"Santa’s not real! There, I said it!"
It was an honest mistake, really, but Kwangmin should have known better.
At about nine in the morning, the young shaman received a text from the childcare centre he was working at. The worker who was meant to dress up as Santa for this kids had fallen sick and they had to find a replacement as soon as possible. Kwangmin couldn’t do it, having been put in charge of preparing the food for the children and the staff. However, his friend whom he just so happened to be having breakfast with wasn’t so lucky.
"Are you fucking kidding me," was the first thing Tox said upon arriving at the childcare centre.
"Not really," Kwangmin said, smiling at the kids as he led the both of them to the staff room.
"You said that we were going to do something fun. How the fuck is this,” Tox gestured wildly to the screaming children around them, hands greasy with god knows what and faces grimy with god knows what, “fun?”
Kwangmin frowned, disapproving of the other’s choice of language, especially around the children, but he doesn’t say anything. After all, he is trying to get a favor out of the elder. “Come on, it’ll be over before you know it.”
"Why can’t you do it?"
"Because," Kwangmin sighed, "I’m in charge of the food."
"I’ll be in charge of the food."
"We all know that that’s not ideal."
Kwangmin could see that Tox was already losing his patience. It was like everything was happening in slow motion - the other’s ears slowly turning red, features pulled tight into a frown, lips pulled back into a nasty snarl before—
"This is fucking stupid, Kwangmin! All of this! If you think I’ll be some fucking Santa or something you can forget it. These kids don’t need a damn Santa! Santa’s not real! There, I said it!"
The whole room fell silent. The kids, whom Kwangmin could never get to shut up on any other occasion were terrifyingly quiet. Then, a sob broke out somewhere. And like a wave of chaos, all the children in the room began to break out into tears.
It was an honest mistake, really, but Kwangmin should have known better.