The apartment was fully decorated with Christmas livery. Silver, green, blue, red, golden, if it was a colour of the season, you’d find it greeting your eyes. Furthermore, Abby had placed a small collum in the middle of the room playing Christmas music, bringing an extra level of cheer to all of us inside. 

While the other three chatted in the living room as they waited for the food to be ready, Abby and I were in the kitchen merely waiting for the chicken to be cooked, using that as an excuse to afford us some space for flirting in whispers and our hidden hands playing with each other. 

“Can you hold the fort for a sec?” she asked me after the bell rang. 

That was more a nicety than a real question. Of course I could, it was only her trying to ease the interruption. 

While she was cheerfully chatting with whoever it was at the door, I took a good look at our parents and her sister. 

The way Sophie looked at my dad… yeah. 

“I’m back,” Abby announced with a poke to both sides of my ribs, making me jump in place. 

“Who was it?” I asked. 

Paul had come by with his girlfriend to wish us a Merry Christmas, but since they were in a rush to join their own family dinner, they only stayed at the door. 

“Hey babe, do you think we have time for me to change?” she asked, grabbing my pinkie. 

“I’m sorry, change?” 

“Hehe, yeah. It’s a surprise and I can’t wait until we are done eating.” 

I was again burning with curiosity. It was still a good fifteen minutes until the chicken was at the right cooking point, that was plenty of time for her to change. 

“Great! Meet me in the bedroom in a minute,” she told me before scampering off. 

So, I’m getting the first look, huh? Nice. 

As her girlfriend, it was only fair, was it not? Or was I being conceited? 

“Erm… can I help in anything?” 

I didn’t notice Sophie approaching the counter with how much immersed I was in watching Abby walking away. That hop she carried in her step was a delight to watch. 

Not Sophie though, she had an awkward mannerism around me, making me feel extra awkward in turn. 

“Erm, no. Thanks, but I’ve got things covered.” 

“I-I see… I saw you alone, so…” 

“Abby went to get changed.” 

“I’m sorry, get changed?” 

I chuckled when I heard her echoing my exact same reaction when I was the one being told that. 

“Yeah, she had this surprise all planned out for after we ate, but she got impatient.” 

“Haah, the same as always, that girl,” Sophie sighed with a small smile and a hint of nostalgia. 

“…Do you think she got better, or is she more or less the same?” 

Sophie thought about it for a bit before answering… 

“I’d say she might be the same. I remember I usually had to buy her two gifts. One for the right day, the other, to calm her down.” 

She was indeed the same then, only, I gave extra love to her as compensation instead. 

And speaking of that, I asked Sophie to keep an eye on the chicken while I was going to check out on Abby. 

I knocked on the door and asked if I could come in. She opened the door with mischief in her smile and quickly fired away a question about why I was asking when I’d seen her naked plenty of times. 

“Come on Abby… I didn’t want to ruin the surprise for you.” 

“My, how mindful my sweetheart is,” she joked before disappearing behind the door. 

I walked in, and my jaw almost hit the floor. 

Abby had changed into a Santa dress. It had white fluff around the seams, a wide black belt around her waist, hung slightly above her knees and had her shoulders completely exposed and the topmost part of the cleavage. 

“So? Whaddaya think?” she asked with a twirl, the skirt of the dress making a very pleasant waving motion and almost revealing what lied beneath. 

“You look so cute,” I told her, not resisting putting my hands on her. 

“Hehe, behave or I’ll have to put you on the naughty list,” she laughed while I nibbled her ear. 

I paid her no heed and kept whispering sweet nothings while she melted in my arms. Until… 

“Oh…! Erm, sorry…” Sophie stammered from behind us. 

“Ah, sis! Good timing!” Abby cheered while skipping to her sister. “I have something for you!” 

“Erm… for me?” Sophie stammered, being overwhelmed by her sister’s energy. 

“Yup, that’s what I said! Anyway, there!” she laughed as she pointed towards two bags on the bed. “Yours is the one on the right. Not that it would be hard to figure out by the size.” 

“…Am I supposed to also change into one?” I asked, fearing the obvious. 

“Obviously!” Abby said, almost like she was offended I had even asked. “It’s Christmas after all! Christmas!” 

What Abby considered adequate for each and every holiday was… sketchy would be a way to put it. Still, if it made her happy, I’d go along with it. It’s not like the dress was much different in terms of coverage when compared to my other dress. 

“Why would I put it on?” her sister asked, not being so easy to convince as me. 

“Oh? Don’t you think Papa Stan will say something about you looking good in it?” 

“T-that’s…!?” she choked, looking at me from the corner of her eye. I’d stay true to my previous decision and ignore it for the time being. “Could you not call him that?” 

“Why?” 

“Why? Because… it sounds wrong!” 

Abby had her head so canted to the side, it looked like it’d fall off at any moment now. She really wasn’t getting it. Honestly, I had grown so used to it, I had a hard time getting what she meant too. 

“Anyway, get changed you two, ok? I’m counting on you!” Abby told us before leaving and shutting the door behind her, leaving me guessing if she heard me tell her to check on the chicken. 

Now that we were alone, I was feeling very self-conscious. We both were. 

With how things were between us, I asked if I should leave, but surprisingly, she told me I could stay. 

“I might not understand your relationship, but I can see you are crazy over my sister, and you’re very serious in that regard, so there’s no way you’ll do anything,” was her reasoning. 

It was nice to see that, at least, she didn’t see me as something… perverse. At least not to that extent. 

“…Thank you.” 

She looked at me, and somehow, I had the feeling she was able to read me at that moment in the very same way her sister could every time. 

“Violet, look… I truly think you’re a nice girl… it’s the whole else that gets my head in a tangle. Ok?” 

Her words gave me some hope for the future. 

I was thinking about that and began changing with little concern over having her doing the same by my side. It’s funny, in a way. She probably had the best figure out of everyone I knew, and despite me being aware of that, I never felt like peeking. And yes, I think she had a better figure than even Abby, but Abby was my type, not Sophie, so it ultimately didn’t matter, did it? 

“Violet, hold on for a second,” she called out before I left the room. 

I was a bit stunned, but she walked up to me to make some fine-tuning to my outfit. I guess her older sister's instincts kicked in? 

“There,” she said when she was done. 

“T-thanks… Erm… good luck…” 

“…” 

She was turning almost as red as our dresses, but she didn’t spout a single word. At least it seemed like she wouldn’t until I turned my back. 

“You really are something else.” 

Once we arrived in the living room, Abby pulled us along to show our matching dresses to the male audience. 

“Tah-dah! What do you guys think?” she asked, the only one not turning red out of the three. 

“…Aren’t they too revealing?” her dad asked. 

If he thought they were too revealing… what did he think about my usual dress and the one I picked for Abby during the summer!? 

“I for one think they all look very good,” my dad commented with his usual nonchalant mannerism. 

“Hehe. Can you believe Sophie thought it would look weird on her?” 

My girlfriend… what a sly girl she can be. 

“Why? I think she looks great.” 

Well, at least it wasn’t me getting targeted for all the teasing. 

“Y-you think so?” 

Poor Sophie, the moment she asked that was the same our parents resumed their conversation, so she was left ignored. It was also a bit funny to see her reaction, red of embarrassment and pouting from anger at my dad for ignoring her. How Abby-like of her. 

It was time to serve the food, so I broke away and went to the kitchen to ready it for serving. There was plenty of it, but with everyone’s help, we had it all on the table in no time. 

We all feasted that night. Abby in particular. It was like her stomach had a hole at the bottom with how much food she gulped down. And as was customary of her, once she was completely stuffed, she got drowsy and needy, only, there was the matter of the dishes to wash. 

“You girls go rest now, us men will take care of it,” my dad stepped up as he cracked his fingers. 

“Oof, it’s been a while,” her dad commented as he got up. 

“How long exactly?” 

“Let’s see… I was in university then, so…” 

“In the early fifteenth century then.” 

“Smartass.” 

The matter of them being boss and employee had completely faded into memory. I’d love to be a fly just to see if they were like that in the office, or if they at least there remembered their difference in hierarchy. 

“Hmm, so sleepy now,” Abby yawned as she stretched her body lazily, curling up to me afterwards. “Still, there are still the presents. Hehe, I can’t wait.” 

I looked under the tree and noticed something. There were still two gifts from her to me and her sister. I had thought the dresses were it. 

“Nope, these were more like fanservice.” 

“Fanservice?” 

“It’s when cute girls dress in cute clothes or swimsuits to please the audience.” 

“You mean our dads?” 

“Pfft, ah-haha! No silly, me!” 

She really was a handful when excited. 

I looked at her sister. She still had to recover from the attention she got from my dad. Kinda reminded me of myself, funnily enough. 

“Ally-hop!” 

Abby propelled herself off the couch and grabbed four gifts, distributing them between me, Sophie and our dads. For a matter of fairness, I too got up to grab and hand Abby and Sophie the gifts I got for them. 

“Can I open it? Can I?” 

“Fufu, of course you can.” 

Could I tell otherwise if the situation demanded such? Hardly. 

Despite her excitement, she opened it carefully enough not to ruin the paper. Once she unravelled it, she lunged at me, saying she loved the gift I got her. It was a bit hard to breathe, but it was only a short moment because it was Sophie’s turn. She too got the same treatment. 

“Oh… You got me my favourite hand lotion,” Sophie said when she saw what I got her. 

“Y-yeah. I noticed you commenting on how you were almost out of it.” 

“Did I?” 

“Y-yeah. A few days ago.” 

Our exchange was being awkward, and not without Abby adding fuel to the fire. She was looking at us with such a pleased smile that Sophie and I wanted to bury our heads. 

“What?” 

“Oh, it’s nothing,” she said, acting all fluffy. “I’m just having the best Christmas ever, that’s all.” 

How had her previous Christmases been before? The last one was the stuff of nightmares and something I didn’t even want to think about even in passing. This much would be the full extent I’d do such. Let bygones stay bygones. 

“Merry Christmas, Abby.” 

“Hehe, Merry Christmas Violet.” 

She looked at her sister for a moment, the two telepathically communicating something that made the older sister leave. 

“Hunk down the couch for a bit,” she told me. 

I knew what she had in mind and so I did as she requested. I don’t think we were fully hidden, but a kiss was undeniably in order. 

---

“We’ve also got news to tell you as a present,” her father announced from the kitchen. “Stan and I will stop working at the company at the start of February to begin running our own company.” 

The time had finally come for that, huh? I wondered how things would be from now on. From all we had been told, I shouldn’t have to worry, but I still was. Not because I was afraid they’d fail, but because I couldn’t see Abby’s mum taking it lying down, especially since she’d be losing many of her clients and employees to them. 

“Karma is coming for her, huh?” I heard Abby hum as she rested her head on her shoulder. 

“...Looks like it.” 

I’ll probably have to be ready to shield and support Abby when the time comes, and before getting to us, our parents would also be there to do the same. 

Sophie asked if she could help them once they started their new job, but her dad, despite being thankful, told her to focus on finding her way. She still insisted on helping since she was mostly at home doing nothing, my dad chipping in and telling his friend to let her help a bit, pointing out she’d feel better if she contributed a little. 

“Ow, all right. Once we have things going, I’ll see what I can get you, but you should still be trying to find your way. If you come to enjoy it and want to work full-time, then we’ll talk.” 

My dad was doing the speedrun to gain her heart without even knowing. How many women did he have fawning over him with him being none the wiser? 

“Violet, you should take her to bed,” Sophie suddenly whispered. 

Looking at what Sophie was too, I saw Abby completely out like a candle and drooling on me. 

“Haah, typical,” I grumbled despite feeling all warmed up on the inside. 

I shook her as I called her name, but she only nuzzled up more against me as she let out a happy noise, making it even harder to wake her up. 

“Pfft, she’s still such a baby,” Sophie giggled as she joined me in my attempt at waking her sister up. 

And so it went, our first Christmas dinner ever. One of many, I was sure.