Christmas Extra

Yawning, Jae woke up. His mind was feeling refreshed. Sitting up in his comfy, cloud-like bed, he glanced over to the woman sleeping beside him.

Her name was Amelia Rannuel, and she was Jae’s girlfriend of four years. He looked over her dishevelled, chocolate brown hair that drooped slightly over the innocent sleeping face, and smiled warmly.

Cute...

Jae loved her dearly, as she had helped him get through many tough times in the past. A very kind, amicable person. Not once has he regretted a moment spent with her.

“Mmh...”

Eventually, after staring for too long, Amelia woke up with a small groan. She appeared to have woken up from a bad dream, seeing the slight frown on her face. Jae noticed it and immediately questioned in a tone of pure concern.

“Good morning. Did you have a nightmare?”

When two caramel eyes looked his way with a trace of worry, he smiled gently. Her tension seemed to relax slightly upon witnessing it, but he could still sense a mild trace of apprehension in her clouded expression.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, “Was it really a bad nightmare?”

Amelia replied with a sheepish smile in a clear attempt to deflect the matter.

“N-No, it’s fine. It’s not something that could ever be real, anyway. Should we have breakfast first, or wake up R--?”

“--Hold on. What do you mean, it couldn’t be real?”

Before Amelia could even finish her sentence, Jae sharply cut her off.

“You know what they say about bad dreams, right? It reflects the kinds of worries or fears you have in the back of your mind. If you don’t tell me about it, it could continue for a long time; and neither of us wants that.”

The realisation that she wouldn’t be getting out of this one dawning on her, Amelia simply gave in; it was all she could do against his obstinacy.

“Haah... Fine, okay.”

And so, with a sigh, Amelia began to explain what her nightmare was about.

“I woke up in this strange world... But you were gone, and I couldn’t find you no matter how hard, how far, or how wide I searched...”

“...Huh. Well, you know something like that is ridiculous, right? It’s still early, but I think it won’t be long before people start arriving, so let’s get ready.”

“Alright. Just give me a moment.”

Getting dressed in his everyday casualwear, Jae went to the bathroom. After brushing his teeth and washing his face, he glanced at the mirror in front of him.

Reflected in that mirror was himself, of course. But, for some reason, it seemed a tad odd. He was neither too fat nor thin, and he had just above average muscles. It was his ordinary self.

Nonetheless, he was unable to shake off that sinking feeling, as if something was wrong.

“...Hm. Well, whatever.”, he muttered.

Turning away from his reflection, Jae left the bathroom and, seeing that Amelia was putting on some makeup in their room, decided to wake up their child.

He walked quietly down the landing and stopped as he arrived at the door to another room.

Opening the door so that it wouldn’t creak, Jae peered inside. It was a room with light-themed colours and a childish design. Fortunately, the owner of the room was still sleeping because it was so early.

He then looked at the sleeping person’s face. It was a little girl, about 6 or 7 years of age. Long, radiant white hair covered her head, and two smooth black horns that sprouted from the forehead were her most prominent features.

“Rena.”, Jae gently called her name.

At his whispering, the girl opened her beautiful carmine eyes with a snap.

“Daddy! Merry Christmas!”

She was already awake? Jae was stunned, but quickly recovered and replied with a smile.

“Merry Christmas. Rena, how long have you been awake?”

“...”

Her joyful expression instantly changed as colour drained from her face. From that alone, it was clear to Jae that she had been too excited to sleep properly.

“Haa, this is why I said to go to bed early... Oh well. Rena, get yourself ready and come downstairs.”

“Yes!”

With that, he left Rena’s room. Now, there was only one person left in this house who he hadn’t seen yet this morning. Jae walked over to his brother-in-law’s room.

“Bailey, it’s time to wake up.”

“Uhhh... Huh...??”

It was Amelia’s younger brother who had come to stay with them for the Christmas holidays, Bailey.

After telling him to get ready and come downstairs, Jae pulled the door and went downstairs himself first.

Entering the living room, one could see a magnificently decorated tree with lots of presents placed underneath. On one side of the room, there was an electric fireplace with two chock-full Christmas stockings hung above it. They each wore nametags―[For Rena] and [For Bailey].

Confirming things were all set―the innumerable presents were all sorted in piles for their respective owner, the fireplace was lit, and the temperature was warm―Jae made his way to the kitchen.

As he was preparing ingredients for a nice breakfast, such as bacon and other things, his gaze wandered outside the kitchen window, where he saw the street blanketed with a thick layer of snow. It wasn’t so much that it would cause inconvenience, but it was easily sufficient to have fun with.

Hoo~, the kids’ll have a blast with that. It’s the only time of year that we get snow.

Snow was a pleasant thing for Jae to look at since it reminded him of Rena’s hair. He was sure that there would be many who made that comparison at school, but as nothing negative had come of it yet, there was nothing to worry about.

Just in time for finishing preparations, Amelia came downstairs with the two kids in tow.

“Daddy! When can we open the presents?”

“Not yet.”

“”Aaawwwww?!””

“Whyyy?”

Jae sighed at their whining.

“Just calm down and have a seat. It shouldn’t be long until everyone arrives now--”

*Ding Dong~!*

At that moment, the doorbell rang.

What timing, Jae thought as he answered the door. Before he could even say anything to welcome them, a woman spoke to him.

“Merry Christmas, Jae.”

“Oh, Mum. Merry Christmas. Dad too. Here, come in.”

“Thank you, I hope we’re not too late?”

“No worries, you’re the first to arrive. Would either of you like a drink or food?”

“Ooh, yes, could I have a normal tea, please? No food though.”

“One sugar? Sure.”

Jae knew his mother’s preferred drink for as long as he could remember. When she came over to England from Korea, she had always liked how easy it was to get tea and how almost everyone had it in their homes.

“What about Dad?”

“I’m alright thanks, but I might grab something later.”

Confirming the order, Jae returned to the kitchen, hearing his parents continue on behind him.

“See love, I told you we weren’t gonna be late.”, his father said confidently.

“Oh, shut it. I wanted to make sure.”

Brewing two cups of tea, Jae brought them into the living room, an adorable sight entered his eyes.

“―Grandma and Grandpa, Merry Christmas!

Rena was sitting on Amelia’s lap with an ear-to-ear grin and happily holding a small wrapped box. In the next moment, she held out that same box towards Jae’s mother, who accepted it with delight.

“Why, thank you, Rena. You do get cuter every time I see you, don’t you?”

Holding the present in one hand, she briefly stroked Rena’s head with the other.

“Oh, and I have something for such an adorable young lady too.”

―Then, she pulled out a wrapped gift from her handbag and handed it to Rena, before sitting down with her husband on another sofa, placing the present on the coffee table in front of her.

Jae walked over holding two cups of tea and set one down on his mother’s coaster and the other one on Amelia’s.

“Thank you.”

“No problem.”

It wasn’t something that needed to be asked of him, as her routine was the same every morning. As Jae was about to sit beside her, the doorbell rang yet again.

*Ding Dong~!*

Hastening his steps, Jae opened the front door to welcome in two young-looking women.

“”Merry Christmas.””, they said in unison.

“Merry Christmas.”, Jae replied, “Come in. You came together?”

One of the girls, Amber, replied. She was Amelia’s older sister.

“Yes, we arranged to meet and arrive together to save time. We’re probably the last ones, right?”

“Well, yes, but it’s not a big deal.”

Bringing them inside and closing the front door, Jae turned to the second woman.

It was an outrageously gorgeous lady who boasted long, platinum white hair that contrasted her black eyes and had two horns that protruded from the head. Additionally, she had a great sense of fashion.

“Aphy, have you been alright? How’s the business going?”

“Yeah, nothing much has changed. At this time of year, everything sells out so quick it’s insane so recently it’s been a bit hectic but nothing out of the ordinary.”

Oh, that’s right. She was also the owner of an incredibly successful business brand that deals in clothing and jewellery. Jae wondered just why the genes were so skewed in his family.

To make his older sister so overpowered and leave almost nothing for him, just where did he go wrong?

In truth, there was one area where Jae had Aphy unquestionably beat―cooking. No matter how much she practised or had someone assist her, whatever she attempted to create ended in utter failure. It was truly pitiful, but Jae was proud of his ability to one-up her, even if it was only in cooking.

The two of them asked for drinks, so as Jae brought them in from the kitchen, everyone except for him sat down in their respective seats. He quickly walked out and returned with a few large plates of various breakfast foods he had prepared just before his parents arrived and placed them down on the centre table for anyone to pick what they fancied.

Finally, he moved all the presents to just in front of where the respective person sat before taking a seat himself beside Amelia.

He was the one with the smallest pile of presents, but it didn’t bother him in the slightest. He much preferred seeing the ecstatic expressions on his family’s faces.

Just as he relaxed, and everyone was about to open their presents, Rena spoke to him with a cheeky smile.

“Daddy.”

“Yes?”

“Here.”

She handed him a small box tied with a bow. The wrapping on it was crudely done, but he could tell it was made with sincerity.

Turning his glance between the box and his daughter, Jae’s surprised face slowly turned into that of a warm smile.

“...Thank you, Rena.”

“Ahehe~”

Amelia beside him also smiled at the two. Jae thought she must have helped Rena with everything and assisted in hiding it from him.

With a truly glad, warm feeling coating his insides, he unwrapped the present and opened the box.

Beneath the small lid, the box was barren except for a single card that read:

「 To Daddy,

Wake up.

―Love from, Rena. 」

“...What?”

Jae’s face immediately distorted upon reading the card.

“――Ah...”

Suddenly, Jae opened his eyes.

Sensing the cold, hard ground beneath him, he felt extremely regretful after a short delay of processing what happened.

“It was all... a dream...?”

A single tear trickled down his cheek as he lay wistfully, recalling the scene that never really existed.