The first Christmas, the gifts were mostly generic.

They all celebrate, of course, after the last shoot of the year. They were strangers who just happened to spend a day or two together every two weeks. By the time Christmas came around, they’ve only known each other for six months and that isn’t nearly enough time to get someone a present that isn’t a gift certificate.

She knows her place, and he knows his.

They sit together, yet apart and he watches as she opens her gifts. He notices the slight pause as she opens his gift to her and wonders if she was displeased with his gift. He had noticed the more feminine gifts the younger boys have gifted their noona, but they weren’t close enough for him to buy her say, perfume or anything.

It wasn’t until he opened his gift from her before he understood her slight pause. He turned to her and smiled, dimples showing.

“We match, don’t we?”

She giggles, and that was it.

Their first Christmas together wasn’t really spent together per say. In fact, he only saw her twice that December and it was for work both times. It didn’t really matter, he supposes, for Christmas is really a time for family and they weren’t close enough to be that. He had gotten her a gift card to a mall and she had, in a strange paradox, gifted him with another gift card to the very same mall.

He only read the accompanying card that evening. It didn’t really say much; in fact, it was downright generic, the awful cheesy Christmas greetings and her commending his effort in the show in her messy scrawl. One look at it and he could tell that she spent all of five minutes writing it in her usual harebrained manner. But he cherished the gift anyway and spent it on new shoes that he proudly sported to the next shoot they had together.

She read the card that accompanied his gift too. It didn’t say much either, but it was more that the half-hearted effort she had put in on her. It wasn’t long, but it was exactly what she needed, and she wonders if she had underestimated the man and his ability to see through her.

You fit in just fine.

What escapes her notice though, and probably his as well, was the tiny bird embossed on the gift card. A bronzed figure with a red beak and feet perched on a slender branch with a blossoming pear.

They were more comfortable with each other by the next Christmas. Comfortable enough to have a group chat that was updated regularly and definitely close enough to have a Christmas party at Suk Jin’s.

She arrived bearing alcohol and gifts, bumping into him in the underground car park of Suk Jin’s apartment block. He offers to hold her overflowing bag of gifts and manages to hold onto them as well as his own until they entered the living room where he promptly set down the bags and asked her if she had brought the whole liquor store with her.

They were more relaxed this Christmas, and by a twist of fate, they were once again seated beside each other. It could be the fact that they have done this before or that they were simply more at ease with each other. But when they gathered this time, it felt almost like family.

She thinks it’s harder to buy gifts for people whom you’re close to. It was exceptionally difficult to find him gifts and in the end, she settled for a pair of cufflinks for him after seeing him in his tuxedo earlier i