Maxwell Residence
Tokyo, Japan
December 2015
8:21AM
“Coffee, Jin-ho?”
“You’re a sweetheart,” the Korean
commented. He lifted his mug and Aether poured coffee into it, passing the
creamer and sugar after. The male mixed a few teaspoons’ worth and smiled at
her, “Contrary to due belief, Mathieu is
the lucky one. He can barely take care of himself,” he laughed, and Aether
laughed as well while sitting down. By the stove, Mathieu rolled his eyes.
“I can beat both of you in cooking.” Jin-ho
mouthed the words he’s just bitter to
Aether and the Englishwoman bit her lip to keep herself from laughing out loud.
It was Christmas morning. Aether had
received some texts from her Squad mates, including a message from Peters that
he had arrived safely in New York. The American had flown back to spend
Christmas and New Years’ with his family, and would fly back first week of
January just in time for work. The rest of them would be spending time in the
country; Tadashi had arranged to meet with his sisters while Mack vowed to
sleep in for the first time in weeks.
At the moment, Aether and Mathieu were
entertaining Kang Jin-ho, a close friend of Mathieu’s who he worked with. “I
can’t stay for long, unfortunately. I’ll be meeting with my mother in an hour
and will have breakfast with her,” the male explained.
“No eggs for you.”
“I’ll take the toast,” Jin-ho answered
primly, plucking a piece from the breadbasket they had set earlier. Aether
herself nibbled lightly on one lathered with butter and jam. “I take it you two
are celebrating together?”
“We are,” she replied. “Nothing special.
We’ll just stay in today and get some rest for once.” Jin-ho nodded in
understanding and hummed lightly.
“Private time with the sweetheart, eh?” he
winked. Aether turned a light shade of red and Mathieu gave a short laugh
before making his way to the table and placing a plate in front of the
dark-haired lady.
“I’ll be with mother dearest. I won’t be
alone.” Jin-ho took another sip from the coffee and shortly checked his phone; “And
speaking of, I’ll have to go quite soon. She doesn’t like it when I’m late.”
“You might disgrace the Kang name if you
are.” Jin-ho grinned and finished his coffee before standing up, and consuming
the rest of his bread.
“What a disaster that would be. Merry
Christmas, both of you. I hope you enjoy the gifts.” Aether blinked and Kang
Jin-ho began to leave, Mathieu shaking his head and escorting the businessman
out. She began to stand and Jin-ho noticed. “Stay and eat, Aether. Mathieu’s been
telling me how hard you’ve been working. Right, Mathieu?”
“Right. I’ll get the gifts from his car,
sweetheart.” She nodded slowly and the two men walked out, talking in quieter
voices. The lady stayed by herself in the dining room, poking at the scrambled
eggs and waiting for the redheaded male to come back and eat with her.
On the way outside, the warm smile dropped
from Jin-ho’s face.
“I’m warning you, Silvestre. Aether is a
sweet lady and all, but you have to cut her off before things get worse,” the
man told him in a tight voice. Mathieu’s features darkened considerably. “Leave
her out of this. It’s the least you can give her.”
“You picked the shittiest timing to fuck
up–”
“I know that, and we’ll have to pay for it
soon enough. But listen to me.” pausing in front of the car, Jin-ho gave
Mathieu a hard look. “Too many people have been dragged into this mess. We
don’t need another innocent one getting involved.”
“You’re saying that because she works for
HQ.”
“I’m saying this because she doesn’t
deserve it!” Jin-ho snapped. Mathieu stopped. It was rare for Jin-ho to snap
like that, whether in private or public. The male exhaled slowly, “I see how
you look at her and I see how she looks at you. It almost makes me want to
bring her along so that she won’t get her heart broken.”
“But you won’t.”
“Damn right I won’t,” Jin-ho agreed.
“Again: end it soon. Cut it off nicely. Let whatever deity there is be kind to
her this once,” He opened the door to the drivers’ side of the car, “And spare
her from the shit we’ve gotten ourselves into.”
Mathieu watched as Jin-ho reached for
something inside and gave two individually wrapped parcels to him. “For
Aether.” Mathieu took them carefully into his arms, “It isn’t much, but I hope
this softens the blow.”
“Nothing will.”
Brown eyes met blue eyes. Jin-ho shrugged.
“You might be right, but it’s worth a try. At least let this be some kind of
compensation for what she’ll feel in the coming days.” At that, Mathieu watched
as Jin-ho closed the car door, started the engine, and began to drive off. He
watched until the car became a speck until walking back inside. He could hear
the clattering of kitchenware from the dining room and felt a pang of guilt hit
him.
Mathieu plastered a smile onto his face and
set down the parcels on the couch before walking back to the dining room.
Aether looked up when he came in and she gave him a tentative smile. “You
alright?”
“Jin-ho has some pretty impressive gifts
for you.” She blinked again and Mathieu kept smiling. He started to eat, “He
gave them before he left.”
“Oh. I’m surprised,” she admitted. Aether
wiped her mouth and pushed the plate away, Mathieu looking at her as she did.
“I think I’m alright.”
“Are you sure?”
“Mhm.” Mathieu stopped as well and stood
up, tugging at her hand. “You’re not done eating–”
“Doesn’t matter,” he insisted. “I think we
should open gifts now.”
“You’re oddly excited.”
“I want to see that smile of yours when you
open them.” She shook her head but followed him into the living room where he
made her sit down. Mathieu couldn’t help but smile for real this time as he
gave her a gift, the lady giving him a weird look before neatly tearing open
the wrapping paper. Inside was a small box. “It’s not what you think,” he added
hastily. Aether blushed. “Just open it.”
She did. She felt her mouth dry up and just
stared, Mathieu waiting for the response she’d give. After a minute, she took
the object out and inspected it in the light, letting the jewel give a faint
sparkle.
“Garnet is
your birthstone, right?”
“You’re crazy…” Aether’s fingers shook as
she attempted to wear it and Mathieu took over, his fingers gently working
until she felt something heavy on her neck. Aether looked down and saw the
garnet give another sparkle before looking up to see him sitting down next to
her.
Mathieu waited patiently until he felt a
warm pair of arms around his waist and a face buried into his shoulder. He
couldn’t help but chuckle, wrapping his own arm around her in order to pull her
closer.
“Crazy,” she repeated softly. “You shouldn’t
have…”
“Shh. I wanted to, alright?” Aether pulled
away and his blue eyes fell to the necklace around her neck, “It suits you. It
really does.”
“It’s beautiful.”
“Like the owner,” he agreed. Aether’s
fingers landed on the pendant once more and Mathieu moved closer, looping his
arms around her waist and soon pressing his lips onto her forehead. On
instinct, she closed her eyes. “The necklace is nothing compared to you,
sweetheart. You’re priceless.”
“You shouldn’t have spent that much…”
“I wanted to. It’s no big deal to me.”
Another kiss to her forehead and he trailed lower until just before reaching
her lips. “Merry Christmas, sweetheart.”
“Merry Christmas,” she whispered, and
Mathieu pressed their lips together. He felt her hands on his shoulders and
eventually she was kissing back.
The pendant dug into her skin as they
kissed, and he forced himself to forget what he would be doing to her in the
coming days.
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