Donghae's P.O.V.

Now that they all set in the living room, Donghae couldn't help but to adore Hyukjae. The man was so kind while talking to the children and he attracted the brunets attention to no end. In fact the way the blonde was listening to everyone and smiling this beautiful gummy smile from time to time, made it rather hard not to watch his every move.

He couldn't understand how fate worked sometimes but today it seemed to have mercy on him after the twins had been gone, he found them again and met Hyuk.

If only every single day could make him at least a little bit as happy as he was now, he would die as a lucky man someday without regrets. Not after meeting the perfect guy or at least he the other seemed to be beyond perfect to him.

His blonde hair was just long enough to cover a part of his eyes when he leaned forward and made it rather difficult to read any expressions in the others face, but at the same time it was interesting to never really know what Hyukjae was thinking while he was looking down. His sharp jawline was pretty attractive for a man like him and his eyes also made it difficult not to be attached to the other. His body was rather thin but you could see the muscles underneath his shirt and besides thin didn't mean weak. Donghae bet that the blonde was pretty popular with the girls concerning all these facts.

But what actually made his resolve slipping to not get too attracted was Hyukjae's character.

The man was kind and gentle in his way of acting. Of course he seemed to be strong willed and able to defend himself too, but it was always the soft shine in these dark chocolate brown eyes that made it impossible to resist. And Hae believed that the other was a good person with all of his heart. There wasn't another option for him.

Smiling to himself the brunet got up and walked back into the kitchen to make the hot chocolate he had promised. Of course he didn't miss the suspicious looks his Hyungs send him while he walked away but he dicided to ignore them. He was happy how everything had turned out and it should be the most important to them. Sure, Heechul was really overprotective which got caused by the past of his Dongsaeng and the way he tended to be too kind with everyone so he left the elder no choice but to scare everyone away in his own weird ways. Sungmin as his best friend wasn't less of a threat, because that harmless looking boy knew indeed how to fight and defend himself, but he accepted the fact that Donghae had grown up more than the diva-like boy.

He had promised not to interfere in the brunets matters unless it got necessary and he was a man who stuck to his words. But anyways the youngster wouldn't want to miss any of his Hyungs.

Since the children had gotten their drinks long before Hyuk, Hae only had to make one cup of chocolate, he handed over to the blonde, before he told everyone to go to sleep.

It was only logical that they tried to protest, but Jinwook once again had nearly fallen asleep over his brother and even the eldest of them had to fight to stay awake. The day had been exhausting and the late hour wasn't helping much.

Luckily Heechul and Sungmin came to help him convince the stubborn, tired minds of the kids to give in and slowly everyone was moving upstairs to get into their rooms.

It helped to have the two of them over because if it came to handle the children his Hyungs were nearly as good as he was and so it only took them 15 minutes to settle things and listen to the steady breathing and silent snores in the hallway.

The last ones to be send off to sleep as always were the twins, but Donghae had other plans and so did Heechul. Before the brunet had the chance to get to the boys the other was holding him back.

"So Hae... tell me since when do you offer strangers a hot chocolate? You know there are more pleasant ways to say thank you to a guy like that Hyukjae. Besides why didn't you at least make it a coffee?"

He had known all along that the elder would sooner or later. This time he was lucky that it was later and said blonde was still downstairs talking to Lissy and Charly.

"Hyung please, I am not in the mood for that so stop whatever you are thinking and say thanks to Hangeng Hyung if it makes you happy but spare me. Or at least stay serious and don't tire me more than I already am. I had enough for today."

It was obvious that the dark haired boy didn't like that cold side of his Dongsaeng but he accepted the fact that the other really looked tired and drained at some point.

"Fine. You want me to get serious then I will. You better watch it Hae or else you will get hurt again. We both know that this guy is exactly of your tastes and you easily fall for kind personalities, but let me tell you that I don't really trust him. And don't expect me to stay out of this matter, because it always is me and Sungmin and Hyung who have to built you up after you got let down again. We want you to finally be happy so do yourself a favor and for once listen to me, even tho it doesn't seem too wise in your opinion. But I know that love, if you give it too easily or you can't get rid of it, is painful and I want to spare you from this experience."

Quite surprised by the elders words, Donghae hugged Heechul and smiled at his cousin.

"Thank you Hyung, I know you are concerned but I don't think Hyuk would ever be able to hurt anyone. He is such a kind person, can't you see it? I promise I will be careful but please trust me a little with what I am doing too."

"I do trust you Donghae, I just don't trust him and his ability to keep you safe from harm. You don't even know him!"

"I know but I am sure of what I am doing so don't worry. Please excuse me now I still want to talk to the twins before they go to sleep."

While Heechul turned around to give a sign to Sungmin for them to leave, the brunet could have bet he heard his Hyung say something like "Don't say I didn't warm you" but he wasn't too sure about it and so he just went to go and see the twins.

When he entered their room they were already in bed , pretending to get ready to sleep and behave but he knew better than to believe their act.

"Wookie, Jaejae ... I know you are not up for sleeping just now and don't think I will let you pass that easily. We need to talk."

"But appa look we already got everything ready and you don't even have to tug us in. We did it ourselves so you can leave and talk to Sungmin and Heechul Hyung if you want" Jinwook said with a small smile on his face, faking some sort of carefree behavior.

"Yes Hyung, Wookie is right we were about to go to sleep now. Don't worry about us we will get along just fine. You know we..."

Jaemin stopped talking when he saw Donghae's serious expression and got up, his head hanging low, dragging his brother along with him. The brunet was waiting at the door frame for them to walk pass him. He watched their every move with the eyes of a man that had been through a lot this day and who also had to do something he didn't want to do, but still had to stand on his two feet to get himself clear to the boys.

Turning around the twins looked at him quite hurt and depressed, because they knew they wouldn't get away too easily today and it hurt the brunet more than them.

He didn't want them to send him glances like this. He wanted them to smile, to tell him how much they loved life and that they loved him like they always did. Because that was what he felt for them.

When they reached the one place where they were always talking, he took the blanket from his shoulders and put it around the twins to keep them warm.

They were looking up at him like they were waiting for him to let them sit in his lap like always but this time he didn't.

"Sit down" he simply ordered and saw how their bodies started shaking at his harsh tone.

Once they sat in the old chair, Hae walked up to them, standing right in front of the boys, that had become really silent and didn't dare to look up at their Hyung since they left the room to come up to the rooftop.

"What could you have possibly been thinking today?! Don't you know how worried we were? Not to mention what would have happened, if not for Hyukjae finding you! It was irresponsible of you two and I hope you know that."

"Yes. But we just wanted to get a Christmas tree so Santa would still bring us at least a small present. Didn't you say talk to Sungmin Hyung who said that Christmas without a tree isn't Christmas at all?" Jaemin answered.

"Silence!" Donghae said even louder and the two boys flinched visibly.

Sighing the brunet got on his knees and looked into the twins eyes.

"Look, I know that this year isn't how I wished that Christmas would come to all of us, but no matter if there is a tree standing in the living room or not, firstly Christmas is in our hearts. It reflects the love we give and receive in return and no tree in the world could ever mean to me what you guys do. You are the most important in my life, you are my family. And as a family all that matters is that we have each other do you understand that? Don't go out and risk to get hurt or even die in the middle of a snowstorm only because of a thing that might be a sign for Christmas but doesn't reflect it. Because I wouldn't know what to do without you now that I have you two in my life and your sister and all the others. I don't want to lose the ones I love again, because I said something stupid, neh?"

Crying, Jinwook and Jaemin hugged the elder and tried to say some coherent words but all they could do was sobbing even harder. Donghae lifted them up from the ground and sat down into the chair with them like he always did. The snowstorm was long gone and only some small snowflakes made their way down to the earth.

It reminded him of the way his father always used to look up at the stars with him at night and told him stories or just laid there, talking about their day.

And he decided to share it with the twins after they had calmed down a bit.

"You know when I was your age, my dad and I always used to walk up a small hill near our house and we laid down into the grass and watched the night sky."

"Just like we do now?"

"Yes just like we do now Wookie. We looked at the stars and he told me stories."

"Like what?"

"Like one day when we think everything is lost, a star that is only shining for us will find us someone to stand by our sides someday and keep us save. It doesn't matter who it is as long as our heart will know and lead our ways. He always said that love is what is keeping us strong and that a honest heart is the key to become a wise person in life, because it would never lie to us."

"So have you found your someone yet Hyung?"

Being a bit taken aback, the brunet thought about it and as always the last few hours, reflections of Hyukjae crossed his mind. Hae smiled and answered:

"Maybe I have Jaejae, but who knows if our heart isn't wrong sometimes."

Lost in his thoughts the three of them sat there and talked for a little while longer until the boys fell asleep in his arms. Donghae lifted them up and carried them downstairs to put them under the warm covers of their beds. They mumbled something but just grabbed their stuffed animals to cuddle with and sighed satisfied. The serious and sad expressions were replaced by peaceful, small smiles.

He had known that he could only lift the pressure they had put on themselves with scolding them in the right way to built them up again.

Closing the door behind him, Donghae walked down the stairs to meet his Hyungs in the hallway, saying their good-byes.

"You are already leaving?" he asked rather surprised.

"Yeah I still wanted to have a drink with Hangeng, since I called him out in the middle of the night and so I wanted to thank him and our bunny boy here is tired."

"Yah don't call me like this!" Sungmin said annoyed.

But the diva just shrugged and winked at the brunet as a good- bye, before he walked out of the house dialing Hangeng's number on the way. This man sure had a huge ego.

Being left alone Hae smiled at his blonde friend, who decided to follow after the other and waited til he couldn't see them anymore. After that he walked back into the living room, only to find Hyukjae staring at the fire in deep thoughts. The warm light of it made the blonde of the others hair shine in a more or less red color and shadows were dancing all over his face, that looked rather tired. So the brunet decided to offer the other to take him home.

“Do you want me to walk you home?”

Hearing his voice, Hyukjae turned around and flashed him one of these stunning gummy smiles.

“Sure” was the simple answer Donghae got, before the blonde walked out of the room to say good-bye to the elder women in the kitchen and waited for him to get ready.

And eventually the youngster took more time than necessary to put on his coat only to spend some more minutes with the man he had got to know today.

Outside it had gotten rather cold to a point they could see their breath. The two boys walked in silence for a while and just enjoyed the fact that the weather had gotten better again.

It was a starlight night and only a few snowflakes were falling down. Somehow Hae got reminded of some old movies where the two lovers went for a walk in the first snow, just the two of them with no one around to disturb their happiness. And the brunet was indeed happy. But still he felt the need to break the silence to apologize to Hyuk for the children's behavior earlier, he just didn't know how to start so he tried doing some small talk first.

“The stars are rather beautiful tonight now aren't they?” he said after he saw that the blonde was also adoring the view they got.

“Yes. I used to send my prayers to them when I was younger. It always helped me to calm down” the other answered with a soft smile.

Donghae just nodded and looked down again, slightly blushing. He would have never thought that there were people who had done the same as him and weren't feeling weird to talk about it.

He really was falling for that stranger more and more without realizing it. The way his whole being got consumed by the other was rather pleasant and so he ignored all the worries Heechul have had a little while ago.

What was wrong with taking a risk or two if he would get this warm feeling in his chest all day long.

Feeling a lot more comfortable with this thought, the brunet lost his hesitance and started talking freely.

“Look I wanted to apologize for the kids earlier. I know you must have been tired and then they all kept you busy. But you know someone new is always exciting for them and they love making new friends. I hope you don't mind.”

“Haha why should I ? It made me happy to see them laugh and smile that much. Not every kid does have the opportunity to do so and they can be happy to have found a home like yours. And what is a small amount of tiredness compared to see the joy in their eyes? At least they know how to treasure the small things we sometimes forget in our daily lives, right?”

Donghae was really surprised by the answer he got but smiled.

“Yes, that's right” he replied.

He thought of asking for the blondes number for a second, but then again he was too shy to be so straight forward. Instead another idea crossed his mind and he grabbed onto it.

“Say, may I ask you how you found the twins? And most of all what are you doing in San Leandro at this time of the year?”

“Well my taxi got a flat tyre while we were driving through the streets. And since we had to stop and wait for it to get fixed I heard some sobs coming from the other side of the street. So I got out to see what it was and then I found Wookie in front of the church. He was crying and it took me some time to make him trust me. But then he told me what he and Jaemin wanted to do and since I know what it means to be alone I wanted to help him. I asked the driver to deliver my luggage to the address I am going to stay at and then went to look for Jae. Of course it wasn't all that easy, because I just arrived in America and I didn't know anything about the area. But after I looked it up with Google we found him and then I went back to the church to ask them where to go next and that's when you found us.

I came here to study and since my dad happened to have some money and connections I was able to transfer in the middle of the semester without having any troubles. Besides, my best friend is a student at the same college and our parents are long term friends so I will be staying with his family.

I always wanted to come here someday and now that I did I am really happy about it.”

Donghae had watched the other while he was talking and actually Hyuk didn't show any expression of being happy. In fact it was as if he was saying the opposite of his true feelings.

“You know you don't look too happy right now.”

By the time the brunet had said this they stopped in front of a huge and beautiful house, which was obviously the house of his friend. And Hyukjae tried to answer respond something to Hae, but suddenly the door got opened and a younger looking brunet boy came stomping out. His whole aura was screaming of arrogance.

“You are late Hyuk. And on top of that you let me pay your debts. The next time you are up for a long walk think of taking some extra money with you, stupid monkey. Did you know that I had to stop my game only because of that.”

“Yes it is nice to see you again too after more than three years, Kyu. But why did you have to pay more? The driver told me the money I gave him was more than enough.”

The brunet just huffed in annoyance and rolled his eyes.

“My mom forced me to give the poor man a reward for being kind enough to bring us your stuff while you obviously had better things to do.”

With that the Kyu guy was eyeing Donghae with suspicious glances, which made the brunet feeling quite uncomfortable. Nonetheless he bowed to the stranger in a good manner.

“Nice to meet you. I am Lee Donghae. I am sorry, but it is my fault that Hyukjae is late. Please for give him.” After that Hae turned to said blonde with a smile.

“Thank you for saving the twins today. I hope we will see each other again someday. Til then be safe and take care of yourself.”

“Donghae...” the other tried to protest, but the brunet had already turned around and walked away.

“Good-bye Hyukjae.”

With that he walked away, knowing he might never see the blonde with that gummy smile again. It made him sad to think about it that way, but it would be a miracle to meet each other again by circumstance.

When he got home, he sat on his bed and looked out of the window thinking that he was actually pretty lucky to have met Hyukjae at this time of the year but at the same time how unlucky he was considering the fact of never meeting again.

Only four days before Christmas.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hello everyone!!

I am finally back and I don't know what to say...101 Subscribers for All I Want for Christmas is... You?!

Thank you all soo much I can't say what it means to me!

I would have never thought to get that great amount of support... so I decided to write a new chapter even tho I am really busy lately to say thank you.

Lately my parents and i decided to take care of my grandpa's garden and house and if I am not studying I am there working to make it comfortable again^^

I can't wait to spend my summer there and get some new inspiration.

So see you at the next chapter and feel free to comment to tell me what you think ;)

Have a nice day!!

Yours Slade