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“Appa!”

Jin looked at the clock.  It was five am.  Who on earth was up this early?

“Appa!” the tiny voice squeaked again.  It was then that Jin realized someone was in front of him.  There was a tiny toddler pouting down at him.  A moment later he realized it was Kookie.

“Appa, is time to open presents!”

“Kookie…it’s five am…go back to sleep.”

Kookie pouted and plopped down on the bed. “But I not tired.”

Jin sighed.  His dad wouldn’t even get here until eight.  There was no way he was going to chase Kookie around the house for three hours.

“Why don’t you lay down with me for a little while, ok?”

“Ok.”

Jin fell asleep again in minutes, waking up nearly two and a half hours later.  Kookie was still wide awake and staring down at him.

“Now time to open presents?” the toddler asked excitedly.

Jin sighed and sat up. “First, we have to make breakfast.”

Kookie pouted. “But wanna open presents…”

“Kookie, we have to wait until Grandpa Yoonie gets here, ok?”

Kookie climbed off the bed and ran back to his room, a huge pout still on his face.  Jin decided to just head to the kitchen.  Hobi was already out there making a cup of hot chocolate.

“Merry Christmas, Appa!” Hobi exclaimed when he saw Jin walk into the kitchen.

“Merry Christmas, Seokie.  What’re you making?”

“Hot chocolate.”

“Mmm.  Do you want to help me make breakfast?”

“What are we making?” Hobi asked.

“Bacon, eggs, and pancakes.  Like every year,” Jin laughed.

“Ok!  I’ll finish making my hot chocolate first.”

“How about you make hot chocolate for everyone?  I’ll get started on breakfast.”

“Ok!”

Twenty minutes later, there was a knock at the door.  Two tiny feet came padding down the hall.

“Grandpa Yoonie is here!” Tae exclaimed, running up to the door to open it. “Ms. Jung?”

“Hi there, Tae!  Merry Christmas!  Is your Appa awake?”

“Yeah…he in the kitchen.” Tae responded, clearly still surprised that she was here.

“May I come in?”

Tae nodded and let her in.  A moment later, she walked into the kitchen.

“Oh, Chaeha!  You’re here!  You didn’t tell me you were coming!” Jin exclaimed.

Hobi looked between the two of them, unsure what was going on.  He silently continued dumping hot chocolate packets into the bowl of hot chocolate.

“Yeah…sorry about that.  I meant to text you last night.”

“It’s all right.” Jin looked down at her arms.  They were piled with presents. “Do you wanna put those under the tree?”

“Um…yeah that would be great.  I’ll be back.”

After placing all her presents under the tree, Chaeha returned to the kitchen.

“Ms. Jung?  Why are you here?” Minnie asked as he entered the kitchen.

“Your appa said I could come spend Christmas morning with you guys,” she replied.

“Oh!  Really?”

“Yup.  What do you think of that?”

“That sounds fun!” the tiny boy squeaked.

“Hmm…in that case…maybe I should stay for dinner too,” she smiled and scooped Minnie up off the floor.  He giggled.

“You’re staying all day?” Tae asked with wide eyes from the doorway.

“Maybe.  Should I?”

“Do you not have any family to go see?” Jin asked.

“Ah…no.  my parents live on the other side of the country, so we don’t get together for Christmas.”

Jin nodded and continued flipping pancakes.  Just as there was another knock at the door.  Joonie had been walking through the living room, so he opened the door.  Yoongi stepped through the door, a mountain of presents in his hands.

“Can I help you with that?” Joonie asked.

“Sure, that would be great.”

With Joonie’s help, Yoongi set all the presents under the tree.  The pile underneath it was gigantic now.  Joonie walked into the kitchen, coming up short when he saw Chaeha.

“Um…” he turned to Jin for an explanation.

“This is Ms. Jung, the twins’ teacher.”

“You invited the twins’ teacher for Christmas?” Joonie asked skeptically.  He could tell something was up.  Jin didn’t just invite people over.

“Yeah, Appa, you don’t usually just invite people over.” Hobi chimed in, voicing Joonie’s thought.

“Hmm, well maybe that’s changing,” Jin replied absentmindedly.

The older set of twins looked at each other.  Something was definitely up.

“Is breakfast almost ready?” Yoongi asked.

——————–

The older twins spent all of breakfast sending each other glances as they watched their dad and Ms. Jung converse.  Jin hadn’t seemed this happy in a while.  But what exactly had caused him to invite Ms. Jung today?

“Jin, these pancakes are amazing!” Chaeha exclaimed.

Jin looked up at her with a surprised expression on his face. “Oh?  Really?  Well, I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Yoongi could see the shadow that passed across Jin’s face as she’d said that.  Yeong had loved Jin’s cooking.  Sometimes, Yoongi wondered if that had been the reason she’d married him.  Yoongi looked around the table at the five little boys who were inhaling pancakes.  Even if she hadn’t intended to have any kids, he was glad she had.  He loved his grandsons.

——————–

A little while later, they were all gathered in the living room.  The toddlers were all bouncing with excitement at the thought of gifts.  Kookie had already started trying to read the names on the gifts.  He only knew how to read his own name, but it was enough.  He’d collected five gifts by the time he gave up.

Hobi was sorting the rest of the gifts based on name.  Kookie was handed a few more gifts when he was done.  The small boy was nearly bursting with anticipation.  He clearly wanted to open his gifts ASAP.

“Ok, Kookie, do you want to go first?” Jin asked.”

Kookie nodded eagerly.

“Can you open the one with the green paper first?”

Kookie spent no more than a second finding the gift. “Now can open it?”

“Yep, you can open it, baby.”

Kookie grinned and tore open the wrapping paper.  He gasped. “It’s a box!”

The adults and older twins laughed.

“Open the box,” Jin suggested.

Kookie ripped the box open, nearly tearing it in half in his haste.  He gasped again. “Is Iron Man!  Can open it now?”

“Yep.  Bring it here.”

Kookie jumped up off the floor and ran to Jin, holding out the box.  Jin took it from him and started attempting to open it while he told the younger twins which presents to open.  Tae decided to shake his first.  Violently.  His mouth fell open comically as it made a sound akin to that of a maraca.  He quickly tore it open.

“LEGOs!” Jimin exclaimed, holding his arms up in the air in triumph.  The tiny twins had seen their older brothers playing with LEGOs for years and had kept asking and asking Jin if they could have some.  They were finally old enough for Jin to trust them with them…or at least with one set.

The older twins were next.  Jin told them to both open their presents at the same time as well, so both of them tore off the wrapping paper at the count of three.  They both got a different Xbox game they’d wanted.

“Thank you, Appa!” they both exclaimed at the same time.  It was clear they couldn’t wait to play the games.

Jin was still attempting to pry Iron Man out of the zip ties they’d secured him with so he couldn’t escape the box on his way over from China, so Kookie opened another present.  This one was from Ms. Jung.

“Is a car!” Kookie yelled excitedly. “Tank you, Ms. Jung!”

“You’re welcome, Kookie.” She smiled.

The twins opened their gift next.  Ms. Jung had gotten them a shared gift.  They each took a side of the wrapping paper and tore it apart together.  They were greeted with a box, so they once again worked together to pry it open.

“Shirts!” Tae exclaimed.  He pulled out one with a tiger on it and grinned. “Can put it on now?”

“Sure,” Jin replied, not really paying attention.  Iron Man really didn’t want to come out.

Tae had the shirt halfway over his torso when Ms. Jung called out to him.

“Tae, you should take off your other shirt first.  Or else it won’t fit very well.”

“Oh.” He looked down at himself before pouting. “I need help.”

“Come here.”

Tae wandered over to Ms. Jung, who helped him out of both shirts before pulling the new one over his head.  Once it was on him correctly, she looked over at Jimin.

“Do you need help too?”

——————–

True to her word, Ms. Jung stayed all day.  It was nearly ten pm when she finally left.  She’d even stayed later than Yoongi.  Joonie and Hobi were beyond suspicious now.  Rarely anyone ever came over to their house, let alone a single woman around their father’s age.

“All right, it’s bedtime.” Jin announced after their two guests had finally both left.  All three of the younger kids grumbled.

“Don’t wanna go to bed,” Kookie whined.

“It’s late, baby.  You need to go to bed.”

Jin began gathering all the gifts up to take to the toddlers’ room.  Kookie was whining, but the twins had come to terms with the fact that it was time to go to bed.  They were tired, anyways.  Hobi and Joonie had already put all their gifts away.  Most of it had consisted of Xbox accessories anyways, so most of it was on the bookshelf in the living room.

By eleven, Jin had managed to get all the kids in bed.  Kookie hadn’t been so easy, but when Jin told him he could sleep with Iron Man, it had convinced the toddler to get in bed.  Now it was bedtime for Jin too.  He turned out the lights and headed off to his bedroom, with a spring in his step that he hadn’t had for a while.