32 Cold Christmas
"You can fly over anytime if you change your mind," Ellise said while packing her luggage for their holiday trip to his father's home country.
Dana just murmurs her answer and continues folding all the summer dresses of Ellise. The idea of lying down on a sunny island in the month of December sounds tempting but she doesn't have the energy for it right now.
She doesn't want to voice out the answer to Ellise that she is still hoping that Grand will come back for the holiday and fulfill his promise to spend it with her.
Lately, for some reason, Ellise is lukewarm with Grand. She observed the changes with Ellise's treatment towards Grand since she came back to Shanghai. The first time she was here, Ellise was quite friendly and warm towards him. She even brought him to her 18th birthday.
She doesn't want to ask Ellise about it because she is scared of her temper.
"Ting and Nancy will be on holiday break too. Are you sure you'll be fine on your own?" she asked, worries were visible on her beautiful face.
She just smiled at Ellise and chuckled a little. Her usual resting bitch face now looks like an innocent child with her being anxious about her well-being. She holds Ellise hands on her own and gives it a reassuring pat.
"I'll be fine. My mother was just being difficult but I might fly home anyway," she said lying through the skin of her teeth.
She is sure that her mother doesn't want her home this Christmas, for when she called her she was still unrelenting with her decision to cut her off from the family. Her mother clearly told her off that she is not needed back home for the holiday.
She doesn't want Ellise to know about it because she doesn't want to ruin her first Christmas with her fathers.
She keeps her eyes down on the clothes sitting on her lap to avoid Ellise's eyes. She isn't good at lying and her guilt will surely show in her eyes.
"Okay, but don't hesitate to call for any reason. You hear?" she said, finally letting the issue of her being alone here for the holiday.
She gave her another fake smile to assure her that she is really fine.
---
"Are you going home?" a voice asked behind his back.
He jumped up, startled from his seat when he heard Kai Hern talking over his shoulder. He quickly closed the window showing an airline website.
"Fuck! Why didn't you knock?" he asked annoyed that he caught him checking plane tickets going back to China.
"I knocked! But you didn't answer and when I opened the door you were so engrossed in your computer screen, I thought you were watching something nice," he said grinning.
Grand groans and bites his tongue. He knows from experience that even if he gives Kai Hern some scolding he will just say sorry and laugh it out. Then the next time will be the same thing all over again.
The only information his brain would accept is computer language and codes.
He turned off the computer and stood up. He won't be able to do anything with him breathing behind his back.
"Do you want to go out?" he asked, putting on his jacket.
Kai Hern smiled like a puppy asked to go out for a walk.
Grand shakes his head in amusement and annoyance. He grabs his wallet and phone and pulls him out of his room.
---
Dana entered the revolving door of the East City main building. The whole floor showcasing extravagant holiday decorations of Tree of Light, strung with paper ornaments. Festivity is palpable in the atmosphere. Especially with people, coming and going to the door, buried in shopping bags.
According to some surveys, Christmas eve is one of the biggest shopping days of the year in China. Dana finds it a novelty, as Japan celebrates Christmas by eating Kentucky Fried Chicken and playing a broken-hearted song.
But Ellise would probably have the best Christmas celebration based on how the Philippines celebrates the longest Christmas in the world. People would sing carols and hang yuletide decoration as early as the first day of September until the New Year.
Dana felt lost and overwhelmed with seemed to be never-ending happiness around her. It's Christmas eve, she called back home and was able to talk to her father and the call was formal, terse, and as cold as frozen snow of winter.
She felt like crying, but she controlled herself with the thought that she was the one who wanted to be in this country. She was the one who put down the challenge of living on her own without the shadow of her father's name and money.
Dana approached the closing elevator in no hurry. She doesn't have the intention to get into it, hence she was surprised that the door opens when it was already closed.
"Get in," said the old woman in an authoritative voice.
Dana finds herself following the old woman without any complaint. She did a small bow and murmured a holiday greeting.
"Happy holidays, Miss Dana.", said the elevator operator.
Her brows wrinkled upon hearing the voice from the man. When he smiled, Dana recognized him.
"Mister Hao, happy holidays to you too!", she exclaimed happily meeting someone familiar.
All the while that Dana was talking to the elevator operator the old woman was keenly observing an unaware Dana. She gives a maternal smile watching her talk animatedly.
When the elevator opens to Dana's floor the old woman bent over the mountains of shopping bags on her feet. Seeing the situation, Dana smiled and offered the old woman her help.
The old woman gives Dana a warm smile as she takes with her most of the shopping bag. It turned out they are neighbors and she is staying in the apartment unit two doors before hers.
When they entered the old woman's apartment, Dana got the biggest surprise finding a familiar face in framed photos covering the wall of the living room, most of them the younger version of the said person.
