A Compromise Before Christmas

Chapter 1

As the month of October was coming to an end and the season of autumn was transitioning into winter, the city of Athens had seen many tourists looking to enjoy a peaceful holiday after the rush of summer.

It was expected that most people would get into the holiday spirit and start preparing for the festive season. But while most people had families to spend their holidays with, others preferred not to and instead enjoyed all that life had to offer.

Amongst those few was Nikolaos Cassavetes, who preferred his holidays as far away from his family as possible.

In a nightclub located in the region of Gazi, along Piraeus Street, where lights of all colors illuminated the room and loud music burst out of speakers hanging from the walls, Nikolaos danced heartily on the dance floor with a woman he knew nothing about.

Lost in the noise of his environment, he paid no attention to what was happening around him; all that mattered was the music and the beauty he knew he was going to take home.

Nikolaos had been dancing since the club opened at midnight till 3 in the morning and had stopped only once to get a drink for himself and his female companion. But even the most lively of people needed a break and that was exactly what he needed.

Tapping the brunette woman he danced all night with on the shoulder to get her attention, Nikolaos spoke into her ear to be heard:

"I'm ready to leave, coming with?"

The brunette gave him a beautiful smile as she responded, "Sure!"

Having been given the green light, Nikolaos held his companion's hand and led her off the dance floor. Hand in hand, they walked towards the door, but a vibration coming from his back pocket halted him in his steps.

Taking the device out of his pocket, he checked to see who was calling and was pleasantly surprised to see the contact name 'Adonis'; but it wasn't the first time he tried to call him that night for he had seen three missed calls prior.

"Excuse me for one moment love"

Nikolaos excused himself and went to find a quieter place to answer his phone call. Once he did, he prepared himself to greet the caller:

"Adonis, my beautiful baby brother!"

"Are you drunk?", Adonis responded sternly from the other end of the phone.

"Must I be drunk to be happy that my brother called me?"

"No, but considering you didn't pick up any of my other calls..."

"I'm sorry, the music was too loud"

"Of course, you're at the club"

"Guilty", Nikolaos responded with a chuckle.

"Well, I'm glad to hear you are still enjoying life but I have something important to tell you"

"Important? Right now? Don't do this to me Adonis, I was just about to head back to my hotel room with a beautiful brunette"

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, but you must understand me, she has these dazzling green eyes like emeralds and a body like-"

"Fine", Adonis interrupted, "but when you no longer have money to pay your hotel bills don't come running to me"

Nikolaos straightened his back as he asked, "What do you mean?"

"Just that, soon you may not even have money to pay your expensive hotel bills"

"Can you please be more clear? I don't understand anything"

Adonis sighed, "It's about grandmother"

The mention of his grandmother immediately put Nikolaos on edge.

"Is she alright, did something happen to her?"

"Relax, nothing happened, she's as healthy as ever"

Nikolaos let out a breath of relief, "For God's sake don't scare me like that Adonis"

"Just listen! As you know the festive season is about to start"

"Hmm, unfortunately"

"And you know how much grandmother loves this time of year, right?"

"How can I forget? She could have become Mrs. Claus if she wanted to"

"Well, this Christmas grandmother wants to do something big and special", Adonis paused for a moment then went on, "to make up for the years she didn't celebrate it because of you"

Nikolaos felt a weight on his chest, it was the feeling of guilt. When Adonis had told him 3 years ago that their grandmother was no longer going to celebrate Christmas because he left he didn't think it was true. But every year after that, she did not appear in any magazines talking about the grand Christmas party she would throw, that was when he knew it was true.

"So, she finally decided to celebrate it; what changed?" he asked to move on from the depressing topic.

"According to her, she isn't getting younger and the number of Christmases she will be able to spend on this earth with us is decreasing"

"That is such a sad way to think about it"

"We share the same thought, and I told her too but she had her mind made up"

"On what? I'm still not seeing the connection to my hotel bills"

"Her will, the connection is her will. Grandmother told us just recently over dinner that she is starting to write her will"

"Seriously?"

"I heard it with my own ears and directly from her, so yes, seriously"

"Okay, and where do I fit in in all this?"

"Christ, you don't have even a little bit of a clue?"

Nikolaos' silence after Adonis' question was his answer.

"You're not going to be in the will you moron!"

Adonis' response physically stunned Nikolaos, he stood still in place as he tried to process what his young brother had just told him.

"Nik?" Adonis called out to see if his brother was still on the line, "Nik, are you still there?"

"What do you mean I won't be on the will?!"

"It means exactly that, I don't think you're going to be in grandmothers will"

"You think, or you know?" Nikolaos' tone was starting to become aggressive. He didn't mean for it to, but the news he was being given had gotten a rise out of him.

"I'm- I don't know, look, as of right now it's just a rumor"

"Started by who?"

"Penelope"

"Gah! You're listening to rumors made by that witch?"

"No, I'm listening to rumors made by your older brother's fiancee, you know, the older brother who works closely with grandmother?"

Nikolaos became tense; the more he talked with Adonis, the more his anxiety began to rise.

"What exactly do these rumors sound like? Tell me word for word"

"In Penelope's own words: " Grandmother Corinna is writing her will but it seems her infamous grandson won't be on it because he failed to make Santa's nice list"

Nikolaos clenched his jaw, thinking about what he had just been told, it sounded very much like something she would say.

"And she knows this for a fact?"

"Penelope lies a lot, we both know this, but this time...this time she sounded so sure of what she said, and she was smug about it too"

It was a well-known fact that when Penelope was smug, she was either scheming a plan that was guaranteed to work or knew something that others didn't; she was a dangerous woman, and remembering this made Nikolaos curse because it meant the rumors were true.

"Sh*t"

It infuriated Nikolaos how Penelope was part of the first people to know he was being left out of the will. Imagining her smug face as his brother Michalis no doubt told her the news made him feel anger he never thought he could experience.

The night that had started off so well suddenly became the worst Nikolaos had ever experienced. He no longer felt the need to dance or drink or even engage in any intimacy; all he wanted was to know why he was being given the news that he was to be left out of his grandmother's fortune.