Chapter Text
Diana didn't hate Christmas; to say that would be a big exaggeration.
She merely didn’t find anything interesting in the celebration anymore. All the magic of Christmas at the Cavendish Estate had died with her mother years ago. The malice and pride of Aunt Daryl and her daughters made the atmosphere unpleasant and the sweets bitter. If she could, she would spend the holidays working, holed up in her office across the ocean, until all the trees had been taken down and the Christmas lights were far out of sight.
However, the office closed for the holidays, of course! Unlike her, all her colleagues loved going home to spend quality time with their beloved families; everyone wanted to catch up with relatives and enjoy the celebrations — everyone except her, that is.
There was no merit in lamenting. The woman knew perfectly well that, if she wanted, she could turn off her cell phone and stay in New York, hiding in her apartment, and ignore her aunt's unpleasant invitations. She could. But if she did that, it was very likely she would never know peace again.
And she refused to sacrifice what little peace she had left.
So she packed her bags, bought the longest flight to Edinburgh, and boarded, praying to whoever would listen that Meril and Maryl would be in a good mood, and that her aunt would be less ignorant. Hopefully, Anna would be there, and she could spend time chatting with the housekeeper, riding her own horses, and playing with her dogs.
Too engrossed in her own thoughts, she didn't notice the hours passing, and only remembered she was on a plane when the aircraft started shaking. She looked out the window and saw the intense snowstorm; the dense white flakes seemed to weigh down the plane's wings.
While she pondered how this didn't seem like a good thing, the pilot's voice came through the speakers, “Estimated passengers, due to an unexpected snowstorm, we will have to make an emergency landing. Even though we’re close to our final destination, it is very dangerous to continue flying with so much snow. Please put your seatbelts on, and in a few minutes, we will be landing in the city of Mikkeli, Finland; they have a small airport for domestic flights, and we will be improvising a landing there.”
Great.
Although Diana had chosen the longer flight on purpose to minimize the time she would spend at the mansion, it didn't mean she wanted to be stuck in some small Finnish town. She had never heard of this place before; the chances of it being utterly boring were enormous…
The only thing to do was hope the snowstorm would pass soon, and the plane could take off again.
[...]
The plane wasn't that big, so there weren't many passengers, and the airline was kind enough to arrange accommodation for all of them in a local inn. Diana barely looked around, just gave the information the receptionist asked for, and went straight up to her assigned room.
Now, please don't take offense, dear reader; Diana wasn't someone without manners. But she felt she was almost at the peak of her bad mood, so she tried to keep interactions to a minimum, avoiding being rude by accident.
As a sign of faith that the snowstorm might miraculously improve overnight, Diana pushed her still-packed suitcases into the corner of the room, next to the old wooden desk, and threw herself face down on the bed, fully clothed.
Ruminating on all her bad luck, and suffering in anticipation of the boredom she was sure awaited, and the unpleasantness of interactions with her family very soon, Diana fell asleep on the bed in its slightly too soft mattress.
[...]
Akko was excited! It's not every day that a plane full of new people lands in the small town of Mikkeli. And apparently, she was in luck! According to rumors, confirmed by the surge of activity in the building's reception area, it seemed that all the passengers would be staying there, at the Jansson guesthouse.
Akko loved seeing new people, and since moving there, she was almost certain she had met everyone who lived in the town already, even the travelers who visited frequently. So, every time new faces arrived, it was like a breath of fresh air.
Working at Lotte's parents' inn is a great asset to her shenanigans, as it's easier to run into foreigners while working in the hospitality industry. To top it all off, work is always more fun when you work with your best friend. Besides, she always got at least one free meal a day when Lotte's parents invited her to eat with them, or when she worked overtime during her lunch break and could eat whatever was on the menu that day.
Maybe she'd have to work some overtime this week, given the high volume of guests — not that she was even considering complaining about it.
[...]
It was Lotte's turn to be at the reception, so Akko didn't see the travelers arriving; she was too busy doing the internal work. But, curious as she was, she didn't miss the chance to stop by the front desk when she found some free time to catch up with her friend.
“Lotte! Come on, tell me, is it another group of grannies or can I look for some promising suitors?” Akko arrived full of energy, leaning over the counter with her arms crossed, startling her friend, who was too focused on the paperwork.
Seeing Akko's cheeky face, Lotte started to laugh.
“I think you're the only person crazy enough to go looking for suitors in a group of travelers who may never come back here.” Lotte teased lightly, more laughing than mocking, really.
“Hum, look who’s talking!” Akko stuck her tongue out and flashed a mischievous smile, deciding to retort with a provocation, “As if you didn’t fall in love at first sight with the most unpleasant Filipina I’ve ever seen!”
“Akko!” Lotte turned as red as a tomato and lightly slapped her friend’s arm over the counter separating them. “That’s why Sucy picks on you so much, you provoke her when she’s not even here to defend herself!”
They laughed lightly, surely remembering the woman’s glaring expressions.
“Speaking of her, when is she coming to see you again? She’s not even my girlfriend, and even I already miss her!”
“She arrives next week. She had to stay another week there to help her mother take care of her siblings.”
“Pfft, it must be hilarious to see Sucy dealing with children, I’d pay to see that.”
“Hey, give her some credit, she does a good job scolding the twins! She probably can handle the others well, too.” Lotte tried to defend her girlfriend, but couldn’t hide her smile as she remembered the antics of Sucy’s younger sisters when she met them in person.
“Oh, I have no doubt about that! Sucy is scary when she wants to be!” Akko shuddered at the memory of the scoldings she had also received. “If she’s coming next week, does that mean she’ll be spending her birthday here?”
At Akko’s question, the Finnish woman’s eyes lit up with excitement.
“Wait, you’re right, Akko! I need to tell my parents so we can prepare something special for her!”
“Great idea! If you need anything from me, I’m at your service.” Akko winked at her friend and turned on her heels, needing to get back to her chores. “Since you’re not going to tell me the gossip about the new guests, I’ll go find out for myself.”
And just like that, Lotte was laughing again. When they were together, laughter was always guaranteed.
Before her friend completely disappeared from sight, Lotte said goodbye, adding an innocent comment:
“I wouldn’t get my hopes up too much, but if you want to try your luck, the guest in room 5 might need help with something.”
“Oh? Thank you so much for the tip, my dear friend, I’ll definitely be checking!”
“If anyone asks, I didn’t tell you anything, okay!”
“Not a thing!”
Akko left the room cackling on her own, while Lotte was left talking to herself
“She’s hopeless! That girl will really never change, huh…” and she resumed working on her papers with an amusing smile on her lips.
[...]
In her sleepy and blissful ignorance, Diana slept peacefully just as she had arrived when she heard a loud, insistent noise. Someone was knocking at the door.
Diana still didn't feel capable of interacting with other people without seeming like a jerk, so she just turned her head to the other side and closed her eyes tighter, as if that alone could make the person at the door disappear with the power of thought.
It worked. She smiled with her eyes closed, feeling the room fall into a comfortable silence once more.
She couldn't remember how long she had slept, but some time later, Diana's peace was interrupted again, and this time in a less gentle way. The noisy person knocked on the door and spoke loudly from the other side:
“Miss?! Dinner time will be ending soon, and you haven't left your room since you arrived… Is everything alright in there?!”
The person waited for a response, but Diana felt her voice was too hoarse from sleep to reply with words, so she decided to just wait for the strange woman to leave and then she would get up to have dinner.
She was already dressed; she just needed to splash some water on her face to look a little more presentable. While eating, she would gather the courage to be a sociable human being, with proper manners, and speak to anyone who addressed her.
It was a perfect plan; Diana was satisfied with it. But as she finished her thought, the door suddenly opened, startling her.
Diana fell face-first to the floor. She groaned, still too groggy from sleep to form a coherent sentence. Before she could recover, hurried footsteps preceded the pair of arms that encircled her and quickly set her on her feet. Suddenly, the room, the floor, and everything around her began to spin, and she almost fell again.
She would have fallen if it weren't for the strong arms that still held her.
"Wow, careful there!" The woman's voice rang out and sounded much more beautiful now, without the wooden door in the way to muffle it.
The woman, probably a hotel maid, sat her back on the bed, and Diana finally forced herself to open her eyes completely, finding the room totally dark, with the dim light coming through the open door as the only source of illumination.
It was difficult to see the young woman properly in the dark, but her hair looked straight and dark-colored, and her eyes shone even in the dark; Diana had never seen anything like that before.
Hypnotized by the pair of eyes that stared at her — seemingly worried, certainly curious — the Cavendish forgot to say anything.
“Miss! Are you listening to me?!”
Darn. The young woman was talking to her, and she hadn't even noticed.
“Y-Yes.” Diana's voice was much worse than she had anticipated.
The dark room, her throat as dry as a desert, her stomach protesting, and that overwhelming weakness — she had really slept all day.
“Good.” The woman in front of her finally seemed to calm down a little. “May I turn on the lights?” She asked politely.
Diana preferred to nod this time, fearing her throat would refuse to say anything else.
The young woman stood up and did exactly what she said she would do. When the light filled the room, Diana closed her eyes reflexively, and when she opened them again, there was that strange lady, crouched in front of her, analyzing her from head to toe. Those were the reddest eyes Diana had ever seen in her life, and possibly also the brightest.
The woman smiled sweetly and said:
"Much better, now I can finally see you. You should eat, you must be starving. I’ve heard you even skipped lunch, that explains this weakness…"
Diana was still processing everything, so she didn't answer.
The young woman stood up, saying she would give Diana some time to recover and also ask the kitchen staff to prepare a meal for her.
"If you need help going down the stairs later, call reception, and I'll come help you in a moment."
As she was leaving, the woman glanced over her shoulder, as if she had forgotten something.
“By the way, my name is Atsuko Kagari. But you can call me Akko.” She smiled again and closed the door, leaving a very confused and impressed Diana alone in the room.
"Akko, is it...?"