It's Christmas and Minjeong's having a blast and she makes sure Karina is having a good Christmas too.

The house is bustling with staff and there are green and red decorations all over the house. Karina startles when she walks up the stairs to Minjeong’s room and her forehead taps against a plant. She frowns with distaste and reaches up to fix the stray strands of hair that got caught in it.

“It’s mistletoe.” Minjeong’s voice alerts her.

“You’re up early.” Karina notes. She hadn’t even made it to knock on the princess’ door to greet her.

“It’s christmas!” Minjeong beams. “Of course I’m up early.”

“I take it that you’re a fan of Christmas, then?” Karina smiles.

“Damn right, I am!” Minjeong beams. “Come, I have a gift for you!” 

Minjeong loops an arm into Karina’s and pulls her upstairs without warning and Karina almost falls down on the steps, but Minjeong’s grip is tight.

“Wait—you got a gift for me?” Karina blinks.

“I got one for everyone!” Minjeong grins. “I gave Mark and Johnny theirs already and I wanted you to open yours with me!”

Karina is dragged into Minjeong’s room and Minjeong makes the guard sit on the bed.

“Close your eyes! I didn’t have time to wrap it but I did add a bow.” Minjeong giggles.

“Alright, alright, princess.” Karina smiles softly before putting out her hands and shutting her eyes tightly.

A gentle weight is placed into her hands and it feels warm and fuzzy.

“You can open your eyes now.”

Karina looks down in her lap and sees a heap of blue fuzz. She holds it up and inspects it to find it’s a baby blue mohair scarf tied with a black ribbon.

“You got me a scarf?” Karina’s eyes widened with disbelief.

“I made it.” Minjeong beams. 

“You made me a scarf?” Karina’s jaw drops and she gasps with a small noise of surprise.

“Try it on!” Minjeong giggles, taking it out of Karina’s hands and pulling it out to wrap around Karina’s neck.

Karina blinks and lets Minjeong wrap the fluffy scarf around her and she listens to every word Minjeong says.

“I picked up crocheting for some time because you said I shouldn’t be in my room studying all the time and I remembered Ning knows how to crochet,” Minjeong says, carefully wrapping the scarf around Karina’s neck. “So I asked her for some tips and instead of studying all the time, I was in my room making this!”

Karina mumbles something but the scarf is muddling her words and Minjeong blinks at her. 

“What was that?” Minjeong leans forward and Karina leans back, a blush blooming across her cheeks.

Minjeong leans too close and soon she’s on top of Karina, her hands beside Karina’s head as their bodies press up against each other. Their eyes meet and the tip of Minjeong’s nose brushes up against Karina’s cheek. Thank God Karina’s scarf is covering the lower half of her face, because if that barrier were gone, God knows what would’ve happened next.

Minjeong yelps and scrambles up and Karina chuckles at Minjeong’s red cheeks.

“I said thank you, princess.” Karina chuckles, pulling the scarf down from .

“Yes, well, you’re welcome.” Minjeong clears . “I fear it’s getting cold now and I’d rather not risk you getting frostbite while keeping me safe.”

“I… I feel bad that I haven’t gotten you anything, your highness.” Karina pouts and Minjeong almost coos at the unintentional cuteness of her guard.

“Well, maybe you can find something to get me later.” Minjeong shrugs. “But you don’t have to. I just wanted to do something nice for you.”

“How about you tell me what you want when you can think of something?" Karina strikes up a deal.

“Deal!”

“Minjeong, dear!” The queen’s voice bellows into the room and Minjeong’s shoulders deflate with responsibility.

“I’ll be there!”

“Shall we go?” Karina smiles, offering her arm to the pouting princess. 

The House of Kim has decided to host the annual Christmas dinner, which Minjeong informed her of on the way down into the busy foyer and guest’s room. 

“Why is this table empty?” Karina asks, pointing to a large table near the entrance that is empty without decorations and just a plain, festive tablecloth.

“Oh, this is for the gifts.” Minjeong answers and Karina’s eyes widen.

“I know, it’s a big table.” Minjeong snorts. “Our family does this thing called gift roulette where there’s a lucky draw for all the guests and they get to pick a wrapped gift with the drawn number. It’s just so nobody complains about not getting the gift they wanted from someone.”

“Huh. That’s quite smart.” Karina acknowledges.

“What about you? Are there any Christmas traditions in your family that I should know about?” Minjeong asks.

“Well, we used to make gingerbread houses and drink hot cocoa.” Karina recalls. “That’s about it.”

“I’m sorry you can’t celebrate with your family this time ‘round.” Minjeong says. “But they’ll be invited tonight, so maybe you can find time to do those traditions.”

“Maybe, princess.” Karina smiles at Minjeong’s thoughtfulness.

Karina follows Minjeong around as the princess signs off some presents, checks the amount of presents and the people on the invited guest list and makes sure the upstairs is out of bounds with locked doors and a fancy red rope to close off the area. 

“Oh, thank god.” Minjeong sighs in relief as she looks at the list of guests.

“What?” Karina leans over to see.

“I don’t think the Na’s are invited, or they’re doing their own thing.” Minjeong says and Karina nods.

“Lucky you,” she says.

They bump into Johnny and Mark after a while and find them supervising the King and Queen and Karina snorts quietly at the matching white scarves they both adorn.

“Didn’t I do a good job with the scarves?” Minjeong nudges her and Karina notices that Minjeong’s followed her gaze.

“You did very well, your highness.” Karina smiles and Minjeong blushes bashfully.

Karina laughs and her gaze lingers at Minjeong’s little face.

───※  ♕  ※───

The Christmas celebration is extravagant and Karina marvels at the huge, sparkling tree in the centre of the foyer. Minjeong had told her that she would be the one to place the star on the tree and Karina was excited to see it.

Karina hears her given name and she turns around to find her parents and her older sister behind her.

“Hi.” Karina blinks.

“Look at you in your spy get-up.” Her sister, Joohyun, teases her. Karina blushes and leans down to hug her sister.

“You’re not working tonight?” She asks her doctor sister. 

“It’s Christmas; I’m taking a night off.” Joohyun scoffs and Karina chuckles.

“How have you been?” Her mother asks and Karina shrugs.

“I’ve been good.” Karina answers.

Her mother holds her tightly and when she’s up to her father, both of them are quite stiff with each other but Karina receives a quick hug nonetheless.

“Looking good, kid.” Her dad says and Karina nods in acknowledgement.

“Thanks, dad.” Karina smiles.

“Cute scarf.” Joohyun points at the scarf loosely hanging around her sister’s neck. “Where’d you get it?”

“Thanks.” Karina smiles fondly, running her hand against the soft material. “The princess made it for me.”

“She made it for you?” Joohyun asks. 

“Yeah.” Karina nods and Joohyun gives her a strange look. “What?”

“Nothing.” Joohyun smiles softly. “She seems nice.”
“She is.” Karina agrees quickly. “I’ll introduce you to her when I find her. I’ll be back; I need to be supervising her.”

“Okay.” Joohyun chuckles. 

Karina weaves through the crowd and easily finds Minjeong, who is wearing a red sweater on top of a long white dress and a red Santa hat on her head. Before she reaches Minjeong, it’s as if she senses her already, as Minjeong turns when Karina’s a few steps away from her.

Minjeong’s face li