Chapter 96: Epilogue

< Shirley>
I opened the big window, welcoming the fresh ocean breeze. A smile graced my lips as the bright afternoon sunlight hit my face. I was gazing at the beautiful Aegean sea when a pair of arms snaked around my waist from behind.
"Good afternoon, my love," wished my newly wedded husband and rested his chin on my shoulder.
"Good afternoon," I wished back and kissed his cheek.
Dylan and I got married a few days ago in Santorini, Greece. We were still here for our official honeymoon. Well, we have been on a honeymoon for the last eight months, either way, nothing new. However, it was still special.
Getting married to Dylan was one of the best things that ever happened to me. The feeling of accomplishment when the pastor had finally declared that we were now married was overwhelming; I almost cried, and so did he.
The last few months had been blissful as the enemies that came after us were decreasing. Even so, we still kept moving. We didn't stay in a country for more than three weeks for safety even if we didn't get found out.
I wish I could stay on a run like this forever without having to worry about going to work, social life—just us.
"Are you tired?" Dylan asked while nibbling kisses on my neck. We stayed up late last night, exploring each other's bodies.
"I could go for another round," I said and turned around, looping my arms around his neck while his arms went around my hip.
"Oh, I would love that," he said and was about to pull me into a kiss when his cell phone started ringing.
I frowned, cursing the caller, and stepped away from him so that he could pick up the call. However, seeing the caller ID, I stood on the bed and attached my ear on the other side of the phone beside Dylan.
Dylan rolled his eyes and put the phone on speaker, murmuring, "Idiot."
"Yo, bro," I greeted before Dylan could open his mouth.
"Hey, you two," Adrian greeted.
"What's the reason behind your gracious call this early, Mr. Hamilton?" asked Dylan.
"Early? If I'm not wrong, it should be 1 o'clock there," Adrian remarked.
"State your business already," Dylan hissed, and I chuckled.
"I have got amazing news. That's why I couldn't wait till I broke it to you," Adrian chimed, excitement lingering in his voice.
"And that is?" Dylan urged.
"You guys can come back to the USA now," Adrian said, and my heart dropped. "I told you that I planted a man of mine in Dad's gang, right? He confirmed to me last night that he blew up their entire base. Therefore, there is no one left to come after you since we finished your dad's men way before."
"That's great. Finally, we can go back to our normal lives," Dylan said. He genuinely sounded happy. But I wasn't happy at all. I didn't want to go back to our normal lives. I was enjoying this place. I was loving to move around with Dylan while experiencing various other nations and cultures. "Don't worry, we will come back as soon as possible."
Dylan and Adrian talked for a few more minutes on the call while I plopped down on the bed and crossed my legs, a pout taking over my lips. Once Dylan hung up the call, he looked at me and raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." I puffed my cheeks and shook my head.
"I don't know what's got you sulking, but I'm over the moon today. Finally, we can go back to our home," Dylan said excitedly.
"Shall we start packing then?" I asked sarcastically.
"Yes, we should," he responded without tracing the sarcasm in my tone.
I gritted my teeth and let out, "I don't want to leave."
Dylan paused on his movements and snapped his neck in my direction. "Say what?"
"I don't want to go back to New York right away."
"Like you want to stay here for no reason?" he rephrased.
"Who says I don't have any reasons? I want to spend a few more days here with you. I love this place. I love the ocean view, the breeze, everything about this place. I was even planning to tell you to settle here," I let out in a breath.
"Are you sure you didn't drink any alcohol last night at the beach party?" he asked, and I glared at him. Sensing my seriousness, he tried to keep himself calm and said, "Baby, we can't settle here. New York is where we belong."
"Who says so?" I raised my voice.
"I say so," he responded and I frowned. "New York is where we were born. That is where we met. That is where we fell in love. Just because this place is prettier does not mean we have to settle here."
Even though his words were sweet, I was adamant about my decision. I loved the sea, and I wanted to stay here. If not forever, at least for a few more weeks. "Okay, we will go back to New York after a few weeks."
"And how many weeks are there in a few weeks?" Dylan asked skeptically.
"At least eight to nine," I replied curtly.
"That's like two months, Shirley," he pointed out. I could feel the slight bitterness in his voice as he called me by my name.
"Exactly. That's how long I want to stay here," I told him.
"In other words, you want to waste two more months here?" he stated.
"Why would we waste any time—"
"My company is struggling without me, Shirley. Even though I'm trying to complete my work as their CEO online, yet it's not enough. If I stay away from NY any longer than two weeks, my company is going to go bankrupt. If that happens, you can't afford to stay in such luxurious villas in Santorini," he spat out.
"Even if your company goes bankrupt, I know you have enough family fortunes to make that up," I retorted.
Dylan groaned and said, "You never try to understand me."
"I understand you better than anyone," I responded.
We were on our honeymoon, yet he was so eager to go back as if he couldn't wait to get rid of me; as if he was only thinking of ways to stop spending time with me. It was okay if he said that we could stay at least a week and go back, but he just straight-out said it was a waste of time to enjoy our honeymoon. Like seriously.
"Yes, right. You make me feel blessed with how much you understand me." Dylan rolled his eyes.
"Of course, you should feel blessed. You have a wife like me. How many people get such a beautiful wife?" I fired back.
"And how many people get a handsome, rich, young, caring husband?"
"I'm sure there are way better husbands than you out there."
"Oh, really?" He chuckled humorlessly. "Then why did you marry me? You should have gone and married those superior husband candidates of yours."
"Because I wanted to make your life miserable," I growled.
"You have successfully done that. Congrats."
The two of us bickered for half an hour before finally coming to a stop because it was heading in a bad direction.
Dylan sighed and finally said, "I don't want to talk to you right now." He grabbed a towel and made his way to the bathroom.
Before he closed the door, I hollered, "Don't forget we planned to go to the fair in the evening."
"I'm not interested anymore. You can go alone." With that, he closed the door on my face.
Black fumes came out of my ear as I threw the pillows in his direction. "How dare he? The audacity of his to deny coming to the fair!" I got down from the bed and shouted from outside the bathroom. "I'm going to make you sleep on the couch like those typical wives."
"I can hear you," Dylan hollered from inside.
"That was meant to be," I replied.
"Answer to your question, you can't make me sleep on the couch. I have way too many rooms back at home," he answered.
I huffed and kicked his door before grabbing my clothes to go to the spare bathroom downstairs. We were staying in a villa here, which we had completely to ourselves, so we could do whatever we wanted, except the afternoon when the cleaning services would arrive.
Once I got dressed up in a royal blue off-shoulder knee-length dress, I headed out. Even though the fair was in the evening, I wanted to go out beforehand. I wanted some alone time.
As I walked around the streets of the town, I noticed many other couples, some were having an argument, some were being lovey-dovey. Fights between Dylan and me were nothing out of the ordinary, yet they were never serious either. The two of us would always compromise for the other if it wasn't possible to get both of our ways. Also, we never went to bed without resolving our fights.
Were the sparks of being in love fading away? Was it because we were now married?
Before I knew it, it was already evening as my mind was occupied with several thoughts. I made my way to the beach fair. As I was observing the fair from afar, not interested to buy anything, I was missing Dylan immensely.
Without him, this fair was no fun for me. The fireworks that went off in the sky would never tingle sparks in the pit of my stomach the way his kisses did. These materialistic things would never make me as happy as being with him.
That's when I realized that it didn't matter where I was. It was only Dylan I wanted to be with. Without his presence, even the most beautiful art had no color to me.
I rushed to the exit of the fair without another thought. Just when I was about to step out of the fair entrance path, a familiar voice said, "Where are you going? I thought you wanted to enjoy the fair."
I turned around to come face to face with Dylan, who was smiling at me. Just like always, his smile made a smile crack on my face as well. I was surprised to see him there.
His smile got wider as he approached me. "I was looking for you for a while now," he said.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, being bewildered.
He caressed my cheek and said with a dazzling smile, "I was missing you."
"I missed you too," I admitted, putting my hand on top of his on my cheek.
"Sorry about earlier," the two of us blurted out together.
"As I was looking around, I saw some people lighting sky lanterns. Wanna try it?" he offered to get rid of the awkwardness, and I nodded.
We both walked hand-in-hand to the vendor to get our lanterns before writing our names together on them and making a wish before releasing it on the sky. As we watched the lantern fly higher in the dark-bluish sky, I rested my head on his shoulder, watching the sunset.
"Let's go back to New York whenever you seem fit," I told him.
"Let's stay for another week then," Dylan said.
This was how I wanted us to be for the rest of our life— Always apologizing for our mistakes, having fights and making up, having dirty talks, throwing sarcasm, compromising for each other, knowing each other's secrets, making the other one feel special, but most importantly, being crazy in love.
——The End——