Christmas was approaching fast. The drama was picking up and the audience seemed to be anticipating the final episode. The whole cast got the Thursday before Christmas Eve off. EunJi had brought Christmas cookies in for everybody and small gifts. HyunJoong watched her, she was cheerful and happy. But he knew that she was harboring feeling of sadness and feeling neglected. It was the holiday season that got to her, being all alone. Of course DBSK would invite her home and Shinhwa, but he remembered her saying that she felt as if she was intruding in on their family and homes.

He had plans with Hyori to drive to his parents’ house for Christmas Eve and Christmas. He had fought with Hyori who wanted to go back to her hometown of Cheongwon. It wasn’t a long drive to his parents’ house from his place, maybe an hour or two with traffic. He loaded up his car with the presents and luggage before heading out. Hyori had demanded that she would be able to drive down on her own. It was the first time that she would be meeting his family. It made him nervous wondering what they would think of her.

As he waited in traffic he let his mind drift. He wondered what EunJi was doing. Had she decorated a tree?  Did she decide to fly home to her family? The cars behind him honked, which brought him back to his senses. The rest of the ride he refused to let EunJi come into his thoughts. 

He reached his house. It looked the same as it had when he left it. His mother came out and started fussing over him. His older brother helped him bring in the bags.

“Has Hyori arrived yet?” He asked as he took a slice of apple from the counter.

“No, not yet.” His mother continued to chop the vegetables. He walked into the room with the TV and flipped around. It landed on reruns of his first drama with EunJi. His mother walked in drying her hands.

“I always liked that girl. She seemed so kind and gentle in the interviews.” Such an innocent comment, but it struck his heart. A car honk made him get up and look out the window. Hyori was there in her car. He walked out to meet her.

“What took so long?”

“Traffic.”

“I see.”

“Take my bags in.” He nodded before grabbed her luggage from the back of the car. He gaped at her as she got out of the car. She was wearing a tight pencil shirt with a cut out back shirt. He handed her his jacket but she just ignored it.

HyunJoong could see the disappointment in his mother’s face as she met Hyori.  His brother accepted her, but his father’s disapproval could be felt rooms away. The awkward atmosphere lasted through dinner.

“I was wondering,” Hyori broke the silence at the table, “if we could open our presents tonight. I am going to be going to my parent’s house tomorrow.”

“We agreed that you would stay here.”

“I decided I am not giving my family up for this.”

“Enough.” His father set down his chopsticks. “We will open the gifts you got us tonight, but the other gifts will not be opened.” HyunJoong was fuming. He wanted Hyori to stay the whole time like they agreed. After dinner, he helped his mother clear the table and they went to the living room. Hyori’s presents were set out in front of each of them. His father started and unwrapped golf clubs. He nodded thanks to Hyori. HyunJoong knew his father was just being polite, seeing he didn’t play golf. His mother opened up her present which was an MP3 player. She smiled and set it down. He opened his gift, tearing at the wrapping paper slowly. It was designer sunglasses and a shirt.

He looked down at the pile of gifts. No doubt Hyori had tried her best. They were not cheap gifts, but they didn’t fit who they were. His family thanked her, and he showed her to the guest room as his mother cleaned up.

“Why are you leaving?” He asked right away when he closed the door.

“I want to be with my family during Christmas.” She tossed herself onto the bed.

“We talked about this. My family’s place for Christmas and Easter at your family’s place.”

“I decided I don’t like that.” She stared at him almost daring him to fight back. He was frustrated and decided to just walk out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

He walked to his room and without changing went to bed.

The next morning he woke up and looked at his clock to see it was already 11am. HyunJoong got up and walked to the kitchen. His mother was already there making lunch.

“Where is Hyori?” His mother pursed her lips,

“She already left this morning. Didn’t even say goodbye.”

“What?!” He got out his phone and called her. It went straight to voicemail. He slammed his phone down and went to take a long shower. As the water poured down on him in the shower he calmed himself. He was still with his family, and he wasn’t going to let this ruin his vacation he had.

He walked back to his room and ruffled through his bag. His mind shot back to a few years ago, when this is where he would find a small gift tucked inbetween his shirts. He emptied the whole bag out on the floor. He knew there would be nothing, there was no way she could have gotten it into his bag, but still he checked. Now that he thought about it, he had checked every year.

He walked out into the living room and collapsed. He moped around the house all day. He watched reruns of his latest drama that was showing in marathon format. His mother would occasionally come in and drop off food or check on him. He was miserable. Everyone attributed this to Hyori leaving, but he was ruminating about why he checked his bag for something he knew wasn’t there. Had she bought him gifts those years apart and stashed them away?

Dinner again was quiet, but not awkward as it had been the last night. His family members all said good and positive things about Hyori, but their smiles didn’t reach their eyes.

“Are you coming to church with us tonight?” His father asked him after dinner. He nodded. Suddenly he jumped up grabbed his car keys and ran out of the house. Jumping into his car he floored the gas pedal. He needed to clear his head. Everything was confusing. He wasn’t one to analyze every single thing, but that was what he was doing.

Within forty minutes he found himself in front of her dorm. The lights were on, and it shone from behind the curtains. He cut the power and walked up the stairs. He wondered if any of DBSK was still there. The door was unlocked, he made a mental note to talk to her about that. She was standing in the kitchen. He could smell her cooking. Christmas music was on in the background. There was a small Christmas tree with ornaments and lights.

“You really should lock the door.” She screamed and dropped the bowl that she was carrying. He watched in amusement as EunJi twirled around looking for the source of the voice.

“HyunJoong! Don’t scare me like that! How did you get in? Why are you here?” He bent down and picked up the bowl from the ground.

“The door was unlocked.”

“Ah, I must have forgotten to lock it after Junsu left.”

“It’s unsafe what if I was a burglar or kidnapper?” He frowned at her lax behavior.

“Well good thing you aren’t, why are you here? Are you okay?” She stepped forwards to put her hand on his forehead.

“I’m fine. I’m kidnapping you. Go back a bag.” She looked confused. “If you don’t pack something now you won’t have anything with you for the next day.” She scrambled off to her bedroom. He took a bag and scooped up the presents under the tree. He brought them out to his car. When he came back inside he saw EunJi emerging from the bedrooms with a bag.

“Where are we going?” He gently pulled her out the door, locking it and placed her in the car. He knew she trusted in enough to go with him.

“Why were you home alone?”

“You know DBSK all go home for Christmas, and with filming starting right after Christmas I didn’t have the time to fly to America….I don’t mind spending it alone. I will just skype my parents on Christmas and relax. Seriously where are we going?”

“When did you get so impatient?” He regretted the words as they left his lips. She didn’t another word the whole trip. He knew she internalized these things, but he never said the right things. It was always the wrong words that escaped.

It was close to 10:30pm when they finally arrived back home. He noticed that his parent’s car was gone. They must have already left for church. He unlocked the doors and brought EunJi’s luggage in. He turned to see EunJi follow him. She was looking around the house. Right then she was squatting down to look at a picture of him when he was younger.

“You were a sweet little kid.”

“That is my brother.”

“Not it isn’t.”

“How do you know?” She scoffed,

“Easily, you stand like that still. Plus your ears are the same.” He just nodded. It amazed him how she could see these things. She sat down and flipped on the TV. He sat down next to her. “It’s our show!” She had found the marathon of their drama. “You know, when I was at home my mom, dad and I would watch every Christmas Eve White Christmas. My mom would cry and look out the window to see if it was snowing. I miss that. I forgot to grab my copy of it from the dorm….” HyunJoong got up and went to get his laptop, and he searched “White Christmas.” Plugging in his laptop to the TV he went and sat back down again. The opening music started to play. The excitement that was on her face was contagious. He liked to see her happy. He hadn’t ever seen the movie before. The subtitles were on, but EunJi was singing along with all the parts.

By the end of the movie, she was crying. Tears were flowing down her face, as she used his shirt as a handkerchief. The movie stopped and it was silent. The tv eventually turned off and it was dark. If he looked out the window he would see the white snowflakes against the black backdrop of the night. Too soon the light from headlights came through the window. The sound of keys jingling and the door opening. He closed his eyes. “HyunJoong must have fallen asleep” He heard his brother say. Foot steps now, getting closer.

“Who is she?” That was his father.

“Yeobo, you know her, she was in his dramas.” His mother answered, he felt her brush some hair from his face.

“The one you thought he should date?” His mother must have nodded. “Didn’t I think she was too young for him?”

“You were wrong.” His mother snapped back at him.

“Well what is she doing here? How did she get here?”

“Of course your brother brought her here when he went out in the car after dinner.” His mother was now tucking a blanket around them.

“Hunny, shouldn’t we move them from each other?”

“You want to carry your son to his room?” There was a pause. “Do you want to carry EunJi and feel the wrath of your son?” The lights that had been were turned off.

“They do look good together.” His father whispered as his family left the room.