Forever Isn't Her ✹ Septiishu/Septicgab

10

When I got home, Evelien had started decorating for Christmas. She was singing Christmas carols in Dutch as she hung baubles on our tree we had picked out a few days before.

"Oh hey!" She saw me come in. "How's everything looking?"

"Not as good as you," I tried to be a smooth operator, but my cheesiness got in the way. "I visited my ex wife in jail today.."

"Oh?"

"I wanted her to know that moving on is possible for her, too...." I said, and she smiled. "And that I had found love.." Evelien held a piece of mistletoe up.

"Oh, what's this?" She smirked as I leaned in to kiss her. "I see face under mistletoe.... I KISS." I laughed, making her blush. BB ran under the mistletoe.

"Does someone want kisses, too?" I asked, picking BB up. "I see Beebs.. I kiss.." BB squirmed before I could give him a kiss. "Guess not.."

"BB loves you," Evelien said, smiling. "He's just in a mood today."

"Well, would BB mind if I take his beautiful mother out for date night?" I took Evelien's hands in mine. "We never went out for our one year.. it's now Christmas season... and I want to make up for that."

"What do you have in mind?"

"You'll have to wait and see," I booped my girlfriend on the nose, making her giggle. I grabbed a few decorations she hadn't hung yet, climbed up the ladder and hung them. "What else do we have?"

"Just the tree.... finishing touches," she said. "I feel like it's missing something.." Evelien stood back to look at the tree from top to bottom. "Lights... tinsel.... baubles..."

I rummaged through a box and found a few options for tree toppers.

"These?" I asked.

"That's it! Which one do you want to use?" There was a star, snowflake, Mario 1Up, and a few other options. "Wait... There's one missing.." Evelien paused to think. "The cat one.." She looked around at the other boxes and found it. "Here!" I moved the ladder off to the side so she could step up and reach the top. "Shouldn't you be doing this?"

"Why would I do that? That's a tall person's job," I teased. "And everyone knows.. I'm a giant. I'm not a tall person.. I'm a giant person." Evelien started laughing and nearly fell off the ladder. "Babe, be careful!"

"That was scary," she looked down. "So what time are we going out to dinner?"

"Uh, let's say.... 6?" I said. Evelien nodded in agreement. "Does that give us enough time?"

"Enough time for what?"

"Well, you know it takes me so long to look this gorgeous," I ran my hand through my hair, posing like I was in Vogue. Evelien climbed down from the ladder, laughing at her idiotic boyfriend that was acting rather strange. "I know.. I'm a weirdo."

"You're my weirdo," she smiled, popping her cute little dimples out. "Should I wear something fancy?"

"You look great in everything."

"You know what I mean, Seán."

"I actually picked you up something when I was out," I bit my lip. Evelien looked confused. "You heard me."

"What did you do?"

"Go look," I smiled as she scurried into our bedroom to find a gorgeous black dress with lace sleeves. As she looked at the dress, she slowly turned to me, pouting. "You like?" She nodded.

"You didn't have to do that," Evelien gave me a hug.

"There are a lot of things I don't have to do..." I said, thinking back to my plan. "But I do them anyway."

~

I was getting dressed and went to fix my hair before our dinner reservations when Felix called.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey, um..." He sounded distraught.

"Felix?"

"Are you going out to dinner tonight?" He asked, ignoring the fact that he sounded upset less than a minute ago.

"Yeah, I made reservations at this really fancy restaurant," I said. "What's going on though? You sounded really upset.."

"I really don't want to ruin your night."

"You're telling me as soon as I get home.." I said, and he complied. "It better not be something really bad.." Felix was silent. "I said... it better not be something really bad." He hung up.

~

"Yeah... I understand," I heard Evelien talking on the phone. "No, I get it.. and you're saying he doesn't know? Okay.. I'm.. I'm not sure if telling him is gonna be easy for me..." I felt extremely nervous. "It's not the easiest thing to the love of your life, Marzia.."

"Marzia?" I thought. "What is going on...?" She hung up on the phone, so I bolted away, trying to make it look like I wasn't listening.

"Hey," she said. "How do I look?"

"Stunning," I smiled. "Absolutely... stunning.." I felt a burning urge to ask her if she had heard from Marzia. "Um.."

"Yes?" She asked, and as I stayed silent, she read right through me. "Did Felix call you?"

"What's going on, Evelien?" I asked. "He called me... but he didn't say anything,"

"I really don't want to ruin tonight..." she said.

"Babe."

"She's gone.." Evelien said. "I'm sorry, but.... she's gone."

"What?" I asked, and we both sat down.

"The guards went to check on her this afternoon, and she was nowhere to be seen. Marzia said there was a note left that indicated she was on her way to do some unfinished business.... and it had the names of the kids on it..." Evelien explained, watching the happiness fall right out of me.

"I... I can't believe it..." I said. "So she's out, and the guards are believing she's dangerous?" Evelien nodded. "That's ridiculous.... She would never hurt her own kids..." I stood up to grab my coat.

"That's not the only thing Marzia said..." I turned to look at my girlfriend.

"What more?"

"They found a body about two hundred kilometers from your old house you shared with her in Ireland. The police believe it was her.." I stood frozen.

"Wow.." I said, thinking about my plan for the night. "I told her I was happy... and I had moved on... and she's gone now.."

"The coroner said there was a note left.." Evelien continued. "Saying something about you falling in love with someone new.... and making a life with her..."

~

We still went through with date night, and after arriving at the dessert portion of the meal, it was time. Evelien was just about to stab into the tiramisu we ordered when she spotted something shiny next to it on the plate.

"Wha... What is that?" She asked. She picked it up, and identified that it was indeed a ring.

"I know we haven't been together for very long," I said. "But since the day we met.. I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you.." I got down on one knee, taking her hand before speaking again.

"Evelien Smolders... will you marry me?"