Forever

December 1st ||Part Two||

Misaki rubbed her gloved hands up and down her arms to form heat as she trekked to the park. Her beanie was wet from all the snowflakes that had landed and melted on it and she could really use some warmth now. She regretted turning down Gabe's offer to drop her off. She could have been in his car enjoying the heat of the A.C. 

The park gates were laden with a thick blanket of snow that was near-unbearably cold to touch when she shoved them to enter. Inside, the trees had lost their green and had acquired patches of snow. Same thing for the shrubs and flowers. In fact, the whole place resembled a winter wonderland, just without the wonder. Everywhere you looked you would see snow - the slides and swings, the benches, the bushes. The place was basically desolate. Not many people went to the park during winter, where it seemed as if the temperature dropped the more amongst the greenery. This was why it was easy to spot Ion. Apart from a scanty number of people occupying benches, he was the only human besides her around. He stood by the fountain, admiring the frozen icicles the water sprays had turned into.

"Couldn't we have met up at home?" Misaki asked when she reached him.

He didn't jump at her voice, as if knowing she was the one already. Instead he said, "Have you ever thought about the wonder of the seasons? How each one brings something beautiful? How each one is amazingly unique?" Misaki was bewildered at his questions. "Spring," Ion went on, ignoring her silence. "It washes over you with a freshness and the sun is shining a little brighter - and not because of ozone layer depletion - the birds sing a little merrier. Summer - the holiday full of days at the beach and nights with our friends. Autumn - when you watch the leaves tremble and fall and turn a beautiful sunset kind of color. But I would trade them all for winter. Most people don't like the cold and snow but I love the glaze of the ice, the softness of the snowflakes , the joy of Christmas that engulfs you, and the anticipation of a new year."

He glanced at her before beginning to walk. Not knowing what to do, she followed him, listening to his every word. "I've thought about what you said yesterday and I've realized that you are right and you are wrong. You're correct when you say some things don't last long but you're wrong when you say that because of that, it isn't worth it. Life is short like the seasons, we have to make the best of both.

"I believe you don't believe in forever because of something that happened to you. I'm not going to ask why but I do hope that one day you'll tell me.

"Misaki, look at that couple over there."

She navigates her gaze in the same direction as his and her eyes land on an elderly man and woman. The man has a mop of grey hair and crinkles decorate his brown skin. He's wearing a coat over a sweater vest, sitting on a bench, and there is so much affection in his dark eyes as he talks to the woman. The woman herself has very pale white skin and is extremely skinny and bony. Wrinkles line her forehead and tug at her eyes. Her hair is grey, streaked with thin blacks. She sits in a wheelchair wearing a frail hospital gown under a baggy trench coat and her long legs travel down into snow-boots. The man says something and the twinkling in her emerald eyes as she laughs could light up the entire world.

"They look like the definition of joy." Misaki mumbled to herself. "Much different from my own parents."

Ion doesn't hear what she says or if he did, he paid no attention to her words. "They look so in love and so very old. Don't you want that? Someone who will love you till you're old and wrinkled?"

Of course, Misaki wanted it. It's what she's always desired. But she knows that she will never get it. Nobody sticks around for her. Not one.

"The woman is dying you know? I talked to them while I waited for you to come. They're husband and wife and she's dying. He's heartbroken but he still loves her. He's not going to leave her just to avoid getting hurt from her death. Ninety years old and it's not dead. She might not live forever but their love will."