Flowers//Elavan

~19~

The countdown to Mia's fifth birthday started to dawn on Avan the morning he saw the calendar that Liz used to mark at her work space. Their was only a week or so left until his baby girl turned five and all she ever really wanted nowadays was to see her mother. Avan had the most trouble with that.

Liz was only starting to really accept the fact that they were married. So, to tell her that she had an almost-five-year-old daughter was not the easiest thing to do. He didn't know how she would react to that and he was terrified. The last time she received news this big, she pushed him away for a whole week straight.

What would happen if he told her about Mia? Would she push him away again?

The thing that mortified him was if she would push Mia away as well. He broke when she ignored him for a week but for Liz to do the same to their daughter, that would be something he would never be able to forgive himself for.

"Avan, quit spacing out on me!"

He feels a harsh slap on his forearm, making him jump out of his thoughts. His head snaps to the direction of his wife's voice and finds her frowning at him with crossed arms.

Liz didn't like being ignored. That was the one thing that irked him just the tiniest bit when things were better. It was even worse when she was pregnant, but even if she wasn't, for as long as they were in the same space, Avan had to at least acknowledge her presence or she would mope around like a child.

"Hi," he sheepishly grins at her. "What is it?"

"I was asking you how long we've been married for but if your evaluation reports are that important then never mind," she packs away the leftovers of the food she was no longer able to eat and placed it on her bedside table.

"We've been married for 5 years now," he smiles.

They've been at it for five years and those five years have been the best of his life. Sure, there were times when they fought and argued but it was worth it because she was always there at the end of the day.

"Where did we get married?"

"It was at this really pretty cliff that you picked out," he starts. "We got married right when the sun set as you requested."

"Ooh!" she gushed. "I've always wanted to get married at sunset!"

"And you did," he chuckles. "We said our vows at the tail end of golden hour and was officially Mr. and Mrs. Jogia at sunset."

She crinkles her nose, "I took your last name?"

"Well, professionally, everyone still knows you as Liz Gillies but legally, you're Elizabeth Gillies-Jogia," he pinches her cheek. "Hyphenated."

Liz pans her eyes down to her left ring finger and inspects the wedding ring that wrapped around it snugly.

"White gold or silver?"

"White gold," he chuckles. "You weren't having it with silver."

She fiddles with the ring and finds little white gems embedded in them, "Crystals or diamonds?"

"Diamonds, Liz," he silently laughs. "You're in the questioning mood today."

"Yeah, well, it was a big day in my life," she shrugs. "I wanna know all about it."

"Okay then," he nods.

Liz gives him a curious look when he closes the tabs of the reports he was making. She blushes once again as she sees his desktop picture.