The Gift of the Magic

3 years ago

Bee

@Bee222

Christmas had always been special for Mel. Her biological mother had died during childbirth — and technically Mel should've died too. There was no way a newborn baby could survive three days alone on the chilly roadside. But that's exactly what happened. Somehow, she had rolled over to a discarded carpet lying in the trash and cocooned herself in the warmth.

Three days later, on Christmas morning, she was found by a woman named Lily Cooper. The only mother Mel would ever need. She was rushed to the hospital immediately, and thus a baby dying of hypothermia was gifted a new life.

"We all were," Lily used to say every time she narrated this story. "You were the greatest gift we could have, Mel. Two sisters with boring, mundane lives. But you came in, and suddenly our lives were so much happier and brighter. You're like our very own Santa!" she said, and her eyes twinkled with joy and love.

Since that day, Lily and Agatha Cooper always celebrated the festival with a lot of splendour. Mel could never wait enough for Christmas to arrive. It wasn't just Christmas for them. It was a time when they celebrated their lives — and the magic that had brought them together.

They decided to expand this magic, and Rainbow Orphanage came into existence (inaugurated on a Christmas morning, obviously). As the orphanage grew, so did their Christmas. Their tiny family was now an ensemble of happy faces and merry chatter. It was perfect.

Until Lily got hit by a car.

Mel remembered getting a call from Aunt Agatha, her usually calm voice reduced to hysterical sobs. She remembered asking a friend to drive her because she couldn't trust herself to drive. She remembered praying to every damn god she could think of, to not take away the only mother she'd ever known. She remembered her mom's heaving chest as she struggled to breathe, her hair astray, her clothes bloodied. She remembered thinking for a moment, this couldn't be her mom. Because Lily Cooper was always so neat, so organised, so perfect, and there was no way she could look like that. She remembered thinking it was a nightmare and desperately banging her head against the walls to wake herself up. She remembered hoping against hope that her mother would make it.

She didn't.

Three years had passed since then, but the hollow space in Mel's heart refused to go away. It sat there like a jigsaw piece, forever incomplete without its other half.

She looked around. The Christmas trees were decked up with dazzling lights. Balloons and stars lined the walls, lit up in the pretty glow of the fairy lights they adorned. A fire was burning in the fireplace, filling the place with a cozy warmth. Rainbow Orphanage looked as festive as ever.

But what use was it? The kids weren't here, and neither was Aunt Agatha. They'd gone on a trip to Disneyland, one that Mel had opted out of because of some work. They were supposed to return today, in time for the celebrations, but a stupid snowstorm had stopped them.

She glanced at the clock. Jason, their assistant, wasn't usually this late. If the kids were here, they'd be having a fit right now. Jason's evening stories were their favourite thing in the world. He'd tell them about some valiant prince or a dashing knight, about travelling the world and slaying beasts, and the kids would listen in awe.

And then he'd look at her, flashing a proud smile.

Like that's all being an assistant was about — telling the kids some bedtime stories.

Aunt Agatha let him get away with it, too. "He keeps the children happy, Mel. That's the most important thing, and he does it perfectly!"

Perfect my foot. Sometimes, she wanted to punch a hole through his perfect little teeth.

She glanced at the watch again. He didn't even inform her before taking the day off, the asshole.

Mel sighed. All alone with nothing to do. So much for Christmas magic.

A glimmer from one of the trees caught her eye. She stood up and walked to it. It was an angel, tied on top of the biggest tree. Beside it, almost as if holding hands, was a little Santa Claus.

Oh.

Every year, Lily hung a Santa on whichever tree she liked the most. "My baby gets the best seat!" she squealed in toddler-like excitement.

But this one time, Mel put up an angel beside the Santa. On Lily's questioning glance, she said, "You always leave me all alone up there! From now on, you're sitting beside me." She grinned at her mom.

Lily looked at the angel and frowned. "Couldn't you find a better one? That one has crooked wings. I'd never let my wings get crooked."

"All the more reason for you to stay up! No flying until you get your wings fixed! And clean your room while you're at it!"

Then, deepening her voice and trying to keep a straight face, she added her mom's signature line. "Beware young lady, or you're gonna get your phone confiscated."

They'd both burst out laughing.

That was the last Christmas she'd spent with her mother. If only she'd known back then...

"Let's go crazy, crazy, crazy 'til we see the sun

I know we only met, but let's pretend it's love!"

Mel turned around. Jason was jamming wildly with his headphones on and his eyes closed. Balancing a tray of cookies on one hand, he kept walking across the room while singing in an atrocious off-tune.

"And never, never, never stop for anyone

Tonight let's get some

And live while we're young!"

Mel walked over and took his headphones off.

"Noooo don't turn off th— oh. Melanie."

"Clark, what the hell?"

He quickly broke into a grin. "Merry Christmas Mel!" he said and jumped in for a hug.

"Wait, no—!" Melanie threw out a hand to catch the tray, but the sudden hug had taken her off balance.

Almost in slow-mo, she watched the tray fall to the ground, followed by the cookies. The metal clattered loudly, spinning on its sides before coming to a stop. Mel looked at it, then at her still-outstretched hand. Finally, she looked at the culprit in front of her.

"Clark. What the hell."

"Sorry! I'll clean this right away!"

He grabbed some tissues and got to work.

Then he got up, grinning, and offered his hand to her. "Care to join me in the kitchen, milady? Along with a new batch of cookies, you may get yourself some newfound appreciation for me."

"No, thanks. Baking isn't my thing. I'll just go to the store and grab some cookies instead. Saves me the time and trouble."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Of course. You always have the most boring answers for everything," he said, walking off.

"Excuse me, did you just call me boring?"

He turned back. "Of course. Someone who runs a freaking orphanage and yet is afraid to bake? Talk about ridiculous, Mel..." He trailed off, entering the kitchen.

"And who are you to judge?" Mel straightened herself, dusted off her hands and followed after Jason. "All you do is flash around your pretty smile, while I sit here working my butt off. Now suddenly you're the interesting one and I'm boring?"

He let out a breath. "You're not boring, Mel. I'm sorry for saying that. You just… you're always trying to be so perfect, you don't realise that messing up isn't so bad either."

His voice was incredibly gentle, and his blue eyes looked so sincere. Melanie found herself gazing into them, a strange warmth filling her insides.

Then he winked. "But I'm glad my pretty smile gets so much of your attention," he said, grinning.

Insufferable idiot.

She wiped her hands and picked up the nearest apron. "You know what, Clark? I'll bake those cookies, and I'll bake them better than you."

He only smirked. "Of course."

~

Twenty minutes later, the kitchen counter was seemingly divided into two halves. On one side sat a tray of perfectly baked cookies. The other side was covered by a mixture of flour, butter and sugar — with two cracked eggs decorating the corners.

"Well, I'd say you've outperformed yourself," said Jason, smiling at Melanie. "It was fun, right?"

"Ugh." She dipped her hand in the powdery mess and groaned. "This is all your fault. I should never have listened to you in the first place!"

She flung away her apron, ready to storm off — but the next thing she knew, she was down on the floor.

~

"Ow, ow, ow! Be gentle, you dolt!"

"Sorry, sorry! It'll get better, I promise!"

Jason was currently pressing an ice pack on Melanie's foot. She had sprained her left ankle, slipping on a bar of butter that had fallen during her baking efforts.

"I will never bake anything in my life, ever."

"Aww, don't give up so soon! Mistakes happen all the time!"

"No, they happen all the time with me!"

Jason froze, looking up at her. There was a raw emotion in her eyes, and he wasn't sure what to make of it.

"Mel, relax. It's just some cookies—"

Melanie huffed, her mouth twisting bitterly.

"It's not just about the cookies. Ever since mom's gone, I keep messing up everything." She took her foot off the stool, shaking off the ice pack.

"Okay, now you're overreacting—"

"Gemma's adoption papers," Melanie continued, her voice thick and shaky, "they were all done. She was getting a new home, but I somehow blotched the signatures. Liam's shoes, I know he's a size 6 but I still picked up a 5! And then the size 6 ran out and I couldn't give him anymore! Do you know how long he'd waited for them?"

Jason shook his head. "That wasn't—"

"Paul used to be so good at English, but this is his third C in a row and I can't figure out why. He does so well when I tutor him but he goes to school and gets everything wrong. Aunt Agatha has to shoulder so much because I don't do enough! She's been having a backache too... I know even though she tried to hide it from me—"

"Mel, please, you're getting it wrong—"

"I'm getting everything wrong! That's the point!"

She was crying now, her tears flowing freely even as she tried to wipe them.

"I know I'm not as perfect as my mom. But… she called me her Santa, you know? She said I could do anything for anyone. At one point, I really believed her. But now..." She sniffled and looked away. "I'm not so sure."

She met his eyes again. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm just boring and incapable."

"What? Come on, that's so not true! Firstly, I never called you incapable, and I never will. You're like the most capable person I've ever met, so please delete that word ASAP. I only called you boring, once, and I immediately took it back and apologised."

She snorted and wiped her nose.

"And secondly, none of these incidents were your fault. Listen to me," he said, putting up a hand to stop her protests.

"Liam switched out the shoe sizes himself! He wanted Ryan to have them for his upcoming race."

"Wait, what? Why? I was gonna give Ryan a new pair too!"

"He knew you were having trouble with the sponsors, so… yeah. This was him chipping in."

"But why? I wanted to give him those shoes—"

"And he wanted to help you out. Simple." Jason smiled. "People are allowed to help you, right?"

Mel narrowed her eyes. "How do you know about this?"

"Oh, us boys take our pranks very seriously. Small or big, a well-executed trick needs to be discussed and congratulated." He nodded solemnly, accentuating the point.

Mel rolled her eyes.

"As for Paul's Cs…" He reached behind her to open a drawer, then brought out a plastic case. "This is the reason."

"...Glasses?"

"Yup. Your tutoring is perfect, Mel. He just wasn't seeing the board properly. His teacher finally figured it out. I was supposed to tell you last week, actually, but I... forgot."

He scratched the back of his head, avoiding her eyes.

"You forgot?"

"Moving on! Aunt Agatha's backache…" He giggled, before lowering his tone conspiratorially. "It wasn't her workload, you know. It was, shall I say... pleasure gone wrong."

"Pleasure gone—oh. Oh!"

He nodded. "Exactly. Now you see why she was hiding it from you?"

"Yeah, I definitely preferred this hidden," she said with a chuckle. "Wait. How do you know this?" Her expression turned horrified.

"Well... I might've been hiding in the cupboard when she was telling her doctor about it?"

"What?!"

"Hey now, I'm no creepster, okay? I was just playing some hide-and-seek with the kids. How was I to know my innocence would be tainted like that?"

Melanie stared at him for a long moment. Then she burst out laughing. "Serves you right, creepster!"

She looked at him again. "What about Gemma's papers, though? No justification for that one?"

"Actually... I'll let her tell that one herself." He grinned. "Come on in, guys!"

The door flew open as a horde of children came running in. With a collective shout of "Surprise!", they all surrounded Melanie, enveloping her in a giant hug. She looked at Aunt Agatha, standing behind the kids. She simply winked, and Melanie chuckled. So there was no snowstorm after all.

A single girl separated from the group and came forward. "I… I have something to confess, Mel," she said finally.

"Yes, Gemma?"

"I…" She clasped and unclasped her hands, before wringing them together. "I asked Jason to ruin those papers."

Mel looked at Jason. He had a twinkle in his eyes, but said nothing.

She turned back to the girl in front of her. "Would these be your adoption papers, Gemma?"

Gemma nodded timidly.

"But... why, Gem? I thought you really liked those people! If something's wrong, sweetie, you can tell me—"

"I do like them, Mel! But… I love you more. And Gathy and Jason. And Paul and Robin and everyone else. Please, Mel. Can't you just let me stay here? I don't wanna leave!"

She looked at Melanie with pleading eyes, and her heart broke for the kid.

"Oh, honey..." Mel hugged her tightly. "I'm so, so sorry."

She moved back and cupped her face. "Rainbow is your home. Always. You never have to stay please to stay here."

As she placed a kiss on Gemma's forehead, the entire room burst into cheer. Gemma was snatched away in a sea of hugs and confetti. Mel looked around, smiling, until a certain blue-eyed assistant came and took a seat beside her.

"Enjoying the party?"

Mel smirked. "With a sprained ankle? Yeah, I'm fabulous, thanks."

Jason chuckled. "I'll admit, that part wasn't in the plan."

"Well, if you are in the plan, something's bound to go wrong, right?"

"Hey!"

Mel giggled, and Jason joined her. They sat together in companionable silence, until he spoke up again.

"Do you see now? Not everything needs to be perfect."

"Hmm?"

He looked at her. "I dropped the cookies and you twisted your ankle. By all accounts, this evening was headed towards a disaster. But look around, and tell me this isn't the most perfect Christmas you could've asked for."

The kids were dancing, playing, running around. A delicious aroma floated in from the kitchen, no doubt Aunt Agatha working her magic. Rainbow Orphanage was as festive as it could be.

Mel smiled. "Yeah. Maybe there's Christmas magic left, after all."

In the hall, an angel atop a tree glimmered merrily in response.

~~

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