The countdown to the new year

Amber and Klara had left after our little session. I'll be honest, I preferred having my private conversation with Amber over our date yesterday. I'm really happy that she's preparing something for me tomorrow, too. Speaking of which, mom will return tomorrow in the evening. I'll cook more than enough today anyway, so I think the leftovers should last a while? I guess I can always ask Christine to cook tomorrow in the worst case. My birthday has never been much celebrated and I'm not looking forward to it a lot but I'd still like to keep it a special day where I don't have to do chores.

One thing I have to do myself is baking the cake for tomorrow and the meal for the evening today. Half a day in the kitchen, ugh. What won't I do for a good birthday and the final SP? That being said, it's my first time baking a cake with gluten free flour. It's surprisingly difficult since gluten and water is usually what turns the flour powder into a dough blob. Even so, following a recipe is easy enough and so I quickly had my dough ready to put into the oven. Next up was mixing some cream. My cake wasn't going to be anything too fancy, so I simply melted some chocolate and stirred it into the cream. While I cleaned the kitchen and prepared the ingredients for dinner, the cake itself was finished and I let it cool off. I'll put on the decorations later.

For now, the pot with water is slowly starting to boil, so I have to wait. Just as I was getting bored, Em enters the living room and excitedly drags me to her newest project, the second bathroom in the interior section, essentially the bathroom in the bedchambers.

"Look at this." The entire bathroom was renovated and tiled, it was honestly impressive with what speed Em worked. "I know it's a little bit dirty and barebones, but still... Everything works, look!" Em ran to the toilet full of glee and pushed the button to flush. Then she ran over to the sink and opened the tap, proudly presenting me the flowing stream of water that rushed out. She ran over to the bathtub and opened the tap there too.

"Good job, Em! If you're tired, I'm sure you can ask one of the other women here to clean up the bathroom. I invited Amber and Klara this evening, so it would be great to have two bathrooms if we need them. I'll be busy cooking, so I can't really help you clean."

"Heh, it's alright. You can't really clean this bathroom normally yet, since this is all dust from the materials I used, like the tiles. I have the cleaning equipment with me. You just make sure that I get to have a good meal once I'm done here, okay James?"

"Oh don't worry. Speaking of which, I should return. Good luck on the homestretch, Em."

Upon returning, I could start with the next part of the meal. The potatoes were cooking already, so now it was time to start with the meat and veggies for the day. All in all, it took me about an hour of well-coordinated management of the pots to get all parts of our meal ready. Once everything had calmed down at some point in the middle, I used the time to decorate the cake. In theory I could start the new year with a slice of my own birthday cake. I always thought of doing that in the past years, but baking a cake myself always seemed too tedious, while celebrating the new year with others means that the first few seconds are focused on the year rather than me. I'm not quite sure why I'm getting so hung up on getting attention... Maybe it's because I was never first on anyone's mind during the countdown, all twenty-four times?

Christine and Donna entered the living room, both in dresses. Donna wore her elegant long red dress again that we sullied in unison a few weeks ago. How time flies... Christine wore a frilly dress with a skirt that only went down to her knee. It was turquoise and had patterns of blooming flowers connected through vines stitched onto it. Christine definitely went for a cuter look this time, although her dress is rather unconventional. Before I could muse on further about fashion trends however, Klara and Amber rang the doorbell. Under their coats that had been necessary even for the short walk over here, the two also chose to dress up. Amber was clearly going for a more risky outfit with a deep blue dress who's V-neck extended all the way down between her breasts, not to mention the fact that the skirt only reached halfway down her thigh. Klara was embarrassed to show her dress, but I got the impression that she's simply not used to it. She wore a relatively plain yellow dress, although I will admit that it looked good on her, complimenting her figure. Last but not least, Em stepped out of the bathroom with a set of new clothes, she looked a bit ashamed of being underdressed for the evening, although I wasn't wearing anything too special either.

With my eye for fashion satisfied, I invited the women to the table and we started eating. After we all had our share, we began to talk.

Emily: "Oh right, I finished with the second bathroom, by the way. If there's ever the need to, feel free to go there. It's at the corner of the hallway near the bedrooms."

Donna: "That's going to be awesome with showers. I've had to wait once or twice recently, and we're still missing two people, right? The second bathroom will be a huge relief." Em seemed nervous.

Emily: "Uhh, sorry to disappoint, but I haven't decorated the room yet and well... part of the missing items is the shower curtain. So please take a bath instead to avoid spraying water everywhere."

Christine: "Woah, a bath? I'll take one after we wake up. Nothing beats a warm bath in the cold of winter. You three can argue about who gets to shower first."

Klara: "Oh, are you renovating the house?"

James: "Not quite, I'm trying to make the house fit for having so many people live here. Em's really skilled at this, so now we have the bedroom area closed off, a second bathroom and soon even more. There are still some little things to fix but in the end, I should be able to house twelve women here if I ever ask that many to move in with me."

Klara: "Wow, I knew this house was big, but twelve people and you?" Amber chuckled, and I think I understand why. Her question wasn't whether I wanted a harem filled with a dozen women, or why I speculated that it might not be enough, rather she was just amazed that this building had so many rooms. It's the casualness with which they treat my accomplishments that I like so much.

Emily: "I was surprised too, but this building seemed to have been some sort of summer camp type of building where parents could bring their kids during the summer holidays to keep the kids occupied. I assume they needed the sleeping rooms and the large kitchen for that. Eventually they remodeled it from what was essentially a large shack into an actual building."

Donna: "Oh, is that why the rooms are so spacious? When master told me that he'd give me a room I was a bit skeptical about where to put all my stuff but it was quite large for a single person's bedroom. But I think you can let a group of 20 kids sleep in such rooms for a couple weeks."

Amber: "That'd make a lot of sense... When I was a kid my parents also always put me in a summer camp and these kind of rooms would just have one mattress for each person spaced apart as much as possible. Oh, and split by gender, of course. That was part of my awakening as a teen later on..."

Klara: "Haha, it's funny how differently we realized it, huh? Imagine if you were together with the girl that first stirred feelings in you all these years later..."

Donna: "Oh, this seems interesting. Did you know her? Was she hot?"

Amber: "No, I didn't talk much with her, different friend group and I was usually a lonely girl anyway. Pretty sure she had a boyfriend, so I don't think I'd ever had a chance."

Christine: "Tch, I bet she'd be happier with you."

Klara: "Not a big fan of men either, I take it?"

Christine: "Besides master... no."

Emily: "Yeah he's truly an exception, isn't he?"

Donna: "Now now, let's not dote on the man of the house too much. We can do that after the countdown and he's got to have something to look forward to. Any new year resolutions?"

James: "Hmmm... I guess I want to continue my success... And this month has been a mess, so I hope my life will get a little bit simpler overall, less drama."

Christine: "My life has gotten a lot better recently, so I just want to ride the high as long as possible."

Amber: "I wanna try my best to keep working and helping Klara on her farm. I'm sure I'll be able to manage both somehow."

Klara: "Aww, honey... But don't worry, I'm sure I can manage it alone if need be. I want to enjoy our life as a couple as much as possible."

Donna: "You all have picked great goals. I didn't want to ruin the mood, but most people choose things like working out. And then the plans never work out, since New Years is just like any other day. I'm a bit unsure what I want to do... I hope that maybe next year or so I could take over for Beth if she ever leaves. I don't have too much else that I'm aiming for at the moment."

Em listened to everyone quietly and said: "Oh right, New Years. We don't have that much more time, do we... I guess I'll have to do what I must to make my next year more pleasant... Can I borrow you for a second, James?"

James: "Oh right, I nearly forgot."

We went to my room and Em put on my mom's engagement ring. It was time to fake the engagement. I faintly heard the girls explaining to Klara what was going on, as we closed the door to my room behind us. A faked smile on a selfie, where Em showed off her ring should be enough at the moment, everything else can follow later. Em had sent the picture. As we were about to leave the room, her father called, Em put the call on loudspeaker. It wasn't her father that called however.

"Hello, Doctor Henry Dockinger here. What is your relation to the patient?"

"Patient? Oh, I'm Emily Emm, the daughter."

"Miss Em, I'm sorry to inform you that your father has passed away an hour ago. If you want, you can visit the hospital right now. We have contacted the morgue, but because of the holidays, they'll take a while."

"I'll... be right there."

"See you in a bit then." He hung up.

Em asked me: "James, is it alright if I dip?"

"Of course Em. Should we accompany you? I don't think it's a great idea for you to be alone in a moment like this."

"No, I don't wanna ruin the party mood..."

"Alright, but can I go with you? You're already tearing up, so let me be there for you."

"I'd be glad if you could accompany me, I do... I might need someone to comfort me." She wiped away a tear. And we returned to the living room in haste. After giving the women a brief explanation, they understood and told us to rush to the hospital.

Donna: "Should I drive you two? I didn't drink anything and I don't think you should be driving like this." Em was indeed tearing up a lot to the point where I grew concerned, too.

Emily: "I only came here with the moving truck, so I don't think anyone else can drive me."

Klara: "Actually... I had to get a license for tractors and big vehicles anyway before I moved out, so I can drive. Is it okay to leave you here honey?"

Amber: "Of course. I'll just chat a bit with my colleagues, it'll be like our lunch breaks before master. You help those two out."

With that, we were on the road. Em and I chose to stay in the back, where she simply sobbed in my arms. When we entered the hospital, we looked for his room, he was alone in here. The imposing, threatening father of Em, now dead. Em started crying audibly, she was also a bit shaken by everything. I simply kept holding her in my arms, unsure what words I could say to comfort Em. As much as I want to empathize with her, the father she knew and the father I knew him as were very different, I could never give her words of comfort when mourning a person I only knew as someone threatening his own daughter and hindering her in the pursuit of the biggest passion she ever had. Doctor Dockinger entered after a while and explained to us that he had lung cancer and that little could be done because he sought treatment too late.

Emily: "James... why do you think he didn't tell me? He went to all sorts of checkups, so to keep it hidden from me for so long and until so recently..."

James: "I can't know for sure, but... I have a hunch that the reason he pressured us with that New Years deadline was because he expected to die soon thereafter. He probably knew asking for more was impossible, and so..."

Emily: "But... I wanted to spend more time with him, I wanted to see him living for a lot longer... I... Why would he do this?"

James: "You know your father better than me. If you ask me though, I think he did what he believed to be best for you. But in doing so, he has never considered your opinion, imposing his own will instead."

Emily: "Can I ask you something stupid?" She slowly stopped crying, as her tears dried up and her face became less red again.

James: "Of course."

Emily: "Do you think he did the right thing? To **** this onto me?"

James: "No. Especially not with such methods. At the end of the day, it's your life to live. I know you still like your father, what makes me mad is that all of your pain would have been avoided, if he had talked to you normally to share his thoughts on what would make you happy and had taken you seriously. I'm not going to **** you to do anything against your will, even if I think you making other life choices would be better. I'll give you my opinion, but nobody, not even your family should have a say in the way you lead your adult life." Klara +1SP (+100SP) 100SP Quest cleared!

Klara, seemingly listening in from the door, interrupted us, though for reasons unrelated to her quest: "I don't want to disturb you two, but it'll get loud in five... four... three... two... one..."