A sign showing the way to a 'Kristmas Partey→' was placed at the green front door of the building on the opposite side of the supermarket. Checking his mask once again, Tae took a deep breath and walked inside.
Once he had entered the building, he realized that there was no reason to be nervous. At the door, everyone was greeted in person by an adorable elderly lady in a wheelchair. She welcomed Taehyung as if he was a close relative and offered him a mug of hot chocolate.
Tae thanked the elderly woman for her hospitality and walked into her apartment. He thought he had done a great job placing Christmas decoration, but upon entering the cozy living room, he felt as if he had stepped into another world.
Red candles painted the room into warm colors, their light reflected by the garlands put onto every wall. Christmas carols sung by choirs sounded from the old-fashioned radio. The highlight was a huge, colorfully decorated Christmas tree in the center of the room, which had—probably intentionally—been placed in front of the TV. Tae blushed when he spotted a Tata-shaped bauble between the tinsel-laden branches.
As he let his gaze wander around the room, his attention fell onto the party attendants.
A man who still wore his trash collector uniform talked to a young woman in a business suit. In the far corner of the room a teenage boy played cards with an elderly woman. Tae smiled when he saw that he helped her reading the numbers on her cards and still let her win.
Everyone spoke quietly to one another, as if they wanted to preserve the serene atmosphere. However, the tranquility was disturbed by a sudden shout.
"Not-V! You came!" The cashier greeted Taehyung and even pulled him into a quick hug. "Don't you want to take the mask off?"
"I still have a cold." Tae faked a cough.
The woman gave him a look that spoke louder than any words. "Anyway, would you like to join our scrabble game? I don't take no as an answer!" She pointed to the kitchen which was just as beautifully decorated as the living room.
"Maybe later," Tae replied. "I'd like to warm myself up first."
"Okay, I'll be back when the next round begins."
She walked away while waving her hand. Taehyung returned the gesture and plopped on the dusty couch, hoping he could take a sip of his hot chocolate when no one was looking.
"Merry Christmas," came a friendly and warm greeting from the person sitting next to him. Tae turned his head to answer the greeting—and froze. If he had his mouth full of hot chocolate in that moment, he would have choked to death. Mr Lee flashed him a sad smile. "You live in the building I work in, right? You don't have to be afraid of me. I know people tell nasty stories about me…"
"So you aren't a murderer on the loose?" Taehyung laughed to hide his embarrassment. As if a serial killer would care about attending a cozy Christmas party! "Well, thinking about it now, it is very unlikely that someone escapes from jail without ever being caught."
Mr Lee nodded. Taking a sip of his mulled wine, he leaned back into the couch and stared into the distance. "Actually, I have been to jail many years ago."
"You have?" Tae exclaimed and lowered his voice to avoid attention being drawn to their conversation. "May I ask why you went to jail? You don't have to tell me, though..."
Mr Lee stared deeper into the distance, perhaps to let the past pass in front of his eyes once more. "In my late teens, my friends and I thought it would be fun to steal a car. So we did. But the joyride turned into a nightmare when my best friend, who was the one driving, caused an accident. An old woman was heavily injured. And to make things worse, he and a mutual friend said that it was me who had been driving. I spent three years in a hell called juvenile detention."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
"You don't have to." Mr Lee shook his head. Taking a big gulp of mulled wine, he turned to Taehyung with a smile on his lips. "I realized that that's just the way life goes. Friend may betray you, and you might make mistakes. The most important thing is that you learn your lesson, even if it hurts. Besides, no one is immune to the law of life. I'm sure you, too, have done something lately that you regret now."
Tae lowered his head and shook his head. His cheeks burned, which he ascribed to the mask still warming up his face.
"No? I thought everyone had their fair share of shenanigans. I guess today's youth is much wiser than my generation was."
Taehyung sighed. The hot chocolate in his hands looked as unappetizing as the hot pot set in the fridge at home. "No, that's not it. I actually did something stupid. I wished my friends would disappear. I mean, for real. And the next morning all of them were gone. That's some bad Karma, huh?"
Mr Lee crossed his legs."Karma has nothing to do with being good or bad. It's about restoring life's balance. I can't tell you what your lesson is, but maybe you need this time of solitude to find out who you really are."
Taehyung nodded. "To be honest, being alone was fun at first, but now I miss my friends like crazy. I couldn't stand being alone on Christmas Eve, so I came here."
He glanced around, quickly uncovered his face and took a big gulp of the cocoa drink— and found out the reason the hot chocolate had looked so unappetizing, as countless half-molten marshmallow clumps filled his mouth. Wiping his mouth to hide his disgust, Taehyung turned to Mr Lee and asked, "what about you? Are you alone as well?"
Mr Lee shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Eventually, he bent over and whispered,"see that woman over there?"
Taehyung's gaze followed Mr Lee's nod toward the kitchen directed at the only woman in the room. "I know her. She works at the supermarket right across the street."
"She's my niece Jessica," Mr Lee explained. "My brother's daughter. The last time I saw her she was just a little girl. Things have always been difficult between my brother and me, but one day we had a terrible argument. He told me that I wasn't welcome anymore, so we cut off contact. The last time I heard of him was when he died a few years ago. I instantly worried about Jessica, so I figured out where she lives. I took the job as janitor in the apartment because it gave me a reason to be close to her."
"Why don't you go over to her and say hello?" Taehyung prompted.
"I tried before, but she doesn't recognize me," Mr Lee sighed. "Besides, if a stranger like you is afraid of me, then my niece might be as well. I just don't know how to approach her."
"Right, it would be weird to show up to a stranger and say, 'Hi, I know you don't know me, but we're actually family.'" Tae laughed a bit too loud. "But on the other hand, if you don't talk to her, you might never get the chance to reconnect with your family."
"I don't know…" Mr Lee sighed again and pushed both of his hands into the small of his back to get up from the couch. "Anyway, I'm going back home. You should, too. Unless you want to spend the night on the street. There will be a special curfew during the holidays, which automatically locks the apartment complex for security reasons. Didn't the security guard tell you?"
"The security guard?" Tae wrinkled his forehead. "Of course not. He must think that I'm not home."
*6 Days Left Until Christmas Eve*
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