I never thought I’d say this, but this Christmas .

It’s like every other year. My aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents are here, and everyone is cheery. The Christmas dinner my mother prepared is exquisite. The Christmas tree is dressed to the nines, as well as everyone filling our home. The gifts lying under the tree are abundant. However, the merriment and decorations aren’t enough to overshadow the memory of Kibum’s visit yesterday. 

I can’t help but sulk over the situation. He was my friend, and I’m not very fond of losing a friend. I suppose it was all my doing, but I’m sure if he even gave me the chance, we could have reached some sort of compromise instead of just calling our friendship completely null and void.

I feel the cushions of the couch I am sitting on cave in, causing me to look towards the reason for the movement,

“Why so blue, Minnie?” my cousin coos teasingly. This cousin is older than me. Attending college now in fact. He lives three hours away so I only get to see him during holidays like this. Though we don’t see each other very often, I’d like to think we’re rather close.

“Shut up, Jinki,” I tell him curtly.

“Geez, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today, Christmas of all days,” he replies back, retreating from his previous joking manner.

“Sorry,” I apologize with a sigh.

“So what’s wrong anyway?” he asks more seriously.

“It’s nothing.”

“Girl troubles?” he grins.

“Not exactly,” I chuckle as I play with the bracelet around my wrist. “My friend is just… being distant,” I clarify unsure of how to phrase it.

“Ah,” Jinki opens his mouth in understanding. “I’m sure she has her reason-“

“It’s a boy,” I correct him swiftly because he was probably thinking it was all just code for girl troubles like he first guessed.

“Oh, in that case, I’m sure he has his reason. He’ll come around I’m sure,” he tries to console me. “Even if not, friends come and go.”

“That’s really depressing…”

“Well, now that I think about it, it really is… I’m not very good at this comforting advice ,” he admits.

“Thanks for trying though, Jinki,” I laugh.

“Any time,” he smiles. “So this friend must be something real special if you’re getting all moody over it.”

I shrug as my response as I stare straight ahead blankly.

“I see…” I hear Jinki quietly say, mostly to himself. He gets up with a smirk on his face and begins to walk to some other area of the house.

“What are you grinning about?” I ask, looking up at him and his narrow smiley eyes.

“Nothing much,” he dismisses as he walks away with the same grin on his face. I scoff and turn away from looking at him to continue staring at my wrist.

After we exchange gifts, we gather around the dinner table to devour my mom’s well-prepared feast. My dad cuts the Christmas turkey with great precision, and my little cousins watch in awe. As we pass around bowls of mashed potatoes and plates of sliced smoked ham, we all converse about the recent happenings in our lives. One of my uncles is apparently going on some business trip to Australia next month, and my mom makes a big deal out of that because she absolutely adores the country for some reason. Probably because of the dolphins. Then I learned one of my aunts will be receiving some plastic surgery. Again. This time she wants double eyelids. This catches my dad’s attention because he absolutely adores making fun of my mom’s sister. As for me, I absolutely adore watching it all happen. It’s ing hilarious.

My other aunt from my dad’s side, who is more ordinary and less catty than my plastic aunt, clears , halting my father and his sister-in-laws bickering.

“The meal you’ve prepared is absolutely delicious, unnie,” she compliments my mother. “Right, Jinki?” she calls her son’s attention.

“Better than my mom’s,” he says muffled through a full mouth.

“Hey! I won’t cook for you anymore when you’re at home if you’re not going to be grateful!” my aunt retorts. Jinki just laughs and continues devouring the mountain of food on his plate.

“Why thank you,” my mom says, laughing at the mother-son duo. “If you think my cooking is amazing, you should try Minho’s boyfriends! He raves about his cooking skills all the time! Right, Minho?” she turns, smiling at me.

Oh . I knew this was coming. I knew I would have to tell her eventually, but I didn’t think it would come so soon, and on Christmas for goodness sake. I don’t want to upset my mom right now so I can just not tell her. But knowing her, she’ll keep going on and on about Kibum and I’ll inevitably admit that we “broke up” and I’m back with Jeesun. I should have never ‘raved’ about Kibum’s cooking to her, and then maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t have brought him up right now… who am I kidding? She would have found a way to sneak him into the conversation. She always does when she really wants to talk about something.

“Uh… right,” I answer after my hesitation, not making eye contact with anyone at the table.

“Oh, you have a new boyfriend?” Jinki’s mom inquires with a warm smile. “So you’re not dating that horrid Jeesun anymore? Thank goodness…”

“Uh… well, actually…” I begin to really get nervous because I already know how my mom will react. She adores Kibum. She won’t like this news one bit.

“Yes! His boyfriend now is so adorable! You’d fall in love with him immediately!” my mom gushes, interrupting me.

“Agreed. I usually think Minho’s boyfriends are ugly, but this one sure is a looker,” my dad interjects with a smirk, winking at me.

“I would really like to meet him someday,” my aunt adds still smiling at me. All eyes are on me, their expectant gazes making me crack under the pressure.

“Oh! Why don’t you call him, Minho!” my mom suggests enthusiastically. That’s it; I’m screwed. “Have you wished him a Merry Christmas yet? You could do it now so your auntie can at least hear his lovely voice.”

“Really?” my aunt asks excitedly. “If you don’t mind, Minho, I would like to make sure he’s good enough for my nephew and nothing like that Jeesun girl.”

“They’re not alike at all actually…” I say quietly, hoping that will be enough for her so she won’t go on with the phone call idea.

“Fantastic! So he’ll actually be a pleasure to speak with then!” my aunt claps her hands together excitedly.

“I want to speak with him, too!” my plastic aunt adds in a whiny voice.

“Me too since you all make him sound so amazing,” one of my uncle interjects.

“What’s he like? I want to know what he’s like!” another one of my relatives joins in.

“Minho has a boyfriend? Ooh, kissy kissy~” one of my younger cousins chimes in, followed by kissy faces from all of the little kids… and Jinki, just because he’s childish like that.

“So go on, Minho, take your phone out,” my mom commands eagerly. “We’re going to have a Choi family/Kibum conference.”

“Uh…” I utter stupidly, uncertain of what I should tell them.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” my dad says encouragingly. “You know your mother and my families aren’t very patient.”

“I mean… I wouldn’t want to interrupt his Christmas festivities,” I try making up an excuse.

“Nonsense!” my mom exclaims. “I’m sure Kibum would be overjoyed to hear from you. And he loves me and your dad so he’ll be even happier!”

I stare at all of the hopeful face turned towards me, my mouth hanging open, unsure of what to do.

“Well… you see, mom,” I begin. “I don’t think he’ll answer…” I answer truthfully.

“Oh, is this the hour he has dinner, too?” my plastic aunt asks. “We can wait half an hour. It won’t kill us.”

“All the silicon in your s might kill you though,” I hear my dad mutter under his breath with a snicker, earning a smack in the arm from my mother before she turns to listen to me again.

“No… I don’t think he’ll answer… ever.”

My mom looks at me in horror, her eyes wide. If I didn’t know what was coming, I would have laughed at the expression on her face.

“Jesus Christ, Minho. What did you do!” my mother shouts at me from the end of table.

“We broke up…” I state quietly.

“You what?” she asks, anger evident in her voice.

“We broke up, okay!” I say louder, making everyone at the table flinch.

“The one good relationship of yours that we approved of and you screwed it up!?” my mom asks.

“Just calm down a little,” my dad tells my mother. “But really, Minho. Why? Kibum was a real catch!”

“Absolutely! He was a real sweetheart!” my mom contributes, eyes wide and nodding her head vigorously.

“We were never really going out, alright!” I answer back, unable to withstand their judgments.

“What?” my mother breathes out.

“Oh my God…” I hear my aunt in response to the appalling turn of events of this jolly Christmas dinner.

“We were never really going out. Jeesun broke up with me. I knew Kibum liked me so I asked him to pretend to go out with me to make her jealous and get her back, and we did… so that’s that,” I confess, hardly pausing to take a breath.

“Wait… so you are with that horrid Jeesun?” my aunt asks in disgust.

“Yes… and she’s not that bad,” I answer her.

“Not that bad?” my mother starts. “She’s a spawn of the devil!” My father laughs at my mother’s comment because he finds it hilarious when my mom spits out insults. She doesn’t do it that often so he finds it even funnier because it’s out of her character.

“Mom…” I groan, not wanting to fight about it right now.

“Please tell me you’re still friends with him at least?” she asks, hope in her eyes.

“…Sorry, mom, he doesn’t want to speak with me anymore,” I tell her, crushing all her hope.

I see Jinki smirk from the corner of my eye.

“Is he the ‘friend’ that you were sulking over before?” he whispers to me, grinning.

“Shut up, Jinki,” I tell him before turning back to my mom.

“Oh gosh, Minho… I really liked Kibum…” she sighs, picking at her food. “How could you use him like that! I thought I taught you better!”

“He agreed to do it. I didn’t make him,” I argue.

“It doesn’t matter!” she retorts. “You used him! You took advantage of his feelings! I’m really disappointed in you…”

I look down into my lap ashamed because I know it’s pretty serious when my mom tells me she’s disappointed in me. She never says that kind of stuff unless she really means it.

“Maybe it is better you two aren’t together,” my mother concludes. “He deserves better. You don’t deserve him.”

Silence ensues. I look blankly at the plate sitting in front of me. However, I can see from the corner of eyes, all of our visiting relatives have expressions on their faces that scream ‘oh .’

“Best Christmas ever…” I hear Jinki say under his breath with an amused grin. I fight the urge to smack him upside the head.

I can’t wait until they all begin their treks home so I can lock myself up in my room and wallow in my self-pity. My mom sure knows how to make a person feel like when she wants to… 

A/N: No jealous Minho yet~ Just a guilty Minho, which will later mix with a jealous Minho that will result in a poop load of internal turmoil. Haha.

To memkey, hm... I'm not entirely sure how long this will come out to be so sorry, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Haha. And thank you for stepping out of your norm and giving my uncompleted story a chance! I'll try my best to remain consistent with my updates so as not to keep you all waiting!

To Riezee, yessiiiir, I am planning to write a chapter in Kibum's perspective eventually. I just didn't like the idea of jumping from one point of view to another. I mean, I don't mind reading stories like that; I just can't bring myself to write in that format. Haha. And I just thought I'd leave a little mystery in the story; the mystery being what Kibum's thinking throughout this entire ordeal. Haha.

Sorry if this chapter isn't as exciting as the other ones because there's no Minho-Kibum interactions; I just wanted to establish the fact that Minho's parents found out. I also wanted Jinki to have an appearance because I feel bad that I didn't include the other Shinee members in this hot mess, other than Taemin, but he's only had like one line so far so... yeah.

Well... this is one mad long author's note... I'm going to stop now. Aha.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Until next time!