"Good morning, everyone." He said as he passed through the lobby getting to the counter. "Good morning, Darra." Everyone responded stopping their work and greeting the young man, smiling at him as he smiled back in return. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts never secluded anyone. They always thought of the staff as family, and everyone worked of their own free will, most of them not wanting to leave, for they all lived in that very mansion. 

"So, little man, what can I do for you?" John asked as he was behind the counter at the moment. "Please tell me, where are Laura and Coal? Did they leave?"
"Oh no they wouldn't leave without you having your breakfast, they are now at the dining table waiting for you." He smiled, wiping glass by glass as he spoke. "Oh, well I better get on to it. Thank you, John." He said, giving a small smile and heading on to the second last floor. "Ah, that kid. Always so kind" Johnny said as a smile took over his lips, as his mood lightened up, and would stay that way for the rest of the day.

He made it to the second floor as the elevator door opened, revealing his parents at the dining table, Coal desperately wanting to eat and Laura slapping his hand every time he reached for the sandwiches, muttering some words only the both of them could hear. "Excuse me," Darra said as he walked over to the table and took a seat next to Laura. "I'm sorry I kept you all waiting." He said suddenly finding his foot so interesting. Laura smiled and patted his shoulder. "It's okay, we weren't that hungry anyway."

 
"I was..." Coal mumbled and he earned a don't-say-that glare from Laura. He put his arms up in surrender, then retreating them back to grab a sandwich almost finishing it in five seconds, washing it down with, the once-hot and steaming cup of coffee, now warm and not so pleasant to the tongue. Laura rolled her eyes and focused her attention back on Darra, a hint of worry in her eyes. "How are you feeling? Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?" 

She asked, a small smile frozen on her lips, trying to ensure him that it was okay if he didn't want to talk about it, and if he did, they would listen. Well—she would listen, while Coal just stuffed his face with toast and pancakes, nodding once In a while to show that he was listening, when in reality, he just wanted to eat his food in peace. "I'm okay now." 

He said smiling back, as he began to eat as well, just as fast as Coal, thinking they were both so hungry. She giggled, seeing how alike the two were. "I'm going to the park today." He uttered out with a face full of food, soon swallowing it and looking at Coal and Laura as if for approval. "It's really cold outside, are you sure you wanna go?" Coal asked, wiping his face as it was stained with all sorts of food. "Yes! I'll be fine, I carried along with a long coat, a scarf, and some gloves, besides, how cold could it be?"

 
"Uhm...below zero?!?" Coal answered, him smirking as he saw the smile on Darra's face fly away, into the high skies, not to come back for a while. "Come on, please. I promise to be back by sunset." He said as he looked a Laura, knowing she had a soft spot for him.

"Well...I suppose it couldn't be that bad. And he'll be back in time for Christmas Eve." She said, both of them looking at Coal for his approval. He sighed, knowing he couldn't resist his wife, even if he did she would let him go anyway. 

"What does it matter, you can go little man. But why are you visiting the park so often? Is there someone you're looking for?" He asked, smirking when he saw a light blush on Darra's pale cheeks. "Yeah, I've also noticed how recently you go to the park, almost every day," Laura added. "Did you...meet someone?" 

Laura smirked along with Coal and a –tell-us- look on their faces rained down on the flustered Darra. "Well, would you look at the time? I better head on to the park. See you all at sunset." He said and hurriedly got off the chair, took his belongings and he was in the elevator in a matter of a few seconds, pressing the button repeatedly, in both nervousness and agitation. 

"Sometimes these buttons just don't work!" He muttered to himself, but he was loud enough for Laura and Coal to hear. Both of them held back laughter that was trying to seep out of their eyes. The door finally closed and Darra's heart rested. Finally away from his questioning family. The elevator door opened and he was already dressed and prepared for the cold weather outside. "Bye everyone, I'll be back soon." 

He shouted, rushing through the lobby and out the big, glass doors. "Bye Darra." Everyone said, stopping with their work to see him out the door. Everyone, with smiles frozen on their lips, went back to their work, once seeing that Darra had gone out the door.

He stood there, right at the big gates of the central park that were always opened, his heart racing, partly from running the whole way, and partly because of this small tingling feeling that he was going to see Lilly again, though he tried hard to ignore it. 

He stepped inside the park, with shaking hands, clenched into fists, and a determined look on his face, when his eyes should total nervousness. He scanned the place, the children were now having snowball fights, others having a snowman building competition, some sledding at the hill that was about twenty meters from the park, and the rest crowded at the snack trucks that were there all the times that he came to the park. 

He looked at the oak tree where he spent many days pretending to be asleep, peeping with one eye every five minutes to see if Lilly came. He now realized how stupid he looked. He laughed softly to himself, as he went to the oak tree, to make a fool of himself, yet again. He was walking through the children who were having snowball fights, when a snowball collided with his face, shattering into small glittering particles of snow. 

"Hey weirdo, better watch your step." He heard a voice calling from his right. He set his eyes on a boy, about his age, but he was shorter than him, blonde locks and icy, cold, blue eyes, with a smirk, plastered on his face. The one that showed signs of pride and a huge ego. He was wearing a fur coat that looked to be made with fine fabrics and actual, polar bear fur, yellow jeggings, and high-top boots, colored golden to match with his gloves. "Excuse me, but you threw it at me first."

"Ha! He even talks like a weirdo." He said, with three boys by his side, laughing at his joke. "Hey, an exchange student. Don't try to act—" He stopped, dead in his tracks as an unearthly scent came in touch with his nose, his eyes filled with horror as he began to unwillingly whistle, a ghostly tune coming from his lips. The whistling stopped as he seemed to panic like he'd just woken up from a nightmare. 

"You..." He mumbled, looking Darra in the eyes. Darra had no idea what just happened, but he played along, looking confident as if he was the one to put him in that trans. "I don't want to see you anywhere near my school, ya hear me?" He said, trying to sound determined but the fear in his voice could be heard. He turned around, walking away and soon picking up the pace.

Now he was running as if running away from a terrifying demon. He felt quite pleased that he, or whatever it was, chased him away. But he himself was scared, knowing he had nothing to do with what just happened.

It was about thirtyminutes past four when he realized his attempts to find Lilly were just awaste of time. Standing up, he cleaned himself up freeing him from theparticles of snow that littered his jeans. He was ready to leave. "Darra!" 

Heheard a soft, yet firm voice calling him from behind. He then felt a handclinging onto his grey coat. He flinched and turned around, distancing himselffrom the girl that stood in front of him. She had a wide smile plastered acrossher face, with a red bow sitting gently in her black, silky, long hair. 

She waswearing the same white T-shirt she wore when they first met, only a blue, longcardigan was thrown over it. She wore a white skirt with red poker dots andstockings that reached knee height. "So, we meet again."