“Hey,” Hyukjae said softly while hugging Hana’s waist from the back and rested his chin on her shoulder. The girl smiled and pinched off a bit of the dough she was making for cookies and fed it to Hyukjae. Mrs. Kim, with the help of her sister and Minyu, was preparing the night’s dinner for the whole family and had a lot to do – thus the commotion in the kitchen – but they still had their spirits up.

“Are you alright?” the girl asked while working on the dough and sent a quick glance over her shoulder. “Usually you’re not this clingy.”

Hyukjae hummed and tightened his hugging arms briefly and kissed Hana’s cheek. “It’s cold and I need some warmth.” Hana scoffed and claimed Hyukjae to be a wuss for not being able to handle the chill. The man chuckled and cuddled closer to her. Some sort of comfort was needed, because his day had already stressed him. One day like that – he would never make it the rest of the week. He had just escaped the living room from Donghae’s odd looks and didn’t know how much longer he would stand this situation.

“Hyukjae please,” Hana chuckled wearily as Hyukjae had put more of his weight on the girl and became too much of a hindrance for her to work freely, so he released her and leaned against the cupboard next to the worktop. Without saying anything, he stood and observed her baking until Donghae entered the kitchen. Hyukjae unconsciously straightened his back and crossed his arms over his chest as he shot a subtle glance at the brunette who briefly looked his way then turning away swiftly, but nothing obvious that said he was avoiding Hyukjae. Though that was probably what he did, and Hyukjae frowned.

“Omonim, do you need any help?” Donghae asked Mrs. Kim who immediately declined his offer with a smile.

“Just go and enjoy yourself,” Heejin answered with a grateful smile and patted Donghae’s back. “You’re a guest too.”

He smiled stiffly and nodded once, turning around to leave the kitchen again. Hyukjae finally took a breath and relaxed again.

“Did you talk to Donghae?” Hana almost whispered, still her voice made him jump.  “Was it something he said that made you angry earlier?”

With a subtle sigh, Hyukjae shrugged. “We just… don’t fit together.” Saying those words, Hyukjae wasn’t sure himself what kind of fitting together he referred to and he didn’t want to think about it either.

The look of disapproval on the girl’s face went unnoticed by Hyukjae who nipped another piece of the dough and let it melt on his tongue.  Then he led them onto a different topic so he could avoid the Donghae-matter, and Hana flowed with as if nothing happened. He watched her concentrated look at the same time as she was talking and realized they already had been together for one year. One year wasn’t that much Hyukjae thought, but still the time felt so slow as if they had already known each other for a much longer time. It had been different with—

“Are you even listening?”

“What?”

Hana sighed. “Why don’t you go and help mom to set the table? I think we’re going to eat pretty soon.” She said to dismiss him from the kitchen.

“Sure,” he answered and pecked her lips before returning out in the dining hall with a pile of plates in his hands.

“You are such a sweet boy Hyukjae!” Heejin, who already was fussing around the dining table, exclaimed while straightening the white cloth over the table and arranging the chairs. “You don’t have to do that, you can go and rest, you and Hana has travelled so far yesterday. You must still be exhausted.”

Hyukjae smiled at Hana’s mother sweetly and shook his head. “It’s okay Mrs. Kim, I feel a lot rested now after sleeping and then meeting everyone. I’ve really looked forward to spend Christmas with you. You’ve already prepared so much; you deserve to sit down for a while now.”

He didn’t know whether to just smile or go and hug the woman as she looked as if her eyes were filling with tears just by what he had said. But Mrs. Kim was the one who came to embrace him and patted his back several times.

“If anyone deserves our Hana it surely is you Hyukjae.” She caressed his cheek and walked back into the kitchen while wiping her eyes. Hyukjae laughed weakly to himself and started to place out the plates on respective seat and took over the utensils when Minyu came out and handed them to him.

“What did you tell my mom, she’s walking around crying and asking Hana to marry you?” She laughed.

Hyukjae simply shrugged his shoulders and continued placing out the knives and forks. Minyu came back with the glasses and she helped to set them by the plates at the same time talking with Hyukjae.

He noticed that Minyu was a really energetic girl and laughed a lot, which he liked. She asked a lot of questions and he answered them all.

“For how long have you and Donghae been engaged?” He asked, trying to sound natural.

“Hae didn’t tell you?” Minyu giggled. “Well, we agreed to it about three months ago. We’ve planned to marry in the spring.” Her whole face lightened up as she said it before bouncing back into the kitchen. Hyukjae couldn’t hold back his smile and then continued with the arranging of the table.

When finished, Hyukjae stretched his body and turned towards the living room, but he stopped in his track as he noticed Donghae standing with a group near the entrance and just before Hyukjae had looked over, Donghae turned his head away. Somehow he had a weak feeling of that Donghae just had been watching him. But as he heard Hana call him from the kitchen he ignored it, convincing himself that it was just a coincidence that Donghae had looked his way.

It was Hana’s two grandparents on her father’s side, Mrs. Kim’s younger sister with her three children and husband, Mr. Kim’s brother and his son, Yoona with Jiwon and then the two sisters together with Hyukjae and Donghae that filled up the villa with warmth and conversations. It was a real peculiar feeling to meet Hana’s whole family, but at the same time he didn’t feel as he belonged there as much. He’d only been with her for one year, and there was no assurance they’d stay together for any time longer, even though he really did like her, and then this would just turn into an awkward memory.
When he stood greeting Hana’s uncle, the man had called over Donghae – obviously knowing him since earlier – and Hyukjae could only awkwardly step away, not missing the glances Donghae gave him as he did so.

After Hyukjae had the chance to have greeted everyone he heaven a deep breath and snuck out on the front porch to get a short moment to himself. His problem with Donghae was still unsettled and he had no idea how to solve it, because apparently it ruined at least half of his mood. Nothing really turned out as he had imagined it to. He leaned his elbow against the porch’s railing and supported his face with his hands while looking around the snow-covered lawn.

It was a mild coldness, but still enough to make his cheeks redden after a minute. It was a pity he hadn’t come there before since it was a very beautiful area and he would have loved spending more time around.

The click of the door opening made Hyukjae turn and see a brightly smiling face appear.

“I thought I saw you go out here.” Yoona’s appearance made Hyukjae smile inwardly and she soon filled the spot next to him.
“This is the second time I find you looking this bothered,” the woman said with a sigh and leaned over the railing as well, tilting her head to get a look of Hyukjae’s face. “It’s the first time for – what is it – eight years? I wasn’t there and no one told me what happened – not even Donghae – but I can see you are practically suffering from this. “

Hyukjae had thought Yoona wasn’t going to meddle in his and Donghae’s problem, but since others seemed to notice their feud it might be a help, though Yoona didn’t know the basic facts of the situation.

“And I can also tell he’s uncomfortable too.”

 “He asked us to be friends – how is that being uncomfortable?” Hyukjae snapped softly, holding back his annoyance from letting it out on the wrong person. “I suffered a lot because of him and he doesn’t look the slightest regretful.”

“Hyukjae, you have no idea of how he—“

“Darlings, the dinner is ready!” Mrs. Kim had found them on the porch and called out for them, interrupting their discussion.  Yoona smiled at Hyukjae and his back as he backed to step back inside.

“Just talk to him about it – it seems like the two of you have a lost piece each that you need to fit together before judging. Please Hyukjae, I believe that between you and Donghae, you’re the one who can bring this up. He’s insecure.”

The man mentally groaned, but still took Yoona’s words to heart.

With the whole family settled down, Mr. Kim held a small speech as a welcome and thank you to everyone who had come to celebrate together. Hyukjae couldn’t stop his smiles thanks to the warm atmosphere among everyone, and even though he was seated next to and uncle he didn’t know and Hana’s grandfather he never had spoken with before, he still felt that he easily melted into the conversations and got along with everyone as they ate. Hana’s younger sister sitting across the table to Hyukjae was speaking loudly and laughing with Donghae next to her, and once again he noticed his eyes lingered a little too long on that smile.  

Yoona’s words repeated all over in his head through dinner. He had yet to talk with Donghae; they couldn’t avoid each other forever. It was especially hard since they gave each other obvious looks every now and then.  Maybe he should take her advice and take the lead to a proper, matured conversation.

Trying to shake off the thoughts, he grabbed his glass and downed all the content in once with a grimace and the grandfather to his right laughed happily and poured up more of the drink in Hyukjae’s glass which he drank as quickly as the first round. He noticed Donghae glancing across the table at him for a second. Hyukjae’s body tingled and he thought it must have been the drink was affecting him. Usually he never drank too much alcohol, but he liked the tingle he felt so he decided to drink one more glass to Hana’s grandfather’s joy, pouring up the young boy another glass of golden liquid.

Dinner was long ago finished and the table cleared from plates. The hours passed by with the group talking vividly and Hyukjae found himself laughing loudly at everything and he shared all his stories with excitement. Once in a while he managed to grab Donghae’s attention and then he tried to make the story even more interesting so that Donghae would continue listening to him.

Slowly, everyone started departing from the table. The women began to pluck away the last glasses and put them to the dishes while the men went to the living room and started hot discussions about everything between heaven and earth. The children were being ushered into bed with protests, but nevertheless they obeyed and fell asleep soon.

“Seriously,” Hana sighed and held her hands on her hips while looking at her dizzy boyfriend giggling while talking to Minyu who was quite tipsy, but not as badly as Hyukjae. “I knew seating Hyuk next to grandpa wasn’t a good idea.” He was going to be such an annoyance.

“I’ll take him out on a stroll; that might sober him up.” Hana turned around and smiled at Donghae who already had fetched both his and Hyukjae’s jacket and thanked him. She wasn’t really fond of dealing with a drunken Hyukjae since he was just laughing at everyone and everything and was simply hopeless to talk with.

“Will you be okay though?” Hana asked with a frown as Hyukjae tried to sing at the same time as laughing and Donghae had some drinks himself. She also thought back of earlier that day when the two seemed to have fought. Donghae convinced her they were fine.

Hyukjae was lifted up from his seat by Donghae and even got help with getting dressed by his girlfriend who pouted at him.

“I don’t wanna go out! It’s cold in the snow.” Don