Side Story 1. Merry Christmas, Happy Day! (1)
“Hyung, take a look at this.”
Jian raised questioning eyes as he looked at the crumpled drawing paper Sehun handed him.
“Dojin drew it during art class recently.”
Dojin was the name of the child Sehun was sponsoring. Nine years old this year. He was a pretty boy who reminded one of Sehun when he was young.
Starting with Sehun, others unanimously said that Dojin was Jian’s mini-me, but in Jian’s eyes, Dojin resembled Sehun more than himself.
Unlike when they first met, now his cheeks had become chubby like a squirrel’s, making him more adorable every time Jian saw him.
“Hmm, what could this be?”
Jian tilted his head as he took the drawing. Various colors drawn with crayons danced on what was originally a pure white sheet of paper.
The most used color was definitely red. Below the red were two black circles, making it close to abstract art.
There was also blue, brown, yellow, and pink.
“It’s Santa Claus and Rudolph. These things drawn below seem to be gift boxes.”
Sehun explained, pointing at each part of the drawing with his index finger for Jian, who couldn’t find the answer at all.
Jian nodded. Indeed, after hearing the explanation, the drawing made sense. The circles connected with thin lines did look like people.
“Don’t tell me this is Dojin, this is you, and this is me?”
“That’s right. He’s quite talented in drawing. Maybe he’ll become an artist later.”
Three stick figures of different heights holding hands were drawn in the middle of the paper. Jian smiled softly at Sehun’s doting words.
Whenever he saw Sehun taking care of Dojin, just as he had done for Sehun when he was young, his heart would swell and the bridge of his nose would tingle.
“Come to think of it, Christmas is coming soon. Dojin liked the Santa Claus story.”
Children who had lived isolated from the world were adapting to society day by day through systematic education appropriate for their age and various games at the orphanage. After learning Korean, they were growing their hopes and dreams that children could have by reading fairy tales.
Dojin showed particular interest in Santa Claus. Today was December 20th, so Christmas wasn’t far off.
Thinking about the child who would be eagerly waiting for Santa Claus to visit him, Jian couldn’t stop smiling.
“I guess we have a lot to prepare?”
Jian’s eyes curved into crescents as he met Sehun’s gaze. He wanted to protect the belief of a child who still believed that Santa Claus existed in the world.
Imagining how happy he would be if they turned the gift boxes drawn under what appeared to be a Christmas tree into reality, the pain in his waist that had been throbbing seemed to disappear.
“But first, this.”
Sehun, who couldn’t take his eyes off Jian’s smiling face for a while, lowered his head and kissed him.
Their naked lower bodies rubbed intimately against each other under the blanket.
* * *
“Dojin, Dojin.”
Semi grabbed Dojin’s arm and shook it. Dojin, who had been sitting against the wall reading a book, slightly raised his head.
Although he disliked having his alone time interrupted, he couldn’t ignore Semi as tears were welling up in her eyes.
“Had a nightmare?”
“Y-yeah…”
Dojin quietly opened his arms. Semi buried her head on Dojin’s shoulder and sniffled. Though they were the same age, Dojin was much more mature than Semi.
It was the result of Dojin, like Sehun, being experimented on to develop intelligence.
Perhaps because of this, many of the children they lived with tended to trust and follow Dojin like an older brother, even though he was the same age or younger than them.
His maple leaf-like hands gently stroked Semi’s head and back.
“It’s okay. The bad adults who hurt us are no longer in this world. Only good people are by our side now.”
“…You’re right. I miss the mister.”
Semi’s voice was damp with tears. The “mister” Semi referred to was Jian. Dojin’s sponsor was Sehun, and Semi’s was Jian.
Their close relationship at the laboratory, being the same age, had a big influence.
“Wait a little, Semi. I made a wish to Santa.”
Dojin hugged Semi and smiled cunningly. He knew that Santa Claus didn’t exist in this world.
He also knew that the illusion of Santa Claus originated from the story of St. Nicholas secretly throwing gold coins for three daughters of a poor family.
It was just an illusion created by combining a saint’s charitable act, the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas, and modern commercial imagery, but Dojin cleverly used this fact.
When he read the Santa Claus story, it felt like a light bulb had brightly lit up in his mind.
“I wished for us to become a real family, so it will come true soon.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. Then we can see the mister and hyung every day.”
“That would be so wonderful…”
Semi’s cheeks reddened at the dream-like story. A moment later, as Semi yawned softly, Dojin guided her arm to lie on the blanket and lay down beside her.
As it was nap time, the room was filled with the sound of soft breathing. Unlike the bleak laboratory, Dojin closed his eyes in a place full of warm scents.
Days of seeing Jian and Sehun every day unfolded in his little mind. It was a future not far away.
* * *
“But do we all wear this? Isn’t Santa just one person?”
Jihwan expressed doubt while touching his protruding belly. Not only him, but everyone was dressed in identical Santa Claus outfits.
Even Sehun, who was particularly tall and big, looked like his sleeves and trouser bottoms were a hand span too short.
To make it realistic, they had each stuffed pillows into their bellies. With half their faces covered by hats and beards, they looked quite ridiculous.
“That’s a prejudice, hyung. If there’s only one Santa, how could he deliver presents to all the children around the world in one night? How many kids are there?”
Leo clicked his tongue and shouldered a red sack full of gifts. Unlike Jihwan, who wore a disgruntled expression, Leo seemed quite excited.
“Check if the names are properly written on the gifts. It’ll be a headache if the children’s presents get mixed up.”
Hyunwoo spoke as he looked around at the guild members. A total of twelve guild members had gathered for Christmas.
Midnight, transitioning from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. Everyone was busy with their schedules, but they gladly made time for the children.
One person could have represented Santa Claus, but since it was the first Christmas the children were celebrating after being rescued from the laboratory, they decided to make today the best day possible.
“Thank you all for participating. The children will really like it.”
Jian smiled with a pleased expression. None of the children had proper birth registrations, so their exact birthdays were unknown.
Only a few children remembered their own birthdays, and inevitably, the others marked the day they were rescued from the laboratory as their birthdays.
Jian always felt heartbroken about this fact. Although it was a hastily prepared event triggered by Dojin’s drawing, he hoped it would be a meaningful day for both the children and those gathered here.
“We need to distribute gifts to the other children at the orphanage too, so everyone stay focused. Got it?”
The total number of children currently staying at the orphanage was thirty-one. Since they couldn’t just give presents to the children they were sponsoring, everyone had prepared gifts for the other children as well.
“Hyung.”
Sehun approached Jian’s side. Compared to others, Sehun’s gift sack was particularly slim.
“Let’s go too. I hope Semi will like it.”
“She’ll love it since it’s the gift she wanted. You even wrote the card yourself.”
Noticing Sehun’s slightly envious look at the card, Jian took out a card from his pocket and handed it to Sehun.
“…You wrote one for me too?”
“I’ve been writing them every year. I’ll give you the gift tomorrow.”
Even though there were now many other children to care for, Sehun was still the most important person to Jian.
After a year, after ten years, after decades, Sehun would forever be a younger brother in Jian’s eyes. Even if their relationship had changed.
Seeing the face so happy over a single card, the tip of his nose that had frozen in the cold wind warmed up.
“By the way, what should we do about Dojin’s gift? It would have been so much better if what he wanted was an object like the other kids.”
Jian sighed softly as he looked at the sack hanging over Sehun’s shoulder. Two days ago, they had asked the orphanage teacher what gifts the children wanted for Christmas.
They ranged from toys to the latest gaming consoles, laptops, and bicycles. But Dojin’s desired gift was different from the other children’s.
When Jian first saw the name of the gift that Dojin had written himself, he was perplexed.
[Family]
That was the name of the gift written in Dojin’s note. Those two words carried a lot of meaning.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
