Forever and ever 2. The adventure starts now.

Part 186.

Tom's pov~

Under different circumstances, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. A simple phrase to avoid hurting my feelings, and far easier to say than to confront her own emotions. Y/N didn't want a divorce. Y/N didn't even want to be away from me. She just didn't know it yet.

As we watched the sunset, I took the opportunity to admire her side profile and plan my next steps. Sure, I had told her it wasn't a date, and it meant nothing. But if it meant nothing, why was she still here? If it meant nothing to her, why did she accept my jacket when I draped it over her shoulders? Why did she look so enchanting—why was she doing this to me?

"You look mesmerising right now." I knew, I had already told her that when she arrived. I knew Y/N must be tired of all the compliments that went in one ear and out the other. Unlike me, compliments from me probably didn't mean much to her.

A hint of red appeared on her cheeks, barely distinguishable from the sunset's light, and she flashed me one of her enchanting smiles. Then she nervously tapped her fingers on her knee until a yawn escaped her. I didn't want the date to end. I dreaded the moment she might stretch and decide to call it a night. Not when I wasn't ready for it to be over. But instead of stretching, Y/N leaned back on her palms, just like I did. Our hands were only a few centimeters apart. Seizing the chance, I slowly inched my fingers over until my little finger touched hers. She flinched, quickly realizing it was just me. A lightning bolt already having struck my heart. She squinted at her lap while I watched her reaction. And then she did something I didn't expect—she went along with it. She moved her hand a bit closer, and soon our fingers were intertwined. A grin spread across my lips, and I feared even the lake could reflect it from a distance. So why did she do that? Why did she hold my hand if she saw no future for us?

I didn't think she knew how much she hurt me. How her fingers left imprints on my skin, how her gaze made my heart ache, how I wished I had kept all my wedding vows every day so that I wouldn't be where I was now.
Although I was watching the sunset with my wife, and even though our hands were intertwined, this couldn't be the end of our story. If anything, it was the beginning of our next chapter. The main thing was that it was ours, not just mine or hers.

I moved closer to her as her head started to tilt, and she rested it on my shoulder.

"Can I read you something?" I asked after a long silence, trying to keep my voice soothing. Y/N lifted her head, and I quickly regretted suggesting it, fearing she might pull away. But she nodded, so I pulled a book from the back of the basket while Y/N shifted her position, unsure of what to do. I patted my lap, the closest thing to a pillow I had.

"Do you want to lie down a bit?" She hesitated again, but then nodded, too tired to speak words she might later regret. Y/N believed that if there was no verbal confirmation, it never really happened. So, without any guilt, she lay down between my legs, resting her head on my lap. Her hair, now loose and scattered everywhere, took me a moment to look away from her peaceful self.

Then I opened the first page.

"A person gave me this book as a gift, and I never really thanked them for giving me the best birthday present." In my hands I was holding three hundred pages of pure memories. Of the book Y/N and I used to read together where ever we went.

Y/N turned her head to see the cover and grinned widely when she recognized it. And so, I spent the next 20 minutes reading to her until her shallow breaths on my lap became almost too quiet. My voice trailed off, and my hand grew heavy under the weight of empty pages. I closed it and set it aside, only to quickly realize that Y/N had fallen asleep. Or at least she seemed to, with her eyes closed and her hair blowing in the wind.