(Sujung’s POV)

 Winter had arrived and the city of Seoul was painted in white. The streets were truly beautiful, but the weather was very cold. Hyukkie had already started going outside, he seemed to really enjoy the fresh air. He was not a small little kitten anymore, he was growing larger and larger by each week and was turning into a beautiful cat.

 Christmas break had only just started, but Daehyun was already starting to prepare for Christmas.  I myself wanted to buy gifts for everyone, but there were a few problems preventing me from doing so. First of all, I had no money and I did not want to bug anyone by asking for some. Second, I was not too secure about myself and easily got panic attacks while being around unfamiliar people.

 The court was set to be in February, and although it was more than a month away, I already worried my mind with it. I told Minhyuk I did not want him to be there at all, mainly because I did not want him to know what happened to my mother. However, I felt that he deserved to know. There were even some things I felt I needed to say out loud to him, only to believe it myself.

 When I thought back at everything that had happened to me or around me, from my first memories I could think of, it all seemed to be so surreal. I would tell myself that I was a failure, that I were so troubled because that was the way things were. I would not think that I had been traumatised. I did not dare to blame anyone except for myself, but I was starting to see reality more and more.

-

 “Kitty, I’ll go to the gym for an hour or two, you okay with that?” Minhyuk asked, leaning against the back of the couch, looking at me from behind my shoulder.
 “Sure,” I said, looking back at him with a smile, “Take your time.” He kissed my cheek before making his way to the hall and outside.

 I closed the book I was reading and made my way into the kitchen, where Daehyun was looking through some papers. She usually did that when she was at home. She was often very busy.

 “Eommeonim,” I started, dragging her attention.
“Oh, Sujungie, is everything okay?” she asked as I sat down on the other side of the table.
 “Yes, I’m good,” I said, smiling softly. “I was wondering about something.”
“What is it dear?” she put down her the pen she was holding, giving me more of her attention.

 “Do you maybe have a good pair of scissors so I could cut my hair?” I questioned carefully. She gave me a smile.
 “You don’t need that, I can cut it for you!” she said, surprisingly enough. “Come, let’s go to the bathroom.” I eagerly nodded and went with her upstairs to the bathroom.

 “How do you want it?” she asked, standing behind me with her hands on my shoulders, looking at me in the mirror. I was sitting on a stool, with my back straight.
 “I feel I should cut short…” I confessed. I wanted to see a whole new person whenever I looked at myself in the mirror. I did not want to see ‘me’, I wanted to leave the old me behind in the past.

 “How short were you thinking then?”
“Above my shoulders,” I told her.
 “Then, I will cut it above your shoulders,” she said. She seemed to be quite positive about my decision.

 She braided my hair nicely and even.
“This is the last time you’ll see your hair in such a long braid. You should say good bye,” she joked, holding the scissors ready to cut it off.
 “Good riddance,” I chuckled. I chose to say that instead of giving my hair a nice good bye. It had caused me quite much bullying, I had nothing to thank it for.

 Daehyun gave me a heartfelt laugh, before she cut right over the braid. I could feel the weight of my hair change and I heard the thick braid hit the ground.

--

(Minhyuk’s POV)

 I dropped my bag to the floor as I entered the living room.
“Where’s Sujung?” I asked, before even saying hello to Eomma. She was always the first thing I thought of when I came back home after being apart from her.

 “She went to her room, said there was a book she had to finish,” Eomma said, her voice nice as usual. I chuckled. Sujung and those books.

 I was about to make my way upstairs, to take a shower, but Eomma stopped me by calling out my name.
 “Appa is coming home any day soon,” she said. I stood still for a moment, not truly sure of how to react. “Please, Sweetie, don’t give him a hard time. He loves you. He wouldn’t have sacrificed so much to work if he didn’t.”

 I ignored her comment and made my way upstairs to have my shower. It felt good, having a cold shower after a rough workout.

 Drying and dressing myself, I noticed something weird stick out from the garbage can. Curious, I lifted up the lid, and the sight left me dumbfounded. A long and dark braid, made out of hair, laid there. Probably about 70 cm long. It was Sujung’s hair… was it not? Whom else could it belong to?

 Eager to find out if she had really cut so much of her hair off, I quickly went into her room.
 “Kitty, have you maybe- WOAH!” I was taken aback. Sujung, whom I had accidently woken from what seemed to be a nap, had hair reaching the middle of her neck. It did not even reach her shoulders!

 “What’s going on?” Sujung asked, confused as she looked around the room with tired eyes.
 “Your hair…!” I was unable to form much of a sentence. I was truly… shocked.
 “My hair?” She was still too sleepy to get a grasp of the situation.
“You cut your hair?!” She sat up, using some time to clear her head.

 “Yes, I cut my hair,” she said. “Don’t you like it?” My eyes widened in shock.
 “What?!” I made my way to her bed. “Of course I like it! You look stunning! It’s just… different,” I confessed, looking closer at her.

 She suited short hair, she really did. It was such a huge change. When I talked to her before going to the gym, her hair reached her mid thighs. Now, her hair was not even reaching her shoulders.

 As I sat down beside of her on the bed, she immediately straightened up and leaned her head against my shoulder, wrapping her arms round my arm, holding onto me tightly. We sat like that in silence for a moment.

“There’s something I want to tell you,” Sujung said, breaking the silence. I remained silent, letting her continue. “In the future, in probably six or seven years from now, it would only be natural for us to think of having a child,” she continued.
 “Yeah, I suppose so,” I agreed. Somehow, I had a feeling there was something wrong about where she was leading the subject. The atmosphere left me unsure.
 “I can’t have your children, Minhyuk,” she said, finally.

“Kitty, those kids are not going to live horribly because you are their mother, they won’t be haunted by bullies and abuse because you have gone through all that,” I assured her, using my free hand to her now oddly short hair.
 “No, that’s not what I mean…” She let go of my arm and sat up straight, only showing me her back. Was she crying?

 “I can never become pregnant,” she said, voice low. “There was an incident once and I when I went to Dr. Choi for one of the checkups, it was confirmed that something was ripped… I can’t ever have a child.” Her voice broke at the end. I could feel my heart break as well. Carefully, I went beside her and took her in my arms, leaning her against my chest. Trying to make her feel somewhat better.

 I understood what had happened. She had been brutally abused, even.

“It was him, wasn’t it?” I asked, my voice only a whisper. She nodded, gripping my shirt as she continued crying and swallowing her sobs. “How many times?”
 “Six,” she chocked, almost completely unable to hold her sobs back. They were roughly ripping themselves out of .

 I sighed a deeply and heavily. It made me feel so bad, knowing she went through that. Knowing she went through so many unnecessary happenings because of her own father. It was inhuman.

 “Minhyuk, w-why would you want me, if I ca-can’t even give you children?!” she sobbed. She was devastated. Seeing her so helpless, because she was worried I would not like her if she could not give me a child, brought tears to my eyes as well.

 “Yah… Yah, look at me,” I tilted her chin up carefully, looking into her lost eyes, giving her a trustworthy smile although tears were falling down my cheeks now and then. “Of course I would like to have a child someday, but there are other ways to have children, Sujung. For the time being, you shouldn’t bother yourself with these thoughts, there are still many years to go. I love you no matter what.”

 She calmed down, but only the slightest.
“I don’t want to disappoint you…” she whispered, getting out of my loose grip to avoid eye contact yet again. I cupped her cheek then and leant my forehead against hers.
 “You will never disappoint me,” I said, my voice almost as low as hers. She sat still for a moment, before she leaned closer and pressed her lips against mine.

 The kiss was much wetter than usual, considering how we were both crying that is. I could not remember feeling her sincerity as strong before. There was a feeling, as if she wanted to prove something. This would also be the very first time she kissed me like this.

 She put her arms around my waist and leaned her head against my shoulder, quickly enough to hide her eyes from mine.
 “Don’t leave me,” she said.
“I thought you already knew I wouldn’t…” I sighed. She worried about so many things that were deeply unlikely to happen.

 “I do know,” she told me, tightening her grip slightly.
“Then why are you worrying about it, if you already know?” She went silent for a moment
 “I guess it became a habit. Worrying.”

I let out a small chuckle as I wrapped my arms around her fragile frame, taking her with me to lie down.  

 “Minhyuk, I don’t know how to express my feelings for you.”
“What do you mean? I think you express that you like me quite well.”
 “The thing is, I don’t like you.”
I furrowed my brows and looked down at her. “You don’t?”
 “To say that I like you- it’s not enough at all!” she stated, almost irritated.

“You made me anxious for a moment there, Kitty,” I confessed, breathing out with ease as I looked back up at the roof.
 “I’m so thankful towards you,” she began, “You’ve done so much for me. I love you in all kinds of ways. I admire you for being so strong. You kept looking out for me when you should have given up. You came to save me the night my father came home, although we had argued, although I clearly told you not to come because it was dangerous.

 Do you remember the first day we met?” I nodded. “You were so cool. You made those guys go away. You cared enough to help me even though you didn’t know me. I don’t know how to repay you for all the things you have done. I have never had such strong feelings towards a human being as I do with you. You’re so perfect in every way, I don’t understand why you want to be stuck with such a weak girl like me.”

 I turned slightly and leaned my weight on my elbow to have a better view of her.
 “Sujung, you’re not weak. In fact, you’re the strongest person I’ve ever met,” I told her, caressing her cheek carefully.
 “You’ve seen me break so many times,” she argued.
“It’s okay to break. It’s okay to feel broken.” I assured her

 “You never seem to break…”
“In front of you, no.” A frown appeared on her face. “How do you imagine things would have been if I gave up on you and fell apart while you needed me the most? Of course I had to be strong, but that doesn’t mean I never feel sad or anything. You even saw me cry just now, silly.”

 “I don’t feel like that’s the same thing…” she muttered, sighing.
“You have a lot of doubtful feelings,” I pointed out.
 “Let’s sleep, Minhyuk-ah.” She took her arms around my waist and snuggled closer, changing the subject easily.
 “It’s only half past ten, it’s too early to sleep. Besides, you were even sleeping when I first came in here.”

 “I’m still tired because you woke me up,” she said, closing her eyes.
“Fine then, let’s sleep,” I said, giving myself to her as I laid down more comfortably, holding my arms around her body.
 “I love you.”
“I love you too, sweetheart.”

--

 “Sujung, do you want to go shopping?” She looked up from her book, staring weirdly at me for a moment.
 “Why?” she questioned, rather suspicious.
“It’s soon to be Christmas!” I laughed. “We should buy presents and such.”
 “Can’t you go with the guys? Shopping isn’t really my thing,” she sighed, returning to her book.

 I snapped the book out of her hands, hiding it behind my back.
“Yah!” she shouted, wearing an annoyed expression. “Give it back!”
 “No way!” I walked a few steps backwards. “All you do is read these books. You spend more time with these books than with me!”

 “Let me just read the chapter finished and we can go out, okay?” She stood up and walked towards me, making me back away further.
 “I don’t know how you’re making me jealous of a book,” I chuckled.
“If you don’t give it back, I won’t even consider shopping with you,” she threatened.

 “Do you really want it back?” I asked, trying to hide my grin but miserably failing, leading to her giving me a questioning look.
 “Are you deaf? I already told you I wanted it back.”
“Then you’ll have to catch me!”

 Before she could think of any next move, I ran away as quickly as I could.
“YAH!!” she screamed, running after. “Get back here!”

 She chased me around the living room for a while, until she suddenly fell to her knees.
 “Minhyuk! My lungs-“ I felt my heart almost stop as I immediately went to her side.
 “Sujung, what’s wrong?” I asked, panicking. Guilt was banging against my chest.

 Quickly, she snapped the book out of my hand and ran back to the sofa, sitting down casually in her previous position. Time somehow stopped and I could do nothing but stare at her with disbelief.

 “Yah…!” She looked at me innocently. “What do you think you’re doing?!”
“I took my book back,” she giggled. I wanted to be mad at her and give her a lecture, but she looked so cute and innocent, I couldn’t help but to laugh.
 “You’re unbelievable!” I told her, sitting down beside her.
“You still love me, though,” she said, nuzzling against me.

“You made me feel so guilty for a moment there.”
 “I’m sorry, but you can’t really blame me. You wouldn’t give it back.”
“As a punishment for scaring me, you should go shopping with me,” I pointed out.

 Surprisingly, Sujung closed the book and put it on the small table in front of us.
 “We can do anything, but let’s take shopping another time,” she said, giving me a cute look.
 “You’re no fun,” I pouted. She laughed. Although I tried, I could not help but to smile. Her laugh was one of the most precious things in the world to me.

 “We can’t sit inside when the weather is so beautiful,” I pointed out as I brought my arm around her shoulder.
 “Do you wanna build a snowman~” Sujung suddenly sang, making me burst out in laughter. “Come on, let’s go and play~”

 With that, she dragged me up from the couch and led me to get my shoes and jacket on. I tucked a scarf around her neck, making sure she would keep warmth and not catch a cold.

 “Since you’re strong, you should make the body, the largest snowball,” she instructed as we were well outside.
 “Sure,” I agreed, “You go ahead and make it’s head.”

“This is so much more fun than going shopping,” Sujung said as she watched me roll the now very large snowball over to where she stood, already finished with the snowman’s head.
 “You wouldn’t know,” I told her, stunning slightly. “You’ve never gone shopping with me before.”

 We put the head on top of the large snowball together and proceeded to give it the other things it needed. By the time we were finished, the snowman had a pair of thin stick-arms, two rocks for eyes (one larger than the other), a hat and a carrot for nose.

 “Do we call him Olaf?” I questioned, looking at the finished snowman with my head tilted to the right.
 “No, that’s not original anymore.” She crossed her arms. We were both silently thinking for a while, trying to come up with a unique name.

 “Let’s name him after Changhyuk Oppa!” Sujung suggested.
“Stop calling him that!” I whined, giving her a rather sad look. “Why are you calling him Oppa and not me?!”
 “It doesn’t feel right to call you Oppa,” she said, matter-of-factly.
“It’s unfair,” I muttered, looking back at the snowman.

 “I’m just searching for something better to call you.”
“Like ‘Jagi’ or something?” I asked.
 “No… everybody uses that. I want to call you something special,” she said.

I felt myself melt. Yet again, I could not stay mad or irritated at her. She was so adorable.

 “Fine. Let’s go with Changhyuk. Changhyuk the snowman,” I said, hiding the fact that I really just wanted to hug her tightly and kiss her over and over because of her unknowing adorableness.

--

(Sujung’s POV)

 I put the book, Looking for Alaska by John Green, back on the shelf. I had finished it quite quickly, but it was not a book of the longest kind, though. Daehyun had been too kind and bought lots of books for me before the holidays. She kept insisting they were all on sale, but I did not believe her. She only said that to avoid me from feeling guilty for stealing her money.

 I had to admit for myself that I was not stealing their money if they bought something for me. Daehyun had taken me to live with them as if I were on of her own. When she did that, she had also promised to make sure I had everything I needed.

 Because of Daehyun’s sweet care and comfort, I had stopped dreaming about my mother as much. I did not hear her voice when I was awake either, but I was slightly suspecting the meds had helped me trick my own mind.

 However, it was Christmas in only a few days. I could not help but to think about her. It was only natural.

“Appa! I made you a present!” I ran up to my father with a small object wrapped inside a few white tissues, holding it up to him with my tiny arms.
 “You call this a present?” he spat. “You don’t even have real wrapping paper on it!” My smile faded then.

 “Yeobo, she is only trying to be nice. It’s Christmas after all,” my mother cut in, her voice soft and quiet as usual. With an unsatisfied sigh, my father took the gift out of my hands and removed the tissues.

 “What is this supposed to look like?” he asked, eying it up and down.
“It’s an elephant!” I said, cheerful again. I was filled with hopes that he would like the small yellow elephant I had made out of wax.
 “This is trash,” he pointed out, giving me a look before he went to throw it away in the garbage can. Afterwards, he went out the door, slamming it closed behind of him.

 I was broken. I sat down on the floor, crying as silently as I could. I really had tried to make him proud, or at least happy.
 “Sweetheart, I think it was really lovely!” my mother said, picking me up in her bruised arms, carrying me to sit on her lap in an armchair.

 “Appa is not quite himself today, we should just leave him be, okay?” I nodded, sniffling as I dried my tears with my hands.
 “How is Appa when he is himself?” I asked, looking up at my mother.
“What do you mean?” she questioned, furrowing her brows.
 “You always say that Appa is not being himself, but he is like this every day. How is he when he is himself?”

 For some reason, tears appeared in her eyes. I could not quite understand why she was so sad all of a sudden.
 “When people drink, they can act weird and do stupid things, you see,” she said. Her voice was weak.

 “Is that why he hits you? Because he drinks bad water?” Eomma let out a small chuckle. Although I could hear some happiness in the noise, a tear rolled down her cheek.

 “Sujung Sweetheart, you have to understand, that when Appa hits Eomma, he is not trying to be mean. When you see Appa walk strangely or when his voice is hoarse, you must always stay hid in your room,” she said, brushing her fingers carefully through my hair.
 “Why?” I asked, brushing away her tears with my small thumbs.
“Because, when Appa acts like that, he has drunk too much and he cannot think normal. When Appa is being like that, he might become angry and be violent.”

I nodded, trying to understand as much as possible. My mother was good at explaining. If she said I had to stay away from my father when he drank, then I would.

 We were going to celebrate Christmas with my aunt, my mother and I. My father never came back after he left, so we went without him. Somehow, I felt more at ease going without him. He used to hit my mother during the holidays, I did not like seeing him hurt her. If we went without him, maybe Eomma would not be in danger.

 “Sujung-ah!” I jumped into my aunties arms, hugging her tightly. “Merry Christmas!”
 “Merry Christmas Imo!” I beamed.
“Merry Christmas, Yeseul-ah!” My aunt went to hug my mother as well, but she stopped when she noticed the dark bruises on her arms and her collar.

 “Yeseul-“
“No, no, it’s fine,” Eomma said, brushing it off with a smile. “Merry Christmas.” She embraced my aunt in a careful hug. “Namtae could not come with us.”
 “Yeah, I can see that. What a coward,” Imo muttered angrily.

After my mother and aunt had argued about Appa for a while, we ate Christmas dinner and exchanged gifts. I received a beautiful necklace from my mother. It’s chain was silver and there was a blue stone on it, shaped as a heart. From my aunt, I received a large giraffe plush. It was almost as tall as I was myself!

 “Sujung, I think it is best if you spend the night here with Imo-“
“Jang Yeseul, I think it is best if you stay as well,” my aunt cut in, giving my mother a stern look.
 “No, I should go home. Namtae will be worried if I don’t come home…”

 “Eomma, I want to go home with you!” I argued, pulling at her dress.
“Sweetheart, why don’t you want to stay here?” she asked, kneeling down at my level.
 “Because it is Christmas! I want to be with you on Christmas day!”

She sighed. “Of course. Let’s go home, it’s becoming late.”
 “Yeseul, stop thinking about what is best for everyone else, and think about yourself for a moment,” Auntie said. She sounded worried.
 “I shall call if there is any problem, I promise,” Eomma said, lifting me up in her arms. I could see the pained expression she made as she did so. She was always in so much pain.

 “If you don’t want to think about yourself, think of your five year old child,” Imo argued on. “Isn’t it better if she stays safe by her mother’s side? You really should not leave.”
 “It’s fine!” My mother assured her, smiling brightly. “Everything will turn out just fine. If not, then I will call.”

 My mother had said everything would be fine, but after she had gone with me to bed and tucked me in my blanket, I could hear Appa yell at her. I was scared every time he raised his voice. I did not like the way he called my mother ugly names.

 Since she had told me to stay quietly inside of my room, that was what I did. Even when I heard her scream and beg, I sat in my bed, silently crying and waiting for everything to pass. It pained me that every holiday was the same as all the other regular days. It pained me that my father always hurt my mother in such a despicable way.

Minhyuk had went out together with Eunkwang to do his Christmas shopping. He kept nagging me about going, so I ended up calling Eunkwang to take him.

 As I did not really have anything special to do, I had crashed on the couch to start reading yet another book. I figured I should sit in the living room and read. The thought that I had stayed too much inside of my room lately had been active. Also, only Daehyun and I were home. She was preparing dinner, humming lightly by herself.

 For some strange reason, I was unable to concentrate about the book. I was so lost in my thoughts, I could not focus on reading anything. I was thinking a lot about how Christmas would be this year. Last year, I spent my Christmas locked up in the hospital. From what I could remember, I was not too aware of the date, and I did not have time to think at all.

 Christmas was usually the holiday I felt anxiety at a higher level than usual. During Christmastime, alcohol would be cheaper, which would lead to my father drinking even more than usual. He would be even more angry than usual, because he did not like how everybody else were busy with buying gifts and being overall happy because they would get some time off work and school to be with their lovely families.

 My father, on the other hand, was not very fond of his family. I was the only person around him during Christmas, unless he decided to work, then he would not see my pathetic face as much. The holidays he was working, were my favourites. He could not take out his anger on me if he was not at home.

 “Yeobo, I’m home!” I jumped at the sudden voice. It was a man’s voice. I was startled and as I was unsure of what to do, I kept completely still in the couch, only watching as Daehyun ran to embrace the man.

 “Oh, finally!” she exclaimed before cupping the man’s face and kissing him. Was he Minhyuk’s father? No one had ever talked of a boyfriend or a husband or even a father. Being the careful person I was, I would never ask Minhyuk if he did have a father, in case it was rude or something similar.

 “Who is this?” I suddenly noticed how the man was looking directly at me. Immediately, I shot up from the couch and ran a bit closer, bowing deeply.
 “Hello, my name is Kim Sujung!” I said, a little hurriedly. “I am very pleased to meet you.”

 “She’s very polite,” the man laughed wholeheartedly. “Minhyuk found himself a good one.” I felt my face become hot as I awkwardly stood there in front of them. Did he know who I was?
 “Sujung is the sweetest kid,” Daehyun explained, making me even more embarrassed. “Come Honey, I’ll prepare a hot bath for you. You must be tired from all the traveling…”

 Daehyun proceeded to drag the man with her upstairs, and, after they were out of my eyesight, I went back to my previous spot. This time, I did not even care to take up my book. Thoughts were everywhere.

 Who was he? He was married to Daehyun for sure, considering how he called her Yeobo, but was he Minhyuk’s father? If the man had a close relationship to Minhyuk’s family, why did he never mention him before?

 Maybe, if the man was his father, their relationship was not very great? That could be possible. He had never mentioned a father or a father-like figure to me, ever. It was a little weird. For some reason, Minhyuk knew so much more about me than I knew about him. I had been too busy struggling with living in my own body; I could not even care enough to get to know him well.

 As I was thinking, my phone started ringing, showing Minhyuk’s name on the screen.

 “Yes?”
“Are you okay? You sound off,” Minhyuk said, his voice worried.
 “I’m alright,” I assured him, trying to sound as if I really was.
“What are you doing right now?” he asked. I could hear wind in the background and his breath was a little uneven. He must be walking outside.

 “Nothing, really,” I said, “Someone came.”
“Who came?”
 “I don’t know who, but a man came.” Minhyuk was silent for a moment.
“Do you want to eat out with Eunkwang and I? If you’re feeling uncomfortable we could always take you with us,” he suggested.
 “No, it’s okay. You need some time alone with your friends,” I told him.

I meant it, though. I remember how he always used to spend his Saturdays with his friends before, but after I came into his life, they all somehow stopped doing that. I had a feeling there was more to it than me. Ilhoon had kept his distance and Sungjae was spending much of his time with Sungmi. I had heard rumours about Hyunsik finding himself a girlfriend as well.

 “Are you sure?” Minhyuk’s voice dragged me out of my thoughts.
“Yes, I’m sure,” I said, “I am doing fine and you should stop talking with me and spend time with Eunkwang Oppa.”
 “Seriously?!” he suddenly shouted.
“What?” I questioned.
 “You can call Eunkwang for Oppa, but not me? Come on, that’s just unfair,” he whined.

 I only laughed at him, “Bye Minhyuk-ah, let’s talk later.” After that, I hung up. I wanted him to spend more time with his friends, not only inside with me or exercising at the gym. He needed to continue having strong bonds with the people around him. I thought that was extremely important.

 “Were you talking to Minhyuk just now?” Daehyun had come back downstairs, alone.
“Yes, he’s going to eat out with Eunkwang,” I informed her.
 “Well, it’s probably for the best…” she sighed.
“Why is that?” I asked her, as careful and quiet as I could.
 “He’s holding some grudge against his father,” she said.

 “So that man-“
“Yes, that is Minhyuk’s father.” At least, now I had an answer. I had suspected he did not have a father, or maybe not any relations to his father.

 “Sanghoon works on a cruise ship in Australia, you see, and I think Minhyuk is quite upset with that,” she went on. Sanghoon, I believed, was Minhuyk’s father. “As far as I know, the two of them haven’t spoken throughout the past three years he has been gone. They argued the night before he had to go back, I can’t really remember why, but you know how stubborn Minhyuk can be, so of course, he promised himself not to talk to him before he came back.”

 I knew Minhyuk could be stubborn at times, but the fact that he chose not to stay in touch with his own father was making me feel weird. If I had nice parents, I would be forever happy, and I would surely talk to them at any possible moment. I guess, it was different if you actually was able to contact both of your parents. It was probably normal to stay angry with those you could talk it through with at any time.

 --

 “I can’t believe both my boys became engaged while I was gone,” Sanghoon sighed. He did not seem upset however.
“I cannot believe both of my boys already had dinner plans,” Daehyun said. She did seem somewhat upset.

 I felt quite nervous sitting in front of Minhyuk’s father for the first time. Of course, I wanted to make an excellent first impression. I wanted him to like me. I was concentrating on eating as prettily as possible. Maybe I was drowning in wanting to make him think I was normal, because suddenly, I had lost completely track of their conversation.

 “What do you think, Sujung sweetie?”
I looked up at Daehyun, eyes a little bigger than usual. “Sorry?”
 “The food,” she said, smiling, “Was it any good?”
“Yes, it was very tasty as always,” I said, giving her a smile, trying not to seem too nervous. “I’m sorry for not paying attention.”
 “Don’t worry,” Sanghoon said, “You should not apologize for that. Old people like us do not talk about interesting things.” I let out a small chuckle and nodded. My cheeks were already red.

 “You should not feel the need to be so polite towards me, Sujung,” he continued. “You don’t need to use as many formalities as you do towards anyone around here. There is no reason to call me Ahjussi, do call me Abeoji. Daehyun has already told me so much about you, and I can assure you, I already like you. You don’t have to be nervous around me or be afraid I might not like you.” I was quite taken aback by his comment.

 “I will make sure to remember,” I said. Speaking formally was nothing I could help but to do. I was so used to it.

“I’m home!” Minhyuk’s voice came, followed by the main door closing shut, probably taken by the door.
 “We’re in the kitchen!” Daehyun called back. After a little moment, Minhyuk was standing by the doorframe, looking as if he had seen a ghost.

 “Appa…?!”

*Author’s Note*

 Hello all my beautiful readers!!! I think I say this each time I update, but I am really sorry for taking so long… again -.-+

 The thing is, honestly, I relapsed again (I don’t intend to relapse every single month, I can’t help it), and writing Sujung’s recovery suddenly became extremely hard for me to do. That is why it took me longer than expected to write this.

 BUT LOOK WHAT I MADE!!! A super long chapter! I hope that makes up for it <3

 I know it is March and spring is coming up, but this and the next chapter is Christmas themed mostly. I really wanted to make time for Minhyuk’s birthday as well in one chapter, but I had to skip it because the time in the story and the time irl has become so different, so I want to jump a little more forward to make the seasons match. (I’m so so so sorry I had skip his birthday D: )

 Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter. I actually wrote a whole chapter, but had to delete the whole piece because I totally messed everyone up and it became super sad and angsty. I hope I managed not to bring Sujung down in this chapter tho, I think I did alright, because I really don’t want her to seem as if she’s relapsing or anything because- come on! She does NOT deserve that! Neither does Minhyuk nor you, my lovely readers. 

 ~Comment and upvote and subscribe if you like <3