Chapter 9.

“Mong!”  Jolie jumped on the bed and walked in circles over the sleeping couple until they groaned.

“Jolie!”  Jeremy greeted the retriever with a hug and then sat up, trying to adjust to the late morning light.  “Who let you in?”

“Jolie is the only one in this house who isn’t shy about waking you two up this morning,” said Shin Woo.  He was hiding behind the ajar door in an unnecessary attempt to give them privacy.  “Come downstairs.  Mi Nam wants to open his presents.”

“Wait!”  Mi Nyeo scrambled out of the bed.  She straightened her hair before running over to talk to Shin Woo.  He gave her crinkled clothes an amused look and then smothered it quickly before she realised that he was laughing at her.

“Shin Woo Hyung, how is, ah, everyone feeling?” she asked.

Shin Woo pretended to think hard.  “Feeling?  Hmmm.  Good question.”  He bent down to peer at her face, and she leaned away from him.  “Well, for starters, you look very happy.  My guess is that Jeremy is too.”

She stared at the floor in embarrassment.

“Mi Nam is fine, but that’s just because he hasn’t worked out that you’re really dating Jeremy.  Tae Kyung is...”

“Yes?”

“Coping.”

She sighed in relief, and beamed at him.  “That’s good.  Thank you for telling me.”

Shin Woo lowered his voice to a whisper.  “This is none of my business, but you two might want to look less like you’re in love when you go downstairs.  Tae Kyung knows you were both in here all night.”

“...Ah.  I will try.”

---

Jolie bounded into the lounge ahead of Mi Nyeo and Jeremy.  She did a circuit of the room around everyone and nearly knocked the tree over with her tail by the time the other two caught up.

“Meerrry Christmaaaas everyone!”  Jeremy bounced around the coffee table with a smile so big that Mi Nam was revolted by it.  “Isn’t it a great day?  Mi Nyeo, which one of these presents are from you.  I want to open yours first.”

Shin Woo face palmed in despair.  Tae Kyung looked like he’d just eaten a particularly sour lime.

“You should feed Jolie first,” said Mi Nam.  “None of us have bothered yet.”

“So that’s why she’s so excited,” said Jeremy.  He clicked his fingers.  “Come on Jolie!  Breakfast!”

The coffee table got knocked into Tae Kyung’s shins while Jolie made her quick exit.  He bared his teeth at Jeremy’s turned back, but quickly composed himself when Mi Nyeo looked his way.

“Are you all right, Hyung-nim?” she asked.

“Never better,” he replied.  “I’ve heard it said that what doesn’t kill you is supposed to make you stronger...apparently.”

“Ah.”

Shin Woo kneeled under the white tree with green decorations and held a present out for Mi Nyeo to take.  “Please open my present first.”

Her eyes brightened.  “Shin Woo Hyung.  Thank you.  I have presents for you all too.  Here.  Merry Christmas Oppa...and this one is for Shin Woo Hyung...this one is for Jeremy...and these are all for Hyung-nim.”

“Hey.  Why does Tae Kyung Hyung get more presents than everyone else?”

“Ah.  Because he’s the new member of our family?”

“What!?”  Mi Nam exploded, knocking a couple of cushions off the couch.  “He’s what?”

“He’s going to be our Hyung-nim for real.”

“Don’t you mean that he’s going to be my brother-in-law?”

“No.”  Mi Nyeo shook her head.  “Oppa, we’re sort of...adopting him.”

Tae Kyung focused harder on unwrapping his presents.

“So he’s not going to be my brother-in-law?” asked Mi Nam.

“No.”  Mi Nyeo shook her head.

“But he’s going to be like a brother to us?”

“Yes.”

“But that’s exactly what he is now...unless...”

Mi Nyeo said nothing.

“Confess twin!  If Tae Kyung isn’t going to be my brother-in-law, then who is?”

“Juice anyone?” Jeremy walked in with a pitcher of his breakfast mix and a few glasses.  He sat down on the floor next to Mi Nyeo and started pouring.  When he finished filling the cups, he noticed that all eyes were trained on him.

“What?”

Mi Nam looked horrified.  “Him?  Seriously?”

“Jeremy!”  Mi Nyeo placed a present in front of him.  “Open this one first.”

He ripped the wrapping off so that it flew around the air like confetti.  Warm colours of orange, yellow, red and brown met his eyes.  He stretched the item out on the coffee table and the entire band scrunched up their noses as they tried to make out what it was.

“Giraffes and rhinos,” said Mi Nam.

“In knitted form,” observed Shin Woo.

“My eyes are hurting from the choice of colours,” murmured Tae Kyung.

“It’s a jumper from Africa,” Mi Nyeo prompted with a dejected pout on her face.  “You don’t like it, Jeremy?”

With admirable effort, Jeremy swallowed his pride and presented Mi Nyeo with what he hoped was a delighted smile.  “Of course I like it.  I’m going to put it on right now.”

The three others reached for their glasses of juice and sniggered behind the safety of the rims.  Jeremy lifted the knitted eyesore and gulped.  He knew he’d have to wear it for the rest of the day to make her happy, and that his band mates would make jokes about it for the rest of his life.

He twisted the jumper around so that it would go on the right way, when something slapped into his lap.

“What was that?” asked Mi Nam.

Jeremy peered down and picked up an envelope of printed photos.

“Oh?”  Mi Nyeo peered at the envelope’s packaging.  “I’ve been looking for those.  I thought I lost them.”

Jeremy already had them out of the pack.  “Are these of a band, Mi Nyeo?”

She nodded.

“Can I have a look?” said Shin Woo.

“Please don’t look at them...”  She blushed.  “I took them more for myself.  There’s nothing special in them.”

“Hoh!  Liar.  Look at the colours in these ones.  You really like the sunsets, don’t you?” Jeremy said, flipping through the images.

Mi Nyeo watched Jeremy nervously.  “They’re sunrises.”

“Why sunrises?”

“They bring out the yellows and oranges in the ground.”

Tae Kyung gave Mi Nyeo a sharp glance.  “Why not sunsets?”

“They have more pinks and blues,” she answered, shrinking under the coffee table.

“And the drums,” said Jeremy.  “There are so many pictures of traditional drums in here.”

“I like them.”

Tae Kyung’s eyes narrowed.  “Do you?  And when did you first start liking drums?”

Like a flower, Mi Nyeo withered under Tae Kyung’s gaze.

“Mi Nyeo, I can teach you how to play these sort of drums if you want,” offered Jeremy.

“Ah!”  Shin Woo pulled out an oddly shaped present from under the tree.  “That explains what this is.  It’s for you, Jeremy.”

“You got me a traditional drum!”  Jeremy turned his excited gaze on Mi Nyeo.  “Really?”  He reached down for a hug.

The three others jumped to the front of their seats, ready to intervene.

Shin Woo was the first to relax.  “Sorry about that,” he said.  “Habits are hard to break.”

“I’m not breaking my habit,” said Mi Nam.  “Don’t do any of that touchy stuff with my sister!”

Jeremy pouted.  “You didn’t care what she did while you were having your eyelids done.”

“How many times are you going to throw that in my face?”

“As many as it takes for you to feel guilty.  Anyway, don’t think I’ll listen to you.”

“If you’re not listening to me, then how come you didn’t just hug Mi Nyeo?”

“I-“  Jeremy hesitated.  He looked at Mi Nyeo and then Tae Kyung.  “No reason.”

Tae Kyung folded his arms and glared at the wall.  “Shin Woo is right.  Don’t hold back on my account.  Mi Nyeo is no longer my girlfriend.  Why would I care what you do with her?”

Shin Woo sighed in exasperation.

Mi Nam rounded on Tae Kyung.  “You don’t care what he does with her?”

“Correct.  If she wants to be indecent with her new boyfriend, who am I to stop her?”

Jeremy gritted his teeth.  “I can’t begin to tell what is wrong with that you big-“

“Jeremy!”  Mi Nyeo tugged on his sleeve and gave him a pleading look.  He seethed, but kept his words to himself.

“Let me get this straight,” said Mi Nam.  “My twin adores you, calls you her ‘Hyung-nim’ and adopts you as some sort of brother, and you don’t care?”

“That’s right.”  Tae Kyung got to his feet and strolled out of the room.  “I don’t care.”

“Where are you going?  Apologise for calling my sister indecent first!” Mi Nam shouted, but Tae Kyung was already gone.

“Oppa!” scolded Mi Nyeo.  “Why did you have to start a fight with him?”

“It was never going to work, twin.  He’s your ex, and he’s the type to carry a grudge.  Take my advice, disown him as family and drop him off in a box outside an orphanage.”

“That’s not funny,” said Mi Nyeo.

“You know he didn’t mean it.”  Jeremy leaned closer to her, wanting to touch her.  “And Tae Kyung didn’t mean what he said either.  You know that, right?”

She nodded, but the downcast look on her face wouldn’t go away.

“Ah!”  Jeremy pulled the jumper off the coffee table with exaggerated enthusiasm.  “I haven’t tried this on yet.  I hope it’ll fit.  Whaaa.  Look at how thick it is.  It’ll be so warm.”

Shin Woo played along.  “It is one of a kind.  Isn’t it?”

“It fits.  How does it look?” asked Jeremy, posing for the group from where he was sitting.

“Like it belongs around your neck,” muttered Mi Nam.

Jeremy ignored him.  “You know what else jumpers are good for?”  He reached over and tickled Mi Nyeo’s nose with the fluff of his sleeve.  She sneezed.

“Good, huh?”

Her eyes widened.  “It is good.”

“Want another one?”

“Mm!”  She nodded and he tickled her nose again.

“Choo!”  Mi Nyeo rubbed her nose and chuckled.

“Better?” he asked.

“Much better,” she answered.  Without thinking, she leaned her head on his shoulder.  Jeremy reached up to her hair and she relaxed against him, closing her eyes before she could witness Mi Nam’s face turning sour.

Her twin huffed at Jeremy.  “I suppose once in a while isn’t so bad, but don’t push your luck.”

---

ANJell rounded up their Christmas day celebrations with Jeremy’s late-night outdoors party.  The guests didn’t have to huddle in their coats because of the outdoor heaters, Santa and the decorations shone in all their glory against the night sky, and the hot food disappeared fast.  Mi Nyeo was wearing her reindeer headband as planned.  Her nose and lips were a plum red from the lipstick Coordinator Wang had given her as a present.

Jeremy wore his jumper of giraffes and rhinos.  People sniggered at it when they first arrived, and then it was forgotten.  If anyone could wear an ugly jumper and get away with it, it was Jeremy.  He passed around jokes like they were drinks, and he took as many pictures as there were songs playing.

He and Mi Nyeo stuck to each other like glue.  She got tired more than he did, and being the life of the party, he could bring the life over to the table so that she could sit down and eat something.  However, whenever she’d wanted to dance with him, friends would want to join them too, and they’d had to bounce up and down in groups with other people.  It had only been late in the night, when almost all the guests had left or fallen asleep in the living room, and when an outdated kpop song was playing that he put her hand on his shoulder, bringing a shine to her eyes.

Mi Nyeo lit up the moment Jeremy put her hand on his shoulder.  Her face lifted and her lips curled upwards as they went through the dance steps he’d first taught her.  She was comfortable with him, and his efforts to with changes in direction and new steps just made her laugh.  They danced and chortled in their own world, putting the mess around them to the back of their minds.

“Did you enjoy the party?” asked Jeremy.

“I enjoyed it very much, but I like this part the best.”

“That is a good answer,” he teased, holding her a little tighter.

“But can I take off the reindeer ears now?”

“Huh?”

She looked guilty.  “I didn’t want to tell you, but the headband is really hurting me.”

“Ah.”  Jeremy tutted and reached up to her head to gently pull it off and toss it to one side.  Mi Nyeo winced at the release of pressure even though he had removed them with slow care.  Seeing her in pain, he pressed the palms of his hands on the two points behind her ears, and then massaged light circles on her temple, making sure his fingers didn’t tangle in her hair.

“Why didn’t you take them off when they started to hurt?” he asked.

Her lashes lowered.  “I know it is silly, but you kept telling me how...cute I looked.  So I kept telling myself that I would wear it just a little longer.”

Jeremy thought of his jumper and a lopsided smile appeared on his face.  “How does your head feel?  Better?”

“Mm.  Much better.”

He was about to lower his hands when she suddenly reached up and held them in place.

“Ah!  But could we stay like this for a bit longer?” she asked, looking thoroughly embarrassed.

Jeremy’s lopsided smile got more pronounced.  He started tracing circles on her hair again, but the touch had softened into caresses.  He let his fingers tangle in her soft hair and brush against her earlobes and the top of her nape.

Without quite knowing how it happened, he was close enough to kiss her, and he didn’t know who kissed first, but once he sensed the first hint of her lips on his mouth, he embraced her fully.  He tried to be slow and gentle with her so that she wouldn’t be frightened, but her thin arms wound up holding him closer in frustration, and in the end he gave in and kissed her the way he’d wanted to kiss her, leaving her in no doubt of his feelings.

---

Shin Woo observed the couple and then sat down next to Tae Kyung with a cup of hangover tea.  They had remained upstairs so that their guests could sleep soundly downstairs, but had moved inside to avoid the damp cold that was setting in now that it was early morning.

“It was a good party,” Shin Woo reflected.  “I didn’t see you much though.  Where were you hiding?”

Tae Kyung shrugged.  “I wasn’t hiding.  I showed my face enough.”

“Did you get a chance to apologise to Mi Nyeo yet?”

Tae Kyung sighed, looked over the back of his chair at the couple outside and fell back in shock.  “Is this your idea of a joke?”

“I didn’t mean now.  You decided that on your own.”

“You’re so meddlesome since we met her.  Go back to not caring...or are you just bored?”

“Just apologise to her."

“So you are meddling.”

Shin Woo’s attention turned to something Tae Kyung had in his hand.  “A Saint Christopher.  From Mi Nyeo?”

Tae Kyung hesitated, and frowned.  “She must think I need help.”

“Maybe she thinks you won’t ask for it.”  Shin Woo took another sip of his tea and peered out at Jeremy and Mi Nyeo laughing.  They had stopped kissing for the time being, but were still holding on to each other as if they weren’t ready to let go just yet.

“They look happy,” he observed.

Tae Kyung huffed in annoyance.  “If you’re going to keep talking about them, I’m going to bed.”

“Jeremy asked me how I got over my feelings for her.”

Tae Kyung paused, suddenly interested in the chance of topic.  “Did he?  That must have been embarrassing for you.”

“I didn’t have an answer for him, because I haven’t...quite...gotten over her.  You know that.  That’s why you asked Jeremy to look after her when she came back.”

Something like a smirk appeared on Tae Kyung’s face.  “Why is it that I feel another piece of meddlesome advice coming my way?  I’m definitely going to bed.”

“Tae Kyung.  Seeing her happy is the next best thing, and you should see how happy he makes her.”

Tae Kyung cautiously peered over the back of his chair and saw that Jeremy was teasing Mi Nyeo by touching her red nose.  “Fine.  I’ll admit...that’s a good consolation.”

THE END