Amelia POV

“I got this silver jewellery set from Crystalvine Silvers with a mini-perfume from Lune d’Amour.”

“I got this pretty fuscia floral printed dress from Bloombelle with matching sling purse and stilettos.”

Katherine and Sarah squealed in joy. Of course it was a great task for their boys. Now I know why were the boys packing for the trip so secretively.

“Sarahshine!?”

“Katnado!?”

Both of them screamed on top of their voices like they saw a ghost.

“What was that?!”

I whispered slowly, looking at them, completely horrified.

“Look at this,” Katherine showed me two small glitter decorated cards. On it was printed “Sarahshine” and “Katnado” with pink little hearts. They were really adorable. Their men do deserve a shoutout for this. 

I felt happy for them, really. Their smiles say it all. Sarah was mesmerized by the simple sling purse rather than the dress and decided to keep her phone and makeup inside it right away. Katherine replaced her necklace that she was wearing with the one that Ryan gifted her.

I turned back slightly noticing Daisy. She was still glaring at her little gift box. Letting Sarah and Katherine have their own sweet times admiring their gifts, I slowly shifted towards Daisy.

“I trust Andrew. He would never gift you a time bomb,” I said in a light-hearted tone.

“Amy...,” she began. “... I still don’t understand why Andrew did this for me. We fight all the time. We fight over silly things. And he also bears all my slaps, punches and kicks. Yet, he gifted me this today putting so much efforts. I just feel... guilty to be like that to him. I regret not being good to him, not being gentle to him.”

I smiled lightly. I’d never seen Daisy talk so deeply, especially about Andrew.

“Maybe, that’s exactly what he likes about you.”

Daisy looked at me in confusion.

“See, you’ve yourself seen how much of a chaotic and jolly nature Andrew possesses. And you, too, have been the same. That’s why you both connect instantly. Talking about your fights, it’s simply your way of communicating and expressing. And that’s what keeps your friendship with him to go on. And about the gift, maybe he wanted to make you feel different about all these. Maybe he wanted to make both of you feel a little calm, observed and loved...”

Daisy, who was emotionally listening to me with a calm expression till now, suddenly snapped her head towards me with her big eyes.

“Everything was okay until you said ‘loved’.”

I laughed loudly, holding the table besides. It was fun to tease Daisy like that, but whatever, I did say the truth.

“I said it in a normal way. It’s your fault you assumed something else. However, friends do have love between them right, Daisy?”

“I’ll kill you after the party,” Daisy was about to turn and leave, but I caught her up mid-turn.

“Come on, open your gift box now,” I said cheekily.

She rolled her eyes at me, but failed to control the anticipation building inside her mind. Her hands moved faster around the gift paper than her heartbeat.

And after a few moments, we could see the first glimpses of the gift.

Hundreds of Spotify song cards, four bracelets, a phone case, a necklace and aesthetic lyrics stickers.

They were not any normal regular materials. They were all Taylor Swift themed.

Her song poster cards from Spotify, four beaded bracelets with Swift’s albums Lover, Reputation, Speak Now and Folklore written on them, phone case filled with her songs’ lyrics, photos and few quotes and separate collection of stickers having her songs’ lyrics.

I was simply thinking about the fact that though Daisy and Andrew fight and cuss each other all the time, Andrew, keeping those fights aside from his side, still managed to plan this thoughtful gift for Daisy.

I glanced at Daisy. She seemed... hypnotized. Oh yeah, Taylor Swift is her favorite and receiving anything related to her gets her on cloud 9. Moreover, it’s none other than Andrew, who gifted her these. 

“Daisy?”

She looked up at me. Eyes, bit teared up.

I smiled lightly, acknowledging her reaction. I wish I could have recorded and showed it to Andrew.

She stared at all those items for a few more seconds before perfectly wrapping them up.

“You can admit you’re falling for him already,” I teased her, slightly nudging her shoulder.

Daisy’s eyes widened. Yet, she couldn’t help the little smile playing on her lips, that said something else.

“Don’t encourage me or I really will,” she scoffed. “And even you’re falling for someone nowadays.”

I looked at her instantly. Did I make it obvious?

Wait, I’m not falling for anyone in the first place.

“I don’t believe in love,” I tried to defend myself.

“Yeah, we can see that,” Daisy nudged my shoulder the same way I did a few moments ago.

“Don’t encourage me or I really will,” I said, copying her line and turning to walk away.

“Oh, Miss. Blushy Blushy, where are you running?”

“To Andrew. To tell him how you got hypnotized seeing his gift.”

“Amy, stop right there. You won’t do that!”

“Stop me if you can,” I smiled at her cheekily and began to run towards the edge where the boys were waiting for us.

Thirty minutes later
Justin POV

The Christmas celebration was on full swing. Warm golden lights spilled from the chandeliers like liquid honey, dancing across the polished floor as if celebrating with us.

Laughter rose in little waves—soft at first, then louder, fuller, contagious—pulling everyone into its rhythm. The music thumped gently in the background, not overpowering, just enough to make the air feel electric.

People moved everywhere. Friends reuniting and clicking pictures, professors complimenting outfits, the whole place buzzing with a kind of excitement that you could feel on your skin.

I couldn’t help but think—this is what celebration is supposed to look like. Alive. Warm. And absolutely unforgettable.

"Justin?" I heard a soft manly voice that broke the chain of my thoughts.

I turned around and saw Ryan already looking at me. I smiled gently and signalled him to carry on.

"The buffet's about to open. Let's get into the line asap."

"Can you guys please get ours too?" Sarah's little voice interrupted.

"Ours?" Liam questioned amusingly.

"All four of us," Sarah said, signalling to all the four girls.

Liam looked at us, as if he was asking if this was okay with us. The girls wouldn't be able to stand for long with their heavy gowns and hence we nodded at once.

"Okay then, y'all relax and take pictures, we'll get your food right back," Liam assured Sarah.

"Great! We are out in the premises for a walk, will be back in 15."

Walk? With those heavy gowns? We are getting them food so that they don't need to stand there for long and they've already planned a walk?

"Don't forget your phones. We'll call you," Liam spoke.

Leaving the girls, me and Andrew moved towards the buffet. Ryan and Liam stayed back to find a table for eight or at least arrange a table and chairs in a free space.

Amelia POV

“Omg, Sarah, you convinced them so well!”

“Their faces were worth watching.”

“They had to agree, anyways it clearly wasn’t our cup of tea to stand at the buffet when the boys got our back.”

We were walking aimlessly down the streets. It was indeed one of the most beautiful evenings of our lives. Away from the celebration hall, the music, the people, the chit-chats; it felt peaceful to escape that atmosphere and come out in the open for a while.

We lied to the boys. We didn’t come out for just a simple walk. We have some other intentions, haha. As all four of us received gifts from them, we decided to plan a little gift from our sides too.

Katherine suggested us to visit a mini mall, which was a few minutes away from our celebration hall. She and Sarah planned to get sweet romantic gifts.

Meanwhile, Daisy and I were as confused as hell. We were still unable to digest the fact that Andrew and Justin gifted us something.

I’m sure it was because of Liam and Ryan. Looking at them packing gifts for their girls, probably Andrew’s experimenting and Justin’s approval couldn’t wait for their turns too.

After 6-7 minutes of walking, we entered into the mall. We sighed a breath of relief to realize it wasn’t just four of us over-dressed; many other girls in the mall were dressed like us since Christmas was just around the corner.

“Since we have very limited time to grab our gifts, let’s split ourselves and go into whatever store we wish to. Exactly after 10 minutes, we’ll meet here to go back,” Katherine announced.

Nodding our heads once, we ran in all four directions. I was still unsure of what to get for Justin. I barely know his favourites. Yet, I’m here trying to get something nice for him.

I reached a particular section and glanced around my surroundings. Grocery mart, home decor store, jewelry stalls, clothing stores and DIY. I entered the DIY store first. It’s my all-time favourite. Maybe I could grab something suitable from in here. 

The store was decorated beautifully with Christmas theme; colorful handmade jingle bells decorating the corners, whole collection of matching Santa statue boards standing near each section, red ribbons decorating the ceiling and people around me wearing Santa caps and Christmas themed outfits.

I slowed down and started exploring each section.

The first thing that caught my eye was a football keychain.

Simple. Clean. Silver ring glinting under the store lights.

And without even realizing, I paused.

Justin.
The way his face lights up whenever someone mentions football, the way he practically lives in those jerseys...

My fingers closed around the keychain before my brain even agreed.

“Okay,” I whispered to myself. “One done.”

I scanned the rack again, nervous, excited, stupidly trying to make ten minutes feel longer. That’s when I saw it.

A tiny keychain with a silver ‘J’.

I swear my heart tripped over itself.

Should I?
Would it be weird?
Too obvious?

…But it was perfect.
Perfect because it was him, without saying it was him. So I took that too.

I moved on to home decor section, still trying to hurry, but being around pretty things just made me forget I was supposed to be running on a timer.

Candles, plants, lights, trinkets—

And then I saw the scented candles.

Soft vanilla. Warm cedar. A hint of spice.

And suddenly I was standing in his apartment again—the first time I’d visited—the faint scent of lavender drifting through the room, calm, warm, him.

He liked candles.
He actually used candles.
That little detail stuck with me.

So I picked one. Then another. Three small ones, just enough to say I notice things about you.

With barely two minutes left, I rushed toward the billing counter… and stopped.

Right at the front, there was a section of diaries.

Plain covers. Fabric covers. Vintage covers.

Empty pages waiting to be filled.

And I don’t know why, but I reached for one.

A dark, simple notebook with soft pages and a quiet elegance that reminded me of him.

“It’s just a diary,” I murmured, trying to justify it.
But it wasn’t.
It felt like giving him a space.
A space to write, think, dream—something he never let people see.

And just like that… I walked to the counter with a small smile, arms full of things that somehow all whispered his name.

“Maybe I should pack all the stuffs like a gift,” I thought to myself. But I was not sure if the staff here could help me in packing these items. Yet, I decided to ask for help once.

“Excuse me, sir. Could you please help me packing these items? I want to gift them to a friend,” I pleaded the cashier, hoping he could help me with it.

“Sure, madam. Please proceed with the payment, I’ll get it done right away,” the cashier replied with a smile. He signalled a young lady to come and she took all the items to the other side.

I quickly drew out my card, made the payment and walked up to the young lady.

Within seconds, she pack all the items in a simple gift paper and put them all in a small paper bag with ‘Merry Christmas’ written on it.

“Ma’am, would you like anything else to be done for your friend’s gift?” she asked politely.

I was about to think for something unique, but then I glanced at my phone. Just a minute left...

“Umm, no, thank you. That’s it for me,” I replied.

“Okay then. Thank you very much for visiting. Merry Christmas.”

“Thanks for the help. Merry Christmas.”

I passed a polite smile to the lady and walked towards the exit. I fished out my phone to call the girls to meet at the exit of the mall.

Meanwhile, I looked at the bag I was holding. I know it was a rushed return gift plan, but I really hope he likes them.

Ahhh this chapter was such a warm lil chaos to write. The girls scheming, Daisy melting (but pretending she isn’t), and Amelia running around a mall in a gown with ten minutes on the clock. Also Justin… sir… be ready. A certain someone bought gifts with your name written all over them, even if she refuses to admit it 👀✨ Tell me what part made you smile the most—and yes, next chapter has vibes.

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

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