and we fell

Epilogue

SOFIA

"May I have your attention, please?" I ask slowly hitting in the glass of champagne I'm holding in my hand, for the sound to make the guests focus. They stop chattering and turn to where I am standing next to the painting. Alec is next to me, with his hand protective on my waist, his eyes looking at me admiring. His tux makes him look like the CEO he is, showing off my man to the world.

Before I begin my speech, I take one more look at the painting. The kiss the two share. The intense red on the girl's lips, color that by now became a signature for my lips as well. The kiss marks on the guy's cheek. If someone would have told me that this painting would become such an important part of my life, I wouldn't have believed them. Yet here I am, standing with the love of my life next to it, months after he offered me this painting as a gift. Since then, he offered me so much more than just an artwork. He offered me his heart. Gift, I am willing to keep forever.

"I want to thank you for being here today. Le Baiser Gallery has been one of my most wished dreams and I can't believe I am able to welcome you inside right now."
I look around the place and remember the last months of hard work Alec and I put to turn this place into an art gallery. After we got back together and I officially crashed my wedding, Alec and I became a couple again. We returned to New York and I spent the rest of the summer living at his place. I moved back in the dorm at the beginning of the term, yet we needed the time together during the holiday. We had both missed each other so much during those three months, three months that became the worst time of my life , we just couldn't be apart. Alec brought me one day to the building we had toured once and I just knew it would be the perfect place for Le Baiser Gallery, my art gallery, and he told me that he bought it. At first, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was only as I saw the painting hung on one of the walls that I understood it was real. And that this place is ours now.

We've spent months making the building look like the gallery I've always wanted. Now, six months later, we're happy to have the first guests visiting us for opening night. The room we're in, the room the party happens, is My Kiss room. It's a room that only holds one painting, my favorite painting. There are lipstick samples at the entrance of the room, from which every girl can take one. The walls only have a phrase written on it: "Kisses only. Please no writing.", which means, every girl who enters the gallery can take a sample of lipstick, put it on, kiss the wall to mark her visit and then, if the case is so, kiss her date with which she came to the gallery. The walls are still empty now, since Alec and I still have to officially begin the tradition. Yet I can already see some girls waiting in line with their dates, ready to call this tradition theirs as well.

"I also want to thank the love of my life, Alec, for everything you've done for me. Alec, I love you so much and sometimes I don't know how it is possible for someone to love in this amount. I've once told you that every second beat of my heart is for you. It was a lie. Every beat of my heart is for you. You own my heart and I don't want you to give it back to me. I couldn't have reached this dream without you babe and I want to thank you for always being there for me. I love you."

Alec looks at me, flashing one of his smiles. He kisses my cheek and I take his hand, leading him closer to the wall. From the pocket of the skirt I'm wearing, I take out a little lipstick. Alec got annoyed as soon as he found out what Victor had done with the one he gave me as a present, so he got me a new one. I open the lipstick and put some on my lips, which were already the same color. However, I want to show the girls who'll do this after us how to do it right.

As I'm ready, I come closer to him wrapping my hands behind his neck. He pulls me closer, until our faces are just a few inches away. Although we've done this before, he still manages to give me butterflies every time we're this close.

"Are you ready to recreate a painting with me again, babe?" I ask and he chuckles.

"I'll always be ready to recreate paintings with you, Foxy. Now, tomorrow and forever."

I crash my lips onto his and leave the biggest kiss mark one could ever wish for. As I'm done, I quickly kiss the wall to begin this new tradition. The couples in the audience take it as a sign and start opening their samples of lipstick. Although this is a big moment for us, it slowly fades in the background as Alec pulls me even closer and kisses me again, making his way from the spot on my neck that he loves all the way up to my lips.

"I love you, Foxy", he whispers in my ear and I sink deeper into his arms. I don't want him to ever let me go. He feels too much like home.

As I want to answer, the room already started to fill itself up with love declarations from other couples and the walls started getting colors. I chuckle and move closer to his ear, so that only he can hear me.

"It appears that our little game of recreating paintings is trending."

He smiles and kisses my lips once more, for us to play another round. "It sure seems like this. Yet they can't reach our level, Foxy. It's only us that hold the masterpiece."
I chuckle and kiss him again, to prove him right. What started with a painting, turned into the masterpiece of our lives.

I draw a small heart on his hand and get lost in kissing him.

If this is how forever looks like, I know I'm going to enjoy it.