You woke up thanks to your phone buzzing non stop. You knew that these weeks you wouldn't get enough sleep. Working at Santa.Inc got its downside. During the holiday, it was the busiest time in the company. People didn't seem to think that Santa is real. Well, not in the form of the old fat bearded man anymore anyway, but the pattern was still there. Kids around the world still put in requests and the company would sort the requests and then the analysts would check whether the kids were considered good or naughthy. If they fell into the first category, then their requests would be granted and the agent would send them present to their residency. Since we were talking about worldwide requests, of course there's no way that a single man could handle the job. That's why the company hired lots of men to posed as Santa during the holiday. However, everything was monitored at the headquarter. And you pulled the shortest straw this year. You got appointed to be the person in charge for this year. You sighed when you saw "Headquarter" text beaming at your display. Dragging yourself out of bed, you pressed the green button and put the phone on your ear.
"What's wrong?" you didn't bother to say any greetings, knowing well that they wouldn't call you just to greet you good morning.
"It's South Korea," the other line said.
"South Korea? What's wrong with South Korea?" you frowned. Among other agents that you sent this year, South Korea should be the safest one.
"Well.. The one you appointed got sick," the other person started his report.
"Yeah, I know, and I have appointed ...," you haven't finished your sentence when the other person interrupted you again.
"Jaebeom," he said with a grim note.
"What?" you were 100% awake now, trying to put your shirt through one arm and then switched the phone so you could put your other arm through the other sleeve.
"Yeah. It's Jaebeom in South Korea," he confirmed.
You groaned and rubbed your temple, "I specifically said Jackson, not Jaebeom," you said.
"Jackson was still busy in Hongkong and Mainland China so we have no other choice but to put Jaebeom in South Korea."
You cursed. You knew putting Jaebeom on the stand meant disaster. You hurriedly got into your car and drove to the headquarter. You didn't care about speeding ticket. All you knew was you had to get into the headquarter and solved the problem as fast as you can.
"Okay, what's the situation?" you asked once you were in the headquarter.
"Well, all kids cried and demanded another Santa. They were scared of him," the one that called you earlier gave you the report and pulled up the surveillance to the big monitor in the room. And true enough. You saw Jaebeom in his Santa outfit, looking helpless as the kids cried once they saw his face. He didn't even say anything and the kids were scared of him already. The parents tried to soothe the kids but they cried again since they didn't get to sit on Santa's lap. They were worried that they might not get their presents this year. You didn't know what's wrong with his face. Indeed, when he wasn't smiling, Jaebeom could be.... scary. But you knew underneath it, he was a softie.
"Any available jet? Got any spare agents?" you asked and it's yes for the first question but no for the second one. You got into the jet and headed to South Korea immediately while thinking how you could fix the situation without other agents to substitute Jaebeom. Obviously you couldn't alter his face, but maybe you could ask him to show his soft side more? You truly hoped you could turn the situation around or it would be a disaster. Both for you and Jaebeom. You were walking in the shopping mall, where the event was held on the first floor. While on your way, you saw a lot of toys on display, one of them was the pet toy that could move and made sound just like the actual pet. You stopped on your track and you got some idea. You turned your heels around and asked the shopping asistant to find you a cat toy before walking toward the event. You then pulled Jaebeom aside.
"What are you doing?" you scolded him though you knew it wasn't entirely his fault.
"I don't know," he shrugged. "I just sit there and put the kid on my lap. The next thing I knew, he was looking up to me and started crying. I tried to soothe him but it made him cry even more."
You sighed. Even though he didn't have any piercing on his face anymore, his look could be daunting for kids, especially thanks to his double mole. It made him look like a bad guy. You felt sorry for the man though. You then showed him the pet toy that you bought earlier.
"Maybe you can show them that you don't bite?" you put the cat toy on the floor and automatically it attracted his attention.
The toy seemed to put a spell on him. He squatted and petted the toy and the toy meowed and moved around and his eyes started to change. You could see his softie side show up and the kids started to stop crying. They started to pay attention to Jaebeom who played with the cat toy. Jaebeom invited the kid to come forward and pet the toy as well and they started to walk forward. Though they were cautious at first, but they started to open up when they saw Jaebeom played with the cat toy just like them. One of them even dared to tug his sleeve and talked to him.
"Can I tell you my wish now?" the kid asked him. Jaebeom smiled wide and his eyes turned into crescent shape, melting his cold exterior and let his soft side shown.
"Yes, of course. Do you want to whisper it to my ear or do you want to sit on my lap?" he offered as the kid was not a toddler anymore and the kid chose to stand up and whispered his wish. Jaebeom nodded and listened to his request carefully. He put up his glasses, the one that had the display on the inside. Only he could see the information shown on the glass. You could imagine the people in the headquarter started their search on the kid's name and told Jaebeom whether the kid was being good or bad through his glasses. If the kid was being good, then Jaebeom would put a tag on the kid so the team could send their gift. Watching their friend got the courage and a promise that he would get a present on Christmas day, the other kids started to make line to tell their wishes to Jaebeom. One by one started to tell him their wishes and some even got the courage to sit on his lap. You took a big breath. You managed to save the day.
You were just finished wrapping up the day in the headquarter when you heard knocking on your door. Seconds later, Jaebeom's head peeked through the door. You waved and let him into your office.
"Are you finished?" he asked after he arrived in front of you.
"Yeah. I'm just cleaning up and then I'll go home, praying hard that there won't be any problem anymore," you stressed out the last sentence and it made him scratch the back of his head.
"Sorry about earlier. It's really out of my power," he shrugged helplessly.
You chuckled, "I know. It's weird though how they always see you as a scary one when in fact it only takes a cat toy and you will turn into a giant fluff ball," you teased him. You clearly didn't think things through when you teased him as the next thing happened was he pulled your waist and you landed squarely on his lap.
"Well, since you were being a good and hardworking girl today and the day hasn't ended yet, I'm still an active Santa so I can still grant your wish. Care to make a wish?" he teased you and you realized how close your faces were. You held your breath and sighed desperately as you failed to wriggle yourself out of his grip.
"Nothing?" he raised his eyebrow, clearly teasing you as you could feel your cheek blushed as you lost your ability to form any word. "Well, I have one and I think I'm being a good boy today," he said, a smirk appeared on his face while a puzzling look donned on yours. "If.. you didn't have anything to do after Christmas, would you like to go on a date with me?" You clearly had no idea what to answer to his request. Surely you didn't see that coming.
