He came back home, with the scent of lavender filling his nose, for his home always smelled like that. He opened the big, glass doors to the mansion and saw everyone in matching outfits, the girls in red shirts, colorless buttons, giving them the color of the shirt, shaped like cherries lined up, crossing the middle of their shirts, from the collar till the very bottom, and white skirts with red strips, standing about 3 centimeters apart from each other, and red Christmas hats sat at the top of their heads, with a white fluffy cotton ball at the tip, some with their skirts a little shorter, probably to impress the male part of the staff. 

Then we come to that very topic, the males basically wearing the exact same things the women were, except the outfit more masculine, to say the least. Everyone moving around and about the lobby, some of them with agitated looks on their faces, and others with satisfied looks. They had to make sure it looked perfect. 

Mr. and Mrs. Roberts came through the halls and came to make sure everything looked spot on, dressed as Mr. and Mrs. Santa clause when they noticed Darra standing at the door, frozen and looking at all the people around preparing for Christmas. "He's finally back!" Mrs. Roberts said, making everyone turn their heads and they all said in sync, 

"Welcome home, Darra." 

Big smiles on their faces. He was the one who gave most of them the motivation to work at the place, and the least they could do was greet him and pay to his needs, every single day. And he wasn't the bratty type, making them love him even more. "Where have you been?" Coal asked as he kneeled down next to Laura who was hugging Darra. 

"I got into a...tough situation. But I'm home now, in time for Christmas Eve." He said, pulling out of Laura's embrace and looking her in the eye. "I'm okay Laura." He said, as she smiled, pride on her face knowing she had such a brave son. They all walked in and the male part of the staff was standing in line, with the women arranging microphones and speakers everywhere. 

"What's all this?" Coal asked, a slight blush on his cheek when he saw one of the young ladies with a shorter skirt bend over to fix something. "You'll see." The woman fixing the microphone said, smirking and she sent a signal to one of the boys at the sound station. Once she heard the music, she began singing joy and merry full Christmas carol that you would just want to move your hips to. 

The staff became her backup dancers and they all danced in sync as they all prepared it for them. Everyone was dancing, singing, including Mr. and Mrs. Roberts who seemed to be "enjoying" each other's company.

He smiled, happy to see everyone in a good mood, and he joined along, hoping and moving to the beat of her voice. He thought the night wouldn't get any better. He couldn't have been more wrong. They all sat at the dining table, which seemed to grow longer and bigger right under Darra's nose. 

Before only ten seats were at the dining table, now the dining table was filled with about three hundred seats, and it seemed to stretch and grow wider when Darra didn't even notice. The dining room was filled with laughter here and there, chattering as well as a few groups on the table singing happy Christmas carols. 

They had lots of dishes on the table, rose beef, stuffed chicken, fried chicken, sandwiches, avocado toast, vegetable soup, cranberry, different types of juice, both homemade and store-bought, cheesecakes, different types of pies, chocolate mousse, gingerbread cookies, and ice-cream cakes, they would have for dessert. 

After dinner, they all sat in a circle on the floor next to the fireplace, even Mr. and Mrs. Roberts joined them, they were singing songs and telling stories, some of them eating the leftover ice-cream cake they saved, others sleeping on the floor with their pillows and blankets, too exhausted from the night to keep going. 

John and May, snuggling next to the fire as one of their friends, Mark was telling them a scary story. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts looking at them both. "How do you think this will end up?" He asked Laura, as he cuddled next to her chest, getting comfortable as she caressed his head. "Probably just like our relationship, but way happier." 

She said a sad smile on her face. Coal noticed the sorrow in her voice. "Are you not happy with me?" He asked in a husky tone, trying to fake sadness but huskiness in his voice. "No no of course I'm happy, it's just...I can sometimes be a handful, but are you happy?"

He got up from her chest and looked deep into her eyes, making her feel like every word he was to say from this point on, he meant it from the very depths of his soul. "I could never be as happy as I am now, sitting next to this cozy fire, with the woman of my dreams in my arms." 

He said, his eyes closing slowly, but not fully, so he could be able to see where his lips were to attack, he slowly moved his face closer to hers, pulling her closer as he puckered up. But when he was just about to press his lips onto hers, she turned her head, making him kiss her cheek, which was hot, realizing a deep, red blush took over. 

"Everyone's watching us." She whispered, although everyone was able to hear what she was saying, he looked at the crowd of staff members, some of them looking at them both, wide-eyed, while others couldn't hold back their laughter, Darra being one of them. "What a fail!" Coal could hear Darra's voice, muffled but him able to interpret what he said. 

"Okay, everyone, parties over!" He shouted and his voice echoed through the room, there were a few "aww's" here and their others were laughing, and Coal could hear a mumbled, "Mr. Roberts was embarrassed." From one of the voices in the crowd. He grew more agitated and he left for the elevator, with Laura following close as she tried to convince him it wasn't that bad.

He was tucked into bed, given a goodnight kiss, Laura and Coal, leaving the room. He then texted Grace, asking her how she spent the evening, while he told her all about his amazing adventures, of course leaving the fact that she was a girl out of the story, making it seem like he just made a normal male friend in America. 

(I can't say boyfriend like how it's easy to say "me and my girlfriends" because it just sounds weird.) Switching off his phone, he felt really tired and decided to go to bed. A smile took over his lips as he seemed to be indeed having, the sweetest of dreams.