01
Saving ChristmasThe shivering of her limbs had kept her up all night, leaving faint dark circles under her eyes. “Damnit.” Haera rubbed her eyes and ran tired fingers through her russet colored hair. The muffled calls of her mother’s voice were heard from downstairs, telling her to wake up and get dressed for class. Haera swung her bare legs over the edge of her bed and stood up to quickly make her way to her bathroom, rubbing her arms to warm herself a little. “Ah so cold~” Haera chanted softly when she felt the cold of her room kiss her skin.
The girl’s face contorted when the sharp mint of her toothpaste attacked her taste buds when she was brushing her teeth, sounds of annoyance boiling in . She quickly washed up and ran through her room, searching for her clothes, when she heard her mother call again. “Yeah yeah, I’m coming,” Haera muttered softly and grabbed her bag containing the books she needed that day for her classes. She took a last once-over in her room when her eyes caught sight of the bright light that streamed from under her curtains.
Haera sneered and didn’t even bother opening her curtains to let in the harsh sunlight that reflected against the snow that laid outside, and left.
“Took you long enough,” Haera’s mother commented and drank the remnants of her coffee as she folded the newspaper and grabbed her own stuff. Haera pouted leaning against the cooking island. “No breakfast?”
Her mother let out a small chuckle and handed her daughter her lunchbox. “Wake up earlier,” she smiled and kissed the side of Haera’s head. “Now come on, we’re gonna be late.”
With that, Haera’s mother grabbed her keys and warm coat before she exited through the backdoor to her car. Haera tsked pouting and stuffed the box in her bag before following her mother’s example. She stopped when she arrived in the doorpost instead, however. Haera sighed and slowly wrapped her woolen scarf around her neck, her eyes running over the white blanket that covered the backyard. A breeze blew snow off some of the branches and it made Haera shudder.
“Damn snow,” she muttered and was shaken out of her thoughts when she heard the honk of her mother’s car. “I’m leaving without you if you don’t hurry your up!”
Haera stuffed her hands into her coat pockets and with a last sigh, left the house before trudging through the snow-layered driveway to the car that was waiting for her.
Her mother was tapping her fingers impatiently on the steering wheel and looked at Haera with an irritated expression. “You know, I’m doing this for you right?” she asked and rolled out of the driveway onto the main road. “You can hitch a ride with me but that requires you to be on time.”
Haera turned to her mother and tried to cute her way out of it, even though her own mood had dampened when her hunch of this morning was right - that there was indeed a layer of snow laying outside, waiting for Haera to slip on. “I’m sowwy, mommy~” she spoke in a baby-voice and wiggled her body like a child. Her mother only chuckled and shook her head before she concentrated on the road again. “Yeah yeah.”
Haera grinned accomplished and turned to her right to look outside of her window. Even though it should’ve been early rush hour, there were hardly any cars on the road. The only reason Haera could come up with was that the snow was a bother and people wanted to stay home, avoiding the cold and the nuisance that was called winter. Her thoughts were once again interrupted but this time by the ringing of her phone. Haera fished her mobile out of her bag but her face fell as soon as she saw the caller ID.
“I need you to work tonight,” the caller didn’t beat around the bush and went straight to the point with some underlying annoyance lacing the words that left the male’s voice when she picked up. Haera placed her elbow on the edge of the car door and rest her head in the palm of her head. “I thought I had the night off for once,” Haera countered in a slightly annoyed voice. “You did, but you don’t anymore. I won’t take no for an answer because it’s an important night so I need you here by 7,” the man continued in a harsh voice that started to irk Haera more and more.
Her mother had heard the conversation partially and saw her daughters face darken when she took a glance to her side. Haera caught her eyes and saw that her mother tried to tell her to just go with it. There was nothing the college student could say against her boss’ word, so she just complied, even though she had to sacrifice her day off. “Fine.”
“Good, be here at 7 so we have enough time for you to suit up,” the male answered and without another word hung up the phone. The last part of his sentence caught Haera’s attention and made her eyes widen in disgust. “What?!” she exclaimed and looked at her phone. Haera’s mother chuckled softly and watched her daughter bury her face in her hands, groaning and running her fingers through her hair. “It might not be as bad as it sounds, sweety,” she tried to comfort her daughter. Haera shook her head, knowing that it was indeed as bad as it sounded, and rest her temple against the cold glass. “This .”
~*~*~
Haera waved at her mother and watched her drive away when the lights of the traffic lights turned green. She didn’t have any details about the event but her boss told her specifically not to approach the venue with a car because it would be too busy and crowded on the streets for them to pass, so Haera had told her mother to drop her off a block away from where she needed to be. She sighed and blew warm air into her hands before starting to walk towards the building that was swarming with photographers and girls her age screaming some names. Haera didn’t spare them any attention and quickly walked to the back of the building and searched for the back entrance her boss recommended her. She entered the pass code and smiled when she heard the door unlock.
“Haera, there you are!” her boss greeted with a forced smile on his lips and immediately ushered her through some halls towards dressing rooms. “Minyoung will help you, I need to attend some other matters now,” he said quite jumpily but suddenly he turned serious and it almost scared Haera in a way. “Don’t screw up,” the older man said with a threatening finger. Haera backed away a little and slowly nodded, even though she didn’t like the way he was acting. The man nodded curtly a last time at the other female in the room and left as soon another man tapped his shoulder, motioning for him to follow.
Haera sighed again and unwrapped her scarf, starting to take off her jacket when she caught Minyoung – her colleague and friend – staring at her with a very bright smile and an enthusiastic expression. The college student looked back suspiciously and took a step back. “What?” she asked warily. It seemed like Minyoung could blow any minute because her smile only widened when she suddenly stepped forward and grabbed Haera’s upper arms. “Do you even realize who you are up with?” she squeaked and shook the oblivious student. Haera chuckled and removed Minyoung’s strong hold on her arms.
“Uhm no but it’s probably amazing,” she answered with a hint of sarcasm lacing her words. Minyoung clasped her hands together in front of her chest and smiled dreamily. “More than amazing, Hae, this is the greatest moment in time!” the woman continued and swayed her body. Haera lifted her eyebrows but left her friend to fuel her imagination and looked around the room.
“So, where is the damned thing?” she asked when she didn’t see the suit that she was supposed to wear for the night. Minyoung snapped out of her fantasy and quickly walked over to one of those old changing boards that separated a corner with the rest of the room. “Right here~”
Haera didn’t like the tone that her friend used and warily made her way over, only to facepalm herself and groan loudly. “I’m not wearing that.”
Minyoung laughed and wrapped an arm around Haera’s shoulder. “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice, sweety.”
Haera pouted at her words and leaned her head against her friends shoulder. “This so bad.”
~*~*~
Hot. Sweaty. Sticky. Itching. Haera could go on and on because there was literally nothing positive about this stupid suit. The heavy deer mask wobbled on her small head with every step she took, sometimes obstructing her eyesight because the peepholes turned away alltogether with the whole head. The bodysuit had padding’s that constricted every move so she couldn’t even sit down properly, because of the heavy ‘belly’ around her waist. The fur that covered her legs was the only less negative thing because it kept the college student warm in the cold weather.
Dropping a little lower, the huge deer feet that functioned as shoes were two sizes too big so it almost seemed like Haera walked with a little limp so she could keep the shoes in place. All in all, this was not a situation Haera wanted to be in at that moment. “Haera, you’re up in 2. Put your head on!”
Haera jumped and almost stumbled onto the floor because of the sudden deep voice of her boss, but was held up straight by him as she held the huge deer head under her arm. Haera took some deep breaths because it was getting too hot in the suit and tried to keep her own head on straight.
“W-what am I even supposed to do?” Haera asked tiredly and leaned against the drywall next to her. Her boss rubbed his face in a frustrated manner, releasing a deep groan. “Haera, have you even been listened to what I told you a few minutes ago?!”
Haera picked at the fur on the head and sighed, pouting like a little kid who had done something bad. “I did but it’s so...” her voice died out a little when she saw the angry face of her boss, “dumb?” she added in a small hesitant voice. The man just stood there and stared right through her. “Dumb.” he stated emotionless and at that point, Haera knew she had overstepped a boundary that she shouldn’t have. She started fidgeting in her place and moved the head in front of her, as if subconsciously trying to create as much space as possible between her boss and her for what she was going to say next. “Well, not really.. dumb? It’s more that I don’t particularly enjoy Christmas and don’t have anything with the whole holiday, so by all means! Continue with this whole festive..thing, but could you maybe possibly please leave me out of it?”
If it had been a cartoon, smoke could’ve been seen coming out of her boss’ ears because a faint red color was creeping up his neck and slowly turned the paleness of his face into a deeper shade of rosy. He shot his hands out to the deer’s head in Haera’s hands, taking her by surprise. “Just put the damn head on,” he grit through his teeth and forced the hollow cover over Haera’s head. In his rage, the elder did not think of what he was doing and nearly pushed Haera off balance, was it not for the two foreign pair of hands that held her up right. “Whoa watch it there,” a soft voice rang in Haera’s ears.
The hairs on her arms started to stand and a warm feeling spread in her already too warm cocoon of a body. The student wanted to turn her head to the owner of the voice but the huge head restricted every movement possible. “I-I’m sorry, young man. Please,” Haera heard her boss stutter and saw him bow respectfully in a way to let the person pass. Her eyebrows furrowed because who could have such an effect on this always angry man and turn him into a ball of nerves. “Are you okay?” the voice questioned, making Haera jump again because she couldn’t see what was happening next to her. She felt like those horses that would pull chariots in the city and wore eye caps to prevent them from getting startled by things passing by, but Haera was starting to think that those caps didn’t exactly work.
The student quickly nodded her head, resulting in the deer head almost bobbing off her head. The foreign voice chuckled and suddenly Haera felt the huge head secured on her head with the peepholes to the front again. “Good.”
Haera saw her boss bow continuously at the retreating figure. A half long black jacket was set around broad shoulders and a head with short dark hair were visible through the small holes in the deer’s head until they disappeared around a corner.
“Just,” Haera’s boss pulled the student out of her thoughts, “just act Christmassy happy please?”
The man looked at Haera, at least tried to because he couldn’t exactly find the peepholes that were set in the eyes and instead looked at the holes in the nose, almost pleading her to do good. “Or at least pretend to be?”
Haera lifted her hand and did a thumbs up, easing her boss a little. The man let out a deep sigh before dismissing Haera and motioned for her to walk to the entrance of the building where the event was taking place. Haera walked past the elder and after some struggling with her suit, saw the entrance come into sight. Constant flashes were lighting up the otherwise darkened hallway, making her squint her eyes against the harsh light, disallowing her to see where she was going. “About time! Come on, you’re up!”
The girl didn’t even have the time to adjust to the lighting because soon a pair of strong hands locked onto hers and forced her outside. Stumbling and trying to hold on to something, Haera entered a world that was completely foreign to her. Flashing lights, the sound of camera shutters, voices calling for attention and names flying around that she never heard of. So much was coming at her that moment that Haera lost her footing and fell forward into something hard. “Ah!” a high-pitched voice caught her attention, followed by words in a language that she wasn’t familiar with.
“Are you okay?”
That voice again. Haera shifted her attention to the source that seemed so much closer than before. She adjusted her deer head so she could have a better look through the peepholes and was pleasantly surprised when she came eye to eye with what seemed like an angel. The way the corners of the man’s eyes crinkled when he smiled made him look like an old man but in a cute way and the sound that left his peachy lips was like music to Haera’s ears. Not to mention that he was so handsome that she became speechless, was a huge bonus. The wide smile on the man’s face eased into a soft expression when he adjusted the deer head. “That's the second time already, you’d think you’d learn from the first time.”
Another of those precious chuckles of his left his mouth and it didn’t exactly help Haera in her response department. “Ge, the thing messed up my hair!”
The college student looked past the angel and saw an irritated looking man fixing his ash blonde hair with wild gestures of his fingers. “Yah, it’s a deer with antlers, not a thing,” the dark haired man that helped Haera answered with an amused tone. “And it’s not like she made you bald so stop whining, you’ll look bad on the pictures.”
The blonde man sneered and focused in front of him again to pose for the ever present cameras, smiling like the incident before hadn’t even happened. Pshh, who does he think he is! Haera scoffed in her mask and this was caught by the dark male, who showed Haera a lopsided grin. “Don’t mind him, he’s just very intense when it comes to his looks.”
Again that smile made her heart tremble so Haera tried to play it off with some playful hand gestures, motioning that it was okay and throwing in some thumbs ups.
The cute male laughed at her little show and turned to the front again, smiling at the sea of cameras that caught him beautifully in his every angle. It turned a little awkward for Haera after that because she had no idea of what she should do with herself at that moment. Should she pose, should she leave, for God’s sake, should she just smile - not that they would see anything because of the deer head anyway. The male next to her noticed her discomfort and with a playful smile wrapped an arm around her back and hugged her from the side, placing his other hand on Haera’s arm that was between them.
The sudden closeness had Haera stiffen up but after Luhan muttered an it’s okay, she eased up and stood comfortably next to him. They stood there for a while, posing and playing around until a guard motioned for the male to continue walking. To Haera’s surprise, a certain disappointment coursed through her when he let go of her. It was weird and far too soon for that, but she had really felt comfortable and safe in those strangers arms, even if it were just for a few minutes. Haera snapped out of it when the guard walked up to her and started leading her towards the entrance of the building again.
Just before she had to turn away, the college student caught the dark haired male waving at her with a soft smile.
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