Volcano | Bangchan

24 to 25

The morning after, I was on the plane. Bye-bye snow, welcome France. I almost jumped in my mom's arms when she opened the front door. I hugged her tight, tears brimming my eyes. "I missed you, mom.". "I missed you too, my baby.". As soon as I stepped into the house, I was welcomed by happy barks. I kneeled and opened my arms. "IPSY !". The small dog jumped in my arms, overexcited. How I missed this dog. "Habits never dies, the dog always comes first.". I giggled at my dad's remark and stood up to hug him. Soon, all my family was reunited. I was sat between my older sister and my younger brother.

Since it has been almost 2 years since I last saw them, everyone was questioning me about my life in Korea. It was difficult for them to understand fully how it worked in the industry, and I couldn't blame them. How do you explain that you work as a make-up artist for one of the most influential groups in the K-pop industry, a group that happened to become a real family to you ? My brother was used to it, he even played video games with the Maknae line. And my sister had already met them when she came to visit a year ago. But for the other, the confusion was quite understandable.

I was sipping a glass of champagne when my grandma took me by surprise. "So, did you find a Korean man in there ?". The drink almost went the wrong way. Damn Granny. "I am not interested in man for the moment. I'd rather focus on my career and my friends.". That was a smooth answer, and in a way, it wasn't wrong. I just omitted to explain the whole relationship with Chan or with Hyunjin. Who would understand anyway ?

Time passed by, and it was time to open the presents. Like always, I was spoiled. Once we were done with the opening, I stood up and clapped : "Alright, time to do the dishes.". But my father cut me off. "No. Sit back down, you're not done with your presents.". I furrowed my eyebrows, confused as my sister brought me a huge box. They didn't give much information about what it was but, judging by my sister and mother filming, I could tell it was special. I opened the box to find 8 presents. Some were neatly packed, and some looked like it was packed by a 4-year-old kid. It didn't take more than 5 seconds to understand. I raised my head, tears already threatening to fall. "How ?". My brother smiled proudly : "Do I have to remind you that I play with Felix ? We organized everything so you could have a piece of them with you for Christmas.".

I took the first present with my shaky hands. It was a pair of Air Force customized from I.N. Judging by the personalization, I could tell he had decided on the whole customization. The second present was a monkey plushie. There was no name tag on it, but I didn't need it to figure out from whom it was. I was the monkey to his puppy, after all. I took the third one and giggled at the sight. There was a little note attached to what seemed like a package, which said "Don't blame me for the package, Nomi wouldn't shut up while I was doing it, and you know I cannot multi-task.". I opened it to discover a jersey from the Knicks. Changbin and I shared the same passion for basketball. Well, to be honest, Changbin loved every sport, but I was an NBA lover.

I took out a small package, and I could tell the person tried his best to wrap it, even though he clearly wasn't good at it. I opened it and smiled fondly. It was a CD with a word written on it : "This is your song.". The feeling overwhelmed me. Hannie wrote a song for me. The first tear came out, which I quickly wiped. To prevent the emotions from flooding, I took another present. It was pretty large and flat. The package was clean, with many little drawings on it. Hyunjin. I gasped as I unwrapped a frame. Hyunjin had painted a portrait of a familiar woman in an abstract way using only purple shades. In the bottom right-hand corner, he wrote a simple sentence that made me shed another tear : "You're my inspiration.". Damn those boys.

Three packages left. I took the one with a Jureumi drawn on it. I immediately knew who it was. Lee Know offered me a whole new set of professional brushes. I put a hand on my mouth, stunned. Those brushes were super expensive ! There was a little note : "I noticed yours started to get damaged, so here are new ones. That way, you won't ruin our make-up. Merry Christmas Kitten.". I chuckled. Typical Minho. The man who would always notice the little details.

By deduction, the two packages remaining were from Felix and Bangchan. One was a middle size, and the other one was a small box. Since I couldn't choose, I asked my grandma to pick one. She gave me the biggest one and I opened it. I yelled in surprise as I saw what Felix gifted me. A few weeks ago, Lix came to me all sorry, apologizing for breaking my headphones. He told me he had immediately brought them to a repairman. But he was lying all along. In fact, he took it with him to the concert of Agust D. And I was an absolute fan of Suga, so he asked Yoongi to sign my headphones. I HAD A PAIR OF HEADPHONE WITH SUGA'S AUTOGRAPH ON IT. I was overly excited and almost yelled at everyone while explaining. They all gave me a compassionate look, without really understanding how much it meant to me.

"Okay okay, we got it, Felix won the best gift!" My dad joked to calm me down. "Now open your last present, we all are hungry here !". I took a deep breath as I looked at the last package in the box. It was a small box, neatly packed with a hold of ruban on it. Neat, typical Bangchan. I took it and immediately opened it to prevent my family from noticing my shaky hands. The present left me speechless. In the small box was a beautiful necklace with a gold chain and a small gemstone as a pendant. At first sight, the stone looked deep blue, but I noticed how the color changed with the light. It was blue iridescent.

The necklace was so beautiful, I had no words left to express my emotions. A single tear escaped my eye as I took it off of the box. All the reactions around me were unanimous: everyone gasped, admiring the jewelry. I asked my sister to help me wear it. My brother, who was next to me, gave me a little paper folded. "It was inside the box.". I opened it and bit my lips to prevent the tears from falling even more. "This stone is called labradorite. It's known for protecting the one wearing it. That way, even when I can't protect you myself, this will do the job. Merry Christmas princess.".

Immersed in my thoughts, I didn't notice my family's reaction. My sister and my brothers exchanged a knowing glance, my mother and my father were looking fondly at me. Granny grinned. "Looks like you've found your special someone after all.". I looked at all my presents. I loved each one of these guys, and they loved me just as much. I answered with a small smile on my face : "They all are special to me. They are my korean family. I love them so much.". My brother whispered, only for my sister to hear : "One more than the others, apparently.".