Crap. I'm late.
I speed up a bit, feeling the wind whipping through my hair. I smile, shifting my weight on the seat of my month-old red scooter. I'd bought it despite TaeKyung's complaints about how unnecessary it was. I loved it. It was adorably cute to me. Nowadays, I took it everywhere. I never even used my car unless it was too far a distance to ride my scooter.
It was snowy, so I had to tell myself to slow down. Christmas lights everywhere on the shope around me sparkled in the dark night. I smile, but then frowned. I had not thought of anything to do for ShinWoo or the others.
Red Light.
I slow to a stop. I sigh, wondering what I should do. Maybe MiNyu and I should do something together for the guys. But I'd still have to do something personal for ShinWoo. After all, he was my boyfriend.
I laughed.
It was odd still, to call him that even after being with him officially for a year now. One year since the real MiNam came back. One year since I'd come back from America. This year had been full of blissful happy moments for us all. Even Nobu seemed to be doing good. Of course, I couldn't get in touch with him. Every time I tried, he was busy. It's no surprise. He's top of the chart with his albums now, right under A..
I sighed. It would be good to talk to him. I'd missed him. But it couldn't be helped.
I casually glance to the side of me. A bright neon sign in the shape of a diamond caught my eye. Through the front window I saw the beautiful displays of jewelry glittering under the lights. I notice an engagement ring right in the front of the window. I frown at the thought of the words engagement and marriage.
I shake my head. I shouldn't even be thinking these things. ShinWoo and I had only been together about a year. I shouldn't be expecting as much from him. He wasn't ready. I didn't think I was either. Still, the feel of an engagement ring on my finger was a good feeling.
I snapped out of my thoughts as a loud car horn honked behind me. The light was green. I started my scooter up and went home.
"Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot!" MiNyu shouted loudly as she clumsily pulled the tray of fresh hot cupcakes from the oven.
"Oh, careful!" I say as she nearly misses the counter and drops the tray. Luckily, the tray makes it to the counter and the cupcakes remain unharmed. We both sigh in relief. Then, we laugh. I go back to sprinkling green crystal sprinkles onto the Christmas tree cake in front of me.
"I'm so glad you thought of this,' MiNyu laughed. "The guys will love this. Especially my Oppa and Jeremy!"
"Yeah, and thanks to Manager Ma, they won't be home for maybe another five hours," I laughed. "It gives us time to hang out just as girls. We don't do that a lot anymore."
"Yeah, cause your schedule is pretty tight too, sunbae," MiNyu smiled at me. I smiled back.
"I made President Ahn let me take today and tomorrow off," I smirked.
MiNyu nodded, "Good. It is Christmas Eve tonight after all."
I finish with the green sprinkles. I clap my hands together.
"Time to decorate the cake! Come on MiNyu, while the cupcakes cool down," I say. She runs over. Both of us take handfuls of the different candies and treats in small dishes beside the cake. M&M's, Chocolates, Gummy candies, and more sprinkles.
"Oh, put a red M&M here," MiNyu suggests. I poke one onto the spot. We both smile.
After the cake was done, it looked a bit cluttered with all the candy, but in a good way. Next, we moved onto the cupcakes. Armed with more Christmas-themed sprinkles and lots of different flavors of icing, we went straight to decorating our twenty or so cupcakes.
After the cupcakes, MiNyu got the idea of making cutouts from many pieces of fruit. We cut up big pieces of watermelon and pineapple. Then, we used cookie stencils in the shape of stars and Christmas trees to cut out pieces from the fruits. We threw them into a bowl, adding strawberries, grapes, and chunks of cantaloupe and dew melon. The colors mixed in lovely.
"Ah, the cookies!" MiNyu dove for the oven. I stopped her.
"Let me get the cookies this time," I laugh. She grins and hands me the ovenmit. I pull our the typical chocolate-chip cookies and lay them on the counter. Slowly, I peeled them from the tray and place them onto a large serving plate.
MiNyu and I smiled at each other as we stepped back to examine our work. Tons of cutely decorated cupcakes; a cake; a fruit bowl; and cookies. And it had only taken us, what? About half the day? I was exhausted.
"I'm going to go shower and change into something before the guys get home," I tell MiNyu.
"Me too. I'll use TaeKyung's bathroom," MiNyu replies. We both high-five before giggling and going off to shower.
"I'm exhausted," Jeremy groaned. "I hate working on Christmas Eve."
"We work every day all day," TaeKyung reminded him.
ShinWoo smiled, "Even still, it's tiring."
TaeKyung opens the door and everybody steps in. An immediate wave of baked goods and sugar enters their noses. Jeremy sniffs the air and grins, his bad mood gone at the smell of food. TaeKyung knits his brows together. ShinWoo pulls off his heavy jacket and hangs it up. MiNam hangs up his own jacket and yanws.
"Noona! MiNyu!" Jeremy takes off to the kitchen, leaving his jacket in a heap on the ground.
"Hey, sis!" MiNam runs off as well, leaving his jacket in the same condition as Jeremy's.
TaeKyung rolled his eyes, but didn't pick either jacket up. ShinWoo sighed and picked them up and hung them in the closet. Leave it to him to be the grown up here.
"Surprise!" MiNyu and Aimee shout in unison as the guys step into the kitchen. It smelled like pure sweetness in here. ShinWoo looked around at the colorful display of cakes, cookies, cupcakes, and fruits laid out on the counter. He hadn't even noticed the Christmas lights strung everywhere on the walls. He peeked into the living room and found a lovingly decorated Christmas tree, standing proud and tall.
"Wow, you guys did all this on your own?" ShinWoo asked. Aimee grinned at him.
"Of course, no thanks to you all," she jokes. MiNyu smiles.
"Sunbae is just joking. It was really a lot of fun," she says. Aimee throws an arm around her shoulder. Everybody grins.
"Let's dig in then!" Jeremy throws his arms up happily. Everyone does so. ShinWoo grinned, marveling at the star-shaped pineapples and the cluttered cake topped with maybe a million M&M's and chocolates.
"Here, TaeKyung," MiNyu hands TaeKyung a small bowl of the fruits. He crosses his arms.
"Go MiNyu," he says, feigning grumpiness once again. "I'm tired, don't you know? My arms have been playing guitar all day. Feed it to me."
He opens his mouth. MiNyu glances around nervously. Everyone looks away, pretending not to notice TaeKyung's odd way of getting close to MiNyu. ShinWoo smirks. TaeKyung may just never grow up. He saw Aimee coming towards him, a plate of cookies in her hand.
"Am I going to have to feed you too?" she teased. He smirked.
"Only if you want to," he puts an arm around her shoulders. She nuzzled into his side. ShinWoo placed a kiss on the top of her head. He loved her so much. Sure, sometimes they still disagreed and she was still able to make him angry sometimes, but for the most part, he loved her. And most of all, he knew she loved him too. They'd been through so much together.
Suddenly, ShinWoo noticed Aimee was spacing out and staring at her hand. He waited for her to come back to her senses, but when she didn't, he called her name softly. She jumped.
"Oh, hi," she forced a grin. ShinWoo laughed at how dorky she was.
"What were you thinking about?" he asked.
Aimee blushed, "Nothing."
"Liar," he smiled at her. "Tell me."
Instead of answering him, Aimee picked up a cookie and stuck it into ShinWoo's mouth. Then, she walked away with a red face. ShinWoo took the cookie and grinned, shaking his head at his girlfriend. How strange she could be sometimes.
"I'm going out to grab some more drinks," I said, pulling on my thick leather jacket. My face was still red. I'd been spacing out, staring at my hand. I kept wondering what it would look like to have a ring on that one finger. I was too embarrassed to tell ShinWoo. So I was using the fact that we were out of soda to leave the house a while.
"I'll go with you," ShinWoo offered. I forced a smile.
"I can manage to carry a couple liters of soda on my own," I joke, though in truth I just wanted to be alone a while. He smiled at me and backed off. I grabbed the keys to my scooter and went out the door.
After buying a couple more two-liters of soda, I headed back towards home. I stopped at a red light, and realized it was the same red light I'd stopped at before. I looked to my side, and of course, there was the jewelry store. I tilted my head at it.
Should I go in?
Despite my better judgment, I pulled closer to the curve and parked my scooter. I'd only be a while. Just glancing around. Nothing too big. No harm in just looking.
"Welcome!" I hear as soon as I walk through the door. Behind the counter stood a plump middle-aged man with a bright smile and a retreating hairline. I smile back at him.
"What can I do for you today, miss?" the man asked me.
"I'm just looking around," I tell him.
"A pretty young girl like you must have a boyfriend," he looks at me. "Looking for a ring, perhaps? I've got a nice display over here."
I bite my lip, not wanting to see, but I follow him anyways. I stare at the different selections of rings. Wedding bands; promise rings; engagement rings…all were here. I smiled at them. I was just about to walk away and say I wasn't interested when one ring suddenly caught my eye. It was beautiful, with a single large princess-cut stone glistening in the middle of other smaller diamonds on a band of white gold. The man behind the counter noticed me staring and grinned.
"Do you want to see that one?" he asked me. I looked up at him. His sincere smile made me smile back. I nodded slowly. He quickly took the ring out and placed it on the glass counter in front of me. He explained to me the different qualities of the ring, how much it cost, how long the warranty was; and so on.
"What's your ring size?" he asked me.
"I have no idea," I have to laugh. He smiles.
"No problem, I got a sizer here," he replies, pulling out a long chain of many different-sized rings. After trying them on for my size, I found I was a seven. The man grinned.
"This ring must be made for you," he said.
"Why do you say that?" I asked him. He gestures to the ring.
"This is the last in stock. It's a size seven," he says. "Want to try it on?"
"Maybe I shouldn't…" I blush.
"Come on, there's no harm in just trying it on right?" the man insisted. I couldn't help but smirk. It was a beautiful ring. I stuck out my left hand. The man slipped the ring onto my ring finger. It fit perfectly. I stared at my hand. Somehow, the ring looked all the more beautiful now that it was on my hand. I shook my head. I took the ring off quickly and handed it back to the man.
"You don't like the ring?" the man asked, sounding disappointed.
"No, it's not that," I chuckle. "It's just…my boyfriend hasn't exactly proposed to me yet. I'm here looking on my own out of curiosity."
The man laughed lightly, "I see. That's okay. Would you want me to hold the ring for you then?"
"No, that would be a crime," I chuckle. "I don't think I'm getting married anytime soon. I should just let some other lucky girl take that ring with her. Thank you for showing me, though."
"No problem, miss," the man nodded.
I quickly went back out to my scooter. But when I looked up, I saw someone that was extremely familiar. My heart stopped as I saw him. He looked back at me, blinking strangely as if he had no idea who I was. Even in his beanie and dark glasses, I recognized him. Slowly, he slipped off his glasses and blinked at me. Then, he grinned.
"N-nobu!"
Author's Note: Awww. Hehe. -gasp- Nobu! -tackles- Don't you guys miss him too? =DD