The trickling sound of running liquid soothed Hyemi as she poured the mulled wine into her glass and replaced the bottle in its place on the shelf. She leant back against the kitchen surface and took a long sip on the sweet and spicy drink. She drank it cold. As she drank she examined the silhouette of the world’s smallest turkey gradually cooking in the oven. Christmas dinner for one. A montage of images flicked through her mind; events of the past year that had led to the sad fact that she would be spending Christmas alone. Of course, she could have gone back to Daegu to be with her parents for the holiday. And she’d had countless invites from her friends here in Seoul. But…it wasn’t him. And Hyemi had reached the conclusion that if she couldn’t spend Christmas with him then she would just have to spend it alone. She frowned and downed the last of the wine in her glass as the phone rang through her silent house. Blinking, she walked slowly in the direction of the ringing, eventually locating the phone on the living room windowsill.

“Yoboseyo?”

“Hyemi-ah? Its Jei.”

“Oh...Jei. Hi.”

“Are you alright?” She sounded pitying. Hyemi clenched her jaw.

“I’m fine. Why are you asking?” It came out sounding a lot less believable than it had in her head. There was a pause.

“Are you sure?” Jei asked uncertainly.

“Yes! It’s Christmas after all! Happy Christmas Jei!” Hyemi sang into the phone before hanging up. She imagined how confused her friend would be on the other end of the line, but shaking the thought from her head she tossed the phone onto the sofa and headed back to the kitchen, helping herself to another glass of wine. “Cheers.” She muttered and raised the glass to her lips. But just before she could taste the festive drink a thought suddenly came to her head.

.

Checking the timer on the oven she ran to the hall and pulled on her oversized parka and wellies. Pulling on her bobble hat and grabbing her keys, she shut the door behind her and started off through the snow. Pabo Hyemi, what good was a turkey without cranberry sauce? Muttering to herself like only a mad woman alone for Christmas did, she shivered through the December cold to the nearest all-night grocery a couple of blocks away. Trudging through the snowy backstreets she couldn’t ignore the Christmas scenes playing through illuminated windows. Happy families and smug couples-ok, so they weren’t really smug. But on that cold night with them kissing in front of the fire and her fighting the weather to buy some cranberry sauce for her sad one-woman-meal, they looked pretty smug to Hyemi.

Finally the lustrous lighting of the supermarket cut through the dark and Hyemi thankfully entered into the warmth, not stopping before making her way purposefully to the appropriate aisle, scared of bumping into anyone she knew and receiving more pitiful looks. She’d had enough of them for a while yet.

Grabbing the jar she wanted, Hyemi marched towards the reasonably short line, noticing that the guy at the end of the line had a bobble hat just like hers, which made her smile. She found herself  studying his back as she approached, taking in the casual hood peeking out of his jacket; the well-fitting jeans and the converse that suited his outfit but weren’t at all appropriate for the weather outside. As she reached the queue she took her place behind him and continued to stare at the bobble hat, her mind a thousand miles away.

“Ehem”

Blinking, Hyemi was suddenly made aware that the bobble hat had transformed into a smiling face. Omo, he’d turned round! But Hyemi’s embarrassment was saved as another thought overtook her mind: she knew him. And she didn’t just know him…it was him.

“Hyemi?” The soft voice broke her state and she realised she was staring again. Blinking hard, she tried and failed to remain casual.

“L-Luhan?” It had sounded nonchalant in her head, but came out squeaky and loud. She cursed inwardly. The blonde ulzzang chuckled, unfazed. He was used to her awkwardness.

“It’s been way too long…” His heavenly smile could have melted all the snow in Seoul. Cheesy, yes, but oh so true. Now would have been the perfect time for her to giggle cutely and make casual conversation about how she’d been so busy since she’d last seen him she’d barely had time to give him a second thought unfortunately, but Hyemi was neither a liar nor particularly talented on the social front, so instead she panicked.

“You’re in China.” She blurted out.

There was a pause.

Luhan frowned.

“No I’m…pretty sure I’m in Seoul…”

“Yeah but…you’re not meant to be.”

He looked hurt.

“W-what I mean is…why are you here? I mean, not here here but in Seoul here, but then again why are you here and not at some super cool party and…are you buying cranberry sauce too?”

There was that angelic laugh again.

“Woah, breathe Hyemi!” He laughed; Hyemi remembered this had practically been his catchphrase in the brief time she’d known him. “Ok, I’m in Seoul for work; we’re taking a break from promotions and rehearsing as a whole group.” He smiled broadly at this and paused briefly before continuing. “I’m here here because…I’m spending Christmas alone.” He scratched his head, embarrassed. “It’s been a hectic year and I wanted some time away from the company but…there isn’t time to fly back to Beijing to be with my family so…” He bit his lip and then grinned, remembering her last question. “And yes, it is cranberry sauce I’m buying.” He held up the jar and his eye smile was bliss. “So what about you? What brings you here?” Hyemi sighed heavily.

“I’m spending Christmas alone too,” She admitted, looking at her feet. “I don’t exactly have a good reason; it just sort of ended up like this.” She met his eyes and a single unspoken question lingered in the air. Luhan was the one who brought it to life.

“Would you like to maybe spend Christmas together?” His eyes widened and he pouted slightly. The effect on Hyemi was similar to most females’ reactions to seeing a newborn puppy. She wondered if the aegyo was purposeful but the thought quickly left her mind. As far as he was aware, Luhan was the manliest guy in this city. She stifled a smile and resisted the urge to ruffle his hair.

“Yes.” She replied far too quickly, the whole thought process had only taken a millisecond. Luhan raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth but was cut off by an impatient cough from the cashier. Bowing, he apologised and quickly handed over the jar, paid, and waited for Hyemi to do the same.

“Have you still got the same apartment?” Luhan asked as they walked out of the shop side by side. Hyemi nodded. “Well then…maybe we should go back there. I don’t mean to be rude but-”

“It’s fine.” Hyemi interrupted, smiling broadly. She didn’t care where she went; her Christmas wish had come true. The Chinese boy she’d unwillingly given her heart to that summer was standing an arm’s length away, and was agreeing – no – offering to spend Christmas night with her. Well, evening…she shouldn’t be getting ahead of herself…

 

Luhan grinned as the Korean girl blushed in front of him. Her eyes were glazed over, indicating that she was miles away, in one of those daydreams that she had every 5 minutes or so. He shook his head fondly and clicked his fingers in front of her face.

“Hyemi-ah~” He called in a sing-song voice and immediately the pretty brunette blinked and her eyes focused on his. In the few seconds of confusion as she stepped back into reality, Luhan took the opportunity to study the face that he hadn’t seen for so long. His eyes drifted over the soft curls of her long chestnut brown hair, kept out of her face on one side by a cute butterfly clip. He took in the large, ebony eyes and decided that he liked the fact that she wore no makeup. She didn’t have to; she was naturally pretty– the sort of face you’d see on a skin care advert. He had seen her with makeup on though, and it transformed her natural prettiness to stunning beauty. The memory jolted others from the summer. The summer before he’d had to jet off to China to promote EXO-M, his idol group. He frowned and adjusted his bobble hat slightly. Being an idol he was kept busy enough that he soon forgot about Park Hyemi. But seeing her now all the feelings returned so quickly that he felt as though he’d just stood up too quickly and the blood had rushed to his head.

“Luhan-oppa?” Now it was Hyemi’s turn to click Luhan back into reality. He blinked and saw her smile. “Are you coming?” He nodded.

“C’mon, we’ll take my car.”

*

A Christmas dinner and two bottles of wine later Hyemi and Luhan sat across the small kitchen table from each other, full and happy. Hyemi stifled a yawn and saw the blonde frown slightly in concern.

“Are you tired?” He asked and she shook her head abruptly.

“No, no, I’m fine…really…” She insisted, her voice muffled by another big yawn. Luhan smiled and checked the clock: nearly midnight. This was early for him; he was used to practising until the early hours of the morning, but Hyemi looked beat.

“C’mon, let’s get you to bed.” He said, standing up and stepping towards her, holding out a hand for her to take. She shook her head.

“Really I’m-” Luhan nodded as he helped her up and guided her across to the bedroom down the hall.

“I know, I know, you’re fine.” He smiled as he opened the door and took her to the heavily pillowed bed in the centre of the room. He didn’t understand the point of decorative pillows particularly, but he had to admit that the bed did look very inviting. Luhan turned to Hyemi and chuckled at her defiant pout.

“Ya~ you’re the guest, I’m not just gonna sleep now! And…and…how can you expect me to sleep after you just showing up in Seoul after no contact for months…I don’t even know if I’ll ever see you again!” Silence as Luhan considered. He nodded thoughtfully.

“Ok, do lullabies help you to fall asleep?” He asked. Hyemi nodded slowly. “Well then.” He pulled back the duvet and motioned for Hyemi to climb in. She got in still fully clothed and Luhan tucked her in neatly, lying down next to her on top of the covers and cradling her in his arms. Hyemi’s cheeks blushed scarlet. “Just listen now and tomorrow’s tomorrow.” He smiled and Hyemi nodded again as slowly her cheeks turned a more natural shade.

Hao xiang shen me dou bu dong de yi ge hai zi yi yang chun zhen

Chong sheng na ge mei li de shun jian

Hyemi was taken aback by the beautiful voice so close to her, so soft yet in its own way so powerful. She didn’t speak any Chinese so she had no idea what he was singing, but even though she wasn’t Christian, she immediately decided that the song of the angels that appeared to the shepherds in the story of the nativity would have sounded a little like this. She wanted to say something but she didn’t want to interrupt.

 Dang wo cheng zuo zhe feng

Zai ni de shi jie jiang luo

Bai se de feng

Zai ni shen bian huan rao zhe

Ni wen wo lai zi na li

Xiao zhe hui da shi mi mi

Zhi yao shi ni he wo

Yi qi zou xia qu

Tian tang zai sui shi he sui di

Slowly Hyemi felt her eyes begin to drift closed and she smiled as she realised that Christmas magic had brought her horrible day to the most perfect perfect ending. She didn’t know what would happen next, but tomorrow was tomorrow and now was now and the love of her life was singing her to sleep with the voice of an angel. As her eyes forced themselves shut she was met by perfect perfect dreams involving a beautiful Chinese man named Luhan.

A/N: Ew at the ending, SO CHEESY! But hey, Christmas is cheesy! Btw the song Luhan was singing was Angel by EXO-M which is like my favourite favourite song at the moment :)