Junghwan's POV 

I scribbled a few paragraphs to answer the last question on the English exam. This was the last exam, and it actually turned out easier than I had thought. It must be because I've been hanging around with the most adorable book worm on the roof for the last few weeks. Suzy was amazing. I had thought I was smart, but she was a genius! But just a genius at English, because I was the master at math. Not only was she a genius, she was pretty. I don't see why everyone hates her so much...wait. That was once me. 

I looked up at the clock. I had finished ten minutes early. I looked over to see how Suzy was doing. She was in three of my classes; math, English, and Korean. I'm so lucky. Too bad I wasn't with her for all my classes. She was already done, and dozing off on her test. If it wasn't that, then she was definitely going to fail. 

Looking outside, I looked at the white world that was actually still Seoul, just in winter from. That Christmas tree needs to be put up soon, or my step-mom will get super mad. An idea appeared in my head, and I smiled. This was going to be brilliant, and I hope Suzy likes it. 

"Class, time's up. Pass in your papers," Seonsaengnim announced, motioning to her desk. As I passed Suzy's desk, I lightly smacked her head with my test, and she jerked awake.

"What- huh?!" she panicked. 

"Pabo. Christmas break's started," I chuckled. She sighed in relief and turned her paper in. 

"So, about that tree of yours..." Suzy started to pout. I could tell she wasn't looking forward to balancing on ladders.

"It's okay, you'll-" I tried to comfort her, but her eyes seemed to widen, and she seemed panicked at something behind me. Then she rushed off. I looked behind me, annoyed at what drove her away. Chanshik was walking down the hallway with one of those fake girls who batted their eyelashes like crazy, leaving a trail of mascara on her cheek. 

Why would Suzy run from Chanshik? Did she even know him? Oh right, she does. I remembered them holding hands during the festival. Huh, I had forgotten about that. I dismissed the thought and hurried to my locker to get some things to study over the break. 

Was Suzy gone, yet? I walked over to her locker to find it no one there. Shoot. I have to hurry. I sprinted outside, and there she was, walking outside the gates. 

"SUZY!!" I yelled, creating a puff of breath in the chilly air. She spun around after wiping her face. As I approached her, I saw that her eyes were a bit pink, like she'd been tearing up or something.

____________________________________________

Suzy's POV

"Are you okay? Your eyes are a bit..uh," Junghwan trailed off. Shoot. He noticed that there was something wrong! 

"Huh?! Oh! It's just the cold air!" I smiled, pretending that I was alright.

Actually, I wasn't. I was hurting a lot. Chanshik only said those four words and I felt like I was chopped in half.

I had seen Chanshik walking down the hallway with some girl who was part of the bully group. She had bullied me for the past five weeks, taking away from my study time, but I didn't really care all that much. What was one more added to the millions who were bullies? But that's not important.

When I saw Chanshik, I had ran to my locker as fast as I could, rushing myself to get out of the building. I guess I didn't noticed Chanshik and that bully enter the hallway that led to the main doors, because I was concentrated on packing up. I had packed up so fast, that I was the first one to leave. When I entered that hallway, I saw the girl confessing, and I couldn't help but eavesdrop. Of course I knew eavesdropping was bad, but I couldn't help it! Anyways, that girl should've chosen a better spot to confess! No wonder she was such an idiot. I hid around the corner, poking out the top half of my head so I could see. 

"Chanshik-shii! I like you A LOT!! Please go out with me!" she had confessed. Chanshik shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. 

"Um...Hyesung...um...well you see, I don't like you all that much. And definitely not as much as you like me," he winced at her hurt expression, "And I like someone else."

Those words hurt me, not only Hyesung, who ran out of the hallway, and knocked down various people along the way. A tear had slipped out, no matter how much I tried to hold it in. I had put on my hat, hiding my face, and walked by briskly. Luckily, Chanshik didn't notice. I bet he was still feeling guilty about hurting a girl's feelings, even if she was a bully. 

And now, it still hurt. 

"Suzy, aren't you coming?" Junghwan brought me back to the present. He was already a few steps ahead of me. 

"Y-yeah!" I grinned, pretending that I wasn't sad at all. 

______________________________________________________

Junghwan's POV

I opened the door to the car for Suzy before Mr. Kim could reach the door himself. He looked at me quizzically, but stayed quiet. Suzy climbed in and as I looked out the window, I saw Chanshik looking at us curiously as he was walking out the gates himself. I waved to him as we drove away.

"Mr. Kim, can you drop us off at the mall, please?" I asked. Suzy looked at me, surprised.

"The mall?! Wait, don't I still have to do the chores-"

"This IS part of your chores, Suzy! You're in charge of putting the tree up, remember? We're going to buy stuff for the tree, and the gifts underneath it," I grinned. I pretended to not notice her tiny squeal of excitement. 

_____________________________________________________

Suzy's POV

We reached the mall, and it was already decorated for the holidays, reminding me that I was here to get decorations of Junghwan's gigantic tree. Everything was so pretty and glittery. Christmas trees were everywhere and huge glass ornaments hung from the ceiling. 

"Wah~" I breathed. 

"Stop daydreaming, Suzy! We need to go shopping!" Junghwan snapped me out of my stupor and we headed for the closest store. 

We bought expensive clothes, cooking tools, and random girly things for Junghwan's unending aunts and female cousins. For the men of the extended and immediate family, we bought ties, electronics, etc. We had to travel to the car multiple times to drop off our stuff. Soon, I'd forgotten about the ordeal with Chanshik. 

Junghwan stopped next to a pair of baby blue headphones, hesitating whether to get it or not.

"Who's this gift for?" I wondered. 

"My half-sister," he replied, still inspecting the headphones.

"YOU HAVE A HALF-SISTER?!" I gasped. 

"Is it a crime?" he looked at me in alarm. 

"No!! I never knew you had a sister! I never saw her when I went over to your house! What's she like? How old is she?! Is it great having a sister?!" I bombarded him with questions. 

"Whoa, one at a time! First of all, she goes to a boarding school somewhere in the US, to learn her English. She wants to become a translator or something when she grows up. Doesn't make much sense to me, but that doesn't really matter. And she's an awesome sister, well, whenever I see her. She likes music a lot. When I say music, I'm talking about that American rap and stuff, not the "classical rich people stuff," as you would call it, or kpop. It's just hardcore American music," he explained, finally taking a pack of headphones.  

"So you're going to get them for her?" I took the pack out of his hands to read the back. 

"Duh, Sherlock," he rolled his eyes.

"Yah! No sass!" I punched his arm lightly. After we bought the headphones, Junghwan took out his checklist, and checked a few people off.

"Okay, I think that's almost everyone. Just one more person," he sighed in relief, looking at his watch. We had   already spent three hours searching for gifts for his relatives. 

"It's not your fault you have a million relatives," I tried to comfort him, "Okay. Who's this last person?" 

"A close friend." 

"Come on! Give me more than that! Girl or guy!?" I whined. Shopping for such a long time was making my head hurt. 

"She's a girl."

"More info, please."

"Just buy whatever you think that this girl would want. I'm not telling you anything!!" Junghwan grinned. I huffed.

"Come on! A tiny hint!" I tried to add some aegyo that I'd learned from Joongki. He shook his head stubbornly.

"I'll tell you after you choose and we buy it," he grinned. Fine! Be that way!

I stomped over to a toy shop, and Junghwan followed me.

"Well, if she was young, she'd want one of these barbies or stuffed animals. If she was a girl my age, she'd want some cute clothes in another shop or some makeup. And if it was an old ahjumma, she'd want a walking cane or some hearing aids! And the millions of personalities! What if she's a bookworm like me?! She'll want books!" I wailed. Junghwan chuckled.

"You see? Look at all the possibilities! You can't expect me to know what to get!" I complained. Junghwan just remained quiet with a stupid grin on his face.

I walked over to a store that sold soaps and lotions. They smelled awesome, but if the woman was a grandma, she'd get a headache with these smells.

I moved on to the next store that sold shoes. Nope. Not this one. Shoe sizes differed from girl to girl, and the style could be drastically different also. For instance, there was a pair of cute patterned converse on one shelf, and on another shelf was a pair of ankle boots decorated with spikes and skulls. 

I moved from store to store, eventually giving up. 

"This is stupid! I'll never be able to find a gift!" I cried. 

"Don't be stupid. What about watches, or things that girls of all ages would have?" he suggested.

"Like stuffed animals?" I proposed. This suggestion made me think of Operation Toy Box. "Yeah! I should get some stuffed animals! Everyone loves stuffed animals!" 

"Uh...sure," Junghwan hesitantly agreed, like that wasn't really what he was getting at, but that didn't really matter. I was ready to get out of this sparkly mall, despite how excited I was when we first entered. I went back to the toy store, and found a large, cute plushie of a pig. I handed it to Junghwan. 

"Yup. This is it," I decided. Junghwan looked uncertain.

"Um, you sure? It's a pig. You could've chosen something more...better? Like a dog? Or maybe a cat?" 

"Nope. This is it."

"You sure you want this?" he looked at me uncertainly. I nodded fervently.

"Yup." Wait. What I wanted?

"Okay then," he walked up to the front counter. He handed the cashier a debit card, asked the cashier something, and the cashier smiled and pointed at me. The cashier stuffed the pig in a red paper bag with white tissue paper. Then he stuck a huge bow on the bag and gave it to Junghwan. What were they talking about?

Junghwan and I left the store, and he still held onto the bag. When we exited the mall, the sun was already setting. 

"You know we didn't buy any decorations and even if we did, they wouldn't fit, right?" I asked. 

"That's why we're coming tomorrow," he grinned. 

"Not another day of endless shopping!" I groaned. I realized I was the only one walking now. Junghwan had taken out his phone to text Mr. Kim to come back so we could go home, then he looked up. 

"I was going to wait till Christmas Eve to give this to you, but I couldn't wait because this bag is too heavy. Merry Early Christmas, Suzy!" he smiled, his eyes twinkling in a gentle way. Then he handed me the huge red bag.