CHAPTER 380: CHAPTER 380: THANK YOU, DAD

At home, Honey was directing her father and brother to decorate the Christmas tree the way she liked, tilting her head and taking several circles around it, feeling very satisfied.

Then, with a bit of sadness, she looked up at the bare top of the pine tree, "It’s just missing the star on top, Mom used to put it there."

Ethan Sterling rubbed his daughter’s head, "How about Dad puts it up this year?"

As he finished speaking, Seth Sterling took out the transparent star that he and his sister had picked together.

He thought his daughter would agree with his suggestion, but Honey showed a troubled expression on her face.

She felt that placing the star on the Christmas tree was a small promise between her and her mother, and it didn’t matter if her mom wasn’t there, she could do it, but letting Dad do it felt different.

She couldn’t explain what was wrong, but she just felt a bit lost.

She pressed her lips together, remained silent for a long time, and looked up at her father, "Dad, can I put this star up?"

The star looked transparent from the outside, and inside it was a scene of Santa Claus driving a reindeer sleigh across a snowy forest. When plugged into the socket on the top of the Christmas tree, it would light up with different colors, looking especially beautiful.

It was the one she and her brother had chosen after searching for a long time, and even though she had a big fall while trying to put it up, she still wanted to complete this task herself.

Her eyes were full of hope. Even as she spoke, she wasn’t sure if her dad would fulfill her wish, and she didn’t know how to do it. The previous incident had proven that even when standing on a chair, she still couldn’t reach the socket for the star.

Ethan looked at his daughter expectantly and smiled, "Of course you can." He then handed the star to his daughter, lifted her by the waist, and placed her on his shoulders, "Can you reach it now?"

"Wow..." Holding onto her dad’s head, Honey felt like she had discovered a new world, her eyes sparkling with excitement, "I feel so tall now."

Ethan slowly walked towards the Christmas tree, where Honey could see the socket clearly and placed the star on it in a flash.

"It’s plugged in!" She sat excitedly on her dad’s shoulders, clapping her hands.

Seth was infected by his sister’s happiness and started clapping his hands, too.

Once his daughter’s excitement had passed, Ethan gently put her down.

The living room was lit with soft orange lights. After the Christmas tree was plugged in, the colorful light strings flickered like neon, looking exceptionally beautiful, and the star on top was even more dazzling.

Honey rushed back to her room to change into a newly bought dress, standing under the Christmas tree singing the Italian version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" while dancing the dances she had learned in kindergarten. Her cuteness was like a little angel coming down to earth.

Mama Bennett and Owen Fulton couldn’t help but come out to watch the festivities but didn’t want to disturb the father and children celebrating, so they sat far away at the dining table.

After singing, Honey saw them and rushed over to pull them over, "Hurry, it’s almost midnight, we need to get ready to make wishes."

Ethan set a countdown on his phone; when midnight arrived, the phone started playing "Jingle Bells." Three adults, together with Seth, were led by Honey to stand under the Christmas tree, raising clasped hands reverently with closed eyes to silently make their wishes.

Every year, Honey wished for her illness to be cured. Her mom said that if she repeated it several times, angels would hear her wish and make it come true. So she decided to start wishing for her whole family to be healthy from this year. But if the angels found it too hard to bless the whole family, then they should keep her mom healthy as she loved her mom the most, even though she loved her dad and brother dearly too!

It was Seth’s first year making a Christmas wish. For many days, his sister had been telling him how effective Christmas wishes were. As a knowledgeable young man, he thought that wishing was just a way to comfort the heart, so he couldn’t even be bothered to make a wish during his birthday. Well, to be honest, he hadn’t really celebrated his birthday much before, as dad was always busy and didn’t care about those days much. Usually, Rhonda or the servants would accompany him.

This year was the first birthday he celebrated with his sister and mom, making him a bit fond of birthdays.

Even though he didn’t believe an angel would help make his wishes come true, he still wanted to wish for his sister’s and mom’s happiness to motivate himself.

He was determined to quickly become a responsible man and fulfill this wish.

As for Ethan Sterling, he thought he had long since lost the ability to have a wish, but as soon as he closed his eyes, a scene popped into his mind: Ruby Sullivan was laughing foolishly at her mom’s funeral, out of place but so radiant.

He hoped she could be happy, but the thought that her happiness had nothing to do with him made his heart ache.

In the square, fireworks lit up the faces of people huddled together, and everyone cheered at the sky, as if they could have a brand-new tomorrow after this moment.

The people from Nirvana, after going wild, hailed cabs home, not knowing what new achievements tomorrow might bring, filled with both nervousness and excitement.

At home, the two little ones went back to their rooms to sleep after the celebration, and Ethan Sterling went to his son’s room first, "Your Uncle Don will be visiting your school with you tomorrow." He had forgotten he hadn’t informed his son about this yet.

Seth was pleasantly surprised but quickly restrained his emotions, trying to hide the corners of his mouth from curling upwards, and said haughtily, "It’s actually not that necessary." When he heard his mom might not have time for Christmas activities, he hadn’t planned to mention it to his parents.

Upon hearing that Mom was too busy, Honey, like her brother, wanted to be an understanding child but only didn’t tell Mom and mentioned it during a video call with Dad.

Ethan casually asked his son about it too. Apparently, even elementary school could have parent-child activities. Initially, he thought one of him or Ruby going would be enough, but both kids told him that mom was busy and asked him not to tell her.

So Ethan told Seth he would ask Vivian about it. To his surprise, Vivian had long ago made plans to spend Christmas in Suonia with Uncle Leon to join in the fun, and it was only confirmed today that Leon Sterling would be attending the activity.

Seth had stopped holding out hope, and when an uncle appeared, even though he was family, it was enough to make him happy.

After saying goodnight to his son, he went to his daughter’s room, agreeing to go to the hospital for a check-up after the activities tomorrow and asked if she had any discomfort.

After confirming she felt fine, Honey smiled at her dad and said, "Thank you for coming today." When she fell earlier, she was quite scared, and if her dad hadn’t lifted her to place the star, she would probably have had bad memories when she saw stars in the future.

"You’re welcome," Ethan kissed his daughter’s forehead, "Sleep tight."

"Goodnight, Dad."

"Goodnight, Honey."

Ethan came out of his daughter’s room, zombied out in the living room for a while before finding a blanket to sleep in the living room, waiting for Ruby Sullivan to come home.

He felt they needed to have a proper conversation about the kids.