54 'Happy New Year, My Love....' (1/1/2019)

It was 4 o'clock in the morning.

"Hey…Sweety?"

"….."

"..Wake up!... Wake up…" She was sitting beside him on his bed.

Trying to wake him up, she started shaking him.

"…Huh? Yeah…Um…" He murmured something and turned to another side while sleeping.

"Hey…Wake up…We have to go….Come on…" She tapped on his blanket several times.

"Huh? Yeah…Not today baby…I am tired today….We'll do it tomorrow…okay?...."

Hearing those words, she just got up and then, "SWOOSHHHHHH!!!"

The next thing that happened was his blanket lying on the floor.

"…Cold….It's cold…." He murmured and then curled himself inside.

"Ya! I said WAKE UP! WAKE UP, RIGHT NOW!!!"

With that loud voice, he got up quickly, somewhat shocked. "Huh? What? What happened?"

He started looking around confusedly.

His hair was messy, his eyes were puffy and he was wearing only pants.

As he saw her, standing by his bed, folding her hands, he smiled at her goofily.

"Hey, baaaaby….." Coming towards the edge of the bed, he hugged her waist.

"What are you doing here?" He asked still hugging her.

Looking at him, hugging her like a kid, she couldn't help but smile.

"Did you forget already?"

"Huh? What?" He looked up at her.

"It's the first day of the year…" She said.

"Huh? Oh yeah!! Happy New Year, baby!!" He said as he took her hand and gently kissed it.

Then he looked at Mia with a smile. But she was just staring at him coldly.

"What?" He asked.

She didn't say anything and just raised her eyebrows.

He thought for a couple of seconds.

"Ha! Right! You said that you were gonna take me somewhere!

I remember I remember now." He said hurriedly and looked at the clock.

She just rolled her eyes. 'I knew, this was gonna happen….'

"It's 4 o'clock.....Wait…It's 4 o'clock ??? In the morning???

Where are you taking me at this hour?" He looked at her with confusion.

"Don't ask anything, just get ready! We are getting late…"

"But—"

She pulled him out of his bed and pushed him into the bathroom.

"Just go and freshen up quickly. I'll take out your clothes."

"Wait..but—" And she closed the door giving him no chance to talk.

Then going towards his dressing room, she picked out a white turtleneck, with a navy-blue checks woolen jacket with black trousers.

'It's really cold outside…' She thought to herself and so she took a padded jacket, warm gloves, and a warm hat too.

'Hm. This will be fine...'

Then going towards the bathroom door, she knocked on it.

"Are you asleep? Just get out already…"

"Comiiiing….." The answer came.

~

When they got out of his house, it was 4:30.

"Come on! We are late!!"

He was walking beside her while rubbing his hands together.

It was still pitch dark outside and the weather was also really cold.

"It's so chilly…." He said as warm breath came out from his mouth.

She quickly opened the door of the driver's seat.

"Huh? You are gonna drive?" He asked.

"Yep! So if you want, you can get some sleep. I know you must be tired." And she sat inside.

Raising his eyebrows in surprise, he opened the door and got inside.

"That's a surprise. My wife, who is really lazy for driving, is telling me that she'd drive by herself today?"

She was putting on her seat belt when he gave her a quick peck on her cheeks.

"Thanks, Honey." He said.

She just smiled at him and started the car.

The roads were empty and only some police cars were patrolling.

As it was the morning after the last day of the year, everyone was probably lying down at their places after a new year's big celebration.

"We'll get there in about two and a half hours…You can sleep till then," Mia said.

"Is it that far?

No then! I won't sleep. It's okay. If you are driving, I'll stay awake and give you company.

So that you won't feel lonely."

"Okay...As you wish…"

"So? Where are we going?" He asked.

"I am not going to tell you that. It's a surprise."

"Then you should have blindfolded me or something, because, now I'll get to know, where we are heading."

"That won't happen…"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Nothing…" And she just smiled at him.

"By the way, when did you come home last night?" She asked.

"Umm….I don't remember, actually. Maybe around 2 o'clock or something?"

"What? That late?"

"Yep..." And he yawned.

Mia looked at him from the corner of her eyes. "Next year, I won't let this happen, Mister." She said.

"Hahaha….That "wife" look really suites you….Haha.." He said laughing. "You are cute!"

"I am serious!" she said.

"Yeah, yeah. I know, honey." He smiled.

"Isn't that amazing?" He looked at her. "You'd be my beloved wife, at this time in the next year."

"Just thought of it….makes me happy." A warm smile appeared on their faces.

They looked at each other, smiled, and again looked forward.

"Oh Right! I remember." She suddenly recalled something.

"I talked with the florist yesterday. I told him which flowers I wanted and how I want them to be arranged. He liked my ideas and he even improved some of them, which was really great. I think at the entrance, from where I'll be entering, we'll make a beautiful arc of white flowers and twigs. Both of us love the blue color, I told him that too. So he'd come to me with options, next time.

…And about the food, I called the caterers. So we need to go there and take a taste test…

Are you free this week? Or should we go on the weekend?"

Mia asked and looked at him expecting an answer.

But when she looked at him, she just couldn't stop smiling.

He was already deep in sleep. His head was rested on the glass of the window. The hood of his jacket was covering half of his face. Still, she could see his slightly smiling lips.

His hands were in his pockets and he was sleeping peacefully.

'I knew this was gonna happen…' She thought to herself and looked in the front.

Increasing the temperature of the heater a bit, she raised the speed of the car.

~

"Hey... Sweety? Wake up! See? We have reached…"

"…." He opened his eyes slowly.

When he looked at her, she was smiling at him brightly.

He sat straight and rubbed his eyes. "Really?"

He looked out from the window but still, he couldn't see anything as it was dark outside.

"But where are we?" He asked and looked at her.

She was just looking at him, full of excitement and her twinkling eyes.

"Wait!" He said. "This...sound…."

He realized where they are. His face lightened and his eyes brightened on the thought.

Quickly opening the door of the car, he walked towards the direction of the sound. Mia also followed him.

"Sea!!!!!" He exclaimed happily as he saw sparkling water in the deem moonlight.

Both of them were standing on a small rocky hill from where sandy beach was starting, a bit away from the main road.

A cool sea breeze flew and passed through their hair.

She clung to his arm and looked at him. He was also looking at her. Both of them smiled and started to walk down the hill.

They came to the beach and sat down in the sand.

"You remember this, right?" He asked.

"How could I forget? The last time we came here…."

"…Was before you went abroad for your advance studies." He completed her sentence.

"Hmm…..It has been so long…But...Still, it feels like, yesterday." She said and gently rested her head on his shoulder.

"This sea is the witness of our promise that we made that time…Our promise of spending the rest of our lives, together!"

He took her hand in his, intertwined his fingers with hers, and rested a kiss on it.

She closed her eyes and both of them stayed like that for some time.

The pleasant and rhythmic sound of the waves, the cool breeze of the sea, and the warmth of each other's bodies, made two of them forget about the whole world around them.

"This feels so nice…" She said.

"I wish the time stops here…"

Mia took her head up and looked at him. "Are you sure?" She asked.

"Huh?"

"Think about it again. If time stops here…You won't get to marry me!"

Expecting that he would freak out on this thought and would take back what he said, she looked at him for his reaction.

But it didn't happen, what she expected.

"It's okay, honey! I don't have any problem with that. Cause I'm not alone here, you know?" He said with a smolder and blinked at her teasingly.

"Sheeesh!!! Where do you find such cheesy lines?" Saying this she hit on his shoulder.

"Oww!!! It hurts." He complained dramatically.

"Oh really? Then take this." And she hit him again several times.

He kept saying, "Oww! Ow."

Laughing at him, she got up and started walking away.

"Hey, wait…" He said but she didn't stop and now started running.

He also got up and ran behind her. It was really hard for both of them to run in those long padded coats and in the sand. But still, it was fun!

He was chasing her, calling her name, but she kept teasing him by running faster.

She turned back to see where he is and as she looked back,

"THUDD!!!!"

He jumped on her and both of them fell down in the sand. She was on the ground while he was on top of her.

"Hahahahaha.." They kept laughing till their hearts contained.

The sound of their laughter was merged in the air.

After a couple of minutes, they calmed down. Their eyes were moistened.

Due to running in the cold air, their noses had turned red.

"It's been.. so long…since we've chased each other like this…." She said breathing heavily.

He was smiling at her.

Taking his hand towards her face, he gently took back her hair which was resting on her face, and then tucked them behind her ear.

Looking at her, he touched her cheek and bent down for a kiss.

"Hey, Look!" She said suddenly.

"Huh?" He pulled himself back.

"The Sun…The Sun's rising…" She said and looked at her left side, towards the sea.

He also looked in the direction.

The whole sky was turned into golden orange color.

And a bright orange-red sun was peeking up from the horizon.

"Wowww…." He kept looking at the rising sun.

"This is so beautiful….Isn't it?"

"Wow!!" He was mesmerized by this beautiful view before his eyes.

Smiling widely he looked at Mia, expecting that she is also enjoying the view, but she was not looking at the sun.

She was looking at him.

Looking right into his eyes, she said, "This is what I wanted to show you. We are going to start a new life soon. Our life, together. So I just want it to be bright and beautiful. Just like this first Sun of the year…."

She wrapped her hands around his neck.

"Mi—" Before he could say anything, she pulled him down and pressed her lips on his.

He was surprised at first but then closing his eyes he started kissing her back.

Passionately kissing his soft lips, she ran her fingers through his hair.

His palms were on the ground at each side of her face. He bent his arms down to come closer to her body. Kissing her, as if he never had before.

Both of them were feeling like they would melt if they keep doing this. But no one wanted this to stop.

Their bodies were getting hot, their faces and ears were turned red and their hearts beating fast.

The sun was up from the horizon and was shining brightly upon them.

They stopped a bit and looked into each other's eyes. Steams were coming out from their mouths as they were breathing a little heavily.

He caressed her face gently; she pressed her cheek to his hand.

Looking at him, she was saying that she wanted more. She wanted to feel his warm, wet lips to hers, more. She wanted to feel his warmth, against her body, more. She wanted to feel his touch, more. His familiar scent, which filled her whole mind and was making her weak every time she was sensing it…..She wanted all this, more...

He also wanted the same thing…And he went for another kiss….

This steamy, passionate kiss made the whole sky blush. Red, orange, pink, yellow all colors were spread in the sky like the whole sky was feeling embarrassed to see both of them kissing….

The rays of the Sun tried to come in between them, to break their kiss, but no one could stop nor pull them apart from each other.

It was like a spell was cast on both of them, making them inseparable….

While kissing, she half-opened her eyes to look at him and closed them again. She was thinking,

'Happy New Year, My love… I can't wait to spend my whole life with you….

This is…To the new beginning….To the rise of our new life together….I love you ….'

As if he heard what she was thinking, he gently broke the kiss.

"I love you too…" He whispered.

She smiled at him with moistened eyes.