The Truth Untold

56

The whole Saturday we were only on the road. We had breakfast together and then went to the zoo. The weather was great and the animals had all been outside. It was incredible fun and I enjoyed the time with the people who were most important to me. In the evening we went for sushi and it was so delicious that I had to suppress the urge to roll my eyes with every bite. Just because Jessie was not allowed to eat sushi and loved it as much as I did, if not more. She had been wistfully staring at our food the whole time and stirred around in her noodle soup. When we were back home, I dropped exhausted on the sofa and Leo went upstairs to freshen up a bit.

"Jess and I are going for a walk on the beach. Will you follow?" Milan asked me and wrapped an arm around Jessie's hip.

"Yes, I'm sure we will," I said, smiling weakly.

The two of them disappeared and I was all alone, surrounded by the silence, only the sound of the waves could be heard very faintly. I suddenly became very tired and realized what a tiring day it was. So that I would not fall asleep I got up and went to the veranda, from which a staircase led down to the beach. I saw Jessie and Milan walking hand in hand along the beach, Jessie with her round belly and Milan smiling proudly down at the still unborn child. In the distance the sun was already setting and together with the light breeze and the sound of the sea the scenery around me was almost therapeutic. All of a sudden I noticed how strong arms wound around my waist and pulled me to a warm body.

"What are you thinking about, princess?" asked a deep, melodic voice, which automatically made me smile.

"To be honest, I was thinking about Jess and Milan, and..." I stopped my sentence because I didn't know if I should say it.

I turned around and saw Leo's half-closed eyes staring at me with all their softness.

"I look forward to that once I'm in their situation. When I have a child. Not yet. Not for a few years. But still ... somehow the anticipation is there," I confessed and put my arms around Leo's neck.

Contrary to what I had thought, there was no panic or fear in Leo's eyes. When I saw it right, his eyes reflected the same anticipation as mine and a smile played around his lips, giving me a warm feeling around my heart.

"I know what you mean. Imagine that. It must be incredible to be responsible for such a small being and to look after him. We would surely have a beautiful little boy," Leo said, this time with a broad grin and I couldn't help but reciprocate.

"A boy?", I asked and wished that this warm feeling he triggered in me would never disappear.

"Yes. And then a few years later we'll get a girl, so she'll have a big brother to look after her too," said Leo, with such conviction as if he had planned all this years in advance.

"You've got a real plan," I said, but without the mockery in my voice.

"Yes, don't you?", he asked and his attention was once again completely focused on me.

"Um, well, to be honest, no. I had never thought about such things. Until Jessie got pregnant and you showed up. What else have you got planned," I asked curiously and at the same time tried to distract a little from the fact that something like children and a future with someone else was always far away for me.

"Well, I would have liked to get married before I had children. I would have liked to stay in the city until there was actually a child on the way. Then I am looking for a nice house with a big garden, somewhere outside the city. But not too far away and also nowhere boring, like here in the Hamptons. And I would like to bring up my children bilingually and fly to Busan regularly so that my Eomma can see them more often," said Leo with a longing smile.

Surprisingly, the realization that he had already planned so much did not scare me, but made me love him a little bit more, which I had not thought possible.

"That sounds great," I said, bent over and kissed him, so that the butterflies in my stomach started dancing again.

"The sun is setting. Come! I've prepared something," he said, took a bag, which I only noticed now, and ran down the steps to the beach.

He laid the bag in the sand and brought out a large blanket, which he spread out on the sand. Then he reached in once more and a small square box appeared. It was the camera. He turned it on and set it up. I just gave him a reproachful look.

"How do you like your birthday present so far?" he asked when he sat down.

I sat down next to him, looked into the camera and said, "It's absolutely wonderful. It's perfect".

Then I pushed the camera aside a little bit and kissed Leo again.

"Oh, but this is not G-rated", Leo murmured at my lips and only now I noticed that he had filmed the kiss.

"You don't want to show the videos to our unborn Children, do you", I asked playfully reproachful.

"Yes, why not," Leo asked and held the camera so that we were both on it.

"What a pity, then we can't save a sex tape on the camera", I said and had to suppress a giggle.

"You are so dirty", Leo said seriously, but I noticed that he swallowed at my words and I had to laugh.

"The children just have to learn who wears the pants in this relationship," I said slightly provocatively and stretched my chin with a grin.

"You?", Leo asked mockingly and looked at me through the camera.

"Mommy has the pants on. Remember that. Not daddy," I said and had sat down on my knees and wrapped an arm around Leo's neck to keep my face closer to the camera.

"You could call me Daddy more often," said Leo and grinned mischievously into the camera.

"Who is the dirty one of us now," I said in indignation and playfully slapped Leo against his chest.

"Still you," he said laughing and held my hands so that I couldn't hit him again.

"Our children will never see these videos, will they?" I asked and looked hopefully at Leo.

"No, never," Leo promised me, and we started laughing again.

"Oh, the sun is going down," he cried excitedly now, pointing the camera at the sea.

He was right. The sun was already half-sunk into the sea and bathed the sky in orange, purple, pink and yellow. All these colours were reflected in the sea and it reminded me of countless pots of paint that had leaked. I realized that I had never seen a sunset over the sea, and at the same time that it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

"Turn off the camera," I said, without taking my eyes off the spectacle of color in front of me.

"Why?", Leo asked, and now I freed myself of the spectacle in front of me.

"Because some things don't need to be recorded. Some things are worthy of being recorded only in our minds. That makes them more valuable," I said and Leo turned off the camera with a smile.

He reached for my hand and I moved closer to him, whereupon he took me in his arms.

"That's beautiful," I explained and watched the sun, which had now almost completely disappeared behind the water.

"Just like you," Leo whispered in my hair and I pressed his hand even tighter.

"I wish we weren't going home tomorrow. It was all much too short," I said and sighed.

"Yes, I wish that, too. But I promise you, we'll come back," he said and pressed me even tighter.

And then the sun had disappeared and the colours around us became darker and darker.