CHAPTER 58

HIM AND HER

Tyson, Aya, Emma and Jared all felt a strange sense of deja vu as wine-glasses clanked together in the air underneath the dim lights of the restaurant. It wasn’t too long ago that all four had gathered here for pretty much the same purpose, and now they were back once more. However, this time around, both girls had shining rings strapped to their ring-fingers, while guys exchanged strange looks. During the drive over, Aya and Emma compared their rings non-stop and critique eventually landed on two guys who had to take it in silence.

“You gotta get married in the same place we did!” Emma exclaimed as everyone downed the whole glass of wine in one go. “We’ll be linked by fate!”

“No.” Tyson’s answer was simple but resolute.

“What do you mean no?!” Emma growled immediately. “It’s a beautiful place with wonderful memories! Your ass would be honored to get married there!”

“Please, I’d rather my ass gets honored by a sewer’s rats than that place!” Tyson replied in kind.

“Aya, pull the leash on your dog a bit tighter. He’s barking too much today.”

“Oi, don’t pull me in into this,” Aya raised her arms in surrender, faintly smiling. “Besides, we’ve already settled on the avenue.”

“Oh? That fast?” Jared asked, somewhat shocked.

“Hm, it’s not like we never talked about it before,” Aya said. “Though this moron here insisted we get married in woods somewhere while cosplaying as elves and that whoever walks me down the aisle should be a hobbit while the priest should be a dwarf, I managed to drill some sense into him so we decided to rent a boat!”

“… tsk, somebody’s sure got fat pockets.” Jared clicked his tongue in wonder.

“Fuck, do you think we’re shitting money over here?! We’ll be indebted to our parents until our grandchildren die because she ‘just likes the sight of sunset at beach too much’.” Tyson said, bitterness apparent in his voice.

“Hey, you agreed in a heartbeat!” Aya protested.

“You were naked!! Even if you told me we should get married in arctic while riding polar bears and carrying penguins I’d have agreed!”

“… how… just how do you even come up with that shit?” Emma asked, sighing.

“Hm, it’s fine,” Aya said, chuckling lightly. “He’s just being bitter because he won’t be able to see me cosplaying as an elf.”

“The two of them are on the whole different layers of weird kinks, huh?” Emma mumbled, glancing at Jared and Tyson.

“… ah, just let us be.” both Tyson and Jared sighed in unison, shaking their heads, as the all-too-familiar dinner proceeded onward.

**

Months quickly skittered by without anyone truly noticing. Time appears to speed up in parallel to one’s age, yet it also seems to slow down from time to time. One way or another, everyone finds a journey of their own while waiting for vestiges of time to carry them on. A journey may not be grand, or world-spanning, but it is nonetheless a defining factor in life. That’s, at least, what Tyson believed. He never wished to become someone famous or to haul mountains of gold for himself. He very much preferred the simple life, one very each day appears uneventful on the surface, yet with it brings something new all the time. However, today wasn’t such a day; it was neither simple nor uneventful. It was a day, he knew, that would characterize the rest of his life. Though the sun was blazing and ocean’s winds did little to dampen the heat, he hardly felt uncomfortable in his black suit. Even if sweat poured down his forehead, he merely wiped it unhurriedly. Even if there were almost two hundred people seated in front of him, all staring at him, waiting, his eyes were focused only on the red-paved path spread across the ship’s deck.

On the other end, beyond the steel doors, in a small, but well-lit room, mantling a beautiful, draped wedding dress, Aya was standing firmly, despite the slight rocking of the ship. Her expression was half-calm, half-excited. She, too, never had big dreams. Though she wanted to succeed in life, she didn’t want to sacrifice everything for that success. Even so, she had never expected to get married following her first, serious relationship. She, like many others, thought she’d have to undergo series of failed matches, slowly finding her way to someone compatible with her. Some might say that it’s a miracle she ‘succeeded on the first try’, but Aya didn’t believe in miracles. Perhaps it was just a coincidence that she approached him that day out of her ire, but everything following that were the choices of him and her. Some were calm, some were rushed, some were good, some were bad… but, in sum, they all led them to today, to this rocky ship, to the fading sun in the sky, to the quickened heartbeat that she had no way of calming. It was a beautiful day for a beautiful moment that will in no time become a beautiful memory, lingering on in her mind forever.

“You ready?” a familiar voice woke her up; she glanced sideways and saw a smiling face of a bald man.

“Yeah.” she replied, smiling, as she got up and grabbed his arm, entwining it with hers. The doors opened. The mass of people stood up, turning toward her. The music swelled. The sun blazed. However, she ignored it all. Her eyes quickly found the figure standing some ways from her. Their gazes met and, as though seeing each other for the first time in years, she couldn’t help but smile. And he smiled back. Hm, she inwardly nodded. Today’s perfect…

She walked with steady steps, a calm, serene smile accompanying the music. She ignored the smiling faces of people surrounding her, unable to look away from the man that she was getting ever so closer to. The more she approached, the quicker her heart became. As someone who bragged that she’s able to handle any situation with calmness, all of that was forgotten at the moment. She didn’t even think of regaining her calm, merely allowing the storm to sweep her in. Step by step, she came closer until she was standing next to him. The music stopped. The people sat down. But, Tyson remained standing right there, faintly smiling at her, his eyes exuding warmth and charm she felt she could never immunize herself against. She hardly caught a word of what the priest was saying, the sound of her blasting heart being far too loud. For the first time in her life, Aya felt she was destined to be somewhere --- standing here, on this day, surrounded by familiar people with wind grazing against her cheeks gently, while a man she loved from the depths of her heart reached out and grabbed her hand, holding it firmly.

“I vow,” he spoke slowly, confidently, much unlike how he usually was. He didn’t appear flustered, though his cheeks had reddened somewhat due to heat. “To become house’s cook because we’d both die far too young if I left that in your hands.” she laughed, free, unrestrained. “I vow to be someone you can always look for, no matter the time, the place or the reason. To be someone who will stand by your side even if the rest of the world turns its back on you. To love you even after you get tired of me. To be someone who will shoulder everything with you and for you. To be someone who will never leave you alone. To be someone who you can brag about to all your friends. I vow to be your everything, till death due us part, and beyond.”

“...” Aya felt that the words were stuck in her throat. She was choking; not due to pain or sorrow, but happiness she could hardly describe in words. It was only when she felt his fingers slowly caress her hand that she woke, taking a deep breath. “I vow to always bring a takeout for dinner because your cooking is terrible.” it was his turn to laugh as he shook his head. “I vow to be your friend, to be someone you can always rely on. I vow to never leave you, never abandon you, never throw you away… no matter what. I vow to be someone who you can always talk to, and someone who will always listen. I vow to be someone who will look after you when you’re sick, despite the fact that you know I’m no good with it. I vow to love you and respect you, till death due us part… and beyond.”

The applause and cheers were blocked off. The priest’s final words were unheard. She only felt her veil being lifted as the image before her grew clearer. It was captivating. Hundreds of colors spilled over from the sun, as though dragged by brush across the ocean’s surface, gliding up on the ship, folding over the familiar face. It was a face she woke up next to many times. It was a face she knew better than her own. Yet, at that moment, it felt as though she was seeing clearer than ever before.

Tyson slowly drew closer. Though he appeared calm on the surface, how could he remain calm? The sun’s golden rays draped over his shoulders and fell onto the figure standing in front of him. He could no longer describe her as beautiful. Though the dress appeared slightly too big for her, and she seemed rather awkward in it, and even if she was unable to hide that acne on her temple with makeup, none of it truly fell into his eyes. She was beautiful. No, in his heart, she transcended that. She was someone he’d spend his life with and, at that moment, as he closed the distance between the two, he felt as if he’d spent the lifetime of his luck on his day. He wondered how she ended up in his arms of all places, but not too deeply. To him, it only mattered that she was there, and nothing else.

Beneath the golden beams of the fading sun, plastered like a disc against the horizon’s edge, a pair of lips interlined before the gazes of many. Crimson and golden mingled, a hue surpassing description, gently caressing the pair. They remained hugged for a while, indifferent to the noise and chatter around them. The world no longer existed for the two. Just that small space, not large than five squared meters, where the two of them existed in perfect solace, and where the time seemed to cease to flow. Just the two of them, wrapped in tight, familiar embrace, indifferent to the world.