Epilogue - 3 years later
"Happy”
“Hey, wake up.” A deep low voice wakes me up from my slumber.
I bury my face onto the arm that is currently my pillow and nuzzle my nose as I take in his familiar scent.
“Come on. You have a class today, don’t you?”
I groan and mumbles intelligible words that I can’t understand either. I feel his broad hand brushing my hair away before he plants a kiss on my forehead.
“I’ll make breakfast.” He says as he pulls away from the arm pillow that I’ve been comfortably using.
I grunt in disapproval of him doing so but all I hear is a quiet chuckle coming from above me.
“Don’t giggle,” I mutter.
I feel his breath on my neck as he hovers above me and replies, “I don’t giggle. You do.”
I lazily push his face away as it tickles. “No, I don’t. You do,” I mumble back.
I hear him laugh again before the sound of his feet shuffling away from the bed. I let out a sigh of relief thinking that the matter is over and I can continue sleeping away.
It’s not long after I feel myself floating away in the air when something light hits my face. I brush it away while grumbling but it continues to drip and wets my hand and cheeks. I snap my eyes and glared at Ryan who has a smirk on his. I can see him holding a cup of water that reveals him as the culprit.
Ryan starts laughing out loud while my frown deepens. I force myself to sit up on the bed while feeling angry.
How dare he drips water on me?!
I pick up the pillow intending to throw it at him but he swiftly moves to the corner of the room. He grabs a towel from a rack and tosses it straight to me. I straightaway retaliate with a pillow throw.
He sweetens his voice to say, “Come on. Aren’t you a senior already? You should set an example for the freshman.”
Ugh. I mumble to myself as I mimic him. I even roll my eyes at him but force myself out of bed. My mind is grumbling while my feet is moving towards the bathroom. I believe everyone is eager when they have just started university but once they all reach a senior year and waiting to graduate, nobody cares about classes anymore. I’m part of the latter team now.
I stare at my tired face as I barely have enough sleep trying to catch up on my assignment deadline yesterday. My mind somehow recall the first time I see myself in the mirror. The skin of this body was ghastly pale but now it has a healthier glow with a hint of tan.
I splash my face and notice that water is dripping off my bangs that is reaching right on my top eyelids now. It appears that my bangs are in need of cutting. My current haircut is quite clean compared to the initial haircut I had. Even the once shaved side is now cleanly trimmed into the hairstyle called two blocks. I often leave my hair to cover my forehead but cut above my eyebrow.
It’s an easy hairstyle to maintain is what I think to myself as I turn the shower on.
The shower I take is quick as I quickly lather soap on my body then wash it off. I make sure to brush my teeth at top speed when I realise that I haven’t done that before washing my body earlier.
Right after that, I walk out with my towel wrapped around my waist. Ryan is no longer in the room and is probably out to make breakfast. I grab a random shirt and pants and quickly wear them when the scent of food wafted into the room. I rush to the dining room as my mouth is salivating already.
Ryan and I are fast eaters and he didn’t make a big portion of food so breakfast is done within a blink.
In the car, Ryan suddenly turns to me and says, “We’re picking up Aiden today.”
My recent memory resurfaces and I know exactly why. Aiden usually stays with my parents over the weekend ever since my twin sibling became about a year old. The reason for this is because the quiet little Aiden would take the initiative to care for his new “uncle” and “aunt”.
I laugh to myself before asking Ryan for confirmation, “Oh, their flight is today?”
“Yeah, your mother says that your grandparents have been urging her to take the twins to visit them again so she can’t postpone it anymore. I suppose your grandparents like how lively the twins are.”
I nod in agreement because Leo and Lily are rowdy compared to Aiden.
When Ryan pulls up in front of my campus, I reach for the handle and push the door open. I turn to Ryan to say, “See you later.” before smoothly jumping out of the car.
As I’m pushing the door with the intention of closing it, Ryan stops me. “Wait! You forgot something.” He then points to his cheek. I roll my eyes and ignore him. I slam the door shut and wave him goodbye. I don’t even need to look back to see that he have a dark expression right now.
I don’t care since he forced me to attend my class even though I really didn’t want to do it.
During class, I become distracted as Abby is texting me saying that she wants to meet up. She is currently back in the country because she is preparing for her last semester which only requires her to do an internship. She mentions her intention in applying here instead of the area around her university.
She plans to hang out and introduce me to her friends while she searches for companies to offer her an internship at their place. I agree and we start choosing the best date for me to come out and find her.
Time passes by and class ended with barely any knowledge sticking in my head aside from the agreed date I have with Abby.
I find Ryan parked at the usual spot when I walk away from the building where I had my class. I enter the car and he drives off while asking me about my class. I tell him about Abby contacting me and how we made plans to meet up.
Our conversation comes to a halt when we reach Aiden’s school to pick him up. We can see all the kids playing while waiting for their parents to pick them up.
I spot Aiden in the crowd among the other boys.
His shiny golden hair glimmers under the sunlight. He easily becomes the centre of attention since he has lost his baby and the contour of his shape is becoming prominent. I have a feeling that when he grows older, every angle of his face will highlight his long straight nose and a beautiful jawline to match. This will make him popular with the ladies.
Speaking of that, even though Aiden is only in second grade, the girls are already fawning over him. Even so, he is still a kid with so rarely do I see eager girls approach him. The teachers once told me he often acts coldly and refuses to talk to the girls but does just fine with the boys.
I suppose he doesn’t have an interest in going along with the girls.
Aiden lights up the moment he sees the car. He appears to say something to his friends and all of them turns to us. He casually walks out of the group and heads straight to the car. I help him open the backseat door for him and say, “Good work at school today.”
Aiden coolly nods at me and climbs up the seat. He often acts like this whenever we pick him up from school but he can act sweet and cuddly when at home.
As Ryan drives away, I notice Aiden nodding off slowly. He does his best to stay awake but he can’t fight the sleep away.
"Seems like the little heartbreaker is happy," Ryan chirps up.
"Mm, I'm happy too," I add.
"Then, we're one big happy family," Ryan teasingly adds.
"Is it fine though?" I ask out of the blue.
"What is?"
"To be this happy?"
Ryan looks at me for a few seconds and seems to contemplate my question as he fixes his gaze on the road. Not long after, he forms a smile.
"Of course it is. You have me and Aiden to spoil you rotten" Ryan says.
I let out a soft laugh while thinking to myself that I agree with him. There has been so much happening in my life and I have learnt a lot from it. Everyone around me is loving and caring. A far cry from how it used to be.
I'm really grateful that I can live again. I'm happy and I won't feel bad about it.
"You're right. It's our turn to be happy,"
"Of course. I'm always right,"
"Psh,"
"Hey, don't you dare think otherwise or I might have my way with you tonight,"
"What the! Aiden's with us tonight,"
"Oh, we can just be quiet,"
"No!"
"Shh, Aiden's sleeping,"
"Ugh,"
Luckily, the lights are red so Ryan buries his head in the steering wheel as he tries to suppress his laugh. I roll my eyes at him but still let out a small laugh while occasionally glancing at Aiden in the backseat hoping that we didn’t wake him.
"Hey," Ryan calls out.
I turn to look at him and he gives me a peck on the lips. As if nothing happened, he turns his head and starts driving as the lights have turned green.
I could feel my face heating up.
Yeah. I am really happy.
This is what it means to be happy then, I'm glad that I know it.
This is my second life.
My second chance.
And I will live my life to the fullest.
The end [again].
