Izzy & Noah ✔️

Sixty-Six: Sharing Our News with Everyone

It's despair that fills me, and anger follows when my emotions finally begin to calm, when I finally manage to breathe.

Am I desperate? Do I crave love? Yes, I want everything.

I stand in the shower, the water pouring over me for so long that I almost lose track of time. Then I hear the door open.

Someone's asking me something.

I hear the sound of clothes being shed, but I can't see. My eyes are closed, and I can't seem to move. The silence presses in around me, heavy and suffocating.

And then, without warning, I jump. Someone touches me from behind, and the warmth of their body sends a shock through me.

I want to scream. I want to push them away, say something, anything, but my chest feels heavy, and the words stick in my throat.

What will people think? How will they look at me?

She married someone she barely knew—three months? That's it.

Do I really know him?

What if they say I married out of pity, that it's because he's terminally ill?

What will they say about me? Will they judge me? Will they point fingers and whisper behind my back?

But it feels so right. It feels like everything is finally aligned, like the universe has conspired to bring us together.

And then, I turn.

I open my eyes, and I see him.

His blue eyes.

I can't tear my gaze away, even as the water continues to rush over us, cascading down our skin, a gentle reminder of everything that's real in this moment.

My lips meet his, and we kiss.

There's no hesitation. No pause. Even as the water grows lukewarm, we kiss. We don't stop.

Because in this moment, in this simple, intimate space, I know—my heart is finally exactly where it's supposed to be. With him. With someone who loves me for who I am. Even if I'm flawed, stubborn, and willful. Even when my emotions seem all over the place, or when I cry for no reason at all.

"Noah," I whisper when our lips part.

"Izzy. Stop thinking," he murmurs, his voice steady and full of understanding.

I don't deny it. He knows me too well. He knows exactly what's going on inside my mind, as if he can read my every thought.

"I know you're worried, but that's how it is," Noah says softly. "That's how your heart feels, that's how I feel. And it doesn't matter what people think. You are mine. For life."

All the right words. The ones I've longed to hear for so long.

How many times in my life have I wished for the perfect words to make everything make sense? For someone to truly love me, to feel like we belonged to each other, like we were meant to be.

How many times have I reached for this, put my heart on the line, hoping for the kind of love I thought only existed in dreams? And yet, with him, it's so... easy. So natural.

Too many words, too many hopes... all answered by the right actions.

But then he pulls back.

"Noah, I just wish I had more time," I say, my voice trembling.

I really do.

"I know you do. So do I." His words hang in the air, heavy with meaning. Every gesture, every touch, every word, I want to remember it all, keep it locked away in my heart.