Lillian Henry is seventeen years old when her 20 year-old brother, Adam, and his best friend, Blake Kingston, enroll in the army. And she's eighteen, when they come back, her feelings left unchanged. As for his, they're even stronger than before.
T...
My forehead against hers, I look her in the eyes, "I love you, and I will come back to you."
"Promise me," she says against my lips as she kisses me. "Wish number 3," she whispers as our lips peel from one another. I had forgotten about those. "Will you promise me to come back?"
Seven words, one answer possible, not the one she wishes to get. There is no way of assuring that I will come back, there is always a risk, which she is aware of, and despite this fact, all I want to do is tell her yes. I want to promise her that I will find my way back home.
To her. She's home.
"It isn't fair of me to ask," she concludes before I can say a word. "But, at least, promise me you will do everything you can to come back to me."
"I do, Lily. I promise that there won't be a day where I will think about giving up, or that I will take unnecessary risks. There is nothing more that I want than coming home to you."
I look up, meeting my sergeant's eyes on us as his hands signal everyone to hop in the bus that will take us to the plane.
"I have to go," I whisper in my fiancée's ear, but her hold on me tightens, hugging me even more than she already was. "It will be alright, baby. I will be back in no time. We'll talk every chance we get."
She pushes herself away from me a little in order to look at me. "Take care of each other," she tells me, looking back at her brother, saying goodbye to their parents and his girlfriend.
"Take care of Kiko," I reply, and a smile appears on her face.
"We have to go," Adam pats me in the back, forcing me to let go of Lily so that he can get his own hug.
I say my see you laters to Adam and Lily's parents, and to Zora.
"I love you, Blake," Lily kisses me one last time before joining Zora's side, locking arms with her.
"I love you, Lily," I call out as Adam and I begin walking towards the bus.
There is so much we are leaving behind that we weren't the first time. My head turns, looking back as I step in the military green bus, and I wave back at my family. The Henry family is my family more than mine will ever be. I mean...
Who shows up when I need someone?
Who invites me over dinner almost every night? Who did even before I was dating their daughter?
They have been treating me as a member of their family for as long as I can remember, and I am leaving with my heart filled with love, affection, and care, and my head full of memories, of laughter, of good feelings.
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I know that this chapters is pretty short, but it has a purpose.
Goodbyes can be hard, emotional, but at the end of the day, there's a time limit, and for Lily and Blake, this limit has been reached. They enjoyed every second of their summer together, they felt like they had all the time in the world, but time caught up to them and they have no choice to part. Time is against them in this chapter, which can explain why I made it so short.
Thank you being the readers you are, always present when a new chapter comes out, even when it has been a while that I posted the last one. Your comments and support mean the world to me, it reminds me why I keep posting new updates even when I don't like what I write, even when I feel like I am not a good writer. because you guys are always there to remind me, even though I know my story isn't perfect as well as my english, that it is worth reading, worth getting to the end.
