Her Secret Santa was something else. Her Secret Santa was an institution inside the institution. Her Secret Santa has managed to hide for 18 years. Her Secret Santa was turning legally adult this year and this meant one thing; it was time for her to find them and finally find out who's been determined enough to follow her through all these years and make even her loneliest holidays tolerable with letting her know that someone still cared.
It's all started in kindergarten with a bunny; a bunny that she carried around in her bag under all circumstances because over the years that bunny, Arthur was his given name has become her lucky charm. Whenever Arthur was with her, she passed her exams, she got the job, she managed to find the one thing she was looking for months in the shop.
Over the years there were small things added to her Secret Santa collection; postcards, keychains, more stuffed animals, silly socks and the list went on. But never once she's managed to find out who was sending these things. If the whole stuff hasn't started when she was only 5 years old, she might even find it creepy. However, she'd been only 5 and judging by the writing on the cards, her Secret Santa has grown with her.
The weird thing was there was no one, not a single person she's kept in touch with for such a long time and it made it even more difficult to figure out who was thinking of her every year during holiday. To be honest, she didn't have a single clue who it could be.
She kept looking at the cards, trying to recognize the writing but all she could gather that the letters seemed to be coming from a man, not a woman.
"So how are we going to do this?" Her colleague and best friend, Candice jumped behind her, excited.
"We are not," she growled as she turned to her. "I told you, I'm doing this alone..."
"And I told you that I won't let you. What if it's Freddie Krueger?"
"Freddie Krueger is a fictional character and I hardly believe even if he was real, he'd give me adorable stuff instead of nightmares," she snorted and tried her best not to laugh, not wanting to encourage her friend for further discussion.
"Maybe that's the trap! First he gets you to be putty in his hands and then BANG." She jumped startled when Candice smacked her desk so hard that some papers went flying down. Some of their co-workers looked their way with raised eyebrows and disapproving expressions on their faces and she raised her hands in apology.
"Seriously, Candice!" She hissed.
"Seriously, I'm not letting you into the arm of the enemy that easily," her friend stated with a stubborn face and crossed her arms over her chest, giving her the look that meant the discussion was over.
"Alright, alright, gee... You can sit with me in the car." She rolled her eyes.
"That's the plan? Sit in the car?" Candice's eyes widened.
"Well, what were you thinking? Of course, that's the plan. They always comes at night so I'll be in the car and wait for them to approach my door or the letterbox."
"I'll bring McDonald's." Candice nodded and hopped off her desk.
"I'll get the pizza."
"Candy!"
"Chocolate!"
"Cake!"
"Are we going a bit too far? I mean we don't plan to live in the car..."
"But we might have to tackle Santa! Gonna need energy!" Candice grinned before she turned to leave for her desk at the other end of the office.
Her heart beat a little faster as she thought of what she was planning to do, finally finding out who's cared for her for so many years and why they remained anonymous for so long. But did she really want to know? As long as she didn't know who it was, she could think it was Prince Charming, a secret admirer. However, as soon as she found out, the magic would be gone and maybe it was one of her teachers or a neighbour or a social worker...
You can't get cold feet again, she thought to herself. Last year she'd been through the same and in the end decided that she hadn't wanted to find out who her loyal Secret Santa was. But it was time to finally be brave and hope for the best and not think of the worst scenario.
It was 3 am, Candice fast asleep on the backseat after she ended up eating through all the food they had in the car. She was staring out of the window, her head laid against the glass and just waited. The excitement died off a couple of hours into the night and now all there was left the doubts if this was really a good idea.
"I won't let you get cold feet again," Candice mumbled sleepily from behind her and a smile broke out on her face.
"Sleeping Beauty awake finally." She chuckled.
"Yeah, I am. Do you still have... wait!" Her friend sat up alerted, her voice coloured with excitement. "Who is that?" Candice was pointing towards the building she lived at. She narrowed her eyes to try and take a better look in the dark. Her heart was pumping so loud she could actually hear it, her arms shook a little bit. "Oh, it's just a kid. Sorry."
"Damn," she cursed softly under her breath as she fell back against her seat. Maybe they wouldn't even visit this year. Maybe they got tired of this whole thing. Maybe they would change their habit and visit another day.
"Urgh, look at this, freaking BMW drivers." Candice glared at the silver car that stopped in the middle of the road, minding nothing.
"Don't start it now." She laughed, knowing once her friend got into why she hated BMW drivers, she wouldn't ever stop again. She watched the guy getting out of the car, not thinking much of it right until the moment he headed towards her building. "Candice..." She grabbed her friend's hand so hard Candice hissed and her face pulled into a grimace.
"No, not a BMW driver, please," she groaned, watching the man approaching the building. "Well shit, it's him! Do you know who it is?" Candice asked but she was too shocked to answer.
Adrien. She'd had such a crush on him when they'd been kids. She'd never belonged to the popular bunch, she'd been a geek and sometimes ever so rarely she'd gotten lonely or something made her feel uncomfortable but Adrien had always been there since kindergarten. They hadn't been friends, barely ever talked but small things like him picking her first for his basketball team during PE stuck with her. He was one of those people she always thought of with a smile on her face.
"Oh, you know who it is!" Her friend screeched, shaking her up with the high pitched voice. "Go! Talk to him!"
"No," she stated, shaking her head vehemently. She didn't want to. Her heart was beating so fast she felt like she was going to be sick. She didn't know why he was doing this, likely out of pity and now she was panicking. Obviously, he didn't want anything from her because if he did, he wouldn't be hiding for 18 years, right?
"Babe, come on..."
"I said no, Candice," she stated firmly, blinking the tears away that desperately wanted to bubble out of her eyes. This was a stupid idea to start with.
A week has passed and even Candice stopped harassing her to try and get in contact with Adrien. She should have left the whole thing alone but now she was going to go back pretending and that was it. Adrien might have felt like she needed his charity but she wasn't that girl anymore. Or maybe she was, she snorted as she looked around herself and realized it was Friday, she was sitting home alone, having a Friends marathon and Chinese food. This was her decision though, and that was the difference between school and life currently. It was her decision to enjoy her time for herself, not the case of no one wanting to hang out with her.
There was a knock on the door and she jumped from the couch, bouncing that her extra sweets arrived. She shuffled to the door, pulling the robe with the squirrels on it tighter around her body, her kitten slippers almost getting caught at the edge of the chair but she managed to get to the door in one piece.
"Sweeeeee..." She never finished the sentence. In the door it wasn't her extra sweets in the hand of the delivery guy but Adrien Rabiot wearing a giant smile on his face, playing with his hands nervously.
"Hey," he cleared his throat, cutting the awkward silence off.
"Santa!" She really wanted to smack herself for that but he obviously found it amusing, judging by the little laugh. "I mean, Adrien... I ahm... would you... what... What are you doing here?"
"You sent me a letter?" He looked at her confused, pulling a piece of paper out from the pocket of his jacket.
"I didn't," she mumbled under her breath and took the letter from him. It didn't say much just that it was time for them to meet and maybe have a coffee. "Candice," she growled, recognizing her friend's handwriting right away. "I'm sorry for this... this is so..."
"I would love to have a coffee with you," he cut her off and she gulped. She shouldn't think much into this. As a matter of fact, she should tell him not to think much into this.
"I'm not into you." Now that was a bit harsh and sent all the shades of red into his cheeks. She didn't mean to butcher him like that but she also didn't think she could.
"That might change? I... For all these years I didn't dare approaching you because..."
"What?" She laughed out, not wanting to believe her ears. "You didn't dare approaching me?" That concept was alien, not even existing for her.
"You are the smartest person I've ever known and you know so much about everything and I kind of just... You intimidate... But I loved knowing you were smiling and giggling whenever I got you something... and now I thought... I thought maybe you wanted to give me a chance but... It was nice to see you." She was shocked to the core. What just happened? How did they end up from Adrien Rabiot, player of PSG being too good to even consider her to her being too good to consider him?
"Wait!" She reached after him, her fingers gripping his. He glanced back at her over his shoulder, his eyes sad like a lost puppy was looking at her.
"I have Chinese, also sweets on the way?" She asked quietly, biting her bottomlip. She was so nervous she thought fainting was around the corner. "Would you like to come in... maybe?"
"Really?" He flashed a smile at her that made her weak in the knees. Damn, she might have never gotten out of that crush for him.
"Please." She nodded with a shy little smile playing over her face. "Would love to have a personal chat with Santa," she added playfully and he laughed out, his rich voice filling the space as he followed her inside. This might be the best present she's gotten in a very long time.