Jolly stood outside in the cold for almost 30 minutes as she insisted on showing the fireworks to Leroy via video call. Rachel, on the other hand, couldn’t stand the cold and brought two of the children into the car. They watched the fireworks through the car window comfortably, with the heater on. Soon, Jolly came running over as she shivered. “It’s freaking cold out there!”
“You don’t say! I thought the cold was nothing to you since your passionate love could warm you up.”
“Stop teasing me. Let’s go. I’m so tired that I just want to go home and sleep. Don’t wake me up tomorrow morning.”
“You’re lucky New Year’s Day is a public holiday, so you can sleep as much as you want to.” They left the city center and drove toward the suburb. Along the way, the roads were brightly lit by streetlights. Most of the shops were already closed, but the lights of the residential houses were switched on. It took them an hour to reach the Carter Residence. Jolly and both of the kids were sound asleep when they arrived, and it took Rachel a while to wake them up.
As soon as Jolly stepped into the house, she yawned and walked toward her bedroom. “I’m too tired, so I’ll be going to bed now,” she said. “No, you should bathe Samuel first.”
“Nah, it’s fine. Boys don’t mind if they don’t shower.” After hearing her reply, Rachel was speechless and rolled her eyes at her. She had no choice but to get the kids to shower.
“Charlotte, you should shower first. Samuel, do you want to shower by yourself, or do you want me to help you with it?”
“I can do it myself since I’m a big boy.” Samuel rejected her help firmly. “Alright, just let me know if you need my help.”
Rachel caressed his head and chuckled. Before Charlotte showered, she was so tired that she could barely keep her eyes open. However, she was feeling energized after the shower. With the towel wrapped around her shoulder, she leaned against Rachel’s shoulder and mumbled, “Mommy, I miss Daddy already.”
“Why don’t we go see Daddy tomorrow morning?”
“But I want to see him now.” “Be a good girl and go to bed, okay? We will see Daddy the next morning.” Rachel tried to comfort her.
“Can we give Daddy a call?”
“Now? It’s already late, so he might have gone to bed.”
“He’s definitely still up.” Charlotte, who was wearing her bunny pajamas with a pair of bunny ear beanie over her head, sat on the bed while being insistent about making a call to her father.
Finally, Rachel gave up and took her phone out. Alright. Then, you will have to go to bed if no one answers the call.”
“Deal.” Since it was late, Samuel was already fast asleep on the bed while Rachel and Charlotte were making a phone call in the room. Not long after Rachel dialed the number, it was answered.
“Hello?” A familiar hoarse voice was heard.
“Daddy!” Charlotte called out.
“Charlotte?” Justin was surprised to hear her voice. “Why are you still up?”
“Daddy, Mommy and I missed you.” “Charlotte was the one who missed you. Did we wake you up?” Rachel immediately explained.
“No,” he answered after a brief pause. “In that case, you can have a chat with her. I will pour her a glass of warm milk.”
“Sure.” Rachel then passed the phone over to Charlotte. As Charlotte lay in bed, she told Justin about things that she had done today.
“Daddy, I’ve permed my hair. Do you want to have a look? I really want to show it to you.” “Sure, I can see it early tomorrow morning when I meet you.” “Daddy, I saw fireworks today! There are pink bunny-shaped ones too!”
The conversation between father and daughter continued. When Rachel entered the room with the milk, it was quiet as Charlotte had fallen asleep. The phone was next to her pillow, but the call didn’t end.
Seeing that, she tucked both children in before bringing the phone to the balcony. “Hello? Are you still there?” she asked softly.
“Yes.”
“I must have woken you up. Charlotte had fallen asleep.”
“I know.”
“There’s a fireworks show in the city center today. Didn’t you go and watch?”
“I can see it from the suburbs too.” Since the Carter Residence was not far from the Summer Resort, the journey would usually just take 30 minutes by car.
“That’s true, but Jolly insisted that we can’t see it from the suburbs, so she made me go to the city center. We then saw a notice of the cancellation of the fireworks, but luckily, the show somehow resumed later on.”
“How was it?”
“There’s a bunny-shaped one which Charlotte loves.”
“It’s already late. Don’t you feel tired?”
Rachel took a look at the time. “It’s indeed late. You should go to bed.”
“I’m actually outside now.”
“Huh?” She paused for a while and continued, “At such an hour?”
It was almost 2.00AM.
While in a daze, she suddenly noticed flickering lights coming from a car parked downstairs. She saw a familiar figure, and she heard the sound of the car door closing from the phone.. She finally made sense of the situation when she saw Justin waving at her. That night, it was so cold that their breaths fogged as they spoke.
While she was wearing pajamas underneath her coat and house slippers, she rushed out and was surprised to see him standing outside. “Why are you here?”
“Initially, I was worried that Charlotte would throw a tantrum and refuse to go to bed. I planned to bring her home as I was worried that she wouldn’t listen to you. However, she had fallen asleep before I reached. But since I’m here, I have something to pass to you.” “What is it? A present?”
Justin took three bags out of his car.
“Why are there three? There are only two children at home.”
“One of them is for you.”
“But I’m already in my 30s.” “Who says adults can’t receive presents? See it as a New Year’s Day tradition.”
Hearing that, she smiled and accepted the gift. “In that case, I shall accept your gift. Since it’s already too late to get you a gift, I’ll remember to prepare one for you next year.”
“It’s now late. You should go in and sleep.”
After Rachel looked around, she replied, “Nah, it’s alright. While you’re here, we can go for a stroll together. Since the convenience shops are still open, we can go get some snacks.”
By that time, all of the shops there had closed except the only corner shop in the neighborhood. No customers were in there except for the cashier dozing off behind the counter. She was awakened when he heard the welcome alarm ring. “How may I help both of you?”
Standing behind the glass counter, Rachel pointed at the beef pies and asked, “Why not we get this?”
“Sure.” The cashier couldn’t help but take another look at Rachel after hearing her clear voice. When she looked at Justin, she responded shyly, “We are doing a buy-one-free-one promotion, so you can get more.”
“If that’s the case, please give us two sets of it.”
“Do you want chili sauce or ketchup?”
“We’ll have one each.” After they paid for it, they sat in the convenience store to have their pies. As the cashier looked at them from her angle, she thought that they appeared to be a match made in heaven.
