A Compromise Before Christmas

Chapter 6

Nikolaos had never been good with names, and much less with faces. In his entire life, only two women left a strong enough impression on him that he would never forget them. One of them he wished he had never met, and the other he could not forget.

Acacia Manolas was a woman he could never erase from his mind. The memory of her beauty resurfaced every once in a while, and with it, the memories of what had happened between them.

The last time Nikolaos had laid his eyes on Acacia was several years ago, when they were both quite young. What started off as fun quickly turned sour after she took strong offense to what he thought were lighthearted jokes. Before he had met Acacia, no one ever spoke ill of him to his face, but that night, it was his first.

Snapping back to reality, Nikolas offered a warm smile to Acacia, but she looked like she was still trying to process what she was looking at. He gave her a second before repeating himself:

“Acacia? It’s you, right?”

There was a long pause before he finally received a response.

“Nikolaos?” she asked wearily

“Yes, it’s me.”

A small smile tugged at the corner of her lip, and she sighed

“Oh, long time no see.”

“Indeed, how have you been?”

“Good, and yourself?”

“Not too bad.”

Nikolaos stared at the young woman who looked both sick and exhausted. Despite how visibly unwell she looked, her beauty still managed to shine through. Her beauty captivated him completely, just like the first time they met.

“Listen…” Acacia spoke and interrupted his line of thought, “I’d love to catch up, but I’m still on my shift.”

“Oh, of course… sorry for the interruption.”

“It’s no big deal. Enjoy the rest of your evening.”

With that, Acacia moved behind the bar and began attending to customers from there. Nikolaos stayed looking at her for a few minutes, then stepped away from the bar. A table in the far corner of the room caught his eye. He quickly occupied it and continued to look at Acacia from a distance.

At the bar, Acacia worked efficiently. Her movements were quick despite her obvious exhaustion, and her mood when dealing with the customers was surprisingly pleasant. Nikolaos marveled at her job proficiency, yet he also felt confused.

Nikolaos couldn’t wrap his head around why a woman as beautiful as Acacia was working as a server and bartender. He couldn’t understand why she was working at all. To him, every woman was as delicate as a flower, and they deserved to be taken care of, even if it wasn’t by him.

As Nikolaos stared at Acacia, his mind whirred until it formed an idea. Acacia Manolas was a beautiful and hard-working young woman, and on top of that, she had a strong character, the kind that any mother, or in his case, grandmother, would be delighted to have in her family.

There she was, the answer to his prayers. Nikolaos believed, without any shadow of a doubt, that Acacia was the perfect woman for his plan. It wasn’t a mere coincidence that she showed up in his life at that exact moment, at least that’s what he believed.

Excitement began to brew inside Nikolaos as he was already picturing the reactions of his family, especially grandmother Corinna’s. This excitement did not last long because he remembered one major issue: Acacia hated his guts.

Though their reunion was civil enough, Nikolaos had a feeling that Acacia still harbored strong negative feelings towards him. The harsh words that she told him several years ago still echoed in his mind.

Sinking into his seat, Nikolaos continued watching Acacia as she worked. What could he possibly tell her to convince her to be a part of his crazy plan? Acacia already thought low of him, and there was no doubt she would think much worse of him once he explained it to her.

Nikolaos arrived at yet another dead end. He had found the perfect woman, but they had a terrible past with each other.

Disappointment nearly swallowed him alive, but Nikolaos refused to wallow in his misery; it was all he did since he first learned about the will. The woman working at the bar across from him was the woman he believed could save him from his mess, and if there was even just a slight chance, he was willing to take it.

Downing the rest of his cocktail in one gulp, Nikolaos got to his feet and approached the bar. Acacia had just finished attending to a customer and was about to head to the back when she spotted Nikolaos.

“What can I get you?” she asked

Nikolaos took a deep breath, then let it out. It was then or never.

“Um, can I get a passion fruit martini?” he responded with a charming smile

As Acacia got to work on his drink, he used the limited time to set his plan into motion.

“I know you said you don’t have time to catch up, but I’d really like to know how you’ve been since we last talked,” he said boldly

Acacia looked up and made brief eye contact with him; her raised eyebrow was a sign of confusion

“Why? The last time we spoke was years ago… and it didn’t end well.”

“I know, I can still remember word for word all the mean things you told me,” he chuckled

“And I can still remember how immature you were,” she fired back

Acacia’s response confirmed what he already suspected: that she still hated him.

“It seems both our memories are fresh, and neither of us could forget the other.”

Acacia scoffed, “Yes, but not for the reasons you’re thinking.”

Finishing off his order with a small slice of passion fruit, Acacia gave Nikolaos a stern look.

“Contrary to what you may think, I don’t hate you, Nikolaos. In fact, I almost completely forgot about your existence.”

“Ouch”

“I just don’t see any reason we should ‘catch up.”

The straightforward response from Acacia was not surprising to Nikolaos. She was about to turn away when he reached out and gently tugged her back.

“Okay, okay, you got me.”

Acacia narrowed her eyes. "What are you talking about?”

“I’m not exactly interested in catching up; I’m more interested in talking about the future.”

There was a brief moment of silence where both Nikolaos and Acacia looked intently at each other.

“Are you drunk?” she finally asked

“No, but I am at my lowest, so I’m begging you to hear me out.”

Nikolaos sounded sincere in that moment because he was. If it didn't work with Acacia, then he would really give up. She was quite literally his only hope.

"Why me?

"Because it can only be you... please"

As they were in the middle of a sincere moment, one server called out to Acacia.

"Acacia, if you're feeling better, I could use an extra hand."

"Huh? Ah, okay... I'll be with you in a minute."

Nikolaos' eyes remained glued to Acacia's face for more reasons than one. His heart throbbed inside his chest as he awaited her response.

"I'm still working... but if you don't mind waiting for my extremely long shift to be over, then... we can talk."

"I'll wait, just tell me where we will meet."

"I'll find you. Is that okay?"

"Perfect, thank you."

The instant Acacia left, Nikolaos let out a sigh of relief. To his surprise, he succeeded in getting her to talk, but the most difficult challenge still lay ahead.