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The Oak siblings were seated around the kitchen table, waiting for Song to reveal whatever she had to tell them. She'd left the kitchen a few minutes ago to grab papers and pens, so they figured that they had to write something.
When she returned, she put the items on the kitchen table, handing out papers and pen to each of her children.
"What are we supposed to do?" Benson asked curiously.
"It's already the 16th of december. That means that it's getting close to christmas. I think Santa needs to know what each of you want!" Song said in a mysterious voice, as if she was telling the biggest secret in the world.
Kipo and Benson were too old to believe in Santa, and Wolf had never believed him in the first place. But Song still wanted to make christmas a bit more fun for her children, especially since she had never gotten to be there when they were little kids.
"But we already told the mall Santa what we wanted", Kipo reminded.
"Yeah, but Santa's an old man and his memory is getting foggy, so I think he could really use a written down wishlist", Song said.
Kipo glanced at Benson with a grin. They both knew that Song just didn't know what her children wished for, since their wants changed constantly. She would take their wishlist to buy something beside the presents that she had already bought. Wolf just didn't want to write a wishlist. She felt weird putting her wants on a list and expect her parents to buy them for her. She felt like she had enough stuff already.
But with no further comments, Kipo and Benson started to write down their wishlists. They even added stuff that they had for gotten to tell the mall Santa earlier.
Wolf just stared at her white paper, not making a move to pick up the pen. Song watched her in slight worry. She knew that Wolf still felt out of her element asking for stuff that she wanted, instead of just stuff that she needed, but she had started to hope that she would add at least something to the wishlist. Figuring that maybe she felt self-concious being watched, Song left the kitchen and let her kids finish by themselves.
They put their lists in a box that Song had brought to the table, knowing that she would take it later. Kipo looked at Wolf who was holding her paper in both of her hands.
"Are you gonna put yours in?" Kipo asked and Wolf looked up at her for a second before slowly nodding.
She put her paper into the box, before she and her siblings returned to their own rooms. A few hours later, Song walked into the kitchen and opened the box to read through their wishlists. Kipo had wished for new clothes and more board games to play with her family. Benson had wished for food ingredients and music cassettes that he would probably listen to with Troy.
But Wolf's wishlist was blank.
Song frowned. Even after leaving the room, Wolf hadn't written down anything. She knew that a lot of children didn't have anything that they wished for christmas, but she still felt concerned for Wolf. The ten year old girl still didn't tell her parents if she needed something, unless there was no possibility that she could fix it herself. She just wanted Wolf to know that she had a right to communicate her wants and needs to her parents, and they would meet them.
She just wanted Wolf to feel safe to ask for stuff, no matter what it was.
Deciding to confront Wolf about it, she took the blank paper with her and made her way to Wolf's bedroom.
The girl was doing her homework, but turned her focus to Song as she entered. Song put the blank paper down in front of Wolf, who just stared at it with a slight frown.
"Why didn't you add anything to your wishlist?" Song asked, making sure to keep any judgement out of her voice.
Wolf just shrugged in reply, not meeting Song's eyes. And so, Song continued to speak.
"You know that you're allowed to add anything you want, right? You don't need to feel like you can't ask us for things. We want to give you things because we love you - not because we want anything back."
Song knew that Wolf had believed that she owed her parents for taking her in and letting her live with them, but truth was, she didn't owe them a thing. They took her in because they saw a child in need of love and safety, and they wanted to provide her with that. Song just wanted Wolf to understand that she could ask for stuff without feeling guilty. She was ten years old, and it was normal for someone her age to ask their parents for things.
"I just... There's nothing else I need! I already have anything I could ever wish for. What else is there?" Wolf finally revealed and Song put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"You don't have to only wish for things that you need. You can wish for things that you want."
Wolf hummed in thought. What did she want? She already knew that she was going to get hairclips from her mom, so she couldn't ask for that. Her mind was blank. Song waited patiently, knowing that Wolf struggled with asking for things.
Wolf was just about to give up when an idea popped up in her mind. She smiled to herself.
"I know what I want", she said and Song praised her.
"What is it?" she asked.
"You'll see. I'm gonna add it to my list", Wolf said, asking Song to step outside since she didn't want her to know.
The second the door closed behind her, Wolf grabbed a couple of crayons and sat back down by her desk to draw. When she was finished, she folded the papper neatly before hurrying downstairs to put the wishlist in the box. She went back to her room and returned to her homework, wanting to get it finished before she went to bed.
Hours later, Song walked into the kitchen and opened the box. She found Wolf's folded wishlist and unfolded it. When she saw what was drawn on it, she let out a gasp as tears filled her eyes.
It was a drawing of their family. They were colored and everything. Song felt her heart melt at the fact that Wolf didn't wish for anything but her family to be with her. Song was happy knowing that Wolf's wish would be granted.
And it would last forever.