MY CHRISTMAS ROMANCE

CHAPTER 16: CHEESY MOVIE AND SNOWFLAKES

So I have an important question that you may have already seen on my insta or in my feeds. I've already got a lot of awesome answers, but you can still suggest me your ship names ideas for Penelope and Theone, and for Penelope and Aden 😁 I'll choose tomorrow and I'll post it in the next chapter 😁

Now, for the dedication, since I mention how beautiful Italian people are in this chapter, I wanna dedicate this chapter to two of my beautiful Italian friends @JossMcK and @Silenesea6  Vi amo tanto e grazie per la vostra amicizia 😘❤

"Come in! It's open!" I call after the several knocks on the door.

I barely lift up my head as I already know who it is.

"What are you doing?! I thought it was planned for tomorrow?" Theone crouches down beside me, and feeling his piercing gaze on me, I have to stop my hand.

"Yes, it was."

"Wow! Are you sick?! Is it the eggnog again?!" he gasps excessively, his dimples on full display, and I'm really tempted to poke them with the tip of my paintbrush. But I know from experience that this would only end up in a mess of paints and colors, and I don't want to ruin the precious decoration of my bedroom.

Besides, in a way, Theone isn't totally wrong. It's because of the eggnog incident that I'm doing this right now. 

Finally, it hasn't been as horrible as I've expected. Aden hasn't been disgusted or awkward; on the contrary, he has been even more considerate towards me, as he's felt guilty despite how many times I've told him it hasn't been his fault. Luckily neither Theone, nor Jason has said a word about my history with eggnog. So the evening has gone quite uneventful after. 

The humiliating experience is a must-have of the Christmas romances too, so even if I'd planned something less ridiculous like looking at old childhood pictures, I guess it can be moving somehow; that's what I hope.

Yet I'm still unsure about it. That's why I'm busying my hands right now. Crafts and painting have always helped me relax, but I don't reveal this to Theone.

Instead, I tell him the other reason, "We'll already have a lot to do tomorrow, and I really want it to be perfect."

"She'll love it." He smiles at the rocking horse in front of us.

"I still need to finish the paints and add the pink glitters."

My stomach flutters, and I don't know why but those little sparkling blue eyes impress me more than any important jury or magazine. I really hope Lilly will love this horse as much as I've cherished it during my childhood. My dad has made it with so much love for me, and I have many precious memories with it. I'm proud to now hand it over to someone else for her to create new memories.

"I could take a pic of this too, well, if you give me back my camera..." He tilts his head to look at me from under his cocked eyebrow.

"Oh, yes! I forgot! It's on my desk there." I point, just in case he would mistake it too. "And maybe you could take a pic of Lilly with it too..." I sing out, picking my paintbrush as soon as his eyes aren't on me anymore.

"I'll think about it," he mumbles, though his volume changes suddenly, making me jump and paint a nasty white line on the pastel horse's head. "What is this?!"

I put the paintbrush down and get up with all my senses on alert after one last glance at the poor rocking horse.

The frightened jump of my heart turns into a rush of boiling irritation when I catch sight of the same crumpled paper in his hand. "You made me ruin my painting for the same list?!" I ask through gritted teeth.