I wasn't a fan of the winter season. I despised the piercingly cold wind that stung my face when I walked, I hated putting on layers of clothes only for quick groceries, and walking on the icy slippery surface was the thing I loathed the most. On the other hand, every time I saw the colorful Christmas decoration lights beam in the dark December nights, all my winter problems were easily ignored.

I parked my car in my parents' driveway as my eyes roamed over my surroundings. Christmas ornaments were thoroughly arranged in every corner of the neighborhood, except for two houses; my parent's and the Parker's. I felt a tug in my chest when I saw the 'for sale' sign in their front yard. That was it. The house that happened to be the last string to connect two families soon became history.

I sighed as I grabbed my bag and jumped out of my car. Since I planned to stay with Mom tomorrow, Dad and I made a plan for Christmas eve. We were to have dinner which would be our last dinner together in this house. Dad's new studio was ready and soon, they were going to list this house for rent.

As I entered the front door, the aroma curling up from the grill made my stomach growl.

"Dad? I thought we were ordering Chine–" I stopped abruptly when my eyes took in the sight in front of me. The dinner table was set exquisitely in red and gold decorations while three candles stood proudly on the old girandole of my grandparents'. The gold cutlery was put neatly with red napkins folded into a flower shape. "Holy macaroni!"

My dad emerged from the kitchen with an apron on, grinning widely.

"Did you do all this?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes," he said proudly. "I thought a little effort on the table might be a good idea. At least you won't get too snarky if I ruin the food."

"I'm speechless. And you cooked!"

"I'm trying to." He winced. "The keyword is trying."

I grinned. "Let me be the judge then."

"Sounds like a plan. Please have a seat, ma'am. Dinner will be served shortly. I shall bring your drink to start with. What would you like to have?" Dad pulled one chair for me.

The dinner wasn't as bad as I was prepared for. He could have used some more seasoning on the meat or less water for the sauce, but the rest was fine. I gave him four stars when I was asked to rate the dinner. Two points for his cooking skills and two points for the effort. Nonetheless, he successfully made our last Christmas Eve at home worth reminiscing.

I licked my dessert spoon, making sure all the chocolate mousse left no trace on it. "Are you going to throw an open house party in your new place?"

"Nope. But you're always welcome. Just shoot me a message when you want to come over. I'll figure something out." He paused shortly. "And no, I won't cook next time."

I laughed. "Good to know."

My dad put his hand on his chest. "Ouch, that hurts. One second there I thought you would beg me to cook again because this one is so good."

I rolled my eyes. "I mean, there must have been reasons why only Mom and Sam were allowed to handle the kitchen for our Christmas feast."

I regretted it right away once I brought up the names. Our silence confirmed how our thoughts were now drawn back to those happy moments. Every year, Mom took care of Christmas Eve's dinner and Sam prepared for the Christmas brunch. They both were great cooks despite their differences in expertise.

"But hey, Dad. I enjoyed the dinner though. I enjoyed it a lot." I smiled at him earnestly.

"Thank you, sweetheart." He took a sip of his red wine. "Speaking of Sam, are you going to see him before leaving tonight?"

"Yeah, I think I should. How is he doing by the way?"

"I haven't talked to him since" —he cleared his throat— "last summer. But I heard from your mom, he seems to be doing okay. It's a good thing that Dean is home now. At least he's not alone in that big empty house."

"What?" I almost choked on my drink. "Dean is here? Now?"

"Yeah. He came to see me yesterday, apologizing for what he did last summer. Well, I'm not saying I didn't deserve that, but that boy seems to have grown up a bit."

"Oh."

"You didn't know about it?" Dad raised his eyebrow, looking confused when I shook my head. "Didn't he tell you about him coming home?"

"No, not really," I mumbled.

"Is it supposed to be a surprise? Shit. I ruined it."

"No. It isn't a surprise or anything. We just haven't talked for a while. We had a little uh...disagreement."

"I see." My dad frowned. "Does it have anything to do with me and his mom?"

I shook my head. "No. It's just a stupid fight over our high school friend. Nothing serious. It's just this distance that made it hard for us to reconcile. Don't worry, I'll talk to him later."

"Hmm, I guess it's going to be sooner than later."

"Huh?" Confused with his remark, I glanced at my dad only to find him staring at the window. I turned my head to follow his line of sight. Dean was sauntering in the direction of our house, hands in his pockets with his head down, hidden under his white hoodie. As if he was aware of being stared at, he looked up and our eyes met. An awkward smile arose on his lips as he waved at me.

Dean looked different. He'd lost weight and his hair was cut in a new style with longer bangs, almost reaching his eye level. He occasionally brushed them backward with his fingers but they stubbornly fell back right where they were. I also noticed he wasn't as tanned as he was in the summer.

Dad excused himself and disappeared into his office room once we let Dean in. He probably wanted to give us space to talk, or he just wanted to escape the awkwardness that grew thicker every minute. After I put my dirty dishes in the sink, I joined Dean in the living room. We sat in a love seat, one of the last pieces of furniture my dad kept before moving out.

"How are you, Dean?" I inquired. Being in this proximity, I could smell his familiar aftershave and cologne, the scent that always made me feel at home.

"Good. And you?"

"I'm fine. I didn't know that you were home."

"Yeah, I came three days ago." He leaned forward, elbows on his knees before slightly bouncing his legs.

"Oh."

Then there was a pause. An awkward pause.

"How is Katherine?"

"She's doing good, too. She started a new job this month."

"Oh, wow. What does she do?"

"A Public Relation in a small hotel by the beach, not too far from her place."

"That's so cool."

"Yeah, she's been making positive progress."

Weirdly enough, I was sincerely happy to hear this news. After the talk I had with my dad last month, my bitterness towards her seemed to lessen over time. She did her part that triggered my parents' separation, but she was also not in her best condition to begin with.

"Do you still have to stay with her for a little longer by the way?" I asked.

"No. I need to go back to uni. I'm very much behind now," he replied. "But I'm going to stay with Ma a bit for New Year, before coming back for good."

"I see."

Silence took over again. I took the remote control to turn on the TV and settled with the first channel. Macaulay Culkin boy was struggling to release his ankle from a grown man's grip. When he finally managed to pick up a spider from the staircase, he placed it on the man's face. The next thing we heard was an agony scream escaping the poor man's lungs.

We both chuckled at the scene. We'd watched this movie way too often before, but some scenes were still fun to see.

"I heard you came to see Dad yesterday. That was generous of you to make peace with my old man," I said when the commercial break was on. "I know it was between you and Dad, but thank you anyway."

Dean leaned back to the sofa before glancing at me. "Well, Ma made me do it. I thought I did the right thing, but that's before I heard the whole story from her. So yeah, now I know I was too far."

I wondered what kind of a whole story he was talking about. I had my mom's and dad's sides of the story, which was my whole story. Was Katherine's version a totally different one? Nonetheless, seeing her pushing Dean to apologize to my dad indicated that it couldn't be that far from what I'd learned.

"It's in the past now and I'm glad you're back."

Dean turned his head to me. "You are?"

"Of course."

"I thought you were still pissed at me and didn't want to see my face ever again. I screwed up big time, Jen. Apologizing doesn't seem enough."

"Dean, I get it. We were all in the mess. I came to think of it, and I'm glad that I eventually found out about what has actually happened with my past relationships. You could have just told me right away. I could have handled it better."

Dean shrugged. "I thought the less you knew, the better it would be." Dean rubbed his face exasperatedly before brushing his bangs backward with his fingers. "And then I threw it at your face."

"Hey, as I said, it's in the past. I'm totally fine now."

Dean's green eyes were fixed on mine, contemplating whether or not I was telling the truth. The doubt that flashed in his eyes was gradually replaced with relief as he sighed. "Your silence treatment is killing me, did you know that?"

"It scared me too when I didn't hear from you for a while. I thought you had moved on."

"You have no idea." Dean smiled, opening his arms. "A peace hug?"

Nodding at his offer, I scooted over to him and let out a sigh as his arms wrapped around my shoulders. The heaviness that I'd been carrying in these past few months started to lose its pressure. Dean gave me these effects as if I didn't need to carry my own problems because I knew he would do it for me. I always turned into a pampered child every time he was around.

"I'm really sorry for what I said that day on the phone, Jen. And I fucking miss you," he mumbled in my hair.

"I know. It's kinda hard not to miss me," I replied, earning a chuckle from him. "And I miss your stupid face, too."

"I deserve that. I was t–" His line was cut by a vibrating sound. He let go of me and took his phone out of his jeans pocket. Susie's name was blinking on his screen.

I scooted back to my spot to give him space as he picked up the call. Susie seemed to do most of the talk and Dean patiently listened to her and finally mumbled "okay" before ending the phone call.

"I need to get back." Dean turned off his screen and put it back into his pocket. "Susie's coming over."

"Okay." I nodded. "How is she by the way?"

"Good," Dean replied before standing up.

Judging from his gesture, I gathered he didn't want to talk about it, prompting me to drop the topic. I grabbed my coat and quietly followed him to the porch. When we almost reached the front steps, he stopped short. "I almost forgot."

"Huh?"

He slipped his hand into his hoodie pocket and pulled out a small box wrapped in red paper. "James told me you will be at Jane's tomorrow. So," he said, extending the gift to me, "merry Christmas, Jen."

"Oh." I gasped. "I didn't buy anything for you. I have no idea that you would be home or that we would see each other again."

"I know. It's okay. I'd been wanting to give it to you anyway, Christmas or no Christmas," he shrugged.

"Thank you, Dean," I smiled before tiptoeing to give him a quick peck. Dean bent over to give me better access to his cheek while grinning like a child.

It was when I felt his body tense up, prompting me to pull away and look around. Susie emerged from the dark driveway.

"Hi, Jenny! Long time no see." She smiled brightly, reminding me of how Lea always called it a creepy smile.

"Susie! It's a surprise to see you here. Everything's good?" I asked as we hugged and gave each other a peck.

I hadn't talked to Susie since our catch-up at the bar which left me wondering if Dean and Susie had overcome their issues. They probably had. Susie looked skinnier than the last time I saw her, and her hair was cut short above her shoulder level. It felt like she was a whole different person now.

"Yeah. Everything is awesome. I've been so busy with the new role at my father's company. I'm sorry that I haven't got the time to call or hang out with you."

"Oh, no. Don't worry about it. We all are getting busy these days."

"I know, but we will have another girls-night-out soon. What do you say?" She beamed.

"Sounds good." I nodded despite the unsettling feeling that grew in me.

"Babe, we need to get back. Your dad needs a hand," Susie interlaced her fingers with Dean's as she leaned into him.

"Where is Brian?" Dean asked and Susie just responded with a shrug.

"You guys better get going now. I'll pop up later to say hi to Sam and Brian before driving to my mom."

"Perfect! Alright then, see you later, Jenny!" Susie chirruped before Dean had a chance to reply. She turned on her heels and climbed down the porch steps. Since their hands were still linked, Dean was pulled to her, almost stumbling in the process.

"See you in a bit, Jen." Dean waved at me after he regained his balance.

I stood still at my spot, eyeing them as they made their way out of the front yard. Susie wrapped her arm around Dean's waist and snuggled closer to him as they walked, urging him to hug her back. And he obliged.

When I was about to turn around, Dean shifted his gaze back to me with an expression I couldn't decipher, not that I wanted to find out either. I looked away and trudged back inside before closing the front door. But I knew it wasn't the only door I closed tonight.