Burning Heart ▹ CIAMPA [COMPLETED]

40 ▹ forever

• NICOLE'S P.O.V. •

Today, we woke up in each other's arms and I immediately woke up feeling loved. That is all I ever wanted, but I would never had received that from Pete, though. He could never love anyone more than himself, but I finally found someone who would forever and ever.

Yet, I don't think I found him. I think that he found me before I could even find myself. I was lost between keeping who I knew close to me or reaching out and taking what I knew that I needed. Before I could make my final decision and move forth, my world came crashing down on me when Pete cheated on me — once again — but, this time, with my best friend.

I realized all of these things as I glanced up and saw Tommaso standing in the kitchen, flipping through the pages of a cook book. He wanted to cook us dinner tonight, for once, but didn't have no clue where to start. I smiled, even though he hadn't looked up to see it yet, and dimmed my eyes.

He was my whole world now, from making me feel miserable in the beginning our of so-called friendship to making me feel like a queen in my very own kingdom. His tensions were always good; it's just his presentation that left much to be desired. I will never look back now.

Tommaso and I, no matter what happens, will always be connected through Johnny and Candice — and their baby or babies, if they decide to have more than one. We will always be the godparents of their child, but not to mention, our own.

I know that Tommaso and I will end up getting married at one point or another. I have this deep feeling that we will. We will have our own children not long after that, too. It was always written in the cards for us, but we never knew that it would be with each other than our ex's.

I glanced down at my left hand, specifically one finger, being my ring finger. The ring that was currently on that finger shined, even with it being so small. It would still shine in any dark room that I will walk in. It was the promise ring that he gave me, being our promise to one another to always be faithful and to always love one another until we can replace that ring with an actual wedding ring later on in life.

Then, when we get married and this ring gets replaced by another, that one will be our extended promise to one another to always be faithful, to love, and to spend the rest of our lives together. It just still didn't feel real to me, even after all these months of us being together and for all the years to come.

I smiled at his effort to make us dinner, as he talked to himself while running around the kitchen to find what he needed. It was actually humorous to me, bless his heart. I'm not saying that I'm this gourmet chef or anything, but I wasn't as bad as he was right now, though. I will give him credit where credit is due, though, because he is doing somewhat decent for this to be his first real time cooking.