Chapter IX - Christmas Day

Chelsea woke up from the light through her window. The sun was beaming light to her face that made her groan. She tried to cover her face with a blanket but the problem is that she can't go back to sleep. Chelsea groaned again and decided to start her day by getting up from her bed. She looked at the side of the room to see an empty and disheveled bed. She sighed and moved to the other bed to fix her daughter's bed then get back to her bed to arrange it.

After that, she went to find Rebecca. She first went to the kitchen to find Nelson, finding food in the fridge.

"Morning, Nelson," she said to the man who's ducking to find a snack to eat. He jumped from being startled by her.

"It's afternoon," Nelson said straightly having a bad mood for not having eaten yet, facing her but get back searching for his food.

"Oh?" Chelsea muttered, she looked at her watch to discover that it's 2:26 PM and knowing Nelson was saying the truth. "Sorry for startling you," she said to him, regretting her action earlier.

"It's fine," he said now facing her, having a good mood after he found the perfect food to eat.

"By the way, have you seen Rebecca?" she asked him, remembering her purpose why she was here in the first place.

"I've seen her with Doran," he said taking a bite from his food. "They were playing outside," he continued after he swallowed his food.

"Thank you," Chelsea said with a smile, appreciating his answer. He nodded at her responding to her statement.

She walked outside and saw her daughter having fun with the youngest Severn. They were playing hide and seek so, Chelsea decided not to bother them in playing. She came back inside the house and walked towards the living room but only to bump into someone.

"Hello, Chelsea," Michael said a little bit shocked and staring at her, not expecting to see Chelsea in the hallway.

"Hi," She said timidly and returning his gaze, remembering the events earlier. "Did you just woke up?" Chelsea said changing the topic and noticed that his clothing was pajama.

"Yup," he answered boyishly to her. "and plan to head to the kitchen," he continued looking at her. "What about you?" he asked.

"I'm actually headed to the living room but I remembered that I haven't eaten yet," she informed him. "So, I'm going to the kitchen too," Chelsea continued and chuckle a little about her situation. She started to walk to her destination which Michael followed.

"Where you came from before thinking to go to the living room?" Michael started a conversation while they were walking, curious about her whereabouts.

"I looked for Rebecca and saw her outside playing with your youngest brother," she said smiling and remembering how much fun Rebecca was experiencing.

"Glad to know," Michael commented. They entered the kitchen and saw nobody was in there. They grabbed a bowl to put the cereal and milk for their breakfast/lunch. They sat facing each other and continued their conversation. "Doran was getting bored in here," he said then scoop his food and swallowed it. "and always saying 'I want a playmate!'" he imitated Doran's voice then chuckle at it while Chelsea laughed at his imitation.

"I thought he would like video games or other things a teenager would do," Chelsea commented.

"Well, sometimes he liked those things but a physical companion was the thing Doran wanted to have," he explained to her. "like a friend," he continued and looked at Chelsea with a meaningful gaze.

Chelsea nodded and hummed towards him, understanding the behavior of his younger brother. They continued to eat silently until they finished it and get up from the chair to put the bowl on the sink. "Where is everyone?" Chelsea suddenly muttered earning a glance from Michael.

"I remembered Nicole said that she wasn't able to stay here today due to her own family and I don't know where my mother and Nelson went. And as you said earlier Rebecca and Doran were playing outside," Michael said listing every whereabouts of people inside of the house.

"You forgot about Tom," Chelsea said reminding him.

"Oh," he said realizing it. "Yeah, I don't know where he is," he admitted to her.

"I found Nelson earlier, let's asked him if he knows something," Chelsea said to Michael. "Let's go to the living room, he might be there," as Chelsea said this, she instantly grabbed Michael's right hand to pull him towards their location. He noticed this but didn't say anything about it.

They arrived in the living room and luckily they found the person they were looking for. Chelsea released their join hands and took a step forward to have a conversation with Nelson. "Sorry again, Nelson," she first apologized to make peace with the other person. "I was wondering if you knew where Pamela and Tom went?" she asked slowly, not wanting to anger Nelson like earlier.

"Mom said that she's going to visit her friends and for Tom, I haven't seen him yet. He might be in his room," he answered changing his vision from watching the television to them with curious eyes. "Why?" he asked.

"It's unusual having people missing when you woke up in the late time," Chelsea said looking down, not wanting Nelson to see her weakness. Michael looked worriedly at his friend and looked at Nelson with pointed eyes.

"Our guest is concern about people not gathering around because today is Christmas day," Michael said having a stern voice speaking to Nelson and getting a defensive stance to protect his friend.

"Calm down, brother," Nelson said raising his hand telling him that he will stop his questioning, getting the message sent by his older brother.

"It's fine, Michael let's just go to Tom," Chelsea whispered to Michael. "Thank you for the information, Nelson," she said faintly to the man who's sitting on the couch. She grabbed Michael's right arm and dragged him towards where Tom's room is.

"Sorry about Nelson," Michael said apologizing for his brother's insensitivity. "He was having the mood," he further explained and looked at the woman in front of him.

"You don't have to apologize and it wasn't his fault for not knowing about it," Chelsea stopped walking and looked back to face Michael with a small smile plastered on her face.

Michael nodded to her which made her looked forward to saw where she's going. "Do you know where Tom is staying?" she asked Michael about what room did Tom stayed in.

"I guess it was in our old guest room?" he said not sure about his answer.

"Let's check it out," she said and stopped walking, releasing her hold from Michael's right arm. "Lead the way," Chelsea said with a chuckle which Michael returned with a smile.

Michael led their way silently until they arrived at their destination. "Here we are," he said while facing the brown door. Chelsea knocked on the door but no one answered, she tried again but this time with much force and the result was still the same.

"I guess it's not the right roo-" Chelsea was interrupted by a voice singing inside the room with a loud volume.

"ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS YOUUUUU~" Tom shouted or sang inside the room making the two people outside laugh and cover their ears. "BABYYY~" Tom continued feeling the song with a Christmas spirit.

Michael decided to try to turn the knob of the door which surprisingly was not locked. The both of them entered quietly and closed the door, they found Tom wearing headphones while he fixed his bed with a little dance he created. Michael and Chelsea tried not to laugh for them to watch it longer and not to reveal themselves to Tom.

The two people were leaning on the wall and watched Tom like comedy entertainment, laughing silently and Chelsea slapping Michael on his arm, really amused to her best friend's free show. Suddenly, Tom turned around and witnessed the two of them dying of laughter. "Oh God! I haven't laughed like that for years!" Chelsea exclaimed still laughing.

Tom just looked at them with his mouth hanging wide open, shocked by being watch to his embarrassing moment. "WHAT WERE YOU DOING HERE?!" he loudly shouted at them. The both of them looked at each other warily, they noticed the very angry face of Tom. But then, the man who shouted earlier burst from laughter. "The look on your face!" he said while laughing at them.

Chelsea and Michael sighed from relief and joined Tom in laughing, knowing that they all joked with one another. "You and your drama," Chelsea commented quietly and having Michael nod from her comment, agreeing to Chelsea.

"Seriously guys, what were you doing here?" Tom asked them after they all calmed down and decided to sit on the couch provided by the room.

"We were on a hunt," Chelsea said. "Hunting people here inside this house because we seemed can't find them on normal occasion and today is Christmas! Everyone should be gathering and celebrating," she continued, explaining their mission and purpose.

"And... how did you find me?" Tom asked them.

"We asked Nelson and pointed us in this direction with the help of Michael," she said and pointed at Michael when she had mentioned his name.

Tom hummed with understanding. "Can you forget what you saw earlier?" he said still not getting over to the event that had taken place. Michael and Chelsea just laughed at him and said 'nope' at the same time.

"It was a memorable moment, why can't we keep it?" Chelsea said with a smirk.

"Because it's one of my privacy?" Tom reasoned and raising his right eyebrow to them.

"Nu-uh, we're going to keep it whether you like it or not," Chelsea said with a wide smile, exaggerating it.

"You horrible people, I forbid you to step on my palace!" Tom said dramatically, getting extra and pointed at his closed door for them to leave.

"Your wish is our command," Michael first left and Chelsea followed but she last looked at Tom with a smirk on her face which Tom evidently saw.

Michael and Chelsea looked at one another and then, they both laughed loudly. "That was interesting!" Michael said wiping a tear produced by joy and looking at Chelsea with a smile.

"It sure was!" she agreed, calming down her emotion. "So, what now?" Chelsea questioned him, not knowing what to do because they seemed to know where the people of this house were and their whereabouts.

"Before I forgot something, can you follow me?" Michael said looking at her. "So that I can show it to you," he explained further. Chelsea agreed by nodding to him. He started walking and Chelsea followed him.

They arrived in front of the color cream door. "This is my room," he informed her with a smile. "Can you stay for a while here? I'm going to get it inside," he continued. "I don't want you to see how disorganized I am," he said with a sheepish smile on his lips.

"Ok, I will wait here," Chelsea said with a smile and chuckled at him. Michael went to his room at a fast pace. He walked towards his closet and searched for something. Grabbing the small box, he began to walk back outside to meet Chelsea while he hid the box behind his back. Michael went outside his room and closed it, then stare at Chelsea.

Chelsea looked at him patiently to say something but Michael just looked at her. She raised her right eyebrow waiting for him to talk. "Michael?" she asked if he's able to respond to her. He snapped himself and came back from reality

"Sorry, I was daydreaming," he said timidly and looked downed flushed from embarrassment. "So, yeah..." he started. "Since it's Christmas, I want you to give this," he said handling the box he was carrying to Chelsea. "I want to give it to you, privately," he continued and watching her intently when she held it. "I hope you would like it," he said smiling and looking at her.

Chelsea looked at the object she was holding and looked at Michael. "I know I would like it," she said smiling. She started to open the box to discover a silver chain bracelet. She held it delicately and looked at him with a twinkle in her eyes. "This is lovely, Michael," she said and immediately hugged him. "Thank you," she whispered near his ear. She broke their hug and tried to wear the bracelet.

"I just want to thank you for the friendship you had given me," he said looking at her.

"I should be the one saying that," she said smiling, still looking at her new bracelet. "You were the one who gave me support and I just teased you," she continued now staring at him with a faint smile.

"You know that teasing me made me laugh," he admitted, smiling at her.

"Now, I felt guilty for not returning a gift," Chelsea said pouting at Michael.

"It's fine, you don't need to," he said chuckling at her, seeing the pout on her lips.

"I will give you a gift when the time's right," she promised to him, looking at him with determined eyes.

"Where will we headed to?" Michael asked, changing the topic while watching Chelsea tucking the box inside the pocket of her sweater. She looked at him with a thinking gaze when she heard his question.

"We should go outside and play with the children," she suggested to Michael.

"Let's go," he said, grabbing her right arm and began marching outside to join the children in playing.

They stepped outside and saw that Rebecca was chasing Doran. Rebecca called her daughter and said that they will like to play with them which her daughter smiled widely at her mother's statement. They started to play hide and seek. They all hide from Michael and he tried to seek them all.

Pure innocence and joy were all they felt, spending the Christmas afternoon outside playing with the children. After they were all tired of playing, they went inside to changed their sweaty clothes to fresh clothes. Rebecca decided to sleep due to tiredness and Chelsea joined others when she saw her daughter was drifting to sleep.

Chelsea silently closed their door and went to the living room to join others. She saw that they were attentively watching a movie and eating popcorn, sitting on the couch. She sat beside Michael and snatched his popcorn.

"Hey! That's mine!" he exclaimed squinting his eyes to her.

"It's mine now," Chelsea replied smirking at him, eating the popcorn slowly, and laughing at Michael's expression which was pouting to her.

Nelson ignored them and Doran was amused watching them. They continued watching after their little scene and enjoyed the movie.