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Not outrightly, of course. He didn’t exactly roll out of bed, broken bones and all, and kicked my ass out the door.

But in his eyes, wide and flooding with alarm, I could tell he was seriously considering it.

I knew I shouldn’t be here.

Whoever this lady was, and more importantly, who she was to Tyler… there was probably a time and place to learn all these things… alas, just not right now.

So yeah, I saw myself out.

I stood up from the sofa, offered it wordlessly to the mysterious lady who gratefully took over my place with an appreciative smile.

Soft-spoken, well-mannered, sophisticatedly dressed. Compared to the wild, bizarre colored streaks of tousled locks that Tyler had on his head, and his unusual aptitude to look like he just crashed headfirst in a thrift shop and carried on with whatever stuck to him… made for quite the sight of polar opposites.

Indeed, a woman like her would be the last person I’d associate with someone like him.

.....

Just goes to show, I suppose.

“The gift hunt continues, I guess,” I declared, waving him off. “Merry Christmas, Tyler.”

Tyler let out a low indecipherable grunt which I assume was him wishing me back, unable to tear his focus away from the recently-arrived visitor. Jen, a nickname for Jenna, probably, was only too happy to pick up on his lack of voice.

“I recognize you, I think,” She said to me, wagging a finger at my face and trying to place it. “Staying in a stranger’s home challenge? Ah, that was you, wasn’t it?”

I nodded.

“I knew it,” she beamed at me. “Not so much a stranger anymore it seems, huh?”

“You still watch my videos?” Tyler quietly asked, his tone unusually reserved.

Jen spun back to him, scoffing mirthfully. “You’re trending every other day. It’s actually more impossible trying to not watch them.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I guess. Makes sense…”

Okay, just how meaningful a relationship did this girl have with Tyler to have that wild bombastic of his so effortlessly tamed? I can’t even believe what I’m seeing, hearing…

At any rate, I wasn’t hearing it anymore. With a click of the sliding door, I left the two of them well alone, taking with me all the way to the exit guesses and assumptions as to who she could be.

An ex, most likely. Like, no shit, who else could she be? The real meat of it all was the implications, really. If she’s an ex, then what happened? A fallout, something or someone wasn’t working out, and judging by Tyler’s almost guilt-ridden expression, it seems there were still some skeletons in his closet that I didn’t know about.

And now here she comes, an individual stemming from a soured relationship long past, suddenly showing up on his bedside like the ghost of Christmas past. Can’t even imagine what he’s feeling.

I stepped out of the hospital entrance, feeling the bitter chill of the cold, and it might have just been my imagination, but I felt something else swirling amidst the empty air. A dark, sneaky and… strangely belligerent presence lingering close that reminded me too much of black dresses and ugly scowls.

Hmm…

Must have been the wind.

The moment I was on my bike again, and roaring down the streets, my focus quickly pivoted back to the direction of Adalia. I was still fuzzing out and drawing blanks trying to think of the perfect gift to her, and it was thanks to that, I burned a good amount of the afternoon sun just racking my gas expenses.

Anything’s perfect, echoed Tyler’s sound advice… and for all I know, he might actually be on point there.

Better yet, why don’t I just ask? That’s what Irene advised me before, right? Sometimes it’s better to know you’re being surprised than being surprised itself. And knowing Adalia, I doubt surprises are even all that surprising to her.

Yeah, know what… I’ll just ask. Whatever she wants, whatever it is, her wish is my command.

On the next junction, I swerved left, heading onward to the direction of home, but as soon as I got there, clambered up the porch, shook my head clean of snow and opened the door, what a great shock it was for me to discover the living-room couch empty of its usual slumbering occupant.

Gone again.

“She had departed earlier this afternoon, Master,” Ash said, serving a tray of piping hot lunch onto the dining table. “I’ve inquired, but unfortunately, she did not say where she had gone to exactly.”

“Somewhere, I guess,” I muttered, resigning myself to waiting just a little longer and taking a seat on the table beside an already feasting Sera.

But even in the latter half of noon, my patience continued to be tested, and once the sky had become tinged with the fall of dusk, I was beginning to get the feeling Adalia might be up to a little surprise of her own.

Being away this long and this frequent? Snoozeball like her? Safe to say, there might be something in store for me on Christmas tomorrow.

Which just pretty much made me feel all the worse for having nothing to show myself.

Next Christmas, I’m having everyone write to me their gifts. Santa’s got the right idea going about this.

When dinner came around in the juiciest servings of roast beef, there remained still a vacant spot on the table. I wasn’t worried, however, a girl like her can take care of herself… it was just… in hindsight… maybe I should have gotten her a phone of her own too.

It was sometime in the middle of the evening, warm and comfy nestled in bed where I suddenly received a surprise video call.

Amanda rang and rang, and I stumbled fast and clumsily just so I could flip on the light switch.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked, jumping back into bed and holding Amanda’s face outstretched in my hand.

“I do hope you’re joking,” Amanda said, rolling around her pillow in a bed of her hair. “Look at your phone, what’s the time?”

I flicked my eyes ever so slightly. “Ten minutes to nine?”

“And the date?”

“The twenty-fourth of December?”

“And also Christmas Eve. Kind of a big deal, you know?” Amanda let out a weary sigh, and I could almost feel the coldness of breath blowing through my display. “And here I am alone all evening long… going unwished, and more importantly… feeling quite unloved.”

As if my guilt wasn’t already sky high and soaring…

“I didn’t mean to… I forgot that… umm, Happy merry Christmas Eve, Amanda. I love you.”

“Seems special occasions just aren’t your forte, are they?”

“I’m learning…” I said pathetically, hanging my head in unbridled shame.

“Then you better learn to pick up the pace soon, my sweet dear,” She said forebodingly. “Because come Valentine’s, oh-ho-ho… let’s just say, I won’t be as understanding as I am with you now, alright?”

I gulped. “Noted.”

“Speaking of which,” Amanda said, shifting in place and resting herself on her side, her crumpled partway obscuring a faint smile. “There’s still the matter of my present. I’m going mad here wondering what it is… if it even exists, that is…”

“Ye of little faith…”

“Gotta see it to believe it.”

“It exists, alright?”

“I won’t be angry if you can’t think of something, you know?” She said gently. “Hard to find something for a girl who’s got everything, and especially for a girl who’s got you. So I understand. If you want a hint, you can just—”

“I got your gift, Amanda. You’ll like it, trust me,” I said, finding my eyes peering over my phone and drawn to the knobs of my bedside drawer. “I just need a little more time to get it ready.”

“Alright, alright,” She relented, pouting slightly. “Better be worth the wait, though.”

“It will be.”

Amanda fell silent, and through the blur and blemishes of video latency, I could make out the exhaustion in her eyes. I’m sure playing horror games all night last night on top of also continuously aiding in a movie’s pre-production wasn’t exactly doing much of her vigor. If I were her, I’d just black out the moment my body hit the sheets… and yet here she was, calling me instead.

“Saw Tyler today,” I asked, ignoring the sting of guilt I just jabbed myself with. “He’s looking a bit better now.”

“Yeah, with Jennifer tending to him, I’ve no doubt he is,” Amanda scoffed in amusement. “Have you met Jennifer before?”

“First time today. Jennifer, so that’s her name. She anyone I should know about?”

“Tyler’s ex. Things got ugly. She broke up with him. That’s all I know of it,” came her summary of an answer. “It’s not any of my business, so… I didn’t feel like it was my place to ask. And with him constantly hitting on me every time we bump into each other, it’s not like I was keen on getting to know him all that well.”

Welp. Seems like Amanda was as much in the dark about their relationship as I was. Guess the only place I was going to learn more was through the man himself. But something tells me it’s not in my place to start asking either… perhaps it’s better if I just let this be.

“So… Christmas tomorrow, huh?” Amanda said, suddenly shifting the conversation. “Gonna be a pretty busy day. I have a Christmas-theme stream marathon planned. My parents are probably gonna tune in to it in secret… and of course, they’re probably going to be wondering why I’m not spending it with you.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“What’s a good excuse, I wonder? You’re working? You fell sick? Out of the country?” She chuckled quietly. “How about you decided to celebrate the day with someone else entirely?”

Envy had a very distinct sound to it… and I could hear it loud and clear.

“Amanda, I…”

“No, don’t talk. Just let me ramble, I’ll feel better soon enough,” She said. “Adalia. Oh, Adalia. Really, she doesn’t strike me as the type to ask for much, or anything at all, to be frank. Which makes her wanting to go out with you so badly all the more shocking. I can see Ash wanting it, Irene hinting for it, but Adalia? Seems she’s more formidable a rival than I first thought.”

“Rival, really?” I snorted. “Y’know, there’s nothing to compete for. In case you haven’t noticed, you all already won.”

“Yeah? Spending my Christmas all on my own? You’re really going to call that winning right now?”

“That…” I felt my words leave me. “Okay, I’ll shut up now.”

“Strangely enough though, knowing that it’s her that’s going to be with you, it doesn’t really bother me as much,” She said, her stare drifting off from the camera in ponder. “Anyone else, I’d probably be a lot more salty. But her, I don’t know, I just… I guess a part of me just feels like she deserves this moment more than the rest… more than me even.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because like I said, she’s not the type to ask for anything, and yet… she asked,” She said. “You ask me, that speaks volumes. It’s cute, endearing, adorable… shit, I’m pissed again. Gah, this girl! She’s good!”

“This coming from the same person who used to nearly faint at the sight of her?” I remarked.

“I suppose so,” Amanda said, sounding slightly surprised herself. “So you better make sure I’m not spending my tomorrow alone for nothing. You take this vampire, and you better make her entire year, alright? Treat her like you would me, and just so you know, I won’t settle for anything less than perfection.”

Here Amanda was supporting and vindicating for someone else’s happiness, and Adalia’s supposed to be the endearing one? I don’t know if she even knows just how lovely generosity sounded.

.....

“You’re welcome to spy on us if you don’t trust me to give her a good time,” I said lightly, smirking. “In fact, maybe I’d feel better knowing you’re with me there in spirit.”

“I’ll pass,” She gave her eyes a few hard blinks. “I rather not see something I might regret later.”

“Oh? Like what?”

A bit of a lag, a brief stutter, and suddenly, Amanda’s expression flickered into a frightening scowl piercing straight into my soul.

“Hey,” She tilted her head, frowning a little. “It’s the night before Christmas, the last hours before your big date…”

I frowned along, bemused. “I’m aware, yes… what of it?”

“I called because I know it’s the last opportunity I have to speak with you,” She explained. “You’re telling me that nobody else has tried to steal you away at the last moment to…?”

It happened right then, Amanda speaking mid-sentence before being abruptly interrupted by a firm knocking on my bedroom door. Then like psychic, like destiny, fate-preordained, a muffled voice timidly resounded.

“Master… may I enter?”

Slowly, incredulously, I turned back to the display on my phone, seeing Amanda with the smuggest grin on her face, shaking her head as if truly expecting no less.

“Ahh, love,” She chuckled. “It’s almost too easy…”

And still smiling, Amanda threw me an impish look before immediately giving me the boot and ending the call right there and then.