Chapter 172 - Christmas Phone Calls
Chapter 172 – Christmas Phone Calls
Today was December 25th, Christmas.
I didn\'t spend much time in my house other than baking food and watching random Christmas movies. We weren\'t rich enough to buy a Christmas tree, and it was way too expensive anyway. Might as well save it just in case there was something urgent, like paying bills, Grandma\'s health, or if the car broke down.
I got a few texts from a few people, my friends were Noah and Elise, who wished me Merry Christmas, and they also thanked me for all the good deeds that I did for them, whatever that meant.
And there were three boys who called me. Something that was absolutely impossible back then.
Honestly, it was almost unbelievable that I got in a total of five people who sent me Merry Christmas texts. I never got any in my previous life.
The boys were Mason, Logan, and that creepy red rose man.
I read their texts one by one, and all of them asked whether I was free for a phone call. So I answered the first call that came in.
__Phone call with Mason__
"Good morning Em, Merry Christmas!" Mason sounded a lot more cheery than usual. But he was always a positive, kind guy. Of course, it wasn\'t that surprising coming from him.
"How\'s your Christmas? Are you having fun?"
"Well, it\'s nothing much. Just baking and watching Home Alone, you know, usual stuff…." I replied. I didn\'t want to sound pitiful or depressing, so I asked him back, "How about you? What are you doing on Christmas?"
"Ah, I was shooting for an ad yesterday. I\'m in my apartment right now," Mason replied. "I don\'t have anything to do, just watching Christmas movies like you, hehe."
I wanted to ask why he didn\'t stay with his parents since it was Christmas. But Mason never mentioned his family, so I was afraid it might be a sensitive topic for him.
But wasn\'t it a bit depressing to spend Christmas alone? Back in my previous life, I spent my Christmas alone after the death of my mom and grandma. It was hella depressing.
"Can you give me an address then?" I asked.
"Huh? Why?"
"You\'re spending Christmas alone, and I can\'t accompany you. I feel indebted after so many things that you did for me. So I want to give you a Christmas gift."
"A gift?!" Mason exclaimed out loud.
"Calm down. It\'s just a box of cookies. I\'ll send you a box of my homemade cookies, and it\'s still warm, so it\'ll help to warm you up, I guess," I replied.
"Th—Thank you so much, Em. I do feel a bit lonely, but you actually care for me…" Mason Hall sobbed dramatically. "I never find someone as good as you."
"Haha, come on, don\'t be so dramatic. It\'s just cookies," I replied. "Just send me the address, and I\'ll send you a box with Uber Connect."
Mason shared his location with me, and I realized that it was an apartment building that was quite far from the school. So it was true, he was living in an apartment, probably alone.
"Alright, I\'ll send you the cookies later. Merry Christmas."
"Thank you, Em! And Merry Christmas!"
__Phone call end__
I chuckled as I saved the shared location. I had enough money from the red rose man before. Well, I should have had three grands saved, but the scenario to trap Thomas and his gang forced me to cut two more grands, and now there were only about 800 bucks left.
But I did think Mason deserved cookies. At least, he must be exhausted after so many activities.
"Maybe I should bake a new one, bunny cookies, I guess…." I mumbled as Mason kept reminding me of a white bunny that was so cute, I just wanted to hug him.
But before I got up and started doing stuff, I suddenly got another call, and this one came from a different person.
__Phone call with Logan__
…
…
"Yo," Logan started the conversation after a long silence between us. I rolled my eyes, thinking this guy was either seriously awkward or wasn\'t interested in anything.
"No Merry Christmas for me?" I sneered. "Well, Merry Christmas, Club president. Hope you have a wonderful holiday," I said in a mocking voice.
"Ugh, shut up, this is my first time calling someone during Christmas, okay? I\'m trying to make some good words to say," Logan said.
"Wait, you never say Merry Christmas to anyone before?"
"Why should I? It\'s just another holiday anyway," Logan said.
"Then why are you calling me if you don\'t care about Christmas at all?"
"That\'s because you\'re celebrating it. I don\'t care about Christmas, but I care about—no, never mind," Logan said.
He sighed and mumbled a few things before saying, "M—Merry Christmas, you idiot. I hope you have your time with your family and uh… I have something for you."
"Something?"
"A gift, but I can only give it to you after the new semester starts. I\'m still busy with my job. I\'m in another country right now," Logan informed. I didn\'t know what kind of gift he had for me, and it got me curious.
"What kind of gift? You know that I can\'t gift something expensive to you right now," I warned him, growing wary that he might be giving me some expensive thing since he was filthy rich.
"Don\'t worry about it. The price doesn\'t matter. What matters is the feeling that I want to convey…." Logan said in a low voice.
…
…
The atmosphere between us on the phone became ambiguous, and I didn\'t know how to react. I surely hoped what was on my mind was just my wild guess.
But Logan sounded like a boyfriend trying to be romantic to his girlfriend, which would be me.
…
Yeah, that was a bit… uh…
Well, I wouldn\'t hate it. But it was still weird. Since my first impression of him was a spoiled rich brat, who didn\'t have any sense of responsibility for anyone but himself.
But the way he talked here…
"I will cook you something nice then, not cookies, just… something more personal," I replied. I felt like it was a proper reply to what he told me just now.
I wasn\'t an ungrateful person who didn\'t want to say thank you. And I didn\'t want to feel indebted over something. At least, that was what my mother taught me.
"Then, it\'s a deal!" Logan suddenly agreed. "I will return on the first day of school and bring you the gift."
"And in return, I will bring the food that I personally cook for you. This is the only thing I could do, Logan," I kept reminding him about it. Some people might think that I was being stingy, but really… I had no money.
And I wasn\'t used to spending money on something expensive. Everything that I had was pretty cheap. As long as it was functional, then I\'d take it.
"It\'s more than enough. You know how rich I am, right? Some expensive gifts wouldn\'t be flattering for me," Logan scoffed. He seemed to remember something and added, "I never want an expensive gift. I just want something that comes with good intention, deep from inside your heart. That\'s it."
…
We were in another awkward atmosphere with each other, and I hung up the call after saying goodbye to Logan.
__Phone call end__
"Ah, now I have to bake cookies for Mason and think about good food for Logan later on…." I sighed. "Why do I act like some kind of common wife of two men here?"
But that was on me. I was the one who offered to cook them something because that was literally my only skill which didn\'t require a lot of money. At least buying ingredients wasn\'t as expensive as buying store-bought food.
I was about to get up and start baking until I got yet another phone call from another man. This was the third one today.
And I didn\'t have a good face for this one.
__Phone call with the red rose man__
"Good morning, my dear, wha. What you so long to answer my call? I heard four beeps before you pick up, you know," the red rose man said, instantly creeping me right on the go.
"I was busy cleaning my house. What do you want?" I asked cautiously.
"Nothing, I just want to say Merry Christmas. I hope you have a wonderful holiday, dear," the red rose man said. He sounded so sweet on the call despite his heavy voice.
"Uh… thank you, you too, Merry Christmas," I replied with bare minimum greetings.
"Ahahah, my dear, it\'s so refreshing to hear you saying Merry Christmas. Back in our previous life, you passed away too early. I have to spend Christmas in your graveyard, kissing your gravestone every 25 December."
"But now that you\'re alive and well, there is no Christmas miracle better than this.. I love you, Emmelyn Jones."