Chapter 686: Gift In Kind
“That side looking alright yet, Ash?”
“One moment... I believe, um... hmm, I suppose as it is, all appears, well... adequate.”
“Cool, that’s cool. Okay, I think we might be good now, finally. So-”
“I despise mere adequacy.”
“Ash, seriously?”
“Forgive me, Master. Just allow me another moment of minute adjustments. I believe I’ve pinpointed the issue, indeed, this section in particular... huddled too closely... and perhaps above... the opposite, its gaps are too wide... left unchanged, it’ll only pose a glaring disparity, a bother... so I suppose we should-”
“No, wait, don’t even-! Oh, you’re removing them again. You promised you wouldn’t do that anymore, pinky swore... oh, this is the sixth time...”
.....
“And with every attempt, we only inch closer to perfection... and for you, I refuse to settle for any less. Master, trust me, won’t you?”
Yeah, pull the trust card on me like that, Ash. Like I’d ever dare say anything to contradict that. Push me off the cliff, ask me if I trust you, and I’d land splat on the ground with complete and utter faith all the way to the afterlife.
That being said though, decorating the tree was getting a whole lot brighter now that we’d cleared the air. Literally and figuratively.
Got so carried away that we hung every decoration piece till we were scraping the bottom of the boxes, brimming every side of the tree with all the glitz and glamor. I made a mental note to apologize to Sera later.
After everything, there was only pretty much one thing left to do really, hanging the Christmas lights, and we’d have already been done long ago if Ash had not been so... perfect-centric.
We had swirled and curled the lights around the branches in so many different ways and styles it wasn’t even funny. To my untrained, easily-satisfied eyes, I thought it was all fine... but Ash simply continues to think otherwise.
“Too high...” Ash heaved, stretching up on tiptoe in vain. “Master, do you mind if you...?”
“Already on it,” I said, placing aside the plug for the sixth time and making my way toward her to that one flawed section in a tree of literal perfection. “Alright so, um... what’s the issue?”
“There,” She pointed high on a specific bundle of lights. “Those bulbs... too symmetrical and far too clumped together. It is obtrusive.”
Really, I didn’t see anything wrong at all with it. Just like the last few times she pointed out an issue. But maybe that’s why I’m not majored in interior design, nuance details like this just go way over my head.
I got on my tippy-toes and began to reach, carefully readjusting the wire placements without elbow-bumping any of the meticulously aligned ornaments, so in focus that it took me out a whole lot more when suddenly I heard Ash speak again.
“Oh, is that... could that be a strand of Yil I see, Master? Hanging around your neck.”
I stumbled backward a small few paces, the wires realigned as asked, and my energy left me in heavy breaths, feeling the small little cylinder pressing warmly against my chest.
“A swirling red mist...” Ash muttered, her gaze still firmly set toward it, and it didn’t take long for her to put together the pieces. “Ah, Lady Irene, of course... knowing best still what exactly it takes to sway your heart.”
“Well, it is Christmas. The high time for hearts to be swaying,” I said, rolling the small vial again between my finger and thumb. “And what better way to do so than with the perfect present?”
“The perfect present...” She muttered again, trailing into silence, and that’s how I left her, as I reached back for the plug-standing silent.
“No complaints now, Ash?” I called out to her, and she turned sharply to me as if suddenly snapping out of a stupor. “The tree, the decor, the lights-all good? Do I have the all-clear?”
“Ahh...” She looked, her eyes only briefly skimming through the tree once, before whirling back to me once more. “Yes, I suppose... I suppose so... you may proceed, Master.”
Finally...
I made a beeline for the nearest socket before she could change her mind, and fumbled a bit trying to plug it in.
“Has there been anyone else that has offered you their present?” Ash suddenly asked out of the blue. “Aside from Lady Irene, of course.”
“Well, Amanda’s told me she has one she’s keeping secret,” I replied. “Apart from her, my parents have both gotten me something. I ain’t too sure about Adalia. Then there’s also you, but... listen, it’s fine. I don’t need anything, really. You don’t have to bother.”
“Oh,” She sounded taken aback. “Why not?”
“Because I already have all of you, don’t I?” I said, then feeling it snugly fit, I slowly hovered my finger over the switch. “As far as I’m concerned, I already got all I want right here.”
With a quiet click, the Christmas lights flared to life, and it was just... just redact every word of complaint I made, Ash was right, perfection was worth it.
Every shadow, every gleam, from top to bottom, it was like a miniature light show, how the lights bounced and glistened off every single ornament. Everywhere you look, there was always something unique, and none paled in any way when compared to each other. The bells shimmered, the reindeers glowed, every branch with a bauble like a prism of light, a rainbow beacon sparkling like distant stars in the night.
And below it, as if to cap it all, Ash stood basked in the soft limelight of her work, and for the first time, I could properly see as she was... the glow of her eyes, the luster of her hair, even just her very outline... perfection beyond perfection.
But even more than that, while pleased and prideful as she was over the fruits of her labor, I could see on her face that something was bothering her, and I didn’t have to guess... the silence spoke volumes.
“Speaking of,” I began, slowly walking closer to the beam of light. “I actually do have a present to give you.”
“O-Oh...?” Ash then tried to subtly look around me, as if expecting to see to pull out a wrapped present from out of the air. “What is it?”
“It’s more like, ‘where is it’ actually,” I corrected. “It’s, um... I want to bring you somewhere with me... somewhere special. I can’t exactly tell you what it is, it’ll spoil the surprise... but I really do hope you’ll come to like it.”
Her ears were fluttering like I’ve never seen them before, showing in stark contrast to the muted reaction on her face. In a word, I guess she was speechless.
“Master, I... I don’t know what to say...” She sounded almost out of breath. “The overwhelming gratitude I feel towards you, I’m simply unable to express it in words. I’m just... I feel happy, Master. You have made me very happy. I suppose that’s the only way to describe how I feel.”
“And that was the idea, all along,” I beamed, lightly caressing her on the cheek. “Merry Christmas, Ash.”
She smiled back, gently holding my hand in place on her face, but as she did so, that smile gradually began to fade. “And yet... I can’t help but feel that it is a happiness undeserving... at least not yet... because for so long I have laid here, and I have done not a single thing for you.”
“That couldn’t be helped. You were sick, Ash.”
“And yet the fact remains still that I stand before you now without anything to offer,” Her gaze drifted down, and a swirl of crimson red began to reflect in the green glint of her eyes. “When truly I should have been the one first to express to you my affections.”
Is this jealousy... I’m hearing? From Ash of all people? My, my...
“Don’t have to bother, I’m saying it twice now... despite that though, I’m sure you’ll just say...?”
“Unacceptable, Master,” She immediately replied. “To reciprocate your love with nothing... to do so is to be beyond even mere adequacy.”
Yep, and I know all too well just how she feels about adequacy.
“Do what you want, then,” I sighed, resigning myself to her gratitude. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”
In that case, do you have any lingering desires in mind, Master?” Ash asked. “Any requests, any need, that perhaps I could fulfill in order to...”
With a finger to her lips, I quickly stopped her there in her tracks.
“How about we leave the surprise a surprise, huh?” I suggested. “Again, I’ll be looking forward to it.”
“You will leave it to my discretion, Master?” She asked, incredulous. “Something this significant?”
“It’s precisely ’cause it’s your discretion that it is significant. Besides, I already told you I have what I want right here, didn’t I? If you think you can top that, then go on ahead, Ash. Be my guest.”
“Hmm...” She hissed in a breath, finally grasping just what exactly she graciously volunteered herself to. “This might prove more arduous than I originally perceived.”
I smiled. “You’re telling me.”
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