This place is crowded with people. The screams and laughs of people enjoying the ride aren't so easy to ignore. Amelia and I decided to twin and wear white sundresses. We both left our hair untied as well. Amelia's arms are hooked with mine as we walk and talk to decide which ride to take next. The sky looks like a beautiful canvas with shades of orange, yellow, purple, pink, and blue spread across it. The sun will be set soon.
We played a lot of games and we ate a lot of food.
All along this day is going great. I don't want to be ungrateful, but........something is missing. This day is exactly how I expected it to be, but something is not right. It keeps bothering me. My eyes can not stick to one place. They linger everywhere to see and scan the faces of all the people. My ears focus just to listen to that particular heavy and honey-like voice.
He's not here.
I should have known better, but I still had that small hope somewhere inside my heart, that maybe, just maybe, he might come, we would meet again and he would tell me his name so I could turn him into ink on paper and forever make him a small part of my life, maybe not small actually.

"Let's go sit there, My legs will fall off at any moment now." Amelia pulls me to a sitting place near a water fountain. We both give heavy sighs out of exhaustion as we sit and keep all our bags filled with shopping items next to us on the wooden bench.
Amelia stares at her phone, something she has been doing all day today. This is out of her usual behavior, I don't know what's going on, but she looks worried each time she turns on her mobile. I see her gulp as she sees something on her phone.

"Everything okay?" I ask her

"Huh? What? No, not at all, It's all okay. " She gives a fake laugh and keeps her mobile in her pocket.

"You know you can share anything with me, right?" I ask her, Amelia may look expressive, strong, and bold, which she no doubt is, but there are things about her that she may not share. She may just fight all alone. I see guilt in her eyes as she thinks about how to answer that.

"Sil, I will have to go somewhere, I may not be able to tell you now, but I will for sure let you know what it is soon. I am sorry, I wanted to spend today with you and watch the fireworks like we always do, but I will have to go. I am sorry, Sil, " Amelia says

I smile and nod " I understand, you go ahead, I will wait till the fireworks, it would be soon anyway " She gives me a weak smile and takes all the stuff with her saying she will take it her home for now and later I can take it from her.

Now, I sit alone by the water fountain. A few drops fall on me at times, Groups of people, family, friends, and lovers walk here, and they are laughing and spreading love within each other. Healing parts of each other that they might not even know needed healing.
On the other hand, I see other families where I see the couple not enjoying each other's company while their kids laugh and enjoy without knowing anything, Lovers where they fight, and lovers where I see one putting way too much effort, while the other decides to put none And friends where they do have the title of a friend but one of them stand in the corner quietly feeling left out and yet no one sees.
The day was about to end, and I didn't see him. Maybe it was a coincidence.
I sigh.

"Aesterope," I hear a familiar voice call out from right behind me.
I snap my head back to see exactly who I have been craving to see from the moment I entered here. I stand up and turn toward him, standing just a few inches away.

"My name is Aesterope. Nice to meet you, Miss Silvia Brennan." He smirks and brings a hand forward that holds beautiful red roses. Behind him, the sun sets shining around him as if setting just to outline his structure. The wind blows, but it does nothing to soothe my poor heart which beats faster than lightning.

"Aesterope," I whisper, making sure to engrave this name in my brain so I never forget it. I look into his blue eyes that look at me with an emotion that I just can't describe.

I take the rose from his hands, almost forgetting about the thorns just to realize that there are no thorns, but there sure are many bandages around his fingertips.
"How did you even manage to get so many bandages? " I say, looking at his fingers. I know why those are there, but I
want to be sure that I am not delusional.

"Well, trying to remove thorns from roses wasn't as easy as it seemed but surely worth it" He puts his hand on the back of his head and gives a small laugh while the other hand rests on his waist.

I give a small laugh. I feel a little blood rushing through my cheeks. And finally, that heavy, incomplete feeling is no longer in my heart.
Fireworks light the sky, and different colors shine in the night. I feel something break. It's not my heart. It was a chain that was holding it. It broke and fell, making me feel lighter as the noise of it excited my heart, and I gazed at the beautiful fireworks.

"Isn't it beautiful ?" I remark with a natural smile on my face.

"It is," Aesterope replied.

Was this it? Was this my Disney moment? Would he be looking at me if I was looking at him now?
I am too afraid to look at him because my expectations may break like it does most of the time. But this might be different, right?
I pull up the courage and turn my gaze toward him......and I meet a pair of ocean-blue eyes stuck on my hazel ones. My poor heart may fall off at any moment.

"But not more than what my eyes are getting the pleasure to see right now." His voice is only high enough for us to hear it. He steps closer and stands next to me, his shoulder grazing mine, and he smiles and turns his gaze to fireworks when I do so.

If it was any other, I would have thought they were lying and being ridiculous, but for some reason, he is different. I feel that maybe he means it because what I see in his eyes is not just emptiness, sympathy, or empathy. I see......love.
His gaze reminds me of warmth. And I know that this is not my delusion. This is true. He is true.

.................................................................................................................

"So, you came alone?" He breaks the silence sitting next to me on the bench near the fountain.

"No, Amelia left for some work,"

"I see."

Another silence. The magical moment I had a few minutes ago now has formed a weird ball of emotion that I can't label.

"So, how did you know I would be here?" I break the silence this time

"I didn't." Our eyes meet as he answers

"Then for whom you brought the roses? A girlfriend, maybe?" I joke. He laughs. Dimples.

"I came here in the hopes of meeting you, a friend suggested that many people come here at this time because there are discounts on the tickets. I thought if we do meet, then I can't be empty-handed, So the roses" He came here just for me, and I came just to find him.

"How did you know that I would come today and not some other day?" I asked theyBecause give discounts on tickets for the whole month. It's hard to believe that it was a pure coincidence that we bought the tickets for the same day.
His eyes for a moment fall on my lips and snap back to my face.

"I didn't know," he says "Just that I have been buying tickets every day since the last time me wet and I am pretty sure I have the map of this whole place printed in my brain by now" He pulls out a bunch of tickets from his pocket and he smiles. Dimples. God, his dimples are too attractive. My eyes widened after he finished his sentence.

"You are telling me that you have been buying tickets for a whole week and coming to this place just so you can meet me?" Did he put this much effort into me? I only heard this stuff happening in fantasy. To be one of those and experience this is a whole different thing.

"What can I say? Your eyes have hypnotized me, I have fallen too deep in them to think sanely any longer. " His voice is deep, low, and near to a whisper. His face gets closer, looking into my eyes while my heart is ready to jump out at any moment, and I am sure my cheeks do not help to hide it. I gulp hard trying to undo the knot in my throat.

"Why did you not let me tell you my name when the first time we met? Would've saved me some money, you know?" He jokes to cool the heat between us.

"If I had known, I would have turned your name and being into ink on paper and made you a book and never be able to forget you and would've built the expectation that maybe we can have something more than that one moment " I smile and answer honestly. "I still plan on doing it, but maybe with no regret or guilt"

"Don't. " His answer surprises me and my head turns to face him better

"Excuse me?"

"Don't turn me into an ink on paper. Ink fades and pages tear and a book may eventually be torn or lost. If you wish to ink me somewhere...." he pauses to take my hand and place it on his heart. His heart is racing almost as much as mine. His breathing is unsteady. He continues when my eyes go back to his."ink me in your heart, so it stays there forever. Ink me in your soul so it lives there for as long as you do. To remind you of me and to remind you of yourself. I don't just wanna be an ink on paper for you, I want to be a part of you. Be it the one that I see, that shines bright, or be it the one that you see, enclosed within the dark."

My mind goes blank. His heartbeat is the same as mine, too loud and too fast. His eyes stuck on mine and my eyes had apparently forgotten how to blink. Usually, I would've said this is cringe or a joke but for some reason, he feels......home. I feel too fucking safe and free around him. Dangerous.
This was my cue to leave.
I pull my hand back from that Dangerous, dangerous place and stand up.
"I-I think" Apparently I also forgot how to speak. "I should go, Amelia must be waiting for me" I nervously tug my hair back. He stands up, and suddenly all I see is his chest because I refuse to see his eyes. Also because he is tall and thats all I see if I don't turn my head up.

"You said she had work" He has Amusement in his voice.

"Okay, bye" I cannot even defend myself at the moment. I turn my heels and walk away. I look back just to see him smirking again.

"Meet me at Golden Lake? Tomorrow? Whenever you are free?" He shouts from a distance. I am not shouting back to him. I thought he would take that as a no and leave but I heard him shouting again coming behind me.

"Please?"
And again "Silvia"

and again "Love of my life" I stop and snap back a glare at him which only makes him laugh. People around us stare, some blush, and some giggle.

I turn again and keep walking "Please?" Again he shouts.

"Fine" I finally shout back and smile on my own.

"See you tomorrow then, my love" He shouts

"Shut up" I shout without looking back

I finally laugh.
Maybe this day did change my life for the better.