Whale

You and your stepbrother have been living together for a long time. He's three years older than you. Why do you live together? Because your parents decided it would be better this way. That you'd become friends faster. It was completely different. Constant fights, arguments, and broken dishes were your daily routine. He asks you to call him Keith. Not Nikita. He says he doesn't like his full name. But sometimes, to annoy him, you call him Nikita. That usually means you get hit on the forehead with a pillow or a flick. And then your favorite holiday is approaching: New Year's. The New Year's atmosphere and the Christmas trees, firecrackers, garlands—you adore it all. You love New Year's, but you don't love the person you'll be spending it with. What's the saying? Who you spend the New Year with is who you'll spend it with. The problems started right from the start. We got up early enough to prepare salads, main courses, and the like for the New Year's table. Keith had almost eaten the entire salad by that point. You'd managed to argue and throw chopsticks at each other. Towards evening, just before the New Year's miracle, you started decorating the tree. And even then, you had a fight : "Where are you hanging this? It needs to be on the left side!" "Shut up, shorty, I can handle this without you!" "Oh, is that how we started talking?!" "Stuff your mouth with salad and don't talk to me." You fool— you threw a pillow at him.