It’s Christmas Eve, 4 months after that day, and the Park and Jung family are both decorating a tree at the Park family’s house. After the ornaments were on the tree, it was time to put the star on top of the tree. Shin Hye offered to do so. She got a chair, stood on top of it, and carefully placed the star on the tip. She stared at it for a few seconds, admiring its shininess. When she got down, Yong Hwa was smiling at her.

        All the adults were in the living room chit-chatting, drinking eggnog, and eating cookies. Shin Hye went up to her room and went straight to her desk. She stared into space and then opened her top drawer. Inside under everything was a small compartment where she stored her love note to Yong Hwa the she still hasn’t given him. Shin Hye took out the organizer and clicked a button the side that only she knows about. The bottom popped up, revealing the note under it. She took the note out and read it.

        “Yah, Park Shin Hye, I knocked but you didn’t answer. Gwenchana?” Yong Hwa suddenly asked.

        “Oh, mian,” Shin Hye replied, struggling to put the note back under the flat without bending it, “So what’s up?”

        “Everyone is downstairs, you should come too,” Yong Hwa said, hands in his pocket and walking toward Shin Hye’s bed, attempting to sit on it.

        Shin Hye shook her head. “No, its okay. I’d rather stay up here. Um… Yong, I have something to give to you that I’ve wanted to give you for a long time…” She took the letter out again and walked over to Yong Hwa. “Here, you can read it now if you want… or you can read it tomorrow.”

        Yong Hwa accepted it and sat down on Shin Hye’s bed. Shin Hye sat down next to him and smiled.

        “Yong Hwa, Shin Hye! Come down to do the countdown to Christmas with us!” Yong Hwa’s mom called down to them.

        “Kajya,” Yong Hwa said to Shin Hye, holding out a hand.

        Shin Hye took his hand and stood up. Both of them walked out of Shin Hye’s room and to the living room where everyone was gathered.

        “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!” Everyone shouted to one another. But only Shin Hye didn’t do so. She just sat at the corner of the couch and sipped her eggnog quietly. Yong Hwa was on the counter reading the note. After he did that, he walked over to Shin Hye and extended a hand. Shin Hye looked up at him. Yong Hwa just smiled and let his hand fall to the side of him. He walked around the couch and sat next to Shin Hye.

        “I read your note. I understand your feelings now and I have those feelings for you too. Merry Christmas,” Yong Hwa said to Shin Hye and pecked a kiss on her cheek.

        “Merry Christmas,” Shin Hye said quietly. Her cheeks were burning up.

        Yong Hwa smirked and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go outside. It’s too noisy in here.”

        Yong Hwa let Shin Hye to the porch where they both sat on the swinging chair. They swung for a few minutes until Yong Hwa’s mom came.

        “Yong Hwa, Shin Hye!” Yong Hwa’s mom called, coming out onto the porch. “What are you kids doing here all alone? Come on inside. We’re singing karaoke.”

        “Ne, eomma. We’re coming.” Yong Hwa said to her. Then he turned to Shin Hye and said, “Come on, let’s go in.”

        So the 7 and 8 year olds went inside to sing karaoke. Shin Hye pestered Yong Hwa to sing something since he had such a good singing voice.

        Insert song: Now or Never by CNBLUE.

        After Yong Hwa sang Now or Never by CNBLUE, everyone cheered and Yong Hwa dragged Shin Hye to sing. She also sang a CNBLUE song.

        Insert song: Run by CNBLUE

        After Shin Hye sang Run, also by CNBLUE, she went up to her room, jumped back-first onto her bead, and stared up at her ceiling which was filled with glow-in-the-dark stars. Shin Hye heaved a big sigh and put her arm to her forehead. The door creaked open a little. In came Yong Hwa. Shin Hye quickly closed her eyes to pretend that she was asleep. Yong Hwa walked over to the bed and sat beside Shin Hye, looking up at what Shin Hye was looking at. He found himself looking at a particular star. Yong Hwa lifted Shin Hye up with one hand and with the other he opened the blankets for Shin Hye to go into. He slowly laid Shin Hye into the blankets for a warm embrace and then pecked a kiss on Shin Hye’s cheek again.

        The next morning, Shin Hye woke up and looked out her window. Her windowsill was frosty and outside was snowing. Shin Hye smiled and quickly changed into her proper clothing. She wore a t-shirt, a fuzzy jacket, her favorite pair of skinny jeans, combat boots, and her favorite tiger hat. She ran down the stairs with a thump thump thump and went to the dining room next to the kitchen. There, Shin Hye’s mom was putting a plate of eggs down onto the table. The table was set for six people.

        “Ah, Shin Hye, good morning. Come and eat some breakfast. I invited the Yong Hwa’s family to eat come with us,” Shin Hye’s mom said, gesturing her to come and sit down, “They should be here in a few minutes.”

        “Ne, eomma,” Shin Hye replied.

        A few minutes later, the doorbell rang and Shin Hye dashed to open the door. When she opened the door, she saw Yong Hwa’s family standing there shivering. So Shin Hye invited them in from the cold and led them to the dining room. There, Shin Hye’s eomma was wiping her hands on the apron she was wearing and then taking the apron off.

        The Jung family bowed politely and sat down. The adults sat on one side of the table, leaving one chair empty on the sides where Shin Hye and Yong Hwa were sitting. The kids were feeling awkward sitting there. Then, Shin Hye’s eomma gestured to the food and told everyone not to be shy and take as much as they want. Everyone thanked her and started digging into the delicious food.

        After everyone was finished eating, they all sighed in thanks, deliciousness, and happiness.

        Then, Shin Hye and Yong Hwa went to school

        After school when Shin Hye and Yong Hwa were eating their afternoon snack at Shin Hye’s house (every other day, its at Yong Hwa’s house, today its at Shin Hye’s house), Shin Hye asked, “Eomma,” she said while standing up from her seat, “Can I go outside and play in the snow?”

        “Oh, sure. But make sure to be careful. It will be slippery outside!” Shin Hye’s eomma warned.

        Yong Hwa hesitated. “Can I… go with you Shin Hye?”

        “Sure!” Shin Hye beamed.

        Yong Hwa smiled, put on his coat, and went to the door where Shin Hye was waiting for him. When they both were ready, they opened the door and were greeted by a cold gust of wind. Then, they stepped outside and began running towards the park.

        “Be careful, kids!” the eomma’s called after them, “Be back in an hour!”

        Shin Hye waved in an “ok-i-got-it” and “later mom” way. When they got to the park, some kids were already there having snowball fights. Shin Hye and Yong Hwa first went on the swings, threw snowballs at each other, and then lastly rested on a bench.

        “Whew, that was fun,” Shin Hye smiled and said, “We should do that more often when it’s snowing, Yong. Let’s read a book!” So Shin Hye fished out the saddest book she had ever read. It was called LOVE. It has four chapters and each chapter starts with a letter. L, O, V, and E.

        The book is about a boy who picks up four shells at the beach. Each corresponds to a different thing: Land of Sorrow, Ocean of Tears, Valley of Death, and End of Life. These spell out LOVE (kind of) and after he picks up E, the girl he has liked for four years comes up to him and says that she likes him.

        When they finished the book, Yong Hwa said, or tried saying, “Um… look Shin Hye. I have something to tel-”

        “Hey, look over there, Yong!!” Shin Hye said excitedly, “There’s a truck selling hot chocolate! Let’s go buy some, Yong!” Shin Hye grabbed Yong Hwa’s hand and pulled him running with her to the truck.

        “Hi there,” the person in the truck greeted, “What can I get you kids? Hot apple cider, hot chocolate?”

        “Yong,” Shin Hye said, pushing him in front of her, “You go first.”

        “Oh, um… okay,” Yong Hwa stuttered and looked at the person, “Can I get a small hot chocolate.” He shuffled to the side to wait for his drink. “Shin Hye, it’s your turn now.”

        “Ara, ara. Um… can I have a… small hot apple cider please?” Shin Hye asked politely.

        The cashier smiled warmly, “Sure thing. That will be 3,000 won please (about $3 US).”

        Shin Hye paid for both Yong Hwa and hers and Yong Hwa thanked her. When their drinks came, they sat down on that same bench again and quietly drank their drinks.

        “So, Yong,” Shin Hye said, breaking the silence,” What were you saying before I dragged you to get drinks?”

        “Oh, that?” Yong Hwa laughed slightly, “It was nothing…” Small tear droplets began forming at the corner of his eyes. He turned away from Shin Hye and pretended to be drinking his hot chocolate.

        “Ya, Jung Yong Hwa! Are you okay?” Shin Hye asked worriedly.

        Yong Hwa clenched his eyes tight and then ran behind the slide and crouched down. Shin Hye was still sitting on the bench, thinking about what just happened.

        “Yong ran away. He was about to cry. Did I do or say something wrong? What just happened?” Shin Hye thought to herself.

        Shin Hye rose and walked slowly to where Yong Hwa was hiding. Before Shin Hye could say anything, Yong Hwa stood up and ran the crosswalk and stopped; thinking hard.

        “Yong Hwa!” Shin Hye screamed.

        But Yong Hwa didn’t look back.