The Reindeer
A Magical Christmas Collection 2022
The clock midnight. Christmas finally arrived. Youngni laid wide awake scrolling through her phone as if Christmas would bring her entertainment. It’d be another Christmas, she’d spend alone. She’d opened the gift from her parents and the ones she wrapped for herself then go about her day. She loved the holidays, but when she thought about it, it really was just another normal day. Tired of scrolling back and forth, she got out of bed and sat by her bay window. She tugged the curtain to the side and peeked into the open night. Soft snow twirled down. All the Christmas lights kept the night sky illuminated.
Youngni pried the curtain fully opened. Was it an airplane? Satellite? She ran to the window on the other wall. Nothing. She jumped at the sudden noises. Did her parents wake up in the middle of the night? Or was it a burglar? She looked frantically for a weapon, any object that would be useful. Her mind went crazy. Nothing in her room served as a weapon. Forget it, her parents had plenty of objects in the house. There were umbrellas in the closet, all sorts of utensils in the kitchen, and some flower vases. The noises rumbled and shuffled closer and clearer. She froze at the fumbling with her doorknob. Was someone trying to pick her door? To murder her? To kidnap her? Why was she the chosen one? Why her?
The door cracked open, and she couldn’t believe her two eyes. A long white beard man five times her size stood before her dressed in his traditional red and white outfit. Could he be called Santa?
“Hey young lady, why are you still up?” he chuckled.
Youngni swallowed, nothing sounded funny to her. No matter how many times she blinked, he didn’t disappear.
“I guess this won’t be a surprise anymore.”
No, it was still surprising that Santa stood before her. She shook her head. No, Santa was not real. Who was this man? He was a burglar. He broke into their house, into her room. She should be screaming and fighting, but her body didn’t react with fear. She wasn’t anxious.
“Come on, let’s go.”
Youngni took a step back. Her body electrified. “To where?”
“To his house. You’ll be my gift to him. I did something horrible and now I need to make it up.”
Her breath hitched. Was Santa kidnapping her? “I would love to go on a journey, but I don’t think this is how I should go?”
Youngni faked a smiled and patted her cheeks. Wake up, Youngni.
“Oh honey, you’re not in a dream. I’m real, you’re real, what you’re about to experience is real.”
Before she could react, he swooped her up onto his shoulder like a log and walked out her room, out of her house. Santa threw her on his sled and situated himself.
“I only have one reindeer. It might be a little slower. But I promise you, your experience won’t be anything less. Sit upright and enjoy,” he said and the sled moved. The reindeer started dancing this weird dance, treaded through the snow, and off the ground they went. She was up in the sky. The icy wind and snow clashed against her cheeks. Christmas lights made the city below her a world of joy. She must be crazy. She was flying. She was on a sled with reindeer. With Santa.
The sled landed outside the yard of a traditional house. Regret filled her. She thought too much that she forgot to enjoy.
“Now I need you to go in there and make it all better. I’ll make do without him this year, but I would much prefer to have him with me next year.”
Gibberish. She didn’t understand a single word he said, if he even said anything at all.
Santa chuckled. “I’ve just girlfriend kidnapped. Help me make my crime worth it.”
He pulled on the rein and the reindeer started its dance, “Go on in.”
Youngni watched as the sled flew into the sky and became a dot. Go on in. She turned around to the place. Santa still lived in an old traditional house? Did he also have abundance of food like the king? An adventure sparked in her. She was ready for her journey. Now that she was there, she would enjoy her life away. Maybe until when Santa picked her up? If Santa will pick her up.
Youngni slid the wooden door opened. Wow. It was just like how she saw in dramas. She played with the door a few times. Open. Close. Open. Close. It fascinated her how smooth the thousand years door slid. She slid it a few more times. On the third time, a hand grabbed her wrist and tugged it away with brute force.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Youngni took a step back at the coldness in his voice. The man before her. His bottom lip was bruised. His forehead covered in bandage. His left forearm in a cast. Was he the him Santa referred to?
“O…pe…ning the door?” she answered and twisted her wrist.
He gripped tighter. For an injured person, he was strong.
“What are you doing here? Who are you?” He shoved her hand away and proceeded inside. Before she could answer, he turned back. Unfriendly but unthreatened. “He brought you here, didn’t he?”
He meaning Santa? Youngni shook her head. These two men messed with her tiny brain. Could someone explain what was happening? And please speak in baby language because she felt it was a complicated situation.
“Leave,” he said, “and close the door.”
Cute but what a jerk. Just because he was injured, sick, a patient didn’t mean he could mistreat her. Youngni reached her hand behind her back and shut the door. “Happy?”
He turned away, indifferently. He disappeared into the room down the hall.
Youngni peeked around. Definitely, traditional. Clean, sleek wooden floor. She didn’t know where to start. Santa said, he needed her to make it all better. Did Santa mean him? If anything, she should keep her hand to herself.
She listened well. She followed direction well. She would do what Santa instructed. Youngni walked down the hall and stopped in front of the room he disappeared into. She looked up and three characters were written on the board above, Jeon Jungkook. She cringed, was that his name? That grumpy injured boy. Boy, she nodded her head. He looked fairly young.
Youngni grabbed the wooden door and hesitated. Those empty dark eyes, she couldn’t say she wasn’t afraid. He did scare her a little, any upset person would scare her. But she held tight and slid the door opened.
“Didn’t I tell you to leave?”
Youngni took a few deep breaths. Jungkook lied on top the bedsheet laid on the floor. His uninjured arm crossed, and the back of the hand rested on his forehead. Youngni swallowed nervously and took a step inside. She slid the door close as quiet as possible. A neat freak. She could tell by how he placed everything symmetrically. She tiptoed closer. She felt like the burglar now. Somehow that thought was exhilarating. Youngni nodded to herself in approvement at how quiet she moved. Confident, she swung her arms and moved her body side to side as if she was moving through laser. Her smile broadened at how quiet she moved. Just then her feet tangled each other, and she tumbled down.
Oh. No. He was right below her. She was done for. Youngni forced her eyes shut. Never did she wanted to witness her downfall. She should have known her coordination was the worst.
“How long do you plan to stay like that?”
Youngni opened her eyes. Her head pressed against his upper chest. Left hand on his waist and right on the floor next to him. Her body on top of his left arm, his injured hand.
“Haha…not long. Not long at all.” Youngni sat upward.
Jungkook pushed her away. Youngni’s eyes widened at how his one arm made her slide a foot away. But…Youngni grabbed onto his hand. He was burning. She immediately got to her knees, cupped his face, and touched his forehead with the back of her hand.
“You’re burning.” She panicked.
“What are you doing?” His eyes widened at her hands on his cheek and forehead.
“You’re running a fever,” she said and scanned his room.
Youngni turned her attention to his, his burning hand held her wrist. He removed her hand. “He should pick you up by 8 A.M. If you’ll just hang in the other room and wait for him.”
“This can’t do. You’re burning up,” Youngni stood up, “I’ll be right back.”
Jungkook sighed and closed his eyes. She better not mess his place. He didn’t have the energy to clean. Just when he thought he had some peace, the door slid open, and her head popped in. “I can’t find what I need.”
Jungkook sat up, defeated. “What do you need?”
“Bowl, towel, water.”
“The room to the left. Two doors down. In the wooden drawer to the left.”
She disappeared and reappeared with the items in her hands. She set the bowl beside him. He watched attentively at how she dipped the towel and wrung the water out. She turned to him and lost all train of thought. He was staring at her. Her heart drummed loudly, she didn’t even act a little more graceful or made sure she didn’t look like a chicken with no head.
“I-I have a magical touch. Let me wipe you and you’ll feel better.” She wasn’t lying. People she cared for tend to get better afterward.
Jungkook nodded and turned his head away. He didn’t say anything. Now that he was willing, it was awkward. She lifted her hand, but his head was turned away. How was she supposed to do her job?
Youngni swallowed and held her breath. Jungkook flinched at her touch. Her hand on his cheek turning his head to her. Youngni tried to keep her heart and her body calm, but the heat was getting unbearable. She parted his hair drenched with sweat and patted the towel on his forehead to the side of his cheek. When he turned his head away, she couldn’t tell if she hurt him or he was shy at their close proximity. She voted for the latter.
“How, how did you get hurt?”
“I wasn’t careful.”
“What were you doing?” Youngni couldn’t paint any picture of how he got injured. His places of injury were at random.
Jungkook swallowed. His adam apple bobbed and she dropped the topic.
“Do you have any medicine here?”
“I’ll be fine after resting.”
Youngni narrowed her eyes. She couldn’t tell if he was afraid of medicine or if he didn’t have any. She didn’t think she could simply make a run to the market.
“You should switch out of your shirt. It’s drenched in sweat.”
Jungkook sighed. It was drenched a little, it’d dried in a bit. He needed to recover. Because he was careless, he already missed this year Christmas. He was of no use. He must recover fast. He ignored her and crossed his arm over his face.
“What are you doing?” Jungkook removed his hand and turned to Youngni. She kneeled shuffling through his drawers.
“Looking for medicine.”
“There is none here. It’ll heal by itself.”
Youngni waited for him to go back to sleep, so she could continue searching his empty drawers. She was afraid she couldn’t go home if she didn’t complete Santa’s request. Jungkook waited for her to leave his cabinets alone so he could go back to sleep. But neither of them moved first. Youngni clenched onto the drawer unwilling to move. Jungkook sighed and walked over to her.
“You won’t find anything here.”
All his drawers were empty. She doubted he even lived there. Maybe Santa’s dropped him off to a dessert place for his foul attitude.
“I found you,” Youngni pressed a smile, a long thin line from ear to ear.
Jungkook grabbed her wrist and pulled her up to face him. Her eyes glued onto his face.
“It’s a pretty bad bruise,” she said. It may scar if he didn’t treat it right.
“It won’t scar.”
Youngni’s eye darted to his. How did he… Jungkook pulled her to the door and shoved her out. He acted fast, but she’d be faster. She stuck her arm out to block him from closing the door.
She shrieked at the sharp pain filling her entire arm. He was fast. She admitted. He didn’t even bat an eye when he forced the door shut.
She flinched when he slammed the door open.
“Are you stupid?”
Youngni stared at the red line forming on her upper forearm. It was going to bruise. She shouldn’t have dared. She puckered her lips thinking about how ugly it would be when she’d wear short sleeves.
Jungkook’s eyebrow furrowed, and he roughly put his hand up to grab her wrist. But he stopped halfway. He then slowly, almost too awkwardly, reached for her wrist and gently pulled her down the hall to the main door. He stopped at a nearby closet and pulled out a blanket.
“Sit.”
Youngni sat down on the step. A feet away from the front porch, snow piled. Jungkook wrapped the blanket around her, and she shrank at the warmth. His gaze remained on her as he occupied the seat beside her. He reached forward and scooped a handful of snow. Jungkook hesitated if it was appropriated, but he shook away the thought and pulled her injured arm toward him. He gently placed the snow on the red line. The snow cooled her flaring skin.
“I guess you really don’t have any medicine here,” she muttered.
The coldness of the snow travelled her body, opposite from his hand that held warmth. His knuckles remained the same color. Was it because his fever warmed his body? Or was he not affected by the snow? Water started to drip down her arm. It now burned her skin. Youngni winced and pulled her arm away. He held tighter. Was he taking revenge on her now? Just then he removed his hand. The redness was still there, but she didn’t feel the numbing pain. Her eyes widened. Was his injury there but he doesn’t feel pain? She searched for signs of sickness and pain. His eyes were cleared. His lips had colors. His face had colors. His energy wasn’t of a sick person.
“Would you stop staring? You’re making me uncomfortable.” His eyes remained on the falling snow.
“Oh.” She looked away. “Santa said for me to make you feel better. I was afraid I couldn’t go home if I didn’t make you feel better.”
“If he doesn’t, I’ll take you. I just have to steal his sled and you just have to rein.”
Youngni smiled. It sounded better to wait for Santa.
“So, what do we do until Santa comes back?” Youngni looked at him. “Do you want to go back to sleep? I guess that will make you feel better?”
“Are you cold?” Jungkook asked. She had been fidgeting with the blanket.
Youngni stared at her covered self, was she cold? Her hands were freezing. “A little.”
“Come closer,” he said.
Her eyes widened.
“I’m warm. It’ll help.”
He pressed his lips into a thin line and opened his arm.
Youngni smiled, “You can’t take that back.” She jumped into his opened arm and glued herself onto his body. He was ten times warmer than the blanket.
Jungkook took a deep breath before he placed his arm on her. “Sorry, he took you in the middle of the night. He always thinks he knows the perfect gift.”
Jungkook waited, but she never responded. He peeked at her and couldn’t help but smile. She softly breathed. He grabbed onto her hand holding the blanket. She was cold against his burning skin. Maybe, his accident wasn’t all that bad. Maybe, Santa does know the perfect gift.
“Merry Christmas,” he whispered and tightened his hold on her.
Youngni’s eyes opened at the knock on her door. She could already smell her mother’s morning pastries. She ran out the door and into the kitchen.
“Someone took the reindeer,” her mother said.
Youngni pulled the Christmas cookie out of . “Our reindeer light decoration?”
“Your dad gave up searching for it.”
Youngni’s heart pounded. Was it not a dream then, that a burglar, Santa, came to their house? That she was with this cute handsome guy? It couldn’t be. Youngni stuffed the cookie in . “I’ll find it.”
Youngni searched through their front door, where she recalled she’d set it up. She ran down the sidewalk and across a few streets in her neighborhood. Did the heavy snow swept it away last night? She searched and searched. A gate creaked and she turned to find a man closing his gate. After he secured his door, he turned and spotted her. His lips curled into a smile. She blinked and blinked. He was the man in her dream.
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