apartment block 17

[ 060 ]

part six: rudolph the red-nosed reindeer

+

apartment #811
lee jihoon, kwon soonyoung

soonyoung jumped up at the sound of the door closing. his roommate, jihoon, had gone to the store after 'operation candy cane' to get some 'special' chocolate.

"soonyoung," jihoon greeted. he was holding a large box. "did anyone send you christmas presents?"

"maybe my parents?" soonyoung guessed, taking the heavy box from jihoon. the box was a lot heavier than soonyoung expected. he nearly dropped it on his toes (which would've been quite a disaster).

"park... jimin," soonyoung read out slowly. "apartment #711. that's the one below ours."

"wait. jimin?" jihoon put down his other bags and read the sticker on the box.

"isn't #711 your cousin's apartment?" soonyoung asked.

"probably. explains why that kid gave me the box," jihoon scowled.

"how did you end up with it?" soonyoung wondered.

"i was waiting for the elevator in the lobby when a kid gave me this box," jihoon said, flopping onto the couch. "he told me to give it to my roommate. but i guess it was because the kid knew yoongi and thought i was him."

"wanna go give it to its rightful owners then?" soonyoung asked, putting the box down carefully onto the kitchen counter. whatever was inside rattled slightly from the impact. he looked into the grocery bags jihoon had also brought back along with the box - inside was what looked like a lifetime supply of expensive chocolate stacked up haphazardly in the thin plastic bags. looks like jihoon managed to find his special chocolate.

"nah. i kinda wanna open it and see what's inside," jihoon said, grinning mischievously.

"open another person's present?" soonyoung narrowed his eyes. but it quickly changed into a mischievous grin. "i like the way you think."

soonyoung and jihoon gathered around the box, soonyoung holding a pair of scissors. he cut through the tape holding the box together and opened it.

they didn't really know what to say. they just stared.

"well, this explains why it was so heavy," soonyoung finally commented.

the box was filled to the brim with jars of strawberry jam. there was a note attached to one of the jars.

"Jimin-ah, I'm sorry I said you have no jams. It was a joke. I hope this makes up for it. Merry Christmas!! -Namjoon"

"namjoon? i'm not even surprised," jihoon rolled his eyes.

"you know him?" soonyoung asked curiously.

"he works at 20 books with me," jihoon explained. "i never knew he was friends with my cousin and his roommate though."

"ah, okay," soonyoung nodded. "should we deliver this to jimin for him?"

"i guess. but why would he post this when he could just give them to jimin himself?" jihoon wondered. "the postage must've been horribly expensive judging by how much this weighs."

"true," soonyoung chuckled. "but i heard that seungcheol set up this mailing service where you could give your gifts to the mailroom to have it delivered within the apartment block."

"what's the point of that?" jihoon yawned and sunk back into the couch.

"maybe you can give anonymous gifts to other people? i don't know," soonyoung laughed. they both decided they felt too lazy to carry it down a floor, so they put it aside for the time being. jihoon texted his cousin to come pick it up later.