After Alessia dropped me off at my house, I hung out a bit with Shima who had clearly missed me, at least as much as a cat with an automatic feeder can. She spent the first evening exclusively in my neighborhood as I cleaned up a little bit more around the house. The next couple of days I spent all alone as well, Em and Ria were both a bit occupied with visiting family and receiving even more guests. While that might have made me just a bit sad, at least I could really focus on getting stuff where I wanted it to be. Really getting my decorations and furniture situated in a spot where I liked them most. It also allowed me to put the PC we had bought for Ria in a room that I had dedicated purely for PC related things.

This is where we could hang out when Em wanted to play video games together. I had already ordered some desks and desk chairs as well, but due to the holidays that would only really arrive after new year.

As for the other furniture I still needed, Alessia had recommended to start making a list already so we could do some bulk ordering at a company she had a good relationship with.

Of course, cleaning and putting stuff into place wasn’t the only thing I had done the last couple of days, because that would have required me to work really really slowly, but I also spent quite a bit of time just winding down, reading some manga I had not gotten around to yet and occasionally checking out some web novels. After the events of Christmas, that might not seem very busy, but it was helping my mental wellbeing a lot. What also helped with that is that we’d gotten the news that Helen was doing quite well and that she’d be returning rather swiftly too.

That brings us to now. It was the morning of the 29th of December, just as I was replenishing Shima’s autofeeder, I got a message from Ria asking if she could come over. Her parents had given her permission to spend the rest of the year at my place, together with New Year's Eve and the day after. Of course, I couldn’t refuse.

As for Em, she did have to excuse herself for today as a family member had asked if they could come to visit her rather last minute before they would leave for a half-year trip to Australia. She did say that she could come over the next couple of days to celebrate New Year's Eve with the three of us. That would also give us the opportunity to surprise Ria with the computer together. The only thing I really needed to do, was to keep Ria out of the office for one day. How hard could that be, right?

A couple of hours later, Ria’s presence was announced by the ringing of my bell. I enthusiastically went to open the door but was surprised by who was standing in front of me. It was Ria’s dad who had apparently dropped her off. Ria herself was standing behind him, she at least appeared to be rather happy with a big smile on her face.

Before I could say anything, he lifted his arm and offered me a card of some kind. “I wish you a Merry Christmass, Aurora.”

I took the card out of his hand, after which he gave me a slight bow.

“Please also send our regards to your mother.”

“Well, I wish you a Merry Christmas, too.” The card was in an envelope with some rather fancy Christmas decorations. It really added to my surprise, but it really seemed like Ria’s parents turned a new page. “Did you already try out a couple of chefs from the list my mother gave you?” Although traded would be a better word, I chose to opt for a more friendly approach.

“We did, they are absolutely marvelous.” He bowed once more. “Once again, please send our regards.”

“I will.”

Ria’s father gave me a nod and took a couple of steps back so his daughter could get past him. She immediately gave me a hug once she got into the doorway, which I gladly returned.

“Thank you for dropping Ria off by the way.” I continued my friendly push, because why not, I guess, it’s the time of the year to be friendly to people after all.

“No problem. Congratulations with your move, it’s a very nice looking home.”

“Thank you.” I smiled.

“I will need to go now, have a nice evening.”

“You too.” I smiled back and let Ria wave her father goodbye. Once he stepped into his car, I closed the front door.

Ria hummed as she was taking off her jacket and her shoes, while I just looked at her in confusion.

“Did that just really happen? Or am I in a coma or something? Did your father really just wish me a Merry Christmas AND giving me a Christmas card at the same time?” I turned the envelope around in my hands and started to carefully open it.

Ria turned around and walked over to me with a big smile. “He insisted on handing it over to you himself.” She then looked on as I took the card out of its envelope. It was a rather classy design of a Christmas card, a dark purple with golden stamped snowflakes and a christmas tree in the middle. On the back there were some handwritten well-wishes in golden ink, signed both by Ria’s mom and her dad, specifically addressed to me and Alessia.

“Wow, okay, Christmas miracles really do appear to happen this year. It’s like they are changed people.”

“I think what you and Alessia have done has really opened their eyes to what they were doing.” Ria replied. “The first couple of days were really hard on them but I do think you really changed them for the better.”

I smiled and gave my girlfriend a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’m really happy to hear that. Let’s go give this card a place somewhere?”

“Yeah! But first I need to give a hug to Shima!”

“I’m pretty sure she is in the downstairs living room.”

After we had found our little tiger all snuggled up on one of the sofas, we sought out a nice spot to put the Christmas card at, but it just ended up on top of one of my cabinets where all my other Christmas cards had gone. Although I did keep the stuff from my girlfriends in particular near my bedroom just in case I wanted to read those again.

“Em’s not coming today, right?” Ria asked. “She sent me a message earlier that she couldn’t make it.”

“Yeah, some last minute family stuff came up, but she will be here from tomorrow on so we can celebrate the new year together.” And show you your present. Although I’m obviously not saying that yet. That said, I also had another special present for Em and Ria that I wasn’t going to spoil yet, either. “Do you already know what you want to eat for New Year's Eve? I don’t really have anything planned yet, and I should probably go and do some shopping tomorrow if we want to actually have some food in time.”

“Hmm.” Ria hummed as she sank into the sofa next to Shima. “I actually don’t know what I would like to eat for New Year… maybe we can ask Em tomorrow and see what she thinks.” Shima quickly traded her comfy spot on the sofa for the even comfier spot on Ria’s lap, evoking a giggle out of her.

I sat down next to her and started patting our cute Shima too. She was definitely getting spoiled rotten right now, not that anyone cared, also, cats deserve it. They are just too cute. Just like my girlfriends. “Now that we are talking about food. Have you eaten yet? It’s almost five o’clock.”

“I haven’t, no.” She shook her head. “And I don’t know what to eat today either.” She put her hand on mine, putting a little bit more pressure on Shima, who just started purring louder as quite enjoyed that.

“Hmmm… Do you remember Julie?”

“The girl who takes care of the granny from next door?”

“Mhmm.” I nodded. “I saw her come home yesterday as I was putting the old cardboard outside for garbage collection. And she told me about this new kebab shop nearby that’s apparently getting really good reviews. Would you like to try that out?”

“Oooh! Kebab does sound good!”

“She handed me a flyer, I’m pretty sure I put it in one of the kitchen cabinets. They deliver as well. So I guess that’s a yes?”

“Yeah, let’s do it.” She smiled and then leaned in to give me a kiss on the cheek. “But let’s just sit like this for a little while longer, we don’t need to order just yet, right?”

“That’s true. It’s not like I get hungry anyway. Well… just maybe a little bit hungry for you.”

Ria blushed, after which I took the opportunity to use my free hand to turn her face towards me. With my index finger sliding over her cheek, I took great care not to disturb Shima as I went in for a long and passionate kiss. Now it was Ria who was purring instead.