“Just… do your magic, Donghoon-ah. Please!” Jongkook practically whined.

Donghoon laughed boisterously, and it annoyed Jongkook to great lengths, but he was also helpless. As the oldest Runningman member who’s adept with technology, the hyungs assigned Donghoon to be in-charge of generating the Secret Santa pairings that year. Jongkook wouldn’t care about this normally, but, this time, he needed his dongsaeng’s help.

“Why do you desperately want me to rig this anyway, hyung?” Donghoon continued to chuckle as he signed everyone up on the Secret Santa generator website he found. “It’s not like you’ll use this to finally confess to Jihyo right? That’s just too cheesy,” he teased.

Jongkook felt his cheeks redden, and he was stunned into silence. His friend may have been joking, but he hit quite the mark. After years of getting reprimanded by all of their friends for being a coward, he had pretty much gone down the road of denial to acceptance, and, now, resolved to act on his feelings for her. The problem was that he resolved to admit his feelings to her for months now, but he couldn’t find the right time to do it. So, on one wine-induced evening of thinking, he decided to just do it while giving his Christmas gift. This was exactly why he needed his mischievous dongsaeng to just pull through with his part in Jongkook’s plans, without knowing it.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like things were going to happen the way Jongkook wanted.

Jongkook heaved a sigh, sitting down on the other chair in Donghoon’s home office. Donghoon swiveled his chair and moved closer to Jongkook, and removed his glasses. “Daebak, hyung! You’re finally going to do it?” he asked.

“Is that really so bad?” Jongkook asked, trying to make his voice as intimidating as he could, but miserably failing at it.

Donghoon calmed himself down. He was dying to tease Jongkook relentlessly, but he realized that his hyung was seriously anxious. It was in the slight quiver in his voice, the way he was pressing his fingers against each other as if he was silently and fervently praying to the heavens, and the way he blinked multiple times.

Indeed, only a woman like Song Jihyo could make a man like Kim Jongkook become this way.

Donghoon stood up, and clasped his hyung’s shoulder, “Arasseo. I won’t use the website, and just rig the email I’ll send out for everyone. That way, you’ll get Jihyo.”

Jongkook’s eyes lit up upon hearing Donghoon’s words, as he reached out and pulled in his dongsaeng for an embrace. “Gomawo, Donghoon-ah. Gomawo! I owe you one. Jinjja,” he said sincerely.

“Don’t mention it, hyung. Just… you don’t know how long we’ve all been waiting for this. So please, do this well,” Donghoon practically pleaded.

Jongkook scoffed, “Way to pack on the pressure, Donghoon-ah.” He sat back down, and finally voiced out his concern, “To be honest, I’ve been trying to tell her for a few months now. But I can’t find the right timing. I figured if I give her a gift she likes, I’d be able to confess too.”

Donghoon listened intently, and nodded. He didn’t understand why Jongkook was too worked up about this; Jihyo was also obviously interested in his hyung. But then, he remembered he couldn’t keep his cool back when he was also going to ask Goeun out. So, instead, he dragged back his swivel chair to his desk and whipped up Jihyo’s wishlist.

“Oh no,” the words spilled out of Donghoon’s lips, prompting Jongkook to stand up and look over his shoulder. There was only one item on her wishlist, but it read - I’m not sure. Just get me something that you think I’ll like. 

It was typical of Jihyo, Jongkook thought. Of course, she would have an unpredictable wishlist. “What do I do?” he pulled back as he was submerged in his thoughts.

“I don’t know, hyung. I mean, out of all of us, you would know Jihyo the best and what matters most is how sincere your intentions are. I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Donghoon said.

Jongkook sighed, “I hope you’re right. I have to figure this out, if it’s the last thing I’ll do.”

The day of their party arrived, and soon enough, the exchanging of presents began. Jongkook was ridden with anxiety, considering that he had to find Jihyo a gift. Unlike Somin who was very detailed about the items on her wishlist (much to Donghoon’s chagrin who had to find the very specific bag she was looking for), Jihyo did not have a very specific wish, which meant that Jongkook had to wrangle his mind for a perfect gift.

He was hoping that his choice would suffice, and more importantly, would be met with a sweet yes when he confessed.

They exchanged gifts as an entire group, and after Jaeseok revealed that he was the one who picked Jongkook, the older man handed over the gift receipt to a set of dumbbells that were to be delivered to Jongkook’s apartment over the next weekend. Jongkook thanked his hyung, before standing up and holding the small paper bag.

Since they were still in public, Jongkook kept his revelation short, “So, the person I was lucky to pick…” At this point, Donghoon unconsciously sniggered, prompting the rest of the members to curiously look at him. Jongkook threw him a menacing look, before continuing, “...is Song Jihyo. Merry Christmas, Jihyo-yah!”

He smiled with the best smile he could muster, handing over the paper bag. Jihyo, who was sitting right next to him, took the paper bag, and grinned. “Daebak! So that’s why you seemed to be trying to fish for information. I thought Donghoon-oppa picked me, and you were helping him out.”

“Aniya, Jihyo-yah,” Jongkook responded, before sitting down. After a beat, Jihyo revealed that she had picked Seokjin, and the round of revelations continued. When everybody was done, everybody opened their gifts. Considering Jongkook had nothing to open, he just glanced to his side, a bit antsy about Jihyo’s response.

Jihyo pulled out the box, and looked at Jongkook curiously before opening it. When she did, she took out a charm bracelet. There were five slots on it, but only four charms. Jihyo let her fingers graze each charm; it was obvious what they meant. The swing reminded her of her time with Jongkook in New Zealand. The bridge represented all their memories from their secret trips to Los Angeles. There was also a nametag charm that had her name on it, undoubtedly symbolizing all the years they spent in Runningman. 

One charm seemed unfamiliar though, “What’s this van for?”

“Family Outing,” he answered.

Jihyo chuckled, “Ah, geurae. That’s where we first met.” After a beat, she laughed, “This is such a cop-out though. The best charm you can think of is the van?”

Jongkook grinned, loving that he was able to make Jihyo laugh, “I can’t really think of a charm to represent Hot Issue…” He thought about it for a moment, but eventually decided a bit of flirting won’t hurt, “Plus, choosing a heart charm to represent your saranghae confession to me would probably be a stretch.”

It was dim in the restaurant where they were having their party, but Jongkook could swear he saw Jihyo turn a shade redder. “That was hardly a confession, oppa,” Jihyo mused.

Without missing a beat, Jongkook retorted, “It wasn’t? How are confessions supposed to be then?” 

“I don’t know. Shouldn’t you know? You’re the relationship expert, right?” she nudged his arm.

Before Jongkook could even answer, however, Seokjin cleared his throat. “Okay, enough flirting for now.”

“Ah, oppa, we weren’t flirting. Jongkook-oppa and I are just friends and this is just friendly banter,” Jihyo immediately answered back.

Still, Seokjin continued as if Jihyo never spoke at all, “You can continue that on your own. The food’s arriving. Now that everyone has their gifts, let’s start eating.”

Despite the vast spread of different meat, seafood, and side dishes on their table, Jongkook couldn’t find the appetite to eat. The flirting got his hopes up; unfortunately, Jihyo shot that down immediately. He felt his spirit dampen upon the realization that he really lost out on the opportunity to date Jihyo, and was forever going to be stuck in his status as a good friend.

Perhaps, that would be the best.

“Oppa, come and eat. It’s your favorite,” Jihyo said with a grin, as she piled on more slices of beef and pork on Jongkook’s plate.

Jongkook sighed, and began picking up the food from his plate, resolving to just let the evening pass and accept his fate.

When the hyungs left, it was his cue to leave after just a few more minutes. Donghoon picked up on the change of his mood, and he implored Jongkook to drink. “That’s a brilliant idea, Donghoon-ah!” He began sarcastically before continuing to say. “That is, if I want to risk revealing the purpose for my wanting to get drunk. Gwenchana. I’ll go home and sleep this off.”

Donghoon knew better than to fight against a downtrodden Jongkook, so he instead promised to help his hyung fend off the complaints that would undoubtedly come from the maknaes when he tried to leave. They were successful in doing that, and Jongkook eventually found himself dragging his feet back to his car.

“Jongkook-oppa, wait!” he heard her voice cry after her.

He sighed deeply, mustering his remaining strength before turning around and facing her, “Wae, Jihyo-yah?”

“I also want to go home already; I can’t keep up anymore with the rest of them. I guess I really am old now,” she said sheepishly. “Would you mind dropping me off? I told my manager I’ll get myself home.”

Jongkook scratched the back of his neck. An extended car ride with Jihyo from the restaurant to Mapo-gu capped off with a lonely ride back to his apartment in Gangnam was not really the most appealing idea. “Um… isn’t Donghoon going home yet?” the words slipped out of his tongue before he knew it.

Jihyo’s eyes lost their luster, and Jongkook bit his tongue; he knew she hated asking for help and he totally rejected her. “Oh… right… I’ll just go back and ask him,” Jihyo quickly said, turning