A couple of days later and it was already the day before Christmas. At the Cliffside Villa"s kitchen, Daniel, Liam, and Seo Joon were making lunch as they casually chatted about the new superhero movie that was currently showing in the theatres.
Daniel was making honey b.u.t.ter chicken and mashed potato while Seo Joon prepared the salad greens using the spinner.
"d.a.m.n it!" Liam cursed when the marinara sauce for the meatb.a.l.l.s splattered on his white s.h.i.+rt, "Oh come on!"
The two other men"s attention was drawn to him and they were both quick to go over and help him clean up the mess.
"Go get a s.h.i.+rt from our closet upstairs, the second drawer on the left," Daniel told his younger brother, "And call them when you come back down, lunch should be ready."
Still cursing for the mess that he made, Liam was quite unhappy that his favorite s.h.i.+rt was ruined. He nodded at his brother before he walked out of the kitchen and hurriedly went upstairs.
While the men were busy in the kitchen, Samantha, Hannah, and Becca were also preoccupied in decorating the villa with white and gold details filling the entire living room and kitchen with the holiday spirit. It was the first time that the three of them were doing something together and despite the history between Hannah and Becca, they were both quite civil with each other and this was what Samantha could only wish for her two friends.
"Look at us now, we"re decorating your family house, S. I mean... I can still remember back then when we were still small, we used to run around the tree and then peek at our gifts before our moms scold us for being impatient," Hannah recalled making Samantha chuckle at the thought of their childhood days.
"Yeah, and Joon would constantly tease us saying that Santa Claus isn"t real. And that we won"t receive any gifts because we are both naughty."
"Hey! Santa Claus is real, okay?! Don"t ruin my childhood!" Hannah huffed.
Smiling, Becca enjoyed listening to their stories and she couldn"t help but share, "You know… I have never celebrated Christmas with family before, so I don"t really know what happens."
Samantha and Becca looked at each other feeling a little nervous before Samantha asked her cautiously, "Never? Would you like to talk about it?"
"Why do you look so worried?" Becca chuckled, "I don"t mind."
She picked up a decoration ball and hung it on the tree before she continued, "My parents used to fight a lot before they got divorced and we did not really celebrate Christmas together as they were always busy with other stuff that I don"t know about, so I was always just with the servants. Growing up, it was the same and Christmas was just an ordinary day for me. I"ve gotten used to it especially since I travel a lot when I went to college so I was always in a different country during this season. I guess I can say that this will be the first time I"m actually celebrating it."
Becca turned around when there was no response. She then saw Samantha"s misty eyes and Hannah clenching the ribbon in her hand, "Uhh… why-"
Samantha wailed dramatically and went to hug her friend, "You poor thing! My heart ached that you missed so many fun things! I am so going to spoil you rotten every Christmas season starting now and you are not allowed to refuse my generosity!"
"Becs, I promise I will be very good to you and will always give you Christmas gifts! I will take you shopping with me during Christmas sale too!" Hannah sniffed, her face looking so sad.
Becca was taken aback by their reaction because she did not think that it was such a big deal. Since she had not experienced it even once, she doesn"t really feel any loss for not being able to celebrate it. She laughed at the sight of the two silly women who were overreacting but her heart became warm from all the love that she was getting from them.
"Hey ladies, Lunch is almost ready," Liam said as he descended the stairs.
Samantha and Hannah left the room to help their partners prepare the table while Becca continued to work on the tree, "I"ll catch up after these," she said as she looked at the few remaining decorations in the box. She did not like the feeling of leaving something unfinished so she decided to do it quickly.
"You seem to be really into it," Liam commented as he walked closer to her.
Becca chuckled, "It"s my first time to decorate a Christmas tree and it"s actually quite fun," she turned around and was a little surprised to see how close Liam was in front of her that she stepped back a little.
"I heard what you said earlier…" he admitted.
"Don"t feel bad about it because I"m not-"
Liam shook his head, "This family is very caring towards each other especially to really good friends. You won"t have to spend your Christmas" alone from now on."
Becca"s heart fluttered upon hearing his words. They were only normal words but the effect that it had on her was quite heavy as it was probably the first time that she heard someone say that to her. The feeling was very foreign and she felt weird yet warm at the same time so she did not know how to respond to what he just said.
Averting her eyes, it landed on his unfixed collar. Without thinking twice, her hand reached up to his shoulder and smoothed it out. "Your collar…" she muttered.
Liam was surprised but he did not flinch away by her touch, to his knowledge he had gotten more and more drawn towards her over the days that they became really close ever since she moved next door from his place.
Realizing what she was doing, her hand immediately recoiled and a blush crept on her cheeks, "Oh, I"m sorry."
Before she could lower her hand, Liam quickly caught it and held it in place for a few good seconds — giving it a gentle squeeze, making Becca freeze on the spot.
He chuckled at her reaction and his boyish charm attacked Becca in the gut. Releasing her hand from his grasp, he turned around and walked away, "Come on, the food"s getting cold."
She blinked for a few times and slapped her cheeks with both hands before she breathed out heavily. Laughing to herself, she thought of how foolish she had gotten whenever Liam was with her as she followed him to the dining room.
At the hallway, Samantha and Daniel watched their interaction together in secret. With her back pressed onto her husband"s chest and his arms wrapped around her waist, Samantha smiled silly while feeling so giddy as if she was watching a romantic movie.
"Honey, looks like your brother isn"t going to be single anytime soon," she spoke with her hands covering her mouth.
Leaning forward until his lips hovered her ear, he spoke in a low and s.e.xy voice while his hands skimmed her sides, "I"m only interested in our relations.h.i.+p. Others" does not concern me."
Rolling her eyes, she turned around and hooked her arms around his neck, "Can"t you at least support my love for romance?"
Pulling her in for a peck on the lips, Daniel spoke, "Oh I"ll support your love for romance, all right. And I know just the thing to excite you later tonight."
Samantha giggled at his remark, "You are really insatiable, Darling."