”No ing way, I’m not spending the whole Christmas together with her, hyung, just bring her with you.” Niel was not going to spend the weekend with Eyoon, and that all alone. He’d been looking forward to some time alone. The rest of the members would head home to their own families in a few days, something that Niel himself would’ve done if it weren’t for the fact that his parents would celebrate Christmas at the countryside. Plus, he simply wanted the bothersome weekend to just pass by. The boy was actually not too fond of Christmas; he thought it was overrated.

“Sorry, I can’t do that. My parents would probably not like it very much if I bring a high school student with me. Why can’t you show her how Christmas is supposed to be celebrated? I don’t think Eyoon have experienced a real Christmas before.” Yoosung could unfortunately enough not bring the young girl with him. It would most definitely give his parents the wrong idea. Plus, this gave Niel and Eyoon the opportunity to bond. It was quite noticeable that the two weren’t working that well with one another. “But hyung, I hate Christmas and you know that.” Niel was not going to give in, Eyoon had to go.

“Then this is a great chance to start liking it. And it’s not like we’re leaving you two for several months, it’s just a couple of days.” The older of the two added. “Hyung, don’t do this.” Yoosung was deaf to Niel’s plead. It was already settled. The conversation ended like that. Niel would have to suffer for days and that only because of Eyoon.

The boy was angry and irritated the whole remaining day. When Eyoon returned home from school he wouldn’t even greet her. But for once she couldn’t care less. Niel was about the least of her problems at the moment. The bullying in school hadn’t died down yet, in fact, it’d only escalated.

Luckily enough had none of the boys noticed the new bruises, maybe it had something to do with that she’d hidden them. “Eyoon, come on, it’s time to decorate the tree.” Ricky hurried over as she slipped out of her shoes and jacket. Though, the girl tilted her head to the side, confused over why someone would want to decorate a tree. Was that normal for humans?

Nonetheless she trudged after the said boy. The tree that met her sight was already decorated with some sort of light. It was kind of fascinating. “Have you ever done this before?” Ricky asked after that they’d stepped up to the green tree. Eyoon shook her head in reply, never in her life had she done such a thing. “Oh, well, I’ll show you what to do.” he grinned, if there was someone who could make her feel at ease then it was definitely him. Ricky did always seem to be on a good mood. So, with that said they began to show her how to decorate, well, not everyone, Niel was not even present in the room.  

Eyoon did most of the time watch the boys decorate. But that was until she spotted an angel-like thing lying in the bottom of the box. Carefully she picked it up. Her eyes widened slightly at how beautiful it was. Though, it didn’t really seem to fit in with the rest of the stuff. Her index finger traced the lines and curves of the figure. “Yah let that be.” Niel’s sudden voice caused her to tighten the hold she had around the figure. “Hyung, I thought you didn’t like this.” true that, Niel didn’t like anything that had something to do with Christmas. The only reason to why he was standing there was because of Eyoon. He’d been keeping his eyes on her the whole time just in case she was up to something.

“I don’t, the only reason to why I’m here is because I don’t want you to cry your eyes out when Eyoon destroys your little angel.” The girl’s eyes flew open in disbelief; she was not going to destroy anything. Ricky changed his attention to Eyoon and he saw the angel in her hands, but instead of darting forward and snatching it away from her he only smiled, “I trust Eyoon, she’s not going to destroy it hyung.” Niel sighed, if the girl, despite Ricky’s insurance, would destroy the angel then all hell would break lose. Glad to have heard that Eyoon turned towards the older boy and stuck her tongue out at him, “I’m not going to let this break.” Niel narrowed his eyes; a bad feeling was lingering within him. Still, he was not going to deal with it if anything were to happen, so he slumped down in the couch.

“Hyung, help get this up instead of just sitting there.” the maknae nagged at him. Though, Niel was not going to move from his place. They knew that he hated Christmas more than anything else. “Nope, I’m fine. Get Eyoon to help out instead.” The said girl spun around to face Changjo. He was a bit unsure of what she could do to help out; most of the decoration had already been put into place. Well, with an exception of the angel. But that would be placed on top of the tree.

“I’ll help you put that into place soon.” Changjo knew that there was no chance in the world that Eyoon would be able to do it on her own. “Okay.” She could barely contain her excitement. “Why are you behaving like you’ve never decorated a tree before.” Niel scoffed, he couldn’t understand how someone could be so happy over such a small matter. Ricky shot his hyung a glare, “No need to be so rude.” It seemed like Niel’s little joke wasn’t that appreciated. Eyoon did no longer care about his mean words. She’d become deaf to them. “Niel, you can’t be like that when we leave.” C.A.P informed his dongsaeng. “Leave, why are you going to leave?” Eyoon did not like the sound of that. Sadness swept through her and she took a step backwards. If they were leaving then what was she supposed to do?

“No, no, we’re just leaving for a few days then we’re coming back. Niel’s going to be here all the time so you don’t need to be alone.” The girl didn’t know whether that made her relieved or not. Being alone with Niel wasn’t really something she was looking forward to be. “Oh, well, okay.” Eyoon was no sure of what to say. As much as she wished for the other boys to stay she couldn’t hinder them from leaving. Staring down at the white angel lying in her hands she bit down on her lower lip.

“Don’t worry, Niel’s going to take care of you and make this your best Christmas ever, right?” C.A.P gave his younger group member a hard stare. Niel knew exactly what it meant and if he didn’t do what the leader said then he was in for big trouble. “Yeh, it’s going to be so much fun.” He was being sarcastic, “Niel.” C.A.P knew that tone, “alright, alright.” the boy rolled his eyes and was just about o stand up and leave when Changjo suddenly asked for Eyoon to step up to the Christmas tree. He didn’t even know why he was being so concerned. Still, he stayed put and watched. Eyoon tried to reach so that she would be able to put the angel into place, but it was quite noticeable that she was too short, a thing that caused problems, “What am I supposed to do now?”

Believing that it was over Niel stood up, though, he came to an immediate stop when Changjo spoke, “I can lift you up, that way you can put it into place, okay?” Niel was not certain to why he was so bothered about that fact. Eyoon didn’t think much of it and agreed right away. “I’ll do it; you can go and pack the last of your stuff.” He had no clue of what he was doing. But he thought that it was better if he did it instead of Changjo. Ugh, if Niel didn’t know any better then he would almost think that he was jealous.

“Hyung, its alright.” the maknae reassured Niel that he would do it, he would help Eyoon. What Changjo didn’t expect though was the fact that his hyung would be persistent, “No really, I’ll do it.” the ongoing conversation between the two boys confused Eyoon. She wondered why they were making such a big deal out of it. The one thing that settled it was when Yoosung entered the apartment and told Changjo to finish his packing. The maknae was not happy as he headed to his bedroom, but it was not something he showed. “Niel, behave.” Yoosung gave the idol a warning before he, too, left the room.

Eyoon redirected her gaze towards Niel; the boy was giving off a vibe which she didn’t like. Gulping down on her saliva she tried to put the angel into place on her own. She didn’t really want to receive any help from Niel. “Didn’t I already tell you that I would help?” Eyoon’s body tensed upon hearing him speak. And to make it even worse did he take a few steps closer. “I can do it myself; I don’t need your help.” The singer let out a low chuckle as he watched her struggle. There was no way that she would succeed in getting the angel into place. “Really, I think you need all the help you can get.”

She ignored him and continued with what she was doing. That until Niel took a steady hold around her wrist and forced her to stop. Eyoon let out a whimper. The bruises on her wrists were still sore and with him holding onto her it didn’t really ease the throbbing pain. “I already know that you’re still getting bullied.” There was no reason for him to lie about it. He’d already noticed how she was covering her arms and body with clothes. The girl tried her best to look dumbfound, as if she had no clue of what he was talking about. “Can we just get this over with.” Eyoon changed the topic; she was not too keen about the whole bullying ordeal. To talk about it was not something she wanted to do. “The boys, kick them between the legs if they try anything.” To Eyoon that sounded weird, but then again, she couldn’t contain her laughter. “Yeh, yeh, I’ll do that. Can we please put the angel on the tree now?”