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You shrieked as a huge snowball hit you hard in the shoulder and broke apart, snow flying into your ear and sliding down your neck. You turned, trying to see who had hit you, and saw a flash of bright blue in your periphery, heard quiet giggling from behind the rock nearest you. You grabbed a large snowball from your pile and went to investigate.
You crept carefully around the rock, wincing as your boots crunched on the snow. You peeked around to see Mingi and Hongjoong crouching down and trying to hide. Joong was facing away from you, but Mingi saw you coming. You put a finger over your lips as you snuck closer. When you were a little less than arm’s length away, you struck, dropping the snowball square on top of Joong’s head. You laughed wildly when he squealed and spun, losing his balance and toppling over into the snow.
“That wasn’t fair!” He giggled as Mingi helped him up. “Mingi, your girlfriend is a sneak!”
You heard shouting, and turned to see San, Yeosang, and Jongho running towards the three of you, snowballs in hand.
"Get them!"
“Oh shit, duck!” You crouched down behind the rock, peeking over the top to watch as the guys rapidly approached.
“No way, I’m fighting back,” Mingi said determinately, grabbing a few snowballs and chucking them at Yeosang and San. One of them caught San in the face, and you snorted loudly as you heard him scream and curse.
“I’m gonna get you for that, Mingi!”
“Bring it on!” Mingi yelled at him.
Mingi had clearly not been counting on Wooyoung sneaking up on him from the other direction, and you stood up, Joong next to you as the two of you watched the chaos that unfolded— Woo tackled Mingi just as San, Yeosang, and Jongho reached them, and you cackled as they dogpiled Mingi, pelting him with snowballs.
Your watch buzzed, alerting you to a message, and you pulled your phone out.
Yunho [2:23pm]: Hey, are you guys all good and frostbitten yet? I just finished with my last client for the day
You [2:24pm]: Almost!! I wish you’d been able to come with, you’re missing all the fun
You sent him a short video of the display still going on in front of you, laughing at Mingi’s shrill screeching as Yeosang and San held him down while Jongho and Wooyoung stuffed some snow down his pants.
Yunho [2:26pm]: Oh dear god. I’ll get out some dry clothes for Mingi. You guys should head over here soon, food is almost ready! I hope I made this chili right. :/
You [2:26pm]: There’s not really a wrong way to make chili, I feel like. I’m sure you did fine!
Yunho [2:27pm]: I literally just added all the things from cans that you said and put in a lot of the spice mix you gave me. Plus ground beef.
You [2:28pm]: I promise you, it’s hard to fuck up chili. I’m going to go break this snow fight up, we will be there in a bit
Yunho [2:29pm]: Great!
You [2:29pm]: Did you need us to stop and get anything?
Yunho [2:30pm]: No. I think I got all the right toppings, I restocked on alcohol yesterday and I have soda and stuff too. Drive safe!
“Okay, break it up you guys,” you called out, wandering over to rescue your boyfriend from the others. “Come on. Yunho said the food is about ready. Let’s go, I’m starving.”
“Did you see what they did to me?” Mingi pouted as he clambered to his feet, brushing snow off of his clothes and grabbing for his beanie. He raked back his hair— this month he’d let Wooyoung do a yellow, orange, and red ombré— and put the hat back on.
“You clearly need to learn how to fight dirty,” you scoffed. “Have I taught you nothing?”
“Please continue to not teach him a damn thing,'' San laughed. “That was too much fun.”
Your group headed back to San’s SUV, where Mingi immediately slipped his cold hands under your sweater, putting them on your sides to warm them up.
“Mingi!” You howled. “You are so going to wake up with snow in your pajamas tomorrow morning.”
“But why?” He asked innocently. “The boyfriend contract clearly stated that I get to use you as a hand warmer!”
“I don’t recall that bit,” you said, shivering as you batted his hands away. “I think you’re making it up.”
“Jagi, would I do that to you?” Mingi put on the puppy dog eyes and stuck his lower lip out.
“Yes. I’m pretty sure you would.” You kissed him softly, and he nuzzled your nose with his.
“You guys are so gross, cut it out,” Hongjoong called from the front seat.
“Absolutely not,” Mingi shot back. He kissed you again for good measure, and Joong groaned.
“We’re here,” San announced a short while later, as he parked the car in Yunho’s driveway.
Yunho greeted everyone at the front door, ushering the group into the house and handing out mugs of coffee and cocoa.
“Look at you, being all domestic,” Wooyoung teased. “You need to download those dating apps again. People are clearly missing out here.”
“Shut up,” he replied, wrinkling his nose. “Is Youngmi coming?”
“Ah… no.” Woo sighed. “Uh… She…”
“Oh no,” Yunho frowned. “What happened?”
“She dumped me a couple days ago. Said she met someone else.”
“Not to be mean,” you piped up. “But she’s a fool for walking away from you.” Next to you, Mingi nodded in agreement.
Woo reached out to give you a small hug.
“You’re too sweet. Thanks friend. I’ll get over it, I’m sure.”
The rest of the group mumbled their apologies to Wooyoung, but thankfully, he did seem to be taking things well considering it was just a week before Christmas.
“Where’s Seonghwa?” You wondered aloud, checking your watch. “He never showed up at the park and I don’t even think he’s seen my messages.”
“Oh— he just texted me,” Joong said, checking his phone. “He says he’s been trying to leave work since noon but he thinks he’s finally free. Also said we shouldn’t wait for him to start eating.”
“I can wait,” you shrugged. “I don’t know about you guys but I don’t want to leave Hwa out.”
The others murmured similar sentiments, and Yunho directed the group to the living room, switching on the TV.
“Should we watch Mingi’s favorite?” He asked with a sly grin. Mingi groaned loudly and covered his face as everyone else started to tease him, calling him ‘Jingly Mingly’ and firing off quotes from Elf. Mingi displaced you from your spot leaning against him so he could glower at you.
“This is all your fault.”
“Aww, I’m sorry,” you said, booping his nose gently.
He broke into a small smile.
“Are you though?”
“No, not really,” you shook your head. “Not at all.”
“Nor should you be,” Jongho chimed in. “We all love our Jingly Mingly.”
“Mingle bells, Mingle bells, Mingle all the waaaaaaay,” Wooyoung sang out. Mingi made a noise that sounded like someone had stepped on a cat as he grabbed the blanket behind him and pulled it over his head.
“Mingi isn’t here anymore,” he laughed. “Leave a message at the beep. Beep!”
You glanced up as you heard the chirp from Yunho’s security system signaling someone coming into the house.
“Hi, hi, I’m finally here!” A voice called from the entryway, and Seonghwa’s head popped around the corner. He frowned immediately.
“Why aren’t you all eating?” He pulled off his oversized beanie, ruffling his silvery blonde hair, and tossed it onto the bench before removing his coat and scarf and hanging them up.
“We wanted to wait for you. Plus, we’re all very busy teasing Mingi,” Joong told him.
“Ah, you teased him so hard he’s turned into a ghost, I see.” Hwa giggled. “Poor Mingi.”
“Poor Mingi indeed,” Mingi said in a huff as he pulled the blanket down. “It’s fine, really. I’ve accepted my fate.”
“Probably better that way,” Joong smirked. “You know we all love you.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Mingi snorted. “I know.”
“Okay, time to eat!” Yunho called from the kitchen.
Everyone worked their way through the kitchen and filled their bowls, and returned to the living room amid bickering between Wooyoung and San about how much hot sauce was too much to add to the chili. Yunho handed out tray tables, and let you select the movie. You settled on National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, which no one else in the room had seen, not that you were surprised.
The movie was a hit, and everyone urged you to pick another when it was over, so you put on A Christmas Story, chiding the group for their poor knowledge of Christmas media.
“You’ve all been living here for years,” you teased. “TBS plays this movie for 24 hours every single year. You guys have no excuses.”
“She has a point,” Mingi agreed. “Even I know that.”
“Well that’s all well and good for you, Mr. My-Girlfriend-Is-Obsessed-With-Christmas,” Yeosang snorted.
“Don’t worry,” you told Yeosang cheerily. “I’ll get you all sorted out in no time.”
The afternoon eventually devolved into lots of banter and joking around as you and the rest of the group sat and filled up on chili, followed by way too many sweets. Eventually, Jongho suggested karaoke, which led to a tipsy Seonghwa and San belting out a duet of “All I Want for Christmas.” At Hongjoong and Yunho’s repeated pleas, you and Mingi got up next, although you were extremely embarrassed— just singing in front of Joong and Mingi a few months prior when you’d recorded some background vocals had been bad enough. You held up a finger, and sidled off to the side to grab a shot of vodka from the mini bar in the corner.
“Okay, now I’m ready,” you laughed. You queued up “My Favorite Things,” and managed to get through the whole song without quitting, though you could feel your ears burning, especially when the rest of the guys started cheering you on— very loudly at that.
Jongho rounded out the evening with renditions of “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” and “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” before half the group was yawning.
“I think I’m fading,” Seonghwa said, downing the last of his ice water. “This was so fun though.”
“Agreed,” Yeosang nodded.
“Well, at least you don’t have to drive everyone home,” San laughed.
“I can take a couple people,” Seonghwa offered. “I feel fine to drive now.”
The group split up between San and Seonghwa’s cars, with you, Mingi, and Jongho riding with Hwa. Your house was the first stop, and Seonghwa and Jongho bid you and Mingi a very loud farewell.
You and Mingi had moved in together in July. You still felt slightly bad that he’d left Hongjoong, but it wound up being okay, as Seonghwa had been looking to get out of his apartment lease anyway. Mingi still kept the majority of his work equipment at Joong’s, since they often collaborated, not to mention that they were recording under a brand new music label that had signed them in May.
Even without Mingi’s music equipment, your house was slightly too small for all of your combined stuff, and you’d been contemplating selling it and looking for something bigger. The only thing holding you back was that little voice in the back of your head that kept telling you that if you did so, you were sure to be stuck with a too-big house all on your own.
You hated those intrusive, negative thoughts. You’d gotten better about them over the last several months, having gotten into counseling after Mingi had helped you find a good therapist, and you were dealing with a lot of things that you’d pushed down and tried to ignore. But sometimes, your brain was just too persistent.
You had no reason, realistically, to believe Mingi would leave at this point. It had been over a year since he’d accidentally bowled you over in the mall as you’d been doing your shopping. You had grown to love him quickly, and you knew he felt the same. He certainly told you often enough. You couldn’t imagine a life without him. It was helpful that his parents seemed to love you too— they had visited around Thanksgiving, and were impressed with you on multiple levels. You had actually overheard Mingi’s mother grilling him on when he thought he’d propose, and you couldn’t get that exchange out of your head.
Mingi unlocked the door, after not-so-stealthily collecting a package from the front stoop. You raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.
“Cookies and cocoa?” He asked as he wandered back into the room from wherever he had stashed the box.
“Sounds like a plan,” you nodded. “What was in the box?”
“None of your business,” Mingi smirked.
“Ooh, so what did you get me?” You wrapped your arms around his waist as he came to stand in front of you.
“I’ll tell you in a week.”
“You’re no fun,” you huffed, feigning sadness.
“You’re so dramatic,” he giggled. “You’ve been around Joong too much.”
“I am telling him that you said that,” you snorted.
“Mean.”
“I’ll reconsider if you watch Elf with me,” you told Mingi with a sly grin.
“And now who’s mean?” He reached down to tickle your sides, laughing as you squealed, chasing you to the kitchen to help prepare the snacks for the evening.
As Christmas inched closer, you felt a lot better about it than you had in years. At your therapist’s recommendation, you had created some space from your family— and it turned out to be just what you had needed. It was different, not having your mother blowing up your texts with the routine guilt and snide comments. Instead, you’d been spending time with Mingi and his friend group, which was, of course, never a dull moment. That being said, you had clicked with each and every one of them, and you all adored each other to no end.
Another new thing you’d done this year was take time off. You usually worked right up until Christmas Eve. However, this year you had carefully saved PTO over the summer and through the fall, and took off work for twelve whole days surrounding Christmas. You and Mingi were planning to host the guys for Christmas this year, and you were excitedly planning the menu and the day’s festivities.
The day before Christmas Eve, you surprised Mingi when he got home from Hongjoong’s with a pair of gingerbread houses. For an added layer of potential hilarity, you had gotten the ones that needed assembling before they could be decorated.
“I am in music for a reason,” Mingi laughed when he saw your elaborate setup on the kitchen table, complete with a vast array of candies and sweets to use for decoration. “My house will probably look very pathetic.”
“That’s part of the fun,” you insisted.
“Okay, but you can’t make fun of me,” he stuck his tongue out at you.
“Would I ever do that?” You struck an innocent pose. Mingi fixed you with a very pointed stare.
“Jingly. Mingly.” He said flatly, and you laughed so hard you snorted your soda.
“Well, okay,” you giggled, wiping your face off with a napkin. “Maybe there was that one time…”
You turned on a Christmas playlist, and you and Mingi spent a few hours constructing and decorating your gingerbread houses. You tried not to laugh as a steady stream of cursing came from Mingi’s side of the table, where he was having a colossal amount of trouble trying to get his house to stay together. Eventually, when it fell apart for a fourth time, he shrugged, and continued decorating it anyway.
“It’s a dystopian gingerbread house,” he explained, trying to keep a straight face. “The owners were caught trying to overthrow the government and their house was destroyed.”
Once the houses were done, you placed them on the fireplace mantle, and you made sure to snap a picture, knowing it would make a great addition to one of Mingi’s gifts— a collage of things you had collected from the last year with him. You’d been hiding it at Yeosang’s house, and you were planning on bringing it home, wrapped, on Christmas Eve.
“Jagi?” Mingi wandered up to you, wrapping his arms around you from behind as you stood waiting for the photo to develop, looking at yours and Mingi’s stockings hanging side by side and having a bit of a sentimental moment. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” you nodded. “Just happy,” you told him, looking back at the stockings, around the room at the decorations you’d put up with Mingi’s help.
“Me too,” he murmured into your hair. “It’s getting kinda late and lunch was a long time ago. Wanna go out for dinner? My treat.”
“We could do that. What were you thinking?”
“Food.”
“Ha, ha. Very funny."
“Come on,” Mingi said, letting you go. “I know just the place.”
You realized where he was heading the second he got on the freeway— the Italian place where you’d had your first date.
Oh shit. Is he going to…? Fuck! I should have dressed up! Fuck fuck fuck!
Funnily enough, you were seated at the same exact table that you and Mingi had sat at, over a year ago now, on your first official date. You were buzzing with nervous energy now, having worked yourself up in the car. After water and wine was brought to the table and your orders had been taken, Mingi reached into his bag and withdrew a small box, reaching across the table to set it in front of you.
Oh. Okay. That’s bigger than a ring box. Whew.
It wasn’t that you didn’t want to marry Mingi. On the contrary, you’d almost asked him yourself more than once in the last few months, but anxiety always got the best of you. Even though you knew he was in this for the long term, as he’d told you, and then showed you, some small part of you was still worried.
You stared at the small package, wrapped in pretty green paper and decorated with a thin red velvet bow.
“Um.”
“Open it,” Mingi urged you. “I know it’s not quite Christmas yet, but I’ve been sitting on this for two months and I got too excited, especially with the news we got this morning.”
“News?” You tilted your head.
“Open it,” he repeated.
You carefully undid the ribbon and unwrapped the gift. Inside was a small wooden box, with yours and Mingi’s initials carved into the center of a heart on the top.
You slowly slid the latch to one side and lifted the lid, and music began to play. You recognized the song immediately, as well as the voice singing it—it was the love song Mingi had introduced you to the previous year. He frequently sang you to sleep with it, and it was now your favorite song, even more so after he’d translated the lyrics for you.
“You made me a music box,” you choked out, tears springing to your eyes as Mingi’s deep voice flowed from the box in front of you.
“I did. I want you to be able to hear this song whenever I’m not home and you need a pick-me-up. Just a reminder of how much I love you.”
“What does this have to do with your news?” You wiped a tear away with the corner of your napkin, nervous again.
Please do not tell me this is a parting gift. Please oh please.
“Oh. Well,” Mingi grinned as he took a sip of his wine. “Joong and I got a call from the label today. They want us to record a full length album.”
Lord. Crisis averted. You chided yourself for ever imagining Mingi would do such a thing as dump you with no pretense.
“Mingi, that’s amazing! Oh my god. It’s about damn time they recognized how amazing you guys are.”
“Thank you, jagi. Anyway, they’re asking for a quick turnaround time. So this gift kind of gained a double purpose— you’ll have it for the nights I’m working late at the studio… which will probably be a lot.”
“I understand.” You closed the box as the song ended. “But you feel free to wake me up and actually sing to me when you get home, even if it’s 2 am,” you told him firmly.
“If that’s what you want,” he chuckled. “There’s something else— Joong and I discussed today what kind of songs we’d like to have on it and we decided on a bit of a mix. The label is letting us go in whatever direction we want. So we were thinking… what if we featured you on it?” He giggled as your eyes grew wide. “Only if you want. But I had a couple ideas, if you decided to do it.”
The waiter brought the food, and you were temporarily distracted by the offering of copious amounts of parmesan cheese on your chicken alfredo. Once he had left, you turned back to Mingi.
“What kind of ideas?”
“Well… That song I’m always singing for you? It recently came under public domain. So… I was thinking maybe you and I could record it as a duet?”
“Oh my god.”
“Is that a good ‘oh my god’ or a bad ‘oh my god?’” Mingi asked as he started to cut into his chicken.
“It’s a ‘oh my god that’s the cutest idea and also you’re going to make me cry,’” you laughed. “You really think I have the voice for that?”
“Yes. Absolutely. That single Hongjoong and I released with your background vocals was very popular. I don’t know if you’ve seen the comments on YouTube, but there were a lot of people asking about ‘who’s that girl’ and ‘why don’t you let her sing more’ and so on.”
“Okay,” you nodded, taking a bite of your dinner. “Sure. Let’s go for it then.”
“Great!” Mingi beamed at you. “And then once we’ve tackled that… I had one more thing I wanted to run by you.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve been trying to write a song for you for… a while. But I’ve been stuck on it, and then I had a thought… what if we wrote it together?”
“You want me to help?”
“And sing it with me, when it’s done.”
“I love it. Count me in.”
You had butterflies— Mingi always went out of his way to show you how much he loved and cared for you. But wanting to share his music with you to this degree was somehow over the top, and your heart was bursting with love for him.
The drive home was quiet, with Christmas music playing softly. Mingi held your hand the entire way home, and the second leftovers were put away, he scooped you up into his arms and carried you to the couch, where he wrapped the two of you in a big blanket and held you close.
“I love you, jagiya.” He kissed you softly, bringing one hand up to cup your cheek. “I love you so, so much.”
“I love you too, Mingi,” you whispered against his lips before kissing him again, nipping at his lip, deepening the kiss quickly.
“Fuck, jagi,” he whined as you sucked on his tongue, carded fingers in his hair and tugged lightly.
“Something wrong?” You giggled as you ran your hands up the front of his sweater, dragging your nails down his chest.
“You are a menace,” he hissed, grabbing at your hips and dragging you over his lap to straddle him. “Through and through.”
You turned your attention to kissing a trail down his jaw, nipping at his neck, enjoying the little whines and whimpers that he let out as you pulled the neck of his sweater down to suck a mark into his pretty skin, just below his collarbone.
“You… you really drive me wild, do you know that?” He whined again as you left a second mark next to the first.
“Oh yeah? And what exactly do you think you’re going to do about it?” You giggled.
Mingi stood, holding tightly to you as he did so, and you wrapped your legs around his waist as he began to head back towards the bedroom.
“You’re about to find out,” he growled. “I sincerely hope you didn’t have anything you needed to get done tonight.”
Christmas Eve dawned bright, and you peeked out the window when you finally extracted yourself from Mingi to see that it was snowing again. You kissed him and tucked him back into the covers, and then went to get ready for the day.
“Jagi, where are you going?”
“I have an errand to run. Stay in bed, sleep some more.”
“Okay. I love you,” he mumbled sleepily.
"Love you too."
You texted Yeosang to let him know you were on your way, and then made your way to his house carefully, stopping on the way to pick up some chai tea for the two of you.
“Good morning,” he sang as he opened the door for you. You handed him his drink, and he hugged you.
“You know, Mingi is right. You really are one of the most thoughtful people,” Yeosang mused.
“Oh, stop,” you giggled.
“I put the collage on the dining room table,” he told you. “You said you had a few more things to add?”
“Yep.”
Yeosang kept you company while you finished up the gift and wrapped it, quietly sipping his tea. You glanced over at him when you were done, noticing he seemed to be deep in thought.
“I know that look, Yeosangie. What’s on your mind?”
“Just thinking.”
“About?”
“You and Mingi. Wondering when he will decide to propose.”
“Yeosang!”
“What?” He laughed brightly. “We’ve all been curious, honestly.”
You were blushing furiously, which sent Yeosang further into his giggle fit as you hid your face and squealed at the idea of marrying Mingi.
“Okay, I’ll stop teasing. For now.”
“You had better, or I’ll make you sit outside on the deck for Christmas dinner!” You threatened.
“Look, it’s not my fault that you and Mingi are absolutely perfect for each other.”
“Okay, I have to leave now before I spontaneously combust.”
You thanked Yeosang profusely for letting you hide your little project at his house, and headed home to find that Mingi was still in bed, which allowed you to sneak the gift in and slide it behind everything else under the tree.
As you surveyed the room, you noticed that most of the stockings on the mantle had been stuffed.
When the heck did he do that?
You resisted the urge to peek in yours, and quietly got out the items for his. Once it was filled, you went to the kitchen to make some coffee to entice Mingi to get out of bed, but as you were doctoring it for him, he padded into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes.
“Did you get done what you needed to do?”
“Yep,” you nodded, handing him his coffee. “How would you feel about some brunch? I’m hungry.”
“Only if you’ll let me help.”
“Oh, I can get it, it’s no problem.”
“No. You’ve already said you’re going to do all the cooking tomorrow. You should really just let me cook today.”
“Mingi…”
“Let me take care of you, jagi.”
“Okay,” you nodded. “You can make brunch.”
Mingi insisted on doing the cleaning up afterwards on his own as well, and then the two of you spent a lazy day in front of the TV watching some of the cheesy Christmas movies that Mingi loved so much.
Part of you still couldn’t believe it was real. That he was real. Sometimes you thought that you might wake up and find it was all a very elaborate fever dream.
You were jolted from your train of thought by Mingi pressing a gentle kiss to your temple.
“I love you,” he whispered.
Mingi had you out of bed at half past 9 on Christmas morning, hurrying you into the living room excitedly, where coffee and cookies awaited you in front of the tree.
“You’re so cute,” you observed, and he blushed.
“I’m just happy,” he told you.
“Cute and happy then,” you said, leaning in to kiss the tip of his nose, which only made him flush redder.
The two of you had decided to only exchange a couple gifts that morning, and to do the rest later when the rest of the group was present. Mingi surprised you with vouchers for some art classes you’d been pondering for a while, and had ultimately dismissed as too expensive.
“I got you the whole six week course,” he grinned as you flipped through the packet, wide-eyed. “It’s got everything— pottery, painting, oil pastels, charcoal, the works.”
“Mingi… Thank you.”
“You deserve it! You’ve worked so hard this year and I know how much you wanted these classes.”
You got up and extracted his gift from the pile. You’d gotten the largest shadow box you could find, and filled it with memories of the previous year together— concert tickets, photos, passes to art exhibits you’d attended together, and much more. In the center, you’d put a recent picture of the two of you, with a snippet of a love poem underneath.
You laughed when his mouth dropped open in surprise at the size of the gift, and he carefully placed it on the floor in front of him.
“Jagi, what on earth…”
“You’ll see,” you told him, biting your lip.
Mingi tore the paper off quickly, and when he saw what was inside, he just sat for a moment, staring. When he finally looked up at you, there were tears in his eyes.
“This is…” He sniffled. “Jagiya… this is incredible.” He scooted over so he could pull you into a tight hug. “I think I know just where I’m going to put it.”
“Yeah?” You said as he pulled back. "Where is that?"
He handed you a small box, and you stared at it, confused. You opened it to reveal a set of keys.
“Um. What?” You were even more puzzled. You had recently lost your spare key, but had replaced it already. “Mingi?”
He wordlessly handed you an envelope. You tore it open to find floor plans and concept photos from a local contractor.
A house?! What the hell?!
“Mingi, what…”
“It won’t be done for another month or so yet,” he told you. “But you’re going to love it. It’ll be so much more space. I'll have a studio. You'll get an entire room for just your crafts. And I was sure to ask for all the other things you once told me you wanted in your dream house.”
“You bought a house.” You still couldn’t wrap your brain around it. Mingi had bought a house. A new house, at that.
“I bought a house. For us.”
“Mingi…” Now it was your turn to tear up.
“Oh,” he held up a finger, now rooting in the pocket of his sweatpants. “Wait. There’s one more thing that goes with it.”
“More?!” You were staring at him, dumbfounded. "How could there possibly be more?"
“Just one more thing. Don't worry, it's small." He giggled.
Mingi managed to wrestle the item out of his pocket, and turned to sit facing you. You shifted, mirroring him, crossing your legs. He held out a fist, and turned it over, opening his hand to reveal a small box.
Your eyes flicked from the box, to his face, back to the box, and you took in a ragged breath as you tried to get your heart rate to slow.
“Jagiya,” he started, and you could hear the quaver in his voice as the tears returned to his eyes. He opened the box to reveal a ring— a square diamond in a simple yet elegant setting, and you gasped. He continued after taking a deep breath.
“The last year with you has been incredible,” he told you softly. “Every day with you has just been the best day of my life, over and over and over. I never want it to end. I want to keep having these days with you, for the rest of our lives. I love you so very much. I love you, and I want to be with you— I want to be your safe place, your protector, your friend and companion. Forever.”
“Mingi…” You were crying, fat tears rolling down your cheeks. “Oh my god. I love you so much,” you sobbed.
“Jagi, will you marry me?”
“Yes!” You exclaimed. “Absolutely, one thousand times yes.”
Mingi reached up to wipe away your tears, and kissed you tenderly before slipping the ring onto your finger.
As he gathered you into his arms, the doorbell rang.
“That’ll be the guys,” you sniffled. “They’re gonna lose it.”
You were right— as everyone filed into the living room, San noticed your ring and pointed, letting out a small screech of excitement as he jumped up and down. Immediately, everyone was crowding you and Mingi, shouting and calling out congratulations as they clamored to see the ring and give tight hugs to both of you.
It was, perhaps, one of the best Christmases you’d ever experienced. No drama. No fighting. Just love and happiness and the joy of shared moments with friends. You had never been so happy in all your life, and you silently gave thanks as you watched everyone chatter happily over dinner, laugh and carry on as presents were exchanged.
Long after everyone had departed, you and Mingi sat on the couch, the only lights in the room coming from the Christmas decorations. You snuggled closer to him, resting your head on his shoulder as you admired the way the colored lights from the tree glinted off your ring.
“Are you happy, jagi?” Mingi asked quietly.
“Over the moon,” you replied, hugging him tight. “There are no words in any language to tell you how happy I truly am.”
“Same here.” He kissed your forehead. “I meant it last year when I said you were the best gift I’ve ever received, and I really do plan to keep you forever. I told you I’d show you.”
“And that you did,” you mumbled, trying to keep from crying again.
“I love you, jagi.”
“I love you too.”
Mingi fell silent for a few moments, and then he started to sing— that very same love song he’d been singing to you for a year now, and you lost yourself in his deep and soothing voice. You glanced down at your ring again, happiness flooding through you once more. You never could have imagined that when you’d quite literally run into a man in an elf suit the year before, that it would have led you to here.
You could hardly wait to see what the universe had in store for you as you began your new life, together.