"Yeah I know Mistress Cyndi. I'm fine with it." he said.

"Alright Jiro, today is Christmas Eve and I still have some things to do. I want you to call Calvin and ask him to help you with cooking. Bye now." I commanded as I left.

I was going to the mall to get my grandma a present. I grabbed chocolate, a red dress and a birthday card. I signed it and wrote down my message like this:

Dear Grandma,
Happy 80th Birthday! I'm sorry I wasn't able to make it to your birthday. I don't have enough money to fly over to Asia. I hope that you will like these presents I've sent you. I love you so much and I miss you very, very much! I hope that you will have a wonderful birthday and I wish that you will have more birthdays to come and stay in good health too. Merry Christmas! I promise you, next year I'll be there to celebrate with you.

Your loving granddaughter,
Cyndi Wang.

I put it in a small box and sent it off for delivery. Should I buy Jiro a present as well? I wasn’t sure but it was Christmas. It's giving and making peace with one another. Mentioning peace, I hope Xiu and I are at peace with one another. I should give him a gift saying sorry. I also grabbed a gift for Melissa, but too bad Yohan was in Korea so I can't give him a gift this Christmas. Thinking about Jiro, I knew the perfect thing to give him; he would love this. For Xiu, I knew just the right thing too. I wrapped their presents with a green wrapping paper since green was my favorite color. As I arrived in our apartment, I opened the door and it was really smoky. Jiro in the kitchen and everything was a mess.

"What happened?" I asked. "

Nothing, I just suck at cooking." Jiro explained as he coughed.

"Where's Calvin?" I asked.

"He can't come today since there's lots of things to do at the mansion." Jiro replied.

"Oh, so you were cooking all by yourself?" I asked. He nodded.

“By the way, I got you a present. Open it at midnight, I have to leave again for a bit. Just clean the kitchen after, okay?" I said and left again.

Was it really okay leaving him like this? Was I being too mean to him? But there were his father's orders. I knocked on Xiu's door and he opened it.

"It's you. Come in!" he said, and I came in.

"This is for you and Melissa." I said, handing him the gifts.

"Thanks, you really didn't have to give us anything." he said.

"About the other day, I'm really, really sorry! It's not what it seems like. I'm not that kind of girl and we're not like you think we are. It was a terrible misunderstanding I should say. About the other day with Danson as well, it's not what it seems like. How could I explain it… Xiu, are you mad?" I asked.

"Don't worry, I believe you Cyndi. I know you’re not that kind of girl and I trust you. Why would I be mad?" he said.

I was glad he was not mad, but why did I ask in the first place?

"Because I mean erm, Jiro ruined the gathering… no, we ruined the gathering the other night and I never apologized. I just walked away even though you called out for me. I was embarrassed." I explained.

"It's really nothing. If you wonder why I'm ignoring you at school, you know me; I'm just that type of a person. Let's just forget about it." he said.

"Okay. Merry Christmas! Where's your dad?" I asked.

"Merry Christmas, Cyndi! Melissa is asleep waiting for Santa, and my dad still never comes home." he said sadly,

"What about Noche Buena? You two will be all alone. Well I don't have my parents this Christmas too. How about coming over tonight for Noche Buena? Jiro is cooking the food." I invited.

"Sure I'll bring Melissa along too." Xiu said, "We’ll be there in a bit."

"Alright, see you!" I said as I went back to my apartment and saw Jiro still having a hard time cooking.

"Let me help you. I’ll show you the proper way to do this." I said. I explained to him everything, like how to chop and the right ingredients to use.

"How did you learn this? I thought you didn't know how to cook." he said. "I read cooking books during my free time." I said.

"Well, I hope you've improved." he said.

"Yeah whatever just do your task." I said. Midnight came, and it seemed like Jiro improved with his attitude. Xiu and Melissa came and we had Noche Buena together.

I never received any presents this year, but that's alright because Xiu, Jiro and Melissa made me feel the spirit of Christmas. Jiro opened the present I gave him and he was surprised to see a big, stuffed panda plush.

"Cyndi Wang!" he shouted. I stared at me.

"Hmm?" I asked.

"Mistress Cyndi!" he shouted again.

"That's more like it." I said and we all laughed.

Melissa opened her present and she was happy that it was a Barbie doll. Xiu opened his and it was a drawing set.

"Thanks Cyndi. Melissa and I really like your gifts." he thanked.

"It was nothing." I said. "Yeah thanks!" Jiro shouted.

I could say that that Christmas was fun because celebrating Christmas with these people who I just met at school was a different feeling that couldn’t be expressed. After awhile, my cousin Chris and his girlfriend Xue arrived.

"Merry Christmas, Cyndi!" Chris shouted.
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Credits to Skye 4 beta-reading! :)