“Don’t make any sudden stops,” Bom told my father.

She, Chaerin and I sat in the back of the sedan holding our hands up in front of us, trying to dry our nails. And for the second time in four days, I was wearing a full face of makeup. Maybe I was morphing. I hoped it wasn’t an irreversible process. While we got dressed, I’d wanted more than anything to tell my sisters about the events at the store and parking lot. To boast, actually. But I didn’t because I thought Chaerin’s feelings might get hurt. And to be honest, I thought mine might too if my sisters treated it all as no big deal.

It is no big deal, I told myself, unless you go to an all-girls school.

“Are the Kims on 10th Street?” my father asked.

“Yes,” I replied. “Turn at the next corner.”

“Slowly,” said my mother. Her nails were dry, but she had been glue gunning on the way out the door, making Min and Jae their wreaths. Now she held it carefully in front of her.

We pulled up in front of the tall blue-and-white house and make a parade up the Kims’ walk, carrying food and decorations. Uncle Hyun Bin greeted us at the door. “Merry Christmas!”

Min popped out from behind. “Hey, Dara Noona!” Then he saw the wreath my mother was carrying. “Awesome!” he said.

My mother beamed. “It’s for you.”

Jae came out from the kitchen area, followed by Aunt Hyori and a cute guy.

“Isn’t this cool?” Min asked, holding up his wreath.

“Very cool,” Jae replied. “Hi, Mr.Park. I’m Jae. This is our neighbor, Junsu.”

Junsu the photographer? The same guy who’d called Bom? I didn’t have to wonder for long. He gave me a shy smile but could hardly look at my sister when introduced.

“Junsu’s parents own the Card and Party Shop on the Main Street near YGU,” Jae told us.

“Which is lucky for us,” Uncle Hyun Bin said. “Every Christmas Eve, while his parents are finishing up at the shop, Junsu comes over with everything I’ve forgotten to buy, like wrapping paper, tape, ribbon, tinsel…It’s become a tradition.”

I glanced sideways at Bom to see if she recognized Junsu as the guy whose number she’d dropped in the trash, but she gave no sign.

“Well, let’s take everybody’s coats,” Uncle Hyun Bin said.

With the skill of an actress who never misses a blocking tape, Chaerin positioned herself perfectly for Jae to help her with her jacket.

I shoved Bom ahead of me so that Junsu got a chance to take her jacket. Bom had to help him along, and when he finally saw her in her y dress, I guess it was too much for him. He took two steps backward into Jae, letting the coat drag on the floor. Then he scooped up the coat, looking distraught, as if he’d been dragging a person. Poor guy, I thought once again.

“I’m so glad you’re all here,” Aunt Hyori said as the coats were hung up. “Come into the kitchen. We have cider warming.”

We proceeded toward the rear of the house, but Min held back. “I want to hang this,” he said, holding up his wreath.

“Later,” his father replied. “Let’s get some drinks.”

“I’m going to put in on the front door,” Min went on defiantly.

“We already have a wreath there,” Uncle Hyun Bin said with strained patience.

“But Dad I want this one there.”

I wondered why he was acting bratty and childish, then Aunt Hyori volunteered, “We can put Min’s wreath on that door. It’ll look good.”

“No,” Uncle Hyun Bin said sternly, turning to Min. “I like the one Hyori picked out, and it’s going to stay right where it is.”

My mother looked uncomfortable, as if she’d caused a problem.

“How about your bedroom door, Min,” I suggested, “since it’s your own wreath?”

Min looked at me sulkily. I stared back until he changed his stubborn expression.

“There’s a nail already in the door,” Jae said. “I’ll get you some strings.”

A few minutes later Min and I were hanging up the wreath.

“This looks great,” I told him.

“You like her.” Min sounded resigned and unhappy.

“You mean my Aunt Hyori? Yes, I like her very much,” I said, laying my hand on his shoulder.

“Oh,” he mumbled.

We’d just turned to go downstairs when the phone rang. The call immediately picked up by an answering machine in the bedroom. I heard Uncle Hyun Bin’s recorded voice followed by a beep, then a girl’s voice: “Hi Jae, this is me. Come over as soon as you get rid of your guests. Tap on the den window – my parents will be asleep.”

“They just keep calling,” Min told me.

How can you be with a guy like that? And how can he be with a girl like me? I’m nothing like these girls who keep calling him. Now both of us were resigned and unhappy. We returned downstairs to the living room.

The tree had been put in its stand before we arrived and decorated with strings of big bulb lights. Aunt Hyori and Uncle Hyun Bin were opening up dusty boxes of ornaments laying them out for us. Min went over to watch, standing by his father’s side, away from Aunt Hyori. My own father was sitting in the corner, reading the Christmas edition of Uncle Hyun Bin’s paper, and would probably move on to Uncle Hyun Bin’s book collection next. My mother was fussing with the Kims’ curtains. I wondered if Uncle Hyun Bin knew what kind of family he was associating into. Good thing he was a bit eccentric too.

The guys and my sisters were seated on the floor around the hearth, which crackled and snapped with a warm fire. Jae stood up when he saw me. “Can I get you some cider, Dara?”

“Not right now, thanks,” I said, joining the group. Jae returned to his seat on the rug next to Chaerin, who casually dropped her hand so that it rested lightly on his knee. If I videotaped her, I could have run a sequel to last year’s flirting seminar.

“So you and Top played together even in high school.” Chaerin said to Jae. “He’s such a nice guy.”

“He’s a clown.” Jae smiled. “We started out in freshman year. Junsu too. Junsu’s family moved next door when he was –how old?” he asked, turning to his friend.

“Uh...13.”

Jae waited quietly, having provided Junsu with an opening into the conversation. “13,” Junsu repeated, then fell silent.

“On which side of the road do you live?” I asked Junsu.

Before he could get out an answer – and admittedly he was slow in response – Chaerin said, “Top and I went shopping the other day. You ought