ELC | ⁿᶜᵗ ᵃᶠ

Merry Christmas

Fourty-two people would be difficult to fit into one dorm so SM had let ELC and NCT have their private Christmas party in the large function room on the second floor of the SM building.

The bulge of members meant the possibility of hundreds of presents and thousands of dollars. To lessen the Christmas stress, the two groups had created a rule that only one unit a year would buy presents for the other members. Of course, one could buy presents if it wasn't their unit's year but it wasn't required.

This year was NCT 127's turn. ELC 127 would have their turn the following year. Despite this, Audrey was currently wandering the SM halls in search of a certain Canadian boy, a medium sized box wrapped in white paper and tied with a blue bow in her hand.

Her heart was beating nervously. She seldom gave out gifts, especially precious ones like this, and Mark had never been a recipient of those rarities.

Rounding another corner, Audrey began to wonder if this was pointless and if she should just give the gift to Jihye. What reason did Audrey have to believe Mark would like this present? Just because it was handmade didn't mean shit. Jihye would love it, though. She'd eat this shit up.

Audrey turned another corner (why did SM have so many corners?). She froze unexpectedly. Mark was standing in the middle of the empty hall, looking at something on his phone.

She gulped. "Mark."

He jumped at her voice but relaxed once he saw her and walked closer. "Hey, Audrey. What's up?"

"I-I was just looking for you." She cursed herself for stuttering.

"Oh, I was just in the bathroom. Dior spilt punch on my shirt." He held out the corner of his white shirt showing the faded yellow stain.

"It's always Dior," Audrey said with a light chuckle. She felt so awkward. The twisting of her stomach and frantic beating of her heart were unnecessary but no amount of deep breaths could rid her body of the consuming feeling.

Mark smiled. "Yep. So, uh, why were you looking for me?"

"I wanted to give you this." She nervously held out the gift. "A present."

Mark's eyes widened and a smile crept onto his face. "For me?"

"Of course, you idiot," Audrey said, becoming suddenly shy and shoving it at his chest.

Her cheeks flushed as Mark pulled the bow to unwrap the present. She was overcome with a sinking feeling when he tore the last piece of paper away and held her gift to him in his hands. His face was unreadable as he gazed at the smallish, cobalt blue bear with a watermelon slice in its hand.

"I-I made it," she blurted. "There's this place where they teach you how to make your own teddy bear. I went there with the girls a while ago but I went again last week because..." Anxiety was building up inside Audrey as Mark silently rubbed his thumb against the bear's tummy, his brow furrowed. "I... you... present... yeah."

Mark didn't move.

Regretting every decision she'd ever made, her hands nervously twisted together and she gulped, quickly saying, "If... If you don't like it I can give it to Jihye. I know it's not very good and it's kind of stupid-"

Mark shot back to the present, his eyes widening and his hands jumping to grab hers. "No!" He smiled reassuringly. "No, I like it. I really do. I like it a lot. It's cute."

"Oh. Great." She pulled her hands behind her back. "Merry Christmas then."

Before Mark could reply, Audrey speed walked herself away, desperate to put as much space as possible between her and him. Her face still burned and she felt like she was about to throw up.