One Christmas Day

Chapter 3: I am Born on Christmas

It is almost Christmas, Yule is almost done on his delivery job, and only one present is left on his sleigh. He looked on the list to see his last stop, the address was written as "1225 Snow Flakes Village, *****, ** (The Christmas House)"

Yule laughed, "What kind of address is this? Was the person living here has so much love for Christmas?"

Then he drove his sleigh on the last house. While on the air he saw a big house full of Christmas decorations, he was amazed to see a house that beautiful.

"I guess this is the Christmas house." he said.

Then he parked his sleigh on the roof of the house. He goes down and entered the house secretly and put the gift below the Christmas tree. After that he quickly go back to his sleigh but when he was about to go, it wasn't working. He goes down and looked but he couldn't found the reason why it's not working.

"Ugh, what's wrong with you? I need to go back now, Santa would be really angry this time. Work now!" then he kicked it, but it was him, who went out of balanced and fell down on the balcony on one of the rooms.

Natalie on the other hand was alone on her room, crying, when she heard a loud noise outside her balcony. She wipes the tears on her eyes and walked slowly toward the door of her balcony.

"Who's there?" she asked, and she slowly opened the door.

"Who are you?" she added, scared. She could see a guy sitting on the floor but she could not see his face just the red color of his clothes because there is only a little light.

"Answer me! Who are you?! I'm going to call for help now." she said shouting. But the guy is not answering.

"Hel-" she said, she was about to yell when he stopped her and talk.

"Uh, please don't." he said.

"Then answer me. Who are you? Are you a thief?!" she asked again.

"Huh? What? I'm not a thief." he answered.

"Then tell me, who are you? What are you doing? Why are you here?" she demanded.

He thinks carefully first, knowing that he doesn't have any choice, he answered. "Uh, I- I- I'm Yule, I delivered gifts for Christmas." he said.

"You're lying! Gifts for this house has been delivered, few days ago. And why would a delivery man be in my balcony?" she said.

"Well, the presents I brought can only be delivered during Christmas Eve. And I am on your balcony because I fell from the roof where my sleigh is." he explained.

"So you're telling me, you are Santa?" she said doubting.

"No, I'm not Mr. Claus. I'm just a handler, handler Yule, and I work for him." he said then he gets up, Natalie steps back due to fright that he might do something. As he walks towards her, a strong cold wind blew and the clouds covering the moon were swept away, Yule's cap was blown away. Natalie could clearly see him now because of the moonlight; she was astounded to see how handsome he is. As she looks at him from head to toe, she noticed something unusual, he has pointed ears.

"Im- Impossible, yo- you have pointed ears. Ar-are you not lying?" she said.

"I'm not, I told you the truth. I fell down in your balcony because my sleigh is parked on the roof." he said.

"Then you should be going now." she said.

"Um, that was my problem; I couldn't go because my sleigh is having problems. But I think they would notice soon that I'm not back, so they'll look for me but, I guess, that would take some time." he said.

"Then you can stay here until they find you. Don't worry I won't let anyone see you." she offered smiling.

"Really? Thank you!" then he holds her hand. Natalie blushed, and then they heard a grumbling sound.

"Uh- sorry, that was me." Yule said.

Natalie giggles then asked; "Do you want to eat with me?" he just nodded ashamed.

They go to the dining hall, sneaking, to be sure that the maid won't wake up and see Yule.

"Wow! You so many foods" then he quickly go to the table and grabbed a chicken, then he realized that it was not his and put it down.

"Oh, I'm sorry I should have waited for you to sit before I get something." he said.

"No, it's ok. That's too many for me anyway." she said smiling.

Then she sat and they started to eat. Yule is taking big bites on every food on the table.

"Is this all yours? Aren't there anyone in here that's going to eat this except you?" he asked.

She nodded, "It was even the first time, after how many years that I would be able to eat with someone on Christmas Eve."

"Really? Isn't that lonely? Me, I always eat with my co-handlers, elves and Mr. Claus during Christmas because it was also my birthday" he said.

"Really? It's my birthday too." she said surprised and continued, "But shouldn't you be with your family?"

"They are my family now. Mr. Claus adopted me and trained me to become a handler and when I grew up to this size, he made me become official." he told her.

"Is it ok if you tell me clearly?" she asked.

"You see, before we became handlers we are ordinary human kids before Mr. Claus found us. In my case, I was found by Mr. Claus when my family died on an epidemic disease, decades' ago." he said.

"So, you're telling me you are older than you look?" she said, curiously.

"Yes. We stopped aging when Mr. Claus made us official and then our ears becomes like this." he explained.

"I see. About them finding you, how would they know where are you?" she asked.

"They would probably use my navigator to find me, so it won't take time. Probably, while you're asleep they'll come and you wouldn't notice that I'm gone or I've come here." he answered.

After that they talk about many other things like how he works, what is Santa Claus like, what does the elves really look like and many more. After eating, they go back to her room. Since Yule should not be seen, he will sleep in her room. They would share her big bed. Before falling asleep Yule said to her, "Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Natalie." Natalie was surprised to hear him greet her, because even her parents seemed to forget about that. She replied to him, smiling with tears on her eyes, "Thank you. Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday too, Yule." Yule just replied with an agreeing moan while his eyes are already closed. "Sleep well." she said, and she closed her eyes and fell asleep.