Taerose Oneshot Collection

19. Winter Bear

{Christmas au, drama, fluff}
Imagine your face, say hello to me
Then all the bad days, mean nothing to me.
With you.
⤟≻❈≺⤠

Taehyung had never done anything like this. Cancelling all his Christmas plans and booking a flight to the first place available was not something he had ever planned for himself. He was more responsible than that. He had a family business to run. Duties and obligations. Running away from all that was not only unconstitutional – it was plain crazy.

And yet, there he was, sitting alone in a restaurant. In Rovaniemi, Finland. On Christmas Eve. Trying to remember why he was there.

Taehyung hadn't always hated the holiday season. When he was a young boy and his family actually spent time together, everything was fun and exciting. His grandfather always dressed up as Santa Clause and his Grandmother baked the best cookies while his parents read him Christmas story after Christmas story. He loved the coziness of the fireplace, the feeling of hot chocolate warming his insides, and the laughter of his family echoing throughout the house.

But things were different now. Taehyung's father had made several lucky investments and climbed up the economical latter. He quickly became the owner of a multi-million-dollar real estate company and was constantly travelling around the globe during Christmas. Taehyung couldn't even remember the last time he had shared a full meal with his father, let alone spent a whole holiday weekend with him. The only thing they talked about was business and how Taehyung would be inheriting the company soon.

Taehyung's mother was somehow equally busy. She had become a socialite and now owned her own clothing and jewelry line targeted towards rich heiresses and trophy wives. That meant the majority of Taehyung's evenings, growing up, were spent with babysitters and nannies.

And Taehyung, himself, was always so busy helping run the company that he rarely had time to contact his grandparents at all. He hadn't seen them in years.

All of these factors had collectively turned Taehyung's heart bitter towards the entire holiday season. It made him angry to see families come together when his was so broken. The joy and wonder had been slowly drained out of him the older he got. The more he saw of the ugly world.

When he had to break off his four-year-long engagement yesterday, that was the final straw – the breaking point that had motivated him to leave Seoul for a few days.

He was hoping to be somewhere warm, far, far away where he could relax and forgot all about the holidays. He desperately needed a tropical vacation. A break from the annoying holiday cheer all around him.

Unfortunately, Rovaniemi was the worst possible place he could have gone. Not only was it hella cold there, with mountains of snow along every street, but it was also the fucking home of Santa Clause himself! There was a whole Santa Clause village and a Santa-themed park there. People dressed up as elves scampered by everywhere Taehyung looked. There were even reindeer sleigh rides and a post office where children wrote letters to Santa. Not to mention all the lights, wreaths, and sparkling decorations that lit up the entire city. It was a city absolutely bursting with holiday cheer.

Taehyung was straight up not having a good time there. Two seconds after stepping out of the airport, he had tried to turn right back around and book another flight, but all departures were delayed to the busy holiday season. And the earliest he could leave was the original day his return ticket had been booked. That meant he was stuck in this winter wonderland nightmare for two days.

Now, as he sat in a restaurant that resembled the inside of a gingerbread house, waiting for his food to arrive, he heaved an irritated sigh. In the corner of the blindingly bright room, a child was celebrating his sixth birthday and the entire staff had emerged from the kitchen to sing him a Christmas themed song.