Chapter 6

The next morning Yona woke up feeling refreshed and excited to start getting to enjoy the holidays with some newfound downtime.

Heading over to her closet she pulled out her favourite old light pink sweater, her softest pair of blue jeans and some long black socks she could fold over the top of her ankle boots to keep them from rubbing, as she planned to do quite a bit of walking around.

After brushing her teeth and detangling her hair from the birds nest it had made itself into over night, she finally put on her favourite tassel earrings that she wore everyday and quickly shoved the small piece of cloth holding her tiny treasure into her bag before heading downstairs to join everyone for breakfast.

Unsurprisingly, everyone else was already up and eating, little Tae-Yun with a bowl of some sort of cereal, Mundok with a simple cup of morning coffee – black as ink and hot as hell, just the way he liked it – and Hak raiding the fruit bowl.

Noticing her making her way down the stairs, he tossed her an apple with a quick "Here, catch", while he ate some mango he had sliced up, over the sink.

"Thanks" she replied, catching it before sitting down at the table to eat while pouring herself a glass of milk and some of whatever cereal it was that Tae-Yun was having.

"Hey, Hak" she asked, in between mouthfuls.

"Yeah?"

"Think you could give me a ride into town today so I can get started on my Christmas shopping? We've only got a few days left and its probably already a zoo, so I wanted to try and head out early" she said casually, throwing on her best smile in the hopes that he was in a good enough mood to not complain about taxiing her around.

"Sure" he replied, grabbing another mango. "I got my own list I need to get started on before Hang-Dae and Tae-Woo get here and won't give me a moments peace and quiet" he sighed, leaning against the counter and running his finger through his hair, already looking exhausted at the mere thought.

Those two loved making Hak's life busy, that was for sure. Always begging him to teach them more weapons training or to take them places or do this that and the other. He loved to pretend that it was a real pain, but she knew he actually liked it, as tiring as it was. They were family and he would do anything for them, just like he would for anyone else close to him.

Giggling at his dramatics over his supposed impending doom, Yona finished her breakfast and put away her stuff before heading over to wait by the door.

Noticing she was already ready to go, Hak simply finished off his own breakfast, called out a quick "gimme five minutes" before jogging upstairs, presumably to grab his jacket and find his keys.

Moments later the sound of his heavy footsteps could be heard thudding down the stairs as he made his way over to the door and slipped on his shoes, taking the time to ruffle her just brushed hair before heading out the door and over to his car.

Soon they were both on their way out of the gravel driveway and onto the main road into town.

"Anywhere you need to go in particular, or are we just gonna divide and conquer and just set up a meeting time?" Hak asked as they started to drive by the first few stores in search for somewhere to park.

"The latter. I have some idea for a few people already, but not everyone" she replied.

"Why don't we meet up at the fountain in the centre of town in about. . . two hours let's say? And see where we want to go from there".

"Sounds like a plan" she said with s smile.

After wandering around for a few more minutes until they were able to find a place to park, Yona and Hak split up in search of gifts for the friends and family, wishing each other a quick good luck before setting off.

Yona had an idea of what places she wanted to go, so to start off what was sure to be a long day, she headed straight for the jewellers, knowing that what she had in mind would probably take a few hours before it was done.

Greeted by a soft ringing from the bell above as she opened the door, Yona walked up to the counter and was about to call out if anyone was there, before a small elderly man made his was over to greet her.

"What can I do for you today miss?" he asked with a warm smile.

"I have a small project in mind and I was hoping you might be able to help me out, the only problem is I kinda need it done in time for Christmas. . . do you think it could be done it time?" she asked rather sheepishly, knowing that was a lot to ask for on such short notice.

At her look of nervousness and evident worry that she was going to be out of luck, the old man simple chuckled and patted the top of her hand.

"I'm sure it can be done in time, this old man has more than a few tricks up his sleeve by now so as long as you know what you want for this project of yours, I'm sure I can make it happen" he said kindly.

With a sigh of relief and a grateful smile in return, Yona fished around in her bag for her small piece of cloth and started to explain what she had in mind.

{*****}

Rubbing his hands together and blowing on them in a vain attempt at returning some feeling back into his fingers, Hak eventually gave up simply shoved his hands back into his pockets so they'd at least be out of the wind.

While he wasn't especially averse to the cold, having grown up in the mountains, he still preferred a sunny afternoon to a chilly morning breeze any day.

Fishing his phone out from his jean pocket he checked the time and groaned internally.

He had already wasted an hour wandering around, and while he had covered most people on his list his still hadn't managed to find anything for Yona.

Everyone else was so easy in his mind.

Yun was always complaining that everyone in the house always ruined his kitchen utensils when they tried to cook for themselves, so he had gotten him a few replacements for some of the things that had seen better days.

Jae-ha and simply mentioned he needed some good new headphones and Zeno liked anything that was edible (preferably sweet).

Shin-ah was always going around and taking pictures of everything, so he'd just gotten him another SD he could use (as most of his were constantly full because he forgot to clear them once he had saved everything to his computer).

Kija was by far the easiest, and he just picked up some bug repellant for the white snake's incessant insectophobia, while Gramps had mentioned he needed a new whetting stone to sharpen the weapons he kept in his collection.

As for Tae-woo and Hang-dae, they had messaged him saying they didn't want anything for Christmas as long as he promised to finally teach them how to twirl a pole arm correctly and little Tae-Yun had simply asked for a new scarf.

So why on earth was Yona so difficult to buy for?

After she had lost her father, she'd lost interested in a lot of the more girly things she had liked before like new dresses and jewelry. Instead she had become obsessed with becoming stronger, both physically and mentally so she could survive on her own – Not that she needed to though as he had told her time and time again that he would stay by her side, yet it had always made him proud to see her progress as a person.

No longer the carefree girl who got everything she wanted on a whim by her father, now all that was left was the person she always had the potential to be.

Strong, independent, hardworking, yet still as kind and sweet as ever.

The only problem he had with this was that now he didn't know what to do! She didn't ever complain anymore, often way too consumed in helping those around her to think to ask for anything for herself and while this was admirable, it didn't exactly help him at the moment.

He had considered maybe getting her something more practical like a new notebook or something along those lines but after such a hard year he had wanted to get her something that she could have fun with.

Something that would remind her to take time for herself every now and then.

He checked his phone again.

Shoot he had lost track of time again! He'd have to meet up with Yona by the fountain again in just over half an hour now.

Just as he was sure he was going to be shit out of luck and would have to try again tomorrow with the hope that inspiration would somehow hit him between now and then, he passed by the window of yet another store when something caught his eye.

He stopped in his tracks, smiled to himself, and went into the shop, greeted by the store owner as he made his way over to what had caught his eye.

{*****}

By the time two hours had gone by Yona was feeling quite chuffed with herself, having managed to get gifts for everyone on her list. It was a good thing she had thought about most of them beforehand to save herself time because by now it was reaching peak hour when everyone was coming into town to grab lunch and do their own last minute shopping.

It was still a few minutes before Hak was supposed to meet up with her, so she had made her way over to sit on the edge of the fountain, now covered in a thin sheet of frost and ice as she went through her bags to make sure she hadn't missed anyone.

Once she was satisfied that no one had been forgotten she reached into the smallest bag that she had put inside one of the larger ones and checked the contents inside.

This was the gift she was most nervous about, but she couldn't worry about it now. The elderly man from the shop had done a marvellous job and she was surprised how well it turned out. He had even given her new ideas here and there making the final product even better than what she had first imagined.

After checking it was still safe and sound within its small wooden box, she gently closed the lid and hid it beneath the rest of the contents within the larger bag, and no sooner than she had did she look up to see Hak making his was over towards her with his own bags in tow.

"Got everyone accounted for then?" He said, gesturing to her pile of gifts.

"Yup! Just in time too, its starting to get really busy, good thing this isn't a larger town otherwise the stores would have been ridiculously packed at this time of year."

"You can say that again. Come on, if we're all good let's dump our stuff back in the car and find somewhere to eat, I'm starving."

"You had breakfast only a few hours ago!" She said with a small laugh as she nudged him in the side.

"Correction, I had two pieces of fruit two hours ago, that is not breakfast, now hurry up, will you?"

"Yeah, yeah" she replied flippantly as she jogged a few paces to catch up.

After dropping everything off in the back of the car, they headed over to the small café on the south side of town that was there usual go to whenever they were back home.

It was a quiet place that sat just on the edge of the street in front of where the small kids' playground lay in the park.

Usually they'd sip their drinks outside on one of the park benches but after being buffeted by the cold winter wind for long enough they both decided they'd much rather prefer to have their drinks inside for once.

Yona ordered first, grabbing herself a hot chocolate and a warm ginger cookie and made her way to the upstairs where there was a small area to sit and grab themselves a table while Hak got his own food.

Luckily, there weren't too many people there yet and she managed to grab a small table in the corner that sat beside one of the large windows overlooking the park.

It wasn't long after she had sat down and was already half way though her cookie that she heard the sound of Hak coming up the stairs to join her, His own drink in tow along with some sort of muffin.

"So, what's the plan once we get back home? Tae-woo and Hang-dae should be back there sometime soon, any particular plan of action?" she asked teasingly as he sat down across from her and started eating his snack.

"The plan is to give them a task and hope they don't notice me slipping away while they're distracted" he said, lazily.

"Don't be mean, I know you actually love it when they come over to visit"

"I'd love it a lot more of they didn't still ask for piggy back rides despite not being that much younger" he groaned.

"fair enough. Let's just hope they don't cause too much noise around the house with their antics otherwise Mundok will beat us all out of the house" she giggled.

"You got that right" he chuckled, quite used to getting into more than just your regular argument with Mundok when he was younger, often getting his ass kicked for mouthing off.

Not that it had really changed much over the years if she were honest.

It didn't matter either way, she was excited to be surrounded by her friends and the people who were her self-made family. It had been a tough year and being with everyone put her heart at ease in a way she didn't even realise she needed, though she did wish her roommates were around to celebrate with them as well.

They were as much family to her as any of the others were and she felt so lucky to have met each and every one of them.

"I gotta say, it might be freezing outside right now but sitting by this window all warm while looking outside, it sure its beautiful when everything is covered in ice" Hak said, interrupting her thoughts.

"It sure is" she replied, after taking a last sip of her hot chocolate as her hands stayed warm against he still hot sides of the cup.

They stayed there for awhile, listening to the wind howl outside the window and throw crystals of ice into the air, watching shoppers make their trips up and down the sidewalk below.

After finishing off his own drink, Hak stretched in his seat before standing up and throwing away their trash as Yona grabbed her purse from the table.

Together they made the long trek back to the car, so they could head home and start wrapping their gifts for everyone to put under the tree so that they could relax, having finished everything on their to-do list for the day.

The ride home wasn't very long, but they took their time as they turned up the radio and enjoyed the view of the passing mountainside views.

Back at school was pretty flat in terms of landscape so it was always nice to come back to the mountains and breath the fresh air from the North.

It had just gone 2:00 by the time they pulled into the driveway beside Mundok's car and made their way to the front door, arms loaded with bags.

Both of them headed straight upstairs to their rooms to get started on wrapping presents or finding places to hide stuff in the mean time, but before they could they were both pulled apart as two sets of hands found their way around each of their arms.

"Lena! Hak! You guys are back! We're were you we've been waiting for ages, come on let us help you guys bring your bags upstairs so we can go have fun!" said an enthusiastic Hang-Dae.

It had been a while since she'd heard anyone call her Lena and it made her laugh a little in surprise.

The first time she had met the two boys, they had misheard her name and had called her Lena for about two days before she finally thought to correct them. From then on, the nickname had simply stuck.

"Hey guys! We were just out getting our Christmas shopping done, give us a sec to put this stuff away and we'll meet you downstairs to catch up."

"Fine, but don't take too long, we're been bored waiting around while Gramps keeps telling us to help decorate around the house" said Tae-woo as he led a still smiling Hang-Dae back to the living room.

"And so, it begins" she heard Hak mumble as they both made their way inside their rooms.

{*****)

Once they had finished, true to their word, both Hak and Yona made their way downstairs to catch up with Hak's cousins.

However, it wasn't long before they both wished they very much hadn't.

"So! Are you guys dating yet now that your both at the same university? It seems like you've been with each other all the time since forever, now" asked Hang-Dae with a sly grin.

Neither of them knew what to say at first, as they both had to severely concentrate on not blushing or stuttering their response.

Lucky for Yona, Hak found his composure first.

"Knock it off you two, we only just get home, and this is what we have to deal with?" he said, annoyance clear in his voice.

"Oh, come one Hak, we're just curious. Most people would have been wondering the same thing by now if they'd known you guys as long as we have" said Tae-woo.

"Ya, well you can keep your curiosity to yourselves and stop sticking your noses into other people's business."

"Fine, fine, but we're watching you two just so you know, you're friend Jae-ha made a bet with us about it and we plan on winning."

Yona could practically see the vein on Hak's forehead pop at that.

"Damn Droopy Eyes, you're lucky you are kilometers away from my fist being in reach of your pretty little face right now" he muttered darkly under his breath.

Internally both Yona and Hak signed unbeknownst to the other.

This holiday might end up being less relaxing and more interesting if this is where the conversations kept going.

{*****}

Hey guys! thank you so much for being patient with me again, I really appreciate it!

Bet you can guess what Yona's present for Hak is buy now right? Ah well, I'm having fun with this story either way, the real thing I'm interested in is if you guys already know what Hak found for Yona.

Reminder that reviews and criticisms of all kind are always welcome. It's always so lovely whenever I get an email saying one of you guys has left me a comment.

Hopefully, this week will be less busy so I can have the next chapter out in time for the following weekend. Thank you for reading this far and I hope not to let you all down.