Written by: "jotdot"

Pairing: Woogyu

Prompt: "Sunggyu doesn't believe in Santa anymore, but this year it's going to change."

(Words: 7,916)

Part I: The boy who never believes

Sunggyu groaned when once again the console displayed fatal error message and his code was unable to run. How many times it turned to be like this? He lost track of it already but he can simply put it into words that he had been working on this small bug to fix their company’s integrated web based application starting the end of lunch hour yesterday, skipped the sleep for the entire night and up until now, two minutes before the clock strike two in the evening. Twenty four hours, plus minus and apparently, that alone chased all the sane he had in mind.

Sunggyu was part of the IT specialist team of the company with a total of three members in their branch but one took off early for Christmas because he promised his wife a honeymoon in Ireland and the other one was given a maternity leave since two weeks ago – leaving him alone to work on the sudden bug that appeared out of nowhere in their system hence cut off the synching of their database with the headquarters’.

Funny how things work these days. People relied too much on gadgets, technology and the net, made their life one stone better than yesterday but there were some people like him who almost had no memory of yesterday just to make others’ tomorrow a better day. Did he regret joining the field? Probably not and never because immersing himself deep into his work made him forget things that he wished will never come across his mind again, the stuffs about life.

But twenty four hours without food and sleep and fresh air were driving him crazy – especially when he did not seem to be making any progress.

“Are you going to stay late today too, hyung?”

Lee Sungjong was the office boy and also Sunggyu’s closest colleague. They were just another typical stranger to each other until last two summers where Sunggyu got his laptop broken and Sungjong kindly offered his for the mean time of his own got fixed. Conversation started light but somehow grew further and deeper, now Sungjong understood Sunggyu the best. Sunggyu gave the younger male a soft smile and muttered a soft thank you for the cup of coffee Sungjong brought for him. As he was sipping the drink, he noticed Sungjong was still staring at him so he paused on track and sent Sungjong a questioning look.

“When was the last time you ate?”

Sunggyu munched his lips casually while his mind travel back to twenty four hours ago. “I am not sure myself but probably around twelve or one yesterday.” Sungjong clicked his tongue and Sunggyu knew what was going to come next so he cut Sungjong off before he can continue. “I was too occupied right now, I can’t help it.”

“Half an hour break won’t hurt, hyung. You can always call for delivery.”

Oh right, why he did not think of it before? Maybe because he did no thinking at all yesterday. He had all of his mind swirling around the bug, running along the codes and spinning over his knowledge in this field, trying to figure out how to fix everything up as fast as he can. The bug was small, it interject the synching of their databases but the impact was huge and the worst out of this was, their security issue was at risk.

“I won’t die from twenty four hours of hunger. Don’t worry about it.” Sungjong sent the older male a glare but Sunggyu did not seem to bother about it.

“Still haven’t figure it out?”

Sunggyu nodded his head without taking his eyes off the screen, clicking here and there, shut the computer off before he finally stood up. Seeing the older male who was about to leave, Sungjong quirked his brow, silently asking where he was heading to. “I figured the bug out and how to remove it but I can’t fix it here. It got injected in local system so I need to personally remove it from the host which mean,”

“You need to go there, to the branch.” Sunggyu smiled faintly, heaving a sigh as he bent down to pick his bag up. “But hyung, Christmas is in three days and it is in rural area. You’ll need one whole day just to get there.”

“It is work, my responsibility and if I don’t get it remove soon, our sensitive information might get leaked out. Our security barrier is now at loose.”

“But hyung, Christmas is,”

Sunggyu had a stern look on him, rendered Sungjong to stop on his word in time. “Christmas is just another national holiday. I can take break on any other day when the other two are done with their leave. No big deal. So, if you may excuse me.” Sungjong raised his hands up, signalling that he had given the topic up already although his face did not feign any sign of such. Sunggyu saw the face and he understood it very well so he stopped for a while, patted the younger male’s shoulder along with a soft smile. “I am all grown up, you don’t need to worry about me. Besides, I had been going through this since forever. I got used of it already.”

“Don’t say you get used of it.”

“I can’t lie to myself, can it?” Sungjong did not say anything afterward. He forced a smile up and returned to his cubicle. For a minute, Sunggyu felt like a after turning a cheerful boy into a sad one but that was the truth. The truth hurt but hiding it or lying to himself won’t change it. He thought it was better to accept the truth instead of running around in circle where later if caught up, it will hurt him even more. When Sungjong got out of his sight that Sunggyu got himself moving.

“Two days off?” Even though Sunggyu was leaving for work, he still needed a letter of approval as he was about to leave the office for two days. His supervisor, Lee Jungyeop was the epitome of nosiness but what choice he had left. “Wednesday and Thursday, huh. Are you going to take anyone along?”

He had foreseen it coming. “No, sir. I am going alone.”

“Why?”

“Everyone else gonna celebrate Christmas.”

“And you don’t?”

Only if he was a supervisor himself or at least someone with more or less equivalent rank, he will just walk away after informing and disappear into the snow but the world was not fair. Despite getting double amount of Sunggyu’s monthly salary, Jungyeop also had the power to fire him so he had to get his patient in contact. “Some people deserve the celebration better than some other and I figured that I am more into the latter.”

“Shall I demand a further explanation?”

“There is nothing to be explained about.” Jungyeop did not seem to be agreeing much with him though. The supervisor had his sceptical look on. “Look, sir. The bug is small but it is dangerous. You out of all people should understand it the most. Our outlet there will have its half day off on Thursday and I need to get it settled before then. The journey alone will be one day long so I do appreciate if you can question less and be more cooperative.”

Jungyeop however still unsatisfied with it. “That does not really answering my question.”

Sunggyu will gladly punch his supervisor right on his face but he knew he can’t so he held in. “Like I said, some people value Christmas more than I do where for me is just another national holiday. The reason behind it is a personal matter so please, just drop your signature on the paper work and let me leave already.”

“Santa dislikes such attitude. He will skip your house.”

“My house will be empty if you grant me permission to leave so it does not matter.”

Jungyeop just gaze at him lazily before he let out a soft sigh and finally picked up his pen, marked the paper work as approved with his signature. “Go there, be safe and work on your sass.”

All the preparation was done and Sunggyu was ready to depart from the parking lot down his apartment complex when his mobile rang, signalling a call and demanding to be answered. He pulled his handbrake up to check on the caller ID but ended up sighing when he recognize who the call was from. He can be a bit heartless and rude sometimes but there were some things where he can’t bring himself to ignore even though his heart was yelling him to do so.

“Hello.”

“Hello, Gyu. Son.” It was Sunggyu’s mother, his step-mother to be exact and was also the reason why he had been avoiding home. How could he not? Hearing her calling him son, that alone made him cringed.

Sunggyu did not remember the exact date but ten years ago, when he was two months away from graduating from high school, he came home and found his mother crying in their living room whilst clutching a paper to her chest. Being the typical teenager he was, being home was a rarity thus speaking about heart to heart topic with his mother was also awkward. That was the first time he had ever seen his mother crying (although he knew the nights where she fought with his father) and he knew he should approach her – so he did.

When Sunggyu asked, she shoved him the paper instead of answering and Sunggyu immediately understood what was happening. It was a signed divorce paper.

For the past year, Sunggyu had known that his father was going out secretly with another girl – yes a girl, five years older than him. He run onto them by mistake when he was about to head out from a lounge with his friends. His father was flustered but the girl on the other hand was excited and came to greet him like she had done nothing wrong. He kept it a secret from his mother so he had no idea when did she figure it out and of course, he never thought that his father will take such a drastic move. He really thought it was just a simple fling but he was proved wrong when his father called to inform him about his marriage one month later. Sunggyu was made to attend the ceremony and was the one who released the doves. His mother was nowhere to be seen that day and when his father asked who he wanted to settle down with, Sunggyu quickly decided to keep his lonely mother a company.

Sunggyu soared the rest of the year with his mother, keep her close to him as he was determined to make her happy but the fate was cruel. She was diagnosed with cancer, last stage. He was at lost, almost beat his father to death when he came to visit at hospital with hand wrapped securely around his new wife’s waist. His mother cried again that night.

Winter arrived two days later and Sunggyu never stopped praying for his mother health, wished that she’ll have a longer time to spend with him. It was Christmas Eve when his mother left him forever. He blamed Santa; for not recognizing his wish and for taking his mother away.

“Gyu, are you there?”

Sunggyu jerked when the voice slapped his ear again. He was spacing out for too long. “Yes, I’m sorry. What you were saying?”

“Your father told me to give you a call and ask you to come home this year. We gonna bake cookies on Thursday and,”

“I am not going home.”

“But Gyu, we bought you presents and,”

“I am not five years old!” Sunggyu barked. Only hard breathing could be heard as the two of them kept silence, both were shocked of what just happened. Sunggyu disliked her and she was well aware of it even though she had never tuned down her effort to make things better with him. “I am sorry, I didn’t mean to shout but I am really not going home this year.”

“You haven’t come home for seven years. Your father is missing you, I am missing you. At least give him a call.”

Sunggyu bumped his head against his steering wheel, each smack accompanied by a short sigh. “I have work to do in countryside. It is getting late so I need to take off now.” He heard she called for him but he cut the line nevertheless.

Was he being too much? So many years passed and once again, the Christmas Eve was approaching. He hated it – it reminded him of his mother, of the day she left and of the sadness he went through afterwards. He hated Santa for bringing Christmas.

Santa… Does he even exist?

Part II: The boy who always believes

The course was not bad but the road was surrounded by thick forest and it was getting darker by each second, giving Sunggyu chills to the bone. If his navigator was right, he was only left with twenty kilometres to arrive but it was snowing so hard right now, made him worried whether he could make it there by tonight or not. He was driving slowly. The path forward looked hazy, he can’t tell really well what was going on outside so he told himself to be careful.

Five minutes barely passed when his car suddenly made a weird sound, jerking as it moved while its speed reduced by each spin. Sunggyu had his jaw fall agape when it suddenly stopped moving and he was unable to restart the engine no matter how many times he tried. Sunggyu hit his steering wheel and cursed on every single thing that crossed his mind.

Knowing he had no better choice left, Sunggyu unbuckled his seat belt and got out of his car to check on what was wrong with his engine. He was not good with automobile but his car broke down probably due to the cold surrounding that brought the engine temperature down too low. No doubt – it was indeed too cold out here.

As Sunggyu was just about to return into his car for a refuge, a small truck approached and stopped by. It was a complete stranger so he can’t bring himself to cheer up until he was sure it was not a harm. A man, young man, jumped out of the truck with a friendly smile smeared on his face and advanced toward him as Sunggyu stood there studying the moving figure.

“Nam Woohyun.” The male reached out his hand, the smile was still hanging up there. “I see you’re kind of stuck.”

Sunggyu tried his best to turn his doubtful mode off and returned the smile. “Kim Sunggyu.” They shook their hands briefly, Sunggyu pulled away to gesture at his broken down car. “I can’t start the engine and I am not really bright in this area so I could not figure out what is wrong.”

“I am not good with this stuff either but I have a friend who opens workshop nearby um, about ten kilometres away though.” Sunggyu knew Woohyun wanted to help but he could not help feeling disappointed knowing that there was no way he can get his car fixed by tonight. “The mobile line is never good when it is snowing heavily like this, and the wind is kind of strong. We can only use landline. Why don’t I bring you home and call my friend from there. You can rest there tonight as well. It is getting dark and it is dangerous out here.”

Woohyun was a stranger but he emitted no weird aura not to mention resting in a warm house sounded much better than spending the night in the cold car in the middle of nowhere. Sunggyu agreed without much thought. He went to grab his small backpack, lock his car and follow Woohyun into his truck.

The drive did not take more than ten minutes and the next thing Sunggyu realized was he already out of the truck, now standing facing an average house that seemed to be a bit rundown compared to what he had in mind. He guessed Woohyun did not really have a good finance himself.

“It is not that big,” The other male suddenly said, as if he could hear the thoughts running within Sunggyu’s head. “But it is home. Be comfortable and treat it as yours too.” Sunggyu nodded with a smile, Woohyun gestured for them to get going but he stopped after three steps, turned around with a face that Sunggyu recognized as uneasy. “One thing I forgot to tell you,”

“Hyung!!”

Woohyun did not have the chance to finish his sentence when there was a loud yell, where Sunggyu deemed that it was mean for the other male. “Speaking of the devils.” He quirked his brow when he heard the other male sigh but it did not match with the warm smile he had on his face at all. The uneasiness he had painted on his face was now washed away, left only smile that Sunggyu can see clearly how it screamed love.

Judging from the voice earlier, Sunggyu guessed that probably Woohyun’s little brother who got super excited to have the male returned home after a long day but his eyes shot open when not only one little boy that stormed out of the door – it was a total of five and the group jumped right onto Woohyun, caused the male to had his back hit the ground behind him. (Sunggyu wondered how long exactly Woohyun left home.)

“Welcome home, hyung!”

“Where had you been?”

“How’s your day?”

“Why did you come home late today?”

“Does it hurt?”

Sunggyu heard the contained groan of pain. Woohyun probably held in as he did not want the kids to feel sorry for being too excited to find him home. “I am fine, boys. Now, help me up.” As if it was given, the boys jumped off the male and pulled him up, three of them helped to dust away snow from his pants, one helped fixing the hem of his shirt while the other one was staring intently at Sunggyu. Well, at least one of them noticed that there was someone else besides Woohyun.

“Hyung,” The boy tugged on Woohyun’s shirt as he tried to have the male’s attention on him, eyes still stuck on Sunggyu. “Who is this ajusshi?”

Woohyun exchanged look with Sunggyu before he burst into laughter, found it funny because the boy referred Sunggyu as ajusshi when they obviously looked like they were of the same age. “This hyung is a friend I pick up by the road. His car broke down so I guessed maybe we can provide him shelter for the night. Is that okay boys? Are you fine for a guest tonight?”

The other four hummed loudly while the one from the earlier dipped his head down and apologize for the way he addressed Sunggyu earlier. What a cute boy, and with a good manner too – Sunggyu thought. He ruffled the boy’s hair and told him that it was okay and he did not mind it.

“Introduction later. It is freezing out here, so let’s go in.” Woohyun concluded. Three boys tugged him inside and the other two did the same to Sunggyu, all were excited to have Sunggyu for the night.

Needless to say, Sunggyu could not sleep that night. It was not because of the thin mattress Woohyun provided which was actually a pile of blankets stuffed together but because he simply was not good in sleeping at new places. Sunggyu tried to close his eyes in hope to drift into dreamland, a little make up for almost two days that he did not get any wink of sleep but his eyes was stubborn and they refused to close. Shifting around was not enough so Sunggyu stood up and carefully walked out of the room.

What a person would do when they can’t sleep?

Sunggyu had no idea. If he was back in his home then maybe he will work on some new program, fix on codes or simply watch season finale of Games of Throne. The last one probably the best way. He usually barely get through half of the episode and fall asleep. It was a good franchise but work was tiring, being in front of computer drained his energy.

Having nothing specific in mind, Sunggyu let his feet to bring him touring around the house, watching the scenery that the village had to offer. It was beautiful, peaceful and calming. Sunggyu liked it here, very different from the city.

As he was walking across the lawn, he saw from far a figure that was sitting on a bench near the front door, seemed busy doing something. Being curious, Sunggyu walked there to check up on it and found Woohyun was working on something with a few plank of woods. “What are you doing?”

“Oh,” Woohyun lifted his head, the trademarked smile still on his lips and offered Sunggyu to sit beside him. “Junho and Taehyung want car for Christmas so I am making a cart for them.”

Junho and Taehyung was the eldest two out of the five boys that were under Woohyun’s care. None of them, including Woohyun, were related to each other. Woohyun was another village’s young bachelor who owned a very kind heart and took in orphans whose parents died either from natural causes or accidents. Junho and Taehyung were both twelve, Jiwoon was ten, Hyunshik was eight and Minki (the one who addressed Sunggyu as ajusshi earlier) was seven.

Taking care of five boys were not easy. Woohyun said he was not better off too himself. There were times where he pretended that he had eaten on his way back just because he was left with not enough money to get all of them fed for the day. Woohyun was a farmer who delivers goods to a nearby town. If there were a lot of crops, then his day will be easier and if not, he will starve himself so that the boys can still eat without worries.

Despite that, they lived their life to the fullest. Sunggyu got along well with them during dinner. It was a chaos. The boys were so loud, talking about this and that all the time and for the first time in many years, Sunggyu felt his heart opened to accept people into his life. The boys get along with each other very well and it did not take long for them to grow close with Sunggyu. They were very adorable, Sunggyu failed to resist their charms.

“I thought you said Santa will bring them one.” Sunggyu snickered. He still remembered how confident Woohyun was when he told the boys that they can ask everything they wanted for this Christmas because Santa will definitely visit their home, since the boys had been very good this year. “You are not Santa and furthermore, Santa does not exist. Don’t tell me you still believed in that crap.”

When Woohyun put the plank down and sat straight facing Sunggyu with a soft sigh, Sunggyu cursed himself mentally knowing that he was being too much. How can he went on being rude to someone who helped him. He expected a comeback but that did not came and in fact, the smile Woohyun had never wavered.

“You’re right, I do believe in Santa and in fact, probably the one with the most faith but for me, Santa does not have to be the old man dressed in red with frosty beard who climbed down chimney. Santa is actually in there,” Woohyun brought his right hand up and had his index finger pressed on where Sunggyu’s heart was hidden beneath. “All good heart is a home for Santa, where the owners were Santa themselves. Our parents who bought what we wanted for Christmas, our friends who exchange presents with us and our loved one who treats us for dinner – they were Santa, our very own Santa. That’s why we are asked to be good, so that each and every of us can feel how is it to be loved and to be appreciated, and we learned to do the same toward the others.”

Sunggyu brought his head down, taking in each of Woohyun’s words as he thought – him who had being cold to everyone around him including his own father, is there anyone out there who will love and appreciate him as he was, to be his Santa?

“Santa does exist, he is in us and it is up to us whether to let him stay or not. As long as the boys stay with me, no matter how hard it could be, I’ll keep being their Santa until the day they’ll walk out from this house and bring up their own little family.”

Sunggyu did not remember meeting anyone with heart as kind as Woohyun’s (and again, not that he ever gave anyone chance apart from Sungjong to approach him) and one thing he knew, this side the male had was tugging his heart close to him. Even though living was hard, Woohyun always put the boys first despite the fact that they were not related by blood. Sunggyu did not realize he was staring at Woohyun until he felt something poked his cheek.

“Are you sleepy?” Woohyun asked, again with that smile and for the umpteenth time that day, Sunggyu felt his heart doing somersaults. “Go inside to sleep if you are.”

“I doubt I’ll still feel sleepy once I get inside. I can hardly sleep at new places.”

“But you just yawned about thirty seconds ago.” Okay, Sunggyu did not realized that. Woohyun chuckled, he probably was making faces. Sunggyu just watched when the other male shifted on his seat, sat facing forward while his hand travelled to gently grip on Sunggyu’s other arm, pulled him until Sunggyu’s head was resting on his shoulder. “The air out here is more comfortable compared to how it is inside. Just close your eyes and I am sure the sleep will come.”

It was more than thirty six hours ago when Sunggyu last had his share of sleep. He was tired and the gentle slap of cool air was lulling him to sleep, not to mention the calming scent Woohyun emitted. It did not take long for Sunggyu to drift into dreamland after he closed his eyes.

Part III: The boy who starts to believe

Sunggyu did not have his car fixed until midday since it took time for the mechanic to come down so he spent his morning playing with the boys and fixed them lunch. He lived alone for about nine years so he was fairly good in cooking. Thankfully he managed to maintain his cool and did not make any silly mistake because Woohyun spent his time watching Sunggyu preparing food as if he was hosting a cooking show.

“Uwaa, Sunggyu hyung’s food is amazing.” Hyunshik squealed loudly, shot his thumbs up eagerly to show how he really meant it. The boy had half of his face smeared with rice which he took no care of and continued to stuff his mouth with more food. Junho who sat across of him grimaced and told him to clean his face first. Hyunshik however just stuck his tongue out and ignored the oldest boy.

Sunggyu was having the time of his life as he watched the boy bickering and barely noticed the little tug on his sleeve. It was Minki whose lips were jutted out, pouting. “Can I sit with hyung? Jiwoon hyung and Taehyung hyung messed with my bowl.”

Even though Woohyun sat on the other side of Sunggyu, the male still able to catch what the youngest just said. He ran his eyes to look at the two said boy. Jiwon and Taehyung who knew the situation they were currently in quickly lowered their gaze and sat properly on their seat, silently continue to finish their own food.

From what Sunggyu could see, Woohyun was clearly irritated because the little teasing Taehyung and Jiwoon put on. He can relate there that even though Woohyun was flexible and carefree, he had some things that he was strict with. Table manners were important indeed and the boys needed a proper lesson for them to understand – but Sunggyu did not really like it to see an angry, tight-faced Woohyun. He wanted to see that smile again, decided to do something to fix this so he nudged Woohyun’s side.

“Santa does not get angry at dining tables.”

“Shut up. You don’t believe in Santa.”

“I am starting to believe but you are ruining my motivation.”

“Oh really now, you are putting the blame on me.”

“Who else should I then?”

The exchanged silent glares but the next minute they could not help it and laughed it away. It was funny how they just met yesterday and yet today they were bickering like an old married couple. The boys who were watching them intensely also laughed along, found it funny and by that, the atmosphere at the table loosen. Taehyung and Jiwoon mouthed thank you to Sunggyu where he just replied with a wink.

Not that Sunggyu mind. Now he had smiling Woohyun back, it was more than enough.

Sunggyu had his work done by four thirty that evening.

As expected, there was an error in the outlet’s system that created a barrier between the local host and the cloud, made it somehow unable to receive any updates on its software. Does not matter how many times Sunggyu fix the bug or rewrite another code, nothing will happen since it can’t be delivered.

After fixing a few more stuffs and add in the newly improved security barrier, Sunggyu stayed about an hour more to run a few tests just to ensure that the connection to the database is secured so that he did not have to come down here again any sooner – wait, did he want that. Sunggyu paused on his doings, finally had his hands off the keyboard after a few hours of using it and leaned against the chair, his eyes quickly found the ceiling as he let his thoughts ran fast.

Why he suddenly felt like not going back to Seoul?

Because he did not want to meet his father?

Because of the calmness this place offered?

Because of the boys?

Or because of Woohyun?

“Is everything done?” Sunggyu jerked out of his trance when there was a voice came from behind, turned around and found that it was one of the outlet’s technical team. “I see you are kind of spacing out. You got stuck and thinking of way out or you already done and now resting?”

Sunggyu smiled. “I am already done.” He proceeded with saving all the testing details, turned the computer down after once again make sure the local host was working correctly and stood up, ready to leave. “I double checked of what I can and what I remembered, I think the system is now fine. I left a few notes of what should be done if it happens again.”

“Alright, thanks. I am so sorry for making you to personally come down here to fix this, and it is holiday season too.” How many times had he heard the same thing today again? Sunggyu chuckled, said that it was really fine and he did not mind it. “Where are you staying at though?”

The two walked out of the building side by side after they made sure that everything was turned off, locked the door and headed to the parking lot. “I planned to check in at some hotel but my car broke down on my way here yesterday. A farmer picked me up and offered me place to stay.”

A smile made its way up his face by the mention of the said farmer. There was a quick flash of Woohyun’s face, his attractive, heart-warming smile that never fail to make Sunggyu’s heart doing weird thing inside.

“When are you going back to Seoul though? Christmas is the day after tomorrow.”

Normal people will question it, Sunggyu almost forgot. There was no tiny part of him that wanted to leave the place right now as he would like to have more time with the boys and Woohyun but what the farmer said last night kept bugging him the whole day. The thing about one being Santa for the others, and one having Santa of their own.

His mind travelled back in years to the time where he still genuinely believed that Santa exist, where he would hide behind doors during midnight in hope that he can catch Santa red handed but end up falling asleep even before the midnight reach. The memory was a bit hazy but he did remember the warmth that engulfed him, that took him upstairs and tucked him in bed. There was never a night where his father put him to sleep without kissing his forehead goodnight, at least before he started to enter his teenager phase and distanced himself from his family, from his father.

“You’re being deep in thought again.” Sunggyu blushed when once again he was caught. He just grinned sheepishly, bid goodbye to the man and drove back to the farmer’s house.

Sunggyu arrived in front of Woohyun’s house around dinner time. He felt his inside tingling in joy when he saw all the five boys were sitting by the door waiting for him. How long had it been since he returned home to someone waiting for him – in this case, five people (or maybe six but he can’t say for sure) waiting for him. When Sunggyu stepped out of his car, Minki started with a dash while the other four followed close behind, all fighting who can get to Sunggyu first.

Having slight favouritism toward the youngest one, Sunggyu bent down and held out hands for Minki. The seven years old boy grinned in triumph at the older boys, stuck his tongue out in joy when Sunggyu took him up in his arms. Junho and Taehyung just rolled their eyes while Hyunshik and Jiwoon pouted heavily, still not giving up as they tried to tug Sunggyu’s shirt, hoping that they will get some of Sunggyu’s sympathy.

Feeling overwhelmed by it, Sunggyu brought Minki to his left hand and was about to bend down to take the other two up when Woohyun suddenly popped out from the inside of the house, right hand holding a spatula while the other had a cucumber in grasp. “Dinner is ready, everyone. Oh, Sunggyu. Welcome home.”

For the umpteenth time, Sunggyu felt his heart skipped a bit by just the sight of the farmer’s smile. How can he not when the cute dimple that perfectly placed on the top right side of his lips showed each time him smiled?

Woohyun was a man filled with charm, Sunggyu was amazed. He can be cute at times, charming at the next second with his built body and perfectly carved nose and jaw, then being y and smoking with all the apparent muscles and veins that popped up freely whenever he lifted heavy things and most importantly, his kind heart. The boys were so lucky to have Woohyun as their Santa, as their guardian and as someone that loved them to no end.

“Aren’t you going in?” Sunggyu blinked when Woohyun nudged him. When did he came here? The boys were all out of the scene already. “Why are you spacing out? Are you missing home or something?” Sunggyu gave him no answer, just stared into his dark black eyes instead. When they stayed like that for too long and awkwardness started to creep in between, he just smiled faintly and shrugged. “You’re weird.”

Woohyun chuckled at him, made his way inside the house and left Sunggyu leaning against his car alone, staring into the dark sky. ‘Santa’; he whispered to himself, another soft smile formed on his lips. He closed his eyes, inhaled a deep breath of fresh air and followed Woohyun.

“What?!” All the five boys shouted at the same time, throwing the question straight onto Sunggyu’s face.

All seven of them were having their dinner peacefully, was about to finish with their food when Sunggyu suddenly announced that he was going to leave for Seoul tomorrow morning. He did expected the boys to be shocked because of it (actually hoped that they will be shocked to be honest) but he did not expect they will be this shocked. Minki climbed down his chair and ran onto Sunggyu, hugged his leg.

“Hyung, don’t go. Hyung can’t go!”

Sunggyu felt his heart broke when the little boy suddenly started to bawl his tears out, wetting Sunggyu’s knee so he bent and scooped the boy up, hugged him close as he tried to soothe him down.

“Don’t cry, little Minki. I am so sorry but I really, really need to go.”

The other boys on the other hand, even though they did not said anything or made any move, Sunggyu could tell that they had the same feeling as Minki. He felt his heart tugged with guilt but what can he do. As much as he wanted to stay with the boys, with Woohyun, his place was not here – he belongs to somewhere else.

“Minki-ah.” Woohyun stood up with his voice calling for the boy, gently took him from Sunggyu and put the boy back onto his chair. “Sunggyu hyung wants to celebrate Christmas with his family too. Won’t you be sad if you can’t celebrate Christmas with us?” The little boy pouted but he still nodded as to answer Woohyun’s question. The farmer smiled and ruffled his hair. “Sunggyu hyung will be sad too if he can’t celebrate it with his family, don’t you think so Minki-ah?”

Junho got off his seat, strolled to get Minki where he took the little boy in his arms, hugged him from behind. “Don’t worry, Minki-ah. Taehyung, Hyunshik, Jiwoon and I will still be around. Woohyunnie hyung too and we can always call Sunggyu hyung whenever we miss him. Right, hyung?” Sunggyu smiled at them, especially when the other boys came to get Minki and end up having a group hug.

Sunggyu was worn out that night, needless to say but he did not feel like sleeping yet. He wondered whether Woohyun was still working on the cart that Junho and Taehyung asked for, or maybe he already done with it. Sunggyu had no chance to ask him that so he decided to find out about it himself.

When midnight , Sunggyu quietly slipped out of bed and went to the place where he found Woohyun at the night before. The farmer was still there, wood planks scattered on the ground and Sunggyu can see already the basic shape of mini car.

“Still a lot to go?”

Woohyun stopped, gave Sunggyu a smile and shifted a bit, giving Sunggyu a space to sit on. “Just about to attach window and make a steering wheel, maybe I’ll paint the body too. I am confident I can have this done before midnight tomorrow.”

“I don’t think you will have chance to work on this tomorrow night though. The boys probably will stay up to wait for Santa to come.”

“Don’t tell me you did that when you were young?”

“Who didn’t?”

“I did not.” The answer shocked him in some way. For someone who believed with all his heart, Woohyun seemed like he will wait throughout the night without sleeping. “I don’t know who my parents are. I grew up in orphanage and every kid there know it was our principal who bought us presents.”

“I am sorry. I didn’t know that.”

“It is okay. As you said, you did not know.” Sunggyu hummed softly, watching Woohyun as the farmer continued with his task. They stayed in comfortable silence until later Woohyun broke it. “What time are you leaving tomorrow?”

“I don’t know yet. Early morning maybe.”

Woohyun nodded. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping by now? I am not chasing you away but you probably tired out from work and you need to drive long tomorrow.”

“Nuh-uh.” Sunggyu pursed his lips, shook his head absentmindedly while his finger played with the dry soil beneath them. “I feel like talking with you.”

“May I know why?” Woohyun sounded amused and Sunggyu can see it clearly from the smile he had on his face, there was a hint of curiosity too.

“I live alone for about eight, nine years and I don’t have any close friend, lover and I even make myself distanced from my father. I don’t really have someone to talk to, and talking with you make me feel calm. I am going back to Seoul tomorrow and you won’t be around anymore, where I left with no one to talk to anymore.”

“Maybe that explains why you suddenly fall asleep on my shoulder last night.” Sunggyu blushed, was about to apologize deeply for that when Woohyun chuckled and told him that it was okay. “I am glad I have such effect on you though. That makes me feel good too.”

Sunggyu returned the smile, slowly leaned against the farmer’s shoulder and rested his head there, feeling the sleepy attacking his mind in instant. He tilted his head slightly just before he was to doze off, taking into mind how good looking Woohyun was from such distance and prayed that he will never forget this sight.

Part IV: The boy who finally believes

Sunggyu stopped his car on the side road, still thinking whether he should drive in or retreat.

After what it had been for almost a decade, Sunggyu made the biggest decision in his life by going back to his father’s house to celebrate Christmas Eve this year. He was not sure at first whether this what he really wanted but he knew this was the right thing to do. He did not meet Woohyun and the five boys for a long time, two days but they managed to change his perception of life, especially what it meant about appreciating and loving his family.

Ten minutes, was it. Or was it thirty?

Sunggyu had lost count on the clock ticks of how long he had been waiting just out of his father’s gate, still gripping tightly on his steering wheel. His thoughts ran away when there was a knock on his window, realized that it was his step-mother who had her lips stretched from ear to ear.

“Gyu.”

“O-oh.” Sunggyu smiled awkwardly, swiftly turned his engine off and get out of the car, dipped his head toward his step-mother. “Hey t-there, mom.”

“I… What did you call me?”

Sunggyu averted his gaze around, feeling his cheeks heated up. This was not the time to back-off anymore. He was going to put an end on it. “Mom.” Sunggyu could see how fast she got teared up and it took her just a few seconds to have her face drenched with tears.

Seeing that, Sunggyu could not help but to smear more blame on him, knowing the piling frustration that his step-mother kept away far inside was actually caused by him. Nine years were not a joke. It had been so long. Sunggyu did not think twice when he took the lady into his arms, hugged her tight as he kept muttering apologies. His step-mother shook her head against his chest, saying that it was fine and she forgave him long ago.

It was not long after that when his father came out from the house, walked passed the gate to find the rare scene. Sunggyu did not expect it but his father joined them, hugging each other until they finally realized how cold it was to stay outdoor at such time.

Dinner ended about an hour ago and Sunggyu decided to spend the night in his father’s house, not after the elder practically begged him to stay in. He was more than happy to do so. His ego probably will not let him suggest the idea first so he was so thankful when his father brought the subject up, where he agreed immediately.

After actually spending the time with his father and his step-mother, Sunggyu understood what it meant to be loved and to love, and he deeply regretted how stupidly he wasted years being angry over what he should not even bother to remember about. True his mother died not long after the divorce but it was not caused by depression, it was cancer. What his father had with his new wife, his step-mother was purely love – who he was to fight against the power of love?

There was no one who should take the blame, maybe he should but they already said his forgiveness already and they promised to start anew, to never look back at their past. Sunggyu was going to start a new life with both his parents, and he was thinking about adding a few more people into the list.

That was exactly the reason why he kept staring at his phone. He was contemplating whether to give the number that he punched into the dial or not – which later he accidentally tapped on the green button, too late to cut it off.

“Hello.”

“H-hey, it is Sunggyu.”

“Oh, Sunggyu. I was wondering who it could be, calling me at this time of the night.”

Sunggyu bit his cheeks, a bit regretting it for not calling any sooner. “Am I disturbing you or anything?”

“Oh, oh. No, no. The boys were giving me weird look because no one ever called me.” He heard him chuckled, feeling that it was contagious which made him smiling as well. “It is good that they’re not following me outside, or else you will not even have the chance to talk to me properly like this.”

“When did you start talking this much?”

“I am always like this?”

“Aren’t you the cool, charismatic type that prefers watching rather than speaking?”

“Did you look at different person? Not that I am against the cool, charismatic part though.”

Sunggyu snorted but the laughter beat it and somehow escaped. The two of them spent a few good minutes laughing where later they could not recall why it was for. They slurred for a stop, finally settled with a comfortable silence. Hearing the calm breathing from the other side was enough for him, it was calming like always.

“Can you sleep tonight though, since I am not around?”

“Why else do you think I would be calling you then?”

Woohyun scoffed. “I don’t know. Maybe there is another reason.”

Once again the silence came between them but this time it was intentional. Sunggyu was giving himself a chance to rethink about what he had in mind. He had done a lot today, too many change might be good, and might be not but one thing for sure, he will not know how it will turn out to be unless he put a try on it.

“I am thinking whether… we can be each other’s Santa?”

“Oh. I had been wondering when you would be asking me that too.”

admin's note: to be honest, i like this very much. i like it how sunggyu changed, realized about things he missed and worked on it instead of running away again. it was great. good job. i enjoyed it. (soundsecret)