Cha Hakyeon, a newly empolyed singer and songwriter, walked out to his mail box. Since it was a week before Christmas, he knew for certain what was waiting for him..

An invite to his family's Christmas party...

To Hakyeon's slight displeasure, he couldn't have been more right. The invite was in a pastel green envelope. Hakyeon decided not to open since he already knew what was inside. 

He then walked back up the stairs to his shared apartment with his work partner, Lee Hongbin..

"Did anything come for me?" Hongbin called from the kitchen as he prepared his third batch of Christmas cookies. Hakyeon flipped through the envelopes and set down the ones with Hongbin's name on them on the kitchen table. 

"Thanks" Hongbin said, flashing his award-winning smile

"You're welcome.. Am I seriously not allowed a single cookie?" Hakyeon groaned, remembering that Hongbin said the cookies were strictly for his family. 

"Yes. They're for my family. And I need to get them done because I'm leaving tonight. Whatever ones they don't finish, you and I can have" Hongbin explained. Hakyeon nodded and set down the rest of the mail on the table, already feeling tired. "Why can't I be more like you?" Hakyeon asked, not even looking at Hongbin

"What do you mean by that?" Hongbin asked

"You're so... set on making your family happy, while my family is doing just fine without me" Hakyeon said sadly

"You never know. They could be missing you like crazy" Hongbin said as he glanced at the time for the cookies. 

That's when Hakyeon stood up. "You're right.." 

"I know.." Hongbin shrugged. 

"I'm going to this year's party" Hakyeon said proudly. "Really??" Hongbin awed. This was the first year in Hakyeon and Hongbin's friendship that Hakyeon was actually attending a Christmas party

But more importantly.. A family gathering

"But.. I haven't bought any presents.. Besides yours.." Hakyeon's righteous moment was short-lived when he realized he didn't buy any gifts

"Well you can't go empty handed! Let's go and shop!" Hongbin said and walked over to the door to slip on his shoes. "No, you stay here. You've got cookies to bake right now. I'll be back sooner than you think anyway.. My family is easy to shop for" Hakyeon giggled and walked out without another word.

"Sooooo.... What do they want this year?" Hakyeon asked, realizing he had no idea. 

---- 

After a grueling three hours at the mall, buying gifts for his family members, he decided it was time to give it a rest and try tomorrow. "Oh god, I hope my mom will like this" he sighed into on of the gift bags. 

Hakyeon walked into the empty elevator with his bags and clicked the lowest level where his car was parked. 

As much as Hakyeon thought that this decision to go was a mistake, he actually felt excited to do something with his Christmas besides eat turkey sandwiches with Hongbin and Jaehwan because they can't afford an actual turkey. 

Hakyeon smiled to himself as he felt the elevator go down..

But then... The elevator jerked, the lights flickered, and it stopped. The elevator stopped on floor three.

"What the heck?" he said and clicked the 'open door' button. 

But the doors didn't open. The elevator was broken. Hakyeon started to panic and pressed the red button, not knowing what else to do. 

"HELP!" he let out a yell. The lights went red, and Hakyeon knew the mall security realized there was a problem with the elevator, and they'd be there soon. Hakyeon let out a sigh and sat down on the ground. He took out his phone and called Hongbin..

"Hello?" he heard Hongbin's voice

"You won't believe where I'm stuck right now..." Hakyeon said, almost out of breath..

"... In traffic?" Hongbin asked. 

"No... In an elevator" Hakyeon sighed. Hongbin's eyes widened. "The elevator is stuck?? Should I call the police?" Hongbin asked, sounding a little panicked. 

"I think I already got their attention.. But would you? Just in case?" Hakyeon asked as he felt a lump in his throat

"Of course. Hold on, hyung. We'll fix this" Hongbin said and without another word, hung up to call for help

Hakyeon felt a small tear fall from his eye. 

Soon, an hour passed, then another..

Then three hours

Four

After four and a half hours, Hakyeon was crying and starving. He finally used the last of his strength to record a voice message on his phone. He pressed the record button and cleared his throat. 

"If help doesn't arrive in time. I just wanna record this for my parents and I hope they find it. I'm so so so so sorry I never came to our family gatherings. I have been such a scrooge. I just thought that you'd be fine without me, but I'm not really sure at all about how you feel when I don't show up. I was going to come this year. I even bought presents. I knew Christmas was a family time of year, but I never took it seriously. I now know why I've been so unhappy during Christmas. It's because I pushed my family away" Hakyeon left his message on his phone, choking back more tears

"I just wanna say now that I love my family so much and I'm so... so.. so sorry.. And I also love my friends.. Hongbin, Wonshik. Sanghyuk, Jaehwan, even Taekwoon.. I love all of you so much. Please forgive me, and Merry Christmas" 

Hakyeon couldn't continue on. He turned off the record button, tossed his phone across the small elevator, and sobbed

After another hour, Hakyeon was ready to fall asleep when there was a loud BANG on top of the elevator and he heard a very faint voice

"Cha Hakyeon" an unfamiliar voice called his name. "YES!?!" he screamed, so happy to hear another voice. "Stand back" the male voice ordered. Hakyeon obeyed and grabbed his bags and backed into a corner. 

 

After being pulled out of the elevator and onto the third floor again, there waiting for him, was his mom, dad, and siblings. Hakyeon's mother sobbed as she pulled her son into an embrace. Standing behind them was Hongbin and Taekwoon

"You called them too?" Hakyeon said as his mother squeezed him. "I figured why not.. They'll hear about it anyway" Hongbin shrugged while Taekwoon let a little smile. 

"We're happy to see that you're alright" Taekwoon said

Hakyeon nodded and hugged his mother back as tightly as he could, finally letting all the tears fall

 

so this one shot is for a friend of mine on twitter and I hope she likes it! :D Merry Christmas love~