The past few hours had been eventful for Mikhail, to say the least. 

Discovered that little Shen Dan was to blame for his teeth-mark wrist scar: [ ✓ ]

Discovered that an evil mouse was to blame for his early demise: [ ✓ ]

Discovered that failing to get a bingo before Christmas would result in him being summarily and heartlessly turned into a pine needle: [    ]

Invisibly in his heart, Mikhail gravely checked off this last box. 

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After starting the coffee machine, Mikhail went into the bathroom to finish getting ready. Furiously brushing his teeth, he stared at his reflection in the mirror.

“System, how many days left until Christmas?” he asked through toothpaste bubbles. 

The System’s green pop-up showed up: 

【BOOTING UP CALENDAR - TODAY’S DATE IS (Friday, December 17th, 202X) - DAYS REMAINING UNTIL CHRISTMAS: 8】

Only eight days left. 

Mikhail washed his face. He took stock of his successes from yesterday’s game of Truth or Dare. Thanks to Gabriel paying him a visit last night, a fire had been lit under his ass. In an attempt to strategize further, he grabbed a blue marker and drew a dot on the bingo sheet for every square that depended on a snow day. 

As luck would have it, column four could be completed independent of the weather.

Alright, he thought to himself, no more Mr. Nice Guy.

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In the living room, Shen Dan was nursing a cup of coffee while skimming the morning paper. He was wearing pajamas still, but the bird’s nest had been combed out of his hair. At the sound of Mikhail swaggering into the room, he kept his eyes firmly glued to the editorials section. 

The TV switched on. P— City’s flower vase of a weatherman was in the middle of motioning stiffly to the green screen behind him: 

“—chance of snow this week, folks. Bundle up everyone, it’s going to be quite cord—I mean cold.” 

“Thank you, Ivan, for that udderly delightful weather recap,” his fellow anchorwoman replied with a snicker.

Setting down his coffee, Shen Dan opened his mouth. “Mikhail, have you forgotten that filming will start an hour later today? Since you’re so fond of oversleeping, I would have figured that—” 

Shen Dan stopped speaking. A shadow had passed over his newspaper.

Startled, Shen Dan glanced up at Mikhail standing beside him. Rather than his usual vacant expression, there was an unusual flicker of intensity in Mikhail’s gaze. Shen Dan froze as Mikhail drew closer. Before he could piece together what was happening, Mikhail’s hand suddenly pressed him back into the couch, and his leg swung over his lap. Pinned down like this, their faces seemingly about to collide, Shen Dan’s breath caught. 

His eyes automatically closed. 

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Shen Dan felt something enter his mouth, brushing against his tongue.

It was cool and sweet, tasting like peppermint. 

Shen Dan: “…”

It was also hard and narrow, and a bit sticky.

Shen Dan: “…”

A… candy cane?

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Shen Dan opened his eyes.

Mikhail jerked his head, snapping the candy cane in half so that each of them had a piece hanging out of their mouths. Then, Mikhail, sitting on Shen Dan’s lap, leaned back. He gave the remaining piece of candy cane in his mouth a scarily-aggressive lick, and spat it out at the nearby trash bin, successfully scoring a two-pointer. 

Mikhail’s eyes were like two thorns gouging themselves into Shen Dan’s skin.

“Shen Dan, do you want to go ice-skating with me?”

In Mikhail’s pocket, the bingo sheet checked off the square for “share candy cane.” Having witnessed this PG-13-rated scene, however, the bingo sheet admittedly got a bit flustered. It accidentally filled in the square with the wrong color, using purple instead of green. 

The bingo sheet: o/////o

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Shen Dan numbly sucked the piece of candy cane. After a full minute, he opened his mouth to answer, only for a bright voice to interrupt him: 

“Ah, Shen-ge, I don’t mean to overstep, but I don’t think you have time in your schedule for such an activity~” 

Striding into the living room was that smiling mustard jerk. 

Despite it being so early in the morning, Holland was practically sparkling with liveliness. He wore dangling rose-gold earrings, a baggy see-through shirt, and tight jeans. This flashy outfit only stood to make the sleepy, pajama-wearing Shen Dan look all the more bedraggled. As for Holland’s bleached hair, it had been stylishly pulled into a side ponytail, accented with glittering rose-gold jewelry. All in all, the man looked like he was rolling up to a hot date.   

“Trespasser!” Mikhail barked. “Who let you in!”

“The door was unlocked, so I let myself in. I’m not interrupting anything, am I?~”

Mikhail blinked. The way he was sitting in Shen Dan’s lap was admittedly a bit suggestive. Not only that, but Shen Dan had dipped his head to the side, frowning deeply as if he were guilty of a terrible crime. 

Mikhail leapt up with such a forceful yowl, one might have guessed Shen Dan’s thighs had hot coals on them. In two seconds, he had flown to the opposite end of the room, sweating profusely.

That opposite end of the room just so happened to be the spot directly beside Holland.

Holland gazed slimily at Mikhail out of the corner of his eye. 

“Shen-ge,” Holland continued, his smile dropping in mock-disappointment, “I admittedly had a peek at your film schedule the other day. It’s quite something, I’m not sure it’s even legal in this province, but… well, it would seem you’re working sixteen-hour shifts starting today. Ah, this industry really is so toxic! Sadly, my honest advice is that you shouldn’t commit to something like ice-skating with our dear Mikki.”

Mikhail: “B-b-b-but….!”

Holland reached out and started massaging Mikhail’s shoulders. 

“However,” Holland smiled, dropping his chin atop Mikhail’s head, “since Mikki is obviously eager to go ice-skating, I have an idea that will make everyone happy. How about I take him instead~~”

Mikhail: “…”

“Eager?!” I’m only doing this for the bingo! Get your grubby hands off me! 

Holland chuckled. “Unless Shen-ge has a problem with us going? Ah, I don’t suppose he has some shallow reason for caring about you…”

Shen Dan’s had just raised his coffee mug to his lips when his grip faltered. Piping hot coffee splashed onto his leg, and he winced. 

As if he had witnessed a puppy being drop-kicked, Mikhail’s heart let out a wail. His first instinct was to run over and blow cool air on Shen Dan’s burned leg—but Holland maintained a tight grip on his shoulders, keeping him rooted in place. By the time Mikhail started flailing his arms to free himself, Shen Dan had already gotten up and left, leaving Mikhail as helpless as an egg sandwich in the clutches of that mustard jerk.

One thing was for certain. 

Shen Dan wasn’t about to save him. 

As Holland dragged him out of the house by the scruff of his neck, Mikhail could only seethe at the injustice: 

I’m his PA, not just some random person! How could he! Some ‘shallow reason’ for caring about me?! What the hell are you blabbing about! Isn’t it obvious? He doesn’t care AT ALL!!! 

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Manager Wei drove Holland and Mikhail to the Bloyd Center Mall in northeast P— City. Notably, inside this mall there was an atrium where a giant ice-skating rink had been built years ago. This time of year, the rink was packed with people of all ages sliding around on the ice, looping around the giant Christmas tree that had been erected in the center. 

Although Holland looked like a string bean, he was surprisingly strong. It took no effort for him to tuck Mikhail under his arm and haul him over to the rink. Now, Holland was pressed up against the glass, goggling at the skaters and laughing any time someone fell down. 

“Those kids are taking lessons, look how badly they skate, hehe! Should I sign you up with them, Mikki? You know, you’re never too old to have fun~” 

Mikhail: “I’m only 28…”

Manager Wei: “Never too old, eh? I guess my fortieth birthday isn’t here yet…”

Manager Wei was just slipping a shoe off, when Holland sharply turned over his shoulder and leered at him. Although Mikhail was too distracted with something in his pocket to notice, Manager Wei caught Holland snaking a hand around Mikhail’s waist. 

Holland’s lips moved silently, forming the words, Kindly fuck off. 

Manager Wei: “Oh! M-my back is not too good these days! You two kiddos have fun!” 

He tucked tail and slunk off. 

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It didn’t take a genius to guess that the thing Mikhail was busy staring at in his pocket was the bingo sheet. He furiously crumpled it into a ball. 

There were no two ways about it. Besides the fact that Holland was obviously a shady person with even shadier intentions, the man was not his paired human. He had nothing to do with the Christmas Miracle 2.0.1 plugin. Even if they did every single holiday-related activity imaginable together, it would do little to stop Mikhail from turning into a pine needle on the 25th.

Rest in peace? More like rest in pine needle!

While Mikhail sat fuming on one of the benches, Holland went to a desk to rent ice skates. He brought two pairs over, then handed the smaller pair to Mikhail. Once Mikhail had wrestled them onto his feet, he leaned over to tie the laces. Unexpectedly, however, Holland stopped him with a hand. 

Winking, Holland got down on his knees and crooned, “Mikki, let me help you~”

Mikhail: =_= 

With graceful fingers, Holland made a loop with Mikhail’s laces. He wrapped and tucked—then, when a perfect specimen of a bow was finished, he looked up at Mikhail. 

Mikhail: “Gee, thanks……”

He was preparing to get up when Holland smiled devilishly, keeping a firm grip on his ankle. Lifting the edge of Mikhail’s pant leg, Holland then proceeded to rub his thumb in a small circle, causing Mikhail to squirm from ticklishness. His ice-blue gaze was like a cold finger slowly trailing along Mikhail’s neck, down his chest, then waist, then pelvis, then— 

Mikhail practically coughed up blood.  

Those eyes! Were unmistakably undressing him! Right fucking here in public! 

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Although the reader may be well aware of Mikhail’s inner animosity towards Holland, from an outsider’s perspective, the sight of a man turning tomato red and quivering as an eye-catchingly handsome younger man languidly tied his shoelaces seemed irrefutably romantic. 

Even the young woman staffing the ice-skating rink desk couldn’t take her eyes off these two “lovebirds.” 

Ah! To be in love! 

An avid reader of online romance webnovels, this young woman was never one to discriminate when it came to genre or pairing. She read modern, historical, fantasy, sci-fi, quick transmigration, infinite flow, crematorium, BG, GL, BL, GB, 3p, 4p, whateverp—basically anything that would help her forget about her minimum wage job staffing the mall’s ice-skating rink desk, having to field questions about shoe size all day. 

For this reason, she completely missed that a customer had come up to the desk, wanting to rent ice-skates.

“S-sorry, sir, just one moment—”

The young woman unwillingly tore her eyes away from the two lovebirds’ shoe tying drama. She only paused mid-sentence when she got a better look at her new customer.

Despite the fact that he wore a black mask to hide most of his face from view, it was clear the man was extremely handsome. His demeanor was calm, if a little cold; the wrinkle on his forehead indicated that he was preoccupied with some thought. Judging from what she could see of him, that straight nose bridge, long lashes, luscious dark hair, flawless skin, and deep brown phoenix eyes shining like stars, the young woman felt this customer should seriously consider a career in the acting industry. 

She additionally assumed this customer must have had the same reading habits as her, because he kept checking over his shoulder to look at the two shoe-tying lovebirds.

His fist was clenched tightly.  

He must really like the friends-to-lovers trope, the woman mused. 

She was about to inquire for the man’s shoe size when, out of the corner of her eye, a true Christmas miracle unfolded: 

The shorter fellow in the puffy red jacket curved his lips in a smile. He leaned his body forward, closing the gap between himself and the handsome man tying his ice-skate’s laces. They were staring deeply into each other’s eyes, noses nearly touching.

Both the young woman and the mask-wearing customer’s jaws dropped. They had the same thought at the same time: 

Oh my god! They’re actually going to kiss!