Zemira

The moment I opened the door to Leo's apartment, balloons burst and Romeo barked louder than ever. What stood out the most was the symphonic hoot - Happy Birthday.

My favorite people had assembled in Leo's apartment. My gaze landed on Leo, dressed in a tuxedo. 

I'd hardly seen him in formal attire since our first date when he went overboard, bringing me flowers and acting like we never dated before - fake or otherwise.

My gaze slid on Kiera, standing next to Jake. As usual, they both wore complimentary colors. Her red dress that accentuated her curves matched perfectly with Jake's black tuxedo, a red pocket square to add to its beauty.

Besides them, Sam stood, as casual as always - a crisp white shirt and blue denim. He ran towards me, picked me off the ground and twirled me in the air.

"I barely had anything to eat," I gripped his shoulders, locking my arms around him. "So put me down before I throw up on you."

"Happy birthday, sweetheart." He pecked my cheek, then my forehead. My eyes closed and blinked open towards the side Leo stood.

He smiled. A genuine smile that crinkled his face and made my chest flood with contentment. 

I had assumed Leo didn't like Sam for some reason. Giving my friend and my boyfriend the required space to ease up on their egos, I never bought them to face each other.

Was that all in my head?

My thoughts dispersed as soon as Kiera plucked me off Sam's hold, thrusting me over her chest. 

"I've missed you, baby," she cooed, patting my head and sighing into my shoulder. 

For the past few months, I could only see Kiera through video calls, so I greedily held onto my best friend, letting her drench me with her love.

"How are you, Kiera?" I asked, feeling her nod over my shoulder.

"Never been better."

Lie.

Standard Kiera's response was always...always... I don't want to talk about it.

If she made an effort to fake her response, the reality must be that bad.

Jake moved closer, tapping on my shoulder. I broke our girly embrace, tugging Jake into a sandwiched hug.

"Careful," Jake chuckled, looping his arm around both of us. "I don't want to wrinkle my suit. Pretty sure Leo doesn't have an iron."

Kiera was the first to break the group huddle, turning her body to face Leo. "He doesn't. Else he'd not be living here."

"Hey," I protested. "This place is great."

"For a prison," she countered.

Leo moved away from the counter, that classic smile never leaving his face. As he drew closer, leaning near me, he twirled a lock of hair off my face and tucked it behind my ear.

"Happy birthday, darling." 

The whispery touch of his words struck like a matchstick on the rough surface.

Had there been nobody around, I'd have kissed his lips raw and had my way with him till our bodies needed replenishment. 

Breaking my reverie, Leo kissed my shoulder, smirking. 

My eyes closed for a moment, drinking up that confident smile that had somehow disappeared since his addiction began.

Waves of contentment washed over me as soon as he curled his arm around my waist, grabbing me into the fitting position beside his body. 

My Leo was getting better. He was falling back to his past self - the one I fell in love with.

While Jake and Sam whispered something - pretty sure about the next round of surprise they'd planned and Kiera walked Romeo away from humping Jake's leg - Leo and I shared a look. 

It felt like the old times.

I knew at that moment, my worried boyfriend called my friends. Leo must have seen me struggle at work and home to have taken the decision. 

Since Leo returned from his mission, he wasn't big on meet and greet. The fact that he invited everyone into his home, let alone host my birthday meant he was trying.

Trying to refit. Trying to be his past self. 

That itself was enough for me.

"Thank you for all this," I whispered to him, tippy-toying to nip his earlobe. "You're in for a surprise from me too."

Leo looked back, astonishment dancing across his face. 

"Really." His eyebrows bridged. "You mean the surprise that makes me leak like a teenager?"

Warmth rushed over my cheeks as I nodded my head. 

Kiera grabbed my elbow, dragging me away. "Cake first, talk later." 

"It's her birthday, let her be," Jake's protest went sideways when Kiera tilted her head. He raised his palms outwards, biting into his tongue.

It wasn't very hard to guess, this wasn't the only surprise. 

Having known Kiera since childhood, the intimate party and the haphazard birthday decorations screamed at her lack of attention. Which meant - something else, something brilliant had her attention taken away.

Sam dialed something on his iPad and the faces of my Dad and Haley appeared on the screen. Seeing Dad, Leo straightened as if it was someone from the Army.

Dad blew kisses and winked at me. "Go on, cut the cake."

He had a small piece of mini-cupcake with a candle near his table, the tradition he followed whenever he was on a business trip during my birthday.

I blew out the candles and Dad did the same from his end. 

Amidst the worst acapella rendition of Happy Birthday, Romeo's barking and Dad's misty-eyed smile, and chuckling birthday wish, everyone embraced me. 

My family, the ones I had since childhood and those I gathered on the way had always been my pillar of strength. This time too, they proved it.

Kiera trotted towards her bag, grabbing a pink-laced box. 

Jake grinned, nodding while my bursting-with-energy friends placed it in my hand. 

"Openitopenitopenit."

I unknotted the lace, sliding open the handmade wooden box. My heart melted, tears brimmed.

The first time Kiera and I met was outside my dad's office when we both were five years old. 

While we waited for our fathers to finish their meeting, our restlessness paved the way for our first flight. 

Kiera blamed my father for scheduling a meeting on a Sunday afternoon while I blamed hers for accepting it.

With Dad's secretary's intervention, we were separated from ripping off each other's hair. We were made to sit in two separate corners and assigned colored sheets for some random paper craft. 

I crumpled my pink paper into a ball and tossed it around while Kiera meticulously made an origami crane.

The wooden box which she must have made herself contained that crumpled pink paper ball, and her origami crane amongst other things.

For the world, it was garbage. 

For me, nestled inside the box were all those years of memories Kiera had preserved in the name of friendship.

Tears flooded my face, lips trembled to thank but only gasps emerged. 

"Thank you," I tried saying, more gasps emerged.

While the boys stood on both sides, Leo rubbing my back and Jake doing the same for Kiera, the waves of an emotional rollercoaster that we rode weren't easy to move out of.

Embracing me, Kiera swayed me from side to side.

"You kept them all," I cried some more, my raspy voice barely audible. "You said you'd thrown it away."

"No, idiot." She patted my back. My head. "I said that when we fought. I'd kept them because I knew one day would come..." Her wobbly voice fought the tears. "...when you'd need the reassurance that I'm with you, no matter what. No matter where. You'll always have me."

And I bawled like a baby. Cried my eyes till the heat from my eyes made my eyelids swell. 

Jake chuckled, Leo shushed him but we carried on - two girls who understood each other since a tender age and vowed to be there for each other through thick and thin.

After what felt like hours on end, my tears dried and my stomach rumbled. 

Leo fed me a piece of cake, crumbly in texture but ambrosial in taste. I knew he hated baking - abandoned even attempting after he burnt his eyebrows. 

So suffice it to say, I cried some more upon consuming his cake.

Since morning, I hadn't eaten. My stomach rumbled louder, twisting into a coil to grab my attention.

"Okay, let's get the birthday girl some food," Sam said, grabbing his coat. Kiera and Jake followed his lead, opening the door before turning around towards me and Leo. "Come soon."

I looked at Leo, who tipped his head, accepting. 

The doors shut before I could protest. I needed food now. Sex could wait for a bit.

But then something different happened. 

Leo turned me to face him, his smile disappearing behind the seriousness of his face. 

The lush greens of his eyes blinked to ease my worry about food, about everything.

"I've something to show you?" He said. When I looked over his shoulder, tracing the direction towards the bedroom, he chuckled. "No, baby. Although I love that you've got a one-track mind too."

"It's either sex or food," I said while being dragged outside the apartment. 

Leo placed his heavy coat over me, wrapping me like a kid and moving us into the elevator. The moment he pressed the button to the roof I knew he'd planned a mini-course meal for me.

Something special which he was reluctant to display in front of our friends.

The elevator chimed open in front of the roof door. Leo pushed it and moved outside, holding it open for me.

"Why are we here? It's cold," I said, my teeth clattering upon the slight touch of chilly wind.

Leo seemed unfazed. 

He was only in his tuxedo but the sheen of sweat on his forehead made it feel like he was entering a sauna. 

He didn't speak, not looking back as I followed his trail to where he disappeared around the corner.

As soon as I crossed the wall-like structure on the roof, my gaze fell upon the red carpet that stretched up to where I stood. 

Leo stood afar, glass candles flickering in the wind, a soft orchestra playing from what looked like a transistor so ancient that it cracked the music.

Yet no food.

"You'd once told me, how your mother used to have those churning transistors which never worked," Leo said, tapping the red and black device which now hummed the perfect tune without invoking any random sounds. "So I thought I'd start there."

As I moved closer, Leo flashed a smile, lending his hand. 

I took it. He pulled me closer. 

My gasp was sealed by his kiss. His hands roamed over my sides and inside the veil of the coat. The cold I felt disappeared. The warmth of his body eased me.

I could stay here forever, in his embrace. In love. Forever.

"Zemira," Leo began. He unwrinkled my forehead with two fingers, a common reaction whenever he called my name and not Zem Zem or any endearing term. "I know you're hungry and I should get you to eat something but this... this can't wait."

"What can't?"

"This..." He looked around, the city lights, traffic sounds and a louder, Elvis Presley song - Can't help falling in love with you. "There couldn't have come a better time, better occasion and better people for company."

I chuckled, kissing his lips that were so warm that I felt as if Leo had some internal thermostat setting. 

He unwrapped my arms, steadying me in place. With a deep, long sigh, he ran a hand through his neatly gelled hair and bit into his lower lip.

The next few moments froze. 

He bent on his knee, right one with his left keeping him steady. My heart pounded faster, heavier. He shoved a hand inside his pocket and pulled out a Tiffany box, rattling it.

"It's my grandma's. Hers was the only marriage I'd seen to be fruitful"

Tears welled in my eyes. My breath shallowed.

"Zemira Ford, you're crazy. Tempered. Even stupid sometimes. But you're my crazy. My stupid. You've loved me when I thought none could..." 

He drew a deeper breath, the corners of his eyes crinkled as he smiled. Leo looked up again.

"Zem Zem, you've saved me from what I thought was an unsavable life. You, in all your forms - be it a hunger-driven, cray cray girl or an unselfish, loving and caring woman or just a girl who'd try her best to make me happy no matter what - made me realize that there's nobody else I'd want to spend my life with."

Chocking on his next words, Leo adjusted his positioning. I felt the pain he might be suffering. My knees bent, attaining the same height as his. Leo kissed my nose, making me laugh.

I cupped his face and wiped the misty corners of his eyes. 

My senses silenced. The world silenced behind us, having fallen into a vacuum. Only we remained. Us. 

"See, even now you're thinking about what I'm going through."

"I have to, baby," I said. "I can't have my future fiancée limping because of a proposal."

"Is that a yes?" Leo asked, sliding the Tiffany box open.

The beautiful, Sapphire and diamond-crusted ring reminded me of my mother's ring. 

All I wore were the ones similar to hers but this... this was the crown jewel.

"Yes..." My hoarse voice answered. "It's a yes."

Leo embraced me so hard, kissing my face, my head, everywhere, I couldn't catch my breath. I didn't want to either.

I wanted this blissful moment to continue. I wanted us to be happy, forever.

At that moment I realized that though my first wish of 'always happiness' might be a futile one, I had a partner with whom I could have my second wish fulfilled.

To enjoy life in all its forms - happy and sad, tears and joy.

"I love you, my fiancé," Leo whispered in my ears, picking us up from the knee-crushing position we sat in. "I promise to love you through the stormy skies and sunlight days." He bit my earlobe, sliding the ring into my finger and kissing my knuckle. "Now let's get something for your stomach."

"No," I halted his steps, kissing him back with such fervour, I felt as if this was our first kiss after ages. "I don't need food. I need you, fiancée."

Leo didn't waste any time. He picked me up in his arms and walked us into the elevator.

"I think you're getting the rituals confused," I said. "We don't have to cross the threshold now."

"Oh, I know." He bent us low, his index finger pressing the floor button. The doors chimed close. "But this is not the wedding rehearsal. It's the fiancée package being unwrapped."

I kissed his cheek, trailing my tongue over his clean-shaven jawline. The rumbling from his chest was so clear, it made me feel the rush of blood between my legs. 

"What else does the package include?"

"You'll see the rest inside," he said as he waited for the elevator to open on our floor. 

Holding me, Leo walked us inside our apartment. Gently placing me down, he straightened. 

"There's something on the bed. Go wear it."

I adhered to his instructions and walked into the bedroom. 

Black-laced lingerie, a whip and something red like jelly rested on the bed. I turned around, facing Leo who took off his shirt and tossed it on the floor.

"Tonight we'll test some boundaries," he said, kissing me. Excitement coursed through my blood, livening every organ inside. "And that's just the beginning."

And I knew then, it was going to be a long, adventurous night.

~

Oh, my babies are finally engaged for real...

I'm so so happy for them...

And now comes the steamy stuff in the next chapter.

Let me know your thoughts on this chapter, my babies <3