A homeland this north, country dear fathers!

Part dos: Kylmä voisko olla kellä, talven säästä kun tuoksahtaa

"So do you know who other representatives are attending that conference?"

"At least someone from Renishaw," Gastón answered as he put his glass back onto the table. It was Christmas day and he and Nina were having dinner at his parents, "Maybe that's why they wanted me involved, cause I worked there, but I don't know. Apparently, it was a bit of a mess on PR's part before HQ got involved and they realized they needed to send an engineer from the executive."

"You did go to HR and ask if it was allowed?" His dad furrowed his brow. "Set stone vacation time should not be changed."

"Yeah, Dad, I did," Gastón sighed, they had had this conversation at least twice, "Everything is covered. I even asked Ambar to check. Do you need to see the bank deposit of the bonus to believe me?"

"We believe you," Isla responded, "But it doesn't seem right that German sent specifically you to do work on your vacation."

"If you didn't want me to work for Castillo Corporations," Gastón rolled his eyes, "You could have just said so."

"Why would we have done that?" Marco questioned, "The company is a huge opportunity for you."

"As long as you are happy, we are happy," Isla continued, "But..."

"I know you don't like him, and dislike him all you want—" Gastón sighed again, "—but he just happens to be my boss, and he handpicked me for a promotion I did not deserve."

"No one here is going to agree on that," Nina ran her hand on his arm.

"Anyways," Gastón continued, "I'm not being best friends with him. Can we just stop talking about this? My work is eating into my vacation as it is."

"Of course," His parents agreed, "You got everything set on the trip otherwise?"

"Yes," Nina answered, "I'm actually quite intrigued to see the Central Library at Helsinki. It's apparently quite new, not even ten years old."

"You got the flights booked okay too?" Marco asked next, "Because it's almost impossible to find flights to France for the New Years."

"Good thing we booked them early enough," Gastón remarked, "A week later, we would have been in trouble."

"Sofia mentioned that the wedding will be held in some ancient church," Isla noted, "You both have a proper jackets for it right? It might get cold."

"Yeah, we do... Wait, are they invited?" Gastón stopped on his tracks. Flor was Matteo's cousin from Lucia's side. Gastón had no idea what kind of relationship Flor or her parents had with Alexander, especially after Lucia's death.

"Sofia said that they were," His mom continued, "She was a bit surprised too, but they can't make it. Matteo is taking their wedding present. Hopefully, you'll land on some good weather. It can be so unpredictable early in the winter at Europe, especially in the south. That reminds me, you did take those influenza vaccines?"

"Yes," Gastón answered diligently. Of course, Mom was going to fuss over every little thing, even when he was an adult. "We got the prescriptions from the pharmacy and April actually gave them to us, now that she has the medication licenses."

"She truly has worked hard. Mía is so proud of her. She is surely getting the residency she wants."

"Because neurosurgery residency will be easier," Gastón laughed, "Hopefully this makes up from me not becoming a doctor, since your niece will be one."

"It's always good to have doctors as your acquaintances," Isla nodded, "I actually recently was talking to Serena..."

"Who?"