17 | Twenty-Four
Eunha sighs, sitting on the couch all by herself as she turns on the TV.
She's alone on Christmas Eve aka the evening before her birthday.
"I knew that it was all too good to be true. He left without saying anything", she mutters bitterly. Wonwoo left her without saying anything for almost a week and her sending the staff off to their families for the holidays, she was left all alone in a giant penthouse. Eunha sighs sadly, slumping into the couch.
"How sad is that? I-I'm alone on Christmas E-Eve", she hiccups, her cheeks red. Her arms are slung around someone's neck as he carries her.
"How many drinks did you have?", he asks, his breath visible in the cold air.
"Six and a half, cutie", she giggles, clearly drunk. "And w-where are we going? Back to your place?"
She hears the boy sigh, shaking his head. "No, we're going back to Wonwoo's place. This is Seungcheol, Eunha."
"Oooh, hi Seungcheol", she giggles again, resting her head on his back happily.
"I'm never letting you near drinks"
"Why? It t-takes away all o-of my problems"
"Seungcheol", Eunha murmurs, clearly still sleeping. "Are you still there?"
She hears movement in front of her, a soft grunt leaving his lips as he's on his knees.
"Where were you?", he asks softly.
"I was out...out drinking", she replies tiredly.
"Why? I thought you hated drinking?"
"I do", she hiccups. "But it help with the pain"
"What pain? Are you hurting?"
Eunha nods slowly, wincing. "My heart. I-It hurts"
"Is someone hurting your heart?", he asks, pain present in his voice as he takes her hand softly. She nods again.
"M-My fiancé...he left me. He ran away without telling me and it hurts. He doesn't even love me", she mumbles. "He left me alone on Christmas a-and my birthday"
"He did, didn't he", he says in front of her sadly, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Eunha nods, scrunching her face.
"He did and it hurts...it hurts a lot. It hurts knowing that he doesn't love me...he loves another girl", a tear slips her closes eyes, landing on the couch. "He doesn't love me...he doesn't love me even though I'm trying", she hiccups, still asleep. The boy stays silent, wiping her tears away from her face.
"But it's fine...it's good that he left", she whispers, falling back into her deep sleep.
"And why is that?", he asks.
"Because I think I'm in love with him...", she murmurs. "But I don't want to fall for him anymore...", is the last thing she says before drifting back into slumber.
☼☽
Eunha wakes up in her bed, noticing that she's still in the same red sweater she was in yesterday as her head ringing with noise.
"Hangover", she moans, holding her heavy head in her hands. "I'm never gonna drink again", she puts on her slippers, lazily walking down the stairs. She smells chocolate coming from the kitchen, wondering why is smells like that as she walks into the room. She notices a plate of chocolate waffles with powdered sugar on top of it, strawberries on the side with hot chocolate as the drink. "Where did this come from?", she asks, becoming more alert. Eunha walks over to the table, noticing a small white post-it note next to it and picks it up.
"'Turn...around'?", she tilts her head, confused. Eunha does as read, turning around slowly.
"Merry Christmas"
"And happy birthday"
"Wonwoo...", she breathes out, throwing her arms around his neck and hugs him tighty. He brings his arms around her waist, burying his face in the crook of her neck.
"I'm sorry that I left...you must've been angry", he whispers, bringing Eunha closer to his body.
"Of course I was! I thought you'd leave me alone on my birthday!", she pulls back a little, her arms still around his neck. "Where were you?"
"I had a business trip this week and I really didn't want to tell you about it because I was afraid that you were gonna kill me. I was suppose to come back on Friday, but I was able to get a plane yesterday morning and so I'm here", he says quickly. Eunha presses her lips together, not sure if he's telling the truth or not.
He probably went to spend time with Minyoung.
"You don't believe me, huh?", Wonwoo smiles sadly. Eunha snaps out of her thoughts, shaking her head quickly.
"N-No! I believe you!", she says quickly. Wonwoo chuckles, his warm hand stroking her hair.
"You don't have to lie to me, I wouldn't believe me either. I went to New York for my business trip, I even bought you a snow globe there to prove my point", he says softly. Eunha nods, looking away from him.
"I forgive you", she sighs.
Wonwoo smiles at her slightly and lets go of her, his hand on her back and directs her to the food.
"Eat, I made it for you", he sits across from her, watching her pick up the fork.
"You made this? I'm probably gonna die from how bad it'll taste", Eunha rolls her eyes. Wonwoo clicks his tongue, leaning back in his chair and crosses his arms.
"Just eat it. I spent an hour on it"
Eunha mocks him, sticking out her tongue.
"Just eat it already", he cuts a piece of the waffle, shoving it in her mouth. She scrunches up her face at the sudden force before eating it, a smile crawling up to her face as her eyes light up.
"It's really good!", she exclaims, applauding him. "I'm surprised I'm not throwing up!"
Wonwoo scoffs, sneering. "You ungrateful little..."
☼☽
"Wonwoo!", Eunha sits down next to him, something also hidden behind her back. "I have something for you", she smiles. She hands a box nicely wrapped in dark blue wrapping paper with a white ribbon on top of it. "I hope you like it"
He looks at her in shock. "You... you got me a present?", he asks, looking at the box.
"Of course I did, it is Christmas after all", she giggles.
"But it's your birthday...the birthday girl doesn't need to give me presents", he frowns.
"But it's Christmas! Just open it!", she shoves him lightly. "Do it before I take it away from you"
Wonwoo rolls his eyes, untying the ribbon and rips off the wrapping paper. He opens up the white box, a smile forming on his face.
"It's the corgi", he chuckles. Wonwoo tilts his head, his eyes lighting up at the sight. "'King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table'", he smiles widely. "And what's this?", he looks up at Eunha, holding up a silver chain with two charms hanging down.
"I saw it on Amazon and thought of you. I made sure it was for males if it makes you feel better. But look!", she points at the charms. "It's a sword and a crown", she smiles. "That reminds me! Hold on", she runs up stairs.
Wonwoo tilts his head, a soft smile still resting on his face as he sees her run back down the stairs with something else behind her back.
"Close your eyes"
"Why?", he raises a brow.
"Just do what I say", she clicks her tongue. Wonwoo does as told, closes his eyes as he feels something rest on top of his head. "Open your eyes," she holds a mirror in front of him, "ta-da!"
Wonwoo looks in the mirror to see a plastic golden crown resting on top of his head, fake gems in the middle of it.
"Why did you give this to me?", he asks, putting down the mirror.
"Because you told me that you wanted to be a knight in shining armor", she taps the mirror on both of his shoulders. "I deem thee as Prince Wonwoo, my knight in shining armor", she tilts her head at him, smiling happily. "Merry Christmas!"
Wonwoo sighs airily, looking up at her with awe and joy. "Sit down, I need to get something", he stands up, running up the stairs. Going into his room, he picks up two boxes on his bedside table, running back down and sits next to Eunha.
"Merry Christmas", he hands her the box wrapped in silver wrapping paper, a light pink ribbon on top.
Eunha takes the box out of his hands and opens it slowly. Her eyes grow wide as she opens the light pink box, a smile on her face as tears form in her eyes. She remembers the necklace set that she adored so much, but it was too expensive for her to get.
"You got this for me? But it was so expensive", she looks up at him, smiling.
"Of course I did. You really liked them. So what if they were? I want you to have them. And", he hands her the smaller box, "happy birthday"
Eunha opens the second one, a small white box underneath it and opens that up. Her breath hitches, tears rolling down her cheeks as she touches the rings lightly.
"What's this?", she looks up at him, tears of joy falling from her eyes. Wonwoo looks at her, taking both rings out of its box and holds them with two hands.
"Promise rings. If we're going to be married, shouldn't we have something to signify that we are?", he asks softly, taking her hand. He slides the ring on her finger slowly, smiling down on the rings and caresses her hand with his thumb. He puts the ring on his finger, taking her hand again and holds it up with his. "Don't you think they look nice? Sorry that they aren't diamond, but I thought this suited us better", he sighs, admiring the matching rings on their fingers. Wonwoo turns back to Eunha, seeing that she was staring at him with a smile on her face, tears continuing to stream down her eyes.
"Don't cry", he smiles warmly, cupping her face with his hands and brushes away her tears.
"Thank you", she sighs happily, wrapping her arms around his neck and holds onto him. Eunha buries her face in the crook of his neck, continuing to whisper 'thank you' against his skin. Wonwoo feels his heart become warm and cheeks become dusty, wrapping his arms around her waist and embraces her, hiding his face in her shoulder. He strokes her hair, taking in her scent, her touch, her everything as a smile forms on his face in content.
"Thank you for staying with me", Wonwoo whispers, never wanting to let Eunha go.
☼☽
"Wonwoo, why are we here? Shouldn't we be spending Christmas at home?"
Wonwoo smiles, his heart becoming all fuzzy.
Not 'the penthouse' but home.
"We will, but close your eyes", he covers her eyes with his hand as he leads her into the building.
"You're kinda already doing that for me", she responds, rolling her eyes under his hands. "When are you going to remove your hands from my eyes?", she pouts after a couple of minutes.
"Just be patient. They'll be coming soon", he mumbles, standing on his toes and tries to look for them.
"'They'?", Eunha asks.
"Just wait— okay, open your eyes", he removes his hands from her eyes. Eunha opens her eyes slowly, her mouth slightly open as she sees the three people in front of her.
"J-Joshua...DK...Mom!", Eunha exclaims, wrapping all three of them in a hug.
"Aigoo...my baby", a petite woman in her mid-seventies says happily, stroking Eunha's hair.
"How did you guys get here?", Eunha asks.
"By a plane", Joshua responds, smiling mischieveously. Eunha hits him lightly, looking at her two best friends and adoptive mom.
"Seriously, how did you get here?", Eunha asks again.
"The man behind you made it possible", her mom nudges her head. Eunha tilts her head in confusion causing her mom to laugh. "My goodness my girl is stupid"
Eunha makes a face, knitting her eyebrows together and clearly still puzzled.
"She means Wonwoo, Eunha", DK smiles happily, running his hands through his brown hair. She turns around, looking at Wonwoo with disbelief as he slowly walks next to her, his hands in his brown trench-coats pockets.
"I thought that you should spend your birthday and Christmas with family. It was hard to get your friends contacts but it turns out that Jeonghan actually knew Joshua, so I got them here", Wonwoo says, clearing up any confusion as he looks at Eunha.
"You are really...really just full of surprises today"
"This Wonwoo is nice, right?", Ms. Lim asks Eunha. Eunha shrugs, walking up and hugs her mom from behind her. "He's handsome. I bet he spoils you. He seems really sweet—he tried so hard to get me here along with your friends from the US"
"He did, didn't he?", Eunha sighs, letting go of her mom and looks back at the boys sitting at the restaurant's table. "We should head back there", she smiles.
"Eunha, before we do," her mom stops her, grabbing her arm and whispers in a low voice, "I saw on the news that your brother was alive...have you confronted him yet?"
Eunha presses her lips together, smiling tightly. "I'll tell you later, but let's enjoy dinner. It is Christmas after all", she escorts her mom to the table, taking her seat next to Wonwoo and DK while her mom across from her and next to Joshua.
"It's so nice to finally meet you, Mr. Jeon", Ms. Lim smiles warmly at him, taking a sip from her tea.
"Nice to meet you too. But please call me Wonwoo, Ms. Lim", Wonwoo responds. Ms. Lim chuckles, putting down her tea as the waiter comes around and places their food in front of them.
"I'm happy that I got my Eunha to be set up with a nice guy"
Joshua and DK clear their throats loudly, Joshua taking a long sip of water and DK taking a bite of the meat. Eunha glares at her two friends while Wonwoo scratches the back of his head awkwardly, smilings sheepishly.
"I heard you're Eunha's friends from when she studied in the US", Wonwoo tries to make conversation with them.
"Yup", Joshua nods, popping the 'P'.
"I hope you'll treat our Eunha nicely", DK says, practically sending him the signal that if he breaks her heart, he'll break his face. Wonwoo nods his head warily, looking at Eunha worried. Eunha chuckles, interlocking her hand with his and smiles for reassurance.
"You guys should chill. You're acting like an older brother or something", Eunha turns back to her friends, looking at both of them as if she was scolding them.
"We practically are!", Joshua fires back, food still in his mouth.
"Oh my god you guys—"
Eunha freezes in her place, gulping as she stands up from her seat.
"Eunha, are you okay?", Wonwoo asks, looking up at her with worry. She doesn't respond but instead runs out of the restaurant and out into the streets. She reaches out to a familiar black jacket, spinning him around and looks at him.
"Taehyung"
"What do you want—"
"Eunha! Why did you leave all of a sudden?", Wonwoo runs up next to her, looking down at her. Taehyung's gaze diverts to Wonwoo, his eyes suddenly turning cold. The next thing that happens is unexpected:
Taehyung starts choking Wonwoo.
"L-Let go...please", Wonwoo manages to speak, panting heavily.
"You killed them!! You and your mother ruined my life!!", Taehyung screams in his face, tightening his grip.
"Please...", Wonwoo begs, trying to push his hands away from his neck.
"You killed Taehee and mom!!", Taehyung yells, tears filling his eyes. "My sister would've been 24!! She would've still been alive!!"
Eunha uses all the power she has and pushes Taehyung off of Wonwoo, holding Taehyung by the shoulders as her lips quiver.
"I'm alive! I-I'm here! I'm alive!! It's me! Kim Taehee", she pants, looking into his grey eyes. Taehyung looks at her with confusion, his eyes softening.
"There's no way..."
"I-I'm alive...Taehee is alive... B-But how did you end up like this? H-How..? Why are you like this?", she starts to cry, hitting her brother's chest and cries into his arms. Taehyung breathes heavily, gulping as he strokes her hair, hugging her tightly as he looks blankly into space.