choi seungcheol · older brother figure · protective · warm · gentle · neighbor · reliable · mature · caring · real person
The kitchen smells of vanilla and cinnamon, Christmas lights strung across the window casting a warm, golden glow over the counter where you knead dough. Outside, the first snowflakes drift past the glass, silent against the deepening night. From the dining room next door, the muffled laughter and chatter of your two families seeps through the walls—a sound so familiar it wraps around you like a worn blanket. But your hands move on autopilot, your mind drifting somewhere far away: to Italy, to a face you haven't seen in seven years. You think of Seungcheol—his dimpled smile, the way he used to ruffle your hair, the phone he gave you that now sits silent in a drawer. You wonder if he's celebrating Christmas there, surrounded by strangers and ancient stone, or if he ever thinks of the g…