"Cold," Was the first word that came out of his mouth the moment he woke up.
His body shuddered at the bone-chilling weather and snuggled back to the soft blanket on his sanctuary called bed to seek more warmth. He closed his eyes again hoping he could go back to the land of a sweet dream.
He bet that last night and this morning had the lowest temperature from the entire winter season of Los Angeles. Where else could he explain this laziness came from.
It was also for the first time in forever, he skipped his morning exercise routine and cooking a delicious breakfast for everyone.
He rolled over the bed until he realized that there was not enough space to move. It wasn't the king-size bed he had began to get comfortable with. Instead, it was that single bed he had used for his whole damn life. He was back at the orphanage.
Jason Barnes reported to him that paparazzi were all gone from the area around the orphanage. It was because they were gathering around the Beverly Hills area for the Christmas Eve party last night.
It seemed that they thought Al was going to go to the Christmas Eve Party too. It was also the same party that Mary and Jodie attended. The Christmas holiday atmosphere apparently hasn't become a hindrance to the paparazzi to find scoops.
So it was safe for him to be back here for a while and celebrate Christmas with everyone else.
Before he went back to la-la land, his door suddenly burst open and the children entered his room like the rhino's stampede.
'Damn, I forgot to lock the door, again.' He cursed on his mind. But soon his scowl turned into a smile after he saw their cheerful face.
The little kids started to climb up and then bouncing on his bed while waking him up.
The kids were also wishing him Merry Christmas and thanking him for the presents they got under the Christmas tree.
He caught Janice who was the closest to him and tickled her. "Stop it, brother Al!"
"I'm not brother Al! I'm a tickle monster!" He said back, her giggles filled the room.
Everyone seemed to be jealous of her for stealing their big brother's attention and crashed their bodies to him. "Help! I'm being invaded by the munchkin army, help!" He screamed.
They laughed at him and soon, the teens started to join their sister in ruining their brother's bed.
"Guys, this bed can't handle a soccer team, please get out from it guys!" He screamed to everyone but it appeared that his plea fell deaf on their ears.
The only one who was missing was Drew as her mother took her to spend the Christmas holiday with her and Alice who was still in the living room.
"Al, thank you for the presents," Laura said brimming with happiness then everyone followed her to thank him again.
"Have you all opened it yet?"
"Nope, we are waiting for you to get up. Usually, you are an early bird, now we are seeing a hibernating troll."
"The wise man said it's fine to have a holiday sometimes. Okay, now let's head downstairs okay, we have a lot of presents to open. Is everyone excited?"
"Yes!" They said together.
They head downstairs to see a tall Christmas tree with a lot of presents scattered below it.
Mrs. K was sitting on her comfortable wing chair and Alice was sitting on the floor. Hearing a ruckus caused by them, Alice's head cocked in their direction.
She stood up and ran in his direction, only to crash into his stomach head-on. "Ouch, what are you hiding under your tee shirt brother, an iron plate? It hurts! And uh, Merry Christmas!" She said with a smile.
Her arms wrapped around his back, Al also reciprocated her hug then kissed her crown. "Easy there little El. Also, Merry Christmas to you too, sweetheart. You worried me for a second there. What if you fell?" He asked her about the little stunt she did before.
"Guess what, I can now go for a short distance without a cane and I can feel your presence." She whispered the last word with mysteriousness. "And besides, I'm pretty sure you'll catch me."
Al just shook his head and released a small chuckle, "Okay, but never do this again, promise me. You could be hurt." She nodded somberly but still with a smile.
"Besides, why did you do that, you want to be a bat?" He teased.
"She might want to be Daredevil? Became a lawyer and fighting crime at night? Laura can make you a costume for it." Jon teased his little sister.
Her face reddened in embarrassment and she puffed her cheeks. Everyone was laughing seeing her cute gesture. "Big brother, they bullied me!"
"Okay everyone, there are a lot of presents that want to get out from their cages."
He appeared beside Mrs. K kissed her cheek, not forgotten to wish her a Merry Christmas.
He heard a tearing sound and found everyone was opening their presents. Once they see what they got, they screamed with joy.
"Hey Al, why my present is a book? Did you put the wrong name tags on it?" Toby asked from the entrance of his room.
"Nope, I don't make a mistake like that dear little Toby."
"But it's not the video game cartridge you promised me!" He whined.
"I gave it to Jon. Ups, spoiler alert."
Toby gasped, "Oh no you didn't!"
"Yes, he did," Jon said, showing him some video game cartridges from his opened present.
"Aw Al, you know Jon never shares his toys with me!" He scowled.
"Hey, I always share!" Jon retorted.
"No, you don't!" He spat back. "Remember you didn't lend me the Spider-man issue #252!"
"That's 2 years ago! And you started it first!"
Their banter escalated and soon everyone laughed at them. "Everyone, let's leave the children continue their fight, shall we," Al said and everyone nodded wisely.
"Al, someone gave you a really big present," Laura said.
"Hm, who sent it?"
"Dunno, it had no name nor the sender address, There's a message, though." She answered.
"Let's open it, shall we."
He went and saw a big present written 'For dearest doofus Ed.'
'That insufferable gal!' His face blackened.
He knew who sent this. Only his one friend still use his middle name when they were alone and it was Robin.
He opened the present to see a beautiful, well-crafted Martin guitar with OMC models.
"Whoa!?" Everyone else was amazed.
"Who gave it?" Someone asked.
"It's from Robin," Al whispered.
"That crazy goth- ouch, that hurt." He flicked Toby's forehead after he was saying it.
"Hey, she's my best friend remember."
"Uuh, it means that she likes you," Janice teased.
Al giggled, "Of course she likes me. I'm her super best friend."
"Ugh, boys! Why are you so dense! I mean, the likes likes." Laura added. "You know, boys and girls kind of like."
He laughed at it first and said, "No way, guys. She already has someone she likes and not in a million chances she likes 'likes' me." He ended it with a laugh.
Everyone seemed unconvinced but what would they said. If their brother said so, it might be true and their brother is always right.
They also didn't know the truth about her preference except for a few people and most of them were too small to know this.
Al then spent his Christmas in the orphanage until he went out for the promise he made with Gwen, about seeing her parents.
Mrs. K also told him not to forget to come home earlier so they can celebrate their own Christmas party together.
~~~
At 3 PM, he was standing in front of one of many houses located in Anaheim, Los Angeles, CA. This was where the Stefani family lived.
Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the front door. Not a minute passed, a woman in her late 30s opened the door. She had the same height as his girlfriend and had silky chestnut-colored hair that only reached her shoulders.
Her eyes popped out and her jaw dropped. In her mind, she couldn't believe who knocked on her door this evening.
"Mrs. Stefani?" He said with a smile.
"Y-you are Alphonse Brandt, right? The sweet little boy in
"The one and only." He said a bit uncertain in his tone. Gwen told her parents his name... right?
Didn't want to sound impolite at his possible future in-laws, he introduced himself politely and it brought the effect he didn't expect.
She screamed. She screamed and grabbed his hands and held them with both of her hands.
"Oh my God! It's such a miracle! My children are fans of you, dear. Honey, we have a Hollywood star in front of our door! And he brought so many presents!" She shouted inside the house. "Alphonse Brandt, is this a reality show where celebs came to their door to celebrate Christmas with them?" She asked.
"No, Mrs. Stacy, did Gwen not tell you?"
"Gwen? Wait, what she didn't tell me?"
"I'm dating your daughter Mrs. Stefani."
"Oh... oh my." She covered her mouth with her hand in astonishment. "My daughter was dating you!?"
Breaking out from her shock, she brought him inside and introduced him to her spouse, Gwen's father, Dennis Stefani. By the way, she also told him that her name was Patti.
Both of them were nice folks. They told him that they were surprised that their daughter was dating him. Gwen only told them that she was dating an actor, a Hollywood actor, and both of them were so reluctant to her dating an actor or anyone who had a connection from Hollywood.
Patti told him that Dennis knew a little about how Hollywood worked and he, one day told his daughter to never date anyone from Hollywood. So that's why she was a bit reluctant to introduce him to her parents before.
Patti was so excited to see him but not with Dennis. He was a bit skeptical at first about her daughter dating a celebrity but soon his worry tuned naught.
Al was a great conversationalist, well, when he wanted to be. Dennis loved folk music, especially Bob Dylan. Soon, they became familiar with each other and Dennis even told Patti that he was beginning to like him.
After familiarizing himself with her parents, he asked them where was Gwen. They told him that
Gwen and her older brother, Eric were out to buy some snacks.
To make himself useful, he helped Patti prepared for the dinner. There, he met the rest of her siblings who were sitting at the kitchen table. They introduced themselves as Jill and Todd.
Jill was 14 years old girl, a cute little girl who had some resemblances to Gwen. And Todd, a 12-year-old spitfire who also dreamed to be a film director.
Jill had an unbelievable face directed at him. She couldn't believe that her sister was dating her favorite celebrity. Jill developed a celebrity crush on her sister's boyfriend and for a moment she didn't leave his side.
Todd didn't care too much about celebrities or who's dating who. But his interest peaked when he asked him about video games. Of course, he remembered that Al was the owner of the Niflheim Games company. NE3 was really a big event.
Then the front door opened, Gwen and Eric barged in and Gwen screamed after she saw him.
"Al!"
"Gwendolyn!"
'Gwendolyn?' Everyone thought.
Gwen threw herself at him, intertwined her arms around his neck. Both of them were doing a chaste kiss at first but before it began to heat up, the sound of coughs stopped them.
Five pairs of eyes were watching them and the two lovers felt like prey in front of their predator. Dennis grunted, Patti's mouth agaped, Eric was grinning while covering both excited Jill's and disgusted Todd's eyes.
Sensing the awkward atmosphere, Patti clapped her hands and surprised them all, "Okay, Gwen, can you help me in the kitchen for a while. Jill, Todd, help me with the plate."
"Let me help you, Mrs. Stefani."
"Nonsense, Alphonse, you are a guest. I appreciate the previous help because we're lacking people. Now that Gwen is here, she can prepare it for us. Dear, Eric, can you accompany our guest for a while?"
Dennis grunted again, at first he had a bad impression of this boy, then he liked him because they liked the same thing, but when he kissed his daughter in front of him, he didn't how he felt, it was really confusing.
"Come on kid, follow me." He groaned and left the room.
Al gulped and suddenly felt nervous. He felt an arm suddenly circled his neck, it was Eric's. "Don't worry about my old man. Sometimes he's a bit grumpy."
"Well, we have had a nice talk and made a good impression with him before. But it seems it went back to zero the moment I kissed Gwen, in front of him."
Much to his confusion, Eric laughed. "Yeah, you bet you did. Even I do not dare to kiss my girlfriend in front of him. But relax, he's not yet kicking you out like the previous boyfriend. So you are safe."
"What, he kicked someone before?"
"Well, he was a jerk. As long as you are okay, which you are. You are safe with him."
"Great." He whispered, 'Please Lord save me from my girlfriend's daddy.' He prayed.
They went out of the room with Eric leading him out to his father's location.
To Be Continued...
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