before you embark on this angsty journey, i hope you're all having a great time! merry christmas guys, hopefully we all enjoy this angst and love in this season ♡ if you want to share this or advertise this on twitter please go ahead hahaha id appreciate the publicity /j  BUT all jokes aside though, keep the comments coming and leave me an upvote if you enjoyed it please :D

“You’re such a disappointment, Seungwan. All I asked was for you to at least lock up the store before you went home… and you failed. We’re not even close to Christmas yet but now I need to order stocks again, because everything was taken!”

Seungwan looks away with a frown, crossing her arms over her chest. She can barely find the words to defend herself. “I’m sorry, Ma’am… I… I was just…”

It’s the disappointed expression on her boss’s face that takes the cake – the woman who took her in and nurtured her when she was just an alley rat was now upset for the nth time. Seungwan didn’t want to be this disappointment; but will she ever explain why she’s not doing anything right? She simply doesn’t see the motivation or the point; life is nothing but a bore and an extreme waste of time. Truthfully, her illness last Christmas terrified and satisfied her simultaneously. One; she’d be free from the shackles of living in this place; two, she’d also be less of a disappointment to her poor boss.

“No, I’m sorry. I can no longer keep you here. I took you in and you made sure to change, learn, and even get better. You kept that all in place but now, I don’t see that in you anymore. I’ve tried so hard with you, and I’m just tired. I can’t do this anymore, Seungwan.”

As Miss Lee stares at her with an unreadable expression, Seungwan feels the need to pack her things even faster. She knows when she’s unwanted and God, she’s used to it but it still hurts a little.

“Again… I’m sorry for disappointing you, Auntie.” Seungwan breathes out with a sigh, grabbing the elderly woman’s hands with a firm hold. She finds her eyes welling with hot, scalding tears; her heart has already betrayed her mentality. “I really do thank you, for everything you’ve ever done for my worthless self.”

‘Painful as it is… I will always watch over you, young one.’ Miss Lee thinks to herself. She knows life has been harsh on Seungwan; she quite literally found the girl begging for money from strangers all those years ago. Seungwan refused to follow her back to the store, much less accept anything more than just bits of change. The girl had some backbone in her, Miss Lee will definitely give her that. Despite having nothing more than petty change and a bun every other day, Seungwan tried her best to find some odd jobs here and there. She watched the young vagabond venture from waitressing, housekeeping, even bar hosting. The last straw of this was when a pimp approached Seungwan and tried to get her into ion.

That was the beginning of their friendship, or mentorship rather.

Fast forward about five years, she has seen Seungwan go through ups and downs, sicknesses and turmoil – not a single bit of regret ever passed through her. There was no mention of her family or parents and Miss Lee never asked either so when the doctors and nurses inquired about Seungwan’s status, she took the initiative to clear the hospital bills.

Perhaps someday, things will revert back to how it was when Seungwan first opened up to her… just not today.

*

Can her week get any worse?

On top of her boss and close mentor finally having enough of her bull, Seungwan just got thrown out by her landlord for apparently ‘not abiding by dorm rules’. It wasn’t that difficult to find another place; the only problem being that the apartment was not in the best condition and there were things falling apart. Now if there was anything Seungwan was most grateful for when she was under Miss Lee’s wing, it was her having to learn some life skills. She is pretty much capable of fixing all the issues here, but what was the point? There were more important things to decide now – like a job.

“Mmm… another Christmas store?” Seungwan mumbles, flipping the newspaper with a scowl. She was absolutely not in the mood for a festive season, at least not after working in a Christmas decoration store for consecutive years.

Her eyes flit over to her phone lying on the table beside her, the wallpaper giving her some food for thought.

What if she sought her old flings out for job recommendations?

“Oh, you ing idiot.” Seungwan berates herself, following up with a facepalm. “If there’s anything they’ll help you with, it’s humbling yourself with a huge kick in the .”

Eunbi?

No, she had a soft spot for that one.

Bora?

Mmm.. probably not, she’s with someone else.

Sejeong?

No.

Before Seungwan can actually embarrass herself, her phone rings.

“Hello?”

“You get your arse to the Christmas gathering down at the charity center down the block. There will be some job opportunities there for you. Seungwan? Please do not this up. No matter what happens, I’ll have faith in you no matter how stupid you make me look.”

With a person like Miss Lee in her life, there is no excuse for Seungwan to be despondent and helpless like this. She knows life will go on, unless a freak accident takes her out tomorrow somehow.

“Ah screw it.”

Christmas charities are different in their own ways; the inclusion of children and their happiness after seeing presents for the first time in their lives. Perhaps the choir is a little over the top with their costumes and whatnot but Seungwan can barely give two hoots about it. She’s more interested in the young woman standing in the corner, who’s holding her gaze. Most people that she encounters would immediately look away when Seungwan turns to look at them. For some strange reason though, she herself can’t seem to break this awkward stare down.

It definitely, certainly isn’t because the woman is extremely gorgeous.

No way.

“Hi, you must be Seungwan!”

“That I am, yes. It’s nice to meet you…”

“You can call me Tiffany, or just Unnie will do. We heard from Miss Lee that you’d be joining us instead of her this Christmas, and we’re always happy to see new faces here!”

Tiffany was extremely friendly and welcoming to her – a complete stranger – with no other motives, heavily contradicting Seungwan’s initial thoughts of this charity event. She brought the young one around with her, introducing her to the children and important organizers. Is this what a charity feels like? Being filled with kindhearted souls who don’t have any intentions under the table is all too strange to Seungwan.

Yet being surrounded by all these people, and all Seungwan can think of or look at is the extremely silent woman in the corner.

It takes a few hours to actually clear up after the event and Seungwan, for a very extremely strange reason, volunteered to stay behind and tie up all the loose ends. Tiffany did try to hide her surprise (clearly having heard some things about the young one) but failed adorably.

“Hey.”

“Hi… are you new here like me?” Seungwan holds onto the broom by her side in an attempt to look cool, but fumbles immediately when the broom falls apart. “OH !”

The most melodious giggle enters Seungwan’s ears and dances it way straight to her unstable heart, both figuratively and literally. It’s not the first-time people have tried to impress her and failed miserably thereafter. Something about Seungwan just lures her to her, and the stranger wishes she could put her finger on it.

Seungwan massages the back of her neck sheepishly, utterly embarrassed at her antics and her ty first impression. “I’m Son Seungwan, by the way. It’s my first time participating in this charity thing.”

“Bae Joohyun, and I’ve been here overseeing things for many years now. I also grew up in the embrace of Tiffany’s wife, Yuri but she’s not here today. Guess it’s her turn to take care of their twins.”

“It’s… very, very nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

***

“No way that happened! You’re insane!”

Seungwan is doubling up in pain hugging her tummy, having the biggest laugh in her entire life listening to Joohyun’s stories. Her first impression of Joohyun had been that of a goddess, coming down from another planet or universe altogether. Joohyun’s features just look like they’ve been sculpted by every single adeptus in existence; her doe eyes, perfect nose and cute lips (that Seungwan wants to kiss right now).

“It did! No one bothered helping me after I crashed either,” Joohyun pouts, recalling her being stuck between pots of cactuses. She can’t stop looking at the broad smile on Seungwan’s face though; the woman looks beautiful.

Joohyun could ramble about anything and everything in the world and Seungwan would be willing to listen, if it means having the opportunity to admire her like this. One thing that came unexpected was Joohyun offering to come over to keep her company whenever she was lonely. That being said though, the charity event was almost two weeks ago and they’ve been getting plenty acquainted. It’s kind of strange, kind of unpredictable, kind of … refreshing actually. If someone told Seungwan she’d be inviting the same woman over to her place more than a week, she’d have laughed in their face and called it a day.

There was just something about Joohyun.

“It’s your turn. Tell me about yourself, Seungwan. I’ve been talking about myself for the past hour or so and nothing from you.”

“Well… I am, or used to work at the Christmas decoration store down the block owned by Miss Lee. She was the one who asked me to head to the charity event and participate, which was where I met you for the first time.”

The adorable blush on Seungwan’s face doesn’t escape Joohyun’s eagle eyes and her eyes twinkle with a tinge of sadness; if only the two of them could have met sooner. Whilst Seungwan was completely enamored by Joohyun and her stories, Joohyun was clinging onto every word Seungwan had to say.

“What abou