It won't be so long.

It was Christmas Eve. While all families in this town were enjoying a holiday around the fireplace with warm lights on, a brunette teenager was walking slowly down the street in the snow with a few books he had bought from the flea market. Snowflakes made fun of him, drilling into his gray coat and making him shiver.

After the difficult journey, Hugh Alexandra arrived at a big house half an hour later. He carefully opened the iron gate and entered the yard, creeping back into the house through the back door.

He changed his muddy shoes and then went to his room. The room was on the second floor near a small balcony. It wasn't big, but had good daylight and was comfortable to live in. After putting away his new books and changing his clothes, he went back to the first floor of the house.

The living room on the first floor was filled with the laughter of two men, a woman and a little girl as if they had just talked about something fun.

With a frown, Hugh ignored their laughter and headed straight to the kitchen, turning on the oven to make sure Turkey wasn't burning during his leave. After that, he took the already prepared salad from the locker and began the final steps of cooking Christmas dinner. He finished the main courses quickly and decorate the pastry he made at noon with fresh strawberries. Then he turned his eyes to a little clock on the wall behind him and found that it was almost eight o 'clock.

Just then, there was a knock on the kitchen door. It swung open and one of the family's valets called Criss Pablo nodded to him, " Alexandra, you may serve now."

Hugh put all the dishes on the cart, pushing the cart to the dining room with Criss. People at the table were sitting on their seats, chatting and waiting demurely for food. While the maid was placing dishes onto the table, the man at the master seat whose name was Adolf, looked at Hugh and said in his cold, authoritative voice, "Go and change your clothes, and then come to eat dinner with us."

It was an unexpected invitation.

Hugh looked up in surprise at this man and was about to say something when a little girl beat him to it. Christine, Adolf Alexandra's six-year-old daughter, tilted her head lovely and asked in her innocent voice, "But he's just our cook, right? Why should he eat dinner with us?"

Adolf frowned and said: "That's true, Christine, but at least today we may admit he's your …"

"Dad!"

The son of Adolf interrupted with a tortuose voice, "Christine is right. It's rude for a cook to dine with his master."

"Can our families just enjoy the meal with some cozy topics, Adolf?" Noticing her husband still wanted to say something, Olivia Alexandra also spoke up. " It's now Christmas Eve!" She looked at the man reproachfully.

Adolf finally sighed and did not look at Hugh anymore. The family began to eat the main course in silence. After a long pause, Hugh nodded at them, turned and pushed the cart out of the dining room.

The family chatter rang again behind him as the door of the dining room closed.

Hugh lowered his head to hide his expression. The bitterness was creeping from his heart to his bowels. He didn't feel well but could not retreat to his room right now. He still needed to wait for the end of dinner, placing the dessert for the diners, which was what he had to do as a cook.

When dinner time finally passed, he changed out of the chef uniform immediately and left the rest of work to the maid. He returned to his small room, stocking himself deep in the bed and closing his eyes. While there was a mist rising around him, Hugh realized that he had fallen into the dream. As the fog thickened, everything in this dream became less clear, but he leisurely reached out his right arm and grasped a cold hand precisely.

"Ha..."

With a breath of joy, the owner of the cold hand held him even tighter. Then all the mist suddenly vanished, and Hugh found himself in a sea of stars. Just in front of him, there was a transparent and blurred male figure holding his hand. He knew this figure was smiling at him although he couldn't see it clearly.

This figure, or the soul, is a miraculous friend from his dream -- though, they were not friends in the beginning.

At first, Hugh was afraid of the soul who appeared suddenly in his dream. He can't understand the soul's gratuitous tenderness. He didn't like the touch of the cold hands either. He used to try to pull his hand away due to the umpteenth time out of unaccustomed, but over time he felt that himself overcome by the force of habit.

As the years passed, Hugh felt a little attached to dreams. No one cares about him in the reality, and the only warmth he can absorb was from the soul in his dream. They met in his dream, became familiar with each other in his dream, and became important to each other in his dream.

Hugh gazed intently at the soul in front of him.

He couldn't imagine a life without the soul in this dream now.

While Hugh was lost in memory, the soul gently fondle the back of his boy's right hand. His voice was as soft as clouds, "Merry Christmas, Hugh... Why do I get the impression you're a little upset? What happened?"

"Same as usual, some issues from my father and his family… But I think I already got used to it, let's just forget about that."

Hugh sighed and stiffly changed the subject, "I saw them been drinking tonight and I'm really curious about the taste. Criss told me that's a type of sweet wine, very tasty…"

"My boy, your age is not legal to drink, I shouldn't have granted this wish although we're just in a dream," the soul laughed, raising his other hand to rub Hugh's head. "However, you can do whatever you want with me today, just in case it's Christmas Eve."

Hugh surprisingly looked up, "really?"

With his words, a silver-rimmed goblet of ice wine was handed to him by a transparent hand of the soul. He hesitated for a moment, then took the glass and sipped it scrupulously under the stare of the soul, "It's sweet..."

"Of course it's sweet."

Reply of the soul just fell, Hugh has all of a sudden the goblet of wine to drink. The alcohol gradually flushed his cheeks.

The soul quietly gazed at the crystal drop of wine on the edge of his boy's lips, "you drunk."

"Drunk?" The boy with an age between the juvenile and the young adult narrowed his eyes in bewilderment, reflecting the blue starlight in his pure black eyes.

"I didn't expect you to look so cute when you were drunk," the soul said, reaching out his transparent hand and pinching the boy's nose. "Hugh, do you know who am I?"

"Sure, you are, my best friend and my only friend, "said the boy with a sad tone in his voice," but you only appear in my dream. I have been looking for you for a long time but just can't find you in reality..."

Then the soul tended silent. Without knowing how long the silence took, he finally stretched out his transparent arms, gently and restraint embracing his boy.

"Please be patient, it won't be so long... I'll protect you as promised soon, and no one could take us apart."