november yumary otp prompt challenge!

rings

"Forever is hard to conceptualize," Yumeko starts. She clears her throat to shake the slight tremble in her voice. "But in my opinion, it's never been scarier than what the rest of our life means."

Her neat, almost robotic, pencil-written words warped into the scribbles of a kindergartener, but she tries to keep her composure.

"I was promised a lot of things were for the rest of mine or other people's lives, and they weren't," she added a short laugh to cover her nerves and the melancholy connotation of her words.

Right as her eyes found the next paragraph, Mary placed an arm on her shoulder and shifted her gaze up.

She's stunning. The contrasting brown highlights in a blanket of blonde were braided back in a loose but intricate twist. It opened her sharp features, softened delicately with the reassuring smile she desperately needed.

Taking a deep breath, she continued, "So, I was scared of everything that was tied to promises like that, and the biggest one was relationships. As much as I used to love taking risks, I couldn't be broken again."

A watered laugh fell from her lips, "But that was before I met you.

"This may not be a surprise now, but even back then, you were my best risk." The weight of her own words increased the pressure on the back of her eyes. It seemed to affect Mary just as much from the squeeze on her shoulder.

"And I will never thank you enough for taking a chance on me, but I will try for the rest of my life. I love you so much, that I will open my healed heart to you," and she took a deep breath as she folded the paper back up.

The gentle claps from their guests quickly reminded her that it wasn't just her and Mary in their own little marriage world. She looked at her sister in the front row. Her sparkling, tear-filled eyes would've been highly contagious if she didn't look back to Mary.

"Told you I couldn't beat yours," Yumeko laughed, fanning her tears away just like her makeup artist said.

"Oh hush, it was perfect," Mary rolled her eyes light-heartedly.

Mary's little cousin, who Yumeko absolutely adores, walked down with the rings on a white pillow. A couple audience members cooed as he handed the officiant the pillow.

They both thanked the little boy as he ran back to Mary's aunt in the side of the front row.

Yumeko admired the rings they picked out. They were both silver bands with a darker gray center horizontal line with a diagonal of four small diamonds in the vertical center.

The officient allowed them to be pretty hands-on with the ceremony, so they got to make there own meanings for what the rings signify.

Just as rehearsed Yumeko started, "With this ring, I promise to be your equal. Til death do us part." The ring slipped onto Mary's finger like the last piece to a puzzle the size of a table.

"With this ring, I promise to believe in your faults and your feats. Til death do us part," Yumeko lied. Mary slipping the ring onto Yumeko's finger was the final puzzle piece.

"I now pronounce you wife and wife! You may now kiss your bride!"

Despite the loud cheers and whoops, Yumeko could only hear and feel her wife. Her wife. Her wife's soft lips and warm arms wrapped around her waist.

It was and will be them for the rest of her life, and, truly, it doesn't scare Yumeko anymore.