Chapter 30 – Five Years Later

Twenty – seven letters. It signifies the years that I had spent with Jiminie. The years that I had stood by him, nurturing him and watching him grow from the child to the man that he was today. The number of years that I had grown to love him, cherish him and support him in everything that he loves.

All were handwritten, sealed and stamped with wax – the nightingale logo.

I kept them in a wooden box, and Jiminie's eyes were wide and welling with tears as I handed it over to him. It was a present for our five year anniversary. I thought it was fit to give them now, as it was the right time for it. I had finally finished writing them, and it was the right moment to do so. I wanted to commemorate this day.

"I … I don't know what to say, baby," he whispered, his voice was shaky. Tears were dripping down his cheeks now and it made me gather him in my arms to wipe away those stray tears. I disliked seeing him cry. "I love you so much. This is so touching and I'm at loss for words right now. This is the best gift I had ever gotten from you."

I gave him a smile. "I have a better one after you finish reading all of them, kitten," I said softly.

He sniffed. "Okay," he replied. "I'll read them. I'll make sure I'll read all of them."

The smile on my face widened. "I know you will."

As he retreated to his bedroom, I remained in the living room and sat down on the sofa. Taking the remote, I switched the television on and began flicking through the programmes that were currently playing. I settled on one that seemed fitting and leaned back against the sofa to make myself comfortable.

He's going to take a long time to read them.

If I recalled the first letter, I remembered writing it as soon as I met the boy and I wrote a letter every time he had done something, or achieved something. I wrote every time I had time, in between visits or every time I was missing him. It was embarrassing to admit but they were love letters. I wrote my innermost feelings about him, and wrapped them all up in those letters to be given to him when he was big enough to understand.

I was expecting to hand them over when we were dating but I felt that it was too early to drop such a significant thing to him when he wasn't used to anything yet. I wanted him to feel safe with me, and so I waited until I felt that he was ready to take the next step. It worries me still, but I knew that it was time for him to learn what I thought about him, even though he already knew what he means to me.

And so it took him a few days to read through my letters, taking each day to read my penned out thoughts as seriously as I wrote them. I was glad that he did, and as I ensured he slept well and ate well, he reads through each letter with a serious expression on his face. One or a few times, I caught him with red eyes and I knew that he must be reading the ones that had pulled on his heartstrings.

As he reads through each letter, I began to prepare. I had a plan all ready, employing the help of Jaemin, Sebastian and my clan members. I wanted to make this a huge surprise, and I wanted it to be meaningful. With their help, my surprise was slowly taking shape. I had all these planned out early, discussion amongst the vendors and the decoration shop were done fairly early so they were ready to come down any time.

While he stays at home reading, I was busy preparing for the surprise. It took him two weeks to read all of those letters and he came out of the bedroom looking teary-eyed – his eyes bloodshot like he had cried long and hard before. It made me stand up in concern, worried that my letters had made him sadder and when he saw me looking, he ran over to throw his arms over me.

"You silly goose," he wailed. He continued sobbing and crying as he buried his face into the crook of my neck. "I love you!"

Hearing him say it aloud made me relieved and I patted his back, squeezing him tightly. "I love you," I replied. "With all of my being, and all of my endless time that I have."

"I can't believe you did all that for me," he said quietly. "You … you … I can't believe you."

"It's alright, my love," I said softly. "You're here now."

I held him close as he cried. It gave me a lot of unexplainable emotions. It worries me that the letters has caused him immense grief and I was not expecting it. I wanted him to know what he meant to me, and even though I was nervous to let him see my inner thoughts. It made me feel guilty that I had caused such tears from him.

It took him a long time to stop crying, and I offered to get pizza for dinner. While we were waiting for them, we sat by the sofa cuddling as we stared at the television unseeingly. He had his arms wrapped around me, keeping me warm and his thumb was rubbing across my arm thoughtlessly. I was simply enjoying the moment with him.

"My answer is yes," he said.

"What?" I asked.

"My answer to the question you posted on your letters," he said. "It's yes."

I sucked in a breath as I twisted around to look at him. "You're amazing," I said.

He looked down and pecked my temple. "I know," he said.

.

The next day –

"Where are you bringing me?" he asked with a laugh, a small smile playing on his lips as I led him forwards by his hand. He was blindfolded from the moment we stepped out of the house, the ride in the car and towards the destination where I had set up the planned surprise for him. He has no idea what I was about to do.

I had used the same method the mortals had done for his birthday parties.

"It's a secret, my love," I said. "Careful, there's a step leading up."

"It isn't a secret when I know what date it is today," he grumbled.

I laughed. "Hurry up, please."

"I am hurrying, baby."

As we passed the opened doors and entered the hall, I stopped him in the middle. Faced him at the correct position before I loosened the blindfold. I watched as he blinked a little to get his eyesight back and then they widened in awe. I held his hand as he looked around the decorated hall in wonder – seeing the balloons, the writings, the flowers and the decorations that we had brainstormed for months.

Mimicking the smile on his face, I tugged his arm so he could look at me and pulled out a ring box from my pocket. Catching his eyes widening and his intake of breath, I opened the ring box to reveal the ring inside. Tears welled up in his eyes and then he let out a shaky breath, trying to keep the laugh from escaping his lips as he went to pull out a ring box from his pocket as well.

We laughed softly at the other, finding the situation hilarious, seeing the other trying to propose to each other on the same day and burst into hilarious laughter until we ran out of breath. I would remember this moment forever, the precious date and the precious memory that we had created together specially for this day.

"Hey, you can't do that," I said with a chuckle as I wiped away the tears escaping my eyes. "I had everything planned out perfectly."

"This is my answer, baby," he said as he opened the ring box, taking out the ring before handing out his hand towards me. "This will be my answer to a lot of the questions about us. What about you, my love?"

I smiled as I handed my left hand to him, watching as he slid the ring over to my ring finger and I did the same for him. We bought the rings based on the each other's style and personality, his was a simple band patterned into ocean waves with an engraving of a nightingale inside while mine was all black shaped as a crown.

"I can't wait to spend eternity with you, Jiminie," I said as I held his hands in mine, the smile widening as I looked at him and notices his love and his happiness for me. "I love you with all of my being, and with all the time that I have."

"And I love you too, with all the newfound time that I have right now," he said. "I will gladly spend the rest of my time with you, together in love and together forever. You will never be alone, and you will never experience loneliness anymore. We are in this together, and we will spend eternity together forever."

I let out a shaky breath, tears were already spilling my vision and I burst into tears as soon as he finished talking. Hearing him coo, I felt him coming closer to wrap his arms around me and I felt his chin on my head as he enveloped me. There was no more warmth that I cherished, but I knew there was warmth in his embrace.

"I love you with all of my heart," he said.

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