After a satisfying dinner, Leyla and Kyle shuffled down the night street, enjoying the ice cream in their hands. Kyle was keen on staying with her though she had told him to hurry back and prepare for tomorrow's exam.
"I need to digest the food first so I can properly prepare for tomorrow's test."
Leyla belted up, unable to come up with a retort to his confident reasoning.
"Let's walk for a bit then," she said, "but Kyle…"
"Hmm?"
"Why do you want to marry me?"
Leyla asked cautiously. The aftertaste of cold, sweet ice cream smeared on her lips.
"If you're just doing it out of pity…."
"Leyla Lewellin."
Kyle cut her off, calling her name firmly, and stepped in front of Leyla, who was a little startled by his frigid voice.
"Do you see me as the kind of crazy guy who marries someone out of sympathy?"
His unfamiliar expression made Leyla freeze in her tracks, and she fell silent.
"Well, the world is wide. There might be a lot of crazy people who marry for such reasons, but I'm not one of them."
Kyle eased the air out of his lungs slowly, letting his temper settle.
"Do you know why? It's because I love you."
"Kyle…"
"That's my only reason. Because I love Leyla Lewellin."
As he looked down at Leyla's cocked eyebrow, Kyle sighed and then chuckled. "Who do you think is more pitiful? Me, who's been rejected hundreds of times or you? I'm the sadder one, Leyla."
Kyle said as he began to ruffle Leyla's hair and moved a step ahead. He didn't want Leyla to see what expression he was making right now, which must have been pretty silly.
As if she knew what he was going through, Leyla followed him from behind, creating some distance between them.
After travelling home shackled in deafening silence, the two finally arrived in front of the hotel.
"Go in," Kyle told her. With a smile on his face, he added, "Oh, I forgot, I haven't done it today."
He slowly lifted his eyes after staring down at the cup of melting ice cream in his hand. He had remembered something.
"Leyla, let's get married."
The turndown was already flashing before his very eyes, though. Yet Kyle felt a little weird skipping it now since Leyla's rejection had become something of a daily routine for him.
For some reason, today, Leyla, who was accustomed to rejecting his proposal with a nonchalant shrug, was unusually quiet.
Kyle looked at her with his eyes narrowed as he studied her attentively. "I'm not getting married," He readied to hear such a sweet but heartless response that was supposed to come from her slowly parted lips. But instead, her response was something beyond his wildest dreams.
"Mm."
"…Leyla?"
Kyle jolted in surprise. The ice cream cup he was holding fell to the ground, soiling the tip of his shoe.
The words failed him. He was in a conundrum at her straightforward reply.
"Eh... So, do you agree to marry me?"
As he made sure, Leyla lowered her head and nodded.
"You want to marry, right? Me?"
He repeated the question in a shaky voice. Leyla glimpsed at him sheepishly and nodded her head slightly once more.
She was momentarily at a loss for words. But Kyle was already screaming in delight as he held her by the shoulders.
"Woohooooooo!"
Their shindig floored guests at the hotel who happened to pass by stared at them. Kyle didn't seem to care even though Leyla let out her scream when he spun her around.
It was a beautiful spring night.
A gentle wind was lulling the city back to its slumber.
That night Kyle had a dream.
He dreamed of marrying Leyla and living their everyday life in complete bliss as an Etman couple.
Leyla once said to him; having her own house with a small flower bed was her long-held dream. She smiled shyly and voiced her happiness. She wished the roses she had planted in the garden were all blooming beautifully.
In his dream, he saw Leyla diligently tending to that very flower garden. The little child who was running alongside her was more lovely than a blossoming rose.
The sun shone brilliantly, and the child's laughter was brimming with glee.
'Daddy—!'
The child who saw him quickly came running. She was a pretty little girl who looked a lot like Leyla with her blonde hair. The child, still a toddler, jumped on his feet and welcomed him with her eyes sparkling.
The whiff of air caressed him as he walked to her with their lovely daughter in his arms. The scent of sweet roses borne by the fluttering wind faintly tickled the tip of his nose in a pleasant way.
Leyla laughed as her eyes held his a moment longer. Her smile was so beautiful, perhaps even more beautiful than his beautiful dream had been.
In the fading remnants of his dream, Kyle awakened with the phosphenes still in his eyes. Thanks to that feeling of happiness, he performed much better than he expected on the exam.
He couldn't believe it.
Will his dream soon come true?
Is there such a thing as a beautiful blessing in this world greater than that?
Once he stepped out of the exam hall, Kyle had the feeling that he could leap to great heights in the sky. His footfall seemed to have wings, he felt free like a bird just leaving its nest the moment he spotted Leyla sitting on a bench outside, waiting for him.
"Leyla!"
Leyla raised her head at his shout. She folded the small notebook she was reading and put it back into her sling bag.
"How was the test?" She approached him blithely. "Was it hard? Did you do well?"
"You're always worried about everything." Kyle tucked his chin up as though he were flaunting. "I'm Kyle Etman. I don't know how to get second place in studies."
"Oh, hahaha. You did great, then."
Leyla hooted with laughter.
Come and read on our website wuxia worldsite. Thanks
"I forgot how smart Mr. Etman was for a moment."
"Wow. That makes me very sad to hear. Make sure you keep it in your mind from now on."
Kyle suddenly grabbed her hand. Leyla didn't wave his hand away though his touch took her by surprise.
While she was looking at him, the late afternoon spring sunlight in dazzling crimson gold glowed on the corner of his lips as he gave a gentle smile back to her.
"Are you sure you did well on the exam?" asked Leyla carefully, as she looked like she couldn't shake off her trepidation.
Kyle grinned at her after seeing how adorable she was. "Don't worry. I won't fail the exam, so there won't be anything bad that may prevent us from attending college together."
"That's not what I meant…."
Leyla's cheeks were flushed with rosy pink. The moment he caught the sight of her adorable, sweet ripe-peach face, Kyle's heart began to skip a beat erratically. He regretted that they were at the exam location presently. If they had been on an empty street, Kyle would have mustered up his guts to kiss her right at this moment.
'No.'
'If I do that for no reason, Leyla will get scared, so I'd better wait for a little bit longer.'
One of his thoughts wandered back to the shovel, which he had forgotten about. The giant shovel full of dirt, and Uncle Bill's alarming smile.
The two slowly hiked around the campus, with hands intertwined tightly. Walking from the medical facility where Kyle would study as a doctor, then to the biology hall where Leyla would be enrolling in the future. They laughed and chatted excitedly and had a great time along the way.
"You will definitely pass, but it may be a bit difficult for me."
Leyla muttered with a serious face as she reached the biology faculty building.
"Why are you worried about that? Didn't you do well on your exams?"
"That's true, but only a few female students took the exam earlier."
Her countenance became more gloomy as the talk continued.
Kyle nodded his head, "Ah… that's right." He momentarily sighed a little.
It had only been a few years ago since women were allowed to pursue higher education at the same level as the men in the Empire's universities. Due to the rigorous selection process, only a few students could pass since the threshold for college admission test scores was much higher for female students.
"Still, I'm sure you will pass."
Kyle spoke with confidence.
"If you don't pass, who else will?"
"Don't you think you're being overconfident?"
"Not in the least. This is my opinion based on your grades during your eight years of school."
"Eight years… So much time has passed already."
Leyla could still vividly remember the road she had ridden to Arvis by a mail wagon. Time had passed by in a flash. The well-grown Kyle who was standing before her eyes suddenly felt like a new person.
"What's wrong?"
Kyle, who was a little embarrassed from the deep gaze fixated on him, asked awkwardly.
"You have grown so much."
Amazement reigned in Leyla's eyes as she stared at him for a moment. Stunned, Kyle was utterly at a loss for what to do as though fluffy feathers were popping from his chest. Leyla Lewellin's attractiveness didn't appear to diminish even when she uttered such ridiculous things, leaving him speechless.
"Uh-huh."
Kyle gave a false smile. He took a deep breath and continued,
"Yeah, I've grown up well to be a decent husband. Do you like it?"
"That's… I don't know."
Leyla stiffly hastened her stride. Kyle couldn't stop himself from grinning from ear to ear when he saw her face was daubed with shyness.
On their way back, Kyle talked about his pleasant dreams, which would soon become a reality.
About the house—how they would live together. Their daily life as husband and wife. And also, their soon-to-be-born, beautiful child in the future.
He was keen to write a fresh chapter in the history of the Etman family, along with their offspring.
Kyle cherished the look of cautious eagerness that graced her face when he talked about that dream. He was ecstatic to see those hopes and dreams were on the cusp of becoming a reality.
It was a rather funny and sentimental thought. But he believed it was the reason why he was born into this world—to make her expectation come true.
"How many children do you want to have?" Kyle asked her, "I wish I had a daughter and a son."
"Well… maybe five?" she answered.
'Fi…Five?' Kyle stood gaping. The number she said was in contrast to her timid attitude.
"We won't be lonely if we have so many kids," Leyla chuckled and continued, "We can depend on one another. I think it would be great if the house were full of people who resembled one another."
For some reason, Kyle felt bitter when he saw Leyla say those things with a radiant look. He could tell by gazing at Leyla's bittersweet smile how long she had lived in loneliness.
"Five… okay, Leyla. I'll do my best!"
"Huh?"
Leyla's eyes grew round at Kyle's loud pledge. They looked at each other with blank expressions for a spilt second, then their cheeks blushed nearly at the exact moment.
"Hey, that's not what I meant!"
Kyle took a step back, he had a redder complexion than hers.
"I'm not thinking only about that."
"Neither am I!" Leyla snapped back, ashamed by his words.
The two quickly released their grip and walked a step apart, not daring to make eye contact. Kyle gave Leyla a sideways look, and the peals of laughter he'd been holding in eventually burst from deep within.
"By the way, Leyla, did you feel ashamed after deciding to have five children?"
Gasp. Leyla turned away. Her brows knitted.
"You didn't think a stork would give you five babies, did you? Our Miss Lewellin, who is well-versed in all subjects except geometry."
Leyla kept walking, a scowl on her face, disregarding his mischievous teasing. Kyle's jolly laughter grew louder along with the clacking of her heeled shoes.
"Oh wait for me, Mrs Etman!"
His jovial cry reverberated across the campus on a sunny spring day.
Leyla started to run. Her braided ponytail on the back of her head swung in rhythm with her stomping shoes on the asphalt.
Kyle was smitten with the look of her back. Her statuette gave him the feeling of returning to that pleasant dream once again.
And he didn't want to ever wake up.
Forever.