I awoke to a plain ringtone blaring in my ear. I scrambled to my nightstand, feet tangled in the sheets as I fell off the side of my bed. “Mwoh?!” I screeched into the phone, body still wrapped in the imprisoning sheets.

“Uh… Jagiya? Kwaenchana?”

I froze, eyes bulging and face immediately turning bright red. “Changmin-ah! Mian… I was just..,” I returned to attempting to stand up, thinking it would be easier to get free from the sheets if I were upright, “trying to get..,” I threw a vicious kick outward, sheets still wrapped around me, “untangled!” I fell to the floor with an “oomph!”

The only thing coming from the other end of the line was raucous laughter.

“Changmin-ah,” I whined, “stop laughing at me!”

“Mian.” He chuckled a few times before settling down. “So how was your week?”

“Uneventful as always. I finished working at the club, and I got a few more hours at the bookstore.” Changmin had been busy recording for their Japanese comeback, so they hadn’t been able to talk a lot recently.

“Thank you for not working at the club anymore. I worry about you, and you attract way too much trouble to work there.” He was genuinely worried, and that had been the only reason I’d given in and quit. “Something’s bothering you though… What’s wrong, jagiya?”

“Changmin, I didn’t have the job at the nightclub for fun. I’m already having problems paying for some things, and it’s only been a week!” I groaned, rubbing my temple with my free hand. “I still need to find another job, Changmin-ah. I can’t lose this apartment when it’s the cheapest place I could find to begin with!”

“Jagiya, you know you could always move in with me.”

“Absolutely not! We haven’t been dating that long, and I’m not going to start taking advantage of you so early in our relationship!”

“Alright, calm down.” Changmin sighed into the phone. “Onto another topic. We’re getting on a plane in an hour.” I perked up and sat upright in a flash. “Wear the dress in the corner of your closet. I’ll pick you up in a few hours. Saranghae.”

“Annyeong, Changmin-ah. Have a safe flight and say hi to Yunho for me!” I hung up, glancing at the time. With a sudden moment of clarity, I realized I needed to hurry to get ready in time for Changmin to get here, and renewed my struggle against the sheets, aggravation seeping even further into my bones as I glared at the death-sheets.

I tightly clenched the thin towel together where it met as I dug through my closet. My hands brushed against a box, and I realized this must be the dress Changmin had been talking about. I tossed the box on the bed, casually opening the lid. I pulled the dress out and shook it out across the bed so I could see it, and smiled as I did. It was a bright red fabric, and the bottom was an asymmetrical hem while the top was a convertible style that could be done however the wearer wished.

My grin suddenly faltered as I realized that, although Changmin had chosen a longer skirt to humor me, he could still easily get his way with this dress; it required a special bra. I began mumbling and cursing under my breath before I realized there was just such a set sitting in the bottom of the box. My face flushed a thousand shades of red as I realized Changmin had bought me lingerie, and apparently knew what size to buy.

I slipped everything but the dress on, drying my hair and styling it before slipping it over my head, draping the sleeves over my shoulders. I thought about how I was going to style the top of the dress as I carefully clipped my hair out of the way. I finally decided to knot the two pieces in the front, then swept them wide around my shoulders and tying them in the back, leaving my shoulders bare with the off-the-shoulder design I had come up with.

I was just doing the finishing touches to my make-up when there was a knock on the door. I was caught off-guard, and, unfortunately, stabbed myself in the eye with my mascara wand.

I opened the door, eye closed and crying. Changmin immediately ran over, wrapping his arms around me in a tight embrace. “I know I’ve been gone for a while, but please don’t cry! I hate seeing you cry!”

I laughed, and he pulled away, glancing apprehensively at me. “Not that I didn’t miss you, but that’s not why I’m crying.” He looked slightly affronted. “You caught me by surprise and I stabbed myself in the eye on accident.”

He guffawed, and I walked away, putting up an angry front when I was, in reality, simply retrieving my purse. Changmin’s laughter stopped with a quick choke, and he hustled after me like a lost puppy. “Mian. Don’t get all angry at me!” I kept walking, not slowing even when he wrapped his arms around my waist. “Please, jagiya~! I didn’t mean to laugh! It isn’t funny at all really. I’m sure it must have really hurt. Please forgive—.” I turned around, proudly waving my clutch back and forth in front of him. He looked heartbroken and put his hands on his hips. “That’s really mean you know. I haven’t seen you for over a week, and you go pulling a mean prank like that on me.”

I rolled my eyes, dropping the clutch on a nearby table as I slipped a pair of matching red pumps. As I straightened, my woolen trench coat was dangling in front of me. Getting the hint, I turned around, allowing Changmin to help me into the coat. He grabbed my clutch and opened the door for me as I grabbed my scarf, wrapping it around my neck, and doing the buttons of my coat.

As I slid elegantly into the car for once, I queried as to where we were going, but, as usual, was given no answer. “Why do you always try to ruin my fun, jagiya?” He pouted before pulling the car out into the traffic, silencing my questions as simply as possible and keeping our activities for the night his secret.

So... I really meant this as a Christmas present, but I got super distracted while writing it and then had to reedit everything, so it's only half as long as I meant it to be.

My family is doing much better, and thank you to everyone who was concerned. My one sister turned out to be allergic to the seizure medicine, and that her seizures were actually side effects of a large blood clot in her left arm. My nephew's hands are nearly healed, and a few of them are having a vegetarian Christmas at their dad's house. (I love vegetarians and tofu, so it means no harm, but my family are huge on Christmas ham as a tradition, etc, etc, so for them to have tofu and soymilk is a huge change.)

After one of my younger nephews was close to crying when we left after Christmas Eve dinner, I realised that me going away on a study abroad for the whole year in a year and a half is going to be a lot harder than I'd originally thought. The little dude is a heartbreaker as is, and hearing him whining about us leaving after being so excited to see us when we got there about broke my heart to pieces... As I'm writing this, I may have found a huge part of my relationship problems... They're afraid of competition from a three-year-old! And they darn right should be. ;)