Amelia POV

“Alright, everyone, attention here please.”

We turned our heads towards the glorious Christmas tree, standing tall in the middle of the hall. One of the literature professors Prof. Lowell, stood near the Christmas tree holding the mic.

“Here comes the most exciting part of our Christmas celebration party – Secret Santa Exchange. Everyone participating randomly draws another person’s name. They then buy or make a small gift for that person, anonymously. During the exchange, everyone opens their gift and guesses who their Secret Santa might be!”

The room shifted. All our tired faces lit up with excitement and enthusiasm. The ones who were almost sleeping on the dinner tables, stood up quick.

“I want a karaoke mic!” Andrew nearly screamed all of a sudden.

“Andrew, don’t shout direct into my ear!” Liam stepped back, protecting his ears with his hands from Andrew’s wrath.

“We’ll not babysit anyone tonight,” Katherine declared, glaring dangerously at Andrew and Daisy.

“Glare him. Not me. I didn’t hype him to do this,” Daisy retorted.

God, please let our children grow, MENTALLY. They are still five year olds in adult bodies.

“I’ll announce names one by one, please come forward and collect your exciting gifts from our volunteers.”

A wave of hoots and claps filled the room. It would be exciting to witness who gets what gifts, especially the couples among us.

“Ladies and gentlemen, here’s our first names,” Prof. Lowell began.

The professor began calling out names with their sections followed by cheers and hoots by the students. Everyone was curious to know what secret gift awaits for them.

“...and Katherine Tressa, Sarah Rivera, Daisy Hale and Amelia.”

WHAT - !?

Me and Daisy?

Who would gift a secret Santa gift to us?

Katherine and Sarah must be gifted by Ryan and Liam. But who would gift Daisy and me?

By the time I could process this, my eyes glanced towards the girls.

Daisy looked like she knew this was going to happen.

“You know who it could be?” I asked slowly.
“Some stupidly bold idiotic crackhead for sure!”

Ahem... ahem!...

We looked back. At the boys.

Andrew.

He rolled his eyes in innocence.

And Daisy looked at him with fury and red little anger on her nose.

Now we know who’s the ‘stupidly bold idiotic crackhead’ that gifted Daisy a gift. And  unfortunately now it’s no more a ‘Secret Santa gift’.

We all laughed at the exchange between them. Andrew is, for sure, trying to do something with these little gestures and the way Daisy keeps on rejecting his gestures makes it all even more amusing.

“Amy, looks like you’ve got some admirers, huh?” Katherine popped up, resting her elbow on my shoulder.

“Hell, no! I’m not interested,” I retorted back.

“Come, we’ll get to know,” saying this Sarah led all four of us towards the volunteers, who were distributing the gifts.

Within a minute, we collected our gifts.

The gifts didn’t look store-perfect.
They looked like they were wrapped with hands that trembled a bit… hearts that cared too much… and feelings none of them were ready to admit.

If someone ever opened these boxes, they wouldn’t just find presents inside.

They’d find patience. Affection. Thought. Quiet love.

Every crease, every fold, every ribbon was proof.

The kind of proof boys never say out loud — but wrap beautifully anyway.
We walked up to the boys. With beautiful pieces of handmade beauty in our hands.

“Let’s open them,” Sarah announced.

My hands were still trembling. Not with fear. But by the constant thoughts of ‘Who it could be?’

For once, my eyes flickered towards Justin. To find answers. To know if he was the one.

But he seemed to be totally unbothered. Like even he didn’t know who it was but he doesn’t even want to know.

Due to the anonymity of the person sending gifts, receivers cannot return those gifts. They’ll have to accept it. And hence keeping my thoughts aside, I decided to open my gift.

Sarah and Katherine opened theirs with utmost excitement. Meanwhile, Daisy acted to glare at Andrew and opened hers with fake carelessness. We all knew she was equally excited, but she wouldn’t want to let Andrew know that.

I stared at the midnight-blue box sitting quietly in my hands, the silver ribbon catching the warm Christmas lights like it had been waiting for me…

Everyone around me was already ripping their gifts open with laughter, but mine? I didn’t know why — mine felt different.

My fingers hovered over the bow, not touching it, just… feeling the weight of it.

What if it was something silly?
What if it was something personal?
What if, God forbid, it revealed more about me than the person who gifted it?

“Come on, Amelia, it won’t explode,” Katherine teased, and I tried to laugh, but my voice cracked somewhere in my chest.

I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to open it.

Not yet.

Not when I had no idea who had put this much effort into a box this beautiful.

The paper wasn’t just wrapped; it was thoughtfully handled.

Almost like someone took their time… untouched by rushing or carelessness.
I finally tugged at the ribbon, slowly, as if untying something sacred. The lid lifted with a soft whisper.

Inside the box…
my breath hitched.

A crystal ball.

But not just any — a miniature Saturn suspended inside it, its rings glowing faintly under the lights, as if the whole universe had folded itself into my hands.
My heart stumbled.

Author POV

Who… who would think of this?
She had mentioned Saturn only once.
Once, casually, without expecting anyone to remember.

Yet here it was.
Her favourite planet.
Her quiet obsession.
Placed in her palms with a care she didn’t recognize yet.

She lifted it slowly, holding it close like the moment might disappear if she blinked too hard. Beneath it sat a small folded note, handwritten, neat, and deliberate. She didn’t unfold it—not yet. Her emotions were already brimming at the edges.

And in that quiet, breathless second, Amelia sat there clutching the little universe someone had chosen for her, completely unaware that beside her, a familiar pair of eyes watched her reaction with a tenderness he tried to hide.

She had no idea — absolutely no idea — that the gift she was falling in love with belonged to Justin.
Justin had told himself he wouldn’t watch her.

He tried to stay focused on the chatter around him, on his friends, on literally anything other than the girl beside him with his gift in her hands.

But the moment Amelia touched the ribbon, something inside him pulled— like gravity choosing a new centre.
She opened the box slowly, her lashes lifting, eyes widening — and Justin felt his chest tighten in a way he wasn’t prepared for.

She looked… mesmerized. Soft. Almost vulnerable.

Amelia held the crystal Saturn like it was something sacred, something she’d been waiting for without knowing. And when she paused to breathe it in, Justin’s heart did this stupid little trip in his chest.

He watched every micro-expression. The disbelief, the stunned joy, the gentle protectiveness in her fingertips.

He’d spent an entire night picking, packing, and second-guessing that gift, but seeing her reaction,
he suddenly felt like every minute of overthinking was worth it.

His gaze flicked to the note tucked beneath the planet.
The one thing he wasn’t ready for her to read yet.

But she would.
In a few seconds.

And Justin wasn’t sure what terrified him more — her reading it…
or her not understanding what he meant.

Amelia finally unfolded the tiny piece of paper, the one she had been too overwhelmed to touch earlier. The handwriting itself startled her.

Steady, careful, like someone had rewritten it twice before letting it go.

The note said:
“For the girl who loves Saturn – steady, luminous, and quietly magnificent. Maybe that’s why I can’t look away either.”

Her breath stilled.

Her fingers tightened around the slip of paper, and for a moment, the room faded into muffled sound and warm lights. The words weren’t dramatic. They weren’t loud.

But they were… sincere.
Too sincere.
Someone had listened.
Someone had remembered.
Someone had placed a whole universe in her hands with a few lines that reached deeper than she expected.

Her heart fluttered painfully, beautifully. She looked up, instinctively, searching the room without knowing who she was searching for.

And right beside her, she caught a pair of eyes.

Justin’s.

Soft. Quiet. Watching her like the moment mattered.

And suddenly — she knew.
She just… knew.

The gift, the note, the thoughtfulness — all of it belonged to him.

And without meaning to, a warm, helpless smile tugged at her lips.
Because in that instant, Justin Cole wasn’t just the boy she liked being around. He was the boy who placed her favorite planet in a crystal universe and sent her heart orbiting straight toward him.

Some gifts are just objects.
But some… some are confessions disguised in pretty wrapping paper.
Tonight, Amelia opened more than a box — she opened a door neither of them can close anymore.
Stay tuned. The note wasn’t the only secret Justin has been hiding✨

Please vote and comment if you liked this chapter. The next chapter will be updated soon. Take care, cuties 💙

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