Together (Sequel of 'Broken Hearts')

Chapter 21: Nazar

Christmas was finally there. I woke up early before I could even feel the sun coming through the curtains and feel the heat on my body. I could feel Ante on my left and listened to his peaceful breathing for a minute before throwing the covers away and getting up. I shivered as the cold air hit my skin and quickly made my way toward the bathroom to take a hot shower and dress myself.

Once dressed warmly, I went directly in the kitchen to prepare some breakfast for Ante and Ethan. Thanks to the voice controlled kitchen, I prepared some eggs and bacon while the coffee machine was running in the background. I separated the food and put it in three different plates before setting the table. A smile appeared on my face as I felt a pair of arms around my body. I turned around to kiss him properly before stepping aside. 

"You haven't changed... You always wake up early on Christmas day." He said and I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Christmas days are fun. Especially since we began celebrating them together." I replied, my smile becoming bigger.

"Good morning, Ethan. Excited to see what Santa Claus brought you?" 

I turned my head toward Ethan's excited voice, the smile still present on my face. "Yes! There are so many gifts under the tree!!"

"What are you hoping for the most?" I asked as we all sat around the table.

"The playmobil pirate boat!" He said after a minute of silence.

I smiled at his answer, enjoying hearing the joy in his voice. I was glad our relationship became cordial again, even if we weren't as close as before. We ate in a joyful mood and washed the dishes. 

"Now, you two should go play together while I start preparing lunch. I have lots of stuffs to do." Ante said, gently pushing my back to make me leave the kitchen.

"Are you sure you don't want any help?"

"I'm sure. Why don't you go out and play a little in the snow? I'm sure you could make a great snowman."

"Oh yes, please! Let's go make a snowman!" Ethan exclaimed, loving this idea.

I put my coat, my shoes and my gloves on and waited for Ethan to be ready. "You're going to have to guide me. I can walk around the patio easily but it's a different story in the garden."

I felt a small hand taking my arm and leading me in our backyard. I couldn't help but smile when I realized he tried his best to imitate the numerous times he saw Ante do it. 

"We're in the garden. There's a lot of snow here." He said, letting go of my arm once we stopped walking.

I kneeled and started to take some snow in my hands to make a ball. "How big should we make it?"

"Big like that!" He exclamed, making me chuckle. 

"You know what? I will keep making it bigger until you tell me to stop, alright?"

"Sure!" He replied happily as I continued to add some snow to my ball. I could feel it becoming bigger under my palms and I wondered how long it would take until he told me to stop. I stopped when he told me to and waited for him to tell me what the next step was going to be. "Can you put mine on top of it, please?" He asked after a few minutes, making me turn my head in the direction of his voice.

"Where is it?" He took one of my hands and put it on a ball, not too far from where I was. I carefully touched it, trying to go around to have an idea of its size. I then pulled it off the ground and did my best to put it above mine. "How does it look?" I asked once I was done.

"Good! Wait here, I'm going to take rocks for the face!!" He exclaimed and, before I could answer, I heard him run away from me. I waited for a few minutes, still kneeling and feeling the cold snow wetting my knees through my pants. I heard him run back to me not too long after and waited for him to create the face of our snowman.