I woke up in the morning, slightly shivering and I knew exactly why. I kicked my blanket off me and quickly rushed over to the window. I drew open the curtains, just to be greeted by snowflakes falling down from the sky. The sky was grey but the sunlight still found its way to the ground. It was all too bright at first, considering that I had just woken up and it took my eyes a minute to adjust to the absence of colours. I craned my neck to look at the ground.

Below,everything had been painted with a thin sheet of white. There was no sign of the once green park or the statues that now looked like weird snowmen. It was as if the world had become a canavas waiting to be painted by the colours of summer in a few months again. It was a wondrous sight. How much I had missed this in London. If there was anything I would return to NYC for, it was snow. Winters were always my favourite.

Most people, I believed were snuggled up in their warm blankets, sleeping in and enjoying a lazy sunday. This thought suddenly made me crave for some hot choclate and a good book to read, probably right under the central heater, the replacement of an old-fashioned hearth.

However, I did see a few people outside their homes, using shovels to plough snow out of their driveways, brush off the snow from their car roofs and off the front porch but such brave people, especially on a Sunday, were definitely a rarity.

I followed my morning routines and debated whether to wash my hair or not because hot water was bad for that sort of thing and the so called 'warm water' was cold and the cold water was beyond questions.

So, after a quick hot bath I pulled my greasy hair on top of my head, into a sleek ponytail only to open it a minute later and to braid them in a side ponytail. After that, I dressed in a pair of jeans, a blue full t-shirt and an oversized thick sweater and went down for breakfast.

Except for my dad, everyone was already there and as if Paula had heard my wish, today the juice had been replaced by...yes...hot chocolate!

The maid came with some hot pancakes. I poured some maple syrup on mine and began to eat. Dad did join us later, once he had finished packing for his three days trip to Moscow for some bussiness convention.

"I am going to the airport. The flight will leave as soon as the sky clears up.", Dad said as he got up to leave when I stuffed the last bite of my third pancake in my mouth. I nodded and followed him to the door along with everyone else. Once he left, we returned back to our seats.

When only one pancake was left on the serving plate, I debated whether or not to eat a fourth one. Hmm...I could always exercise later, right? I reached out for it but so did Adrian. I debated whether or not to take it but then decided to let him have it. I could always take another one when the next stack came and this was his house after all but to my surprise, he left it as well and said, "Go ahead.", motioning me to take it. I eyed him questioningly but then took it anyway.

Never did I expect to see chivalry in him. I quickly ate it and chugged down my hot chocolate and when I was finally satiated, I asked, "What is the plan for today?"

"I don't believe that we will be going out anywhere.", Paula said thoughtfully.

"Not even to the garden?", I asked.

"When it stops snowing, you surely can there but why?"

Now I turned my attention towards Kevin and smiled, "I was thinking of a...snowman."

At this his face lit up, even brighter than the summer sun. He exclaimed, "We will make a snowman! Yes! Mommy, can I?"

"Why will I have a problem, you can definitely do that.", Charlotte smiled.

"Hey! I want to build one too.", Cassandra cooed.

I giggled, "The more, the merrier"

"I don't think it is going to be long now. We should dress up atleast.", Casey gestured with her head towards her room. I agreed and got up, straightening my sweater.

"Kevin, wear a warm jacket. I can't risk you falling ill.", Charlotte called out from behind as he ran up the stairs.

"Ok. Mommy.", He yelled from upstairs, eagerness evident in his voice.

When I returned, dressed in a jacket, jeans, boots and a scarf around my neck, Charlotte was kneeling beside Kevin, helping him with his gloves. Paula, Matthew and Adrian were still sitting on the dining table, not doing anything in particular.

I looked outside to see that snowfall had visibly slowed down and a decently thick layer of snow covered the ground. Perfect!

A minute later, Casey returned wearing a pink jacket, a matching scarf and a few accessories for the snowman. I smiled at her. From behind us, I heard a chair move followed by Matthew's voice, "Where are you going?"

"Work.", Adrian coldly stated. I didn't need to look back to know the expression that was on his face, I had seen it plenty of times already.

"Sit. We have to talk", Matthew said surprisingly very sternly.

Adrian sighed audibly and pulled his chair as it noisily scraped the floor, making me wince.

Cassandra grabbed my arm and said, infact almost pleaded, "Let's get out of here. You don't want to witness their conversation."

I raised my eyebrow in a questioning manner and she pulled me out saying, "I'll explain outside."

So, me, Cassandra, Charlotte and Kevin promptly left the house. Once, we were in the garden, I asked again,"What was that about?"

"They are having a Conversation.", Cassandra said, making air quotes for the word 'conversation'.

"That usually means that things go flying across the house followed by yelling.", Charlotte said worriedly.

I widened my eyes in surprise, mouthing a 'why'.

"They both are authoritative and often disagree on each other's decisions. Also, Dad is not very fond of Adrian's playboy ways.", Charlotte frowned.

I nodded as I began to make a small ball of snow and smiled at Charlotte, "We came out here to enjoy, let's do that and stop worrying."

She nodded and then I continued adressing Kevin, "You and mommy will make the biggest snowball, we are making the other two."

Soon we split to do our jobs and I whispered to Casey, "Any particular reason why this happens?"

I wasn't over it, not yet and I was sure I could get more information out of Casey so I intentionally teamed up with her.

"I thought you wanted us to stop worrying?"

I looked at her dumbstruck, not expecting that answer and she gave me a half sided grin. Adrian and she definitely shared their razor-sharp wits.

"Anyways, Adrian and dad are recently arguing over some company matter and...", she coughed, "Rebecca's behavior at the party.", she continued.

I looked away to hide my embarrassment, remembering the chaos that we created in the party, as I made my ball bigger, adding a little snow every time and rolling it to give it perfect symmetry.

"It all kind of started two years ago. With...ummm...Charlotte's divorce."

"What do you mean?", I asked.

"Dad became very upset and Adrian more controlling. He was protective of us, he always has been but now...", she sighed, "...he would chop any guy's head off if he dared to come near me or Charlotte."

"Adrian was not like this before?".

"Not quite. I mean he did have plenty of girlfriends before too but since Charlotte's divorce he has lost his belief in relationships. His older three or four relationships were six monthly but for the past two year he has been shifting from girl to girl every other week.

I nodded still in contemplation as I finished making the medium sized snow ball. I never realised how much a divorce affected a family, I was too young when that happened with me, about the same age as Kevin so I didn't remember much of it.

I looked over at her, not knowing what to say. Her eyes had become fogged, as if she was having a flashback of a bad memory and her face contorted in a frown. I slightly shook her to bring her back to reality.

"Hey! You alright?", I asked worriedly and she just slightly nodded.

"I am am sorry! I shouldn't have asked. Let's complete the snowman and...no more questions, I swear.", I smiled and she returned the gesture.

We carried our giant snowballs over to where Kevin and Charlotte were.

"Our part is done.", Kevin said.

"So is ours.", we stated in unison as Casey and I rolled the balls one on top of the other. Now we had our three balls aligned and our snowman was almost completed. Charlotte shoved two stray branches that she had broken from a tree in the garden, into the middle ball to imitate the arms.

I lifted Kevin so that he could place the carrot and buttons that he brought to complete our snowman's face. Finally, Casey wrapped her scarf around the neck of the snowman and we admired our handiwork while Kevin squealed in delight, "YAY!" and he ran around the snowman.

I looked at Charlotte and asked, "So, another o..." Before I could complete, something cold hit me on my back and in reflex I turned around instantly. It was a snowball that Cassandra had thrown at me. Charlotte began to laugh until one snowball hit her right in the chest.

Casey made another snowball and smirked as she placed one hand on her waist, "Are you any good at this?"

I narrowed my eyes and said competitively, " You will have to find that out for yourself."

That began a snow ball fight, me, Kevin and Charlotte versus Cassandra. Haha! Unfair? Yes, it was but Casey was still holding her ground pretty well.

I had been hit thrice now. I made two more snowballs and when I picked up to throw them, I saw Adrian storm out of the house, wearing his usual office attire, as if the cold didn't bother him at all. I wonder how he isn't dead already because even after layering up and running, I was still really cold. The red tip of my nose, a perfect proof. My eyes then lingered up to his face, troubled and red with anger. Not the best time to mess with him, right?

Wrong! I loved to get myself into such abyss of trouble and that is why I unthinkingly aimed my next snowball at him...