That Wednesday - the 5th of January 2022 – was the first time Caelum had ever seen Astrid Finlay the way she was. It was as though life had been drained out of her body when she stumbled into his arms almost as soon as he opened the door of his house for her.

It was one of those days when she had sent him off home telling him not to wait for her because she had too many appointments to many different committees that she needed to handle. And Caelum had learned that at times like that, he should let her go do her own thing. And besides, it was appointment day at the hospital too and he was just going to go to meet his old mother.

He had just opened the door after hearing the doorbell and when he had barely opened the door, she came crashing into his arms and he was terrified for the life of him but he caught her right in time.

He did not once hesitate and immediately lifted her off her feet and carried her off to his couch, bridal style which was a bit of a hassle as she was taller than him but he didn't mind it one bit.

When he had set her down, he had taken note of how cold her body felt to his touch and the way she had her teeth clenched shut tightly as her feet would shiver in the cold and he stood up, ready to get her blankets from his own bedroom but she held his wrist weakly before he could leave.

"Don't go," she told him.

"It's just for a moment, princess, I promise to be right back." He told her but there was a strange look in her eye that made him want to stay.

She let his wrist go but instead of rushing to get her blankets, he lifted her off the couch in his arms and she hid her face in his chest as he walked her all the way to his bedroom and the bed he used.

Laying her down gently on the bed, he covered her body with the same blue blanket she had once used to cover him up and sat next to her on the bed. She smiled weakly, "Thanks, Cal."

"Any time for you, sweetheart," he held her hand.

Her eyelids fluttered close and he had a plan to make her some soup while she was sleeping but she asked him, "Will you please sleep with me?"

"You want me to sleep with you?"

Even weak, she still smiled that Astrid smile – very faint. "Just lay beside me and hold me."

"Of course, baby, I'll sleep beside you." He told her and climbed inside the blanket beside her.

"With me," she corrected and slung her arm around his shoulder, snuggling deep into his flannel and almost hiding inside his shirt.

And just like that, she fell asleep.

Caelum was a lot of things, but among them nervous was the chief emotion. It had been the first time in his life that he had slept next to, well, anyone at all. He didn't know where his hands were supposed to go but he eventually, let it rest very gently on her small waist.

Her feet were entangled in his and by the way they were laying together just cuddling, he could smell the shampoo she used for her hair. And oddly enough, it smelt like food for some reason. Like cookies to be precise. He made a mental note to ask her about it later when she felt better.

And another emotion that he was having a hard time navigating through was worry.

He had never seen Astrid that way before. Her eyes were teary and her body was cold to the touch. Her smile was different and she looked so exhausted. He wondered about what could've happened that made her like that. She had bicycled her way in the snow in a sleeveless tank top and pants.

Honestly, she looked as though she had just run from home not knowing which season it was.

But then he decided not to worry about what had happened because a lot of things could have happened and if he started thinking each scenario he would've made in his mind would be even worse than its predecessor and so, decided to focus on the girl he had in his arms - cuddled to his chest. Pressed up against him and sighed contently in her sleep.

He smiled at her and kissed her on the top her of forehead. It was alright. She was in his arms and she would be alright now. He'd take real good care of her.

It wasn't long before she stirred awake from her slumber and so did he. Neither had realised when they had fallen asleep – Caelum could hardly believe that he had fallen asleep but when he looked at the wall clock, it had been a little past an hour that they had gone to bed together.

She smiled as she lay on the bed, her eyes looking into his and their legs still entangled.

And from up close he could count the freckles if he wanted to. But he didn't, he decided that would save that for the time he would get to call her his. If he got to.

He sat up gently after entangling her limbs from his and asked her while she still peered at him, "Wanna have something to eat?"

Her soft brown eyes studied him as she nodded and he put the glasses he had left on the bedside table back upon his eyes. And the beauty that captivated him was like a slap on his face because god, she really took his breath away. He had always been aware of her beauty but the reality of Astrid on his bed, her hair all messy as she looked at him with that look in her eyes- he had no words.

She chuckled, "You gonna make something or just keep looking at me like that?"

He climbed out of bed wordlessly and did his best to gather his thoughts. Spitting out the first suggestion off the top of his mind, he asked, "Spanish Omelettes?"

She propped her elbow over the pillow as she waved a finger in front of him. "How do you know how to make Spanish Omelettes?"

"I don't," he replied cheekily. "But I bet it would be there in mumma's old cookbook."

She jumped out from inside the blankets at once. "Nah, I'm not gonna let you cook Spanish Omelettes when I've known how to do them since I was three."

"Since three, huh?" he smirked knowingly as he pulled on his grey hoodie that hung on the headrest of the bed.

She sat down on the edge of his bed and fiddled with the hem of her frock, "I mean I know how to make them; I just never really tried to make them."

He barked in laughter as he looked at her knowingly, "Now you're definitely making them for me."

Astrid shrugged her shoulders as they walked to the kitchen wondering how hard it could be.

Apparently, knowing how to make something was very different from actually doing it and an hour later, the kitchen was a wreck. The Omelette had ended up being a burnt mess on the stove with things dropped all over the floor and the kitchen smelling a tiny bit like burnt casserole. It was an absolute failure next to Caelum's mushroom cream soup that looked so perfect.

She had never felt more embarrassed at her inability to cook and she wished that she knew how to cook. She just never really had the need to learn to cook, she had Claudia for that since her childhood. Now that she thought about it, she never really needed to know how to do anything before. She had always had Claudia for that.

Caelum could not stop laughing his stomach out as he looked at the half-cooked potatoes in the burnt egg and the cheese just sticking on the pan. It reminded him of the first time he had learned to cook when he was just five. He had never thought that Astrid would not know how to cook because, in his head, she was always perfect in everything she did. But thinking about it logically, it did kinda make sense now.

While he was still laughing, his eyes fell on her and then he noticed that she had been standing still and was looking downcast. She would not meet his gaze and be gripping the edge of the kitchen island a bit too hard.

He called her, "Astrid?"

"Yeah?" she quickly lifted her palm and swiped the tears in her eyes.

He sighed quietly and using his index finger, he lifted her chin to make her look into his brown eyes. "I'm sorry I laughed sweetheart."

"It's not that," she chuckled without humour.

But he gave her a knowing look.

She sighed as she sat down on the kitchen island beside the burnt eggs and the perfect soup. Looking at them she responded, "Growing up, I've always had someone to help me with everything. Every deed of every day. Though my mum and dad were never at home but that did not mean I lacked anything. Well, except parents, I mean- I just- I never had the need to cook before?"

She looked at him with sadness seeping out of her eyes.

And he really felt sorry for her. Holding her hands in his, he said, "Oh sweetheart, it's alright, you know? Most people don't know how to cook until they are old and honestly, I don't blame you. I believe that if mumma wasn't in the hospital, I wouldn't either."

She looked at their intertwined hands and whispered in the quiet room, "I'm so sorry for ruining your kitchen and everything."

And that was possibly the first time she had ever heard him curse in over two months of their friendship. "Oh fuck the kitchen, you're always my first priority."

Hearing those words flicked a switch inside her and she broke down crying. It was almost an immediate reaction of his to let her cry into his shoulder and she hid her face in the crook of his neck and cried like a baby.

"I'm so sorry, Caelum," she said between gasps and sobs. "It's just been such a god awful day and- and- I don't know what to do and everything is falling apart and I didn't know who to go to and I thought of you because you're the only one who cares. The only one who listens to me, I'm so so sorry-"

He kept rubbing her back and then let the hair which she had tied up in a bun down her shoulders, running his fingers through them. He had never felt sorrier for anyone in his whole life than he had at that moment.

It took a while for her to calm down and he wouldn't stop telling her that he was alright. Her words all mumbled into oneness and didn't make sense anymore but he stood by her side steadily.

When her sobs had finally gone down and her breathing was getting steadier. He let her face him.

Those brown eyes always made him fall in love a bit more and those tear-filled red eyes still made him love her a bit more. He bit down the urge to cry with her because the sobs that rattled her body made him feel sad. Almost as much as the news he had gotten that his mother was diagnosed with cancer.

He really wanted to ask her everything that had happened. He wanted to fix everything that had made her son so much. He wanted to redo the day and make everything perfect for her. She deserved everything perfectly. But he knew it wasn't his place to ask her and she didn't really want to talk about it.

But he still offered. Lump in his throat.

"If you ever want someone to offer you advice. Laugh with you, cry with you, a shoulder to lean on. Or just someone to be there for you, I'm always here for you. Always. And even if you don't know what you need but just someone to hold your hand, you've got me."

And the way that Caelum had made her feel, made her want to hold him close to her and never let him go and so she did just that. She hugged him so tightly and whispered, "Thank you, Cal, I wouldn't know what to do without you."

"You'd be fine without me, Astrid," he told her.

She swallowed back the need to correct him and say that she wouldn't.

Instead, she told him, "I know that you've got a lot to deal with every single day but if it wasn't a bother to listen-"

"Princess, listening to you," he looked at her lifting her face with one finger on her chin. With the most sincere look in his eyes, he said, "Is never ever a burden to me, understand that?"

And just like that she wanted to cry once more and maybe he had noticed that too and so, he led her off the island and guided her towards the couch. When he sat down, she sat close to him and he told her, "You can put your head on my lap. If you want to."

She wanted to and she did. God, did he look beautiful in that angle.

He ran his fingers through her hair, combing them through and then she started talking.

"Not a really good day today. My mum got back after almost six months, more or less. One would think that she'd care to talk to their daughter about shit but nope. Mum has a 'business meeting' apparently, which I know is a short form for that rich party gathering they have in the town square right now. And is leaving the day after tomorrow. I suggested that maybe we could do a mother-daughter fun outing tomorrow," she looked at Caelum, a sad smile playing at the edge of her lips.

"She scoffed at me for even suggesting such a ridiculous childish thing. Apparently, fifteen-year-olds should be more focused on their future."

Caelum looked at her, "Aren't you sixteen?"

"I am," she mumbled. "And she would rather be out with her friends – Teresa Lavour, you know, Fiona's mum? And the other ladies for a day at the 'spa'."

And Caelum noticed how Astrid mocked her mother's pronunciation at times.

"You don't like her?"

"I love her," Astrid told him as she sat up. "I really really do, but what hurts me is that she can't even care to spend a little bit of her spare time. She comes home once a year and it's like I don't even matter to her in the slightest. She never wants to spend time with me."

"Oh princess," Caelum sighed and told her, "You deserve better than that, Astrid and if she is not willing to spend time with you and treat you like the princess I know you are? She's the one missing out, alright? And I know it's not much and it is definitely not the same thing but if you wanna do something fun, we can always do something fun. Together."

"I'd love that Caelum," she smiled at him.

Her eyes however told him that there was something else she had on her mind and so he asked her. "Anything else you want to talk about?"

"I- The meeting didn't go really well. I missed out on certain dates, some certain events got mixed up. Callisto wasn't there and he is always my partner for the calendar management for every event Nia was furious at me and just- I just needed a good cry after everything that has happened, it's alright. I'm alright."

If Caelum was being honest, he was astounded by Astrid and her ability to do everything she did. She was part of four different committees and two of which had rigorous activities. Caelum had only tried out the Ecology Weekly Meet and still couldn't handle the pressure. Part of four committees? Astrid was a goddamn miracle.

Add to that, Nia Michel wasn't an easy person to deal with, and her words were sharper than knives. He pondered for a moment, carefully choosing his words before speaking to Astrid. "Astrid, there are a few things you need to let go of."

"I can't, Cal," she replied.

He sighed. "I know you have an incredible tendency to help everyone, Astrid, and I truly admire you for it. Not everyone possesses that ability, and even if they do, they often choose not to. But my love, you must understand that everything has its limits. You can handle so much, and I believe in your capabilities. However, who will take care of you?"

"I've got you for that," she smiled.

"And I will always be there for you, Astrid. But you must grasp that even though what you're doing is admirable and awe-inspiring—I sometimes wonder if you're an angel—there comes a time when you need to take breaks too. You're only human, and the things you do, well, they're done with such perfection. I don't know what to say...I'm rambling and—"

She smiled at him. "One might say you're nervous around me, Cal."

"I am nervous around you, Astrid. You turn me into a fluttering, blubbering mess. I forget where I am and what I'm doing when thoughts of you consume me, which is often. Sometimes, I think that maybe all I do is think about you—" Caelum rambled until he finally came to a standstill and gazed at her. "I like you, Astrid."

But the word "like" didn't do justice to his feelings. He held his breath because, God, he had never felt this way before. The way their hands intertwined made him believe that maybe they had a chance together if only he was willing to take that leap.

A knowing smile played on her lips as she whispered, "I know you do. And I think I like you too."

With that, she kissed him.

It was his first kiss, and though he hadn't spent much time imagining it during his fifteen years of existence, he never imagined it would happen in his own house, on his own couch, with a beautiful girl he had fallen in love with. Because Caelum Ludwig had always had the worst luck, and he had never even dared to hope for someone like Astrid, let alone have her for himself. But this was a different kind of magic.

She was magic.

All the regrets and desires for change that had plagued him throughout his life suddenly faded away. Being there with her at that moment, her lips pressed against his was perfection. It was more than perfect; it was real. She was real. He was real. Everything was real.

When she pulled away, he was still in a daze. She chuckled and said, "I meant I couldn't leave because it was mid-semester, but I like this outcome."

And with that, they kissed again, this time for a much longer time.