“Come on, let’s hurry to the rooftop terrace and set off some fireworks!” Zinnia cheered, brimming with excitement. She quickly changed.
“Put on your scarf. It’s cold outside,” Nathan reminded her as he and the others were clearing the dishes, noticing Zinnia coming out.
“Okay,” Zinnia chirped, then ducked back into her room to grab her scarf. After carefully browsing through her favorite pretty scarves, Zinnia finally settled on a strawberry pink one knitted with tiny hearts.
By the time she finished carefully selecting her scarf, Zinnia emerged to find the three men had already cleared the dining table, with the living room’s ventilation system humming softly and the air feeling fresh.
“Let’s go.” Zinnia adjusted her scarf eagerly.
The three men quickly grabbed their coats and headed for the door.
Yannis shrugged on his coat and bent down to pick up a box of fireworks from the floor. Jackson grabbed a box too, leaving Nathan and Zinnia with nothing to carry.
They all piled into the elevator, heading for the rooftop terrace. The rooftop was spacious. For the New Year’s celebration, someone had decorated the area, stringing up festive lights. Tables and chairs were arranged, laden with drinks, fresh fruit, and candies.
Jackson’s assistant had even brought up several crates of large fireworks, ready for the celebration. “Put the fireworks down. Let’s play together.” Zinnia bounced over to Yannis’s side, reaching eagerly for some sparklers.
Yannis lowered the box, letting Zinnia grab a box first to indulge her eagerness. Zinnia grabbed a box of sparklers, tore it open with excitement, and eagerly pulled one out.
“Master, can you light this for me?” Zinnia bounced over to Nathan, eagerly holding out her sparkler. Nathan took out his lighter and gently lit the sparkler for her.
As beautiful sparks burst into the air, Zinnia’s face lit up with a radiant smile. “So pretty! Master, you should try too,” Zinnia exclaimed eagerly. Without waiting for a reply, she lit another sparkler and pressed it into Nathan’s hand.
“Jackson, come on.” Zinnia lit another sparkler and skipped over to him.
Jackson took it. “Thanks, Zinnia.”
“None for me?” Yannis asked, stepping up beside her, his deep gaze lingering on her.
Zinnia looked confused. “But aren’t there a whole pile of sparklers right in front of you?” she asked.
Why is he giving me those puppy-dog eyes? There are so many sparklers right there on the ground in front of him. Why doesn’t he just grab one himself? Zinnia thought.
“You gave them some, but not me? How can my sweetie be so double-standard?” Yannis raised an eyebrow, his voice languid and teasing as he drawled out the words.
Everyone else got one, and I’m the only one left out? Yannis thought. He fixed on her, his voice honeyed as he drawled out, “Sweetie…”
“Y-You… Why are you calling me that too?” she stammered, her ears burning as if scalded, the tips turning crimson with embarrassment.
“Sweetie” was what Maisie and the others called me first. I have no idea when he started using it too. I never thought he’d call me that, Zinnia thought.
“So, everyone else gets to call you sweetie, but I can’t? Why are you playing favorites, sweetie?” Yannis teased, drawing out his words with a lazy smile. “You handed out sparklers to everyone but me, and now you won’t even let me call you sweetie?”
“I…” Zinnia stammered, her gaze dropping as she fidgeted nervously. His teasing remarks came one after another, leaving Zinnia speechless. She glanced at the empty box in her hands. She had wanted to light one for Yannis too, but they were all gone.
“How about you take mine?” Zinnia said, thrusting her sparkler into Yannis’s hand.
Zinnia then bent down to grab another box from the pile, eagerly tearing it open.
Yannis looked down at the sparkler Zinnia had pressed into his hand, the spot where her fingers had gripped it still warm from her touch.
“Come a little closer and help me light this,” Zinnia said, pulling out a fresh sparkler. She tugged Yannis’s hand toward her, pressing her sparkler against his.
The sparklers were pretty long, probably about three feet, so they lasted for quite a while. The sparkler flared to life, sending golden sparks dancing into the night. Zinnia beamed, taking two playful steps back, her eyes sparkling with delight.
Waving her sparkler, Zinnia chattered to Yannis, “Let me tell you, back in my town, my sparklers were always the prettiest. All the kids were so jealous. Every New Year, they’d trail after me like little ducklings.”
“Isn’t that right, Master?” Zinnia turned around again to look at Nathan, who stood not far behind her, holding a sparkler.
Through the shimmering fireworks, Nathan gazed at her. Bathed in the soft, flickering glow, Zinnia’s expression was both playful and radiant. He smiled gently and said, “Yes.”
“Let me tell you, Master spoils me rotten. Every year he buys me sparklers and they take up half the storage room,” Zinnia chattered away excitedly.
Zinnia noticed Yannis’s sparkler had died out. She quickly grabbed a fresh one from the box on the ground and thrust it into his hand. “Oh no, yours went out. Light it. Mine’s about to go out too,” she urged.
She pressed the last glowing tip of her own sparkler to him, helping him reignite it. “They went out,” Zinnia said, sounding a little disappointed. She frowned slightly.
“Here, let me light it for you,” Yannis said. He took out his lighter, gently accepted the sparkler from her hand, and lit it, then pressed his own sparkler against hers to ignite it.
“Master, Jackson, aren’t you playing either? Why did you go sit down already?” Zinnia turned around and saw that Nathan and Jackson were already seated at a table nearby.
Nathan was brewing coffee. “Let Yannis play with you,” he said. Hearing her voice, he looked at her with a gentle, affectionate smile.
“Zinnia, I’ll just watch you play from here.” Actually, Jackson wasn’t really into this kind of thing.
“Guess they just aren’t into this stuff,” Zinnia said. “Looks like I’ll have to play by myself then.”
Zinnia waved the sparkler in her hand and glanced at Yannis standing beside her. “Want to go join them for coffee and a chat? Master and Jackson don’t seem to like it, so you probably don’t either.”
“I’m not going. I’ll stay and play with you.” Yannis said with a smile. “Look, we’ve got some ground spinners here. Want to try them?” He crouched down, glancing at the colorful assortment of fireworks at their feet.
“Yes. I want to play with fairy sparklers too.” Zinnia nodded eagerly.
“Alright,” Yannis said with a smile, pulling out the fairy sparklers Zinnia had mentioned. Fairy sparklers are different from sparklers. The fairy ones produce finer, twinkling sparks. Sparklers, on the other hand, burst with more colorful and thicker sprays of light.
Yannis carefully lit the fairy sparkler for Zinnia. Zinnia played to her heart’s content.
On the rooftop, one side buzzed with laughter and playful shouts, while the other remained quietly tucked away in their own corner. Yet as they watched the two figures at the center, gentle smiles slowly bloomed across their faces.
“Looks like Zinnia and Yannis really get along. They’re both just kids at heart,” Jackson remarked, sipping his coffee as Zinnia’s cheerful laughter rang out nearby.
Zinnia skipped ahead playfully, while Yannis ambled behind her at a relaxed pace, arms laden with sparklers, his eyes crinkling with tender amusement.
Nathan’s fingers cradled a coffee cup, the rising steam softly blurring his features.
He fixed on the distant figure and murmured, “Yeah.”
“Are you still planning to return to Mealinia? Things are booming back home now, and with Zinnia here and us looking after her. Why not come back too?” Jackson turned his gaze at Nathan across the table.
Nathan, for his part, had never really mentioned whether he planned to return. With his talents, coming back home wouldn’t hinder his career in the slightest. If he wanted to, he could succeed anywhere, anytime.
Nathan lowered his gaze, his voice soft and unhurried, so faint it might vanish with the slightest breeze. “We’ll see when the time comes…”
“What’s your plan for Zinnia? She’s in her senior year now. If you don’t come back, she can’t really be apart from you. Are you thinking of transferring her to a school in Mealinia?” Jackson asked, concern in his voice.
He’d already avenged his enemies in Mealinia, and with Zinnia’s adoptive parents gone, now that she was here in the country, there was no reason for Nathan to go back to Mealinia alone.
“There’s no rush. Let’s see what Zinnia wants first,” Nathan replied gently.