’m getting more coins.”

They may have spent more than they needed to and forgotten to get a present, but that was one of the best outings Chaewon had in a while. 

And yes, she did get the stuffed toy for Hitomi. But not after spending her entire budget.

 

//

 

After offering to host the party in her home, the rest of the group decided to pay for everything they needed; food, karaoke machine, and party supplies. The older ones went early to decorate the living room while Chaeyeon and her mom cooked food to feed the hungry people about to come, and the ones already there.

The first to arrive were Minju and Nako who lived closer, besides Hyewon who was already there with the others.

A few minutes later, Hitomi and Chaewon arrive after having met up in the station.

Keeping her promise, she sent the picture to Hitomi and that made everything easier. They started texting each other every day, usually to recount anything interesting happening in class or with their friends. 

Chaewon doesn’t miss the teasing glance Yena sent her way while she helped them take off their coats.

Last to arrive was, of course, Yuri who was scolded by Hyewon before being dragged to the kitchen to be forcefully fed.

It was no secret that Chaeyeon was an amazing cook. It wasn’t a surprise that their mother was too. Everyone gravitated to the roasted chicken and mashed potatoes in the middle of the dining room. 

But before that, there was karaoke.

It started off great, with Yuri surrounding the house with her warm vocals as she sang Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas is You, a classic christmas song.

Then it went downhill.

Her and Yena sang their own rendition of IZ*ONE’s La Vie En Rose, which made them laugh. Minju even snorted a bit of soda which made them laugh harder.

Chaeyeon and Eunbi had a dance battle to the tune of Jingle Bells Dubstep remix, which of course the former won. It didn’t go down without a few barely there yet hilarious b-boy tricks for the eldest of the group.

The rest of them sang pretty normally, with the addition of adlibs and ear destroying harmonies by the ones in the couch.

Soon they ran out of energy, but not enough to cancel the big event of the night, the secret santa.

“Everyone sit in a circle!” Eunbi orders. Everyone follows her, but not without a bit of pushing and switching places for no reason but to annoy each other. “Let’s hand over our gifts one by one, starting from me.”

“She just wants to brag about her present,” Hyewon murmurs.

Eunbi glares at her and brings out a gift bag, handing it over to Minju who covers in surprise. She opens it and gasps, showing everyone a white knitted scarf dotted with different color strands. 

Right next to Eunbi was Sakura, who gave Yuri a condenser microphone complete with a pop filter and stand, which she loved.

They start handing out their presents in a circle, the receivers having varying reactions from anger (Yuri’s fake present with a scary pop-up toy for Yena) to genuine appreciation (Yuri’s real present which was a gift card for ingame money), before hugging it out.

As her turn comes closer, Chaewon starts sweating nervously. 

You see, she didn’t get a proper gift when she went to the mall. She ended up panicking, before borrowing money from her mother and going back to the arcade to get the keychain that Hitomi was eyeing.

After seeing the presents everyone else got for each other, she’s starting to think that maybe she should’ve gone grander.

“Are you alright?”

Her nerves made her forget that Hitomi was seated beside her. She looked worriedly at Chaewon. She smiles reassuringly, although she was definitely not calm. 

Before Hitomi could say anything, her turn arrived.

“It's your turn now, who did you get?” Chaeyeon nudges Hitomi, urging her to bring out her gift.

To Chaewon’s surprise, Hitomi hands her the present she’s been hiding in her pocket. She opens the wrapper and gasps. It was a buck-toothed peach mascot keychain. It was the exact one she saw at the arcade with her.

“Is this-”

“You kept staring at it while we were playing so I thought you might like it,” she explains. “Did I read you wrong?”

Chaewon doesn’t want to admit that she stared at it because of it’s uncanny resemblance with Hitomi, so she shakes her head.

“It’s perfect.”

“Oh, uh, I actually picked you too.”

Chaewon hurriedly brings out her present. Hitomi stares at the keychain in amazement, the same red haired fairy from the claw machine in her hands.

“I also saw you looking at this so I got it.” Chaewon rubs her neck, blushing a little. “I already got you the bread plush so, I wasn’t sure if you’d like it.”

Hitomi clutches the gift in her hands and gives Chaewon a big smile. “I love it.”

Sakura coughs. All eyes were staring at them with teasing smiles. “Are you guys done?” The toy cactus in Nako’s hand repeats her sentence in a higher pitch while rotating itself, making everyone laugh.

Hitomi and Chaewon faced opposite of each other, blushing out of embarrassment and joy.

“Anyways, let’s hurry up so we can eat!”

That night, before she went to sleep, she hung the keychain on her bag and sent a picture of it to Hitomi, who did the same with her’s.