Chapter 1

“Nia, would you like to visit the mall with me?”

Mona said to her friend on the phone.

She responded with a raspy voice.

“Why?”

“It's not like I don’t want to…”

“But it’s kind of unusual for you”

Mona sighed, her hand touching her forehead.

“Well, I need you to help me buy a Christmas present for Ti-chan.”

“I am bad at picking out the kind of girly things he likes, you know…”

Mona chuckled, slowly.

“Firstly, you can’t pick out a single girl present because you spend all your time inside watching those cartoons and playing those violent video games. No wonder a slob like you can’t relate to the things a lady likes. Secondly, you should never address a girl with HE. Are you stupid?”

“You’re one to talk… still haven’t figured it out, heh?”

Mona whispered to herself after receiving Nia’s lecture.

“I can’t understand what you’re saying Mona, but let me take you out to the mall tomorrow so I can show you what kind of things a REAL girl like Ti likes.”

“Alright Nia, glad you switch your mind”

“Don’t be late Mona!”

Before her friend hung up, Mona interrupted her.

“Wait, can you organize a ride for me, Nia?”

“I got a flat tire and I am short on cash so…”

Nia’s sigh interrupted her.

“Okay, I’ll come to pick you up just this one time”

“Alright”

Mona responded.

“Don’t make me regret this already, you hear?”

“No reason to”

“Bye!”

X

“Mona!”

Her mom screamed from down the stairwell.

“Some expensive-looking cab driver is standing before the door. You haven’t ordered a cab right?”

“You know we can’t afford that?”

She added in a quieter voice.

“Mom, wait a second. I am in a match.”

Mona put down her headset and stormed down the stairs, still wearing her pajamas.

When she entered the entry hall, she could see her mom talking to a man in black standing at the door opening.

“Excuse me, mister, this must be a mistake. We haven’t called for your services”

Mona interrupted her mom.

“Don’t worry Mom, that man is one of my friend's servants.”

“Servants?”

Her mom sounded surprised.

“Yeah, she’s giving me a ride to the mall”

“You're so fortunate with the kind of people you hang around at school…”

She whispered to Mona after which she left the hallway.

“Please give me a second, mister driver. I didn’t know you’d come so early…”

Mona ran up the stairs and quickly changed into some random clothes that lay scattered around the room.

“I am leaving Mom!”

She screamed after she finished putting on her shoes.

Mona closed the door and walked up to the shiny black vehicle parked in front of the house, where Nia’s driver stood holding the car door.

“Please enter miss, take a seat next to Miss Nia”

On the backseat sat Nia, her orange-haired friend from school. She wore a trendy top and a white frilly skirt. On her lap stood an expensive-looking handbag.

When Mona sat down, her friend looked annoyed.

“You surely took your time there…”

Mona chuckled.

“Haha, I’d just woken up and was playing my first match.”

“I didn’t expect you to arrive this early…”

“It’s almost noon already Mona, you promised not to be late”

“Well, nothing we can do about it now”

Mona rubbed the back of her head while slowly chuckling.

Her friend sighed.

“Mister, can you please bring us to the center city mall?”

“No problem, miss”

The driver turned the key, the engine started humming.

They set their course toward the center city's mall.

X

After a drive through the city's various neighborhoods, the car arrived at the mall. The driver got out and opened the doors for the girls.

“Have a nice day”

“Thank you for driving us, mister driver”

Mona said as she got out of the car.

She searched through her bag and pulled out a wrapped candy, which she proceeded to push into the driver's hand.

He looked confused at Mona.

“Thank you”

The two girls walked up to the mall's big glass doors and entered.

Scattered around the mall's walls and ceilings hang various Christmas decorations. Pine branches were decorated with a million small lights that lit up the atmosphere. Seasonal music played out of the shopping center's speakers.

In the distance, the girls could see a giant decorated Christmas tree standing in the mall’s center courtyard. Underneath lay a couple of dozen of big wrapped presents.

“This really brings me back…”

Mona said, glimpsing at all the holiday decorations.

A big smile had formed on her face.

“Why do you like Christmas so much anyway? You’ve been talking about this for months now.”

“Does it bother you, Nia?”

“Well, no. But, it’s rare to see you so excited about something other than comics or games”

Mona signed Nia to stop and started fumbling in her back again.

This time she took out a red, Christmas-themed yo-yo. Some of the paint had been chipped off from repeated use.

“About ten years ago, I got this yo-yo from the Santa here at the mall and I’ve been playing with it ever since then.”

“But look”

Mona pulled the two plastic sides of the yo-yo apart, a piece of plastic that held the toy together had snapped off.

“I’d love to get a new one here today?”

Nia let out a big sigh.

“So the sole reason you like Christmas so much is because you got a toy?”

“Aren’t you too old to play with these anyway…”

Mona smiled at Nia.

“You are never too old to love Christmas Nia.”

“Come let’s go to the Santa in the center section”

With every step the girls took, the Christmas tree became bigger and bigger.

“How do they even get that thing in there…”

Nia mumbled.

Mona who was walking ahead of her, turned around and made a funny gesture.

“Christmas - magic!”

At the base of the tree sat the mall Santa, on a big decorated chair. A couple of small children were waiting in line for a meet-and-greet.

As the girls came closer, Mona slowed down her pace. She started looking around the courtyard, in a bit of a panic matter. She stopped and turned around.

The cheerful expression on her face had disappeared.

“There he is Mona”

Nia pointed toward the man with the white beard.

“It isn’t him…”

Mona said to Nia, with big, sad eyes.

“It definitely is, you stupid! That is clearly Santa and not the easter bunny or anything!”

Her friend moved her mouth to Nia’s ear and started whispering.

“It is another guy playing him Nia…”

Mona looked totally defeated, clenching the broken yo-yo in her palm.

“Santa is Santa right? He may still have toys like that!”

Nia said in an attempt to cheer her up.

“It isn’t about the toy Nia, that Santa was really important to me”

Mona explained to her friend what happened that Christmas, ten years ago.

“You know how my dad is always working, as dads tend to do.”

“But that year was supposed to be different, his boss had promised him a couple of days off during Christmas.”

“I remember being so excited, I created a whole Christmas calendar that counted off the days still remaining until he would get off from work.”

“But that Christmas morning, I ran downstairs to find his chair empty. My mom told us he had been called to work really early to do some emergency repairs.”

“I felt totally devastated, I had been looking forward to spending the day with my dad so much, but sadly none of that came to fruition.”

“That’s when my mom brought me here”

Mona pointed to the Christmas tree.

“That year the tree seemed even bigger than that one.”

“Or maybe it just seemed bigger since I was so little”

Mona pulled up one of her mouth corners.

“But anyway, that’s when I met Santa and he gave me this yo-yo”

“That is quite a beautiful story, Mona”

“I get it now…”

“Mona! What are you doing?”

Her friend had started hugging her.

“Thank you Nia for coming here with me!”

Nia’s head turned red.

“Please stop that! This is so embarrassing, everyone looks at us”

“We can continue in a private place if you like”

Mona whispered, after which she let go of her friend.

She winked at Nia.

“I already feel much better, but… what do we do now?”

“Let’s look for a present for Ti-chan, remember that’s why we came here?”

Mona chuckled.

“Ah yeah, that’s right…”

The two of them entered a little shop sitting next to the center court.

On the front of the shop was a small section of different Christmas knick-knacks.

Mona started grabbing random things and then put them back again.

“I have no idea what I should gift Ti…”

Nia looked around.

“Too much Christmas, my brain is hurting…”

She walked around a bit and then reached her arm.

In her hand, she held a red hair ribbon decorated with snowmen.

“I think Ti-chan likes something like this”

Mona started smiling.

“That’s perfect Nia! I am sure Ti will love it.”

She scratched her head again.

“If it wasn’t for you, I would have been stuck here forever.”

X

At the checkout counter, Mona made some small talk with the store owner.

“Do you know where I can buy one of these?”

Mona showed the elderly lady the broken yo-yo.

“Ahh, these toys I remember. I used to see kids playing with them here all day. But that was a long time ago”

Mona told her she got the toy from the mall Santa, the old one.

“That old Santa of yours used to run a little shop around here, but he retired a couple of years ago.”

The girl’s face lit up.

“Really? You know him?”

The woman took out a piece of paper and scribbled down some details.

“I visited his home a couple of times.”

She handed the address over the counter to the girls.

Mona read a name and address on it.

“I haven’t seen the old man in ages, please give him my regards. I hope he is doing well”

With the present for Ti-chan and the address info on hand, the girls left the shop.

Mona pointed at the piece of paper sitting in her hand.

“Nia, can we visit here please?”

Her friend rolled her eyes.

“You really want to go to that old man's house, do you?”

Mona enthusiastically nodded her head.

“Alright, let’s look for a present for Serena first and then we’ll go there, that is if you don’t annoy me too much…”

“Me? Annoying? How do you mean?”

Mona chuckled after which she put her arm around her friend.

“This is exactly what I asked you not to do!”