LUCIUS

Clammy hands and secret kisses⁓

It was a pleasant evening, and the December wind blew through the branches covered in snowflakes. It was a month filled with celebrations, and the kids' excitement grew every single day as they anticipated the day of Christmas. It was the beginning of the holiday season, as the people from the town call it. The kids ran around the living room as they helped Areum and Hoseok hang the decorations on the tree, over the fireplace, and all other places to bring about the Christmas ambience.

After an hour or two of decorating the house, everything was finally over, and Hoseok stood holding onto the switch to flick the lights on. The kids gathered around the tree, holding hands and holding their breath, awaiting the outcome of their hard work. When the switch clicked, the fairy lights all over the house glimmered, giving a beautiful golden glow to the atmosphere. The kids gasped at the scene and squealed with delight.

"Oh, I know just the song to play right now!" Hoseok exclaimed and picked the record from the Christmas song pile and placed it on the gramophone.

♪♪It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Everywhere you go
Take a look in the five and ten, glistening once again
With candy canes and silver lanes aglow ♪♪

Days flew by, and soon it was Christmas Eve. The house looked busy as everyone was occupied with preparing themselves for Christmas. Hoseok was busy organising the Christmas dinner, and Areum was engaged in making those Christmas desserts and delicacies. The children were lively for different reasons; some were excited about receiving gifts, some for the chocolates, and the rest were just feeling happy at the thought of Christmas alone.

The grand dinner was all set. There sat a beautifully roasted turkey in the middle of the table, and all the other dishes were placed around it. Hoseok made the children sit in their respective places and also helped them with their napkins, tucking them in just the right way. The doorbell rang, indicating that the guest of honour had arrived at the venue. Seojoon stood up from his chair. "I'll go!" he said to the rest and made his way to the front door. The kids were all excited to see their secret Santa arrive. A tall man came into view wearing a long coat all covered in snow, as if he had walked a long way to get here. As soon as the kids saw him, everyone cheered "Uncle Lucas!" in a chorus. "Hello, everyone!" he shouted back with the same excited smile the kids had. "Ughh! It's just him! When is Santa coming home?", Yoongi sulked as he didn't know the truth about the whole Santa Claus story. Hoseok coughed, alerting everyone to play along with it. "Well, you should know that it's not the way to welcome a guest, baby. Apologize now, sweetcheeks!" Areum chastised Yoongi for his sulking, and Yoongi's pout grew even larger because he was in no mood to apologize. "Ahhh! It's okay, Areum-ah, he's my best pal after all, and he'll probably forget about Santa as soon as he takes a look at this." Lucas gave Yoongi a big box wrapped in shiny green with a big red bow on it.Yoongi's eyes grew big just by looking at the size of the box; it was heavy too. "Thank you, Uncle Lucas! You're the sweetest!" he exclaimed, giving Lucas his famous gummy smile. "Yeah, I love you too, pal!" he smiled at his cute little dumpling. Everyone was happy to see their little interaction until Hoseok broke the moment. "That's enough for a day; I'm hungry, so let's begin already, please!" Everyone giggled at this, said their prayers, and then started to dig in after thanking everyone for the meal.

After dinner, Hoseok and Lucas sat on the couch, chatting away with wine and cake. "I really thought you were some descendant of the Neanderthals or something the first time I saw you, man!" Hoseok laughed at the memory of a very untidy and messy Lucas. "Oh, come on, man! You gotta let that go; I told you I was lost during camping in the forest, and those useless coward companions of mine fled away instead of searching for me! Do you know how hard it was to survive those two nights before you found me on the third day?" Lucas let out a giggling fit at the way destiny turned out to be for him. He never once in his life thought he would make these people his friends—better than the old set of friends, if he were to be honest. "Yeah, I can never imagine," Hoseok said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Jhope mumbled from within, "Yeah, only if he knew!" Hoseok snickered at the comment made by his wolf. "What was that?" Lucas asked with surprised eyes. "It's nothing, man." Hoseok smiled at him. "Aish! at times, I don't know what's going on in your head that makes you smile and snicker all of a sudden like a fool," Lucas said, shaking his head in disappointment.