** 2013 **

It had been another rough day at work. He tossed the mails and parcels in his hands carelessly onto the coffee table and plonked himself onto his settee. With his legs stretching across and resting on the coffee table, he closed his tired eyes and massaged his temples.

Louis didn’t really like the Christmas holiday season. He wasn’t a Christmas scrooge. He just hated the mad rush at work where everyone was trying to complete as many cases as possible before they went on their week-long vacation which started from Christmas Day to New Year Day.

His son’s visit was the highlight for his holidays for all these years. His fifteen years old son Daniel usually celebrated Christmas Eve with his ex-wife’s extended family and flew over to meet him on Christmas Day. After spending one week out of the whole year to catch up with each other’s lives, Daniel would eventually fly home on New Year Day which was also Louis’ birthday.

This year, however, the annual “father-and-son ritual” had been cancelled because Daniel wanted to spend Christmas with his high school sweetheart. Louis had thoughtfully declined Daniel’s invite to have their yearly reunion in their hometown. While it seemed perfectly all right to speak with Lydia on the phone, he didn’t want to make it awkward for her to have both her current husband and ex-husband together at her family’s Christmas celebration, especially when he had experienced first-hand how nosy and gossipy some of her relatives were.

Louis let out a sigh. The cold weather and the prospective loneliness had caused him to miss his childhood home and the topical weather that he had grown up with. His career had led him to this city twelve years ago and cost him his marriage with Lydia. She could not adapt to the city’s haste and cold. The coldness of the city wasn’t limited to just the temperature; the people in the city were also cold to each other. She hardly had any friends and she didn’t get to see Louis much due to his work. Their marriage eventually broke down two years later.

Sitting up now, he began sorting the mails. With the endless calls for environment conservation, he wondered why companies still wasted so much paper printing these countless unwanted mails. Out of the stack of paper in front of him, he only needed two pieces and they were his credit card bills.

With his mails sorted out, he finally rested his eyes on the two parcels. He recognised from the handwriting on them that they were from his mother. He was certain from his experience that one of them contained a hand-knitted sweater. He weighed the two parcels with his hands and chose to open the lighter one first. He gave a smirk when he uncovered a white and blue striped round-neck sweater from its wrappers. As he pulled the sweater over himself, both senses of warmth and homesickness came over him.

He looked curiously at the other parcel and wondered what else had his mother sent him. After giving the parcel a few shakes, he didn’t bother to guess any further and tore off its wrappers. He stared at the unwrapped tin box in surprise.

He had moved his things out from his parent’s house after his marriage with Lydia and this was probably the only thing he had left behind. It contained items from his childhood and teenage years that he had been too embarrassed to share with Lydia. His parents had recently sold their house to go on a world tour so his mother must have picked it up during their move and sent to him.

Rust had set in along the edge of the box and around its lid, making it very difficult to open. He tugged forcefully at the lid for a few times and the box finally jolted open. Some of its contents fell onto the carpeted floor. Sighing resignedly at the mess, he bent over to pick up the items. He looked at each item fondly and several of them gave him a bittersweet feeling.

As he picked up a normal looking coaster which had turned yellowish, he wondered what had been so special about it that made him kept it. He flipped it over and read the scribbling on it. He could not believe what was written. He read it one more time. And another time. He had no recollection that this promise was ever made.

(17.12.2013)