She knows she has been here before.
By some weird deja vu, she knows that she's familiar with this place.
And it wasn't an eery, chilling feeling you get like when a scene in a movie takes you back to a crime scene. This wasn't any of those.
She just felt...familiar. And comfortable. And at home.
For some strange reason, she knows that she has been here.
Last year.
He saw her from afar.
He knew that she'd come back, she has to.
They made a deal.
Though he was afraid that after everything that has happened in the past 365 days, she would sense that something is amiss.
That coming back here would only mean heartbreak all over again.
He knows that could happen.
Again.
For it happened to him last year.
She was still trying to figure out why the whole place, the garden and the gazebo and the flower bushes around it looked like something she has spent some time in when she felt a hand touch her shoulder.
'Maine?'
She turned around and saw him. She would have screamed and ran for he was a stranger, but she didn't. She knew deep in her heart that she knows him. That he was the reason why she's here. That he made this whole place familiar to her.
'You came.'
'Yes...but I really don't know...I am not sure... I'm sorry... I know that I know you, but I've been sick for the past year..:'
'An accident, I know. I was there.'
She was surprised to hear this, but somehow she was hoping that he would say that. That he was part of her past, and that he is here now to save her.
'We were here last year. I asked you to marry me. And you said no. It crushed me, so bad. You said you needed time, but that if we just held on to how we felt for each other, our love will take us back here. You ran out from here, I was running after you, then a car suddenly sped up ... '
He could not bear to tell her the rest of what happened. He could still see how she lay on the road almost lifeless, the rush to the hospital, the struggle of fighting for her life, only to be told that she does not remember anything except for her family. They had to ask him to give her space, to leave her be so that her recovery will come naturally. It was so hard to stay away but he obeyed her family, he loved her too much and it pained him to learn that every memory of their love had vanished in an instant.
She saw how he was trying hard to fight the tears. And it all came rushing back to her.
The flowers.
The garden.
The gazebo.
The ring.
She closed her eyes tightly, breathed slowly, processing everything. She learned to do this over the year so that the thoughts and memories that were slowly coming back will not overwhelm her.
She opened her eyes and all she saw was the love from this guy in front of her. She felt the warmth, the sincerity, the honesty. And she knew right then, she knew in her heart and soul, the familiarity that she was feeling was not just because of the whole place.
She remembers.
'Ask me again.'
He looked at her, confused.
'Ask me again, RJ. Last year, before the accident happened, you asked me something, but I said no. Ask me again. This past year had been full of questions for me, but somehow the answers I get were not the ones I was seeking. And for some reason, I found myself coming here. Then you showed up. And I know that you were the only answer I've been looking for. So ask me again, RJ. Please.'
It was all he needed to hear, and with tears in his eyes, he went down on one knee, held her hand, and asked her.
'Maine, will you marry me?'
She smiled and as a tear fell, she replied what she should have answered last year.
'Yes.'
***
AMACon 3 Prompt 19
Maine, Alden, and a date with the person they were from a year ago.
6 September 2016
