#exolssecretsanta

“Come on, let’s get you to bed. I’ll take care of the food.” Kyungsoo held out his hand for you to grab.

“No- I wanted to have dinner together…” You pushed his hand away.

“Okay, we can have dinner. Let me warm it up, okay?” Kyungsoo leaned down to place a gentle kiss on your head.

You said nothing as Kyungsoo took the food, the food that was warm once upon a time, to heat it. Annoyance scratched at your heart as you took in the sight. It’s not fair; you made dinner, and it was steaming before. Why wasn’t he home at the time he usually came home? You planned everything out perfectly, and he’s half an hour late?

“I think you’re right. I need to go lay down.” You stood up slowly, ignoring Kyungsoo as he turned around.

There are too many emotions running through your mind right now to have dinner with your significant other right now. Tomorrow is a new day, a chance to start fresh. It’s not going to bed angry, which is terrible for your health; it’s getting ready to start over tomorrow. That’s how you justify slipping into your bed and turning your back to his side. Falling asleep this time is much harder than when you were resting your eyes.

The following day, after a good night’s rest, you opened your eyes and turned to face him. The smile slipped off of your face when you noticed he was already gone. This is not how you wanted to start over. Taking a deep breath, you look at the clock next to your bed. It’s time to get going for the day, and then you can start over again tomorrow. Getting through today it’s going to be like every other day. You’ve done this so many times; you can do it again.

That’s what you thought, anyway. Once you finally made it out to the living room, you noticed Kyungsoo in the kitchen. Looking at the table, he made breakfast on two plates. Breakfast together is almost as good as dinner together. Kyungsoo smiled at you and gestured for you to sit down.

“I’m sorry I was late last night. There was so much going on.” Kyungsoo sat down across from you.

“It’s okay. I was a little disappointed last night, but things happen. I know that.” You shrugged; you didn’t want to talk about yesterday anymore. It’s in the past, and that’s where it belongs.

“You haven’t told me about your plans for your Classroom Winter Party this year.” Kyungsoo looks up from his food to give you his whole attention.

“It’s been difficult this year. I- Something is different this year.” Despite wanting to meet his gaze, you couldn’t. Being a teacher is amazing; it’s your pride, joy, and life. This year, however, things have changed.

“Do you not want to do it this year?” Kyungsoo asked; you thought about his question for a moment.

“It’s usually your favorite party of the year. Do you need help planning it?”

“No. I’m okay. I just haven’t figured out some of the details yet. I haven’t picked a day. Can you send me your schedule so I can see what you have available? The kids always love seeing you.” You smiled at him, poking at your food a little bit.

“Yeah, I can send it to you. Let me know if you need anything, okay?” Kyungsoo watched you carefully for a moment, then continued to eat his own portion of the meal.

“I have to get going soon. I have already packed your lunch away. It’s in the fridge.” Kyungsoo put his plate in the sink and walked around the table to give you a kiss.

“I’m hoping to be home earlier tonight, but I can’t promise anything. If you get home and you’re tired, don’t wait. I’ll understand.” Kyungsoo tells you sternly. You rolled your eyes and continued poking your food around.

Looking at the time, you sighed. It would be best if you got going, too; you don’t want to be late for school. The Winter Party is your favorite one of the year; it’s just nice for the kids to have a little send-off before the second semester. You’re just having a little trouble planning it this year. A lot of the parents seem withdrawn or too tired from their own jobs to participate in your family activities, and the kids (as much as you try to help them) seem anxious rather than excited to learn. Just like the rest of this year, the drive to school became a blur.

Seeing the children getting ready to learn always brings a smile to your face. The children quickly make their way into the classroom and find their desks to sit at. Your classroom helper follows the last child in. Today is the special day of the week that all your kids look forward to. Today, the kids will eat their breakfast and line up to begin their day with music. A lot of the specialty classes have been cut from your curriculum, relying solely on you to find a way to get those classes squished into your day with all the other activities. Music, however, is one you heavily fought for at the board meetings.

“Mrs. Do! We can go to music now?” One of your kids grabbed onto your hand and pulled down as they jumped excitedly. One of the two kids that decided breakfast was not important today as most of it was still on their trays.

“Not yet, we have to wait for our other teacher to come get us and our friends, right?” You gently pulled your hand from the child and motioned to the rest of the class.

“We have to make sure we make good choices and show our friends, right? Breakfast first, then it’ll be time for music.” You helped the child find their seat, she sat down and immediately started to eat a little bit. Your helper motioned you over to her.

“I finished making the invitation for the Family Winter Party, what do you think?” She pulled up the rough draft of the invitation for you to look at. Of course, it looks amazing. Your helper is so artistically talented.

“It looks perfect. While the kids are napping, can you run to the office to make enough copies for them?” You asked. Before your helper could answer, a knock at the door grabbed your attention. The kids, as if reading your mind, jumped up. All excitedly trying to get to the door to see if it was their music teacher.

“Hey, hey! Friends, let’s make a better choice. Who gets to answer the door?” You asked them loudly.

“Mrs. Do answers the door.” The kids repeated, some of them more annoyed than others.

“Good morning, Mrs. Do. I’m here to pick up our friends.” Mr. Kim greeted you warmly.

“Good morning, Mr. Kim. I’ll get them all cleaned up and ready to line up for you.” You smiled at him.

As you turned around, you noticed the children were practically buzzing with energy. You smiled at them and started to sing the clean-up song. As soon as the children heard it start, they carefully moved around each other, trying to get to the various trashcans around the room. They tried, not necessarily succeeding, to avoid tripping over each other to get to their spot in line. Once everyone was settled, as much as they could be, you released them into Mr. Kim’s care.

“Alright, what do we still need for the party? We have the invitations ready to go into their backpacks at the end of the day, do you want to make extra copies to give to the parents directly?” Your helper asked.

“I feel like that might be too much. I don’t want to make anyone feel bad if they can’t come. I also don’t want to force them into coming if they don’t want to. Making enough copies to put in their backpacks will be good enough. Are you still okay to grab those things from the store, the list I sent you? We need to be extremely vigilant for allergens.” You pulled out your laptop and started scrolling through the emails sent to you this morning.

“I know the drill. We don’t have to worry about that. What day do you want to do it?” That question gave you a moment to pause.

“Let’s do it a couple of days before the last day of the semester. That way, it’ll give parents some time to prepare while also not overwhelming the school with another parent activity.” You pulled up an email and started typing out everything that’s in stone to send to your principal, wanting her also to be involved as much as she can.

“Is Kyungsoo coming this year?” Taelin, your helper, asked.

“I don’t know yet. Let’s plan on him coming, that way if he doesn’t, we have extra stuff in case more families come than we plan on. It’s always better to be over-prepared than under when it comes to things like this.

Before you know it, your planning time was cut short as the children came back from their music lesson. Time always seems to fly when you’re trying to plan a family activity. You gave your laptop to Taelin and met the kids at the door.

“Alright, friends, let’s go to our seats and get ready for math.” A few complaints flooded the room as the children settled into their seats. Today, you and Taelin set up little counting stations on each desk and watched as the kids began counting to the best of their abilities.

You couldn’t help feeling anxious as time seemed slowly around you. When their timer rang, signaling the end of math, Taelin brought the kids over for the reading time on the carpet. Like the kids, you couldn’t wait to go home and spend a little time with Kyungsoo, he promised he could take a little time off of work to spend with you this holiday break.

When the kids lay down for their nap, you finally found time to breathe. You pulled out your phone and texted the date you, Taelin, and the principal decided on for the family activity to Kyungsoo. You weren’t expecting an answer. Taelin plopped down beside you, handing over the food she ordered for you. It didn’t taste very good, but you ordered it a couple of hours ago when you realized you left your lunch at home. You’re only getting to eat now when the day is almost over. You still have an hour and a half before the end of the day, so you put on a bright smile after naptime and keep the kids distracted while Taelin sets up the center stations for the end of the day.

By the time you get home, you’re once again exhausted. A familiar state you’ve found yourself way too often. Kyungsoo isn’t home, but you don’t have the energy to wait for him tonight. So, you sit at your dining room table, eat your lunch that you forgot to take with you, and then you head to bed. As you lay your head down for the night, you hope to dream of a night with Kyungsoo, the fireplace, and the snow gently falling outside past the window of your living room.

“Good morning!” Kyungsoo said excitedly, you glare at him suspiciously.

“You’re quite energetic this morning, what gives?” You joked as you pulled your bathrobe around you tighter.

“I know you and Taelin have been planning for the party, so I thought I would go out and get you the things you need most!” Kyungsoo show you all the shopping bags he was hiding behind his back.

“Wow, that’s a lot of stuff… Are you going to come and help decorate?” You asked slyly.

“Of course, how could I expect you two to put it up all by yourselves?” Kyungsoo asked. Your eyes widened, and you turned to face him.

“Really? You’re able to come this year?” You ask carefully.

“Yep! I already told the boys where I needed to be that day. They took it very well. Although they’re worried about how they’ll get through the day without me.” Kyungsoo joked as he placed his arms around your waist, pulling you closer.

“Well, they’ll just have to manage without you. I think you gave me the energy boost I need for this week.” You wrapped your arms around his neck as he gently started to sway, making you sway with him.

“I’ll be there with a special surprise for you.” Kyungsoon teased.

“Or really? What kind of surprise?” You tilted your head, as if he would tell you so easily.

“A fun one,” That’s it. That’s the only answer he gives you as he pulls away from you. He leaves you standing there, in a living room filled with Winter Party decorations, alone. You’d shake that man if you didn’t love him so much.

As soon as you got to school, you told Taelin about everything Kyungsoo grabbed for the two of you.

“That’s pretty much everything on the list!” She said excitedly, mainly because now she doesn’t have to be the one to go to the store now.

“I think everything is going to turn out alright this year.” You leaned against your desk and smiled at Taelin.

The rest of the week went incredibly slowly for you AND your students. All the kids could talk about is the wonderful “birthday” party Mrs. Do and Taelin are throwing for Winter. You have mentioned that it’s not a birthday party for winter, but the kids seem to be ignoring that. Surprisingly, most of the families you sent invitations to have agreed to come for the party. This is the first time, if everything goes well, that you’ll have twenty out of twenty-five families showing up for a family activity.

The night before the big day, you check the party supplies Kyungsoo grabbed from the store, to make sure there was enough for everyone that came.  Of course, everything is perfect. You expect nothing less from Kyungsoo. Despite going to bed alone that night, the smile on your face was blinding. Tomorrow is going to be a perfect day. Or at least that’s what you’re hoping for.

The next day, the day of the party, Taelin did her best to help you with the kids. All of them knew what would happen after school, they were all so excited. You can’t fault them for being excited. A group of five of them had to be stopped from caroling ‘Happy Birthday’ during carpet reading time, two kids have run out of them room and tried to invite various faculty that they found in the hallways, and three additional children refused to eat their lunches. They didn’t want to be full for the party.

The day could not end faster. As soon as all the students left, you and Taelin headed to the gym to set up the party. The lunchroom staff left the tables down that you asked for and the gym teacher left the equipment unlocked, so you can get your activities that are too big for your classroom. While setting up Taelin, you constantly checked your phone. Kyungsoo said he would come to help you set up, but he hasn’t texted you at all today. When you woke up this morning, he was already gone for the day. Despite only having Taelin by your side, the two of you managed to decorate the gym with the beautiful decorations Kyungsoo got for you. All the food was set out, and the drink station was working wonderfully. The family activities were set up around the gym, away from the tables. The only thing you’re missing is Kyungsoo.

Taelin offered to let in the families as you checked your phone again. Still nothing. No calls, no texts, you haven’t missed anything coming in from Kyungsoo. Hearing the quick paced patters on the ground, you put your phone away to greet whichever student is bulldozing their way down the hall. Once several families arrived, you showed them around the different stations with art, sports, music, and of course where the refreshments are. Taelin started the holiday music and the kids dispersed around the room tugging their families with them.

You checked your phone again, but still nothing from Kyungsoo.

The worst part of it is: you can’t be mad at him. His job requires a lot of his attention and energy. Anything could have happened, making it impossible for him to text or call you, let alone come to your holiday party. You put your phone down and followed Taelin to greet more families as they arrived. Because of the music, you couldn’t hear the ping! that came from your phone after you put it away. Twenty minutes into the party, all the families had arrived, and you were listening to the song some of your students made up with the instruments you put out. It was a very interesting version of ‘Happy Birthday, Winter.’ One you’ve never heard before.

“Mrs. Do! Mrs. Do!” One of your students ran up to you and tugged on your arm.

“One second, dear. I’m listening to the song your classmates made together.” You smiled at the girl and turned your attention back to the kids performing for you.

“No! Mrs. Do! Mr. Do is here!” She yelled at you, tugging your arm harshly. All of your students have seen your husband at least once. He likes to pop in sometimes through the year to bring you your lunch, or flowers, or sometimes to say hi. That’s when he has the time to do fun things like that.

“He’s not here dear, I’m sorry he couldn’t make it.” You sighed as you gently stopped her from ripping your arm off.

“Mr. Do!” A chorus of voices yelled out, too many to be a coincidence. You spun around to see Taelin letting Kyungsoo and…. Yixing into the party.

“Silly mommy! That’s Mrs. Do’s boyfriend! Like you and Daddy!” A little boy pulled his parents over to meet the infamous “Mr. Do”.

Kyungsoo is like a magnet for these kids, they always love when he visits. Some of the children then began to sing ‘Happy Birthday, Winter’ to Kyungsoo and Yixing.

“You’re late, boys.” You cross your arms over your chest.

“I know darling, sorry. I brought a helped with me though.” Kyungsoo gestured to Yixing.

“Hi, sorry we made him late. The boys and I thought we could bring something so we could add it to the party. I volunteered to come with and help with the clean up after the party.” Yixing smiled apologetically.

“The boys couldn’t decide what to add, so they bought this big thing-“ Kyungsoo smacked the machine behind Yixing.

“And what does that do?” You asked cautiously. Knowing Baekhyun, Jongdae, and Chanyeol, that machine could do a lot of things. It could be a weird looking candy machine, confetti machine, or anything really. The stars are the limit for those three.

“It’s a fake snow machine. Kyungsoo and I are going to go set it up in the back away from the food, we brought a tarp to put down too.” Yixing smacked the machine too, you don’t like how hard they’re smacking that thing and smiled at you.

“We also brought a Polaroid to take pictures and give to the families before they leave.” Kyungsoo gave the camera to you.

“That’s perfect and such a good idea!” You thought about your praise for a moment, then… “The camera. I’m not sure about the fake snow machine yet. Let’s set it up and see what happens.”

“You got it, Boss.” Yixing winked at you.

“Mom! Did you meet Mrs. Do’s boyfriend yet?!” You heard a child from behind you screech out. Taelin came over and took the camera from your hands, so she could start taking photos for the families.

It took a long time to get here. It felt like forever. Looking around the gym and seeing all the families enjoying their time together… This is why you put energy into their family activity nights. Seeing Kyungsoo and Yixing set up the machine and turning it on, making the Winter Party just a little bit more magical, warmed your heart. The machine turned on and Kyungsoo gathered all the children around the area him and Yixing set up, you watched as “Mr. Do” announced not to eat the fake snow and telling the kids it’s only for the pictures.

You can’t wait to clean everything up and go home. Push Kyungsoo onto the couch so the two of you can snuggle up and watch a cheesy Christmas movie. For now, however, you're content with seeing Mr. Do give the families fake snowballs for their pictures and other props you didn’t know he had on him.

This semester has been very difficult for you, that much is clear.

Yet, standing here now…