Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I'm not sure how it happened, but it is finally Christmas Eve-Eve, and luckily all my presents have finally arrived which means I have been trapped in my room all morning wrapping or placing them into bags. Well, trapped is a strong word since I don't leave my room that much anymore, but it feels different since I know that I have to get all these presents ready for the tree today. I can't push this off for another day.

Snow, Cookie, and Lola are sitting on my bed looking down at us. They know that they can't mess with anything on the ground, so it is best if they don't even have a chance to do so. I love all the dogs so much, but there's something about those three lying there together that makes my heart want to burst.

"You really do have a lot of presents to wrap," Sooyoung giggles as she places a bow perfectly on the corner of a wrapped box. "It was cute that you screamed at me when I came in because you weren't fully done wrapping my present."

"You didn't even knock," I pout. "What if Taehyung and I were in the middle of something?"

"I would have walked right back out laughing, but I texted you that I was coming."

"And you like ran down here."

"Well, I've missed hanging out with my best friend," she softly smiles.

Christmas music is softly playing on my phone while we do our tasks. Each present that is being wrapped has to be done so with the upmost care, but we also don't want to take all day. It is a curious balance that we have to reach.

Taehyung is hacking away like he always is. He told me that my father's computer should be broken into before the new year, and I believe that he is telling the truth. He's not just saying that to cheer me up about all that has been happening. He truly believes that he is going to be able to unlock that treasure chest that should open everything up to us.

"It is cute that when you get focused you just start humming along to the music," Sooyoung says, breaking me out of my thoughts. "I'm sure that you've always done it, but I just noticed it right now. To think that we know so much about each other. So many little things, yet I just noticed something new. Does Taehyung ever feel like that? He watched over you for years, but now he gets to be with you every single day in person."

I quickly tape the wrapping paper down. "I think it is more that he gets excited when he sees me doing something that he only ever saw through the cameras. Just the other day I was reading on the seat beside my desk in there, so I was wearing my glasses, and when I am invested in the story, they might start sliding down my nose, and he just reached over and pushed them up, commenting on how damn cute I am."

"That's sweet," she starts putting tissues paper expertly into a bag. "That must be something he's been dreaming about doing for a while. Well, I bet he dreams of other things now, but you know what I mean. I just can't believe that the two of you have been together for as many months as you have. That your father has been gone for about the same amount of time."

"Life flies by when you are surrounded by people who love you."

"I like that. Also add that time flies when people are out to get you. That really makes the minutes rush by."

I chuckle, "I'll think of a way to revise the statement." Then before I know it, I am back to humming the current song that is playing.

I know that I believe in the red string of fate to some extent, as it lead me back to Taehyung, but I don't really believe in feelings. The slight headache I felt when in the kitchen making Christmas treats I fully believe was because of the lack of sleep I had gotten because of the nightmare. Thankfully they haven't graced my sleep since, which I think is because of Taehyung breaking through in the last one. Either way, I don't believe in feelings. I don't believe that this strange feeling that I am getting in the pit of my stomach that something bad is going to happen is real. I think that I have been stressed beyond belief for too long that now when nothing bad is happening to me my body doesn't know how to respond. That the unknown is scary, so why not just say that something bad is going to happen and move on? I don't want to believe that it actually means something.