𝐝𝐞𝐜 𝟐𝟓 𝟏𝟗𝟗𝟔
"is the pudding ready yet, mrs lee?" yunhee asked. she was helping out in the kitchen during christmas at jeno's house while mark was speaking to lupin, tonks and jeno's father.
"not yet. can you put the pies on the table for me?"
"of course." she took the tray of mini pies and set them in the middle of the table where the rest of the food was. she then sighed at the sight of aerin and jeno slumped in their seats. "come on, you two. help your mum out."
they both groaned but stood up to do as she said.
there was a knock on the door and everyone turned to look at the kitchen entrance where renjun and jia were with bags of gifts.
"jia?!" aerin and yunhee screeched, lunging at her, sending the three girls flying to the floor.
"i can't believe it!" yunhee yelled, refusing to let go of her.
"i missed you so much!" aerin sobbed.
"i missed you guys more." jia replied, patting their backs as she returned the hug.
"girls, come on now. get off the floor." remus said as he passed by them with tonks.
"how come i didn't get a warm welcome like that?" renjun pouted after greeting everyone and joining jeno in sorting out the food.
"because we see you every day." jeno told him then passed him a plate. "pie?"
"i'm alright. where's chenle?"
"i was wondering that too. yunhee, do you have any idea?" jeno asked, but the girl shrugged her shoulders.
"he said he was going to come with his parents. i'd say they're just running late, but they usually aren't." she replied. now that she thought about it, it was strange that they hadn't arrived yet.
"everyone sit at the table! it's time for dinner!" jeno's mother yelled.
they all gathered around the table, chatting excitedly as they stuffed their faces with the delicious food made by jeno's mother and yunhee.
"this is so nice!" mark exclaimed, holding up one of the pastries.
"yunhee made that. she's such a good cook and baker." aerin told him, taking one as well.
"oh. stop i'm blushing." yunhee said, smacking the younger girl on the back.
"she's right. i could eat this food all year." jeno said.
"thanks, guys. i'll make sure to make more every holiday." she said as she served pieces of the pudding.
"please do."
"i think we should get married." mark joked and the room went silent. "guys, i was joking."
"don't joke like that! you can't just steal yunhee from me." aerin said, threatening him with her fork.
"well, mark, if we did get married, i hope you know that i would be expecting you to cook everything for me." yunhee said.
"sure. i'll do that." he replied, resting his chin on his palm and staring at her which made her cheeks heat up.
"enough. your flirting is making me lose my appetite." jia said, tapping her knife against the table.
"knowing how scary renjun can be, you don't want to get on his sister's nerves." jeno whispered to mark who nodded his head and sat back in his seat.
"i'm all finished with my food. sorry, mrs lee, but i'm not going to tidy up today. i suggest the boys do it." yunhee said, standing up and gesturing to the other two girls to do the same.
"you do realise that with the flick of a wand, all the dishes can wash themselves?" jeno asked, amused.
"i do, but i want you all to hand wash everything. learn to do that in case we do get married." she joked then left the kitchen.
mark glanced at his two friends then hastily got up, collecting some plates. jeno did the same trying to collect more plates than him while renjun went to the kitchen, pulling on some kitchen gloves. it had suddenly turned into a competition.
"yunhee, you have those boys wrapped around your finger." jia said, patting her shoulder.
"they're just good friends." she said, slumping onto the sofa by the fire.
"she's seriously dense and blind." aerin whispered to the ravenclaw.
"i see that." jia replied, laughing. "oh! yunhee, open your presents!"
"you got me presents? no, you shouldn't have." yunhee said, taking the two boxes from the girls. she ripped off the wrapping for the smaller one from aerin and opened the box. inside, there were bottles of beauty products: makeup, skincare and scented perfumes.
"do you like it?"
"like it? i love it! thank you so much."
"open mine, open mine." jia said, impatiently, pointing to the bigger box.
yunhee opened it, revealing a piece of clothing. she looked at jia, excited, then pulled it out to see that it was a long lavender-coloured dress with small butterflies on it.
"it's beautiful! but what's the occasion?" yunhee asked, holding the dress against her.
"you know... one day i'm going to get married and i want you and aerin to be my bridesmaids, so i bought your dresses early."
"you're getting married?!" aerin exclaimed, shaking jia's shoulders. "does that mean my present is a dress too!"
"not yet. i haven't asked them, but i plan to someday, so i just wanted to make sure you had your dresses. even if i don't get married, you can wear these for any other occasion." jia told them and yunhee felt like tearing up at the image of the older girl getting married. "and yes, aerin, your dress is in that big box. it's a darker purple and has a different design that i thought you'd prefer."
"awesome!"
"are you sure you got my size, right?" yunhee asked.
"why don't you go try it on." jia suggested and aerin aggressively nodded her head.
"i'll be right back then."
yunhee entered one of the bathrooms and got dressed. she stared at herself in the small mirror, grinning at how pretty she looked. this was probably the first time in years that she finally felt that way and it was all thanks to jia.
she left the bathroom and walked into the living room where jia and aerin were waiting. they gasped, jumping out of their seats.
"it's lovely!" aerin exclaimed.
"i knew it would suit you so well." jia said, her hands clasped together.
"aerin, mum wanted to know if... woah." jeno stopped mid-sentence and paused in the middle of the room as he caught sight of yunhee in her dress. "you look beautiful."
"thanks, jeno."
"do a twirl, do a twirl!" aerin cheered as she smacked her hand underneath jeno's chin to close it.
yunhee lifted her arms a bit and twirled around the room, her dress flowing around her. when she came to a stop, she heard the girls clapping, but also a few others. she froze when she saw that mark and renjun were also watching. she suddenly felt embarrassed under all the eyes.
"you look amazing, yunhee." renjun complimented.
"so awesome..." mark said.
"thanks, guys." she mumbled, averting her eyes to the floor. she spun around, dizzily, feeling everyone's eyes following her. "i'll go change."
she ran back into the bathroom, nearly tripping around the corner then accidentally slammed the door shut. she rested her back against the door placed her hands on her warm cheeks.
"why am i burning?" she whispered.
after a few moments of thinking and cooling down, yunhee took off the dress, folded it and put it back into the box. she then returned to the living room and picked up some presents from under the tree. she passed one each to all her friends then took a seat, waiting for them to open the presents.
renjun was first to open his which was a set of quite expensive coloured pens that he had wanted for years.
"no way!"
"i know how much you love drawing so i got those."
"i love it. thank you. this is yours." he handed her a box that had two romance books that he loved and he knew how much she loved romance as well as books.
mark opened his next which was a pair of shoes she thought he would need after taking note that he was always wearing the same pair. clearly, his aunt and uncle wouldn't do the shopping for him and he didn't want to spend so much of the money he had gotten from first year.
for yunhee, he had gifted her some headphones. she loved to listen to music but hated when there was loud noises, so he thought it would be nice for her to be able to listen to music without disruptions.
jeno's present was a watch because at the beginning of the school year, yunhee's and chenle's cat had snatched his old one from him and destroyed it completely. his present to her was a marshmallow plushie with a cute face. he also had one.
aerin's present was a copy of the cinderella book that yunhee had promised to tell her about in fourth year but forgot to.
and finally, jia's was different types of jewellery that yunhee had noticed she had taken a liking to when they went shopping in a muggle shopping centre once.
everyone was happy with their presents. everything was going so well, but it was getting late and yunhee couldn't stop yawning. her lack of sleep and poor health due to it was evident to everyone.
"you should go sleep." jeno told her. "we'll be quiet so we won't wake you."
"no. i'm fine. i can stay up for a little longer." she said, covering her mouth to yawn again. "and chenle isn't even here yet."
"you're exhausted. we'll all still be here in the morning and i doubt chenle is coming now. so go on."
"okay... good night." she waved goodbye then went up to bed in aerin's room.
for once, yunhee slept with no dreams. it was a peaceful sleep, but while her sleep may have been peaceful, the reality around her was not. around an hour later, she was awoken by scorching flames and fumes surrounding her.
she fell out of the bed and ran out the door. just as she was about to run down the stairs, black smoke flew past her, breaking the stairs.
"death eaters." she gasped, taking a step back. but the flames behind her were drawing closer and the only thing she could do was go forwards. the broken parts of the stairs made her hesitate.
"YUNHEE!" she heard renjun's voice.
"renjun! i'm here!" she yelled back and he appeared by the stairs.
"yunhee! the death eaters found us!"
"i know. what do i do? the stairs are broken." she said, blocking her nose with her sleeve.
"you have to jump."
"i can't!"
"trust me! you can do it." he told her, nodding his head at her. she nodded back and with quick steps she jumped to where he was, stumbling into him as he held his hands out to steady her.
"i got you." he said, holding her as the place she was just at erupted into flames. "let's go."
they rushed down the stairs, trying their best to avoid the flames and holding their sleeves against their noses to block out the fumes. they could see the front door not too far from them but as they advanced towards it, wood from the floor above crashed in front of them.
"watch out!" renjun yelled, dragging yunhee back by the arms but the wood skimmed her leg, burning it slightly. not enough to do much harm but it was painful.
she fell to the floor and renjun dropped next to her, wrapping his arms around her. they backed into a corner, trying to escape the flames that were beginning to surround them.
"jun, i'm scared." yunhee whispered, burrowing herself like a badger in his arms and chest.
"i'm going to get us out of here." he said, glancing around the house. he set eye on a gap towards the back door through the kitchen and urged her to stand up. "block your nose, yun. let's go."
she followed him, running towards the back door and just as she reached out to open it, he latched onto her hand. he rolled down his sleeve to cover his hand to protect it from the heat then twisted the door knob. they hurried outside, coughing harshly as they could finally breathe in the fresh air.
"are you okay?" renjun asked, placing his hands on her neck as she squinted her eyes and scrunched her nose that were irritated by the fumes.
"i am." she nodded.
"let me go!" they could hear mark yelling from the front of the house. "she's still in there! yunhee is still in there!"
"renjun is too!" jeno cried, fighting against the adults who were holding them back. aerin and jia watched in horror as the house was destroyed in the fire. anyone else in there would not survive at all.
"please! they're in there!" mark cried as remus held onto him. it reminded him even more of the day sirius died. how he was crying out for him while he was being held back by remus. he didn't want to lose anyone else to those death eaters. he couldn't stand it.
"mark! jeno!" renjun yelled as he and yunhee hurried over to them to stop the two from doing something stupid.
"we're here!" yunhee exclaimed. she held onto mark as tears streamed down his face. "i'm here."
he stared back at her covered in black soot and the small scratches littering her face before crying again. she pulled him into her arms, rubbing the back of his head then reached out to jeno and renjun, pulling them into the hug too.
"we're alright, we're alright." renjun repeated, sobbing as well.
there was a sudden crack sound from behind them and everyone dispersed, pulling out their wands.
"it's me!" chenle's voice followed the crack. he was with his mother and they were both a mess just like everyone else. he glanced over at jeno's house and squeezed his eyes shut. "i'm too late."
"chenle." yunhee rushed over to him, taking in his torn clothes and bloody eye. "what happened?!"
"same as you. the death eaters... they attacked us. our house is gone too and — and they... took dad."
he could barely speak and yunhee took him into his arms, rubbing circles on his back. at this point, everyone was crying and traumatised from what had just taken place. their joyful christmas had quickly taken a turn for the worst.
"we'll get him back. i promise."