Matters Of The Heart ✔

Chapter Eleven

“Where are you taking me?”, Abigail laughed as Ian put his hand over her eyes the minute she stepped out of the car and guided her with his other hand as they walked. The ground was soft, she guessed they were now walking on grass. She couldn't walk fast because she was still very full from the huge dinner they just had a few hours prior before they drove around the city.

“You'll see”, he chuckled and felt her heave a sigh. She felt him hold her still, telling her they had arrived. He stood behind her, and removed his hand so that she could see where they were.

The moment she opened her eyes, she grasped at the beautiful sight before her eyes. He had set up for them at an open park, near the lake. The beautiful night sky reflected on the water, the starts shining brighter than she had ever seen them in her life before. The sky was calm, clear and still.

“This is so beautiful”, she exclaimed as he circled his arms around her waist, hugging her from behind, kissing her on the shoulder

“I thought we could end the night with a bit of star gazing, pretty amazing huh?”, she felt him chuckle before she turned and threw her arms around him

“It's really amazing”, they broke from the hug, and she cupped his face in her hands. “You are amazing”, his heart melted at her words. Her compliments always made him feel like he was good enough for almost anything. She uplifted him, built him. She made him want to be a better person.

“You make me a good person Abbie”, he said quietly before she kissed him fully on the lips, it lasted for about a minute before he smiled in between the kiss and withdrew from her, groaning playfully

“You're distracting me from the real reason we're here”, they laughed before he pulled her down with him to kneel on the blanket laid on the grass. That's when she noticed there were three lanterns, some paint, paint brushes and some snacks besides them.

“What are these for?”, she questioned curiously as he handed her one lantern

“We're going to do our own lantern tradition”, he smiled at her, firing up her curiosity

“How are we going to do that?”

“On that lantern, write down anything or anyone you feel is the only reason that's standing between us and make us work. Tonight, we're learning to let go”, he instructed as they sat opposite each other. With his paintbrush, he wrote down a name that bought him great pain on the material of the lantern.

Bianca

He underlined the name and sighed as he stared down on the word as he rested his hands on his lap. This was one name he found hard to forget, but he was willing finally to let go of her.

“Do we have to show each other what we wrote?”, Abigail asked as she too painted a name on the material of the lantern

Austin

“Do you want to?”, his voice asked, and they locked eyes for a second, and she nodded her head

“Okay”, he said as they held their lanterns across each other, reading out the words each one of them wrote on their lanterns

“This is the name of the first man I've ever loved. Tonight, I'm finally letting go of our memories together”, Abigail was the first to speak. Ian's eyes softened before he took a deep breath before opening his mouth to speak.