I've never been one to fool around

...He would try loving again, he would try trusting again and just maybe this time it would work out well for him and her.

She watched his car drive out of her sight, then she put more time and effort into getting her thought straight. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to go out of her bubble, a bubble she didn't even create for herself in the first place.

That was the saddest part.

She looked around her room at all the boxes of things she considered beautiful yet untouched and unused, at the corner of her small library to the list of things she had hoped to do the year before. Adventure!

She had achieved none of it. What will it hurt to just live above the confines of the world her parents and pastors had set for her and maybe just live for herself once.

"Santa, is it too late for a Christmas miracle?

She whispered into the dark of her room. Her eyes burned with tears at how sad she knew she was leading her life. She was only 24 but she knew she had more "i wish i did that" story than a 70 year old. She decided she wasn't going to do that anymore, what she usually did when she came up against something she didn't want to deal with in order to keep the peace around her. She was going to take back the reigns of her life and decide what happens to her from here on out.

She felt like she had just come up on a magic solution as she smiled amidst the tears that had rolled down her cheeks.

"Merry Christmas to me."

...

Su Yan thought hard on his way home. He had never been the man to go with what he feels without a second thought. He trusts his gut in business because he was trained to, he had studied for it and whatever he thought was right.

With Yang Mi he had given it a year and a half before he admitted to having any feeling for her.

Tale took him off that pedestal, it hadn't been the type of perfection of the women in his world that he had fallen for but he found her perfect, she could make him laugh without so much effort and that he knew was hard to come by.

To him there was treasure in that.

She saw his flaw and didn't hold it over him. She made him realize that all he thought he had was never going to be complete without a love in his heart, even the love of a friend.

"You want a drink?" Su Yan walked to Woo Jin who he knew he had neglected for the longest of time as he dropped a bottle on the table and took to the seat in front of his best friend.

"I'm sorry."

Woo Jin's eyes widened in surprise. "What has she done to you?"

His friend never apologized. Su Yan always tried to do no wrong not because he was perfect but because he would rather have his hand cut off than owe anyone an apology.

"She made me feel human. Is it bad?"

"No, but are you sure you want to go down this road. To what end? Your mum will have your head; your family will be put in an uproar. Are you ready for that?"

"There's that but I want your support on this. You are my best friend and you know me better than my parents do; besides you always wanted in right?"

"Yes I did. But back when I thought you were fooling around."

"I've never been one to fool around."

"There's a fist time for everything."

"She's different and I believe she is something special."

"But are you ready to face your--"

"My family is still a far off situation; we would take it one at a time. I just need my best friend to have my back."

Woo Jin downed the whole glass. "I got you"

"That's all I need right now"

...

It was now Christmas Eve. She had almost fallen off her bed again. She really needed to stop doing that. Who sleeps like that she wondered?

Tale packed up all the presents she had gotten and wrapped for her family in a small sized travel bag she had gotten from a street seller five nights ago. The woman looked like she could use the little money and she thought the bag was cute. She packed as little as possible because work would resume on the fourth of Jan and she had to be back to her house by then.

She was going to quit she promised herself now.

She needed a life. She got an Ankara(1) for her mother, her dad she got a set of his favorite pen. Her sister was getting her prayers answered with her favorite brand of lipstick and her brother got his favorite pair of Adidas shoes.

Su Yan gift sat at the bottom of the bag, she prayed he would like it as much as she hope.

Her phone rang. It was her mum probably calling to tell her to be on her way to the house even if she lived only twenty five minutes away.

"Hello mum"

"Are you on your way already?"

"No mum, I don't even live far away"

"Are you talking back at me?"

"No mummy, I'm sorry. I would be on the road in twenty minutes"

"Dress well when you are coming?"

"Yes ma"

She threw the phone on the bed as she set about to getting ready.

She took her time and an hour later she was out of her house.

How was she going to tell her parents about Su Yan she wondered? Her parents were kinda cool, right? And she had her siblings on her side, she hoped.

It was going to be fine, she prayed