5-

“You get what the Christmas gift is, right?”

Jongin pulls on his crisp, white button-up, his morning puffiness tinting a smile on Soojung’s lips. She leaves her toothbrush sticking out from to take his shirt buttons from his fingers, pressing her body close to his, reaching the very last button just below his Adam’s apple, smoothing the nice white cotton over his broad shoulders with her palms.

“Do you really want me to figure out that you in fact didn’t spend any money on my gift this year?”

Soojung mumbles to keep the toothpaste in from bubbling out.

“Hey, I bought the card!”

Rolling her eyes, Soojung picks out a striped navy tie.

“Just go spit.”

With a glare, Soojung does as she’s told. The fresh, minty taste in still lingers, tingling with a mingling of coolness and warmth when Jongin’s lips slip over hers.

He must’ve felt the tingling too, because he doesn’t pull away until they’re both out of breath.

“That… was nice.”

Jongin breathes over her nose. Soojung tries to turn to check the time but he doesn’t let her.

“Can I do it again?”

“Kim Jongin.”

“Yes?”

He doesn’t give her a chance to respond. He catches her breath in full, open lips, the minty spark fainter this time, Soojung’s eyelids fluttering with her stomach.

For the second time they’re breathless, and Jongin circles her waste, furrowing his face in her neck.

“I just like to think of it as a gift with mutual benefits.”

Soojung finally managed to send her husband off to work with two boxes checked in the little Christmas card. She drives into her design studio around half an hour later, the buzzing feeling of their minty kisses from the morning humming over her skin.

She’s just vaguely disappointed that Jongin doesn’t come by for lunch break like the day before.

When she’s cooking dinner at home, Soojung finds herself waiting for Jongin with the clock. She feels a little ridiculous, like she’s in high school again, anxiety getting the best of her all week before that double date with Kim Jongin, the friend of her two friends Sehun and Sulli.

Soojung hears the door click open and close. Of course she pretends to ignore it. She keeps her expression blank as she hears the scratchy voice, calling, “Yeobo.”

A shy, smirking Jongin enters the kitchen and Soojung can’t keep the small smile from escaping. He takes her hands in his and pulls her away from the stove, playing with her fingers.

“If we started off every morning like this morning, I would be fired in a flash.”

Soojung raises a defiant eyebrow.

“Really? I worked fine today.”

“You’re a bad liar Soojung.”

They touch lips, but they’re old enough and mature enough and committed to each other through a bond now, that they don’t trespass boundaries too quickly. It’s sweet and loving, with Jongin letting Soojung go back to her cooking, obediently following her directions to set the table for two.

Soojung secretly adores Jongin’s manners when he asks her if she has work to do for the evening. He voluntarily cleans the dishes, Soojung quickly wraps up some upcoming event plans, and they’re finally padding off into the bedroom, all lights in the house quenched except for the lamp on the table on Jongin’s side.

“Two more kisses left today.”

Jongin steals the fourth one with most of their clothes still on.

“Gotta go by the card, Jongin.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Soojung’s husband doesn’t get around to checking off the rest of the fifth row boxes until the next morning.

6-

Sunday morning, Soojung and Jongin attend church, have lunch with Sehun and Sulli afterward, and then go grocery shopping, Soojung rather suspicious of her husband’s overt willingness to accompany her to play the luggage boy role.

Sure enough, Jongin disappears for a while during Soojung’s stroll through the spices isle.

During dinner, Soojung’s mystery is solved.
“I bought you dessert.”

Her husband hands her a palm of six Hershey’s kisses. He then shows her the Christmas card, all six boxes on the sixth row, checked.

“You’re kidding.”

Soojung lines the six chocolate kisses on the edge of the table, narrowing her eyes at Jongin’s smug face.

“You do realize, this is taking an easy way out.”

Before Soojung even notices, Jongin grabs a chocolate kiss near his end, unwraps it, and pops it in his mouth.

“Hey!”

Soojung’s usually quick reflexes don’t get a chance to surface, as Jongin stands up, takes Soojung’s chin in his hand, and connect their mouths.

Soojung isn’t prepared for the sweet, chocolaty shape that glides into between her teeth. It begins to melt on her tongue almost immediately. Jongin pulls away swiftly, his lips.

“Cool dessert idea, huh?”

Soojung shakes her head and crosses her arms, dissolving the Hershey Kiss in to nothing.

“You are so not as clever as you think, Kim Jongin.”

Wordlessly, Jongin unwraps another kiss, lunging forward again and capturing Soojung’s joking contempt in his lips, letting her taste the melting chocolate again, but this time, stealing it back from her with a flick of tongue.

A flush creeps up Soojung’s cheeks. She has to admit, the chocolate is intoxicating.

“Come here.”

Jongin takes her hand and they sit on the couch, kissing, exchanging saliva and chocolate kisses, Soojung hands finding their way into Jongin’s hair.

The six kisses seem to disappear in no time.

“How about I save this again for the twelfth?”

Jongin patters his fingers against hers as he helps her up to clean the table and kitchen.

Soojung ignores him. Suddenly, the muffler and underwear she got him this Christmas seem, boring, just a bit.