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Her Christmas Day was just plain. For example, her family had to use a Christmas tree that wasn’t a real tree, but an artificial one, which was only small, about the size of a young Kaya’s thigh. The turkey meat was tough, and the fruits were not sweet. But it didn’t mean they weren’t happy back then. They enjoyed a simple peace and luxury in their own way on Christmas Day.

In that sense, this coming Christmas was like hard homework for Kaya in several aspects.

This could be the worst Christmas or the best Christmas for her. Her family members get together for the first time this coming Christmas. At first glance, it might look wonderful, but she felt a bit more scared than thrilled. She had no other choice but to feel that way because great expectations could lead to great disappointments. It was none other than Kaya Reuters who fretted about those who approached her for fear of ruining their friendship. But this timid and cowardly heart of her was rooted deeply in her soul.

Was it because of that? It was 5 AM. When it was still the middle of dawn, Kaya opened her eyes with a sigh. Her blurry vision slowly became clear. Only then did she realize that Min-joon was looking at her with a worried expression.

“Are you okay? I woke up because you kept tossing and turning while speaking in your sleep. It looked like you had a nightmare.”

“… I don’t know. I think so. I don’t know what it was, but it was a really bad dream.”

She put her hand on the bed and slowly got up. Her shirt stuck on the sweaty spine was damp. She carefully turned to him and asked, “You can smell my sweat, right?”

“It doesn’t matter. That can happen when you have a nightmare.”

“Can I come back after washing?”

“Just calm down before washing. Your eyes still look uneasy. If I let you go to the restroom, you might fall while washing.”

Having said that, he left the room without saying anything. While blankly looking at the sunlight in the living room and kitchen coming through the slightly open door, she was lost in various thoughts. ‘What are they talking about when they meet? Who should lead the mood? What if mom and dad quarrel?’ As always, this kind of question made her sigh rather than find an answer. It was when she sighed for the third time that he came back.

“Come on, drink some water.”

“Thanks.”

She smiled lightly and took the cup to her mouth. He lifted a towel soaked in water and carefully wiped her face and neck.

She stopped drinking water and burst into laughter.

“Why are you treating me as a patient? I am not sick right now.”

“I guess I’m doing this habitually because I’m taking care of your sickness too often.”

“I’m sorry. I won’t get sick anymore. Don’t get sick, okay? Don’t catch my cold.”

“There is such a Korean saying, ‘Even if we live, we live together and if we die, we die together.’ Got it?”

“Why do we die together? If you die, you have to die alone. That’s stupid,” she grumbled.

He asked with a smile, “If I die, I mean if, so, don’t stare at me so sharply. What will you do if I die?”

“What the heck are you talking about? All I can do is just remember and miss you. I can’t die with you, right?”

“Of course, I’m not asking that kind of thing. But what do you mean by remembering and missing me? You won’t meet another guy for the rest of your life?”

“What about you? Will you meet another girl if I die?”

Her eyes twinkled like a cat when she was looking at him.

He stopped wiping her arm and got lost in thought for a moment.

He agonized for a moment but replied shortly, “No, I can’t meet another girl.”

“You mean you can’t meet another girl rather than you won’t meet another girl?”

“Yes, that’s me. If you love someone, I don’t think that if your lover dies, your love can cool off or disappear. Of course, you’ll be lonely. But…”

He scratched his nose for a moment as if he was embarrassed.

After pausing for a moment, he opened his mouth again.

“I’ll probably even like my loneliness too.”

“You’re an idiot,” she cursed in a harsh voice.

Was it because his words were so cheesy? The moment she was about to blush, she hugged his neck. Although he felt her sweat dripping from Kaya’s thin sleeveless T-shirt, he didn’t bother to push her away.

She said, with her voice as wet as the T-shirt, “My mom wasn’t that type. She couldn’t accept her loneliness.”

“Really? What about your father?”

“He just ran away to avoid debt. So I understand my mom, too. And I also understand my father a bit, too.”

“Then, what’s the problem?”

“Do they still love each other? No. Maybe he still loves my mother. He said he hadn’t met any other woman while they were separated. But I wonder if my mother still loves him.”

“Well. Don’t you think they need to forgive each other first before talking about their love? As you know, they are not a couple or lovers anymore, right? Do you want to see them reunited again?”

As if she had a lot on her mind, she just moved her lips. He could understand her though.

All children wanted their parents. They wanted their parents to be together, not separated. Above all, they wanted parents who love each other.

That was what Min-joon wanted to tell Kaya, but he thought he might ask her for too much at this point so he didn’t. She has lost and sacrificed too much during her life. So, he wanted to let her know how he genuinely felt about their parents, but he thought it might be too cruel to ask her to have them reunited.

“I just hope my father was not a bad man. I want it really and sincerely. So, I would like to hold his hand in one hand, and my mom’s hand in the other hand. I would like to walk with them like that. I want it so badly. Am I too childish to hope so?”

He carefully removed her from his arms and held her two hands. Her hands felt smooth but rough because of scars and calluses here and there. Someone might think she was tough because of that, but he gently touched her hands as if they were a baby’s hands.

“Kaya, now, we are adults, too. I’ll hold your hand. So, let’s leave it to your parents. Let them hold their hands on their own.”

She didn’t answer. Instead, she just held his hands firmly. When she took her hands off from his, did it mean she gave up or she agreed with him?

***

It was Christmas Eve.

Rose Island didn’t accept guests for lunch that day. Instead, the chefs and cooks in the kitchen got together briefly, chatting and exchanging gifts with each other. Of course, each one of them couldn’t buy the gift for everybody, so each of them prepared just one gift for another one.

Min-joon bought a pair of gloves as a gift and received a scarf in return. Since it was not so cold in California during winter, the scarf was pretty thin, but he liked it. But the real gift exchange had yet to come. Rachel smiled after she handed out a box to the cooks, sous chefs, and demi chefs.

“As the head chef, it seems that I only made you have a hard time, so I prepared a gift, although it was a small one. Normally, I would have given it to you on Christmas Day, not Christmas Eve, but it looks like we are pretty busy tomorrow.”

“Thank you!”

Min-joon opened the box in excitement. Since he heard from other senior chefs at Rose Island, he got a rough idea of what this gift was, and his guess wasn’t wrong. What was in the box was a kitchen knife boasting a graceful shape. The handle was made of luxurious wood, and the blade was made of white steel like bones. A rose with the stem was drawn on the side of the sword, with each one’s name engraved on the side of the stem. He kept looking at the knife with a deeply touched expression.

Rachel smiled and said, “It’s a knife that I ordered directly from the craftsman who made my knife. Unfortunately, those of you who can receive this knife are demi chefs and above. It doesn’t mean the knives I gave the cooks here are not good. It’s a pretty good one. If you covet this Rose Island knife, get promoted as soon as possible. Can you do it?”

“Yes, I can!” Maya said in an excited voice.

Whether it was a Rose Island knife or just a kitchen knife, she looked happy to receive a good knife from Rachel. Grinning at her, he looked at his Rose knife. In Korean, it was a rose knife, which was familiar to him.

After exchanging gifts with each other, they were ready to decorate the Christmas tree.

Holding up Ella high, who was eager to put a star on the top of the tree, he enjoyed this noisy peace a lot. He was with lovely people in the workplace he dreamed of.

He smiled, looking at Ella.

“Ella. Is it fun?”

“Yeah. Um… won’t you hang this one, uncle?”