***
christmas day was turning out to be a very busy day for kaycee and her family. rest of her extended family members had to arrive, by the noon time.
rice family was a large family. many of them lived outside the country, so it was not possible for them to attend the dinner party every year.
but those who lived near the place attended the party every year. so majority of the noon and early part of the evening was spent with welcoming the guests and exchanging the gifts with them.
kaycee's mom was laura katsch, prior to her marriage. so in christmas dinner party, every year, both rice and katsch families always joined together as one, to celebrate.
but it was called as rices' gathering as tices were always more than the katsch, in the party.
kaycee had lots of aunts and uncles, from her dad and mom side's families. she also had many cousins. but her favorite person was her granny (her mom's mom).
she adored her grandmother a lot. and kaycee too, was the most favorite grandchild of her grandmother.
her grandparents from her dad's side were not going to attend the dinner party, since they were on a vacation, in the caribbean.
kaycee had gotten a necklace from her granny and grandpa (her mom's father), as a christmas gift.
even kaycee, who didn't have much idea about the jewelry, could see that it was a beautiful piece of work.
her grandpa had gifted the necklace to her granny, on her first birthday after their marriage.
kaycee was speechless when she saw the necklace. she didn't have the words, important enough, to thank her granny for giving her something so beautiful, so personal.
"oh granny, it's so beautiful." kaycee managed to whisper, looking at the necklace in awe.
"of course it is dear. your grandpa gifted this to me, on my first birtday after our marriage." she said lovingly,
remembering the day her husband surprised her with the gift.
she told kaycee, the story behind the necklace and how kaycee's grandpa had surprised her.
later kaycee's grandparents had left the house, as they had to catch the flight for their fifth honeymoon.
kaycee's family had a history or more like an unintentional tradition of love marriages. almost, all the marriages in rices and katschs' family were love marriages, including brad and laura. but to kaycee, it looked like she was going to break the tradition.
***
finally around 6 in the evening, whole family were gathered in backyard of the house. all the arrangements for the party were setup there, as house was not big enough for so many people.
tables were setup all around the backyard. foods and drinks were kept on the different tables, as it was a self service party. fires were all set up all around, so as to keep warm.
a small area in the backyard was adorned with additional bright lights for dancing and a disco jockey was hired to play the music. everyone was enjoying the party, having lots of fun with talking, drinking, dancing and eating.
around 6:30 pm, kaycee and laura were in the kitchen. kaycee was helping her mom in bringing some food articles to the backyard, when the doorbell rang.
"kaycee, take these 2 dishes of éclairs and biscuits to the backyard, i'll bring the rest. now i should go and open the door. it must be the lews." laura said hurriedly, making her way to open the door.
kaycee did, as was told. once she put the dishes on the table, she settled herself on a table, waiting for her mom to come back. she looked towards her dad, who was busy talking with lorence, her mom's brother.
kaycee felt a bit lonely and missed her best friend. she had tried to call bailey in the morning, but line was engaged. she was also hoping that bailey would call her, as she wasn't able to to, but there were no calls.
she smiled inwardly, thinking about what would have bailey said if she knew that sean lew was coming to the party.
kaycee's thoughts turned to sean lew.
kaycee was getting nervous, with the anticipation of meeting the famous sean lew. she wasn't sure, what to expect. she hated to feel like this, where she didn't know what to do.
she hadn't seen him before, which made it hard to predict, what kind of person he would be. she didn't know much about him. all she knew was that he belonged to a very rich family and was a popular student in another school, one of the oldest and most prestigious schools in this place.
also he was the captain of the his school's football team and played as one of the strikers for the team, which only added to his fame. furthermore, he was a quite handsome and charming, just an added bonus for his girl fans. but none of these things described, what kind of person he was.
'i don't know why i'm feeling like this. It's just, sean lew. yeah sean lew, the famous, gorgeous, most appealing, sean lew... arggghh! just stop it kaycee you will only make a fool out of yourself...and you don't even know him yet...' kaycee's musings continued.
she looked over at chesca. from her looks, kaycee could tell that, chesca too, had heard about sean lew, coming to the party. she was trying to fix herself, unnecessarily.
the way chesca was dressed, looked more suitable for a club party, than a christmas dinner party. she was wearing a stylish short brown dress and high heels. her silky hairs were flowing down to her waist, in soft curls. kaycee had to admit, she looked stunning.
'doesn't she feel cold?' kaycee thought, rubbing her hands together.
out of the blue, kaycee started thinking about her own dress. she was wearing a simple light blue, v-neck, a-line dress which was flow down to her knees. she was also weaing a back jacket to prevent the cold. her mom had bought the dress for her, as a gift for her 16th birthday.
kaycee had always been more comfortable, with t-shirts and jeans. she didn't want to wear a dress, but on her mom's insistence, she agreed. her hairs were falling down to her waist in curls and which according to kaycee, were looking like a bush on her head. overall she wasn't feeling very secure with her appearance.
'since when did i start worrying about my appearance?' kaycee thought rubbing her forehead.
***
after a couple of minutes, laura came back to the backyard, followed by a man and a woman. man was wearing round spectacles. he had messy black hair which actually looked nice on him and made him look handsome.
and his eyes were twinkling with happiness. woman was strikingly beautiful. she had waist length, shining hair. her eyes were chocolate ones, beautiful and she had a warm smile on her face. they both looked very nice together.
kaycee saw her father, making his way to them and shaking their hands. then he said something to her mom and she nodded.
brad turned towards the gathering and started speaking.
"rices and katschs, today we have a new joining in our christmas dinner party." brad said loudly, gesturing towards new comers. everyone's attention was now on brad and the strangers he was gesturing to.
"meet cheuk and miya lew, our new friends." laura said with a smile. there were loud cheers and everyone applauded for new comers, to welcome them. both cheuk and miya smiled nervously at this.
"merry christmas everyone." cheuk said, with a big smile on his face.
***
party was moving ahead nicely.
kaycee's parents were sitting with the lews, taking to them. kaycee was sitting on another table, listening to her 10 year old cousin, hailey, who was telling her about one of her school projects, in which kaycee had helped her.
kaycee was listening to her half-heartedly, as her mind was lost in thoughts about lews or say, one lew in particular.
'sean lew is not here. strange, must be with one of his many girlfriends.
but why am I thinking about this? may be party is making my mind, go fuzzy'
kaycee thought, feeling a bit baffled with her thoughts.
kaycee felt someone shaking her. She pulled herself out of her wonderings, to find tracy, shaking her.
"oh sorry, what were you saying?" kaycee asked, trying to sound rueful.
"you weren't listening to me." Hailey said in complaining.
kaycee smiled apologetically at her.
"sorry little cousin. So tell me what you were saying." she said kindly.
"we can talk later. aunt laura has been calling at you for last 5 minutes." hailey said, pointing towards, where laura was sitting.
kaycee saw her mom gesturing her to come to their table. she excused herslef from hailey and made her way towards her mom. she felt anxious about meeting the lews. she wasn't sure what they would think of her.
"yeah mom." kaycee said as she reached near the table. laura took kaycee's hand and pulled her to an empty seat next to hers.
"cheuk, miya. meet kaycee, our only daughter." laura said proudly.
"hello kaycee dear. merry christmas." miya said who was sitting across to kaycee, with a warm smile on her face.
"hello mr. and mrs. lew. merry christmas to both of you as well." kaycee answered politely.
"it's really nice meeting you kaycee." cheuk said genially.
"likewise, mr. lew." kaycee replied courteously.
"we have heard a lot about you, from brad and laura. it's really nice to, finally have a face to all conversations we had about you. you are very good in academics, i heard." miya mentioned.
kaycee felt a bit uncomfortable witht the praise. she wasn't very good at handling the appreciation.
"err...thanks mrs. lew. but they are my parents and are bound to praise their only daughter." kaycee mumbled "i am not good."
"you know kaycee; you should not let others demean you. you are so good as you think of yourself." cheuk said nicely.
"i'll try mr. lew." kaycee replied smiling a bit.
"where's sean?" brad asked seeing that her daughter was getting a bit uncomfortable. kaycee was just like her father when it came to handling the admiration from others.
"he'll join us shortly. he was with his friends. i just hope he gets here on time." miya said.
just then cheuk's phone started to ring. he excused himself from the table and went a bit away from the table to talk. after speaking, he join the group back.
"it was sean." he said at miya's questioning glance. then cheuk looked at brad and laura.
"brad, sean is at nearby square, but don't know how to come here. i will just go and bring him here." he said.
"oh don't worry. it's not to far from here. kaycee, love, would you go there and bring him here?" brad asked kaycee. kaycee was speechless at her fathers query.
'i just don't believe dad. he asking me to go and bring sean lew here. surely, world is turning into something else, that i don't know about.' she thought with bewilderment.
"sure dad. i will go and even take chesca with me. mr. lew, can you tell him to wait for us at the florist shop, near the square?" it would be easier to find him there." kaycee said calmly, trying to hide her annoyance.
"sure i'll just call him." cheuk said and went to call his son.
kaycee got up from her seat and waved chesca to join her. chesca made her way towards kaycee who was still standing near the table where her parents were sitting.
"what is it?" chesca whispered irritatingly.
"mr. and mrs. lew, meet my cousin chesca." kaycee introduced, feeling a bit smug inside. she knew chesca
would try her best to impress them.
"hello chesca." cheuk said who had just joined them back.
"hello mr. and mrs. Lew, it's really nice to meet you." francesca replied, in her best possible, polite tone.
"same here, chesca." miya replied with a smile.
"chesca i am going to the square to bring sean lew, here at home. would you like to come with me? it's not to far from here. just on the 10 minutes walk." kaycee said in a very sweet or say too sweet tone. she caught miya's eyes, who winked at her and turned to talk to laura.
kaycee was sure that jenna would have told chesca about her dating stories with the famous lew boy. And chesca's expression had told her everything, when she mentioned sean lew.
"yeah sure," chesca said, in her sugar coated tone.
kaycee and chesca were in the house, getting ready to go to the square.
kaycee wore her boots as roads were filled with the snow, and waited for chesca to join her. chesca had gone to the washroom, to right her appearance. at last, 10 minutes later chesca came out.
"wear your boots. Snow is thick, outside." kaycee said to chesca.
"i am not going to wear the boots. it would spoil my whole look." chesca said snootily.
kaycee rolled her eyes at her cousin.
"ok then, wait here til I go and bring sean lew here." kaycee said with a shrug, intentionally emphasizing on the words, sean lew.
chesca glared at Kaycee. "okay give me a sec." chesca said and with that she wore her boots and jacket and they finally left the house.
they reached at the square in 10 minutes. it was pretty cold out there and was getting dark. they reached to the florist shop. but there was no one, except the shop keeper.
"hello madam rosmerta. merry christmas, how are you?" kaycee said to the shop owner.
"oh! hello kaycee dear. merry christmas to you as well and I am fine. what are you doing here?" rosmerta replied, smiling at her.
rosmerta was an old lone woman and lived in a small flat, above her shop. she always kept her shop open, even on the holidays, and was a good friend of kaycee.
"have you seen somebody here? a boy, he should have been waiting here for us." kaycee said.
"no dear, no one has come yet." rosmerta replied. kaycee just nodded and came out of the shop.
"what happened?" chesca asked who was waiting for kaycee.
"no one has come yet. where is he?" kaycee said with an irritated voice.
"we should wait here for some time. he'll be here. is this the only florist shop here?" chesca asked calmly.
kaycee looked surprised at her attitude.
"yeah," she replied.
'she can wait for the precious lew, but i can't. we are freezing here and that boy...' kaycee was lost in her thoughts,
when a bmw m3 convertible in front of her and chesca. two boys were sitting in the car.
boy, who was driving the car, was wearing round spectacles and had messy hair just like cheuk lew and his eyes were chocolate, just like miya. he looked the same age, as of kaycee and chesca, though taller than them.
'he must be sean lew but who's this other guy.' kaycee thought. other guy had the gangly look. quite good looking, overall.
"miss Rice?" boy with chocolate eyes ask them.
"yes. you're mr. lew?" chesca asked sweetly.
boy got out of his car.
"sean lew," he said extending his hand.
chesca shook his hand and smiled at him "chesca cruz." she said.
sean looked confused at this "chesca? you are not kaycee rice?" he asked.
before chesca could reply, kaycee decided to step in the conversation.
"i am kaycee rice." she said, a bit stiffly.
sean looked at her and nodded. he was staring at her, with an odd look on his face. kaycee started to feel uncomfortable under his gaze.
"can we leave now?" chesca asked exasperatingly.
"yeah," sean said.
he mentioned them to sit on the back seat of his car. chesca quickly seated herself in the car. kaycee was a bit reluctant to sit in his car.
looking at her hesitation, sean raised his eyebrows at her. kaycee just shooked her head and sat next to chesca. sean sat back in his car and started the engine.
"so where to?" he asked kaycee.
kaycee just rolled her eyes and gave him the directions to reach her house.
"hi," other boy said "i am kenneth san jose. you can call me ken."
"hello, i am kaycee rice and this is my cousin, chesca cruz." kaycee said.
"so you are from the school near here?" sean asked conversationally while looking at the road.
"yeah, and you both are from one of the top schools here ?" chesca said giving him a smile, she thought made her look beautiful.
kaycee didn't bother to join in the conversation. she kept her eyes sideways, on the road.
"we are here." kaycee said when they were near her house. sean stopped the car in front of her house.
kaycee got out of the car and didn't bother about inviting the boys in the house, she was sure chesca would do the job very nicely. she made her way to the front door.
she could feel others coming behind her but didn't bother to look back. she rang the bell and after some time, laura opened the door.
"hey mom, they are here." kaycee said.
laura smiled. "thanks dear and now is the time for your reward. somebody is waiting for you in the backyard." laura said, with a grin on her face.
kaycee was intrigued by her mom's tone. she removed her boots and quickly made her way to the backyard.
she was pleasantly surprised to see bailey there.
"bailey," kaycee said excitedly.
bailey looked at her, smiling brilliantly. she moved towards kaycee, hugging her tightly.
"merry christmas kaycee" she said excitedly.
"merry christmas bailey and how come, you are here." kaycee said her voice full of wonder and happiness.
"well i thought you could use some company, other than your dear cousin here." bailey said dreamily. kaycee simply laughed at her.
"i sure could use your company, bailey. i missed you. and you have no idea who's here today." kaycee said with amusement.
"really, who's your talking about?" bailey asked curiously.
"see it by yourself." kaycee said gesturing towards the door of the house, which opened in the backyard.
sean, ken, chesca and laura were coming through the door in the backyard.
bailey's eyes widened in surprise "sean lew," was all she could manage.
***
:)