[HP] Born to be a pair

Chapter 19

During the time my father opened the door, Renee had tied several bouquets of Christmas holly, tied them with pretty glittery ribbons, and hung them on the window with fishing line.

"You are at home."

Old Hawke put on his dirty wool slippers, and threw the chain of keys into the tin box on the mantelpiece.

Beside the box were some miscellaneous items: a stack of long-paid bills, a cardboard-lined picture of the Madonna, and a yellowed photograph of my mother, Amelia Hawke.

How ironic!The statue of the Virgin was placed side by side with the pictures of the witches.

Renee couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth, but she didn't stop wrapping the ribbon.

Old Hawke had already walked into the semi-open living room, and he couldn't help frowning as he stared at the Christmas decorations on the ground, and sat down on the hard armchair.

"You're coming back for Christmas, why didn't you write to me in advance?"

"I also made a temporary decision." Renee said coldly, "I heard that you always go to church for Christmas, so I can go there this year as well."

Old Hawk picked up the flickering light strip on the ground in dissatisfaction: "You bought all this rubbish, why do we still go to church? Isn't it just throwing money at those flashy department stores for nothing!"

"I didn't buy these things!"

When confronting her father, Renee always seemed unable to control her temper, and she couldn't help but yell.

"Mr. Penrose gave it to us! Do you know why?"

Old Hawk was stunned, as if he hadn't expected the emotional attack from his daughter, his calm and mean face changed color.

"Because our house is so bland and not festive at all!" she sneered.

"Honestly, that's what I thought the first time I saw it. I even thought I'd misremembered the date—oh, maybe I came home during the Easter break? Ah! Where's the egg? Father? "

Renee's resentment towards Old Hawk had been buried for decades. Even though she was only 15 years old, the ten years of the cycle were enough for her to resent her father.

The Hawk family has no festivals, and all festivals that cost money and time are not allowed to enter this lake house-this is a rule that has existed since Renee was aware of it.

When he was living in Primrose Lane before the age of six, Old Hawk would go out alone every holiday and find a part-time job to earn money. Renee was put in the house of Mrs. Duncan, a neighbor, and forced to watch her middle-aged romance.

After they were six years old, they moved to a deserted lakeside cottage. Old Hawke stopped looking for part-time jobs after paying off the debt, but he didn't want to celebrate the festival either, so he locked Renee in the bedroom alone and drove to the village killing time in the bar.

Sometimes Renee was so lonely that she would pester him and beg him to take her to the lively village.

The usually impatient old Hawke had to take the little girl and tie her with a rope near the bar, just the right distance--not to get in the way of his drinking and watching football games, and not being barefoot. Run up the gravel road to get hit by a car.

Old Hawke, who was running around the factory, never seemed to think that his daughter was also a creature with emotions and brains.

He couldn't help thinking, there was food, clean water, and clothes, and he also made money to support her in school, so why was Renee Hawk still dissatisfied?

"Since there are these decorations..."

Renee said wearily that she had had enough of arguing with Old Hawk, and that she should calm down during the Christmas holiday and concentrate on enjoying her own Christmas.

"Then we can have the holidays at home, too, with frozen meals and cans in the pantry, right?"

"But the church provides free meals!" Old Hawk blurted out, looking at her with a very incomprehensible look.

Renee was so stunned that she felt her jaw drop to the floor.

"That's what you're doing?! That's what you're going to church for Christmas?!—You, you're not going to—"

She suddenly thought of something, jumped up from the floor frantically, and quickly rushed to the second floor, another master bedroom opposite her bedroom.

With no difficulty—perhaps because Christmas was a few days away—a scruffy, battered old serge suit was found.

"You still pretend to be a homeless person to go to church to eat and drink?!"

Renee threw the suit with no discernible color and shape at his feet, eyes full of disappointment and embarrassment.

She felt that her self-esteem had been crushed by her father all her life, so she might as well let her die unexpectedly like her mother when she was a baby!

"I don't see any problem," said old Hawke calmly.

"Since the church loves the world, and I am also a member of the world, then what's wrong with me going to enjoy the gospel they give? What's more, in order to prevent other rich people from doing the same as me, I specially wore this suit .”

It is true, as he said, that the self-made man was unhappy and thin, with little joy in life, as if his vocation was to accumulate capital.

And his stinginess comes from poverty, and frugality has become an indispensable part of his life, which is integrated into his blood, just as the yearning for freedom of life is integrated into Renee's blood.

——From this point of view, the father and daughter are somewhat similar, and there are unusual things hidden in their blood.

"What's wrong with me just wanting a normal, normal Christmas?!" Renee cried.

"There are several Christmas trees in the school, the trees are full of gifts, and the Christmas dinner is made by the elves...And I abandoned all of these and came back to spend the holidays with you, what is it for?"

She rushed back upstairs again like a whirlwind, opened the suitcase at the end of the bed and rummaged through it to find the diary that already contained content.

Returning aggressively to the living room, he threw the diary into the arms of old Hawke, who was inspecting the bouquet of holly.

"Take it! This is my mother's diary, and now there is something in it-you have to return it to me after reading it!"

The snow outside the window had stopped, and Renee rode off the bicycle in the front yard angrily, and rode all the way to the village in anger.

It was the Christmas holidays, and the children in the village were off, as were some adults with different jobs, so they could decorate houses and bake Christmas gingerbread men at home.

Her anger had been vented in the middle of the journey, and now she was riding her bicycle with great difficulty on the only flat road in the village.

In the corner clearing a couple of bundled kids were playing with hand-held fireworks, sparks cascading down like star-studded beards, putting Renee in a better mood.

"Hey! Renee, is that you?"

Someone called her name on the street, and the wheels slipped on the icy road. Fortunately, Renee firmly grasped the handle, so that she could safely park beside the house that smelled of baking.

She turned her head and saw that it was Willie Penrose, the son of the "Penrose Desserts" family, and the eldest brother who had taken care of her for many years.

Seeing that Renee was passing by on his bicycle, he looked very excited, with his hands clasped by the window of the bakery, and he kept waving to her.

"My dad said you're back, but I still don't believe it! I didn't expect you to come back for Christmas!"

He brought Renee into the warm room, and graciously made her a cup of hot cocoa and a freshly baked croissant. His attitude was so good that she felt a little uncomfortable.

"Willie, I'll be working here tomorrow, too," Renee said, "but only until Christmas Eve."

"Really?!" Willie's eyes lit up, and he rubbed his hands in embarrassment, "This—this is really great—"

Renee squinted and took a sip of hot cocoa to study Willie carefully—carefully wearing a hairnet, blond hair tied back in a hat, dry-shaven goatee from last summer. It is clean, and the baking clothes are also neat and clean, and it looks like the whole person is full of energy.

Something is not right.This thought flashed through her mind for a moment, but before Renee could react, a tall, pretty Asian girl pushed the door open and walked in.

She smiled when she saw Willy, but suddenly saw Renee along his arms, and she was surprised for a moment, and then quickly returned to normal.

"Good afternoon, Willie." She walked in the direction where the two were, and couldn't help but keep looking at Renee from the corner of her eye. "Please give me a baguette and a soufflé."

"Uh, uh... ok, of course..."

Willie walked towards the baking kitchen as if in a daze, and the moment he opened the door, he suddenly recalled that there were these two foods in the crisper window, and he had to go back in embarrassment.

While bagging money for her, Renee noticed that Willie made more than one small mistake, but the Asian girl always kindly said 'it's okay'.

The glass door had been closed, and Willie was still staring at the girl's back in obsession, until her figure disappeared into the corner of the street, as if remembering how to breathe, he let out a heavy sigh of relief.

"I understand."

Renee, with a smile and cocoa milk stains on her face, looked at him playfully with raised eyebrows.

"Someone is in love!"

Willie's round face was as red as rising bread in his bakery, and he kept shaking his head, "No, no...she won't like me, I just...I..."

He sighed sadly, and his straight back collapsed.

"She's a tourist here on a graduation trip and I'm just a baker in a no-name village - it's not going to happen."

"Then how long will she be traveling here?"

"... a month—that's what she said."

"You don't have to take my advice, but... my advice is, enjoy the moment, Willie."

Renee's face looked very sincere and convincing, and she sighed and said, "Don't miss every good opportunity in your life, even if you think it won't work out in the future, at least you are happy now.

And in my opinion, it's not that she doesn't mean anything to you. "

There was an alarm sound from the oven in the baking room, and Willy was so frightened that he rushed back to the room to save his bread.

Perhaps it was also because Renee's words fell through and he ran away, at least the blush on his face never dissipated before he left.

"Okay, Willie." Renee said to herself as she drank the last sip of hot cocoa, "Maybe it's time for me to give you a little help based on my own experience."

The author has something to say:

Two shifts a day, am I diligent or not!Akimbo.jpg

Renee is going to use her experience in school brushing to help her friends!

感谢在2021-10-0714:48:19~2021-10-0723:14:06期间为我投出霸王票或灌溉营养液的小天使哦~

Thanks to the little angels who irrigate the nutrient solution: I am waiting for more updates every day! 3 bottles;

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!