Till Forever Falls Apart

15). Zane

ZANE

I would never forget the way her whole face lit up after opening her eyes. She looked around the room and said in a voice full of wonder and surprise, "Wow!"

And after seeing her that way, I knew that I had accomplished my goal.
She turned towards me and asked, "A planetarium. Oh Zane, you remembered this too?"

I grinned and said, "Like I said before, I remember every little thing about you."
"It's really, really, really beautiful." She said happily.

When I first told John about meeting Anika, he wasn't so thrilled. He was convinced that this girl is also going to be a gold digger and does not fucking cares about anything else. I don't really blame him. The kind of girls I've dated have turned out to be exactly like this. All my past dates have resulted in disasters.

I once went out with a girl whom I matched on Tinder. She was pretty and was a fashion influencer and we went to dinner at a very expensive restaurant. Which was fine with me but as soon as we reached there, the paps hounded us. At first, I thought that it was a coincidence that they were present there. But as soon as I noticed the smirk and smile on her face, I knew that it was planned. Sooo, I got into my car and left without her.

It was the third time, someone tried to either use me for fame or money. And so after I was done with this stupid dating.

I want something real and pure. I want someone to look at me like my mom looks at my dad.

Yes… even after thirty years of marriage they are still so much in love with each other. And yes, it does makes me and my brother feel gross sometimes. But I wouldn't want it any other way. Because at the end of the day their love for each other is what makes me believe in true love stories.

And that is what I want. I don't want a house but a home to come back to.
Seeing the shine and happiness on Ika's face makes my heart warm up.

"Zane, look at all these stars. They look so beautiful. It looks like a large hand had tossed diamond dust into the sky." She said, looking up at the ceiling showing millions of shining stars.

"Hayeee!" She said with so much awe in her voice.

"Wait…what does 'hae' mean?" I asked her in confusion.

She turned toward me and said with a chuckle, "It's an exclamation used when you are in awe of something. Like… I saw this beautiful view in front of me and I just felt like this is the bestest thing I've ever seen in my life till now."

"Really?" I asked.

"Yup." She said, popping the p.

I took her hand, tilted my head a little and while looking into her honey colored eyes I said, "Hayeee!"

And her face turned into a beautiful shade of pink.

"I think this is my new favorite word", I whispered to her.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because it makes you blush. Your face turns into this beautiful shade of pink and it really suits you." I explained.

She smiled and said, "Zane... Thank you so much for doing this for me. I think, this is the best day of my life so far. And you are the sole reason for this."

"You don't have to thank me, sweetheart. Making you smile, makes me happy." I told her.

I took her hand and we went in the middle of the room. It was then, she noticed the blanket, picnic basket with a lot of flower petals scattered all around it.

Thank you so much, John.

She looked towards me with a smile so fucking bright that made my heart flutter.

"Well, John is the one who did all the arrangements. I only gave the instructions." I told her.

"I don't think, I have words to describe how happy I'm feeling right now. And thank you seems such a small word for all which I'm feeling right now. I woke up thinking that today is going to be another normal day but you turned it into something totally different, a lot special." She said.

"When I saw you standing in the cafe today, I thought this is the best that could happen to me. But then, you brought me here. The planetarium, because you remembered, the one time I told you, that I wanna lay down and just see all  the beautiful stars in the sky. And I thought, okay now nothing can surpass this. And now... this. I don't think I can ever thank you enough for making me feel this special." She said in a sheepish voice.

"You don't have to thank me, firefly. I'm doing all this because you are special. You are special for me. This one month talking with you was the best time of my life." I told her.

"I really don't know what I did. Maybe one day you'll tell me about that." She said. "Oh and please remind me to hug John for making these beautiful arrangements."

Wait, what?

"You know what? I lied. I'm the one who really arranged everything. I was just giving poor John, the benefit of the doubt." I said quickly. "Now.... you were talking about some hugging, right?"

She playfully pushed my shoulder and started laughing hysterically and I found myself joining her.

After calming down we settled on the blanket and looked at the starry night sky together.