Red and Butter

11 | Epiphany

Butter

"Why aren't we flying yet?" I ask Betty because I'm too excited to see Red. I miss her so much. "It's two minutes past 8."

"I can't sense Red. I don't know where she is."

"What?! Red told me yesterday that she didn't want the clock to strike at 12." She looked excited when we picked her up and her face lit up when she saw us. She even gave me a hug that surprised me but who was I to complain. I am looking forward to another one to be honest. "Can you sense if she's in danger?"

"No. Do you think something happened?"

What if someone holds her captive or she was in an accident. I shake my head to erase the thoughts. "I don't want to think about it. Let's wait for 5 more minutes."

However, Red is still unreachable and my heart starts hammering in worry. Please be safe, Red.

"Let's go to Cupid Santa. He can check for Red's human form."

"You should have said that earlier. " Betty starts to ascend and soon we're cruising above the buildings and houses. "Can you go faster?" Maybe I'm asking for the impossible but I need to know she's safe.

"No. My speed limit is fixed."

I sigh and lean back on the chair. I close my eyes, not interested in the night sky. Red's smiling face appears in the darkness and I never attempted to open my eyes to keep her here with me.

"Wake up, Butter. We're almost there."

I jump from my seat when I hear a chipmunk voice. I blink and realize where I am. We are flying towards Cupid Santa house.

"Why aren't you on the road yet?"

"You're in a hurry, remember?"

Shit! Red. The hammering on my heart comes back. I look down to see that we're close to touching the ground. I open the door and jump out of it before the car's wheels hit the ground.

"Butter! You son of a boot that's too dangerous!"

Betty yells at me but I have a more important thing to do. I rush inside, opening the door with force which bangs on the wall, startling Chippy and Truffles as well as D & A.

"Whoa Butter, calm down." Chippy jumps to the side to give way to me. I scan the room but Cupid Santa is not around.

"Where is Cupid —"

"In his study." Truffles point to the large door on the right.

In a quick stride, I reach for the door and push to open it.

"I understand if you forget to knock." I turn my gaze to Cupid Santa who's looking at the holly and berry garland round mirror on the wall. "Don't worry. Red is safe."

Relief travels through my veins and I release a hefty sigh. "Where is she and why didn't she make it on time?"

Cupid Santa runs her fingers into his long white beard. "She's with her ex." His voice is calm and deep but what he says make me go crazy.

"Ex?" I start pacing around his room. Jealousy creeps in, replacing the relief. "What are they doing?"

Cupid Santa peers over his glasses to look at me, scrutinizing. "They watched the musical and now she's kissing—"

I stop in my tracks. "Kissing?!" If I wasn't so jealous earlier, now I'm boiling with anger and jealousy. I feel like I want to teleport and break the jaw of that guy. "I'm going to take a walk outside." Before I do some damage inside this cozy study room. I don't bother to wait for his reply nor stop when the other elves give me a curious stare as if asking 'what the hell happened inside the room?'

"Hi Butter!" Glitterpie emerges from the kitchen but I just give her a quick side glance. "Hey! Wait up!"

The cold air slaps my face as soon as I am out of Cupid Santa's house, my anger subsiding. I sigh and stare at the mesmerizing line of Christmas trees. Like a switch being turned on, Red appears beside me, smiling, equally amazed at the view and I find myself staring at her instead. Her face is as bright as the twinkle lights with hair dancing and bringing warmth in the cold Christmas air. The best view I have ever seen.

"Are you okay, Butter?" Glitterpie breaks my trance and Red disappears in a blink of an eye.

I sigh for the nth time. She's not here. She's with her ex, kissing...I clutch my chest as I feel the pain. The happiness, the excitement, worry, relief, jealousy, anger and pain —all of these point to one thing. An epiphany has appeared right in front of my eyes. I love Red. I am in love with her.

"Butter?" I finally acknowledged the presence and look at Glitterpie. "Do you want to take a walk? I forgot the box of fruit cake."

I need a distraction so I nod and we walk in the path lined with Christmas trees that leads to the main gate. Glitterpie's bakery is a 10-minute walk from Cupid Santa's house. Her bakery is big and each corner is filled with shelves made of glass. One corner has assorted cookies and fruit tarts, another corner is for cakes and one more shelf for breads. In the middle is like a pillar of small shelves in different sizes with prepackaged goods.

"This is amazing," I say. "The sweet and spiced smell of the shop is enough to flood my mouth."

Glitterpie grins widely, too proud for her job. "I have an amazing team. Come, I'll show you."

The last corner is the counter with two cashiers and we enter a door that leads to the big kitchen where elves are working together to bake all the products outside. I sneeze when the elf closest to me dusts some flour on top of the dough.

"Everyone, this is Butter, the elf of love this Christmas." Then, she looks at me. "These are the amazing elves who make those mouth-watering treats."

"Hello everyone." I say, looking at each of them who are in a different age but wearing the same white tunic and chef-style hat with pointed ends. Some say hello while others just smile or nod at me.

"You left this." One of the elves with curly green hair approaches Glitterpie and gives her a white rectangular box with green ribbon.

"Thank you, Cookiecakes," Glitterpie says and Cookiecakes smiles before going back to what she's doing. "Let's go Butter."

"Bye and nice meetjng you all." I wave my hand before following Glitterpie out of the bakery.

"It's nice to walk with you with all the glittering lights and snowflakes surrounding us." She looks at me again affectionately and I feel bad because while she enjoys my company, I am wishing Red to be here as we stroll around the village.

"Glitterpie!" We whip our heads to the direction of another high-pitched voice. A stout female elf with golden hair standing in front of a café is waving her hand at us. "Come inside. Try my new Eggnog Hot Chocolate and let me know whether it's good."

Glitterpie looks at me and I nod. "Are you sure it doesn't taste bad, Bellflakes?" She asks.

"Pretty sure." Bellflakes almost skip to her cafe and we're hot on her tail. As soon as we enter, she flashes her palm to us. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion so she points to something above us and we look up.

Mistletoe.

There's a hanging mistletoe above us which means one thing. I should kiss Glitterpie. Why did I end up under the mistletoe when Red wasn't around? I turn to the girl on my side not realizing she turns as well, leaning forward and losing her balance. On instinct, I catch her waist, causing our lips to touch and Glitterpie starts kissing me. I pull away, breaking the kiss and helping to steady her back on her feet. Suddenly, a yellow car appears in my peripheral view.

Betty. With Red. A shocked Red is staring at us.

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Title: BTS - Epiphany
But this is all Jin's voice and I love the ballad and vocals.
Taylor Swift has a song titled Epiphany too.

Double update because it's almost Christmas.