Chapter 1.

It was on a frosty December morning that Jeremy found Mi Nyeo sleeping on the couch.

The cold had woken him early.  He’d left the window ajar overnight because he’d noticed a funny smell in his room.  He thought that it might be the half eaten bag of prawn rice chips he’d stashed away a couple of weeks ago, but he wasn’t interested in knowing for sure until after he’d eaten breakfast.

His stomach growled as he stomped across the room and pulled the window shut.  It was a sign that it was time to feed Jolie.  Their stomachs and appetites had always been in tune from the day he’d brought the golden retriever home.

With a yawn, Jeremy stuffed his feet into a pair of slippers that were too small for him and gallomped his way downstairs to scout for food.  He gave his blond hair the ritual ruffle on the way down.  The tummy was about to get scratched too when he noticed a girl lying on the living room couch.

He only had to see the soft round cheeks to know that the girl was Mi Nyeo.  It had been a year since he’d last seen her, but like his Hyungs, Jeremy had trained himself to recognise her in a city-wide blackout.  It was important to be able to find her, because when she was bothered by something, Mi Nyeo liked to make herself invisible.

Mi Nyeo certainly wasn’t invisible today, and Jeremy worried over the dark circles under her eyes.  He guessed that her red-eye flight from Africa must have worn her out with all the white noise and long hours of darkness.  Night flights wore him out too.

“I won’t bother you with a welcome home party until you have rested well,” whispered Jeremy, pulling the covers up to her dimpled chin.  He wanted to touch her long hair.  The auburn waves had already grown down to her shoulders.

“I know you can’t hear me, but I am soooo glad to have you back,” he said to her beautiful face.

With a satisfied nod, Jeremy went into the kitchen to make breakfast for Jolie and himself.  As he poured out the dry food, he couldn’t help humming an old song to himself.  He’d once heard Coodi Noona singing it to herself when she’d thought nobody was around.

Mi Nyeo likes Jeremy.  If she keeps liking him, what will he do?

The lyrics weren’t true, but Jeremy didn’t mind.  He was just happy to have the girl he loved around in time for Christmas.  He’d be a good friend, and make sure to give her the things that he knew Hwang Tae Kyung wouldn’t mind him giving – like tinsel and Christmas trees.

“Jeremy?” called a tired voice.

Having just come inside from feeding Jolie, Jeremy was astonished to see Mi Nyeo already wide awake and standing near the kitchen table.

After a long yawn, she smiled at him in that adorable way of hers.  “Jeremy.  It is you.”

“Mi Nyeoooo!” he shouted happily, maybe a little too happily, opening his arms for a hug.  She was about to fall into them when they both hesitated.

“Can I?” asked Jeremy, thinking of Hwang Tae Kyung.

She looked doubtful.  “Oppa-nim would say I shouldn’t.”

“Oppa-nim?”

“Neh!”  Mi Nyeo nodded eagerly.  “I am teaching myself to call him Hy-...Oppa.  It is very hard when I have always called him Hyung-nim, so I have combined them until I can say Hy-...Oppa.”

“Ah.”  Jeremy nodded in understanding.  “Good idea.  Calling him Oppa-nim in public will mean less questions than Hyung-nim.  You know I still find it very hard to call you Mi Nyeo when you have always been Go Mi Nam to me.”

She gave him an affectionate smile.  “Sometimes I wish I was still Mi Nam too, so that I could be a part of ANJell.  I missed you all so much that I got homesick over a place that I lived in for such a short time.”

He gave her an air-hug – where he opened his arms wide and closed them - pretending that he was holding her.  “I missed you too.”

To his surprise, Mi Nyeo looked like she was going to tear up.  Before a single drop could fall from her eyes, he yanked her by the wrist and led her to a kitchen chair.  He wasn’t going to let her cry.

“Don’t be sad.  You’re here now, and I’m glad that you can think of this place as home.  Are you hungry?” he asked, pulling the chair back for her.  “Rice and juice makes everything better.”

“Juice!”  Mi Nyeo perked up.  “Jeremy, please make me some of your breakfast juice.”

“You read my mind.  Jeremy’s best juice - coming up.”  He pulled out his juicer from the cupboard and then went to the fridge for ingredients.  “One day.  When I’m a very old grandfather, I’m going to sell my juice to pay for my grandchildren’s grandchildren’s college.”

“Really?” She leaned across the table to get a chopping board and knife so that she could help him with preparations.  “I think your grandchildren’s grandchildren will go to the best colleges because of your juice.”

Jeremy resisted the urge to pinch her cheeks.  “I’ve even thought of an advertisement.  Want me to show you?”

She clapped her hands in supportive applause.

He squeezed his own cheeks.  “Jeremy’s Juice...A little bit of Jeremy’s freshly squeezed smile in every bottle.”

“Don’t you think you’ll be a bit old for those sort of ads by then?” said Hwang Tae Kyung, appearing at the foot of the stairs.

“I’ll be cute forever,” muttered Jeremy.

“Good morning Oppa-nim,” said Mi Nyeo.  “Did you sleep well?”

“You mean during the two hours since we got home from the airport?  Surprisingly, yes,” said Tae Kyung.  He walked over to the fridge to get his bottle of water.  “It must be because I don’t have to worry about what a certain Pig-Rabbit is doing in Africa.”

Mi Nyeo smiled.  “Remember that I have to go back in four weeks, Hyung-nim.”

“Yes-yes,” he said, looking annoyed.  “Why did those nuns only let you come now?  ANJell is fully booked for the season and I’m in the middle of composing for a new album in the New Year.”

“Sorry, Hy-Oppa-nim, but I did warn you it would be like this.”

He sighed.  “It can’t be helped.”  He walked around the kitchen bench and squeezed her hand.  “I have to work in studio all day, but we will go out to dinner tonight.  So be ready to leave here by seven.”

“Neh, Hyung-nim.”

He gave her a smile, and then glanced over at Jeremy.  “I am trusting you to look after her.  Make sure she gets lots of rest today, and no parties until I say so.”

Jeremy grinned.  “No problem.  I will take good care of her, Oppa-nim.”

Tae Kyung’s frown appeared.

“Oops.”  Jeremy put his hand over his mouth.  “I meant, Hyung.”

Mi Nyeo slept on the couch until noon.  Mi Nam and Shin Woo whispered a welcome to her sleeping form before heading off to the studio.  Jeremy was supposed to go there too, but he decided to keep watch over Mi Nyeo instead.  He could catch up on his music theory instead, and it wouldn’t matter if he missed one day’s practice to be with his friend.

In the afternoon, Jeremy took her out on his walk with Jolie.  Her pale cheeks recovered some of their colour as they strolled in the winter sun.

“I feel much better now,” said Mi Nyeo, tilting her moon face up to the sun.  “It was so cold on the plane that this cold seems so much warmer.”

“Mong!” Jolie barked in agreement.  Her yellow fur looked gold in the sun’s rays.  She stuck out her tongue and snorted at Mi Nyeo as if to say, I remember you, and even if I like you, I won’t hesitate to attack you with my sloppy tongue if my owner tells me to.

Mi Nyeo took one wary step away from Jolie.

“How about we make some spicy soup when we get back,” Jeremy suggested, not noticing the exchange between dog and girl.  “It will warm you up, and we can make it as hot as you want.”

“I can make it,” she offered.  “But Jeremy, you don’t have to look after me like Hy-Oppa-nim says.  You must be as busy as him.”

“Don’t worry.”  He slapped an arm around the back of her shoulders in his non-Korean way.  “Everyone knows that I slack off during Christmas so that I can celebrate it properly.”

She tilted her head to one side.  “But you didn’t celebrate Christmas last year.”

“Ah.”  Jeremy rubbed the back of his neck.  “Yes, that’s because my parents were in Seoul at the time.  I have to celebrate it with the band this year.  Do you like Christmas, Mi Nyeo?”

“Yes,” she replied.  “And sometimes, no.  Christmas is like one of those sweet and sour lollies for me, only it tastes more sour than sweet.”

“Ah.”  He nodded, thinking of her parents’ fate.  “Then I won’t force you to celebrate Christmas.”

Mi Nyeo hung her head.

He patted her back.  “You know.  It’s stupid, but I want to celebrate Christmas because I miss my Eomma.”

“Ah.  Because she’s staying in the UK this year?”

“Mmm.”

“That’s not stupid.  Do you wish that you could stay in the UK and see her all the time?”

“All the time!” confirmed Jeremy.  “But I must be strong so that she doesn’t worry about me.  She worries a lot.”

Mi Nyeo nodded and squared her shoulders.  “Then I will be strong for my Eomeoni too, or she will worry.  I will celebrate Christmas for her, even if it is sour.”

“You don’t need to be strong while celebrating Christmas,” he said, handing her Jolie’s leash.  “I will make it sweeter than you remember it to be.  Also, what I think your parents would really like to see is you being dragged down the street by a dog that’s bigger than you.”

“Eh?”

“You need some exercise.”  Jeremy broke out into a run.  Jolie barked in excitement and then tore after him, dragging Mi Nyeo with her.  He looked over his shoulder, and smiled when he saw Mi Nyeo red-faced and running against her will.  She’d thank him later.

At ten to seven that evening, Mi Nyeo reappeared in the living room to wait for Tae Kyung.  Jeremy looked up from his bucket of ice cream, and swallowed everything in his mouth at once, giving him brain freeze.

“You look nice, Mi Nyeo,” observed Shin Woo from the depths of the couch.

With a shy blush, she tugged at the hem of her white sleeveless dress even though it went past her knees.  She smiled as a ribbon of her long hair fell past her ear and onto her cheek.  “Thank you.”

“Nice?”  Nice was an understatement.  Jeremy dropped the spoon into the bucket at the sight of her smiling kissable lips.  Her earrings sparkled under the room’s light.

She’s an angel.

“What are you watching?”  Mi Nyeo crossed the room and sat down next to Jeremy.  He could smell talcum powder and a whiff of girlie perfume as she placed her coat on the edge of the couch.

He blinked, and tried not to freak out.

Pull it together Jeremy.  She’s beautiful, but she’s just a beautiful friend.  Nothing else.

“Want some ice cream beautiful-I mean friend-friend!”

Mi Nyeo smiled at him with her pink lips and took his spoon.

“Mmmm, choc-chip mint.”

Jeremy felt like the world had stopped spinning as the spoon went towards her tulip mouth.  Mi Nyeo didn’t know it, but she was about to give him an indirect kiss, and he really, really wanted it.

“Wait!” he shouted, surprising himself and making her jump.  “Let me get you a towel so that you don’t spill it on yourself.”  He hopped to his feet and took the spoon off of her.  “And I’ll serve it to you properly.  With your own spoon!”

“But Oppa-nim might be here any moment, and I’m hungry,” she mumbled, rubbing her tummy.  Shin Woo’s lips curled, but his eyes remained glued to the TV.

Once Jeremy was in the kitchen, he put down the ice cream and slapped his own cheeks.

“Pull.Yourself.Together,” he whispered to himself.  “Mi Nyeo is Hyung’s girlfriend.  You can’t let her have indirect kisses with you!  Bad-bad-bad!”

“Jeremy, are you okay?”

He turned around to look at Mi Nyeo.  She had the spoon – his spoon - in .

“Yah!”  Jeremy barked at her.  “Why did you do that?”

Like a child caught red-handed, she put the piece of cutlery back on the kitchen bench.  “I was hungry.”

Ten past eleven that same night, Mi Nyeo had fallen asleep on Jeremy’s shoulder with his spoon half-hanging out of .  Tae Kyung had never come, and Jeremy assumed that his Hyung must have gotten inspiration for a new song.

“Maybe it’s a good thing he couldn’t come,” Jeremy said to himself.  “She needs a good sleep.”

He switched off the television and then moved her off him, taking care not to wake her up.  When he was free, Jeremy got to his feet and then hoisted her up into his arms.  It was hard to believe that a body as light as hers could handle almost a litre of ice cream without help.

Getting Mi Nyeo up to his bedroom door was easy.  The rest was the tricky part.  It took him three tries to get the door open without bumping her head.  He then had to pick his way through his own mess in order to get to the bed.

Once Mi Nyeo was on the mattress, Jeremy peeled off her high heels one by one and tucked her in.

“I could look at you all night,” he whispered to her sleeping face.  “But Hyung wouldn’t like it.”

It was then that he remembered the mess surrounding her.

“Aaaaargh!” screamed the imaginary Mi Nyeo when she woke up the next morning.  “I’m in a dump.  I can never be friends with someone who lives in a dump.  Mother Superior, save me!”

“No.”  Jeremy rubbed the back of his neck.  “I can’t let her wake up to a dump.”

With an image of Mi Nyeo’s horrified face to spur him on, Jeremy cleaned up his room for the first time in twenty or so months.  The overflowing rubbish bag outside of his door multiplied into two, and then three.  His prawn chips also got thrown away, and Jeremy lit a candle stolen from Tae Kyung’s room to get rid of the lingering smell.

After the clutter was cleared, he did the mopping, made sure that the windows were locked so that the bogeyman couldn’t get in, and then switched off the lights.

“Mmmm,” smiled the imaginary Mi Nyeo when she woke up the next morning.  “Jeremy’s room is so clean and fresh smelling.  Mother Superior, why did I ever pick Tae Kyung over him?”

“Stop it Jeremy,” he said as he walked downstairs and stretched out on the couch in the living room.  “She picked him.  You’re only hurting yourself.”