one
Minjeong was six when she and Santa met in her hospital room. She had her trusty chest tube attached under her armpit, pumping the extra naughty air out of her lung.
The blonde vividly remembers the encounter.
She recalls hearing jingles, stirring her awake from the peaceful slumber she was in. Minjeong’s frail body shifted under the white sheet of her bed, and the tension in her chest came back. Sometimes, she wishes she could sleep forever so she didn’t need to feel the pain.
Her mother and father were sleeping beside her hospital bed, heads down on the mattress. With her older brother sleeping beside her, Minjeong moves slowly to avoid waking him up and facing his cuddle attack.
The chiming of the bells only increased in volume, and a part of Minjeong started worrying that the noise might wake her family up. She moves farther away from her brother’s figure, isolating herself on the corner of the hospital bed with nothing but a soldier plushie in her grasp.
As if on cue, a crimson sleigh parks in front of the large window, reindeer flying in the air and coming to a halt when Santa pulls on the leash. He waves at little Minjeong with his gloved hands.
Minjeong couldn’t believe her eyes. She was in a trance—stuck in place, unmoving at the sight before her.
Why wouldn’t she be? It was Santa! Santa Claus! The man that placed presents beneath their Christmas tree and ate the cookies they baked for him!
Her immobile figure twitches with silent laughter when the bearded man tries squishing himself through the window, his big figure moving like a hardened putty. Nevermind the pain, this was the first time she felt happiness after months of being confined in a white room.
“Do you need help, Santa?” Minjeong sits up, wincing at the harsh sensation of the chest tube, “I can slide the window open for you.”
“Aren’t you a naughty one?” He laughs, but Minjeong is quick to shush him.
“Hey! Don’t laugh too loudly! My family is sleeping.”
“Okay,” By this time, Santa’s torso has successfully entered the room, leaving his legs dangling like a comical scene outside, “No laughing. I got it.”
It takes him a few more grunts and chuckles (not the loud ones) before landing on the cold and hard floor of the room. Okay, this is serious now. Santa was inside her hospital room! Exclusively for her! He paid a visit to see her! Minjeong must’ve saved a lot of lives in her past for her present to be a meet-and-greet with the one and only Claus.
Her body starts floating, but it’s unbelievable. The chest tube disappears from her body. All that’s left is a small opening in her skin.
She feels light like a leaf swifting through the breeze of a chilly forest. Minjeong remembers a scene from Tinkerbell where the little girl becomes peppered with pixie dust, and she makes a mess in her room by stomping her feet on the ceiling and leaving footprints behind.
And that’s exactly what Minjeong’s about to do.
But…
Why is her body still on the bed?
Minjeong turns her head to see Santa looking at her with a gentle gaze. She swims towards Santa, flapping her arms like a puppy to approach him, “Santa Claus?”
“Hey kiddo,” He used the tip of his index finger to poke Minjeong’s chubby cheek.
“Santa, why is my body still there?” Minjeong points to her sickly figure, eyes closed but lips slightly curved into a content smile. She points to herself, tapping her chest repeatedly, “But I am here?”
The bearded man sighs and squats down. He gestures with his fingers, tapping the air like he’s commanding it to bring Minjeong down. She descends to the floor, eyes locked with Santa’s. The tip of her toes hit the cold floor, then her heels land next.
Minjeong stands in front of him. High and mighty, no longer sick and frail.
“Kid, do you know what happens when life is no longer in the body of a plant? Its soul flows away, and it sees its body like a mirror,” Santa rubs his palm on Minjeong’s shoulder, his touch gentle like a cozy blanket.
“So I died?” Minjeong sniffles, the familiar pain visiting her chest.
Santa chokes on his spit, “Are you not too young to know that?”
“My puppy died because he had a lung condition last year,” Minjeong whispers, “His name was Grubby.”
He inches closer to her, maintaining a safe distance to not frighten the young girl. A few moments of silence pass with Minjeong staring at Santa, memorizing his features from head to toe.
“To answer your question, yes. Minjeong, you passed,” Santa masks his sadness with a small smile, an attempt to comfort Minjeong about the harsh truth.
She shifts her weight from one foot to the other, a habit she missed doing after being chained to her collapsed lung, “What about my oppa? My mom and dad?”
To say that Minjeong is sad is an understatement. She couldn’t bear the fact that she was about to leave her family behind. It was depressing. Minjeong liked seeing her mother’s grin. She adored her brother’s annoying giggles and her father’s nonchalant thumbs up whenever she acted like a troublemaker against her eomma.
Still a bit perplexed by the state of her life—-or the lack thereof, she tiptoes towards her mom, poking her shoulder, “Eomma.”
“Eomma…” Minjeong keeps poking, “Eomma…”
Santa walks closer, sitting beside the hospital bed with a creak, “Eomma, look, I’m up.”
Minjeong’s vision blurs, the light from her cardiac monitor spreading like spikes in all directions as soon as a single drop fell from her cheek, “Please.”
“Appa,” She moves between their sleeping figures and presses herself between them, but no matter how hard Minjeong tried, she just can’t, “Appa, wake up.”
“It’s time to go, Minjeong.”
The crests and troughs in her monitor slowly decrease, each amplitude getting smaller and smaller until all that’s left is a flat line and a prolonged ring. Her brother shifts in his place, rubbing his eyes to feel Minjeong’s cold hand on his.
Minjeong hugs the bearded man’s leg, squeezing it tightly and not wanting to let go, “Santa, I don’t want to go yet.”
The bed shakes beneath them. Minjeong’s brother starts screaming and crying, shouting at their parents to wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up but it’s too late. Her physical heart stopped beating the moment Santa extended his arm to hug Minjeong..
Her voice comes out like a plea, and it shatters Santa’s heart. But he knows. He knows that Minjeong needs to go, “I don’t want you to go yet too, but this is life as we know it.”
“We’ll visit your family,” He pats her hair with loose fingers, “Okay?”
“Okay.”
Tears fall. And her vision blacks out.
-
She turns thirteen when Santa gives Minjeong her first mission. Ever since he took her in, she had always been on gift-wrapping duty. Given the liberty to choose the colors for each wrap, she made sure to give the pretty girls the most beautiful bows and the shiniest satin. As for the boys… they got the scraps.
Santa most definitely scolded her for this, always giving her the never-ending talk of gender equality and that all people should be treated with respect. Minjeong had to sit through all of these on the “bad child” chair. It’s a wooden chair with no cushions, which hurt her butt a lot. It was the only seat without pillows or anything comfortable. Just a bare piece of oak intended for scolding. Even the elves sit on it.
Okay, as for the new mission, she was on reindeer stable duty! Santa explained that Minjeong had to stack the barley and hay neatly in all eight pens. As for the extra stacks, she’ll put them in the extra ninth space. These grain leaves were used as bedding for them, and it’s a bit questionable that they haven’t frozen up despite the freezing conditions here in the North Pole.
Minjeong rubs her gloved palms together, blowing warm air into it. As much as she hated admitting harsh truths, her body still wasn’t used to the temperature in this region despite living in it for half a decade now. And it probably affected her memory too.
She looks for the sack of carrot snacks that she supposedly carried into the stables earlier, but she can’t find it. Minjeong checks in between the hay and barley stacks, but there’s nothing.
“Looking for this?” Aeri, clad in just her plaid pajamas, wiggles the sack of carrot snacks behind her back, “You left it inside the workshop, again, Minjeong.”
“Shut up!” Minjeong stomps towards her and grabs the sack, almost toppling over at the weight. Stupid Aeri and her strength, “You’re so arrogant! Just like my oppa back in Korea!”
Aeri rolls her eyes and enters Dasher’s pen, “Make sure to put an extra pack of carrot snacks, Dasher uses her stamina too much on speed.”
“Yeah, yeah, got it,” Minjeong grumbles. She grabs two packs of carrot snacks and tosses it on top of the hay beddings.
Most of the time spent doing her mission was spent in silence. Aeri trailed quietly behind her, the sack of snacks in her hold to help the younger one with her duties.
They reach the final pen, Blitzen’s area, and arranges the hay haphazardly. The way Blitzen liked it. Aeri starts rambling that Santa’s reindeer used to be real kids, but when they died during Christmas season, he took them in and made them reindeer instead.
It explained a lot. Each animal had their own personality. Dasher was the oldest, and she was one of the fastest as well. Dancer is energetic, a stark contrast to Prancer’s elegant and quiet personality, “Those three are like the unnies of the herd.”
Aeri munches on one of the carrot snacks, earning quite a disgusted look from Minjeong, “Stop eating that! You’re not an animal!”
Vixen is one of the playful ones. She might not be as fast as Dasher or as graceful as Prancer, but she’s certainly the wittiest among the herd. Comet helps Santa with the directions and the gift load. He once told Aeri that he always compared Comet with a compass the way she knew where each child’s house was located.
“My favorite is Cupid,” Aeri wraps her arm around Minjeong’s shoulder as they walk back to the workshop, “She’s the funny and optimistic one. I’ve never seen her sad. I don’t know, maybe she wanted to become a nun?”
Donner and Blitzen are like twins. Their names both meant “lightning”, and it suited their purpose in the herd a lot. The two helped the sleigh overcome the weather conditions.
“Wait, you did say that they used to be humans. Do you mean…” Minjeong scratches her head, “They’re no longer people like us?
“No, pabo, they can transform back, but like—” Aeri pops another carrot snack into her mouth, “Their appetite? Definitely deer-like.”
“So were they forced to become reindeer?”
“No, Santa made them choose between helping the elves and turning into reindeer. They chose that.”
“Oh, so the eight women that always hung out with Tzuyu-unnie are all Santa’s reindeer?”
Aeri nods.
Minjeong wonders why she didn’t turn into a reindeer, “Santa didn’t make me choose.”
“That’s because we have enough reindeer. Nine is a lot.”
Nine?
Was Aeri secretly diagnosed with astigmatism and didn’t bother telling her? This has got to be a joke. Or maybe Santa didn’t teach her how to count, but that’s impossible. Aeri always double-checked the gifts before loading them up on the sleigh.
Minjeong tilts her head. She backs up a few steps before rushing back to the stable. Okay, time for a recount.
Dasher’s stall. One.
Dancer’s stall. Two.
Prancer’s stall. Three.
Vixen’s stall. Four.
Comet’s stall. Five.
Cupid’s stall. Six.
Donner’s stall. Seven.
Blitzen’s stall. Eight.
And an extra pen for the extra hay and remaining carrot snacks. Nine.
Minjeong’s boots made a trail in the snow outside,“Aeri, do you know how to count?”
The question prompted Aeri to cock her head sideways, “Yes..?”
“We only have eight reindeer, not nine.”
“Did Santa ever tell you that he had another reindeer?”
Minjeong whips her head towards the older one at the statement, “What do you mean? Another reindeer?”
“I forgot—you’ve been on workshop duty for too long,” Aeri shrugs, “You’ll find out later.”
For now, since Minjeong is done with her mission, she heads back inside to help the rest of the elves with cleaning up the wrapping factory. The interior was more hectic this year after they released those new Tobots—conveyor belts splashed with satin ribbons, cookie crumbs sprinkled all over the walnut floors, elves frantically running around because a certain somebody was assigned to another area instead of helping. It was a mess.
Tzuyu’s hair was tousled with confetti after probably slipping on one of the poppers. Minjeong decides to help, and curiosity took over her mind after seeing the brand new wrap-steamer Mrs. Claus made for the team.
Before going outside for the reindeer mission, she saw a few of the elves stack these wrap rolls on top of each other and plop them in the small funnel behind the shiny metal box. A minty smoke started piping out of the machine—and wow, Minjeong was just amazed.
The wrappers were all neatly ironed! A few years ago, the elves (and Minjeong) had to struggle in keeping the gift wraps from rolling in. This was just great for Christmas.
Sneakily, she hunches over to blend in with the elves. Minjeong approaches the machine with soldier-like movements. Stealthy but rigid. The gizmo is massive! Like the car Minjeong’s family used to own.
Peeking inside the machine, The smell of peppermint fuel stings her eyes. Bad idea.
“Minjeong, it’s too dangerous to put your head inside!” Tzuyu rushes towards her, pulling her out with the help of another elf.
She feels her whole face burn up. The intense fume of peppermint swelled inside her nose, prompting her to sneeze as soon as her head was out the machine.
“What did I say about leaving the machine work cleaning to the unnies?” She puts her hands on her hips, her posture remaining dignified and calm despite the disappointment bubbling beneath her face, “Help the elves clean the leftover wrappers, then place them in the appropriate bins.”
She sneezes twice, and Tzuyu can only sigh.
Minjeong bows down, “Sorry. Tzuyu-unnie!”
“Apology taken,” Tzuyu lets out an amused huff, ruffling Minjeong’s raven hair, “Shoo now, I can sense a fresh batch of cookies from Mrs. Claus when we’re all done.”
The visual makes her mouth water. More than determined to finish the task, she sprints towards the area where most of the elves were—the disposal bins. Here, Santa’s elves help with sorting the wrappers into the ROYGBIV bins. They all collectively agreed to use biodegradable and eco-friendly wraps since… well… global warming.
The North Pole average winter temperature increased by a degree this year! One can say that it’s just one degree, but according to Santa’s statistics, if this continues, snow will continue to melt and everything will go haywire. Minjeong does not like it when things go haywire.
Minjeong sweeps up some tertiary-colored wraps, “Do you ever wonder where the mixed colors go?”
“Just pick the one it closely resembled. So—uh… if you had an aquamarine shade, t-toss it in the B bin!” One of the elves say, panicking with the overwhelming amount of wraps in his hold.
“Got it!”
-
Minjeong felt the flakes of barley prick her skin as she rolled around the reindeer stable, enjoying the sweet and earthy smell that reminded her of the summer evening back in Korea. Elf Wunorse just woke up from his nap (Santa might scold him for that) a while ago, and after seeing the stable all tidied up and ready for the arrival of the herd, he granted Minjeong special permission to explore the space.
She sits down cross-legged on the rough hay, leaning back against the solid fencing of the extra pen. There were a few more carrot snacks in the feeding station in front of the rows of stalls, but Minjeong was too exhausted. Trying reindeer snacks piqued her interest, but she’ll save it for another Christmas.
The texture of the barley felt nice against her woolly winter coat, tingling her skin roughly. Like a kitten’s freshly trimmed nails lightly scratching her flesh. It didn’t hurt, but it made her feel alive.
“I’m back!” Santa arrives right in front of the stable with a noticeable grin under his white beard. His red fur-trimmed jacket sprinkled with snowflakes, “Minjeong-ah, stop playing in the hay!”
She bolts up, peeking her head over the wood fences and locks eyes with… a baby reindeer, “Who’s this guy?”
“Gal,” Santa hops down from his sleigh, patting each deer with care until he reaches the front row, where a reindeer shakes its head, “This… this is Rudolph.”
Rudolph grunts, her woody antlers larger than the regular baby reindeer back in the Village of the North. But the feature that struck Minjeong wasn’t the antlers. It was her red glowing nose.
“A new one?” Minjeong scratches her head, perching over the fence. She hooks her leg over the railing, landing face-flat on the snow.
“No, Minjeong, Rudolph arrived a year before I took you in,” Santa snaps his finger. the leash on the reindeer dissipating into snowdust. Like a routine, Dasher and the rest of the herd gallop towards the stables, but Rudolph stays beside Santa.
“Why have I never seen Rudolph before?” Minjeong kicks the snow that blocked her black boots, her gaze never leaving the strange creature.
Maybe it’s because she’s always inside the workshop, helping the elves and Tzuyu with the gifts, but all year round? And where does Rudolph sleep if she didn’t have a designated stall with the other reindeer? Where does she rest?
Santa pats the furry expanse of Rudolph’s back, rubbing his fingers near the base of her antlers. Minjeong wanted to do that too. She wanted to feel Rudolph’s fur. It looked soft and fuzzy, “Well, she rests in the spare room beside the elves’ quarters.”
The elves’ quarters was directly in front of Minjeong and Aeri’s bedroom, and she once entered the spare room. There’s nothing inside. It was like a regular expansion to the hallway separated by a door.
“She rests there? How can a big reindeer like her fit inside the room? Rudolph must be so uncomfortable!” Minjeong stomps in the snow, and the reindeer’s nose glows an even stronger and brighter red at the statement. She swipes the little girl off her feet with her antlers, hooking a branch of her antlers below Minjeong’s arm and raising her up high.
Minjeong shrieks. Her scarf threatens to fall off in the snowy wind, “Hey!”
“Rudolph,” Santa says in a stern tone, “Put Minjeong down.”
The reindeer twitches at the command and obeys almost immediately. She slowly sets Minjeong down, being careful not to hurt the little girl.
“Good reindeer.” Santa gives Rudolph a pat to her head.
Minjeong’s eyes sparkle, her hand aching to boop Rudolph’s snout, “Does she really sleep in the spare room?”
“When did you last check the spare room?”
“A few years ago…” She trails off, shifting her feet from side-to-side.
A lot has happened since the last time she checked it. Minjeong can’t even remember how she got there in the first place. She can only recall so much—cue her waking up in the middle of the night during autumn and deciding to explore the house.
Santa chuckles heartily, “Well… it's definitely furnished now.”
Minjeong twirls her hair, spinning in an attempt to convince Santa, “May I see the room tonight?”
Santa sighs. Minjeong is like his daughter already. And there’s something about fathers that just can’t resist saying no to their children, “Only if you behave.”
Minjeong pumps a fist of victory up in the air.
-
She ends up not touring the room. Minjeong passed out after dinner due to the sheer amount of chocolate chip cookies she consumed. Mrs. Claus always baked them perfectly, keeping the inside chewy but the exterior crunchy. It’s like biting into a piece of sweet heaven.
Minjeong’s eyelids are heavier than the weight of Santa’s sleigh. Okay, weird. Last thing she remembered was she’s sitting down beside Aeri and Ningning, why is she back in the bedroom after a few blinks?
She rubs her eyes, feeling disoriented. What time is it? She glances at the clock, 2:47 AM. Oh no! She missed the annual Christmas tree lighting!
Frantic, Minjeong sets aside the plaid comforter that covered her body. She fixes up the creases on her pajamas. Then, as quiet as she can be, Minjeong gets on her tippy-toes. Now is not the time to wake Aeri up because she’s grumpy when her sleep is disturbed.
Slowly but surely, she turns the brass knob, letting the warm light from the hallway shine through their dark bedroom. Minjeong slides her head in the big enough gap, turning her head from left to right to scan for any guard elves.
None. Okay, coast is clear.
She puts her right foot out. Okay. The key to sneaking out is gentle movements. Easy. Easy peasy!
Minjeong keeps her eyes wide open for any snitches.
Click!
She closes the door.
Then another one flies open.
Holy smokes. Minjeong tries opening the bedroom door again, but her hands are too slippery and sweaty to even grip at the material.
Holy smokes! Okay. Okay! Calm down! Minjeong. Calm dow—
“Minjeong?” A raspy voice calls out, but it didn’t sound like one of the elves she knows.
She freezes. Did a robber break in? Impossible, the North Pole village had high-tech security, and the Claus’ home was the most secure house in the entirety of the region.
With a shaky breath, she turns her head towards the source of the voice. And alas, a lanky girl with short messy hair the same color as hers. Black as coal, “What are you doing up so late at night?”
Minjeong backs up against the door when the unknown girl takes a step towards her. She just came out of the spare room—or was it the elves’ quarters? No. Minjeong can’t use all her brain power on finding out where she came from right now.
“W-Who are you?” Minjeong’s palms plant themselves on the wall. Her knees start buckling, and they’re threatening to loosen up and collapse like Aeri’s first attempt in making a toy train.
“It’s me,” The girl sniffs, wiping her nose with the fabric of her white oversized shirt, “Rudolph.”
That makes sense, but Minjeong doesn’t buy it. Her mind is going haywire. She doesn’t like it when things are going haywire.
“Prove it.”
Rudolph cracks a small smile, and it makes Minjeong’s insides churn. This burglar has the audacity to… to smile like she didn’t have a single problem? This—this is outrageous!
“How? Do you want me to transform into a reindeer right now?” She takes another step, but stops when Minjeong holds her shivering hand up.
“Don’t go any closer. You might be a thief for all we know.”
Rudolph shrugs and doesn’t listen anyway. She slides towards her, wrapping her palm around Minjeong’s wrist and tugging it down, “Relax.”
“Do you want us to call Gertrude right now so we can settle this in the bad children’s chair?” Rudolph whispers, and Minjeong swats the taller one’s grasp away.
“How’d you know Mrs. Claus’ name?” Minjeong’s too high and overdosed in chocolate cookies to think straight. So, this girl who claims to be Rudolph is a robber and a stalker? Just how skilled is she?
“Because I am Rudolph, silly,” Rudolph chuckles, “Just… in human form.”
Seems convincing enough. Who wouldn’t accept a pretty girl’s explanation?
“Back to my question,” Rudolph says, “What are you doing so late up?”
“Correction, so early up in the morning,” Minjeong composes herself, crossing her arms in an attempt to look superior, “Why do you care?”
“Because I’m craving Gertrude’s cookies,” Rudolph’s fuzzy slippers shuffle on the polished walnut floors, “Do you want to eat with me?”
Is this a date? Minjeong isn’t sure, but she’s definitely accepting even if the chances of contracting diabetes increase after this. As a signal of agreement, she nods shyly.
“Great!” Rudolph grins, grabbing her wrist and pulling her out the hallway and into the kitchen.
“You sure do know your way around the house,” Minjeong grumbles.
She reaches for one of the glass cookie jars at the top shelf. There are two cookie jars on it. One is for the elves, and it’s pretty obvious that it’s for them given the pinky-sized biscuits inside, and one is for the humans.
Minjeong gets on the tip of her toes. Her arm extends to reach out for the sweet treats. A few unsatisfied grunts escape her throat as she plants her left palm on the marble counter, using it as leverage to grab for the jar.
“I’ll get it,” Rudolph sighs, her arm hovering beside Minjeong’s ear.
Effortlessly, she takes the jar with her small hand, but it wraps around the jar with a perfect strength and grip. It takes Minjeong a few moments to process what happened just now.
This is insulting to her height. I mean, sure, Minjeong is… vertically challenged, but she’s still thirteen and there’s a long way to go!
“Since I got the jar, I get the first bite,” Rudolph snickers, walking over to the island counter and spinning the lid open.
It lands on the counter with a clink, and only then does Minjeong realize that Rudolph is about to eat chocolate. Chocolate chip cookies.
“Wait!” Minjeong shouts a little too loudly. She stops Rudolph from grabbing cookies, “You’re a reindeer right?”
Her forehead creases, “Yes?”
“Are reindeer allowed to eat chocolates?”
Rudolph can only laugh at the question like it’s the most insufferably stupid collection of words ever uttered by mankind, “Do I look like a reindeer now?”
Minjeong lets go of Rudolph’s wrist, “No…”
“Then I can eat chocolate,” She grabs three cookies and stacks them between her fingers and thumb, “I’m not allowed to eat human foods that are toxic to reindeer when I’m in that said form.”
The younger one pulls herself up, sitting on top of the island counter. She lets her legs dangle in the air, kicking them while watching Rudolph munch on the cookies.
She reaches for the jar in Rudolph’s arms, taking a cookie. Minjeong shouldn’t eat too much. There’s a reason why she felt like puking after finishing off half the baked batch after dinner. Mind you, there are twenty four cookies each tray—or at least there were.
Minjeong takes a small bite, savoring the familiar chewy and warm texture, “I’m curious—”
“Don’t talk while your mouth is full,” Rudolph glares.
The younger one nods. At least there’s more time for her to construct her question.
Is Rudolph really your name? Minjeong thinks it’s too straightforward.
Hey, did Santa name you? This sounds absurd. Don’t know why. It just does.
What’s your government name? This sounds weird.
She swallows the biscuit and wipes the crumbs off her lips with the back of her hand, “Is Rudolph really your name?”
Rudolph’s ears twitch at the question. Her jaw stops moving, remaining stiff like the rest of her body.
Minjeong starts panicking. Was it a personal question? Did she overstep her boundaries? No, but—this is a standard question when you’re getting to know each other. It started with asking mundane questions like this.
The taller one’s adam’s apple bobs up and down, “Sorry, I was trying to remember.”
“You don’t remember your own name?” Minjeong takes another bite of her cookie, her teeth landing on one of the bigger chocolate bits sprinkled on top.
“I do!” Rudolph sets the jar on the surface, climbing up the counter and sitting beside Minjeong, “It’s just—I just got used to being called Rudolph.”
“So…” Minjeong turns her head, looking up at Jimin, “What’s your name, Rudolph?”
“It’s Jimin,” Jimin smiles softly. The name felt foreign in her tongue, but it brought back memories of her family. The taste is bittersweet, a stark contrast to the sweetness of Gertrude’s chocolate chip cookies, “Yu Jimin.”
“Well then, nice to meet you, Yu Jimin,” Minjeong offers her crumb-stained hand.
Jimin accepts the handshake, and for once after being taken in by Santa, she felt the spirit of Christmas blossom back in her chest.
“Nice to meet you, Kim Minjeong.”