Christmas
Christmas
"Already, it's Christmas..."
"Yeah..."
It had been just ten days since our end-of-semester exams ended, and we'd already gone on a ski trip together.
As usual, we were gathered at a quiet café, chatting away.
Then, out of nowhere, Jeong-hwan and Lee Min-ho let out huge sighs
and started worrying about Christmas.
I'd never seen anyone worry about Christmas before.
"It's just that it's the first time any of us are actually spending Christmas with a girlfriend."
"Right. I just can't figure out what I'm supposed to do differently from usual."
Something different from usual...
Is Christmas really that different?
Just meeting up, hanging out, eating, doing that kind of stuff too...
And isn't it normally the girls who plan the date course?
I didn't think Christmas was all that different.
"Isn't that kind of thing up to the girl to figure out?"
"There you go again, saying something dangerous. You can talk because A-ra is the picture of perfection."
"She's not that perfect... she has her airheaded moments too."
Well, since it was their first time spending Christmas with a girlfriend,
I supposed that was understandable.
Or maybe A-ra and I had grown so comfortable together
that I was falling into the error of generalizing.
Anyway, Christmas...
Last year, I was pretty sure I spent it at home with A-ra...
New Year's would be our wedding anniversary soon, too...
"What would be a good Christmas present..."
The thought slipped out of my mouth without me realizing it.
A-ra and I didn't really lack much or want for anything,
so gifts between us were more about showing we care.
For example, buying her a replacement for makeup that had run out...
Or picking up something she'd been on the fence about buying...
"Right... I have to prepare a present, too."
So Christmas gifts are a big deal after all.
First times are always important.
Lee Min-ho let out another sigh, as if he hadn't thought of anything yet either.
But Jeong-hwan seemed a little different.
He looked like a general who'd already prepared everything.
"I already bought mine. We agreed to each prepare something and reveal them on the day."
"What did you buy? Tell me, so I can get some ideas."
Lee Min-ho started grilling him, saying he couldn't pick something himself
and demanding he hurry up and list the items.
As if overflowing with confidence,
Jeong-hwan chuckled, pulled out his phone, and opened a memo app.
Then he started reciting what sounded like cosmetic brand names as if chanting a spell,
and even words I'd never heard before came out.
This guy... maybe this isn't his first relationship after all.
"I bought all the essential items for women."
"I-is that really something you can call a gift?"
Wouldn't it be easier to just give them all in one set...
I was already getting a headache thinking about how he'd hand all that over and get it home.
"That noona, did she have a car?"
"She does."
"Ah... Then it'll work out somehow."
This is why they say a car is a necessity.
Everything suddenly made sense, and I slowly nodded
as I drank my iced Americano.
***
Christmas Eve arrived.
Maybe because Eve fell on a Sunday, the city was absolutely packed with people,
and there wasn't a single uncrowded place — not movie theaters, karaoke rooms, arcades, restaurants, anywhere.
"Well, I expected it to some extent..."
"But I didn't think it'd be this bad..."
We'd come out heavily armed with masks and sunglasses,
standing still amid the sea of people, taking in the scene.
Was it because it was Christmas Eve?
Most of the people were couples linking arms or holding hands,
and here and there, quite a few women were trying to hit on guys.
"Hitting on people in a busy downtown area on Christmas Eve — those girls are an absolute disgrace to womankind."
"Ahaha... I guess that can happen."
"Seong-hwan, it's because men act like that, that women act even more like that."
A-ra pointed to a spot where a woman was blocking a guy who kept trying to leave, saying he had to go,
while she persistently hit on him.
There are limits even to hitting on someone.
Didn't that cross the line a bit?
As the guy's voice grew louder, people's eyes gathered,
and the women left him behind and ran off.
So people like that really do exist.
I'd only ever seen them in the news or dramas before.
"You be careful too, Seong-hwan. With that disguise, people won't know who you are, so someone might come on really strong."
"So far, fortunately, no one has."
"Haah... Why is my husband so fearless..."
She made a troubled face and sighed,
then started stroking my head.
Anyway, her admiration felt strange.
To anyone's eyes, wasn't I on the timid side?
*
"Seong-hwan, look at this!"
After we'd walked through the park for a while, we sat on a bench to rest. A-ra, who'd gone off to get drinks, came back. But there was no sign of the drink she'd gone to buy; instead, she was holding a small puppy in her arms.
Its fur was well-groomed and it had a bit of chub on it,
looking like a dog that, until just moments ago, had been out on a walk with its owner.
"Where did this puppy come from?"
"When I went to the vending machine, it was whining there, so I brought it back with me!"
"Doesn't it have an owner? To anyone's eyes, this looks like a well-cared-for dog."
"Who knows? I waited there for a bit just in case, but nobody came."
Saying "Right?" she looked down at the puppy,
and the dog in her arms let out a little woof.
"You hold him too."
"Is that okay?"
"He'll probably like being held by a man more than a woman."
Saying it was fine, A-ra handed the puppy over to me.
It settled quietly into my arms, stuck its tongue out, and acted cute,
and I could tell at once that this was a dog who knew how to be adored.
"Wow..."
"Cute, right?"
"Unbelievably cute..."
The truth was, I wasn't really that fond of dogs.
Ever since I'd been bitten by the dog we kept at the orphanage when I was little,
I hadn't gotten close to them.
But looking at such a gentle dog like this,
it felt like that painful memory was vanishing.
"Noona, should we raise a dog too?"
"You like it that much?"
"It's a little sudden, but he's just too cute."
I wondered if this was why people raised dogs.
We came here for a date and ended up getting swept away by a puppy.
I really am something else.
*
"Thank you! Thank you!"
"When you walk him, please make sure to check the leash."
After that, we saw a poster on the wall about a lost dog and contacted the owner.
According to the poster, the dog had been on a walk when its leash suddenly snapped
and it had run away.
I wondered how such a gentle dog had run off,
but I didn't have the guts to ask.
When we said we were looking after a similar dog,
the owner came over, already tearing up. The moment she saw the dog, she burst into tears and hugged it fiercely,
so it didn't look like any abuse had happened.
The biggest reason I was certain of that conclusion
was that the moment the dog saw its owner, it jumped out of my arms
and clung to the owner, wagging around in joy.
"Ah..."
I stretched out my hand, watching the puppy grow distant.
A heavy feeling of regret remained, and the soft, cotton-candy-like sensation I'd felt
was making my heart ache with lingering wistfulness.
"Feeling regretful?"
"Yeah..."
"Then should we go adopt a dog next time?"
Just like earlier, she seemed to really mean it.
Our place was a penthouse, so it was plenty spacious,
and the environment was definitely suitable for raising a dog or cat.
"Is that really okay?"
"I don't dislike dogs or anything, and men like animals, don't they?"
"Noona....."
I wanted to kiss her on the lips right then and there,
but no matter how quiet and deserted the park was, we had to hold back outside, so I held back.
"Still, it's not good to decide in a rush, so I'd like to look around slowly,
study up, and then adopt."
"Really? That's so like Seong-hwan."
"What do you mean, like me? I'm actually embarrassed that I acted so calculatingly."
On top of that, in the middle of a Christmas date.
***
"It's novel to eat out after so long."
"How was it?"
"It was delicious, but the food Seong-hwan makes is still tastier."
In the span of nearly a year, I'd completely won over A-ra's palate.
The way she always said that, whatever we ate out, my cooking was better
filled me with a warm, sometimes deeply grateful feeling.
"Noona, here."
"Oh, a present?"
"Yeah."
I pulled the gift I'd hidden under the bed in the master bedroom and handed it to A-ra.
Moved by the sudden present,
she took out the contents and checked them.
"It's earphones?"
"The ones you were using broke two days ago, right? I found some really sturdy, good ones this time and bought them."
I'd been keeping an eye out to see if A-ra needed anything or was missing something,
and Eun-ji told me A-ra's earphones had broken.
So I ordered them right away,
wrapped them yesterday afternoon, and put them under the bed.
"Thank you. There's no one but my husband who takes care of me this much."
As she said that, she reached into her bag
and pulled out a flat box.
It was decorated just as prettily as the one I'd wrapped,
a package anyone could tell was a gift.
"Open it."
At A-ra's word, I unwrapped it.
Inside, there were about three of something I'd seen a lot of somewhere before.
"Th-this is..."
At first, I thought I'd seen wrong,
but no—I hadn't seen wrong.
What A-ra had given me as a gift was condoms.
"Uh......"
"That's a present for later. Actually, this is the real gift."
A-ra reached into her bag again and pulled out a small box,
then burst out laughing at my reaction.
Tonight... I was in big trouble.