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8th day of Christmas
Fortunate, that was one word to describe Donghyuck’s situation, but he hated it. The word fortune has connotations of luck and that couldn’t stray further from the truth. Donghyuck worked hard to get to where he was today.
He was working his dream job, living in an apartment that looked like it had been plucked from a movie set, has a boyfriend who loves him, and a circle of friends who he trusted with his life. That wasn’t per chance or out of luck; that was due to his determination and discernment.
Donghyuck closed his work laptop and made his way to the kitchen. He shouldn’t even have been working on a Sunday, but he had an influx of new clients that he couldn’t afford to disappoint.
The world of real estate is all about connections and having a boyfriend with a notable career in the music industry and friends with established place in the entertainment industry he couldn't be more grateful.
They helped him, they all helped each other, and they were truly the greatest for helping him in this awfully competitive industry.
Donghyuck sat at the kitchen island and scrolled through social media on his phone. Nothing particularly grabbed his attention, so he continued to scroll aimlessly. A few minutes passed and a text notification appeared through Donghyuck’s phone; a smile immediately bloomed on his face as he saw the recipient.
From: Junnie <33 [16:29] Hey Hyuck, I have a piercing slot booked for this evening and I was wondering if you were free and wanted to come along?
Donghyuck chuckled to himself as he typed out his confirmation and sent a text to Mark saying that he would be out.
He finds it hilarious as to how the tables have turned. He remembers the first piercing that Renjun ever got and all the convincing that went behind it. It was truly a momentous occasion.
It was a warm Friday evening in June just over a year ago and the pair were standing in front of a piercing and tattoo parlor that Donghyuck had seen online. Well, Donghyuck was standing; Renjun was pacing back and forth.
Donghyuck had just sold his first property for over 3 million and he wanted to reward himself – by getting a piercing.
His mother wasn’t too fond of any type of body modification and to be fair Donghyuck wasn’t too fond of her either, so this was perfect.
His friend Yuta had gotten a naval piercing and seeing it in real life is what pushed him to get it done. Renjun however wasn’t too keen on the idea.
Donghyuck took one last drag of his cigarette before letting it fall from his fingers and onto the ground.
“Can you please stand still, you're making me dizzy?”
Renjun was beginning to stress him out and Donghyuck is regretting letting him tag along.
“Have you read about the complications? Do you know about aftercare? Infections? Keloids?” Renjuns voice grew louder with each question, laced with concern as Donghyuck offered him a blank expression,
“You do know that you’re only a doctor on TV, right? And don’t worry they tell you all these things when you get it done.”
Renjun is still unconvinced, it wasn’t his body so he couldn’t stop Donghyuck from doing it, he was just influencing him into considering other methods of celebration.
Donghyuck guided his best friend to the entrance of the shop. Just as he was about to make contact with the handle of the door, he had a lightbulb moment.
“You should get a piercing too!” Donghyuck turns around to look at Renjun with a huge grin on his face.”
“Absolutely not.”
For what felt like hours Donghyuck went on and on about how it’s a good idea and the people at the shop were really professional, however Renjun was still unmoved.
Although Renjun was mulish he was competitive and that’s where Donghyuck had his second lightbulb moment of the evening.
“Let’s make it a bet. Let’s get the same piercing and wait for it to heal. The person who manages to get it infected or what not loses. Loser has to do whatever the winner wants.”
40 minutes later the pair left with matching belly button piercings and their pride on the line.
Now Renjun is more pro piercing than Donghyuck originally was and had 4 times more than he did.
He put his phone down and began to get ready as he knew that Renjun would winge at him if he got here and he wasn’t ready.
***
“Mark?”
Donghyuck arrived at their shared apartment just shy of 10pm and was met with darkness.
He toed off his shoes and walked further into the apartment using the reflections from the floor to ceiling windows and his mental floor plan as a guide.
“Markie?” This time with a bit of concern as he knew that the older was home.
“Wait- give me a second I’m coming.” It was faint and muffled as it came from across the pad. Donghyuck assumes he’s in their bedroom if he has correct bearings.
A few seconds later frantic padded footsteps grew louder and closer to him.
Mark finally located Donghyuck in the dark and unraveled the tie in his hands.
“Close your eyes.”
“Why?” the pitch of his voice increased due to his apprehension.
“Because I’m going to blindfold you.” Mark speaks as if it’s the most casual thing in the world and Donghyuck can practically smell the smile on his boyfriend’s face.
“Kinky.” Donghyuck lets out a small laugh as Mark secures the tie around him and makes sure he can’t see. It was pitch black almost, so he was unsure why he was being so careful.
Standing behind him, Mark guided him to their bedroom, Donghyuck saying a silent prayer of thanks that their housekeeper had been in this morning so he didn’t have to worry about tripping over any clutter.
By the change in flooring Donghyuck made the assumption that they had arrived in their room. His assumption was confirmed as lowered him to sit on the ottoman at the end of their bed.
“Hold out your hands for me please.”
“Mark I’m scared, you better not be playing tricks on me.” But it was fine Mark wasn’t he knew better even before the threat.
“Just trust me.” And Donghyuck trusted him. He trusted Mark with his life, that's why he slowly released his arms from his sides and opened his palms in front of him.
“Okay, I’m gonna undo your blindfold but keep your eyes closed.” Donghyuck complied and a few moments after the tie was untied two items were placed in his hands.
“Okay and open!”
Donghyuck followed suit, his curiosity was getting the best of him and he was beginning to get impatient.
He opened his eyes, allowing himself a few seconds to adjust to the change in light intensity then looked to the items that had previously been placed in his hands.
Donghyuck was stunned into silence, in his left hand was a white rectangular box with metallic letters spelling out Chloé on the surface and in his right hand sat a purple and black box with a uniform bow tied around its center.
He’d been wanting these for ages and there is no way that Mark could have known.
Donghyuck didn’t realise how long he had been frozen for until Mark was kind enough to break him out of his trance.
“Hyuck?”
Mark gently waved his hand past his boyfriend’s face in the attempt of getting his attention. As Donghyuck blinked and looked at him. His attempt was rendered successful.
The younger let out a sharp breath he did know he was holding and anxiety flooded Mark's body, shouldn’t he have got the gifts?
Donghyuck placed the boxes next to him and launched himself at Mark to give him a hug. Mark was slightly taken aback obviously himself and Donghyuck hugged all the time but he thought that he did the wrong thing and the younger still hadn’t said anything.
With his face buried into Mark’s chest a small thanks was given. Although it was muffled it held the same weight as if it were yelled at him.
“Thank you, Markie, I really mean it.” As Donghyuck pulled his face out of Mark's chest he gave a warm and genuine smile.
“Donghyuck, you deserve this, you deserve the world.” Mark reciprocated the smile as he ran through Donghyuck’s hair.
As much as he loves their moment, Mark's efforts to suppress a chuckle fail him as a small laugh slips past his lips. “Do you maybe wanna open the gifts, Hyuck?”
Their hug is broken with a playful shove from Donghyuck that brings him back to sit on the ottoman. Mark follows suit, sitting down and angling himself to look at Donghyuck.
Donghyuck starts with the Chloe box, he has an inkling as to what it could be but there is no way that mark would have known. He’s never brought it up in conversation and the only way that mark could have known if he scrolled through the hundreds of items in this Farfetch cart, which he doubts.
The wind is knocked out of him for a second time when he sees a glasses case as he begins to open the dust bag that was in the box.
“Mark, literally stop.” Donghyuck shoves the dust bag back into the box and pushes the box into Mark's chest.
“Babe what?” Mark was surely entertained; he had already evoked the reaction he wanted and Donghyuck hadn’t even seen the actual glasses; this was surely amazing.
“You know exactly what you’re doing.” At this point Donghyuck had stood up and taken a few steps back. “Mark Lee, I can appreciate a joke, but this is too far.” Donghyuck dramatically waves his hand as he finishes talking, drawing another laugh from his boyfriend.
“Donghyuck I’m not joking.” Mark couldn’t get in a full sentence before choking on his own laugh. “Do you perhaps want me to open them for you?”
“I can do it myself.” Donghyuck spoke sharply, he wasn’t trying to be rude but come on he was just laughed at for 5 minutes.
Donghyuck took the gift back and finished opening it and lo and behold, a pair of blue Sofya oversized sunglasses from Chloe eyewear right in front of him.
There was literally no way. This wasn’t real, he was gonna wake up and there wouldn’t be the pair of Chloe sunglasses that he’d been eying for months right in front of him in the flesh.
He’d been wanting these for ages, they were a part of his fantasy when he became a realtor, driving up to a multimillion-dollar property with a client with his Chloe shades, it was the dream.
He’d been wanting these sunglasses for ages, but he just didn’t feel worthy of them. Beyonce had a pair of Chloe Shades, how could Donghyuck wear the same sunglasses as Beyonce. He just couldn’t.
“How did you know, did you look at my lapto…'' Between Donghyuck’s surprise he was stopped by mark mid-sentence.
“First of all, it was my laptop; you were using my laptop.” Mark chuckles at his boyfriend, who’s face emits some sort of realisation.
Distant memory comes to him. He remembers working and being absolutely out of it and coming to the conclusion that if it wasn’t his laptop technically it wasn’t procrastinating because all the work was still up and in front of him on his computer.
“Ohh.” Donghyuck rubs his face and laughs at himself partly out of embarrassment and partly out of the humor of the situation.
He holds out the sunglasses in front of him before putting them on and striking his model pose.
“Don’t I look amazing?”
Mark looks at Donghyuck full of fondness and full of love before letting out a whisper.
“You look amazing, always.”
His voice returns to its normal volume before stating that there was another gift.
Donghyuck took his time with this one just like the sunglasses, but he had no idea what it could be, the shape wasn’t a give-away, but he assumed it was jewelry due to the size, but he could be wrong.
He untied the bow and opened the box and was met with a diamond belly ring, similar to the one that he had in now, but he knew this wasn’t a cheap surgical steel barbell from amazon. This was the 14-carat white gold belly ring that he had found online when he was procrastinating.
“Mark!” Donghyuck let out a particularly harsh scream that Mark did not have enough time to react to and was trying not to cringe.
“Oh my gosh, thank you Markie.” He lunges to give his boyfriend a hug then grabs his hand to make him stand up.
“Come with me, I’m gonna put it in right now.”
Hand in hand Donghyuck drags his boyfriend to the kitchen where he puts the kettle on and grabs a mug.
Shortly after he pours the hot water in the mug and places the jewelry inside.
“You’re probably going to have to help me with this part.”
Mark knew that even from before the disinfection process. Donghyuck could never change his own jewelry. He always got so giddy that his hands would shake from the excitement, and he couldn’t unscrew anything.
Mark walked over to the sink where he washed his hands with a huge smile plastered on his face.
“Don’t worry I got you, can you hold your shirt up for me?”
As Donghyuck held up his shirt Mark crouched down in front of Donghyuck to remove the barbell that was currently in his bellybutton.
“Here” Donghyuck was eager to pass the new jewelry to Mark he had already taken out and waved it around in an attempt to cool it down.
Mark carefully unscrewed the new ring and placed it on the surface of Donghyuck skin so the piercing hole was visible. After he spotted it, he placed the barbell in and screwed the top on securely.
Donghyuck couldn’t help but smile. This was really his life, he had a boyfriend who loved him, was immensely attentive and would even change his jewelry for him. He couldn’t ask for more.
Donghyuck pulled Mark up straight and gave him a warm hug.
“I love you Markie, you really are the best.”
“I love you too.”
7 th day of Christmas
Deals fell through and that was normal, but for Donghyuck he couldn’t handle it.
Buying a house was a long and intricate process he knew and understood that perfectly; but he couldn’t understand how you could ask to view only one house for three months, make an offer for said house and then decide that you’re going to go through another agency because they felt like they were being restricted. They literally didn’t want to see any others.
This was a really hard blow to Donghyuck. He thought there was a serious interest in this house, and he felt like he had been taken for a prick, he’d honestly wasted so much time with them, they could have honestly shown themselves the house after the eighteenth time they’d seen it.
Donghyuck really hated feeling sorry for himself, but he had no choice but to mope.
He had called uber at around 11 am to take him home. What was the point in sitting in an office all day with people who could actually get signatures on paper if he was shit at selling houses?
He knew that he should probably use this as a motivator and be determined to sell more houses in the future but right now he couldn’t be bothered, he just wanted to wallow in self pity and halo top ice cream.
By the time the uber had arrived at their apartment complex it had just gone midday. He gave a small wave to his doorman as he sped through his lobby actively avoiding all possible neighbors. This is not the time he didn’t want to deal with anybody, and he knew that he wasn’t going to pretend to be nice.
Donghyuck was usually a composed person, he had to be. He didn’t like being vulnerable around people and there was nothing he hated more than feeling weak.
So he didn’t know want came over himself when as soon as the doors of the lift closed he just broke down crying.
God, this was ridiculous. It was just one house, there were so many houses that needed owners but to Donghyuck this was so much more. He felt like a failure, he always felt like he wasn’t enough and moments like this just solidified that feeling in him.
The elevator dinged to alert him that it had arrived at his floor, and it was at this moment Donghyuck thanked the Lord that it wasn’t too far of a distance from the elevator to their apartment. He was still crying and didn’t want anyone to see him.
He miserably put the code in the keypad then opened the door. He just wanted space and to be in his own space. Being in the office is this last place he would want to be right now.
He changed into a pair of joggers and a hoodie which probably belonged to Mark and made his way to the kitchen.
There was a small bit of hesitancy as he opened the freezer as if his ice cream had been moved, eaten, or touched; he would go from miserable to homicidal.
Luckily the new tub of ice cream that he bought was exactly where he left it and was still moderately full.
He opted to use a bowl but immediately closed the cabinet, took a spoon from the cutlery drawer and exited for the living room.
As Donghyuck assumed that when their housekeeper came in yesterday she had moved their blankets back to the ottoman in their room, so he took a quick detour to the bedroom to get one.
After what felt like hours Donghyuck finally sat down in the corner of the large L shaped sofa and turned on the tv.
As he waited for the TV to boot up Donghyuck reached over to take a look at his phone. He didn't really want to deal with the outside world so after he confirmed the uber he turned it off.
He saw that he had four missed calls from Mark and let out a sigh. He had probably seen him crying through the security camera as he entered the apartment. Donghyuck rolled his eyes and rubbed his face at how utterly pathetic it seemed.
He knew that his boyfriend was probably worried sick especially now that had gone mia, but he couldn’t bring himself to call back at the moment he didn’t want to have to explain himself.
He would have to admit that he was a realtor who couldn’t sell houses and Donghyuck was not going to do that.
He was gonna text him in a bit but he just needed some essential ‘me time’.
With small intermittent spoons of ice cream Donghyuck began to binge watching the new season of selling sunset on Netflix. Hr thought that maybe he could use some pointers as he obviously didn’t know how to sell a house.
A few episodes into his binge he heard the front door beep and soon open, he looked at the time on his phone and it had just gone 2. What was Mark doing home so early?
Mark entered the house and let out a small sigh of relief as he saw Donghyuck on the sofa.
He’d seen Donghyuck crying on the security camera and immediately dropped what he was doing to call him and ask him what was going on, but there was no avail. The worry that had consumed Mark had put him into auto pilot and the next thing he knew he was in his car and speeding home.
He walked towards the sofa with a hit of hesitation as he was unsure as to if Donghyuck wanted space or to just be alone.
As Mark edged closer to the sofa Donghyuck moved further into the corner and opened up his blanket to mark as an invitation to join him in the cocoon that he had made.
Mark got the memo and beelined into the space that his boyfriend had created for him. As he shifted into the space Donghyuck made a move to rest his head against his boyfriend’s shoulder.
Mark ran a swift and gentle hand through Donghyuck’s hair and that’s what tipped him over again.
The small sniffles altered Mark and made his heart sink slightly.
“Hyuckie, what’s going on?” he didn’t want to pressure the younger but he was really worried. Donghyuck wasn’t an easy crier.
“I don’t want to pressure you into saying anything if you’re not ready, but I’m here for you, okay?”
Donghyuck let out a deep breath in and out; he might as well just let it out. It won’t get the house sold but at least it wont look like he’s been crying for no reason.
“A big deal just fell through” Donghyuck paused mid sentence to use the sleeve of his hoodie to wipe away his tears.
A small somber smile appeared on Donghyuck’s face. “I literally can’t even sell houses like a house. I'm a realtor who can’t sell houses. I’m useless take the sunglasses back I don’t deserve them.”
Donghyuck laughed softly at himself, he was surely pathetic, wasn’t he?
“Baby- “Mark tried but was quickly interrupted by the younger.
“Should I bleach my hair? Jungwoo is blonde and he sells more houses than me. The girls in selling sunset sell more houses than me, everyone sells more houses than me.”
And with that mark got up and in one swift motion grabbed Donghyuck and placed him over his shoulder.
Obviously, this was not without protest from the younger.
“Mark Lee put me down, I'm not playing with you.”
Mark carried on walking in the direction of their bedroom. “Stop moving, you're going to fall.”
The wriggling seized as they reached their bedroom and Mark had sat him down in their semi bay window allowing him to take in the view.
Mark sat behind him, placing his soft hands shoulders and began to massage him slowly.
“When you look outside this window, what do you see?”
As it was late December the sun began to set early, and the sky had already turned a beautiful ombre purple and pink.
“I dunno, the city? A sunset?” Donghyuck shrugged, he didn’t really want to play a guessing game he wanted to watch Netflix.
“Well,” Mark leaned closer and softened his tone. “When I look out this window I see hard work, our hard work nobody else’s but ours.”
“Having a deal fall through doesn’t define you, what defines you is how you bounce back from moments like this. I know that this deal probably meant a lot to you, and I don’t know what it's like to be in your shoes, but I do know that there will be more houses and many more offers coming your way in the future.”
Donghyuck let out a genuine laugh and Mark felt glad that there was progress and he was at least making the younger smile positively.
“For the record I'd buy every single house that you were selling if I could, and you do deserve those sunglasses.”
Mark leaned forward and planted a soft kiss onto his boyfriend’s forehead and pulled him into his embrace.
The pair sat in silence holding each other looking out of the window at all their hard work.
2 nd day of Christmas
To say that Mark was stressed out was a huge understatement. He had been pacing up and down their apartment he was sure that he was starting to make holes at the bottom of his slippers.
Today was the day of Donghyuck’s drivers test and Mark was scared. He’d only been driving with Donghyuck a handful of times but each time was scarier than the last, so he decided that it wasn’t worth the risk and got a driving instructor for his boyfriend. The teacher had a really high pass rate, but he wasn’t sure if he could perform miracles.
Donghyuck had requested that Mark didn’t come with him to the test center because he didn’t want to ‘get distracted’ so Mark attempted to use this time effectively.
He managed to collect a congratulations cake from the bakery down the road and also picked up some tubs of halo top ice cream in Donghyuck’s favorite flavors in case the test went pear shaped.
Shortly after he received a text from Donghyuck saying that he was on his way home.
Walking back to the kitchen Mark opened the cake box and opened it and took the cake out. He placed the cake at the end of the counter conveniently next to the open bin so that with one clean swipe the cake would be out of sight out of mind.
While Mark was perfectly angling the cake in the direction of the bin, he heard the front door open signaling that Donghyuck was home.
He bolted to the front door where he was met with Donghyuck who was carelessly taking off his shoes with his head down.
Mark cautiously stepped forward and greeted the younger.
“Don’t worry Hyuck, there’s always next time.”
“I don’t need next time, Mark I passed! I did it! I did it!” he pulled the certificate from behind his back and waved it in marks face.
He couldn’t contain his excitement, he’d done it. He’d managed to get his license and he was allowed to operate a vehicle legally.
“Well done, Hyuck, I didn’t doubt you for a second.” Mark let out a small fib to keep the atmosphere high. Nobody would know, this was between him and the halo top in the freezer.
“Come to the kitchen, I believed in you so much I got you a cake.”
It had been around 6 months since Donghyuck still ubered or got Mark to drive him everywhere. It's not that he was lazy or couldn’t be bothered, he was just busy.
Buying a car was a long process and unfortunately one that he didn’t have time for.
Luckily for Donghyuck he was fortunate enough to have an extremely wealthy boyfriend who had been planning on buying him a car for months.
It was a few days into their great gift exchange and Donghyuck's wish list had been incarnated courtesy of his amazing boyfriend.
He had received a new Moncler jacket, a pair of jeans from The Row, poems written to him from Mark and vinyls of his favorite albums growing up. He was more than impressed and couldn’t be more grateful.
He didn’t know what to expect next as Managed to outdo himself as each day passed.
***
It was the morning of Christmas eve and Mark was woken up thanks to the automatic curtains that they had installed and the alarm that he had forgotten to turn off.
Donghyuck on the other hand had been stirred out of his sleep but instead of waking up he pulled up the duvet over his head and muttered no repeatedly.
Mark found this both adorable and amusing but he had to deliver his gift and unfortunately for Donghyuck he had to be awake for that.
Mark slowly shook Donghyuck awake and whispered good morning, however his efforts were rendered useless as the younger pushed his hand away and placed a pillow between them in an attempt to create a barrier.
“Fine,” Mark lets out a dramatic huff and continues “you’ve left me no choice, I have to tickle you.”
Before Mark was given a chance to make a move Donghyuck shot awake and proceeded to beg him not to.
Mark let out a small laugh to himself before deciding to continue to the plan for the morning. This was the biggest out of all the gifts and frankly the hardest to deliver and execute.
He decides to just go for it as in his mind there is no way that it could possibly go wrong.
“Well good morning to you too.”
“Good morning”
Mark waited for Donghyuck to wake up a little before starting his plan.
A few minutes of email checking and responding to important texts Donghyuck sighed and put his phone down.
It was Christmas eve. Why was he working? He got his work phone and dramatically turned it off “that’s it I’m not turning it back on until the 27 th I’m officially work free.”
Mark turned to him and smiled. It was time to start his plan.
“I’m glad you say that because I have a surprise for you.” Mark tried to suppress his smirk, but it still sat confidently on his face.
“How many surprises can you fit in one week?” Donghyuck questioned
“This is the last one, unless you want more because that could be arranged.”
Donghyuck shook his head no and anticipated the ‘surprise’.
Mark opened his bedside drawer and at this point it was do to die, he really hoped Donghyuck liked it. He took the box from his drawer and handed it to Donghyuck.
It was a small rectangular box no bigger than his fist and was wrapped in paper covered in snowmen. “What’s in here?”
Mark just nonverbally urged him to continue opening the box, he knew that if he spoke he would be unable to contain his excitement.
He slowly opened the box expecting jewelry but was met with a key, a car key to be specific.
I was like a hand dipped into his lungs and stole all the air from the cavity
“Before you say no and demand I take it back, get dressed and come downstairs.”
Mark had pulled the covers back and was ready to pull on a hoodie and a jacket, but Donghyuck was still in bed frozen and staring at the key in his hand.
“Come on Hyuck let's look at your surprise” He grabbed his boyfriend’s hand physically dragging him out of bed and towards his jacket.
Donghyuck’s mind was going a mile a minute, there was no way that Mark had just gifted him a car. There was just no way.
He knew that he needed a car, it was long overdue especially for work and Mark said that he would help him pick one out, but this wasn’t what he thought he meant, this was insane, and he couldn’t accept it.
He walked towards his wardrobe and started putting on more layers.
Hand in hand with Mark, the older guided his boyfriend into the elevator to the parking lot on the bottom floor.
Once they reached the parking lot Donghyuck felt his knees go.
He buckled and at the mercy of Mark's fast reflexes he did not hit the ground but was caught just as he fell.
“Easy- “Mark dragged out the ‘y’ as he helped Donghyuck back onto his feet.
“Babe look.” And there it was right next to Mark's G-Class was a brand-new Porsche Taycan Turbo in a sleek midnight black and a tacky large red bow on the hood.
“Mark, are you for real? Please be for real.” Donghyuck didn’t know much about cars but if he could choose a dream car this would be it. He loved everything about his car; he couldn't even put it into words.
“Merry Christmas baby, it’s all yours.”
Mark managed to predict it from his mannerisms and cover his ears before Donghyuck let out a disgustingly high-pitched squeal.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
“Anything for you, Hyuck.” Mark came behind his boyfriend engulfing him in a warm bear hug. “It’s custom made, one of a kind…” Mark placed a small peck against his forehead. “Just like you.”
Donghyuck grabbed Mark's hand and pulled him towards the car.
“Where do you want to go, I’ll take you anywhere?”
“I don’t mind, anywhere is perfect with you.”
1 st day of Christmas
Over the last 8 days Mark had pulled off many stunts and surprises, but today Mark was offering the greatest gift of all time.
Mark and Donghyuck had been through so much together he honestly thought that they could take on the world.
There weren’t enough words in any of the languages that he knew to describe the love that he had for Donghyuck.
So today on Christmas he wanted to talk and listen with no distractions to the one who he loves the most in the whole universe.