Lia woke up on Christmas morning. She smiled and ran out of her room to Ji Yong’s room. She jumped on his bed, waking him up. “Merry Christmas!” she said.

He chuckled. “Merry Christmas, Lia. You’re up early.” He sat up and Lia got in under his blanket, snuggling close to him.

She shyly gave him his present. “Here,” she said, kissing his cheeks.

He accepted it, kissing her back. He opened the present and took out a photo frame. It was divided into four sections. The first section, on the top left side, had two slots. There, Lia put their individual pictures in the slots. A picture of the two of them smiling at the camera with Lia on his lap and his arms around her waist was on the second section, below the first one.

The third section, on the top right corner, was a picture of Big Bang and Lia posing for a group shot in the living room. Lia was seated in between of TOP (who was on her left) and Ji Yong (on her right) on the couch. Her arms were linked with them. Both boys were facing her, kissing her on each side of the cheeks. Tae Yang was sitting on the floor in front of her, one knee up with his arm hanging loosely. The other leg was just lying on the floor. Standing up behind the couch was Seung Ri and Dae Sung, backs against each other’s.

It was a good picture.

The last section was just blanked. Ji Yong turned to Lia for answers.

“The individual one was of when we have not met each other,” she explained. “The one below was when we were already together. The third, as you can see, is of us with the others. And then the blank one is going to be a picture of you and me, in the future.”

He smiled, liking the way she said ‘you and me, in the future’. He was thinking of spending his future with her too. “I love it,” he told her sincerely. He hugged her, kissing her deeply. “I have a present for you too.” He handed her a box. “But it’s smaller than your present for me, though.”

“Whatever it is, I’m sure I’ll love it,” she said optimistically. She took the present out of the box. It was a black notebook with white abstract designs on it on the front cover. There was a small lock on it. But taped gently to the book was an elegant golden heart locket. Inside were two pictures of them. One was just an ordinary picture of them smiling at the camera. The other was a picture of their backs to the camera, at the beach, in the sunset. Ji Yong had his arms around her.

“Do you like it?” he asked her worriedly.

“I love it!” she said. “Can you help me put it on?”

He helped her clasped the necklace behind her neck. Then he leaned down and kissed her softly on the shoulder. She shivered, a tingling feeling being sent down her spine. She turned to face him and they kissed.

Eventually Lia left to give presents to the other members. She ran to Seung Ri and TOP’s room. She jumped on her brother. “Wake up!” Then she ran to Seung Ri’s bed. He sat up, rubbing his eyes.

“Morning,” he said as she came to him. He moved his blanket and patted on the empty space next to him. She sat there and he threw the blanket over their legs. “Merry Christmas.”

She gave him his present, which was a T-shirt with the slogan ‘Treat Me Nice Cos I’m The Cute Maknae’.

He took his current shirt off. Lia eyed his six packs appreciatively as he put the shirt on. It fitted perfectly. He smiled at her. “Thank you,” he said, handling her present to her.

Lia took out a blue denim headband with diamond studs and a blue ribbon on it. She put it on, making a peace sign.

He laughed, thinking how cute she looked when she pulled that face. “You like it?”

She nodded as she leaned forward to kiss him lightly on the cheeks. “Thank you.”

TOP was already up, watching them. “Hey, when’s my turn?” he joked.

Lia got off Seung Ri’s bed and jumped on her brother’s lap. “Hi.”

“Oof,” he grumbled.

She gave him a box. He opened it and gasped. It was black leather jacket, to replace his old worn-out one. “Mei, it must have cost a lot!” he exclaimed. “Thank you!”

She shrugged, smiling. “Ah, it was worth it,” she replied, waving a hand. “You’re my brother and I want to get the best for you.”

After staying inside to chat with them she decided it was time to give Tae Yang and Dae Sung their present. She ran to their room to find them already awake and making their beds. She handed each a present to them. “I got it for you.”

They gave her their presents to her too and they all opened it at the same time.

Dae Sung got her the complete seasons of her favorite Japanese anime: Vampire Knights. Tae Yang got her a cute teddy bear who she named Bae Bae after him. Lia gave Dae Sung a video game he had always wanted and got Tae Yang a white-and-black checkered beanie.

Afterwards they all gathered out of a hearty breakfast. Lia felt the same feeling she had the morning before so she didn’t eat much.

In the middle of their breakfast, Ji Yong’s phone went off.

He answered it. “Oh! Ah, okay.” He hung up and turned to the others. “Yah,” he said, getting their attention. “President wants all of us — including Lia — at YG right now.”

“Why?” Dae Sung asked.

He shrugged, not knowing what to say. “Apparently we have a concert coming up so he needs us to go over so he could tell us.”

“A concert?” Lia’s eyes lit up. “Oh, wow, that’s cool! Why are you guys still here? You have to go!”

“You’re coming too, remember?” Seung Ri reminded her.

She hesitated. “Should I come? I mean, I don’t really belong so I might be . . .”

“President did say to bring you along,” Ji Yong replied. “Come, it’ll be fun.” He grinned. “It’s always fun whenever the five of us are around, right?”

She rolled her eyes. “Self-conceited,” she remarked.

“He didn’t want Lia to spend Christmas herself, did he?” TOP asked Ji Yong who nodded. “That’s why he asked you to bring Lia along as well.”

“Less talk, more action,” Tae Yang said as he got up to get ready.

They all cleaned up and got dressed before heading off to the building, wondering why the President would call them back there on Christmas Day. Once they arrived, they went to the practice room.

When Lia entered, she was surprised to see the entire room decorated in Christmas theme. Hanging from the ceiling was a big banner that read ‘MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!’

“Merry Christmas, Lia!” everyone cried, throwing streamers around.

She gasped. “What?” she said, feeling shocked. She realized that the YG Family had thrown a party for her.

The President came to her. “This is like a Welcome to YG Family party just for you,” he explained. “Normally we hold a party for our new trainees but you are an exception. We all like you and we all would like you to keep coming to visit.”

Lia was so shocked she didn’t know what to say. She was rendered speechless. She couldn’t open .

“In fact,” her brother went, beaming at his sister’s reaction, “we all even got a present for you. Right, guys?”

“RIGHT!”

Se7en came inside, holding something in his arms. It was wrapped around a towel. “Lia, here is your present,” he said, walking toward her slowly.

Lia heard a whimper coming from in the towel and a head popped up from the towels. It was the German shepherd puppy she saw the other day at the pet shop. Her eyes filled with tears as Se7en handed him to her. “Omo, I can’t believe you guys would go through so much trouble just for me!” she said, still not believing her good luck.

Dara from 2NE1 giggled. “You’re part of our family now,” she told her. “What do you expect?”

“We all chipped in to adopt him for you,” Se7en was telling her. “It was after Ji Yong told us that you love the puppy.”

“Let him run around the place,” CL, 2NE1’s lead singer, suggested.

Lia put him down and everyone laughed as they watched the little puppy run around like crazy, slipping past their legs. She went to hug each and every one of them. “Thank you!” she exclaimed, really happy.

The puppy came back to her and jumped on her legs. She giggled, kneeling down as he her face.

Ji Yong squatted down next to her. “Guess what?” he said.

“What?”

“His name is King,” he told her. “Because I have a feeling everyone is going to be spoiling him like a king!”

Everyone roared with laughter as they all realized that what Ji Yong said is true. They will spoil little King like mad as though he was a king to be treated royally.

Lia smiled, shaking her head. She cuddled with King for awhile before she let him run around again so that everyone can start the party and start enjoying.

Lia smiled, feeling right at home. She knew she made the right choice. And the fact that everyone in the YG Family accepted her even though she wasn’t a trainee but just merely TOP’s little sister? She couldn’t have asked for more.

Life was definitely good.

Later in the night, Ji Yong was sitting out in his rooftop when Lia went out to his window. She smiled when she saw that he was alone. She climbed out to sit next to him. “Hey,” she said.

He looked back and smiled widely when he saw her. “Hey back,” he replied as she climbed onto his lap. He wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder, pressing his face to her cheek.

“King is getting spoilt by the others,” she told him. She leaned back and she could feel his chest moving up and down as he laughed.

“I told you he’d be spoilt,” he replied. “I’m glad King gets along well with Boss, Charlie and Gaho — especially with Gaho. We don’t want them fighting, now, do we?”

She shook her head. “Nope. So why are you out here alone?”

“Honestly? I was hoping that you’d come here alone so I can spend some time with you. I didn’t get to spend much time with you today at the party.” He frowned, remembering how he tried to get them alone together but everyone seemed to drag Lia away: his friends, the staff, the President, 2NE1 and even Se7en. Oh, and not to mention King.

She smiled as she turned to face him to kiss him. “We’re alone now,” she whispered.

He nodded and kissed her back. “Merry Christmas, Lia.”

“Merry Christmas, Ji Yong.”

He smiled and Lia felt her heart skipping a beat. The way he looked at her made her feel so special. He kissed the tip of her nose.

“I love you.”