before you go [COMPLETED]

chapter seven

Valentine's Day, a day for lovers.

A day that Lixue had never spent alone in the last ten years. There were always some kind of extravagant dinners and expensive gifts. It was one of her favorite holidays.

"Knock, knock!"

Lixue opened the bedroom door and smiled as a bouquet of flowers filled her sights. A hand came around with a heart shaped box of chocolate. She giggled as she accepted the items to see her brother-in-law.

"Jasper, thank you!" She hugged him.

"It's no problem, I think everyone deserves something on these kinds of holidays." He shrugged, "It's also a thank you for babysitting on short notice."

Lixue loved her nieces, but they were a handful when their parents weren't in sight.

"It's fine, I have nothing special going on."

"Can I borrow your black stud earrings? The silver lined ones." Soraya squeezed through the door.

 Before she could answer, Soraya was already digging into her things. As she turned back to Jasper, she noticed how he looked at her. His eyes were filled with love and adoration, with a little bit of hurt.

"Okay, I'm ready. Thanks for babysitting, I promise you'll be compensated well." Soraya kissed her cheek.

"I hope so, cause you know how they are." Lixue grumbled.

"You look gorgeous, baby."

As the night dwindled down, the girls were fed and bathed, entertained until they were tired. Lastly, the only thing to do was to put them to bed. Before Lixue could do that, there was a knock at the door.

Using the peephole, Lixue saw it was Theodore. Her first thought was to ignore him when she noticed the flowers, she had the fastest lapse of judgment. She unlocked the door, putting on the most unimpressed expression she could hold and opened it.

"What are you doing here?" 

Theodore smiled, "Can we talk? I brought candy, and your favorite flowers." He asked.

Lixue hummed.

"They're the fake kind that you like." He added.

She smiled and opened the door wider, "I'm about to put the gremlins to bed, so just wait out here for me." She told him.

Theodore walked inside and settled himself on the couch while Lixue tackled the children for bed. He fretted with his pocket that contained a small velvet box. Hearing a door close, he jumped up to find Lixue returning to the room.

"What is it you want to talk about?" 

He closed the distance between them just a bit while she looked up at him. Being honestly terrified of how things could go, he was scared of the positives. He didn't know how to digest that emotion.

"You blocked me, on literally everything." He stated.

Lixue nodded, walking up to him. "Why should I want an ex to contact me?" She hummed.

Theodore reached for her but Lixue stepped back while her eyes stayed trained on him. He sighed and closed the gap and knelt down on one knee. Lixue's eyes widened as he reached into his pocket, his hand revealed a box.

"Lixue, please, baby, will you marry me?" 

Frozen stiff, Lixue blinked, as her sight zeroed in on the ring. It was a plain golden band. Her heart crumbled into dust that caused a short flutter in her stomach.

"Marry me, live the rest of our lives together. Be mine forever more, allow me to love you and all of your flaws. I wanted all that even without a ring or some legal papers."