Aryanna was quite cheerful at the mall and entirely composed. She refrained from recalling the two confession episode from Sebastian, but she thought of little else.
"Are you fine now?" she asked. Sebastian nodded assuringly, he started picking out clothes from the rack in an attempt to avoid the subject that had so obsessed him the previous night.
She didn't press him for answers. Aryanna believed he'd talk to her when he was ready. She paced about, gawking at the beautiful dresses in the hangers. All of which caught her eye, however, she couldn't bring herself to try on any of them.
Her closet was full of new clothes from different brands in the country that she hadn't tried on yet. It felt like a waste to buy more clothes.
Aryanna resigned to walking behind Sebastian. Resisting the temptations to run her fingers down the fine silk and satin dress around her.
She felt honoured to be standing there next to Sebastian. It was one of the places she never had the pleasure of coming to in the past due to her empty pockets. Everything in the mall was worth more than the salary she made working at the cafe.
"We should try these first and see," Sebastian suggested. Aryanna nodded blindly without taking a glance at what he was referring to. "Alright. Let's head to the fitting rooms," he ushered her forward.
His hand resting on her lower back as he guided her. Aryanna stilled, her body taking in the feeling of his hand on her back. It was a simply gesture, one that sent electric shivers to her nerve endings.
She swallowed hard. Her desires racing to the surface. Sebastian handed her the dresses he picked out for her and gently pushed her absent-minded self into the cubicle to try them on.
Aryanna walked out of the fitting room in the white dress Sebastian picked out for her. Her pearl earring dangling freely, highlighting her fair neck, as her hair was held up in a ponytail.
Her beauty dazzled Sebastian off his feet. He looked at how the dress fit into her body perfectly. She was beautiful, her beauty etched into his mind, so much so that Sebastian was confident that he could sketch every bit of her even in his sleep.
She twirled around to give him a good look of the front and the back. Her body tingling with excitement in rendering Sebastian breathless.
"How do I look?"
"Beautiful," he said, thought it felt less to describe her beauty.
"I feel beautiful," Aryanna admitted.
"I've loved you since the moment I first laid my eyes on you. It feels like I've known you for a life time, Ari," he confessed.
He was overflowing with love for her and confessed it every chance he had. The new found openness stunned him. It was unlike him to embrace another openly and shower love like a love crazed fool.
But Aryanna was different, she provoked his feelings to the surface, in a way that he couldn't hide it. They flowed out in words and actions as he doted tenderly on her. Wishing to be her best love yet.
Pressing her lips in a fine line, Aryanna took in his love and held it closely in her heart. She wanted to say the beautiful words back to him. Comfort his heart with her affection but something held her tongue.
It was three words, eight letter, yet none had ever felt so heavy on her tongue. Aryanna stiffen. Her mind racing with distractive thoughts.
"You don't have to say it back," Sebastian noticed her uneasy reaction. "I'm telling you how I feel for you to know. Not to pressure you to say you love me," he added.
She eased into his arms, she let him hold her. His hold tight and firm, Sebastian didn't want to let her go. In fear that she might vanish from his life and leave a void in the parts of him that was starting to love her dearly.
Aryanna didn't object to the firm grip on her shoulders. He was her husband, a man with right to all of her, she acknowledged this fact in her mind.
'It might take me a while to say it back, Seb. Be patient with me,' she thought.
Sebastian traced her hand down, his body moving down with the motion of his fingers. Aryanna watched with curiosity to see what he was up to.
He went down on his knees, having her hover over him. His fingers leaving a wake of feathery touches on her arm.
"What are you doing?" Aryanna inquired, surpressing a nervous laughter.
"I want to see your future, dear."
"What?"
"Let me read your palm and see what the future holds for you," he let out.
Aryanna's eyes went wide, surprised by the invitation. She assumed he wanted to propose to her again. She stretched forth her palms out to him, giving in to his wish, though she doubted 'palm reading' is on the list of Sebastian's many abilities.
Sebastian traces tiny circles on the lines of her palm, looking all serious.
"Can you really read palms?" Aryanna asked.
"Yes," he said.
"What's my future then?"
His eyes lit up like a thousand fireflies and a true smile crosses his lips for the first time.
"Us," he confidently affirmed. "Your future is Us, wife," he repeated. He stared at her, bitting his lip, his eyes fixed upon her with love and affection.
Aryanna was at a loss for words. She felt warmth rush through her body, as the desire to have him intensified. She worried, Sebastian was a man of many talents and had achieved so much at such a young age. There was a cue of women who wanted to be with him, women of the same status but there he was reading her palm.
"Why me?" she asked him.
"Why anyone else when you are around?"
His response sent her heart into a series of missed beats between a raced beat. Aryanna looked away shyly, she was blushing .
Her reaction surprised her; the adrenaline rush, the pump of her heart, the excitement in her tummy and the tingles in her skin. His words, his voice, and his touch, made her feel special beyond all measure.
"How dangerous," he thought, "To finally have someone worth loving with every fiber of my being."