All This Time | Enhypen

| 19 |

Christmas morning Soomin wearily walked down into the common room, still clad in her Gryffindor pajamas, the winter one of course. It was the pajamas that was made purely out of Merino wool and almost had cost her all of her school book money last summer. However, it was simply too soft and warm for her to pass up on. She even bought it a few sizes too big, in hopes that it would fit once she got older.

"Morning," Heeseung called out from the fire place once Soomin had gotten down the stairs to marvel properly at the Christmas tree, "the house elves set it up over night."

"It's marvelous," Soomin murmured in shock.

"It is," Heeseung nodded in agreement, "why? Is it better than last year?"

"I was home for Christmas last year," Soomin excused, "my aunt isn't that big a fan of Christmas I suppose. A bit of a Scrooge."

"No Christmas?" Heeseung arched a brow and closed his homework book in his lap.

"Oh, no, no. We do have Christmas, just no tree or Christmas meals," Soomin gave him a small smile, "no, we do gifts. I usually get my aunt a certain piece of jewelry from her favourite store. I usually get some piece of clothing."

"Your aunt, she's wealthy. Isn't she?"

"We get by easily," Soomin nodded, "wealthy in manners I suppose. You know... she's very focused on sitting properly, using the right spoon. What not."

"Ah..." Heeseung nodded, frowning slightly once he looked back in his memory. Soomin did have a habit of always adjusting how she sat the moment she started to slouch a tiny bit. She never sat in any of the loveseats in the common room, nor did she eat any food at dinner with anything but her cutlery, "I was thinking... I promised Xia to meet her and Lin in the Great Hall to open gifts and eat breakfast together. If you'd like to tag along."

"That would be nice," Soomin nodded.

"Sunoo might come too," Heeseung added on.

"Sure... grab your presents and let's go," Soomin grinned widely.

Heeseung sent her a peculiar look. Grabbing his sweater from the armrest of his loveseat, packing his homework away and wandering over to pick up two packages. Without any word he quickly wandered over and stuck the two packages into Soomin's hands. Leaving said girl with a dumbfounded look on her face.

"What?" Heeseung chuckled as he turned the two to-and-from cards around, revealing one package from Millie and Kumiko, as well as a package adressed from 'The Parks'.

"I just..." Soomin quietly trailed off as Heeseung rushed over to pack up one package for himself.

"Hogwarts is family, Soo," Heeseung reminded with a small smile, opening the door out of the common room for her, "your aunt might not think she needs to treat you like family when you're here, but you have family here."

"It's kinda nice... I suppose," Soomin smiled gently as she looked down at the two packages in her hands.

On their way down towards the Great Hall Heeseung and Soomin happily chatted back and forth about what gifts they had gotten their other friends. Heeseung revealing that he had gotten a house elf to deliver a new pillow to Xia after having gotten enough of her pillow complaints, saying she couldn't sleep properly at night. To which Soomin could reveal she hadn't even thought about getting a gift for neither Kumiko nor Millie, simply because she didn't know they were on the gift term with one another. 

Just outside the Great Hall Soomin and Heeseung bumped into Sunoo. Not quite literally, like Heeseung had a talent for, but Sunoo had wandered around the corner just in front of Soomin and Heeseung, not noticing either two. Had there been more students at the school it would've been embarassing how loudly Soomin had yelled for Sunoo, but with no one else in sight it wasn't that bad.

"Oh look, there they are," Heeseung smiled widely and pointed to the Slytherin table, where two sisters sat across from one another. One looking a lot more sad than the other.

Soomin grinned widely as she tugged Heeseung along with her down to the table, Sunoo quietly wandering behind them - keeping an eye on Lin, who quietly shoved her porridge around in her bowl.

"What's gotten someone so grumpy on Christmas morning?" Soomin gasped as she sat down beside Xia.

"Lin is just disappointed we couldn't go home for Christmas," Xia excused and sent her sister a small smile as she glanced up.

"I hope... uhm... I don't want to be a push over," Sunoo excused hesitantly, immediately getting waved down on the bench by Heeseung who sat down on Xia's other side.

While Heeseung got to open the package from his mom and Soomin unwrapped the candies Kumiko and Millie had gifted her, Sunoo quietly placed a small box on the table and slid it into Lin's peripheral view.

"What?" Lin murmured and looked over at Sunoo, who only looked down at the box with anxious expectation.

"I uhm... I hoped a small present would help you feel a bit better about today," Sunoo excused and looked down at the box, "but it's alright, of course, if you don't want to accept it. I know we don't talk that much I just... well, I got my dad to send it over when the others went home for Christmas. It's not really anything special."

Lin eyes the boy suspiciously the moment Sunoo stopped talking with a heavy sigh, feeling a bit hopeless in his explanation. Quickly deciding to just get himself some breakfast, while - unbeknownst to him - Lin sneaked her hand over to the box and experimentally lifted the lid.

"What is it?" Lin questioned immediately catching Sunoo's attention.

With wide eyes the boy turned back to Lin and stared in almost horror as she lifted up the frail chain down in the box, a key hanging on the edge of the chain. A curious look presenting itself on Lin's face.

"What does it open?" she questioned with a small hint of excitement, almost whispering.

"Nothing, really," Sunoo admitted, "my uh... it sounds weird, but my dad likes to collect small things. He has a few keys and I asked him to send the pretties one. I just thought maybe... you know... maybe a necklace would look nice with the green tie."

"Thank you," Lin murmured and looked closer at the key and its intricate carvings, "I like it, very much."

"That's good," Sunoo nodded quietly, watching quietly as Lin reached up to lock the necklace behind her neck. Quickly getting distracted by a loud gasp from Soomin, who sat across from him.

"Dear mother of Mary," Soomin gushed as she pulled out a long scard, "you've got to be kidding me."

"What?" Xia frowned in confusion and looked over at Soomin as well.

"Sunghoon and Jay's mom has crocheted me a scarf... I've never seven met her," Soomin quickly explained, "she's out of her mind."

"Hm... they must speak well of you then," Heeseung remarked, leaving the stumped girl to sit and stare at the scarf in disbelief, almost frowning in confusion at the sight in front of her. It didn't click in her head why mrs. Park would have crocheted a scarf for her. Sure she had crocheted a pair of mittens for Jake when he made the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, but mrs. Park and Jake had met that same summer. Soomin didn't even know how she looked.