Nobody can teach you love. Love you have to find yourself, within your being, by raising your consciousness to higher levels. And when love comes, there is no question of responsibility. You do things because you enjoy doing them for the person you love.

Osho Rajneesh

"Dalaric, i-it tingles."

I stay ignoring her, choosing to kiss her skin over and over again. God, she shouldn't call my name like that. She gets me all weak.

So fucking weak. And my stomach feels so fucking jittery.

Better be no damn butterflies or any of that shit.

Mayella entangles her fingers in my hair as I move to her stomach, kissing my way all around. She lets out a fucking moan and something in me breaks. Even the smallest fucking things...

"Can we have a malaric day today, pleeease ?" I rest my head on her lap and nod, placing both her hands in my hair because it feels nice. She was working on an assignment and fell asleep on the couch. There's no way I'm having that so I brought her to where she needs to be. With me. Under me. I smirk at my thoughts and she furrows her brows, petting one of the penguins.

"I don't have any classes today and I've already finished all my assignments...I think." She's been doing so good at school and it makes me happy. My smart ass.

"Aight, we'll leave in a bit."

"You promise you'll not make me wait even more? You told me it was a surprise like a month ago...that's torture." Mayella pouts in frustration.

"You're just impatient." For good reason.

Today's the day.

"True. I love you. I didn't say that this morning because I was too busy moani-"

"For fucks sake. Come here." My filter-less girl snuggles up to me and mumbles something about her wanting to eat my hair. I clearly remember once a time where she was about to lick it...or maybe I don't remember that clearly.

"Can we go now? Please ?" She doesn't even have to ask. I just need to stall since Ale needs to get it ready.

"Shower first."

"Together ?" I glare at her antics. She's a damn tease. Not for long. "Teehee." Mayella squeals as I move to chase her. She shuts the bathroom door before I can make it and I take the opportunity to call Ale for an update.

"Is it done ?" He curses as he bumps into something before answering.

"It's eleven in the damn night, Ricky. Do you know how mad ma' was? Swear you owe-" Ale continues ranting but I interrupt, not having the time for his shit.

"Is it done ?"

"Yes. I've done everything you asked, sir. Should I massage your feet too? Or is that for later ?" I breathe a sigh of relief, praying that everything goes according to plan. I've spent a long fucking time dreaming about this.

About her.

"I owe you one. Big time. Thanks, Ale." I thank him like I should, instead of calling him weird for talking about feet. Only Mayella can do that. She does have cute toes. They move weird. She moves weird. And I love that.

"Aight, aight. Don't get all sappy on me. Hope everything goes well." After thanking him once again, I hang up right before the bunny hops out of the washroom, looking delicious as fuck. She's wearing a long, white dress that exposes her arms and her collarbone. Her hair's open in those spiral wave things and she's got the ring on too.

That'll be replaced soon enough.

I help her put a little makeup on when she pouts. I don't like that make up shit. Not one fucking bit.

And that's only because she spends too much damn time taking it off. Therefore, I'm left waiting on the damn bed- angry and irritated that she isn't in my arms and that I can't fall asleep. That shit also irritates her skin sometimes and then she has the nerve to complain about those tiny little bumps. My girl looks fucking pretty either way.

But whatever she wants. Soon after I spoil her as I should, we're in the car on the way to a place I thought I could only dream of. Once we reach, I grab both her hands and startle her.

"What's wrong? Do you feel cold-here, I got mittens. They look like Mr Jones Junior." Mayella tries to take away her hand to get them but I pull her back.

"Handcream." She makes a knowing face when I ask for it, before handing the strawberry-scented cream to me. Her brows furrow as I open the lid and take some of it out, putting it on her hand and rubbing it in. Mayella lets out a dramatic sigh of relief and I mentally call myself an idiot for barely massaging her hands like she does mine. Idiot Ricky.

A soft blush makes its way onto her face and I get an urge to kiss it so I do, so satisfied at how I can do this every day.

"Can you do this hand tooo? Please." My girl flutters her lashes at me and I take her left hand, thanking God for when she shuts her eyes close. Doing what I planned to do, I put her now strawberry-scented hands back into her lap so I can get out of the car.

"Is this it ?" She asks.

This is it. I nod, standing back to look at the newly built building. It's not completely furnished yet but it's coming along. I hear a small sniffle and I turn to find Mayella trying to bury her face in my arm, crying,

"Hey, hey...what's wrong? Mayella-"

"Nothin-Nothing. It-It's j-just...our dream...it's coming true and I-I'm so happy."

This. This was I love so much about her.

'Our.'

Sure, we're really fucking compatible. But compatibility can't get you through the shit life will hurl at you. It's something I never realised until I met her, but what really matters is the amount of effort from both sides. Every day, every fucking day, she tries for me. She turns my dreams into hers too, she smiles at me like I'm worth every bit of her, she does the smallest of things- even if it's a cup of tea in a damn penguin cup.

It's why I need to marry this girl.

I've never met my biological parents. One of them passed when I was born and the other left by choice at that time too. I grew up around people just like myself and never did I get a good idea of what a healthy relationship is.

Until her.

It comes naturally when you meet the right person. Fuck toxicity-I'm going to spend every fucking second of my life with her, making sure that she never experiences that from me. I just hope she says yes. Didn't she say yes already, though, dumass ? Fuck you, I'm nervous and really damn insecure right now, aight?

Snapping myself out of the daze that I'm in, I kiss her forehead and lead us into the building. There are two floors. A few chairs, a bar and the main kitchen on the ground floor and a dining hall on the second. As pressured to do so by Fatima, Ale & I have dedicated enough space for a women-only area and one for men too. The rest of it is usual, including private booths you can pay for. Something Dan would probably love. And Mayella so she can eat dinner with those damn penguins. Ale handles the advertising, finances and recruiting. I'm sticking to the main kitchen and staff training.

It's located in the town, about three minutes away from Jim's cafe. And that's not because I want to make it easier for my girl to make her way here after work. Who the fuck am I kidding, of course, it is. Everything is for her.

I could scream with excitement. But I won't. I'll leave that up to her.

She'll be doing the screaming soon enough anyw-Not the fucking time, Ricky.

I smirk at my thoughts and Mayella pinches my nose while glaring at me. She knows me. Mayella looks at the grey bricked building in absolute wonder- even though there's nothing on it. "Come." She clutches my hand as I lead her in, turning on one of the overhead ceiling lights.

"Oh em gee. It's perfect. Everything is perfect." She squeals. "This is amazing. Is that the kitchen? Ooo- do I get a special pass to enter, y'know, the chef's girl and all. Teehee. Oh also, also! Can you do those live cooking things? I saw a video where this guy grilled a steak on the bar itself! And like people recorded it and it went viral, that'd be so cooool. We could place the Jones here-" She points to one of the chairs for babies. Definitely not for our penguin babies. "-and we could make a lil' cage for Kipp? We must make them pay to feed him or something! Teehee, I'm so good at this." Mayella continues planning for the re- her restaurant and I nod at all the suggestions.

Once she gets a good look around at the retro-themed area, I lead her upstairs and hope that Ale did what he was asked of. I take a deep ass breath and turn on the lights, earning a startled gasp from her.

Golden strings of light illuminate the entire unfurnished space. There's a comfortable mat on the dark wooden floor, surrounded by sunflowers and white roses and lined with pillows. It's similar to how our first date looked, with the exception of junk food. I cooked her favourite and I really hope she likes it.

I did think of doing the standard table and chair date but I don't like chairs because I don't get to hold her, sue me.

"Babycakes, y-you did all of this? For me ?" She walks around in wonder, smelling the flowers and trying to the candles to see if they're real. They're real so I pull her back before she can.

Don't lie. Don't lie, Ricky. Tell her that Ale did it. Don't lie. But I sure as hell don't want her thanking other men. She lies to me about finishing all the peanut butter and blames it on Kipp so this should be okay. So I answer with confidence, "Yes." Mayella's eyes light up and I smile in pure satisfaction. Seeing her happy will always make me happy. So damn happy.

She takes a seat on my lap, ignoring the pillow meant for her. That's my girl. Her white dress matches the roses, making her look like a damn queen. I lift the cover on the tray that holds freshly made lasagna. Mayella practically drools at the sight of it and takes a hundred pictures to send to a group chat she has with the boys, Clancy and Kirra. I force her to add me into it.

"You did this too ? For me ?" I nod, grabbing a fork and digging into it. Making sure it's not too hot, I give her a bite and she giggles. "It's so yummy, oh em gee. More. I want more." Mayella keeps her mouth open and I continue feeding her.

I've been noticing that she's gotten so healthy. Her skin glows and she's warmer now plus she can run more than she could before. Her hips have gotten wider and now I can hold much more. Hm.

Mayella feeds me until the plate is clean. She hops around and sniffs the roses again, looking around in pure amazement. Randomly, she stops in the middle of the empty space as her eyes reflect the golden lights and asks something I already expected.

"Dude, wanna get married? I don't think I wanna wait, y'know ? Like I love you so much. We could hold the ceremony after the restaurant opens too! Ooo- penguin cake-"

"No."

"W-what? No? Why? Dude, you said the same thing about being my boyfriend but here we are, so I reject your rejection. Marry meee, please ?" Mayella wraps her arms around my waist and pouts to try to persuade me.

It's funny that she thinks she needs to convince me to spend the rest of my life with her.

I scoff, this girl will hurt my ego every day.

"Left hand, Mayella." I gesture to it and she frowns but does it anyway. It takes her a good few seconds to realise that I switched out our promise ring for the real thing. It's a five-carat diamond ring that has rose gold elements to it with the initials M.M on it. I got the same exact thing but it's handmade so it'll take a few days to come. I'm hers, so it only makes sense to get her name engraved. M is one of my initials too, anyways.

She would hurt me if I bought anything more expensive than that. She's aggressive when it comes to spending, Mayella also created a whole spreadsheet for our finances. Perks of having a smart person.

"Ba-babycakes.." Mayella's eyes turn all glittery with tears as I get down on one knee, holding that same hand.

"This is something I need to do first, Mayella." She nods, trying to wipe her cheeks.

"Let me marry you, baby." I kiss all her fingers as my heart pounds with genuine happiness.

"Y-yes. Yes, please. Y-you can marry me." Her face breaks into the most beautiful smile and tears continue their way down. I pick her up, hugging her to show how happy I fucking I am.

I want her to be a permanent part of my world. The smile that takes over my face is one that is usually seen when someone's dream has come true. She's my dream. I get to wake up to this girl every damn day, that's the dream come true.

"Y-you're mine, okay ?" She stuffs her face into my chest and murmurs. Of course, I'm yours.

"Agreed." I nod, kissing the top of her head.

"An-and I'm not letting you leave me. Ever." Mayella continues.

"Never." Please don't. Never fucking do.

"Also, we, were going to have a family, a happy one. And babies! And you'll make yummy food for them. And me. Food for me too." I smile at the fact that she stole the words right out of my mouth.

It's us, our and we now.

"Will do." Her arms enclose me tightly and her sobs die down as she rests her chin on my chest when she looks up. We sway to non-existent music and just stare at each other. I kiss away her tears and lay my forehead against hers.

"And you'll love me, like aaaalways, and forever too?"

"Forever, baby. Fine ?"

"Fine." Mayella nods, satisfied with my answers and lays her head back on my chest.

"You were mine from the moment I saw you, anyways." She mumbles so fucking adorably. "You can't run away or anything. I'll catch you because you're the only fish in my sea. Got it ?" I resist the urge to chuckle at her words, even though I know it's absolutely true. I tell her what she wants to hear and she nods again before bursting into tears.

Picking her up in my arms, I lay us on the soft mat and entangle my fingers in her hair in an attempt to calm her down so her eyes don't get too sore.

"Stop crying, baby."

"Y-you're a baby." Mayella wipes my own tears with her fingers and pokes my nose. Fuck, I didn't even realise. I kiss her reddened cheeks and wipe away the rest of the teardrops., moving to kiss her lips next.

"Your baby." Mayella pouts at my response and nods sternly, admiring the ring in the light. And secretly taking photos of it to send to Fatima.

"Better be." It makes me so fucking content to know that those are happy tears. I swear on everything I got that she'll never cry for a reason other than happiness. Not when she's with me. Something lands on her head and she looks up, gasping when Kipp drops the pebble in his mouth on her hand.

"A pebble? No way...i-is this-" Her hands cover her mouth and she pets Kipp while smiling from ear to ear. Ale- I should pay him more- bought Kipp over from the house right after we left it as I wanted it to be a surprise for her. I have no fucking clue how but the smart bird's been saying 'Babycakes' instead of Ricky now. I wonder which glove-stealing, energetic rabbit taught him that...

"A damn penguin proposal. You happy now ?" I didn't want to do this, is what I told Raf, T and Ale. It's cheesy. Way too cheesy. But it's almost as if I want to do everything when it involves her. Fuck my pride, ego and everything I held onto for too damn long. With her, I want to go all out.

So if she wants the damn penguin proposal, she gets the damn penguin proposal.

It's also all she's been gushing about on pinterest for the past month. I know she logged into her account through my phone so that I could see all that she wanted. Smartass.

I take out a woollen blanket that I kept in case she felt sleepy. My girl lets me put my head on her stomach as she leaves kisses all over my face.

"I love you so fucking much." I breathe out, wrapping my arms around her waist. She doesn't reply and kisses my lips just like she did the first time- with her face upside down.

"I love you so much too, babycakes. Thank you so much for everything. I love you. I, like, really love you." As I was fucking expecting, she bites my cheek after kissing it and continues biting me.

"Fuck, I love you to-ow, what the fuc-" Crazy girl grins widely as she rubs her nose against mine, 'booping' it continuously. We spend the next hour in a daze saturated with so much love and happiness, one that I want us to be in forever.

Because she's it.

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3032

Howdy 🤠!

First, this isn't the last chapter.

Second, so sorry for not uploading last week ! Hope everyone & their families are safe and well. Lastly, super tired rn so I'll talk to y'all in the morning !! Let me know how your day was in the comments :)

Love always,

-.