North voiced out his question in a curious tone. “Then, should I call her Miss Fenton, or should I call her Aunt Jewel?” Ellen chuckled. ‘You can call her whatever you want to.”
“I’ll call her Aunt Jewel, then! I don’t have a lot of aunts, anyway,” North commented before turning to look at Jewel. “Aunt Jewel!” he greeted her. Jewel gave North a playful wink before she stroked his hair. “It doesn’t matter if you’re Olivia’s good friend or my good friend; we’re all one big family. You can always come to Olivia or me for help, and you don’t have to feel ashamed for doing so, okay?” Eugene said.
Jewel was extremely happy, and she thanked them with sign language. “This is your home from now on, so you won’t be lonely anymore,” Brian added.
Jewel’s vision turned blurry as tears formed in her eyes. She gave them a firm nod. “Alright, that’s enough. Let’s eat our dumplings! They are going to turn cold otherwise,” Ellen uttered. North immediately gazed at the plate of dumplings to find the ugliest looking one, which he knew belonged to his mother. North knew that his mother had prepared the one with the lucky coin inside.
Eugene, on the other hand, wasn’t in a rush to eat. He lifted his glass of wine. “Let’s drink to our first new year’s reunion!” Everyone raised their glasses upon hearing this. “Happy New Year! Everyone cheered unanimously. They all took sips of alcohol from their glasses, and they had just lowered their drinks when North had already placed the lucky dumpling into his mouth. “I got it!” he cried happily before spitting the coin out of his mouth. Ellen grinned at the sight of this. “Oh, my grandson sure is a lucky boy.”
“There’s one more lucky dumpling in there,” Olivia stated. “I made two.” “I want the other one,” North uttered as he began to hunt for dumplings on the plate. Eugene calmly picked a dumpling up and placed it on Olivia’s plate. “Try some. It’s going to turn cold otherwise.” Olivia gazed at Eugene and nodded before eating the dumpling on her plate.
However, she had only taken one bite when she felt something hard strike against her tooth. “Ah…!” Indeed. “I got the other lucky dumpling.” Olivia announced.
Ellen chuckled. “Great. Both you and your son are the luckiest people here.” Olivia shot Eugene a glance and found him staring right back at her. He even gave her a wink when no one was looking, which made her smile.
Olivia knew that he had intentionally placed the dumpling on her plate. After the meal, everyone began sending wishes to their close friends and family. Then, they all gathered by the couch, where they chit-chatted with one another. Since they had the tradition of staying up for a whole night, they tried not to sleep until dawn.
However, there were only a few of them who could keep their eyes open until the end. Back at the Nolan Residence, it was usually Eugene and Old Man Nolan who stayed up until dawn.. Olivia thought she could do it at first, but she began to doze off on Eugene’s shoulder after a while. North didn’t even bother to stay awake- he had snuggled up into a ball and fallen asleep on the couch.
“You guys should all go to sleep. I’ll stay up and keep watch here,” Ellen uttered. Eugene gazed in her direction. “I’ll send Olivia to bed before I come back here to stay up with you.”
Ellen rejected this idea. ‘It’s fine. You guys had to travel all the way here and help out with the preparation, so you guys didn’t get a chance to rest. You should go to bed. I’ll stay up on my own.”
Eugene finally gave in before he bent down to pick Olivia up. Then, he turned around to give orders to Brian. “Send North back to his room,” Eugene said.
Brian clicked his tongue. He would’ve sent North back even if Eugene hadn’t told him to, so he felt annoyed after hearing Eugene’s orders. Is he ignoring his son because he wants to take care of his girlfriend? Brian shot Eugene a glare before he lifted North up from the couch and brought North back to his room..
