Sentimental Chances (On-Going)

Chapter 5 : A Life With You

Years go by, my grandparents and Joe got used to their new home, mom shifted career to became a law professor instead, and Alden got married to his college sweetheart named Fallon and they had a daughter, Ada, who adored her Uncle Topher instead of her father. Well, my man was good with kids.

They made us her Godparents and also... Jake.

I was very lucky, that my high school crush was not there at the wedding even though he was supposed to be the best man, and he was also not in the baptismal.

Enough about him.

I became one of the in-demand fashion photographers, and my photo studio business is going strong in Barcon. Not only do I get clients within the city, but all over the world. I hired two fashion photographers, Jo and Linus. They have their style and aesthetic, so that depends on the clients which one they want. I even have a secretary, Mavy, who helped me with phone calls and schedules.

I had offers from fashion magazines from New York, Milan, and Hong Kong. I was flattered to get such an offer. However, I wanted to stay in Barcon and be with Topher.

Topher's career was doing great, too. He got to travel and take pictures of the wonderful places he went. In summer and sometimes before Christmas, I went with him on his trips. We got to ride elephants in Thailand, went to the beach in Bali, and saw the meticulous details of Sagrada Familia in Spain.

As for our home, we got what we wanted. We got more bedsheets and comforters, but we stained some of it from having sex. Don't judge us.

We made the lights dim to make it dramatic, photos of us and our work on the wall, a soft light brown couch in front of the fireplace that we transformed into a hearth pad where we made s'mores and sometimes which Topher would make pork chops there.

We have the induction stove and oven and, a bigger refrigerator. We had custom-made counter by one of our interior designer friends that our kitchen worktops to one with our dining counter like a vintage cafe style to save space.

We even got a garden and lilac bushes at the side of the house, and there were also the small vegetable farms we talked about that were placed in a rectangular garden bed.

Life was just so perfect for me and Topher with our cabin and our careers, what could go wrong, right?

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Amazing Barcon can be, it doesn't have an airport so when people decide to travel they have to go to the nearest city by train and that was what Topher did every two weeks.

I accompanied him to the station, we rode his scooter to get there, I gave him a farewell kiss and watched him go inside the train. Once he left, I used the scooter to go home and other stuff, too, while he was away. Yup, I learned how to drive it without getting a scratch.

So whenever he comes back, the routine was just the reverse way. I was waiting for him in the station by sitting on the bench by the platform about thirty minutes before he arrived. I did that often when I get to know the janitor and the train conductor lady.

Sometimes, the train comes late, so I got hungry, Lonny, the security guard, told me about a store that sells steamed bun. I would buy green tea whenever I had to wait longer, but I didn't want to be full because I joined him to eat in Love Saigon.

That was typically my routine, spring, summer, fall, winter, and repeat. It had been like that for about three years. Watching him went inside the train and wait for him to come out.

I did that, until Fall of 2019

I'm not entirely sure, but I think it was the time that led Topher to an idea of our future together.