the weather slowly became colder with every day to come, the nights turned longer and dipped the icy world into the darkness of winter. they were nearing the end of the year which meant debut was closing in as well. every day kang joon was training, in attempt to close the gap in skill between him and the other, younger members, so that he forgot about his surroundings. his special training schedule ate up most of his time and since he was basically commuting between the royal entertainment building and dorms every day, meeting up with friends or fellow trainees at seocho was rather hard right now. so he was glad that he got to meet some friendly faces around the royal garden which included soohyun as well.
when he heard her familiar voice in a long, he turned around immediately, beaming his usual charismatic smile at the shorter trainee. it surprised him a little to receive a christmas present that early, but he guessed it was hard to catch someone even within one company. sometimes busy schedules could make things more complicated than they should be. “oh? i didn’t even get to go shopping yet.” his lips curled up into a smile, when he noticed her admiring gaze. it was cute as always, even when he still didn’t felt that it was earned.
“handmade? wow! thanks a lot for putting so much work and love into this for me.” for a moment he hesitated to open the box, since it wasn’t christmas yet, but he supposed she wanted to see his reaction, so he did anyway. “a handmade pullover? you are so skillful! i feel so loved! i’ll make sure to wear it a lot, so it can enhance my visuals.” he sung back, before pulling her into a hug without even thinking about possible consequences. kang joon was simply a friendly guy who didn’t cared much about old conventions. as he lets her go, he tilted his head, looking questioning at soohyun. “what do you want from me then? i’m not good with handmade stuff, but i’ll make sure to make you happy with my present.“
skillful...more like poor, but hearing the word skillful makes her feel less insecure. she’s been trying to recover from her trips and plus she wanted to record her song professionally. paying someone to polish it up and things, all done in secret. soohyun was a bit tight on cash, but she always gave from the heart. she feels presents mean more if they’re made with good thoughts and intentions. seeing kangjoon smile at her gift and her hard work was paid off in that moment.
“yes, a handmade pullover.. you know i’m your biggest fan so i had to gift you first!” soohyun smiles at kangjoon and she immediately starts blushing because he’s hugging her. it’s not like they haven’t before but this felt like it was out of a drama, so her heart was beating wildly. soohyun was taken sure, but kangjoon was initially one of her many crushes in her early years at royal. he was always so handsome and kind to her. she hasn’t seen him in a good minute, it seems it was hard to catch a lot of her old friends at royal. that.. was suspicious but she doesn’t want to pry in case it was something she wasn’t supposed to know.
“oh! you don’t have to give me anything you know that! i just wanted to make you happy this holiday season, that smile was really enough.” soohyun shyly insists to the older boy and tucks her hair behind her ears.
she clears her throat, “besides i’m so happy to see you i feel like i haven’t seen you in forever!”