“I have something for you before that though,” he smiled, taking a small box out of his pocket. My smile faded and I simply looked at him, shocked.
“Really?” I whispered, shocked. He simply grinned, although a spark of anxiety appeared.
“Merry late Christmas and happy late Valentine’s day,” he declared, putting the Tiffany’s box in my hands. He suddenly froze, as if realizing something.
“What?” I asked, curiosity taking the better of me. He looked up at me, guilt written all over his features.
“I need to tell you something first, actually,” he stated, taking my hand. His expression was cautious. He seemed afraid of my reaction, but ready to help right away.
“Is it good or bad? Or so bad I’ll drop dead?” I said jokingly, trying to cast the horrible cloud that had set itself on him away. He didn’t answer, silence being his answer.
“Come on, don’t scare me. What is it?” This time, my voice was much softer. He led me to the couch, forcing me to sit down beside him. I was scared of his next words, Liam was unpredictable. He wasn’t going to announce that he was going to die, right?
“You know the day you woke up from the coma?”
I muttered a small “hm,” impatient for him to actually spill. How could I possibly have forgotten that day? It was the day I’d finally woken from my long, long slumber.
“Scarlett-“
“Ellie’s sister?” I cut him off, a beautiful blonde coming to my mind.
“She sort of, kind of kissed me.”
My heart sank. It felt as if someone had taken an exceptionally sharp needle and pointed it on the happy bubble that had formed itself around me and had taken pleasure while popping it. It seemed as if he was holding his breath; anticipating a breakdown or me yelling at him.
“But she was completely drunk and she was sad, and she just forced me to. I just- I’m so sorry! I didn’t even kiss her back,” he blabbered. I stopped him by putting my hand on his mouth, his lips now clasped shut.
"It's okay, I understand," I said slowly, taking deep breathes. He was trying to read my expression, but it was hard since I had put on an impenetrable mask. Instead, I forced a small smile and nodded comprehensively. I did understand, but the sharp pain in my gut would not leave.
He took my hand away and looked at me hesitantly.
“Are you okay?”
“It’s fine! Don’t look at me like I’m going to explode! And plus, you’re not her boyfriend right?” I said, more to myself than to him, feeling slightly better. Pecking his cheek, he instantly brightened, but uncertainty was still haunting his face.
It was okay though; he kissed her before we were officially together.
“Thank you for telling me though, it means a lot.”
And for the third time that day, the doorbell rang, making me clench my fists. The last thing I wanted at the moment was to be interrupted; again. Taking a deep breath to stabilize myself, I walked to the door and twisted the doorknob.
“Lena!” cried out a little blonde girl, throwing herself at my feet, hugging them. I couldn’t help but smile, she was so loveable.
“I’ll come pick her up at 6, if that’s okay?”
I looked up at the voice and my eyes met Scarlett’s blue ones. She stared at her sister with such love and kindness and I knew that I had no right to be jealous; even a little.
“Yeah, that would be just fine,” I answered, feeling Liam’s presence beside me. He had obviously stiffened, as did Scarlett when she saw him. Her smile disappeared, her lips pursed into a fine line.
“I told her,” said Liam to Scarlett. She nodded. Ellie looked at all of us, a confused look adorning her angelic face.
“Are you mad?” Scar shuffled her feet, her cheeks getting warm despite the freezing weather.
“No, I really am not. I understand, it’s okay,” I reassured her, but she didn’t seem to believe me.
“I’m really, really sorry, I was stupidly drunk and I just- what, El?” she was cut off by her little sister tugging on her sleeve urgently.
“Lena isn’t mad at you, so stop saying sorry,” moralized the girl, making me praise her incredible intelligence and ability to comprehend what was going on.
“Okay, bye hon. Thanks again guys, I’ll see you later,” she said, walking to her car. Liam closed the door and I watched Ellie take the winter bundle she had on professionally, without needing any help. That girl was independent and strong and I loved her for that.
“What do you want to do?” Liam picked her up and put her on the couch. I knew that she was too old for that, but he just liked having her in his arms. He loved kids in general.
“Can someone tell me a story?” questioned Ellie, widening her eyes in wonder.
She knows that Liam’s a sucker for puppy dog eyes, I thought, laughing. Liam turned to look at me skeptically, while Ellie joined me, her laughter ringing in my ears.
“What?!” asked Liam, feeling left out. We continued on laughing, even though I was pretty sure that we were laughing for different reasons. I waved him off, amused by his bewildered face.
“Lee-yum, can you tell me a story?” she repeated, her question, pouting her lips this time.
“Only if Lena tells it with me…” he trailed off, looking at me expectantly. I rolled my eyes at him and nodded fervently. I was almost certain that this wasn’t the typical “Cinderella” type of storytelling; this was the “make-up-at-the-moment” kind.
“Can you get us pillows, please? Three, if possible.” I furrowed my eyebrows at his question, but ran upstairs and got the pillows lying on my bed.
I had to admit that I was frustrated by the fact that he never told me what the second thing was and he never gave me the chance to open the box. But I was determined to talk to him later.
Descending the stairs, I beamed at the sight before me.
Liam had taken the liberty of laying the blanket across the couch. He was currently concentrated on tying Ellie’s hair into a ponytail, but her protests that he was tugging too hard made a grimace appear on his face.
“May I?” I said, throwing the pillows on the couch. Liam let her hair fall loose and handed me the elastic, sighing. I removed a part of the blanket, sat on the couch, and then covered my legs with the blanket. Liam put the pillows behind each of us and sat again.
“Lee-yum is horrible at making ponytails,” stated Ellie, positioning herself to be close to me. Liam’s face darkened and scooted himself further away. Ellie pulled her tongue at him. I took her golden hair in my hands, gathering all the strands to blend in, and gently wrapped the elastic twice around the tail I’d made.
“All done!” I exclaimed. Ellie touched various parts of her head, making sure that every strand was in the ponytail and kissed my cheek. She thanked me, and gave Liam a look.
“Lee-yum,” whined Ellie, “come back here, I want all of us to be close.”
Liam obliged, he came closer to Ellie.
“Let’s start! Lena, would you like to start?” he asked and I nodded. Ellie averted her attention to me with a twinkle in her eye; I could tell that she loved stories.
“Once upon a time, a princess named Elizabeth lived with her mom, the queen. When Liz was a baby, a mean fairy cursed her to be forever sad. The princess never smiled, ever.” I started, gaining a shocked gasp from Ellie.
“The only way she could ever be happy was if she found true love,” continued Liam, “The Queen made Liz meet every prince from all over the world. But every time, Liz would cry, because she knew that he was not the one for her.”
“The kingdom was devastated. The thought of their young princess being so sad made them sad. Like every day, Liz went to watch the sun go down by the river Ohana. She would cry there and be sad for herself. After all, being sad forever was horrible.” I stopped. The name Ohana had just come to me, I remembered that it meant family as soon as I had said it.
“Terrible,” agreed Ellie in a hushed voice, her eyes wide with interest. She turned to
Liam, realizing that it was his turn to speak.
“Uh, well, one day, she saw a boy sitting by the river too, at the same time as her. She had a strange feeling in her heart, but she gathered up her courage in two hands and said: Hello. He didn’t answer, he was extremely shy, but she broke the ice. Liz talked to him about how beautiful the sunset was, and the boy knew in his heart that he was going to fall in love with her,” he said, saying the last sentence looking straight at me.
Memories flashed in my brain and I remembered the day we had watched the sunset together at the park. The day I had talked to him and spent time with him for the first time. I couldn’t believe he didn’t forget about that day, it seemed to be an eternity ago; rather than few months ago.
“Liz, too. She knew that she found the one for her, because the second he told her his name, which was, uh, Ian, she smiled at him. For the first time in her whole life! She smiled at him and introduced herself too. And the curse was broken, because she found her true love,” I went on, feeling absorbed in the story as well.
“And then?” whispered Ellie, rubbing her eyes.
“Liz and Ian were never sad again. They lived happily, ever after,” finished Liam, a small, knowing smile on his features. Ellie closed her eyes and snuggled up against the pillow behind her.
Soft snores were being emitted from her and I let out a soft chuckle at her innocence. Liam took a pillow with one hand and picked her up with the other and pointed to the stairs. I nodded, not minding that he would put her on my bed to sleep.
When he came back down, he sat beside me and took my hand. I laid my head on the soft pillow underneath my head, feeling peaceful.
“Good story,” I murmured.
“I couldn’t have done it without you,” he answered.
“We should start our own storytelling, business; we’re not just good; we rock!” I exclaimed in a hushed voice. He let out a laugh and offered a high-five, which I accepted gladly.
Silence reigned over, but the comfortable kind. I decided that it was a good time to open the box that was on the coffee table.
He took the box and handed it to me.
“Open it.”
And I did.
There was the most beautiful necklace I’d ever seen. The pendant was a silver snowflake, the light in the room, hitting it causing it to glisten. For the second time that day, a memory flashed in my mind. It was the day I had met up with Liam at the park, when we witnessed the first snowfall, signaling the start of winter. I was at a loss for words.
“You-you got me this?!” I exclaimed, tears welling up in my eyes. They fell on my cheeks, displaying my joy.
“As I said before, merry late Christmas and happy late Valentine’s,” he replied, grinning at my reaction. He kissed my cheek, causing it to burn.
“I love you!” I blurted out, instead of thanking him. His face brightened, if possible. The smile on his face lit up the whole room, it was infectious.
“You know I love you too.”
And in my head, I had been happy dancing.
I got a spontaneous idea; the perfect way to pass time while Ellie was sleeping and to simply have fun together.
“Are you up for a snowball fight?”
He burst into laughter, making my heart flutter.
“Your mom would kill me; you know how sick you were last week. You could barely take any notes in class and you went out of class at least five times to freely blow your stuffed nose. And when Mr. Collins refused to let you out, your nose-cleaning made the whole class look at you.” His comment caused me to slap his arm jokingly; it wasn’t nice of him to make fun of me like that.
“But I’m fine now! Please, please, please, please,” I begged, giving him a look that resembled the one Ellie gave him earlier. He let out a sigh and stood up. He started putting his jacket on and I copied his actions. When we were finally ready to play in the snow, we went out. I guided him to my backyard, where there was a fine coat of snow.
“What about Ellie?” he asked, suddenly stopping.
“She’ll be sleeping for a long time and knowing you, we won’t stay here for more than half an hour,” I reassured him, poking him with my gloved hand.
I let myself fall in the snow, not caring about how my butt was going to freeze. The jacket I was wearing covered me to my knees, so my rear end was in safe hands. Pulling myself up, I took a handful of snow and formed it into a perfect snowball.
“Heads up!” I cried out, throwing the snowball at his hip. His lips formed an “O” and he started forming his own snow ball, hitting my back.
“It’s on!” He screamed.
And soon enough, several snowballs were being thrown in the air. I didn’t know how much time had passed by, nor did I care. Snowflakes were one of nature's most fragile things, but look what they could do when they stuck together; attack my boyfriend. I was creating warm memories in the cold of winter with Liam and that was all that mattered.
“Boo-ya!” A ball crashed into his head, making him laugh heartily.
Throwing another snowball, I grinned, satisfied by the fact that it directly hits his heart.
“Oh no, I am dead!” he exclaimed dramatically, falling in the snow-covered ground with a thump. I giggled, running to him, every footstep seeming to cause my leg to be pushed further into the snow.
“Oh no, my prince is dead! Maybe a true love’s kiss will save him!” I said, pecking his lips. A few wisps of my hair fell to my face in the process, as I tried to blow them away. Liam’s fingers tucked the lost strands behind my ear, smiling.
“What?” I asked, lying beside him in the snow. He took my mitten-covered hand in his and we both stared at the sky.
“We have such a sappy love story, do you realize that?” he wondered. His blue eyes were glued to the heavy, swollen clouds above us. A snowflake landed on my cheek; it was snowing, and I couldn’t feel warmer.
“Yeah. But it was all worth it in the end; we’re here now, aren’t we?”
And it was true. We were happy.
“No, but I mean our love is different, I think."
“Good different, or bad different?” I thought out loud.
“Definitely good. Of all the books I’ve read and the movies I’ve watched, I’ve never felt anything like this. I guess you could say that our love is just-“
“Unique?” I finished, happiness settling in my heart. I had a feeling that it would stay there for a long time.
“Yeah, definitely.”
Aeternus Eternus
(Epilogue)
❝I made all my plans
And she has made hers
She kept me in mind
But I wasn’t sure
I searched every room
For a way to escape
But every time
I tried to leave
She keeps holding on to me
For dear life
And blocking my way
Patience, my enemy
And loving’s my friend
It’s harder to leave
With my heart on my sleeve
Than to stay and just pretend
Oh, she knows me so well
Oh, she knows me like I know myself
And like the back of her hand
she already understands everything
"Won't you stay?", she says
And she already knows how it goes
And where she stands I'll stay, anyway❞
~Ed Sheeran~
Year 2025
Narration
Lena went through two years of a photography course. She now owns a small shop called ForeverTogether in Times Square, which, throughout the years, had been making a lot of progress and becoming more and more known. During Liam’s first year of University and Lena’s first year of the photography course, they mutually agreed to take a break. They both needed to concentrate on their studies, it was their priority. And in their hearts, they knew that they were to be together again.
She had invited Liam t
o the opening of ForeverTogether and that was how they reconnected again. Two years later, upon finishing University, Liam gathered up the courage to ask Margaret for her daughter's hand in marriage and proposed to Lena in the park; the same place where they formally met and where he asked her to be his girlfriend.
As for Tori and Adam, they broke up after two years of being together. Adam went back to Australia, and was a businessman now. Tori got married to a guy she'd met at University, Ian.
Belle graduated from Princeton and became a high school teacher. She was engaged to Christopher, a family friend her mom had introduced her to.
Lena admitted that she didn’t mind being engaged to him while Liam had Med School starting. She was willing to wait a few years before getting married, she was just happy to be linked with Liam. And to be perfectly honest, Liam was the happiest guy on Earth. Margaret, though, refused to let Lena move in with him. She insisted on her principle; you don’t live together until you’re married.