Autumn is a second spring

49. Pink Diamond

"Where are we, Phi?" Earth rubbed his eyes as he yawned. He slowly sat up on the inclined car seat. He had fallen asleep on the private jet and now that he woke up, he was inside a car.

"Did you sleep well?" Kao smiled seeing his husband yawn like a little kitten.

Earth nodded. "Why didn't you wake me when the flight landed?" He pouted.

"You were sleeping so soundly. I thought I should just let you sleep." Kao combed Earth's hair to place with his fingers. He had carried Earth from the plane to the car. "Did I tire you out so much?"

The flight back to Chiang Mai was over twelve hours. Neither of them was willing to laze around for such a long time. They had used the time 'fruitfully' due to which Earth had fallen asleep.

Earth gave his husband a knowing look and turned away hiding his smile.

"Ready for your last surprise?" Kao asked.

"You have arranged something here too?" Earth was amazed. Their whole trip had been planned and executed personally by his husband and he had enjoyed each second of it.

"Yes, Your Highness." Kao kissed his husband's hand. He took out a silk ribbon. "May I?"

Earth nodded, suppressing his eagerness to find out what the surprise was.

Kao tied the silk ribbon on top of Earth's eyes as a blindfold. "Wait for a second." He opened the car door and exited the car. He ran to the other side of the car quickly and opened the other car door.

"Come on," He offered his hand to his husband.

Earth took his hand and got out of the car. He let Kao guide him to the destination. Once they reached their destination, Kao halted. So did Earth.

"Are you ready?" Kao asked getting an agreeing nod from his husband as a reply. "You can take off the blinds on three. One... Two...Three..."

Earth slowly took off the silk ribbon. The expression on his face stilled. No words came out of his mouth but the tears coming down from his eyes said everything.

Standing before him was the restaurant 'Lotus Garden', the restaurant once run by his family. His parents had inherited the restaurant from his grandparents. Their house was on the floor above the restaurant.

A fire accident had completely ruined the whole building and took the lives of his family members leaving him an orphan. 

Earth never thought that he would be able to see the building back in its former glory. He felt overwhelmed. Tides of emotions hit him hard.

Kao's strong arm circled around his shoulder. "Let's go inside."

Earth slowly entered the familiar building with his husband supporting his trembling body.

Kao opened the gate for Earth to enter.

Earth's eyes wandered around. Every nook and corner of the place looked the same. The garden, the small pond in its middle, the small shed where his father used to keep his cycle, all that was destroyed by the fire all those years back had been recreated.

As they walked into the building, Earth was even more amazed. The ground level of the building used to be where the restaurant existed.

It ruined beyond recognition. The whole place was reconstructed, with the same interior design, with the same ambiance. Even the furniture used in the restaurant looked the same as the ones they used to use.

Everything was the same, other than three new additions. The wax statues of Earth's parents and grandmother, with whom he used to stay with.

For a second, Earth felt like it was his parents and his grandmother standing right in front of him. That was how realistic the wax statues were. 

He knew that his husband must have spent a bomb on having these statues done to such perfection.

Feeling extremely grateful and happy, Earth turned around, only to see his husband standing on one knee.

Kao held the velvet box containing the pink star diamond ring open. "Will you marry me, baby?"

Earth froze. His eyes moved alternatively between his husband and the ring. After having been married to his husband for almost three years, he wasn't expecting to get proposed to by his husband.

Keeping the flooding emotions inside him in control, Earth nodded.

Kao smiled widely upon getting the green signal from his husband. He picked up the ring from the velvet box and slid it into his husband's slender fingers.

Pink Star diamonds are one of the rarest precious stones on earth. Kao had especially chosen the Pink Star diamond for their wedding ring as he knew how much his husband loved the color pink. 

Just as he expected, the ring looked perfect on his husband's fingers. His kissed his husband's hand and got up on to his feet.

"Let's get married na," He said, wiping his husband's tears with his fingers.

"We are already married, old man" Earth said crying and laughing at the same time.

"But I still owe you a wedding," Kao wrapped his hands around the younger guy and pulled him closer. "Let's have a grand wedding, na." He leaned in closer and whispered. "Just the way you wanted."

Earth buried his face on his husband's chest, letting the warmth of the latter's skin radiate to his face that was cold from the tears. "Okay."

Kao chuckled seeing Earth feel shy. He tightly hugged his husband. "Thank you for being with me na. I love you."

Earth raised his head and looked at his husband's face. "I love you too, Phi." He whispered. His voice had turned hoarse as he had been crying.

The couple shared a chaste kiss for a few minutes.

Kao let go of Earth so that the latter could explore the rest of the building. After having looked through the restaurant, Earth climbed the stairs. He wanted to see how his 'home' looked. The upper floors were the home he grew up in.

"How did you do this?" Earth couldn't help but ask seeing how everything was just as he remembered.

"Your friends helped. Especially Fluke," Kao replied.

Earth hummed in understanding. Fluke had practically grown up in his house. It wasn't a surprise that Fluke was able to perfectly recreate the design of the house.

An hour later, Earth slumped onto the bed on his room. 

"Tired?" Kao asked, handing him a drink. He sat down on the bed, next to his husband.

Earth nodded, opening the bottle of drink and taking a big sip. He rested his head on Kao's shoulders. His eyes fell on the ring on his finger. "How long have you been planning this?"

"Hmm... maybe since the day you confessed your feelings for me back then," Kao answered thoughtfully.

Earth was in the first year of his high school when he confessed his love for Kao. Kao had initially rejected the young guy. It was only due to Earth's persistence that Kao kept his worries aside and said yes..

"Since then?" Earth sat up in shock.

Kao nodded. He had bought the pink star diamond in an auction in Myanmar, just a few days after Earth confessed to him.

The precious stone had reminded him of the younger guy which made him spend millions to get his hands on it all those years back.

Even when they split up and both of them went separate due to his ex-wife, Kao never gave the pink star diamond away. He kept it safe, as a symbol for his love for Earth.