Jennie
Christmas has never been exciting for me.
The holidays were never bright and cheery, growing up. When I was younger, I didn't know how I always managed to be on the naughty list. No matter how good I acted, Santa never visited our house. I never received coal either, so it was a confusing time for me. I promised myself that Mingsoon and Ella would never doubt where they stood with Santa. I worked my ass off to give them a decent Christmas every year.
This year, I've made an entire Christmas dinner with more food than Mingsoon and I could eat in a month.
"I wish she were here with us," Mingsoon mutters when I hand him his first gift. He frowns at the box, as if it's wrong for him to open it.
My brows scrunch together when he drops the box and grabs his phone after it beeps with a text message.
"Oh, yeah," he says. "I forgot to tell you that Mr. Garfield said they had extra pies at the market that are close to expiring, so they're dropping them off."
Mingsoon brought up getting a job to me three days after Ella's funeral. He needed a hobby to take his mind off his mother going to prison and his sister's death. I agreed and was surprised when he told me he'd been hired at Garfield's Grocery.
I'm doing the same. I work as often as I can and considered looking into a second job—not for financial reasons, but to keep my mind off my problems as well. Yeri has made it her mission to be my sidekick at all times, and even though I act like it's driving me crazy, I appreciate her company.
Then, there's Jisoo. I feel terrible for not thanking her for talking to her mother. It's a bitch move on my part, but I'm terrified. She hasn't reached out since the night she consoled me and then disappeared, which I don't blame her for.
I sigh. Tomorrow, I'm going to her house and apologizing for my outburst, for kicking her out of my house, for not telling her everything about her father, and for not giving her a hug for saving me from the heartache of losing Mingsoon.
I uncross my legs and stand up from the floor. "Aw, that's nice of them."
He pulls on his boots. "Can you give me a hand? They're old and it's snowing, so we should probably help them."
"Of course."
I put my shoes on and throw on a coat. "Are they not here yet?" I ask, shivering when we walk outside.
Mingsoon is typing on his phone. "Hold on. They're texting me now."
I raise a brow in confusion. "The Garfields know how to text?"
He doesn't answer me, and seconds later, the abrupt sound of her voice cuts through the morning air. The voice brims with an overflow of emotions.
"Merry Christmas to the girl I love!"
My attention sweeps over to Jisoo's porch to find her standing there, looking the same as she did every day before we started our relationship. A Santa hat is on her head, and I can't hold back my burst of laughter—my first loud, belly-aching laughter I've had in months.
"You're going to get hypothermia!" I yell back in exchange for, Fuck off.
She hops down the stairs, and Mingsoon is beaming from the sidelines. Their setup is playing out smoothly.
"If I get hypothermia," she says when she reaches me, "I'm blaming you, babe."
I press my hand against my chest. "On me? It's not my fault you enjoy flaunting yourself around in the freezing cold."
I can see her breath releasing into the cold. "Please be honest with me, Jennie. That's all I want for Christmas, and your honesty will provide me the energy to make my way back inside. Otherwise, I'll probably freeze outside and die."
I shake my head, still laughing. "I can't believe I'm even entertaining this."
She grabs me by my waist, and her body is freezing. "Tell me how you feel about me, Jennie. No bullshit. Look at me and tell me you don't care about me the way I care about you."
I gulp, and my heart races so hard that I'm waiting for it to fall out of my chest. "I ... I don't care about you, Jisoo."
Her face falls.
"I mean ... I do ... but I more than care about you."
A smile takes over her face. "Say it."
I cover my face with my hands. "Oh my God. I can't believe I'm about to declare my love to a woman sporting a Santa hat, who looks like she should be featured in an X-rated Christmas calendar."
She takes my hand and kisses the top. "I'm more than happy to get you a calendar with my pictures in them."
A tear falls down my cheek, and her finger is cold when she wipes it away.
"I love you," I say with no hesitation, regret, or unease.
She stares at me, her white teeth showing as she grins wildly. "And, damn, do I love you."
She tilts her head and kisses me. She pulls away and inspects me, and then her lips hit mine again.
I glance back at Mingsoon while smiling. "I take it, there are no pies?"
Mingsoon shrugs. "They must have forgotten to stop on their way home."
"Did you say pie?" Jisoo chimes in. "Weird, I have plenty of them in my house." She snags my hand in her and leads me toward her porch while calling out for Mingsoon to come on.
"Did your mom make the pies?" I ask when we make it inside.
Jisoo grins. "Would you think any different? I told you, I want to always impress you, not give you food poisoning."
**
"I got you something," Jisoo says.
After we devoured the sweets Jisoo had brought home from her family Christmas dinner, we went to the living room to watch Christmas movies.
She hops off the couch and walks barefoot to her bedroom while Mingsoon snores in the background.
"You ... you didn't have to do that," I say when she hands me a small box.
"I know I didn't. I wanted to."
I stare at it, moving the box around and inspecting it, before undoing the bow. I gulp, unsure of why I'm so nervous about opening a present. It's a jewelry box. My heart races when I pop it open.
Nestled inside is a necklace.
I pull it out, playing with the thin string, and inspect it. I cover my mouth to conceal my whimper, and tears flood my cheeks. On the necklace hangs a heart pendent that says Mother and inscribed are Mingsoon's and Ella's names.
"It's beautiful. Thank you," I whisper.
Jisoo's face is filled with pride, and she nods toward Mingsoon. "He helped me pick it out. He said he's always seen you as his mother, not anyone else, and we knew nothing better would suit you."
I frown, and she uses her thumb to gently rid me of my tears. "I didn't buy you a gift."
She tips her head down to kiss my lips. "Don't worry," she says against them in a low tone. "You can give me mine later."
The thought of her touching me, of being in her bed, of us together again, sparks happiness inside me. If Mingsoon wasn't sleeping on the other side of the sectional, I'd be straddling Jisoo right now.
I blush. "You can't joke around about that even if he is asleep."
She draws back with a grin. "Huh? I want a night full of you repeating you love me over and over again. That's what I want as my gift."
I chuckle. "This conversation is mirroring one of those Hallmark movies we just watched."
"I'll take it because Hallmark movies always end up with a happily ever after."
