Merry Christmas everyone!

Hope everyone had a good one~

~~~~~~~~~~

Snow whirled around outside as a cold winter wind blew through the night.

It was only a few days before Christmas and everyone was inside preparing for the festivities.

Families gathered around the fire telling Christmas tales. 

Children decorated the tree and wrote their letters to Santa Claus.

Parents busily wrapped presents and bustled around the house.

The smell of freshly baked cookies and other delicacies filled the air.

All around there was a warm atmosphere of love and good cheer.

In one large house down a snowy street, a group of girls were running around frantically getting ready for the holidays.

The small kitchen was filled with the aroma of baked goods.

"SHIKSHIN STOP EATING ALL THE INGREDIENTS!!!"

Sooyoung ducked the spatula Hyoyeon threw at her.

She set down the ripe strawberry that was supposed to be for decorating the cake

"Aish okayyy..."

Seohyun rolled her eyes at her two unnies as she was busy next to Hyoyeon, finishing a sweet potato pie.

"Unnies let's get these cookies baked and the cake finished."

"Aye aye captain!" saluted Sooyoung.

Hyoyeon rolled her eyes at the tall shikshin and reassured her girlfriend with a kiss to the cheek.

"Sorry honey we'll get to work!"

The maknae blushed and soon the three were working diligently. 

In the living room Taeyeon and Sunny were having trouble setting up the new Blu-ray system.

Taeyeon groaned.

"How do you even set this up??"

"I think it's supposed to plug here..." mumbled Sunny as she tried to jab the cord in a random outlet.

When it didn't work, Taeyeon groaned.

"Ughhhhh... This is HOPELESS!"

Upstairs in the attic the American JeTi duo were digging through the large piles of junk.

Surprisingly they were quiet as they sorted through the various boxes as they looked for the Christmas decorations.

"Aish where did Tae-Tae put the decorations?" 

Tiffany's face was bright with sweat, despite the coldness of the attic.

Jessica was several feet away in another corner looking for the familiar box labeled "Christmas"

"When was the last time you organized this place Tiff?"

The eye-smiling princess pushed aside a box full of Halloween costumes and grunted.

"Not since last year... Geez, where did that box go???"

Jessica giggled softly at her best friend.

She put aside a small shoe box labeled "Photos" and uncovered another box.

The ice-princess gasped slightly.

"Omo~ Tiffany come look at what I found!!!"

Tiffany hurried over, tripping over some of the other boxes.

"Ouch... Did you find the decorations???"

Jessica shook her head but smiled and pointed at the box she had found.

Tiffany was speechless as she saw what Jessica was pointing at.

"Omo..."

~~~~~~~

Sunny had finally gotten the Blu-ray machine to work and now the danshin duo sat on the couch.

"So where is Amber?" asked Taeyeon as she lazily stretched.

Sunny pouted as she put her phone away, without messages from her fiance.

"She's spending Christmas with her family this year. But she promised to be back for New Year's."

Taeyeon nodded.

"I see... you must miss her huh?"

Sunny nodded as she played with the engagement ring on her finger.

"Hey what's with the long face guys?" asked Sooyoung who happily bounced into the living room.

She set down a tray full of brilliantly decorated cookies.

"Where's my Sicachu?"

Taeyeon grabbed a cookie and munched it delicously as Seohyun and Hyoyeon walked in with hot chocolate.

"Sica's upstairs with Fany, looking for the Christmas decorations," added Sunny nonchalantly as she took a mug from Hyoyeon.

Seohyun settled onto the smaller couch and Hyoyeon cuddled next to the maknae, wrapping her arms around the girl.

"Unnieeee..." whined Seohyun as she blushed, "everyone is looking."

Hyoyeon didn't seem to mind and ate a cookie.

"They went upstairs for the decorations? But I brought them down weeks ago," said Sooyoung as she slumped onto the ground.

Suddenly the girls in the living room heard excited footsteps and were soon greeted with the panting JeTi duo.

"Girls look at what we found!" 

Tiffany was smiling brightly as she held a box filled with video tapes and various other trinkets.

Jessica was smiling as well as she held a stack of photos in her hands.

Taeyeon looked at her wife curiously.

"Fany honey what are those?"

Jessica and Tiffany looked at each other and smiled.

"We found YoonYul's stuff~!"

The room filled with a silence.

Sooyoung bit her bottom lip to hold back her tears.

Seohyun let a single tear shed as Hyoyeon hugged her tightly.

Sunny smiled bitterly at the box as she gripped the heavy locket she wore.

Taeyeon took a deep breath and looked up towards her fireplace.

Above it was a large picture of nine beautiful young women smiling happily at the camera.

It was taken just a year ago but much had changed since then...

Taeyeon's eyes flew to the center of the photograph.

A doe-eyed woman smiled open-mouthedly as a tanner woman gripped her hand tightly.

Instead of looking at the camera lens, the two were looking at each other, their eyes filled with love.

Tiffany walked over to her wife and placed a comforting hand on Taeyeon's shoulder.

The older girl looked up as her wife gave her a reassurring eye-smile.

Jessica sat next to Sooyoung and showed the girls the first picture.

It was a picture of the six-year-old Yoona and seven-year-old Yuri at Yuri's birthday party.

Yoona had icing all over her face as Yuri kissed the doe-eyed girl on the cheek.

Both of them were blushing.

"Aigo! Our Kkab was a cheesball even back then!" commented Hyoyeon.

The girls all smiled.

Jessica showed them the next picture.

"Let's take a trip down memory lane shall we?"

~~~~~~~~~~~

Yoona happily ran outside.

Little Seohyun was struggling to keep up with her.

"Wait Unnie~! Wait for me!"

The deer turned around to see her younger sister struggling to put on her sneakers.

"Aish~ come on Seo! The day isn't getting any younger!"

Seohyun finally got her shoes on and ran to join her older sister.

Yoona took her younger sister's hand and they began to run together.

But before they could take off, their mother shouted from the doorway.

"YOONG DID YOU TAKE YOUR MEDICINE???"

Yoona looked back at her mother and rolled her eyes.

"Nae Umma!"

The mother of two looked at her daughters worriedly as they ran towards the park.

"Seohyun-ah! Make sure you take care of your unnie!"

"I will Umma!!!!"

"BE BACK FOR LUNCH GIRLS!!!"

"NAEEE UMMAAAA~!"

As the two girls ran towards the playground, Yoona pouted.

She hated how her mother always worried about her.

She hated when her sister had to take care of her when she was the older one.

She hated that she was sick and weak.

But most of all she hated that everyone treated her different.

"YOONG!"

Well almost everyone...

Yuri yelled happily at her best friend when she spotted the deer.

The black pearl ran over and tackled Yoona to the ground.

They rolled down the grassy green hill giggling and tickling each other.

"Kekekekeke~ kyaaaaaah! YULLLLL~ STOOOOOOP!!!!"

Yuri continued to tickle her buddy.

"Nuh uh! I'm not going to stop until you say the magic words~!"

"Kekeke~ I... kekeke~ Love... YOU! Kekekeke~ I LOVE YOU!"

The older of the two finally stopped her tickling and Yoona finally stopped laughing.

Yuri helped Yoona up and she embraced her dongsaeng, resting her ear on the deer's chest to listen to Yoona's heart.

"How is my dear precious heart today?" cooed Yuri, making Yoona turn a dark shade of red.

"Stop Yul~! That's embarassing!"

The black pearl pouted.

"I just want to make sure my love is all right!!!!"

The deer rolled her eyes at her dorky best friend.

"I'm fine Yul! Let's go play now!"

Yoona grabbed Yuri's hand and they ran towards the other girls.

Yuri could only smile goofily as she let her friend drag her away.

"YAH! What took you guys so long?!" whined the shortest but the oldest of the bunch.

"Merong~ sorry cousin Tae, Yuri was being a distraction~" 

Taeyeon clenched her little hands into fists.

"Why you little... what are you doing with my cousin you kkab?!?!"

Before little Taeyeon could jump on the black pearl, her younger cousin held her back.

"Chill it Tae, they were just having fun," said Hyoyeon rolling her eyes.

Seohyun was standing next to Hyoyeon, clutching her Keroro plushy.

"Hyoyeon-unnie... Taeyeon-unnie... stop fighting~!"

Tiffany also bounded into the scene with Sunny trailing closely behind her.

"Yahhh~ what are you guys arguing about? Let's go play!!!"

"Come on!" yelled Yoona.

The deer start to run over to the play ground where Sooyoung and Jessica were playing.

"The last one there is a rotten egg!!!" yelled Yuri.

The black pearl grabbed the deer's hand and they began to run together.

Sunny and Tiffany squealed in delight as they also began to run.

Hyoyeon quickly grabbed Seohyun's hand and they made their way together as well.

Poor Taeyeon was left alone.

"YAHHHHHH WAIT FOR MEEEE~!!!"

Yoona giggled at her cousin but smiled brightly as she saw the look of content on Yuri's face.

It seemed just like yesterday that the two had become friends.

~~~~~

Yoona's body had always been sickly.

She had a weak heart since birth, which led her parents to always keep her indoors.

The little girl however was always filled with energy.

Her little body longed to play underneath the warmth of the sun and stretch her limbs.

Yet her mother insisted on her playing with only her younger sister.

The other children in the neighborhood avoided playing with Yoona.

Since Mrs. Im had warned the other parents of her daughter's weak condition.

But one day Yoona had enough.

She was tired of playing house with her dolls and watching Keroro with Seohyun.

While her mother was making lunch and Seohyun was watching TV, she snuck outside to the backyard.

The deer giggled excitedly, finally released from her prison... *ahem* home.

She first ran around the back yard fascinated by the trees and flowers.

After finally calming down and tired from her running, she took a look at on of the large oak trees.

Her next goal: climb the tree.

Although it was her first time climbing, Yoona grasped the concept of it quickly and was soon at the top branch.

"HEY!"

The deer almost fell out of the tree at the sound of the cheery voice.

"Omo!" she cried as she held on for dear life.

"Oh! Mianhe chingu, I didn't mean to scare you~!"

The strange girl leapt over skillfully to the tree Yoona was in and helped the her up into a more stable position.

"It's just I've never seen you before and Umma told me the little girl here was too sick to play..."

Yoona frowned.

"That little girl is me. My umma won't let me play outside because I have a bad heart."

The other little girl frowned as well.

"You don't look very sick."

Yoona turned bright red as the girl suddenly leaned into place her ear right at the deer's chest.

"W-What are you doing?"

"Shhhh~ I'm listening to your heart to see if it is bad or not."

The two became very quiet for next few minutes.

"Hmmmm... I don't hear anything wrong with your heart. It is just like mine!"

"Really?" asked Yoona puzzled. "I am not sick?"

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