Minjeong, for lack of a better word, is two seconds away from viscously tying a rope on her waist and hanging it on a ceiling fan just to make her spine crack.

 

Okay, she is well aware that creating a substantially less PG-rated DIY merry-go-round at her parent's home is not usually the best course of action whenever her back starts aching so grievously (no, she is not overreacting, thank you very much), but it just — it hurts so bad and she just kind of wants to cry and stretch her back to death until she can't feel it anymore.

 

See, she just got home from a grueling and oh-so-back-torturing flight from Massachusetts to Seoul for about an hour ago because, despite her need to simply stay in her dorm at the University for academic purposes, taking a break and staying at her parents’ house and her hometown for Christmas is probably the best decision she had come up with weeks prior, because if she's being completely honest, if she sees her laptop accompanied with a white blank opened document for another second, she might just lose her sanity.

 

“Wow, you look… terrible.” a voice suddenly sounds behind her back. “College really did change you, huh?” 

 

And Minjeong, startled by the voice she just heard, spins around quickly, completely disregarding the ache in her back, and finally sees Yizhuo, her childhood best friend, casually leaning against the doorframe and staring at her with a smirk.

 

“Yizhuo?! You little , I missed you!” she exclaims, practically leaping towards the girl.

 

Thank goodness, Yizhuo is still very much used to being the receiving end of Minjeong's heightened and extremely excessive affection even after being away from each other for years. 

 

“I missed you too! Your parents let me in, by the way.” says Yizhuo with the same energy and expression as Minjeong.

 

“How have you been? You look– you look different! Did you grow a mustache? Oh, my God, you grew up so well!”

 

“No, I most certainly did not grow a mustache. I'm doing great, though. How about you? You…” Yizhuo sighs as her eyes slowly land on Minjeong's entire being, “you– yeah, I've got nothing. You look like , Minjeong. What did college do to you, you poor thing?”

 

“Oh, you don't wanna know.”

 

Then, without further ado, the two started catching up with each other like long-lost friends after a long period of no communication – which is technically half true (Minjeong and Yizhuo talked all the time through messages).

 

Yizhuo listened as Minjeong spoke about her trials and tribulations in college at MIT, and Minjeong listened as Yizhuo rambled about her ‘fun adventures’ as a junior here at the local University in their town.

 

The fact that Yizhuo has found other friends besides her after she left for College makes Minjeong really happy. She loves that Yizhuo is actually having fun staying here because if she's being completely honest, leaving her best friend by herself was probably one of the reasons she had initially thought twice about leaving for College before.

 

But now that Minjeong can see that she is genuinely happy in this place, she feels a lot better.

 

“Choir? You actually joined the choir?” Minjeong splutters, eyes almost bulging out from surprise. “I thought you hated choir?”

 

Yizhuo rolls her eyes, “Correction, I hated our school choir. Not the church choir. They're all actually pretty nice. You should go with me to church sometimes. Or even better, later.”

 

“Yeah, no, thank you.” Minjeong answers quickly. Too quick, even. She wrinkles her nose, stretches out a hand to reach for the glass of water sat on her nightstand.

 

Instead of taking Minjeong's answer just as it is, Yizhuo decided to take that as a motivation to try and persuade her even more.

 

“Come on, it'll be fun!” she convinces, poking Minjeong's sides lightly.

 

“You know churches make me sleep.” says Minjeong, groaning.

 

“Churches will cleanse your soul!”

 

“Uh huh, that. I'm going to rest–” Minjeong makes a move to lie back down on her mattress.

 

“Hey! That's disrespectful.” Yizhuo scolds, pointing at Minjeong with wide eyes.

 

“Alright, sorry. But Yizhuo,” Minjeong starts, sighing as she looks at her best friend. “you know I'm not… religious.”

 

Yizhuo lifts an eyebrow, chuckling at Minjeong in amusement. “Obviously, I can see that. But I'm not asking you to come because I wanted you to praise the Lord!”

 

“That's literally the main purpose of going to church.”

 

“Shush– let me finish.”

 

Minjeong stares blankly at Yizhuo before sighing in defeat. “Fine. The stage is yours.”

 

Yizhuo could try, but there is no way that she will be able to persuade Minjeong.

 

Yizhuo successfully persuaded Minjeong.

 

Look, Minjeong has no idea how it happened, but somehow, it just did. All she could remember was that Yizhuo definitely mentioned something about how much she missed it whenever Minjeong would watch her sing in competitions, and though singing in choir and singing in contests are clearly two different things, it doesn't change the fact that Minjeong has always had a soft spot for Yizhuo.

 

So that's how she ended up here, dozing off in the pew of the church while inattentively listening to the priest's sermon.

 

“God, when will this end? Jesus Christ–” 

 

No, that did not come from Minjeong. Although she's not religious, but no, blasphemy is not really her thing.

 

“The irony,” Minjeong murmurs, not really expecting the girl next to her to hear it.

 

“I know, right? I can't believe she actually convinced me to– wait, Minjeong? Is that you?”

 

Confused by the sudden recognition from the girl, Minjeong whips her neck to look at her for the first time, only to come face to face with a familiar person.

 

“Aeri?”

 

“Minjeong! Oh, gosh! It's actually you! Merry Christmas! Hi! Since when did you– wow, you changed a lot.”

 

Minjeong looks down at her shirt, suddenly conscious of what she's wearing. A flannel shirt matched with her old pants and a pair of Converse shoes. She really appears to believe that it's the closest thing she'll ever get to It Should Be Church Appropriate, Minjeong™.

 

“Yeah…” she nods hesitantly, “I just got back earlier.”

 

“Right, I remember! MIT, right? How was it? Isn't that like– like a school for like, really smart people? Honestly, I'm not surprised you actually got in because you– yas! Amen!” Aeri suddenly yells at the priest and waves her hands up in the air. “Sorry, where was I?”

 

“You were talking about–”

 

“Church could just be so physically and emotionally draining sometimes, you know?” says Aeri, probably unaware that she just interrupted Minjeong. “But at the same time, it could also be so rewarding and refreshing, you know what I mean?”

 

A light chuckle escapes Minjeong's lips. Yeah. This is definitely the same hyperactive Aeri she knew from grade school.

 

“It's honestly the only reason why I keep coming– well, other than– yaaas, Jimin! Sing it, queen!” for the second time, Aeri yells.

 

Minjeong flinches, the woman behind her flinches, the little kid in front of her flinches, and the priest flinches.

 

It makes Minjeong wonder what might have caused Aeri's sudden yelling this time, and then oh.

 

The choir is singing.

 

They all stand at the front, just right behind the priest's podium, so Minjeong was able to recognize Yizhuo right away when they began to sing.

 

Silent night, holy night

 

All is calm, all is bright

 

Round yon , Mother and Child

 

Ah, the classic.

 

Which, for Minjeong, is actually pretty acceptable considering that it's literally Christmas Eve.

 

What's unacceptable is that her gaze unintentionally lands on someone—a painfully beautiful someone singing her heart out so exquisitely,—and Minjeong has no idea who she is.

 

The girl—a pretty girl—stands behind Yizhuo, indicating that she's probably tall, or at least taller than Yizhuo.

 

Christ, she's beautiful.

 

There's nothing special about what she's wearing because everyone else is wearing the same thing anyway, so there's literally no reason for her to stand out that much, but still. Minjeong is captivated.

 

She's so freaking pretty that even Minjeong's typically rational brain stops evaluating the probable scientific explanation behind her attractiveness and she just straight up accepts that this girl is not of Earth.

 

There's just no way.

 

“...yeah, and the fact that I could have– Minjeong, hey? Are you still here with us? Hello?”

 

“Oh. Sorry, I was…” Minjeong sighs and thoughtlessly glances at Aeri next to her. The choir have stopped singing minutes ago. “meditating.”

 

She's not meditating.

 

Aeri then looks at her skeptically before shrugging it off, “Awesome! So, as I was saying, the fact that I could have been a part of the choir was a weird thought, you know? I just can't see myself singing in front of old people who are one breath away from– okay, no that was not nice. Sorry. See what I mean? I'm not really made for church. Thank God, Jimin was nice enough to take my place.”

 

“Jimin?” Minjeong asks. She's lived in this town for years and has never heard of that name before.

 

“Yeah. Jimin. You don't know Jimin?”

 

“No, I don't know Jimin.”

 

Aeri stares at her as if she's grown two heads, then her eyes widen in a sudden realization. “Oh– oh! Right! Remember Mr. and Mrs. Yu? The old married couple who used to give us free ice cream when we were little?”

 

“Sure.” Yes, Minjeong remembers them.

 

Her parents used to have them over every Christmas Eve as tradition. They're basically family.

 

“Jimin is their granddaughter. She moved here weeks after you left for College.”

 

“And she's still with them?”

 

“Yeah. She's actually here right now!”

 

“Really?” Minjeong searches the church for the said girl, but stops when Aeri pokes her side and points at the front, and Minjeong's gaze follows.

 

“There! She's a part of the choir! See that girl with long hair? The one behind Yizhuo? That's her!”

 

Talk about coincidence.

 

“That's Jimin?” Minjeong questions, eyes flickering with amusement.

 

It's the girl. Jimin is the girl. The pretty girl. The pretty girl that had her swooning just by simply existing earlier.

 

Jimin.

 

Her name is Jimin.

 

Jimin. Jimin. Jimin. Jimin. Jim–

 

“Minjeong?”

 

Minjeong is thrown back to reality as Yizhuo's voice breaks her train of thought. 

 

The mass ended ten minutes ago, and Minjeong literally just zoned out for the majority of it. 

 

Everyone is now walking out of the church, including her and Yizhuo, mindlessly brushing past the strangers.

 

“Sorry, what?”

 

Yizhuo creases her forehead and raises a brow suspiciously. “Nothing. You've been spacing out ever since the mass ended. Did you like our performance?”

 

“It's choir.”

 

“Yeah, but did you? Or did you at least enjoy the mass?”

 

Then Minjeong's mind drifts back to a certain girl, and damn it, she nods. “Yeah. Loved it a lot! I actually wanna go again next time.”

 

“Ha! I knew you were gonna love it!” Yizhuo bounces excitedly and clings on to Minjeong, “Anyway, you saw Aeri as well, right? I saw you guys talking to each other earlier. We should hang out! Just the three of us– just like old times.”

 

And hang out they did.

 

As soon as they arrived home, Yizhuo messaged Aeri and told her to come over to Minjeong's house much earlier considering her family would be there later anyhow.

 

(Yes, it was already a given fact that the Kim Family's Christmas Eve Party is  basically everyone's Christmas Eve Party.)

 

They didn't do anything that much, really. They merely talked to each other in the living room until Yizhuo got bored enough and asked Minjeong to go grab their Jenga blocks upstairs so they all could do something else.

 

And that's how she ended up here.

 

Dressed up in a Santa Claus costume (definitely not the y kind) while perched on her father's armchair in the living room where most (all) of the guests could see her.

 

Because just as expected, before playing an intense game of Jenga, Yizhuo, Aeri, and she made a bet that whoever loses the game would have to dress as Santa Claus to amuse the guests throughout the entire party, and Minjeong, having to be the most unfortunate one between the three of them, just had to take out the block at the bottom part of the Jenga, which, obviously, destroyed the entire ‘tower’ and made it crumble on the floor.

 

“Oh, ho, ho, ho, look who do we have here!” Minjeong waves joyfully as her mother approaches her while carrying an orange juice glass. “Hello, my favorite woman.”

 

Her mom chuckles and jokingly rolls her eyes. “Are you having fun here, honey? You've been wearing that costume for two hours now.”

 

Minjeong flashes a crooked smile, tucks in her mustache, and proudly crosses her arms. “I'm having a blast! I think the children loves me.”

 

“They certainly do,” adds her mother as she observes their noisy living room, which is also populated by considerably noisier children and adults. “Look, dear, if you want to go get changed to something more comfortable, you can go ahead. Upstairs.”

 

“No, I think I'm good.”

 

“Honey, you can. I promise I won't tell Yizhuo and Aeri.” Her mother insists, seemingly persistent with what she wants her daughter to do.

 

“No, really, mom. I'm actually enjoying this.” says Minjeong honestly. When she said she's having a blast, she's actually having a blast!

 

“Minjeong, I really think you should–”

 

“Mrs. Kim?” someone interrupts.

 

“Jimin? Hi, sweetie! Um–”

 

Holy crap.

 

In contrast to her previous firm decision, Minjeong suddenly wants to do nothing but hurry back upstairs and change into much more normal clothing.

 

Why is she here? Where did she even come from? Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod who–

 

“Hello, Mrs. Kim, and…” Jimin laughs lightly in amusement as she glances at Minjeong, “Santa?”

 

Minjeong, who's now as red as her outfit, plasters an awkward smile, her hands just hanging both to her sides.

 

“Hi.” she blinks, stares at Jimin, glances at her mother, then stares at Jimin for some more and– oh my God, I'm being weird. I'm being very weird–

 

Thankfully, her mother must have noticed what's going on with her brain and finally decided to intervene. “This is nice and all, but I really need Santa to bring back my daughter,”

 

Minjeong's eyes widens, shakes her head and crosses her arms firmly. “Nope, Santa will not be doing that.”

 

“Well, he kind of has to. I have to introduce her to dear Jimin over here.” Mrs. Kim says, smiling at a very confused Jimin.

 

Introduce her? To a pretty girl? No, she will die.

 

“Santa does not have to. I think your daughter is actually having the time of her life… somewhere.” 

 

Mrs. Kim's patience is wearing thin and she's starting to give Minjeong a knowing look that's basically begging her to stop being so stubborn for once.

 

“Goodness, when will you–”

 

“Honey!” a man's voice yells from afar.

 

Holding two glasses of wine, Minjeong's father is standing by the kitchen and gesturing for his wife to come towards where he is. He is conversing with a few guests, probably bragging about his oh-so-amazing daughter who just came home from MIT. Minjeong can't blame him, to be honest. She'd do the same if he got accepted at one of the top universities in Cambridge.

 

“Coming!” Mrs. Kim shouts back before jogging towards her husband.

 

At first, Minjeong celebrates. 

 

And then she panics. 

 

This is her first time seeing her up close.

 

She's left alone with Jimin. With a very pretty Jimin. A confused but pretty Jimin. Holy–

 

“So… I'm guessing, you're Daughter?” Jimin is the first one to break the (awkward) silence.

 

“Yeah. Y-yes. I'm Daughter.” That's grammatically incorrect. “Sorry about that whole… thing.” She doesn't know how to describe whatever the hell that was.

 

And Jimin laughs. Like actually laughs, her dimples coming to form, “No, you're good. You're having fun, aren't you?”

 

Her embarrassment instantly vanishes when Jimin smiles. She reasons that, given Jimin's evident sweetness with the way she's smiling at her, there is nothing to be embarrassed about.

 

Because Jimin's smile is very endearing, so naturally, Minjeong is endeared.

 

“A blast,” Minjeong can't help but smile as well. She figures that she likes Jimin's smile. It's very contagious.

 

“Then I don't think Santa would mind staying here for a while?”

 

That's a weird thing to ask, Minjeong thought, but then she remembers that she is Santa.

 

God.

 

“No…” Minjeong trails off, “it's– that would be cool. Sure!”

 

Jimin chuckles before asking Minjeong to join her outside so they could talk more, and Minjeong naturally complies. She has no other choice.

 

Besides, the children she's supposed to be entertaining are now too occupied playing with one another to notice her presence anyway.

 

For several hours, Jimin and Minjeong just really talked and may or may not have developed a… budding friendship. 

 

Minjeong also picked up a lot of “information” about Jimin. She learned that the girl just graduated college this year and is taking a year off to take care of her grandparents because apparently, they're extremely… old.

 

Jimin even added that she's a devoted member of the church choir along with Yizhuo, not like Minjeong didn't already know that.

 

They enjoyed each other's company, and they really did click so well with each other, so as the party guests began to leave one by one, including Jimin—and her very old grandparents, Minjeong found herself yelling out her own name, making sure that the girl had caught it. Jimin's only response was a dimpled s