Autumn soon ended and came winter. I was in the first few days of winter break and even though I fucking despised school, I couldn't wait to go back. Being on vacation for two weeks usually excited students but I absolutely dreaded it. I couldn't go anywhere to escape this Hell I call home because I had no money, and I also had no one to hang out with. I couldn't hang with Kyoya because he was on a family vacation to France and I could only talk to Kaoru during the night because of the huge time difference. Haruhi still refused to talk to me, Kaoru even tried calling her a couple of times to try and get her to be friends with me again but she wouldn't answer her phone. I could tell that the Host Club was getting worried about her since she refused to be around them as well, especially that asshole Tamaki, so I guess she hasn't confronted him about cheating yet.

To be honest, I thought it would be easy to revert back to my lone wolf lifestyle, but it wasn't. I craved her presence and attention almost all day, and it hasn't stopped in weeks. I couldn't believe that the girl I could barely stand only a couple months ago was now like a drug to me, and I was suffering through serious withdrawal without her. I tried everything to get her out of my mind, but it mostly only lasted a few hours until my thoughts relapsed back to her. Living like this was fucking torture, but thankfully the task mom gave me kept me from thinking too much about Haruhi today.

I finished setting the angel on top of the tree and then took a few steps back to admire the fully decorated Christmas tree. I was finally finished decorating the house after many hours, which I was technically forced to do. Mom woke me up around eight in the morning and told me while she and Isao were at work I had to decorate the house and if I wasn't done by the time she got home I wouldn't be sleeping in the house tonight. Which knowing her while drunk, she'll keep that promise. I had no idea where any of the decorations were and took me a good hour to find them deep within the garage, along with the tree. It took me about two to three hours to set up the damn tree because even following the directions I couldn't even wrap my head around the shit it was trying to tell me. Then right after I finished putting up the tree the last chore I had to do was decorate it and the living room, which took me a few hours to do as well, but now I was finally finished and could relax.

I flopped down on the couch and let out an exhausted sigh before reaching over for the remote and turning on the TV to a random channel. Most of the TV stations were playing Christmas movies and shows, mostly because today was Christmas Eve. I wasn't the biggest fan of these types of shows and films at the moment because most of them would show happy families enjoying the holiday together, which made me envy them. Yes, they weren't actually a family and just paid actors playing a role but they brought to life how the Christmas holiday should be with your family, not even close to how mine was.

While people usually had their families all together at least for a few days before and after Christmas, I've been alone almost the whole vacation so far. Though I'd much rather be alone the whole day in this house rather than having mom yell and hit me for random shit, but it did make me miss how we use to celebrate Christmas in the past...before dad's disappearance. Even though my parents worked out of the country most of the time when Kaoru and I were younger, they made sure to be home for most of the holidays. We wouldn't do anything too spectacular, just open presents and go out to eat to a five-star restaurant for dinner, but at least we did it as a family.

Now, after dad went missing it felt like I didn't have a family anymore besides Kaoru, who was still all the way in New York…

I finally found a channel that didn't have a Christmas show on, which was Animal Planet, and before I could even begin watching the show, the front door slammed opened, scaring me and caused some of the decorations to fall that were near the door by the sudden force. I groaned as I heard glass break and slouched further down the couch.

"Sorry," Isao apologized as he entered the house, "I was carrying in these boxes so I had to use my foot to open the door but I didn't realize that I used that much strength." He closed the door with his heel then walked over to the kitchen and placed the boxes on the tables before opening one. "I promise I'll clean up whatever broke when I'm done here."

I glanced over at him as he rummaged through the box. "What's in the boxes?"

"Some Christmas knick-knacks that people weren't using at work. I thought that it might bring the house more of a festive vibe."

"But I already decorated the house when you and mom were gone."

He paused what he was doing and looked around the living room. "Huh, it seems you have." He then shrugged before going back to rummaging. "More the merrier, ha see what I did there?"

I rolled my eyes at his pathetic attempt at a dad joke, but he didn't seem to notice as he chuckled to himself and pulled, what looked like a nutcracker, out of the box, making its mouth chomp playfully.

"What are you doing home so early anyway? Don't you and mom have similar hours?" I asked.

"We do, but my office was let out early because of today being Christmas Eve. Though your mother still has to stay until her usual time." He put the nutcracker down on the table and picked up another random knick-knack. "Speaking of your mother, did you get her a gift yet?"

My eyes widened in horror as I felt my body literally grow cold as if I just jumped into a frozen lake. Fuck, I forgot to get mom a gift. I've been so sidetracked with all the shit that's been going on in my life that getting her a gift was the last thing on my mind. She's going to be livid if I don't go out and get her anything but I also didn't have the money to afford anything that she would like.

"Uh no." I finally answered, trying not to let my voice stutter from how scared I was for tomorrow. "I don't have enough money to get anything."

"Why don't I lend you my card? I have way more than enough money for whatever gift you want to give her."

"You would really let me borrow your card to buy mom a gift?"

"Yeah, as long as you give it back when you come back."

"Uh, thanks." I said as he reached into his pocket to pull out his wallet.

He walked over to me where I was sitting on the couch and handed his card to me with a smile. "You can also fill up your car and get Kaoru a gift along the way as well. I know he'll like that."

I just stared at the card for a few seconds in disbelief before looking back up at him. He's always been a nice guy to me, even though I treated him like complete shit over the past few years. He was, however, mom's little follower. He wouldn't abuse me technically, but he would ignore it or even sometimes hold me down if my mom asked whenever she abused me. He also would never go behind mom's back either, so it made me wonder why he would lend me his card if he knew I wasn't allowed to have any money.

"But what if mom finds out? I don't want her to get mad that I used your money while I'm not supposed to have any."

"Don't worry," he winked, "I'll make sure to tell her I let you borrow my card if she finds out."

I still was unsure if I should actually take the card or not, but if he was going to vouch for me then I might as well take it so I could buy mom and Kaoru a gift.

I smiled at him, which I rarely ever did, and took the card from him. Maybe he wasn't as bad as a guy as I thought he was for all these years. I probably just never really noticed it since I've just refused to give him a chance because I didn't want him to replace dad, but maybe I should give him a chance and maybe if we got along he could stop mom's abuse and help me get her sober. Although, he is the reason she relapsed...but he does apologize for it a lot...

"Thanks," I said, "this really means a lot."

"No problem, and who knows," his smile widened, "maybe this could the first step of us finally getting along."

"Yeah, maybe something like that."

The mall was extremely busy with people doing last minute Christmas shopping, running from store to store desperate to find the items that they were looking for. Hopefully, what I was looking for was most likely still here. It wasn't cheap like most of the items people were trying to buy here, so they should still have it in stock.

I entered the most high-end jewelry shop that the mall had. Everything presented in the store was like a work of art, from the huge waterfall chandelier to the marble flooring. All the jewelry were displayed in cases that had a white glow, making all the jewels shine brighter to catch everyone's eye. Luckily I remembered when I tagged along with mom a few months back when she was sober to the mall and a specific piece caught her attention. She didn't end up buying it because we already bought a lot of other items that trip, so even though it almost physically hurt her, she left the necklace. Thank God I was actually paying attention that shopping trip or I might be a goner.

After scanning a few of the cases I finally found what I was looking for all the way in the back. The piece was a diamond statement necklace that had eighteen lines of diamonds growing from shortest on both sides and growing longer until they met the line in the middle. I couldn't help the smile spread across my face at the thought of mom enjoying something I finally got her. I checked the price tag and my smile somewhat faltered. $10,000, shit, I may be rich but that was a little too expensive even for me just for a necklace. I didn't even know how much Isao had on his card, but since we all shared a bank account with mom he should definitely have more than enough money.

"May I help you, sir?" An employee asked behind the display case.

"Yeah, I would like to buy that statement necklace." I said as I pointed to it.

"Alright, would you like the box wrapped up or just in the bag?"

"Wrapped please."

The employee nodded before taking the necklace from the display case and went to the back room to wrap the box up. As I waited I scanned through the other pieces of jewelry in the display cases to pass the time as I slowly made my way over to the cash register. All the pieces were gorgeous, but just like the necklace very expensive. $10,000 still hardly put a dent in our wealth, but mom still didn't like to spend as much as we use to, so being used to that mindset for years made me wonder why people would buy items this expensive all the time.

The employee emerged from the back room and I gave her Isao's card to pay for the necklace then she bagged up the wrapped box before handing it and the card back to me.

Once I left the jewelry shop I made my way to the bookstore to get a few books for Kaoru. He enjoyed reading a lot more than I did so I thought a few books he was interested in but never got the chance to read would be a great present for him. It took me quite some time to find a series that I was looking for and when I finally did I grabbed the first two books so he could see if he liked them. I left the aisle that I was in and was about to walk towards the direction of the cashier was when I suddenly stopped in my tracks and grew terrified when I saw Haruhi walk into the bookstore, coming towards my direction. Without even thinking I ran back into the aisle I was in and put my back to the shelf, hugging the books to my chest as if I was trying to hide myself the best I could.

What the fuck was she doing here?! I thought she would've been the type of person who finished their Christmas shopping months in advance? So why the fuck was she at the mall and why did she have to walk into the bookstore while I was in here?!

My heart was literally pounding in my chest almost as if I was the next victim in a horror movie. I had to think of something quick, she was going to pass the aisle that I was in at any second and there were no doubt she would recognize me and if I tried to book it to the cashier she would definitely see me as well.

Then suddenly, an idea popped into my head when I remembered that I was wearing a navy blue hoodie instead of my leather jacket. Haruhi's never seen me in this before, so if I put my hood up I might be able to pass her without her recognizing me. It was worth a shot.

I grabbed my hood and placed it over my head so I could still see but it barely showed my eyes and I turned to my left, speed walking down the other side of the aisle so I wouldn't run into Haruhi. I turned to look over my shoulder, seeing that Haruhi was now standing where I was before and reading the summary on a back of a book. I almost let out a sigh of relief that she was distracted but before I could I ran into a small book stand, making some of the books fall onto the floor.

"Shit!" I cursed under my breath before getting down and began picking up the books as fast as I could.

I had few books in my arms and was about to reach over to grab another one when I saw another hand grab it, accompanied with them speaking in a far too familiar voice that almost made my heart stop.

"Here, let me help." Haruhi said as she began helping me pick up the rest of the books.

I gulped and kept my head down so she couldn't see my face, but I couldn't help but occasionally glance up at her when she wasn't facing me. My chest began to feel tight as I stared at her. None of my feelings faltered since the day she broke off our friendship and all I wanted to do was talk to her. I wanted to tell her how much I missed her and I would do anything for her to give me another chance to be her friend again. After having a friend like her I couldn't go back to my old ways. I also wanted to thank her for keeping Mr. Suoh from expelling me, but I knew once I showed her who I was she would just turn away like she always did at school. So before she could notice that it was me I put my head back down before she turned back to me and finished helping me pick up the books.

Once we were finished she grabbed the two books that I was going to buy for Kaoru and handed them to me. "Here, I think these are yours."

I nodded a thank you but as I grabbed the books to take them from her, our fingers touched, causing my body to tense up. Haruhi must've sensed that I had grown tensed and released the books, but I could feel her staring at me which almost was causing my body to tremble from how nervous I was.

"Hey, do I know you?" She asked.

I shook my head as I hugged the books to my chest, feeling the hard rhythm of my heartbeat quicken inside my chest.

"No, I really think I do." She said as I heard her moving closer to me, only causing my body to tense up more. "The structure of your jaw looks really familiar and…" She suddenly grew quiet as if she just realized. Did she just find out it was me? Fuck, she's probably going to think I've been stalking her because of how suspicious I looked. I needed to get out of here now. "That bruise on your neck, are you-"

Before she could finish asking her question I shot up and bolted away from her as fast as I could without running. I wasn't sure if she called out for me to stop or not because I could only hear the hard beating of my heart as I made my way to the cashier. Luckily there was no line and I was quickly able to purchase the books and leave hopefully before Haruhi noticed that I was gone.

I walked up to my front door and unlocked it and as I opened the door a heavenly smell of food cooking hit my nose, which confused me. Was mom sober today? Usually whenever she cooks the house smelled awful, but today was the exact opposite. Just like the times she used to cook before she relapsed.

"Hikaru, you're home." Mom greeted happily, but by how giddy she sounded and her voice slurred I could tell she was still drunk.

I let out a sigh as I closed the door as mom walked towards me with a big smile and her arms out as if she was going to give me a hug.

"Hey mom, what's for-"

But I was cut off mid-sentence as she slapped me. I just blinked a few times before facing back over towards her in confusion and utter shock as her once happy expression only moments ago was now furious.

"Did you really think that I was stupid enough not to find out?!" Mother hissed.

I brought my hand to my stinging cheek. "I-I don't understand. Find out what?"

"Don't act like you don't fucking know what I'm talking about! You stole Isao's card when he came home earlier today and bought random shit for yourself with it."

"That's not true." I corrected. "Isao lend me his card to buy some items that I needed and to get gas for my car. I promise I didn't steal it from him. You can ask him yourself."

Mom's glare hardened at me before she put her hands on her hips. "Isao!"

"Yes, dear?" Isao called from the kitchen.

"Can you come over here for a few moments?"

The sound of cookware being placed on the counter along with Isao's footsteps as he made his way over to the living room. He wiped his hands with a towel as he walked up next to mom and she gave him a smile, an actual genuine one that made my chest tighten. She always gave him that smile, no matter what he did, while she hasn't given me one in months.

"Isao, is what Hikaru said true? Did you lend him your card?"

Isao looked from mother to me as if he was trying to come up with what to say. I tilted my head towards mom, silently telling him to tell mom that he did, in fact, lend me his card like he promised, but all he did was give me a stern glare before crossing his arms over his chest.

"No," he answered, causing my eyes to grow wide from the shock of him lying, "I did not."

"Thank you dear." She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You can go back to making dinner."

Isao nodded and turned before making his way back to the kitchen. Did...Did he really just break our promise and lie to my mom that I stole his card? Why would he do that? He knew mom would explode if she didn't know I borrowed his card, but instead of him making it better he made it worse by lying saying that I stole it. I would've been beyond livid at that moment if I wasn't already terrified as I looked back over at mom, who's scowl has hardened.

"Mom I promise I'm not lying. You have to believe me." I practically begged. "I would never steal his card-"

"You really think I would believe you after all the lies you've told me today?!" Mom snapped, which caused me to grow confused again.

"I haven't lied to you."

"Oh really?" She put her hands back on her hips. "You promised me this morning when I woke you up that you would decorate the house, but when I came home I saw Isao putting up the last of the decorations and informed me that when he tried to get you to help you broke a snow globe!" She pointed over to the broken snow globe that was still on the floor that Isao promised to clean up before I left.

"That's not true." I said, desperate for her to believe me. "I was the one who decorated the house, I did all of this. Isao is the one who broke the snow globe when he came home and the only things he put up were the Christmas knick-knacks that he got from work. Please mom, you have to believe me."

I was almost on the brink of tears as I kept trying to get her to believe me. I wasn't going to let that fucking asshole Isao take credit for what I did and I get punished for it, but no matter what I did she just wouldn't believe me.

"Enough of this bull shit Hikaru."

"Mom I promised that I'm not lying, Isao is."

"Don't blame your step-father for the shit you did!"

"But mom I'm telling the truth. Isao is the one lying-"

She slapped me again, making me grow silent. I didn't bother to look back at her as she began yelling at me again.

"God, why can't you be a fucking good son and do what your loving mother asks you to do, but instead you decide to be a lazy piece of shit and try to take credit for someone else's work and take their money that they worked so hard to get." She held out her hand. "Give me back the card now."

I didn't hesitate getting my wallet out of my pants pocket and gave her Isao's card. She snatched the card away from me before roughly grabbing my upper arm and began tugging me towards the door.

"Mo-Mom, what are you doing?" I asked as I tried to get out of her grip.

"I told you this morning that if you didn't decorate the house you'll be sleeping outside." She opened the door and practically pushed me out of the house, causing me to stumble and fall on my knees on the concrete. "You can come back inside tomorrow when you learn some fucking respect!"

"Wait mom-"

She slammed the front door closed before I could finish speaking and turned off the porch light, shrouding me in complete darkness. I didn't move from where I was as I continued to stare at the front door, trying to process everything that just happened. I got kicked out of my house because mother believed Isao over me. I know that I shouldn't be surprised, no matter what Isao does mom never got mad at him, but if Kaoru or I did the same thing we would get severely punished...I just didn't understand why she hated us so much while she was drunk, but still was in love with Isao.

I always wondered if it had to do with something about dad, about how we're technically a product of him and mom, so even though we look more like mom she still sees our dad in us and takes out all her anger towards him on us because we had some characteristics of him in us. While probably if her and Isao had a child...she would probably love them dearly, even if she's drunk…

I used the sleeve of my hoodie to wipe the tears that were welling up in my eyes before standing up. A cold breeze blew past, causing me to hug my arms around myself. I needed to find a way in without mom or Isao finding out or I was going to freeze out here. Worse case of scenario I could sleep in my car, but I knew that even with my jacket on it would be freezing.

I took a few steps back so I could have the full view of the house to see if there was any way I could get in. It would be stupid to use the front or back door so those were out. All the windows were closed and locked except…

A small smile of relief appeared on my face when I saw the window to my room was open. I forgot that I left it open when I took a smoke break from decorating. This was the only time I was actually happy that I broke my promise to Kaoru and Haruhi about quitting. The only problem I had now was how was I going to get up on the roof to reach the window. I looked around the yard to see if there was anything that I could use as a latter, but everything was too short for me to even touch the roof. I may have been one of the tallest people in my class, but I wasn't a giant as I stood at only 5'11.

As I was about to give up hope and just sleep in my car I noticed Isao's old white hatchback was in the right position in the driveway where I could reach the roof. I smirked mischievously as I made my way over to my ticket inside my house, trying my best to resist the urges to slash his tires or break his side mirrors because it would be obvious that it would've been me...maybe some other time.

I hopped onto the hood of his car, not even trying to be careful as I quietly stomped my way to get onto the roof of the car. It's technically not my fault that his car might be dented now. If he hadn't fucked me over and told mom the truth I wouldn't be in a situation where I had to dent his car.

Once I was high enough I pulled myself onto the roof with ease and made my way over to the window of my room before crawling inside. I quietly closed the window so it wouldn't draw any attention, then made my way over to the door to shut it so mom and Isao wouldn't see that I snuck back in, but as I grabbed the door handle I halted as I heard cheerful laughter coming from downstairs. It angered me that they were acting as if they didn't just throw me out of the fucking house in the cold as they enjoyed their dinner that good for nothing son of a bitch Isao made, but it also saddened me that mom acts so happy and sweet when she was drunk, except to her sons. I know I should be used to it by now, but even after years of abuse it never gets easier. I might be able to numb my emotions but I could only do that for so long until everything just pours out.

I let out a glum sigh before closing the door to my room quietly, trying not to let my emotions take over as I trained myself to do, then I made my way over to my desk and placed the bag of gifts I bought on it. I did plan on wrapping them for tomorrow, but since the wrapping paper was all the way in the closet downstairs I wouldn't be able to fetch it without them noticing. I took out the gift I got for mom and stared at it, scratching at the velvet material that surrounded the box as I began to feel myself grow angry again. I didn't want to give this necklace to her anymore. All I wanted to do was hide this away somewhere and give her nothing tomorrow, but I knew that would most likely only result in another punishment.

I cursed under my breath before walking away from my desk, stripping off my hoodie and shirt along with my jeans, not bothering to put them in the hamper as I grabbed a pair of black sweats and put them on. I slid under the covers, hugging them around me as I tried to shield myself from the freezing room. I knew that it was only seven but my body felt so exhausted that in only a matter of minutes I felt myself drifting off as I stared at the full moon outside. Praying like I did every night that tomorrow will be a better day, but I knew that was a long shot.

"Get up!" Mom barked as she pounded on my door, waking me up. "It's time to open gifts."

I looked over at the door, not lifting my head from my pillow then squinted tiredly at the clock that read 9:30. Shit, did I really sleep for fourteen hours? I really must've been exhausted from last night. It also seems that mom forgot that she threw me out yesterday, so at least I won't have to deal with her punishing me for sneaking back in.

I let out a tired sigh as I crawled out of bed and got dressed before heading over to the bathroom. As I walked in I made my way over to the counter to fix up my appearance to make it look somewhat decent enough. Though, as I was fixing my hair I immediately noticed there was a new bruise on my left cheek from where mom slapped me.

Great another one, and right after the one on my neck was just starting to fade as well.

I lightly brushed over the fading purple bruise on my neck. A few days ago while I was eating dinner Mom came home and forced me out of the dining room so her and Isao could eat. I was going to listen to her and take my dinner up to my room to finish it, but I took too long for mom's liking and she hit me with a rolling pin that was left out. It left a nasty bruise that formed only a few hours later but luckily it didn't hurt as bad as it looked, or I was already so used to the pain that nothing really hurt me that bad anymore.

I just huffed and finished getting ready and when I felt like I looked decent enough I made my way back over to my room and grabbed mom's gift and a random item for Isao, even though I didn't want to give him shit, then left my room before making my way downstairs.

As I stepped down from the last step of the stairs I noticed all the gifts under the tree, varying in sizes...maybe one will be mine this year..? But by how my stocking looked empty while Isao's and mom's were filled to the tops with gifts told me there most likely wasn't.

"Finally, you're down." I heard mom grumble from the dining room. "Grab some breakfast so we can begin opening gifts."

I did as mom said and went to the dining room to get breakfast. Usually every Christmas we would have pancake or waffles, sometimes even french toast, it might've not been the fanciest tradition in the world, but mom just wanted the whole family together for the whole day. However, for the past few years since dad's been gone the tradition started dying with each year, and now this year was just pathetic. Mom and Isao didn't even bother trying to cook and seemed to just pop premade cinnamon rolls in the oven and call it breakfast. At least last year we had a variety of different foods that were pretty much homemade, even though it didn't taste that well, but thankfully they didn't burn the food this year.

I grabbed a plate and took two cinnamon rolls before heading to the couch in the family room where Isao was sitting in a chair and mom on the other side of the couch were waiting for me.

"Alright," mom said as she excitedly clapped her hands, "let's get to opening gifts."

"Oh and Hikaru, I really hope you don't mind how breakfast turned out. I know we usually have a tradition," he said as he grabbed a gift from under the tree, giving me his usual shit-eating grin, "but I promise that dinner will be extraordinary."

I hardened my glare at him. I was still furious at him betraying me yesterday, and he had the fucking nerve to smile at me as if nothing happened.

"Can't wait." I hissed through gritted teeth.

I ate my breakfast as I watched the presents being opened. Isao would read the name on the gift for who it was for before passing it to them, which has only been to mom, or if it was for him he would just open it. The pile of presents began to shrink and the names that were only being called were theirs.

Why am I even here? It's like they want to just torture me by having me watch them.

I soon finished my breakfast and laid my head in my hand as the gifts continued being handed out and opened. Mom, Isao, mom, Isao, but my name was never called and then soon there was only one last gift under the tree...which was for mom. I wasn't surprised that I didn't receive anything, it happened last year as well, but Kaoru and I would give each other gifts and with him still in New York for a few more months I won't receive anything until the day his gift arrives in the mail, which won't be for a couple of days.

"Alright," Isao spoke up, "let's give out the gifts that we got each other. I'll go first." Isao took out an envelope from a bag that was next to the chair he was sitting in and leaned over to hand it to me with a smile on his face. "Merry Christmas Hikaru."

I narrowed my eyes at him before taking the envelope from him. I opened it and took out a card that was covered in snowflakes and had a penguin with a Santa hat holding a candy cane saying Merry Christmas. I didn't bother reading what was written inside and took out the gift card, seeing how much it was. I glared back up at him as I grinded my teeth.

"Wow, a $10 gift card to Starbucks, thanks." I grumbled.

"No problem, I'm glad you like it," he then turned to mom and gave her a loving smile before pulling out a wrapped rectangular box out of the bag, "and for you my love."

He gave mom the gift and she took it with a smile. She unwrapped the gift, revealing a similar looking box to what I had gotten her and once she opened it my face paled.

"Oh Isao, it's beautiful." Mom held up the same diamond statement that I bought her, "How did you know that I wanted this?"

"A little birdie told me." He answered before giving her a quick kiss.

I took that time to hide while they were distracted to hide the necklace I bought for mom in my hoodie. How the fuck did Isao know that mom wanted that necklace? He wasn't around when mom pointed it out when I went shopping with her a few months ago, and by her reaction, she seemed to have never mentioned it to him, so who could've told him about it?

"Hikaru?" Isao called my name, breaking me out of my thought. I looked up at him. "It's your turn to give out your gifts."

I gave a nod and reached into my hoodie pocket to grab the gift that I got Isao before handing it to him. It was a watch that one of my past flings gave me for my birthday. I never really wore watches and if I did I wouldn't wear it because I didn't want the former fling to still think I liked her by still wearing the watch, and I only liked Rolex watches, but this watch was pretty expensive too.

"Oh…" Isao seemed actually shocked that I gave him such an expensive gift. He took the watch and admired it. "Thank you." He began to chuckle as if he was embarrassed. "I kinda feel bad for giving you a gift card."

You better you fucking son of a bitch!

I shrugged my shoulders, still too angry to say a word to him in fear that I might give him an attitude that mom won't like. Isao put the watch on before looking back over at me.

"So, what did you get your mother?"

My anger immediately turned back into fear and I looked over at my mom, who was sitting opposite side of the couch from me, waiting patiently for my gift.

I hugged the box close to my body. "I uh…" I gulped as I saw mother's eyes narrow at me. "I ordered your gift online. I thought it would've been here by today but it hasn't arrived yet. I'm sorry…"

Mom seemed like she was about to say something angrily to me, but Isao spoke up again before she could.

"Well, I'm sure your mother won't mind waiting a few more days for her present. Right honey?"

Mom's furious expression fell as she turned towards Isao, who was still smiling at her. She gave him a smile back before facing back towards me. "I don't mind waiting a few more days sweetie. I can't wait to see what it is."

I let out a mental sigh of relief, this is the only time I'm going to thank God for Isao stepping in, or mom might've hurt me again, but now I had to quickly find another gift and give it to her in only a few days or she'll be even more pissed then she would be today.

"So, for my gift, I booked us a reservation to the best restaurant in the city." Her smile brightened at Isao. "Isn't that lovely darling?"

"Oh, I can't wait."

I just sat there silently as they continued their conversation about the restaurant, still hugging the necklace I bought to my body. I still couldn't wrap my head around how Isao knew which necklace mom wanted. He did say someone told him, could it have been someone at his work that mom maybe told about the necklace to? That was the only reasonable explanation.

"May I be excused?" I asked shyly, wanting to be alone until dinner.

"Yeah, sure go." Mom replied without even looking at me, in a voice as if she didn't care as she waved me off.

I got up and made my way back up to my room. I placed the necklace in the bottom desk drawer then headed over to my bed, flopping down onto it. I began rubbing my eyes as I sighed out.

"Shit," I cursed as I covered my eyes with my bent arm, "what the fuck am I going to get her now? That necklace was perfect and I thought that once I gave it to her she would finally be happy with what I got her, but with Isao giving her the necklace as well...a part of me feels like he planned all this, but how the hell would he have known what I was going to get her..?"

I laid my arm back to my side and looked over towards my desk at the books that I got Kaoru. I really needed to pack them in a box and send them out tomorrow if I wanted them to make it to Kaoru in a few days, and it'll also help me kill some time before dinner.

So, for the next few hours, I tried my best to kill some time. After wrapping Kaoru's gifts and addressing them to the hotel that he was staying at I thought it would be best to start on the homework that was assigned over break. I placed a headphone in one of my ears, so I could hear whenever mom or Isao called me down and played some music to help the time go by as I did my work on my bed, using my knees to prop up my notebook so it would be easier to write.

Hours passed and I finally finished my last assignment. After I closed my notebook I looked out the window, seeing it was now dark out. Wow, I didn't even realize that much time had passed while I was doing my homework. I looked over at the clock and saw that it was 7:30. That's odd, we rarely ever had dinner this late. Was mom still getting ready? If she was she's been doing her makeup and hair for hours from when I heard her go to her room.

I decided to ask her when we would be leaving and took out the earphone from my ear as I got up from my bed, stretching until my back gave a satisfying crack before heading towards the door. As I opened the door I looked both directions of the hall, but didn't see Isao or mom, or hear them talking downstairs. I walked over to their bedroom and knocked on the closed door.

"Mom?" There was no answer. "Mom?"

I placed my ear to the door to see if I could hear anything, but there was just silence. I forwarded my eyebrows in confusion as I lifted my head back up and decided to open the door just enough to peek my head in.

"Mom?"

The room was dark and eerily quiet. I wasn't allowed in their room unless it was an emergency, so I didn't want to take any chances to see if she was in the bathroom, but by how there was no sight of light anywhere in the room I highly doubted she was in there. I closed the door to her room and made my way downstairs to the dark living room, which caused a weird feeling to set in my stomach. Why were all the lights off? Did they leave without me..?

I went over to the front door and walked out towards the driveway where I saw that mom's car was missing. They actually fucking left me here on Christmas. Not even the other Christmas' where mom's been drunk she hasn't taken us out for dinner, no matter how mad she was at us, but this year they didn't even call me down or warn me that they were leaving soon...they just left me…

I shoved my hands in my pockets before heading back inside, closing the door with my back. I turned the lights, brightening up the dark living room and made my way over to the kitchen. I better start making some dinner if I'm going to be fending for myself tonight, like usual...

I wasn't in the mood to make anything extravagant, so I just grabbed some chicken from the fridge and cooked it up on the stove, along with some vegetables. Once I was finished cooking I sat at the dining room table and used Isao's laptop to try and search up another gift I could give mom while I ate. I was using Isao's account so I didn't want to get anything too expensive so he wouldn't notice any money missing.

I searched the whole time I ate and couldn't find anything that I thought mom would like. I laid my head in my hand and let out a sigh as I continued scrolling down. All the jewelry that I saw was too expensive and it would be stupid to buy her clothes because she was a fucking fashion designer. Maybe I could order her some new shoes, but I didn't know what brand she liked. I could take a peek at their purchase history to see what brands she bought before and find a different style. I think that would be my best bet right now.

I opened another tab and went to search for their recent purchase history and immediately something caught my attention. There were two purchases of the diamond necklace that I got mom, but bought hours apart. The second necklace was purchased around eight o'clock when I was asleep.

Could he have...no he wouldn't. There was no way he could've gotten the idea for his gift by looking at what I got mom through his card history, but how else could he have known about the necklace. Also, why would he want the same gift as me? It was almost as if…

Then it hit me. He wanted me to get in trouble, that explains why he denied giving me his card when mom asked...but why? Yeah, we never got along, but it was usual for kids not to like their step-parents. I knew he did nothing to stop mom from abusing Kaoru and me, which was one of the many reasons why I didn't like him, but now I learned that he was intentionally getting mom angry yesterday so she would abuse me. It made me wonder, what else did that fucker do?

I bit my lip as I glared at the computer screen as I felt myself began to grow furious. Kyoya was right, Isao was sketchy. Him just appearing into our lives shortly after dad's disappearance and supplying mom with alcohol, then standing by to let her abuse us. Maybe he even...no, I was thinking too much into this. Maybe he was afraid that mom would turn against him because he gave me money when I wasn't supposed to have any. He really couldn't be the cause of all the abuse because it started before he even knew us. I guess I'm just using him as a scapegoat.

I shook my head and went back to the searching for a brand of shoes to buy mom and bought a black pair of the tan ones I found in their purchase history. After that, I cleaned up the kitchen then decided to watch a movie to pass the time until mom and Isao came home. Though, I began worrying when I was halfway through the movie when I saw that it was 9:30. They should've been home by now. Mom never really stayed out late unless she was going to a bar, which she hasn't done in years. She liked to keep her image clean and with her at a bar every night people might think she had a problem, so she usually just drank at home, but on the rare occasions that she did go, Kaoru and I would be worried sick that she might get killed driving home, and also because she usually had a lot stronger of liquor then she had at home, so she would be far more abusive.

Soon 9:30 turned into 10:30, then 11:30, then 12:30. My one movie turned into three as I continued to wait for them to come home. I had a blanket securely around me as I laid on the couch, watching the beginning of The Polar Express, the fourth movie I was watching after The Grinch, The Santa Claus, and Elf. I began to feel myself start to doze off as I watched the scene where the main character stopped the train for the little boy to get on. I needed to stay awake so I knew that mom came home safe, but it was beginning to grow difficult and I guess I gave in because the next thing I knew I opened my eyes at the sound of the door unlocking and saw that the credits were rolling down the screen. I looked over towards the door and heard drunken laughter as they both entered the house, completely ignoring me as they walked by me and turned on the light in the kitchen, causing my eyes to hurt by the sudden bright light.

I reached over to grab the remote on the coffee table and turned off the TV before sitting up and watched Isao grab two wine glasses before opening a bottle of white wine. Were they actually going to continue drinking? They were practically wasted already, did they want to get alcohol poisoning?

"Oh, you're still up?" Isao said as he finally noticed me. He wasn't as drunk as mom was, but wasn't far from it. "I thought you would've been passed out by this time."

"I was worried, so I stayed up until you two got home so I would know you guys were safe."

Mom rolled her eyes as she put down the wine glass from her lips. "God Hikaru, not with this shit again. I'm an adult, not a fucking child, I'm perfectly fine with looking after myself."

"I'm sorry," I said in a weak voice as I looked down, "I was just worried…"

"I don't need you worrying about me!" She yelled, causing me to look back up at her. "I'm your mother, I can do whatever the fuck I want without your input. I don't need a fucking brat lecturing on what I do!"

"Sorry…" I apologized again.

"Just go to your room." Mom spat as she lifted her glass back to her lips. "I don't want to see you for the rest of the day."

I nodded and obeyed her orders, not wanting to start anything with her when she was already this angry. As I was walking up the stairs I heard them began laughing again as they went back to their conversation, causing me to clench my fists as I continued my way up. I closed the door quietly to my room once I was inside and turned on the lights. I ran a hand through my dark hair as I let out a frustrated sigh. I was extremely tired, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep with the migraine that was beginning to form, so I decided to just have one cigarette to help it go away.

I walked over to my nightstand and took out the open box of cigarettes and took one out, along with my lighter, then made my way over to the window and opened it enough so I could step onto the roof. I sat down in my usual spot and lit up the cigarette before taking in a long a drag and sighing out the smoke. It was so cold that I could feel my body start to grow numb and I could see my breath, but right now that was the least painful thing that has happened today, and it actually felt quite relaxing.

I stared at the houses around me, seeing all their Christmas decorations and still seeing some families up even though it was almost three in the morning. One of those houses were Mari's. Most of the cars that were there earlier today were gone, but I could still see her and her parents at the dinner table laughing with what I assumed were their family and friends. I could feel myself start to grow envious. I hated everything about Mari, I couldn't stand even being a hundred feet from her, but I was jealous of her home life. How her parents were so sweet and caring towards her, treating her like she's the only thing that matters in the world, while my mom treated me like I was only a burden when she was drunk.

A small part of me could hate Mari because I was jealous that her parents treated her so great. She probably got lots of gifts and a wonderful dinner with her family and friends...just like what my family used to do, and now it's the exact opposite.

I took one last long drag of my cigarette before burning it out as I continued to stare at the Yoshido's house.

"Merry fucking Christmas to me."

Hey guys, I hoped that you enjoyed this bonus chapter. I was conflicted if I should've made this part of the main story because there are some important keys to what's going to happen later on in the story (won't tell you what :P) but I just decided to make it a bonus because it was a holiday chapter. I also meant to update on Friday but I've been so busy that I only finished typing this chapter out yesterday. I also thought updating on Christmas would be a bad idea since people are usually busy, but I took a risk because having a Christmas chapter after Christmas is a little weird.

Also, thank you for the supportive messages about my dog, but sadly the day after my last update we had to put him down, that one of the main reasons this chapter was a bit late. But even though I didn't want him to go I know that he's no longer in pain and is with my other dog in heaven.

Now away from my sad life, I will update the next part of the main story as soon as I can...after I update some of my other stories that I've been neglecting. Reviews would be greatly appreciated, thank you. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, and if you don't celebrate Christmas, Happy Holidays.

Please Favorite, Follow, and Review. Until next time.-HH1957