I woke up the next day with much enthusiasm. The birds were chirping, the sky was brilliant purple and the sun was deliciously warm. I was so happy to know that I was going back to Earth. I was not only going back to Earth, but I was traveling through time, something that seemed impossible had not only turned into a possibility but into an actual fact. I was going to see my dad and my brother. I wondered if I should go see them before or after I left. It would be strange to see myself with them though. I would have to discuss this with Brok who-

Knock, knock.

"Yes?"

"Good morning, beautiful!" Brok said.

"Brok?" I said and smiled. I got up from my bed and I was still in my Pj's, but I was nevertheless too happy to care about my appearance. I ran to the door, pounded on a few buttons and the door slid open. Brok had a smile on his face and a rose in his hand. He stretched out the rose for me.

"This is for you, beautiful."

"Thank you," I replied snatching the rose. I sniffed its deliciously delicate scent and stared at my fiancé. He was dressed in loosely casual clothing, dark pants and a white short-sleeved shirt.

"You look nice," I said.

"I do not believe you."

"But it's true, that shirt accentuates your arms," I said. Brok smiled and his cheeks turned purple.

"Are you... blushing?" I asked.

"No," he replied bluntly. I laughed. Brok, however didn't laugh with me today. He wasn't angry, but he seemed more serene than other days. I hoped he was alright.

"Anabella, I will be waiting for you in the garden today, since you will be abandoning me," Brok said.

"Would you relax, it's not like I'm leaving forever," I said. Brok didn't respond. He sighed and I wondered if he was weary or sad. He was probably feeling a little melancholic since I was leaving so I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and kissed his cheek in the hopes that my little gesture would cheer him up a bit.

"Sure," Brok grumbled.

"I love you," I insisted, but Brok merely smiled back at me. He only smirked at me although he did nod. However, he dropped my hands to the sides of my hips and I seemed to be totally powerless under his burden. I stared back into his face hoping that he would kiss me in return, but instead he moved his face from me and then turned his body altogether and walked away from me. Why would he do that? I wondered.

"Brok?"

"I am happy that you like the rose," he said.

"Of course, I do," I responded quickly.

"And the rose garden," he said. I nodded.

"But you know what I like the most?" I told him.

"What?" He asked as he walked nearby the door. The door made a swoosh sound and slid up.

"You," I replied. He turned to face me.

"Okay," he said simply.

"Okay? Just okay?" I asked. He ignored my remarks.

"I'll have breakfast made for you. What would you like to eat?"

"I don't know... an omelet with the usual things that I like," I said. Brok nodded, turned and left. The door slid back down. I thought it was strange of Brok to not react with joy after I told him that I liked him the most. He seemed a bit joyful when he gave me the rose. Did something change? Maybe he was suffering from one of his mood swings, that or he was truly trying to guilt trip me with this time travelling trip, but I wasn't going to change my mind. I loved him. I loved him more than I could ever love anyone else, but I had a right to go back to see my planet. After all I was entitled to see my family and I would do just that. I changed into some casual jeans and t-shirt. I figured it was going to be a long trip and although I would probably sleep all the way through it anyway I wanted to be as nice looking yet as comfortable as possible. Black was going to be today's colors. It didn't mean at all that I was sad, I just wanted to look as ordinary as possible. After I dressed I went downstairs with a smile on my face. Strangely as I trotted down the steps I found myself with Krimla who was dusting the holographic screens laughing and singing things I didn't understand. Today she was not dressed in her usual boring attire of black, today she had on a blue sapphire dress with white lacing I was almost in shock to see how content she was, it was almost unreal, unnatural even to see her in such a state. I almost tripped, but she was so far gone she didn't seem to notice me. After I arrived to the first floor I stood there and observed her. She just seemed to be somewhere else.

"Good morning," I said to her. She didn't listen or ignored me. I was unsure.

"Krimla!"

"Ah!" She screamed before turning around. I jerked myself after the brief scare of her reaction. It was unexpected.

"Anabella! What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be travelling to Earth?" She asked me.

"I'll be leaving this afternoon," I said.

"Oh," she said placing her hand on her chest. I wondered if her heart was still beating harshly after the scare. I wouldn't be surprised.

"You seem to be in a good mood. Does it have to do with my trip?" I asked her. Krimla shook her head.

"What? No, not at all."

"I'm guessing you'll have less work now that I'll be gone."

"Yes, that is true," Krimla said nodding.

"Okay then, but it's not like I'm leaving forever. Brok wants me back here in three days and I intend to keep my promise," I said.

"Oh, but I was not celebrating your departure. I was simply celebrating my own life," she said.

"It's your birthday?" I asked and she frowned annoyed.

"No. Would you like anything Miss Torres?" She asked in a bad temper all of a sudden. I decided to ignore it and to move on.

"No, not at all."

"Well if you'll excuse me miss, but I have work to do."

"Okay."

"Have a nice trip," Krimla said.

"Thanks," I replied and left to the garden.

The sun was warm and bright, I could see it's bright light illuminating the purple skies. The skies were so beautiful that for a moment they reminded me of Earth. How I missed the clear blue skies. During the last months, I had been scanning through several pictures of Earth, particularly during the evenings. Every night after dinner I would sit down on the living room with Brok and I would pass the pages of books that were made on Earth. I simply had to pull them out of the holographic images and there they were, thousands of books, some of them with pictures of the moon, the stars and the skies and others with simple words, words that were too beautiful and too powerful to be portrayed in a single picture.

The rays of the sun were like a fountain of words, perfect in every shape and form. The trees were as beautiful as they were bizarre, with their colors of yellow and their shapes of spikes, the dirt was red and lovely like the cherries I ate during the afternoons when I had any ice cream flavors that I wanted and the breeze was warm and tingling. For the first time, I admitted to myself that the planet Sha was actually an amazing place, that living in the castle doing whatever I wanted and whenever I wanted was just a liberating experience and that I would truly miss being the princess I never thought I was. As I walked towards my fiancée I realized how lucky I was to have found him, how he truly took my breath away and how I no longer had any needs of any kind. His long hair was over his shoulders, my God how shiny and beautiful those thin strips of raven colored hair.

He was so handsome, his hands so strong, his arms so warm. I wanted him. I wanted him to be with me forever. He sat there on the chair with his hands folded on the table, carefully placing them out of the triangular shaped plate, making sure that his dark nails would be intact from the stain of food.

He was glancing out into his enormous garden, forest-like space with his golden bright eyes, just looking at the flowers, shrubs and trees in front of him. I stood silent in the hall for a moment and watched his features. He looked sad to me. The wind blew part of his hair and it brushed his blue face and he seemed like a lost puppy without his mom. I wondered if it was a good idea to leave now, maybe I could wait a little longer. I was unsure. He looked at me and I hesitated. I didn't expect him to see me spying at him, so I feigned ignorance and walked towards him. He immediately got up and waited for me as I came over. Strands of dark hair crossed over his face. He looked perfect.

"I was waiting for you," he said.

"I'm here," I answered. Brok nodded and pulled out a chair for me. I sat down and as I did I noticed a little brown notebook next to his plate.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Oh, this... well, this is something I would like to give to you Anabella."

"What is it?"

"It's my heart," he said.

"You're what?"

"My heart. Do you remember when we sat together to read a few poems of your world?" He asked me. He picked up the notebook and opened it.

"Yes?"

"Well, during my spare time at my work I would look back for the poems we read together the nights before, but because I could not remember them all I decided to write them down in this notebook. These are the poems that remind me of you," he said.

"Of me?"

"Yes. Of us," he said.

"May I?" I asked and I extended my hand.

"Of course," Brok said and he handed it to me. I immediately noticed that the notebook was almost full. Brok's handwriting was amazing. His cursive handwriting seemed to be almost as incredible as that of a book itself. There were no errors apparently in it, every letter was either as thin or thick as it should be, every "o" was round, every "i" was thin, it was like looking at a masterpiece. I read the poem that was right in front of me. It was titled "Sonnet 75" by Edward Spenser. I read out loud.

""One day I wrote her name upon the strand,

But came the waves came and washed it away:

Again I wrote it with a second hand,

But came the tide, and made my pains his prey.

"Vain man," said she, "that dost in vain assay,

A mortal thing so to immortalize.

For I myself shall like to this decay,

And eke my name wiped out likewise."

"Not so," quod I, "let base things devise

To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:

My verse your virtues rare shall eternize,

And in the heavens write your glorious name,

Where whenas death shall all the world subdue,

Our love shall live, and later life renew.""

"Brok..."

"Look at this one," he said passing the page.

"Brok... this is lovely," I said. He pointed towards the page. This poem I knew well. It was titled Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare. I felt my cheeks boil. I rolled my lips and sucked them before I read it.

"Please," Brok urged me. I closed my eyes in a long blink and then I opened them again and began to read out loud.

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimmed;

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance or nature's changing course untrimmed;

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou growest:

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee."

I breathed in deeply. It was lovely. A gentle breeze made the pages of the notebook pass on and when I saw Sonnet 116 by Shakespeare I stopped it.

"Brok, I would like you to read this one please. I know that you wrote it thinking about me, but when I read it I think of you," I told him.

"This one?" Brok asked me.

"Yes." I replied. Brok grasped the notebook and read with his deep, husky voice.

"Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments; love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

O no, it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wand'ring bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come,

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved. "

Brok looked up at me.

"Do you truly believe this?" He asked me.

"Yes," I answered. Brok nodded. He seemed relieved suddenly and smiled at me, the most beautiful smile I had ever seen in my entire life. No human being could smile like that, no hot, popular twenty first century pop star could pull it off like Brok did this morning. Brok was unique.

"What?" I asked him. He shook his head and laughed.

"What?" I asked him again.

"Nothing. I am just, confused," he said.

"Confused?" I wondered and he laughed some more.

"Yes, confused. Confused and I love it," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. I can't explain it, but I know that you make me feel this way," he said.

"Try," I demanded. He tried to stop himself from laughing but he seemed to have some chuckles left.

"Brok?"

"Okay. I will try, but it may confuse you as well. You see I am very sad because you're leaving me-"

"Brok I already told you- "

"Let me finish- "Brok told me. I nodded and then he went on. "But now after I have been here with you and given you my heart I... I'm also happy. I am both happy and sad. Does that make any sense to you?" Brok asked me and I nodded.

"Yes," I replied. Brok nodded in agreement.

"I am happy to know that you love me," he said.

"So am I," I replied.

"I will hope that you do not forget me, but if you do, it will be alright. At least I lived long enough to know what love is. It was worth it," Brok said.

"Would you cut it out. I said I'm coming back Brok."

"I will pretend to believe you Anabella, if you'd like."

"I don't want you to pretend, I want you to trust me."

"I do trust you, but I'm realistic."

"What do I have to do to prove myself to you?"

"You can always stay here and marry me," he said sarcastically and with a grin.

"Brok, I'm serious," I replied.

"Alright! I believe you," Brok said.

"Good," I said laughing. Krimla came in with our food and after she left we ate.

"You know Brok, Krimla seemed very happy today," I said. Then I grabbed some omelet with my fork and chewed on it. The cheese was sticky delicious.

"In what manner?" Brok asked as he chewed on his Sha food.

"She was singing," I said. Brok looked at me perplexed. His arm instantly froze and went down back to his plate.

"Singing?"

"Yes. That surprises you?" I asked.

"Yes, it does," he said. His eyes were now wondering into the hall. He didn't say anything for a while.

"Are you alright?" I asked. Brok blinked twice and glanced back at me.

"Yes," he replied and went on eating. We ate silently until our plates were empty.