The heart embraced

Three months later. Cecilia came to her lover, Ken's grave today as she occasionally visited. Whenever she came here, she always brought a bouquet of white roses, that she hoped he liked them, with her. Today she was bringing a beautiful one to him as always. When she got to his tombstone, she paused and slowly put it down on the stone. Touching on the top of his stone, Cecilia gazed at his name on it. It seemed his tombstone glittered the most.

The cemetery was exceedingly quiet today, she thought. When she was about to walk away from his, she heard someone step on dead leaves. She looked around but didn't see anyone. Cecilia wondered if she'd only imagined it. But it couldn't be. And again she heard the same sound again.

"Hello? Is there anyone here?" she called out.

For a few moments, no one responded. Cecilia was confused. But another moment, a man who was hiding behind one of the tombstones came out. Shocked, Cecilia stood there with her mouth agape. Only a few feet away from her stood a tall man with his broad shoulders, wearing a dark suit, a bunch of colorful flowers in his hand.

Cecilia was staring into the familiar eyes of James Terry's in amazement.

"It had been so long since we met for the last time?" Although he looked he was trying to control his voice not to shake, his voice still shook a bit.

"Yeah. Where have you been?" Cecilia asked.

"I went to England and have been there for several months," answered James.

She nodded.

He looked at her face and let out a deep breath. Her eyes remained cold. "Is everything okay with you?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Though I didn't come to you, my mind's always been with you," he said, his eyes full of meaning.

"Did you have a great time in England?" she asked.

"Yeah… but I think the happiness in life has got something to do with love. I feel like I'm lonely. What about you, Cecilia?"

"So am I."

"Now I've understood that you are a girl with a heart of stone. But I still love you. If you accept my proposal, I will be the happiest person in the world," said James, his voice shaky a bit and his eyes full of hope, approaching her.

"Please don't talk the way like that anymore. You shouldn't do this in front of Ken's grave," she said with anger.

"I dare say these words in front of Ken's grave because he asked me to take care of you, didn't he?"

"Please stop. I don't want to listen to you anymore. Let me get back home."

"Sorry, Cecilia, if I made you feel upset. You can talk with Ken right now. I won't disturb you anymore," he said, turning on his heel. But he paused and turned back to her again.

"But Cecilia, I still want to know…. if you can accept my love or not."

"Of course not," replied Cecilia shortly.

"So what about accepting me as a company for the rest of your life?" he asked, seeming that he didn't want to give up his hope.

"It's okay. I can stay alone."

To Cecilia's surprise, in a flash he got close to her again and he suddenly gripped her arms.

"So why did you fall in love with Oliver? You said you couldn't love anyone but Ken, didn't you?" he asked.

His face turned serious, those dark eyes fixing tightly on her face.

"Please don't do this! I've already told you so many

times that Oliver is a copy of my Ken," she said, her voice harsh a bit.

He gave a loud laugh. "This is what your heart needs, isn't it?" he asked sarcastically. Then he laughed again.

"I've still loved you, Cecil, until today… until now. But you couldn't understand my love. You refused my love for no reason. How should I do?" His voice suddenly became cracked.

Cecilia stared at him and got scared. There were only he and she in the quiet cemetery.

"Cecilia, I love you more than you can ever imagine," he said, his voice shaking.

She had no idea how to respond, staring up at him in amazement.

"Please don't leave me one more time," he added, his face seemed to begin to crumple. "I love you, Cecilia. I love you," he said, sounding as if the words were bursting out of his heart through his mouth. "You can't love me even a little?" he demanded, seizing her arms tighter than before and shaking her roughly as if unable to contain himself all of a sudden.

Cecilia felt his grip were nearly painful so she tried to pull herself out of his hands. "Don't do this, Mr. Terry! Get off me!" she said with fury. "You shouldn't do like this in front of Ken's grave. You should have a bit more respect for him."

When James was quiet for a moment as if he had now realized what he was doing, Cecilia broke free of him. She

took a couple of steps back and looked at his face sternly.

It seemed that her hard glare brought James back to reality. "I'm sorry, Cecilia. Sorry!" said James in a whisper, running his hands through his hair roughly. "I – I meant no respect for him. I just couldn't control myself. It's because, you know, I haven't seen you for a long time. So when I see your face, I couldn't take it anymore. Sorry," he said.

"I really get upset with you, Mr. Terry. Let me go back home, please."

"Cecilia, you are my life," he said, coming closer to her and took her in his arms suddenly.

Cecilia was astonished. "You!" She pushed against his chest roughly and slapped across his face.

He looked shocked for a moment and then he nodded, some strange look that said how much he felt in his heart on his face. He turned to Ken's grave and walked over to it.

"My dear friend, Ken," he started with a sad tone. "You asked me to take care of your girlfriend. But… I am not able to do as what you said. I'm sorry for this." His voice was trembling, she thought, he pretended not to be, though.

Cecilia gazed at him quietly.

He now turned to her and looked at her again. "I'll take my leave, Cecilia. Goodbye," he said with cold eyes. With these words, he turned away. She had seen that his face was so full of sadness and pain before he left. He'd looked so hurt, maybe because of being hopeless now.

Cecilia couldn't help watching him leave. The sound of his stepping on dry leaves drifted away and away.

She was left alone, standing there, still like a statue, looking down at Ken's grave. At the moment, she couldn't hear anything but the rustling of leaves of nearby trees. She came near to Ken's grave gingerly and paused in front of it.

"I'm so sorry, Ken…., my love," she whispered. "I feel so lonely and you could never know how uncourageous I feel." For some reason, tears came to her eyes.

The wind suddenly began to pick up. A few leaves and flowers started falling themselves from the trees, first slowly, and then roughly and restlessly. She gazed up at the leaves flying down onto the ground. More than a few leaves and petals of wild flowers showered down upon his tombstone.

"Please take my leave, Ken. Bye," she said, touching on the top of his stone. She looked at his one last time before she started to move away. The wind was still blowing violently; her eyes were screwed up against the rush of icy wind.

The wind whipped her hair and made her hair lose even though she'd tied it with her scarf. She realized that her scarf was blown away by the wind as she slowly walked against the wind toward the cemetery gate. She couldn't think of retrieving her scarf. Her long light yellow coat flapped with the wind, her hair whipped around her face. It started raining, she had no umbrella with her.

The sky was getting darker and the rain was thicker as well. Her vision was so clouded by the rain and she got soaked. When she reached a few yards away from her car, she sensed like it stopped raining only for her whole body because she still could see rain splattering on the ground in front of her. She was amazed and turned around. And she saw a man quite clearly.

"Oh, Ken," she said in a whisper.

He was standing right in front of her, a black umbrella in his hand to cover both of them, especially her.

Cecilia gazed at him, not sure how to feel, to be happy or to be shocked.

The man who held up a black umbrella stared down at her quietly, compassion in his eyes. And then he smiled peacefully.

"I'm not Ken, Cecil, but I'm James Terry," he said.

Cecilia looked up at him and had no idea what to say, she had heard him clearly, though. She thought he had already left.

"Please forget all the hatred of me in your heart," said James. "And I can't give you up. I'm not able to leave you alone, Cecil. Please accept my love and kindness."

Not knowing how to respond, she started stepping away. But she suddenly felt dizzy, realizing the weakness in her knees. She stumbled, closed her eyes and felt herself swaying.

James stepped forward to her quickly to grasp her arms to balance her.

"Are you all right?" Cecilia heard him ask and nodded,

keeping her eyes shut. And then she felt him pick her up. She had no idea what he was doing but she knew that he scooped her into his arms and taken her into the car. She felt him put her down onto the sofa.

With her heart pounding so fast, she heard him shut the car door and open the other car door again and get into the car. She slowly opened her eyes and saw him in the next seat.

"Cecil, are you okay?" he asked. She nodded but still felt the dizziness in her head and closed her eyes again. She felt his hand grasp hers.

"Cecil, I came back to you to give you lots of love and warmth," said James. "So I hope you don't shoo me away and trust me this time." She heard him say.

Cecilia opened her eyes again to meet his eyes because his face was now just a few inches away from hers.

"Please don't deny me anymore. Please accept my love, Cecil, please." His voice was soft and tender. So were his eyes. No words came out from her as if she couldn't resist his true love this time.

Her thought suddenly flittered back to the past… to the day she had come back here from abroad. When she returned home, to her surprise, she had found him in her library strangely. She had mistaken him for Ken because of the way he had stood. She'd stared at his back and thought he was Ken. For some reason, he looked like Ken.

Except Ken, Cecilia now understood that James was

the only one person who should have always been near her.

A confident smile formed on James's lips. He started the engine with the other hand. His right hand took her into his with a firm grasp.

The End.