Chapter 63: Christmas Celebration -1
The outing was successful.
As planned, they bought decorations for the tree and groceries for the party at the mart.
Though she felt a bit uncomfortable being in crowded places, she managed to accompany her and complete the tasks without showing much discomfort.
It was only after they arrived home that she regained her energy.
Seeing Eunah exuding a proud aura as soon as they got out of the car, Dokyun couldn't help but burst into laughter and compliment her, "You did great today."
Upon hearing his compliment, she finally turned around, smiling brightly, and replied, "Yes! I-I protected Mr. Bee well!"
Proudly boasting while shrugging her shoulders.
Dokyun, feeling amused by her response, teasingly remarked, "Did you protect me? I think I did the protecting."
"Eek!"
She flinched and her eyes widened.
Changing her tone to a pleading one, she defended herself, "Look, I, I helped! B-because you looked pitiful Yes, pitiful!"
As if convincing herself, she nodded vigorously.
Seeing Eunah regain her energy once again, Dokyun's smile grew wider, and finally, when Eunah noticed him, she nudged him in a petulant tone, "D-don't laugh!"
"Sorry, couldn't help it."
Dokyun suppressed his laughter and looked at her.
With flushed cheeks and pouting lips, he realized it was time to stop. He quickly picked up the bags he had brought out and turned to her, "Shall we go inside now?"
"Ugh"
As they walked towards the house, she muttered softly, her cheeks puffed out.
After glaring at Dokyun for a while, Eunah then stood next to him, took a few bags from him, and walked ahead.
Dokyun briefly watched her retreating figure.
The sight of her walking ahead without a word, but with a mischievous energy radiating from her, was so adorable that he couldn't help but laugh again.
Dokyun, who had been watching him for a moment, quickly composed himself and caught up with her, opening his mouth as he walked fast.
"Let's go together!"
*
Entering the house, he changed his clothes and sorted out what he had bought.
After organizing the groceries first, Dokyun unfolded the tree decorations and began to contemplate how to decorate the tree as he looked at him for a moment.
"Hmm"
Dokyun stared at the large tree standing in one corner of the living room.
"Is it too much?"
A tree slightly taller than himself.
He had chosen a big one thinking that making memories should be done grandly, but now that he looked at it like this, he wondered how to decorate it to make it look beautiful.
If he piled decorations on it, it would look messy, but if he attached them sparingly, it would seem like a waste of what he had bought.
As he continued to ponder without a clear answer, feeling resentful of his own sense of aesthetics, Dokyun felt a tug on his sleeve, and he turned his head to see Eunah holding LED decorations in her hand, looking up at him with eyes full of anticipation. Dokyun smiled at her and spoke to her.
"Huh? What?"
"Um!"
In response to his question, her head nodded vigorously.
Dokyun smiled at her and nodded in agreement.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m
"Shall we put this up first?"
"Yes!"
In response to his confirmation, her head nodded vigorously again.
With a smile on his face, Dokyun nodded his head back at her and spoke.
"Okay. Can you wait for a moment?"
With that, Dokyun approached the tree and reached out his arms to start hanging LED lights from the top of the tree.
As he easily wrapped the lights around, Dokyun, suddenly shifted his gaze to the hand that was tugging at his sleeve again.
"Huh?"
Eunah's expression at the end of his gaze seemed somewhat displeased.
With a small doubt arising in him, Dokyun asked her.
"What?"
As his question reached her, she mumbled a few words with a hint of frustration.
"That, that's not how it's supposed to be"
A reminiscent phrase.
Once again, the attitude she had shown when she watched him cooking ramen was revealed.
Feeling somewhat uneasy if he had done something wrong, Dokyun forced an awkward smile and asked again.
A slightly relieved expression.
Dokyun didn't miss the moment and quickly snapped a picture of her smiling face with the camera.
Click!
At the sound of the camera, her body stiffened slightly.
"Is, is it done?"
Her question followed shortly after.
Dokyun looked at the camera screen.
A bright face smiling brightly with the tree sparkling beside her.
Although it was a picture taken with amateur skills, it seemed like a decent piece of work, perhaps because the model was so charming.
A smile began to spread across Dokyun's lips as he looked at the photo, and as he opened his mouth to answer her.
"Yes, it turned out really well."
Satisfied with his tone, Eunah leaned closer to Dokyun's side, extending her head to inspect the screen and exclaimed in admiration.
"Wow"
"It looks nice, right?"
"Yes!"
As she replied, a smile full of joy formed on her face as she looked up at him.
"Mr. Photographer, you take good photos too!"
She complimented again.
To this, Dokyun felt a smirk creeping up, and as he faced her, he replied with a teasing tone.
"Because Miss Eunah is the model."
"Hehe"
Eunah chuckled at the compliment, then immediately snatched the camera from Dokyun's hand and said to him.
"Now it's Mr. Photographer's turn to be photographed!"
"Oh."
Was he also going to be photographed?
Feeling somewhat awkward at the suggestion, Dokyun nodded his head.
As they moved towards the tree, Dokyun made a V sign with his hand and smiled.
"Cheese!"
He looked at her and saw her smiling.
"What?"
"Oh, no!"
Dokyun eyes narrowed.
No.
'I knew very well what my face must have looked like.'
'My expression probably made my smiling face seem funny.'
Only then did Dokyun realize, belatedly feeling embarrassed, that he had smiled at her face, realizing that his own face wasn't much different from hers just now.
Maybe, he thought, he looked even funnier than her now, causing his shoulders to slump with that realization.
Click!
The sound of the camera snapping echoed.
Startled, Dokyun quickly approached her to check the screen.
"Phew!"
Seeing the screen first, she laughed and pulled the camera close to her chest, covering the screen, while Dokyun, now tense, asked a question.
"What, why?"
Was it really that strange? Or funny? Was she hiding it because she wanted to erase it?
Amidst countless thoughts racing through his mind, he finally heard an answer from her.
"Um I-I want to see this by myself!"
She said so while tightly holding the camera to her chest, sparking curiosity once again.
"Hehe"
Seeing her laugh with a deeply flushed face, he didn't know what to say to make her feel different, so he just smiled back awkwardly.
"Well alright then."
Although he was curious, ultimately, she seemed happy, so it should be okay, he thought, nodding his head.
Dokyun, who had bent down to check the screen, straightened his waist again and continued to gaze at her, still holding the camera and laughing along with her.
Even when she burst into laughter with a silly smile on her face while checking the screen, he smiled again, thinking, 'Well good things are good.'
He wondered if it was really funny. But then, thinking that it might be good to laugh at that picture when feeling down, Dokyun regained his composure and followed her, drawing a smile on his face.