WHEN YOU'RE CLOSER

EPILOGUE

"Aster," someone called my name which made me look at my back. "Two orders of americano, please."

"Will be served for a few minutes, Loly." I smiled at her. 

She salutes me as she goes back to the counter. Two years had passed and here I am again, starting anew. Even this cafe, I have it running for a year now. Together with Loly, we managed this cafe for a year now. When I asked her about this plan, she agreed without any second thought. 

I was relieved. After years of hiding everything, I finally dared to tell that to everyone. Finally, I took a breather from the painful past. 

"Aster!" someone shouted from outside. "Where's Aster?" I heard him asking Loly and later on, I saw him excitedly go to me. "Aster!" 

"Yeah? Why do you look so excited?"  I asked annoyed. 

"I passed the exam! I am now a licensed architect!" 

I looked at him surprised and hugged him tightly. "Congrats, Ravi! I am so fucking proud of you!" 

We both jumped into happiness and couldn't help ourselves be emotional. After everything we've gone through, we are now together to face it with each other. 

To make the long story short, he confessed to me the next day of that night everything. He said that Thomas made him promise that he wouldn't tell me everything he knew. He also made him promise that he would protect me from our parents. Ravi did everything he could for me to run away before. He covers me up at where I am that it took them five years to find me again. The night that Thomas ended his life, he was also late to save him. 

He let them use him for me to live peacefully all these years. And now, he dared to leave them too. Together with me, we both cut our ties to them. Ravi decided to finally take the test he hadn't taken before because of our parents. He was about to be an architect before but because of our parents, he had no chance to finish that and jumped to their business. Now that he had a chance waiting for him, he grabbed it and did his best to pass. Which thankfully, he did. He is now an architect as he wanted to be. 

My parents, went bankrupt as they were blinded by guilt for what happened to me. I don't know. Maybe because of what I said that night, it made them realize what they did. With all the money that was left with them, I sent them to an elderly. It's the last thing that I could do for my parents. 

"Thank you for accepting me again, Aster. Sorry for not protecting you before." Ravi suddenly opened up. 

I smiled as I tapped his back. "You did your best to protect me before, Ravi. And thank you for what you did. If you didn't protect me where I am now, maybe I didn't get the chance to have those five years without them. Thank you for everything you did, Ravi. Sorry for listening to you this late. Sorry that I didn't think that you were Thomas' best friend, after all."

He smiled gently at me as he hugged me while he kissed my forehead. 

"Excuse me, you two, but I need to go now. I have a date, you know." Loly interrupted. 

"Take care!" I said. I cleaned the kitchen first before going to the counter since there was still no customer again. 

Later on, I heard someone open the door and that's when I finished in the kitchen so I went to the counter to serve my customer. 

"Hi, welcome to Star's Cafe! What would you —" I stopped talking when I saw who it was. "Landon?" 

He smiled gently. "Aster." 

I can't help but smile while my heart starts beating rapidly. "Nice to see you again, Landon." 

"After two years, Aster. After two years, I found you." He said. 

"In those two years, all you did was to find me?" I asked, taken aback. 

"Yes." He admitted. "And it's all paid off now after I finally saw you." 

I smiled and nodded at him. "Congrats on finding me, then." 

"You're now glowing." He noticed. "And it suited you very well, Aster. I am happy to see you this happy." 

"Stop hitting up on me, Landon," I warned him which made him chuckle. 

"As long as it's working." He shrugged. 

"Yes, it does. So, stop now, okay? What's your order?" 

"You," he said directly. "It's you who I wanted to order. Is there a chance to have you now?" 

I raised my eyebrows at him. "If I say no?" 

"I'll wait again, then. Even if it takes years. No matter how long, if that's you who will I have, then I would risk it all. It's either you or no one at all." He said to me full of himself. 

I can't help but smile. "You talk too much, Landon." I shook my head. "Okay then, have me now. No need to wait for me for years when you can fully have me now." 

His jaw dropped. "What the fuck?" he uttered. "Yes! Fuck, yes!" he exclaimed happily. He can't even stop himself from reaching me and grabbing me as if I was just five kilos and kissing me hard. 

"Hello? His brother is here? And people were looking at the both of you?" Ravi said sarcastically which made us stop. 

When I realized what he said, I suddenly wanted to disappear. Fuck. We both ended up laughing and went to the kitchen to stop embarrassing ourselves outside. 

"This time, it's all real. Without reasons. Without any plan. All real." He said sincerely. 

"With you, it's all real. When you're closer, all I think is to be happy. And when you're closer, everything's worth it. And... When you're closer, I love myself more." I sincerely stated as I smiled gently at him and kissed him softly.  

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Thank you for reaching out to the end! Thank you for reading this story. This story means a lot to me and I do hope that you enjoyed this story.