'I'm beginning to think I imagined you all along'

XIII

"Come on, come onnn!" Aaron says, grabbing Suha's hand tightly and making his way down a few concrete steps "Okay Aaron, don't rush me, i'm wearing heels!" she replies, hobbling behind him and resisting against his wrist trying to get Aaron to slow down, his grip ever tightly locking them together. "Okay baby, i'm sorry" Aaron says, before pulling Suha's hand towards his lips and placing a kiss softly atop her knuckles, Suha smiles to herself. "I wish you would take this blindfold off Aaron, I can't see a single thing" Suha reaches her hand up to her face to move the silk tie that's covering her eyes "Ah ah ah!" Aaron says, stopping in his tracks and reaching his hand up to slap Suha's away "There's a reason why I did that ya know, and why I don't want you to see, we're nearly there okay?" Aaron patiently watches Suha as she slumps her shoulders and lets out a little sigh "You're so impatient aren't you?" Aaron says, before placing a kiss gently on the tip of her nose. Aaron starts walking again and Suha soon follows, this time Aaron is walking far slower and gripping her hand much more tightly, he stops again and this time stands right before Suha, she can feel his warmth and his presence near him, his scent lingering softly in the intimate space between them, she smiles to herself once more. Aaron reaches round behind her head and slowly unties the knot in the tie he'd placed around her eyes "Okay, I want you to keep your eyes shut for me, nice and tight, okay?" Aaron whispers "Okay okay..." Suha replies. Aaron pulls the silk tie away from Suha's eyes, they're firmly shut and he takes a moment to look at her, she's stunning as always and Aaron finds himself having to take an extra breath, how can she always look this perfect? Her hair natural and free flowing, barely any make up, she's dressed down in a t-shirt and jeans with one of Aaron's hoodies tied around her waist. He loved it when she looked like this, he loved her all the time but especially when she was herself, when she was natural, he appreciated her beauty all of the time but she never needed to do anything special to catch Aaron's eye, she was beautiful to him no matter what. "Can I open my eyes yet?" Suha blurted out, catching Aaron off guard, he was so enchanted by her. He reached down and clasped both of Suha's hands together, she couldn't see but he was smiling widely at her and was so anxious for her reaction "You can open your eyes" he says gently, eagerly waiting for her response.

The sight before Suha's eyes was mesmerizing, she had never been to a more beautiful place in her entire life. Aaron whisking her away for a romantic break in the Maldives was something that she could never imagine happening to her, something that she couldn't possibly believe she would ever bare witness to, something that she had dreamed about for so long. Night was falling and the sea salt air was hitting Suha's lips, she ran her tongue over them before breathing in deeply and closing her eyes, the sea air colliding with her lungs, the sound of the sea lapping against the beach filling her ears, the calm that she felt was clashing with the rhythmic racing of her heartbeat. Overwhelming sensations were all taking part, a symphony coursing through her body. There was a soft breeze gently blowing the hair away from her neck, her t-shirt flapping against her skin, she opens her eyes and looks straight ahead to find Aaron making his way down to the sand, she turns her attention to the majestic and vast ocean laid before her, the sky that was once filled with streaks of red, blood-orange and deep pink, had now darkened and the moon was in full flight, her eyes were drew to the point where the sky kisses the ocean and the line blurs. Suha looked down to see Aaron had arranged something on the beach, she lifted her feet up one at a time before removing her shoes and taking her first steps onto the cold sand, her feet narrowly missing a lit candle as Aaron had made a pathway of light guiding her directly to him. Now the sun had completely disappeared beneath the horizon, the silky grains of sand were cool as they crept in between the spaces of her toes, the dying light from the moon glimmering onto the sand, bouncing off each granule lighting it up like stars in the night sky, shoes in hand she slowly made her way over to Aaron. The beach was empty all except for them, white foam was lapping up against the sand and the crashing of the waves had dulled to a gentle, comforting and relaxing ebb and flow of the water kissing the shoreline.