Christmas in Seoul

I. Underneath the Mistletoe (ft. BTOB's Minhyuk)

This was it. Today was the day - the day all their hard work would (hopefully) pay off. It was the day of their debut.

 “I’m so nervous,” Alice said, taking a sip of water, just as she had been doing every few seconds for the past ten minutes or so.

“Dude, stop drinking,” Mas chided. “You’ll have to pee when we’re on stage, and that won’t be a good thing.”

“Gee, you think?”

“No need for sarcasm bro. Just trying to help.”

“Guys, calm down,” Olivia said, the voice of authority. Her role as leader really shined through on occasions like this. “We’ve trained hard, and everyone at the company thinks we’re ready. We’ll ace this.”

“Thanks Olive, I needed that.” Alice smiled at her gratefully, setting down the almost empty bottle of water and leaving the room to head to the toilet before they were called to perform. They were already in their stage outfits and makeup and their waiting room was currently empty of people, since they shared stylists and other staff with VIXX and they were also there at the broadcasting station to promote their latest single Voodoo Doll.

Mas stood up from the sofa and started pacing up and down, trying to rid herself of the nervous energy. No matter how prepared they were, she just couldn’t get rid of the butterflies in her stomach that appeared before every performance.

“I’m just gonna walk around for a bit. See which sunbaes are here and everything.”

“Okay,” allowed Olive, who had been getting a bit annoyed at the pacing anyway. “Just come back in time for the performance.”

“I will.” Mas waved a goodbye before ducking into the hallway and wandering over to where the other dressing rooms were. Olive could hear her exchanging greetings with VIXX and them trying to assure her that everything would be fine.

Hearing the doorknob turn, Olive started saying, “Oh hey Alice. How’s your-” before stopping when she saw Minhyuk from BTOB standing there, a sheepish grin on his face. “Oh sorry, Minhyuk sunbaenim. I thought you were my group mate, Alice. She went to the toilet and…” She trailed off, realising she had started rambling.

“Don’t worry about it. I just dropped by to wish you luck on your debut,” he said, smiling widely. “And call me oppa. We know each other well enough by now.”

A blush started forming on her cheeks, thinking about the many times they had hung out together after practices and during the various entertainment companies’ Christmas parties. The two of them had become quite closely acquainted, considering the fact that they were signed to two different agencies.

“Okay, Minhyuk…oppa.”

“There, was that so hard?” He nudged her playfully, sending a tingle down her arm where his elbow had touched it. “See you around, Olive. Fighting!” He raised his arm and made a fist. Closing one eye in a wink, he made his way out the door.

Olivia sat there for the next few minutes (though it seemed like hours to her) just replaying the short encounter over and over in her head. That was the first time he had asked her to call him oppa - were they really close enough for that? Did he intend for them to become closer?

She was so lost in her thoughts she didn’t even realise when both her group mates had come back until Alice waved a hand in front of her face.

“Helloooooooo? Olive, you okay?”

“Huh? What?” Her fading blush intensified as she realised all her thoughts had been revolving around Minhyuk when she should have been mentally preparing herself for their debut stage. “Oh nothing, I was just thinking about the… choreography. You know when, um-”