"From today, we are dating!"

Ray's clear and strong voice echoed into the car.

Mia's mind had gone blank the moment she had heard it. And what freaked her out the most was that he didn't ask her but he declared that they are dating now.

She just kept staring at his confident face where a smile was resting.

That smile, which was really unusual. She had never seen him wearing that before. It was like he knew what he was doing and he is the only one who could do it.

That confidence was overflowing through his eyes.

Then suddenly, the car stopped. Ray took away his face from Mia's eyes and looked outside the window.

"Your dorm is here, Honey!" He said calmly.

'Ehh???' Mia's head wasn't passing any thoughts except for the word 'Honey' which was revolving inside now.

"H-H-Honey?" Somehow the word came out of her mouth.

The disbelief was obvious in her tone, in her surprised wide eyes and the way she slowly went back a step from him.

He was expecting that.

The smile had turned into a smirk now. A victorious smirk.

~

Jun was lying down in his bed.

A lot of things were going on in his mind.

The Christmas was a couple of days away; he had to go to Mia's home; all were going to be there, except for Mia.

And he knew that it would happen.

'After all this why would she want to see me ever again?' He thought. 'Because of me she can't meet her family….Maybe I shouldn't go, then she might go and meet her family….yeah…That's what I'll do.'

Deciding this to himself, he took his phone and dialed Mia's mother's number. After a couple of rings, she picked up.

"Hello?" Jun said.

"Oh Hello Jun." It wasn't Mia's mother's voice, it was her father.

"Uncle?" Jun asked.

"Yeah. Mia's mother is in the kitchen right now. What happened? Did you have something to tell her?"

"Uhh…Umm…"

"Wait, I'll take it to her." Saying this Mia's father went towards the kitchen.

"It's Jun. He wants to say something to you." Father said.

"Oh! I'm washing dishes right now. Why don't you put the phone on the speaker?" Mother said.

"Oh! Wait…." He corrected the glasses on his eyes and started looking for the button for speaker.

"Ah! Found it!" He exclaimed and pressed it.

"Hello Jun?" Mother started talking.

"…Umm…Yeah…Aunty…."

"What did you want to say sweety?"

"Umm…actually…"

"When are you coming here?" She asked. "I've started the preparations for the Christmas now. But for both of us it is a little hard now."

"Yeah. We are really getting old…" Father added.

"Can you come a day earlier sweety?" Mother asked. "As this year, Mia is not there, there is no one help."

"Jina is there. But she is mad!" Father said.

"Mad? Why?" Jun asked.

"When she got to know that Mia is not coming for the Christmas, she went inside her room with grumpy steps and locked herself." Mother said.

"Really?" Jun asked worriedly.

"Don't worry. She's fine. She came out at the time of dinner." Father said laughing. "But she is still mad at Mia."

"We are also sad. This is the first time ever that Mia won't be here with us for the Christmas…" Mother sounded a little sad.

"….."

"But it's fine though." Father said. "She has grown up now. Today or tomorrow we have to let her go. And she is doing this just because she wants to work extra and earn some money. That is a good cause. I feel really proud to see my daughter being responsible."

"Yeah. Though she gets her pocket money, she wants to work and doesn't want to burden her family. Which parents wouldn't feel proud on such a child?"

"Yeah…" Jun said. 'So she is going to work extra for the Christmas…'

"And as you are coming, we are happy for that." Father said.

"Yeah. Your grandma is also very happy and excited to see you." Mother added.

"…."

As no answer came, Mia's mother asked, "Jun? Dear?"

"Huh? Yeah?" He got out from his thoughts.

"You okay sweety?" She asked; concerned.

"Huh? Yeah yeah. I'm fine." He said hurriedly, changing his tone, covering his sadness.

"So?" Father asked. "You wanted to say something right?"

"Huh?"

"That's why you called?"

"Oh! Umm….That…Actually I wanted to ask if aunty wants anything which I can bring from Seoul."

~

Mia got out from the car. She was holding a gift wrapped box in her hand which Ray had just given to her.

Her face was turned completely white after what had happened in the car.

Everything was so unexpected and shocking that she took a minute to turn and look at the car.

The window came down and she saw Ray's smiling face inside.

"Bye dear. See you tomorrow at work." He said.

"…."

Then winking at her, he closed the window again and within a second the car moved away from her.

Holding the gift in her hands, she kept staring in the direction where the car went.

.

She kept the box on her desk and slowly sat down on her bed.

'What the hell is happening with me?' She was thinking

Her roommate and friend Cho looked down from her bunk bed which was above Mia's and asked, "Why are you so late today?"

"Huh?" Mia came out from her thoughts and looked up at Cho's face.

"What's wrong girl? You look really tired today…"Cho asked worriedly when she saw Mia's darkened face.

"Nothing…"Mia said and sighed to herself. 'When I don't know what happened how am I supposed to tell you?'

"What's that?" Cho exclaimed looking at the gift box on the table.

And before Mia could say anything she came down the bed and took the box in her hands. "Huh? A gift? Who gave it to you?"

"…."

"There is no name written on it…just this little paper…." Saying this Cho took the paper in her hands and read it out loud, "To my First Love???"

When she read the last two words, her voice went into high pitch and her eyes got widened. "First Love? What is this Mia?" She looked at her friend in disbelief and shock.

"…." Mia kept her silence.

"You never told me about this. What is this?" Now Cho was more excited and happy than surprised. "What's inside?"

"…."

"Come on. Open it! I wanna see what's inside."

"….No..I don't want to…" Mia wasn't feeling to open it, she just wanted some peace to bring her head back onto the track but it was getting harder after every passing minute.

"Oh Come on Mia! Aren't you excited to see what's inside?" Cho said sitting beside her. "And who is the guy? You didn't even tell me that."

"…"

"Leave it. If you don't wanna tell then it's fine. But at least open this. Please. Please…"

"….Huhh…" Mia sighed out loudly when she saw Cho's puppy eyes.

Shaking her head to herself, she took the box from Cho's hands and kept it on her lap.

"Yayy!!" Cho exclaimed happily.

'I don't know why I'm doing this….I don't even know why I took this in the first place….' She was thinking as she was taking off the wrapper carefully. '…But that intimidating gaze of his was telling me like I had only one option; and it was to take it!'

She took off the wrapper and Cho beside her was literally jumping in her place with excitement.

Opening the box, both the girls peeked inside.

Mia took the thing out carefully.

"!!!"

It was an old music box; with a glass globe on it, in which a small statue of a couple was standing in a dancing pose.

Mia's hands started shaking when she realized what it was.

She gently rotated the lever and then the music started playing. The couple in the globe started revolving as the pink petals started spinning around them.

Before she could know, the tears started streaming down her cheeks.

Her vision became blurry and the memories of this started crowding her thoughts.

~