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“Eve! It's nearly Christmas!”
“Aren’t you excited?”
What was there to be excited for? Evelyn thought. Christmas was a busy time for her normally. It's almost guaranteed there’s going to be some kind of Christmas party their targets would attend or clients come to them last minute with large sums of money. Evelyn shrugged as she kept herself focused on the road.
“You haven't celebrated Christmas before?”
“I don’t recall, no.”
“Why not?”
“I… My family never celebrated it.”
“Would you want to change that?” Astra inquired tentatively.
“I… fell behind on Christmas preparations and may need some help.”
Evelyn hummed in thought. “I suppose it couldn't hurt.”
Astra gasped in excitement.
“Is that a yes?” She asked in anticipation.
Evelyn nodded in response and the songstress squealed with happiness.
“Yay! There's so much we can do hehe~”
Astra started to blabber on about the different things they could do together such as decorating the Christmas tree, icing christmas cookies, cooking dinner together and so on. Evelyn just listened and enjoyed how Astra lit up when she had accepted her request. She couldn't have imagined denying Astra and letting her spend the Christmas season alone. Soon enough, Evelyn arrived at Astra's home and escorted her. As she drove under the starry night she wondered what was to come and only hoped that nothing would go wrong.
The next morning, Evelyn punctually arrived and parked her red convertible. As she approached the front door, she found a green wreath with yellow stars, an assortment of red berries and a bow attached to the front. I guess Astra's awake. Evelyn mused and knocked. The door opened promptly and Evelyn was greeted with a hug from Astra.
“Merry Christmas Eve!”
Evelyn tensed as Astra suddenly hugged her but eventually reciprocated the hug quickly.
“Merry Christmas Astra.”
Astra ushered her inside and gave Evelyn a quick rundown of what she planned for today, decorate the tree, the baked gingerbread cookies, prepare the food and have a Christmas dinner together. Simple enough no? Evelyn mused. She can't say that she's had much experience in these fields aside from cooking but she was willing to take the challenge. The two went into the living room where a large, plain and dark green plastic pine tree stood. Astra brought out a box with assorted lights, tinsel and ornaments. Unfortunately, the lights were tangled and were meticulously unraveled carefully one by one by Evelyn. Once they were untangled and wrapped on the tree they decided to test the lights and unfortunately, they didn't turn on. No matter what Evelyn did, whether she tried to replace the battery to swapping bulbs, it was broken.
“When was the last time these were used?” Evelyn inquired.
Astra laughed nervously, “I… don't remember.”
Evelyn sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She decided to let it go for now, not wanting this mistake to consume her when she has other tasks.
“It's alright,” Evelyn handed some tinsel to Astra, “let's just finish decorating the tree.”
The songstress nodded as the two got to work decorating the tree, with Astra rambling in the background. Evelyn didn't mind and quite enjoyed it despite her silence throughout the decorating process.
As Astra put the star on top of the tree Evelyn let out a sigh of relief.
“Ta-da! The tree looks so pretty now hehe~”
“It would have looked better with the lights working,” Evelyn sighed, “I’m not blaming or attacking you by the way.”
“I know,” Astra rested her hands on Evelyn's shoulders, “you don't need to explain to me. I trust your words.”
Evelyn turned back at the songstress and saw her beaming smile and weakly smiled back.
Astra giggled and brought Evelyn over to the kitchen. As they arrived, all the ingredients and equipment needed for the gingerbread cookies were brought out. Astra got on with measuring the ingredients as Evelyn skimmed over the recipe she had chosen. Once Evelyn was confident she started to take the measured ingredients then mixed them together, making sure not to over mix the dough. Then, Astra shaped the dough with cookie cutters and placed it into the oven promptly.
“Hehe not bad~ This one went better than the last.”
“I hope the taste is ok,” Evelyn read the recipe again, “I realised there's a lot more ginger than I thought.”
“We can use the icing to mask the taste,” Astra reassured, “don't worry Eve.”
Evelyn had a tinge of worry but knew she still had things to do. The songstress felt the growing tension from Evelyn as she looked at her and moved to preparing dinner.
This is your last chance to make up for today. Make it count. Evelyn told herself. This was the one activity she had experience in. She wasn't too familiar with the dishes that she was asked to cook but has learnt to adapt in cooking with the different dishes Astra’s requested her to make. For once, everything seemed to be going right. The pasta was perfectly al dente, the chicken was juicy and the fried rice wasn't burnt at the bottom of the pan.
Evelyn plated up the chicken and fried rice on the table, opting to leave the pasta on the stove due to lack of space.
Astra gasped in awe. “This all looks so good!”
“I'm glad you think so, Miss Yao.”
“I’m going to take a photo to treasure this moment forever!” Astra giggled and took out her phone.
“Alright.”
The songstress snapped a photo, freezing the moment in time with Evelyn about to place a plate of pasta in the background as Astra poses in the foreground. She smiled at the sight of the image. It was the first time she celebrated Christmas in a long time.
As the two were happily eating their Christmas dinner and chatting about the events of today, Astra felt something was amiss. Dark soot from the oven started covering the ceiling of her home and filled the air with a burnt char smell.
“Evelyn! The cookies!”
“Shit-” The bodyguard cursed under her breath, quickly turning off the oven and taking out the tray of burnt gingerbread cookies then covering it. Meanwhile Astra opened the windows and fume hood to get rid of the smell. Evelyn also collects the fire extinguisher and blasts the white foam into the oven, to fan any flames that had or were forming.
This was the final straw for Evelyn. The food for dinner going well was just a red herring. She doesn't want to be here anymore, but she promised that she would celebrate Christmas with Astra. She went back and sat on the dining table with her head hung low.
“Hey Eve,” Astra took a seat next to her, placing her palm over her hand, “it wasn't your fault.”
But it was. She wanted to say. The oven was working fine, she used it a couple weeks ago without any issue. Instead she looked at Astra tiredly. The songstress pulled Evelyn into a hug and soothed her back gently.
“I failed you.” Evelyn spat.
“...What do you mean?”
“The lights and now burning some simple cookies,” Evelyn wrapped her arms around Astra, pulling her closer, “now we won't be able to even taste it.”
“Dinner was great though.”
“The only task I didn't fail.”
Astra sighed. You are really thick headed huh…
“Evelyn,” Astra started, “it doesn't matter to me that you failed.”
Evelyn looked up at her in utter awe.
“What…?”
“Sure it would have been nice to see the lights on the tree or taste the cookies we made together,” Astra stroked Evelyn's head gently, combing through her hair with her hands, “but that wasn't the point of me inviting you to spend Christmas with me.”
“Then… what was?”
“I… used to spend this day with my parents,” Astra explained, still combing her hands through Evelyn's hair gently, “but since they live so far away… I haven't been able to celebrate it properly.”
Evelyn sat there in more awe. With how excited Astra was for the holidays, she had thought the songstress always celebrated this special time of the month.
“That was, until this year,” Astra smiled and met with Evelyn's eyes, “you kept me company this year. Thank you.”
Evelyn really didn't know what to say. She had many things to say. Though Astra revealing that she hasn't celebrated Christmas since she was young was a clear reason why the lights didn't work, she still couldn't think of the oven being faulty. She realized that Astra was waiting for a response as she rummaged in her head. She was just about to speak when Astra spoke instead.
“Plus~ I couldn't scold you when you've done so much for me in the little time we’ve been together,” The songstress praised, “you learnt how to cook for me, manage my schedule and are my friend on top of all that.”
“I couldn't have asked for anyone better,” Astra smiled with tears clouding her eyes, “I truly am grateful for you Evelyn. Thank you again.”
Evelyn was left even more speechless. Words were always hard for her. Because words can hurt. As a weapon for almost all her life, she wasn't used to words but rather action. But for Astra she would use her words. So that the songstress knew that her words were heard and appreciated.
“I am just as grateful for you Miss Yao-,” Evelyn cleared her throat, realizing her mistake, “sorry, I meant to say, I am just as grateful for you Astra.“
“Thank you for allowing me to be in your presence and I will protect you.”
Evelyn held Astra more tightly.
“No matter the cost.”
Evelyn expected Astra to stiffen, remembering the other time she said this declaration. But this till she didn't. She was the same. She had been accepted by light.
“The pleasure is all mine, Eve.”
“Merry Christmas Astra.”
“Merry Christmas Eve.”
They continued to hold each other in comfortable silence for a while before returning to their food.