Mounting his red Panigale, Tyler revs the engine, and speeds away from his house. It's 0 degrees outside, but it can't match the sting in his heart—so he doesn't care. As he rides, the snowflakes blurs his visor, blurring his vision. But he doesn't care. The road is drenched in snow. But he roars his Panigale louder—and slices through with an almost reckless speed!

For fuck's sake! Can she be even more stubborn right now?! I know she's afraid but God—damn it! What more do I have to do?! What more can I show her?! Shit! If only I had known she broke up with Dom ages ago—damn it! I would've been with her since then! Tyler, you fucking idiot! If I had known—if I had known she didn't love Dom.. I thought she had feelings for the both of us—that's why I avoided her—Fuck!

But then the snow thickens. Even people stopping on the curb, having a rest. Looking around while slowing down, worry starts to seep into his veins.

I wonder if she's still in the park..? Damn, this snow is getting heavier—is she still there? What if.. what if something happens to her—

Whatever. She has Dominic, that jerk. She doesn't want me, right? She'll probably call him.

...

Wait but.. but they probably aren't talking anymore—damn it! No wonder she's been texting me often like she was single—no wonder things have been weird between them every time they're together! And Dominic with other girls—that's because he's not—damn it, Tyler, you shithead—how did you not realize?!

As he reaches a red light—resting and sitting straight on his Panigale—his eyes are drawn to the corner where the two of you used to buy sugarcane and burgers. Staring at the corner, he watches as the weird sugarcane seller serves a little girl.. who excitedly boasts to his father about her drink. They drink and laugh at each other, holding hands as they walk away. Tyler's thoughts become nostalgic, a soft smile forming on his lips as he remembers you.. holding hands with Mr. Winters when you were kids.

Then, as he watches them pass by the burger joint, his view shifts to see a couple in coats coming out of the store, carrying a large bag of Burger Bros. They excitedly run to their car—and as the guy opens the door for the girl, she giggles and kisses him on the cheek before getting in.

Tyler's mind drifts back to your date. Scenes of when he opens the car door for you.. when he was enchanted by the radiant smile you gave him.. when he held your hand at the roller coaster.. The time he gave you flowers and you kissed him on the cheek..

"Thank you dork."

"Tyty~"

"Wanna know a secret?"

"I don't want this date to end."

"SMASH and WEBBS!"

"You may, My Prince."

"Sugarcane Monday After School and Wednesday Burgers Before School?!

Geez I told you so many times—"

"Hey! My sugarcane Goddammit!"

"Yeah! That's my bestfriend! Go Tyty!"

"Promise me that you'll stay?"

"Bestfriends?"                                                                                                                                   "Forever."

"I love you, Tyler Cavill."

The sound of your voice echoes through his mind, beautiful and fleeting. He stares towards the corner. Snowflakes dance around him, the cold bites at his skin—but the warmth of his memories of you melts through him. Each memory feels like a blizzard inside of him.

He reminisces about the nights you spent talking until dawn. Your laughter.. the way your eyes sparkled when you were happy.. the feeling of your hand in his—your tears.. the way you looked at him when you thought he wasn't paying attention.. the way you called his name.. the way you smiled at him—

Until the sounds of people honking at him from behind wakes him from his reverie. He jerks, gripping the handlebars tightly—checking the traffic light to see that it has turned green. He was about to rush forward but stopped, his grip tightening on the handlebars, heart pounding.

For a moment, he froze, the scenes rewinded in his mind, your dad's words replayed—until he throws his head back and throw a curse into the night air,

"FUCK!"

and he swerves his bike around with a screech, tires leaving marks on the pavement as he makes a sharp turn back. Snowflakes fly past him as he maneuvers through the streets, mind racing. He knows what he wants. He knows what he needs. And he knows he can't let you slip away. Not now. Not ever.

You stare at the frozen lake, eyes puffy from all the tears you've shed. Your shadow stretches under the streetlights, only emphasizing how lonely you've become. Knees to your chest, you hug yourself tighter, trying to comfort yourself despite the piercing hurt you feel in your chest.

Even if you die of hypothermia tonight—you won't care. Even if some Loch Ness monster suddenly came out of the frozen lake to kill you? You'd go straight into its mouth. What is there to live for? No one's beside you anymore anyway.

You're all alone, right?

Your hair's already drenched by the cold crystal snow.. and you don't care. The chilly sensation of the snow drops upon your head, and you feel yourself getting sleepy..

One drop..

Two drops..

But it stops.

Oh, maybe this is where I'll drop to the snow and die. Or maybe.. this is how the Loch Ness monster enchants me to follow him to the depths of the frozen lake, luring me to die.

But then you feel something brush against your back.. when you notice your shadow extending behind your own. Slowly.. you look up—to see a hand, shielding you from the falling snow.

The whole world seems to slow down. The way the crystal snowflakes fall seems more delicate.. gentler..

Just like how he slowly crouches down behind you.. and rests his big hands on your head, shielding you fully from the snow. Now you're staring straight at the lake, tears start brimming again in your eyes as your lips start to quiver. From your left ear, you hear a soft.. low whisper—his warm breath like a comforting breeze.. meant just for you.

"There," he says with a smile, his voice softening as he gently caresses your head, covering you with his own warmth.

"I don't want you to get too cold."

Relief washes over you as you look down, sobs start to form in your mouth. His voice just like the feeling when you close your eyes after a long day. His touch, so familiar and tender, just like a first sip of chocolate in a winter breeze.

"Winny.. don't cry baby, I'm sorry—"

"I hate you." you wail. His head nestles beside yours, his chin resting on your shoulder. Just as you feel his arms start to circle around you, you stand up abruptly.

Finally facing him, you see him sigh, looking up at you guiltily. Your eyes, filled with sadness and hurt, meet his. However, you feel anger building inside of you as he stands up—

"Stay right there!"

Tyler stops in his tracks, his expression turning serious. Inhaling sharply, he watches as you gesture to him to stay. When he tries to open his mouth to speak, you silence him with a cry.

"You left me."

Your words falter as your lips tremble. Hurt drawn in your eyes as you take a shaky breath. He gulps, eyes searching as his mouth almost opens—but shuts it again with a sigh. With every audacity that he has lefts, he starts to step closer, but you scream,

"YOU FUCKING LEFT ME YOU ASSHOLE!"

"Ok I know—I did, but I'm not. Now I'm here—"

"You promised! Do you know how it feels to see you walk away—" you pause, shaking with anger, before continuing, "to hear you say that?! Like our friendship means nothing to you?"

Tyler's face falls, his eyes searching yours as he gulps—again. He stood there in the falling snow, stricken. Saying that he's feeling guilty almost sounds underrated by now.

Whether it's hypothermia or not, the anger burning within you already acts like a furnace. You no longer feel the cold—your whole body burns the frozen lake and its Loch Ness might've set ablaze by your rage. You run your hands through your hair in frustration, before ending up hugging yourself in helplessness.

"You promised you'd stay, Ty," you mutter, your voice shaking. Your eyes meet, searching each other—until your voice breaks and you choke out, "If you leave too—" and you start to sob, covering your face with your hands—when his arms hold you tightly.

"Em.." he whispers beside your ears, his voice carried by the blowing winds in urgency, as if he's asking the wind to kindly deliver his plea to you.

"I'm sorry, Winny.."

You stand there in his embrace, tears streaming down your face as you bury your face in his chest. Sobbing and whimpering—body shaking by all the emotions you're perceiving, you grab into him tight. Afraid he's going to vanish before your eyes yet again.

Shushing you softly, he swayed your body right and left gently. His hand holds the back of your head, letting you know that he's here. Once your cry subsided, however, hesitatingly, he whispers, "Em.. I need you to hear me out.."

The falling snow seems to quiet in the wake of his words. He pulls you away slightly, just enough so he could see your face. Delicately, he helps you comb away the messy strands of your hair away from your face—and puts them behind your ear. Sniffling to calm down your sobs, you avoid his eyes.. until he lifts your chin—so he could meet his gaze with yours. And you could feel your heart race.

"I—" he begins. Looking unusually nervous, he grips both of your arms tightly and pushes you away at arm's length—crouching down his body to the ground while muttering, "Shit, this is hard."

You're about to speak, but he quickly silences you by covering your mouth, making you widen your eyes in surprise. "Uh uh uh," he forbids—eliciting you to give him a 'what the fuck' weary gaze, and you slap his cheek playfully, signaling your cooperation. When he's sure you won't interrupt, he slowly removes his hand.. revealing you with your still-shaky pursed lips.

Finally, he clears his throat and begins, "You don't know how many sleepless nights I think about this—about you.." before he looks away, almost shaking his head as he adds, "how effortless life has been with you—our talks, our antics—even our fights,"

You stare at him with your round eyes, still sniffling, though it begins to subside. "I know—probably because we've been together since forever. Maybe.. it's just a habit," he pauses, his gaze becoming serious. Mirroring him, your eyebrows furrowed—until he opens his mouth to continue, "But at some point in our lives.. I feel.. when we stare at each other—I feel—" he looks away—about to run his fingers through his hair but cancels out of nervousness, ending up clasping his hands behind his neck—looking down while kicking his feet to the snow, mumbling, "shit, I can't explain—"

Worried, you exclaim, "Ty.." gently placing a finger over his elbow. Your head tilting as you step closer, checking on him.

Slowly darting his eyes down to you.. he licks his lips nervously, looking away while he runs his fingers through his hair, saying, "I thought I could be happy alone.. I could survive without annoying Winny demanding me for SMASH and WEBBS,"

You let out a slight chuckle—pretty much satisfied with his cringey confessions. Noticing a drop of snowflake lands on his already damp hair, you tiptoed.. and attempt to place your hands over his head—and he finally darts his eyes back at you. Recognizing your sloppy attempt, he stares at you for a while, letting a soft breathy chuckle. Until his smirk falters when he mutters,

"But then I lost you."

You froze. Hesitatingly lowering your hand, your right hand gently rubs your left elbow, trying not to be bashful. Even as you look down at the ground, you can't help but occasionally glancing back at him.

His head slightly recoiling when the epiphany hit him, mumbling, "And I realize.. I'm not.. that.. happy without you. If that makes sense," his voice softening as his eyes never leave yours. "I can't see you sad.. I can't stand—seeing you with other guys—and one day, I realize.." he pauses to lock his gaze onto yours.

"That you mean.. everything to me."

You gasp, eyes searching. A hopeful feeling seeps into your skin—still, confusion deters you.

Hopeful for what?

So you shake your head, internal war raging in your mind.

"The first time you brought me burgers when I was sick—nah, the first time you drank that sugarcane like a maniac?" he chuckles, when suddenly.. Mr. Winters' face flashes through his mind. Reminiscing the promise he made with John.. Tyler's eyes wells up as he glances away to compose himself.. until with his voice breaking.. he declares, "He said to always take care of you even though this.. feeling that I have for you is just a phase—"

A wave of revelation crashes through you—and your lips quiver. By the time your forehead creases, you hide your face behind your hands.. and wail. You only need a slight mention of your dad just to make you realize how much you will always miss him. With his hand caressing your head tenderly, he professes,

"You're not a phase, Em. For me.. you were never a phase."

Your breath hitching as you fight back more sobs, your hand covering your mouth as you pull away just to look at him. Tyler takes a long.. steadying breath, creasing his forehead as he continues, "I was wrong—I'm sorry for not giving you security when you needed them the most—I'm sorry—you were right. We'll be bestfriends until we get old—hell, you're my best friend, Em, nothing will ever change that. Because all that I know—"

Cupping your face as he removes rattled strands of your hair away, his eyes fixed on yours as he confesses, "All I know.. is I've loved you since the very beginning."

You gasp, tears streaming down your face as you grab his hands and caress them tenderly. Closing your eyes as you feel the warmth of his words embrace you, you kiss his left palm while still stroking them gently.

"No matter how much I try to hold back these feelings, I can't. All these confusions.. all these fights? All of us? We are for each other, Em. And every single moment we've been through together—is how I fall in love with you even more. Because this is it, Em."

While brushing away your tears, he lifts your face. You gaze at each other with such a loving gaze your heart flutters. And with a chuckle, he mutters,

"Our love is the only love I've ever known, Emily."

As his sweet words sway you like the afternoon breeze, you lean into his hand, shutting your eyes tight. Despite the freezing winter, the warmth melts the night away like the sun kisses your skin at 10 in the morning.

And it feels divine.

"I know you're scared—heck, I was too. But now I'm not scared anymore because I know, wherever you are—and even if you won't ever choose me, I'll always care about you, Em. I'll always be with you. Whatever you want us to be, I'll always be—"

So you kiss him.

His eyes widened in surprise. Just briefly—with your left hand holding his, right hand clutching the coat upon his waist—you pull away. Just enough. Just so you can mumble between his lips, whispering,

"I love you too."

For a moment you can feel his lips form into a broad grin before he finally kisses you.

And the trees bowed down. Crystal snow sings as their approval. The lake flutters as the Loch Ness monster watches with bashful cheeks on his face.

When he pulls away, his eyes are full of questions. But still, as you look at him with a big grin, a lopsided grin spreads across his face as he squeezes you tightly. Raising an eyebrow, a teasing look spreads across his face when he jokes,

"I didn't say that I love you?"

"Ty!"

Laughing through your own happy tears, you playfully hit him on his chest. He throws back his head, laughing a big laugh while stroking the side of your head. And when his gaze finds you again.. wiping the last of your tears, his eyes searches yours, smiling tenderly as he whispers,

"Love you, Emilia Winters."

You smile back at him, your heart feeling lighter than it has in a long time. Unexpectedly, you draw a finger in front of him,

Your pinkie.

He grins broadly. Until.. without hesitation.. he wraps your pinkie with his. And when his eyes find yours, you pull your tangled pinkie.. you eyes never leaving his.. and kisses them softly.

Before finally whispering,

"Forever."

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Check out some additional content on social media💖

Cecylia Costania @rcpcswrites

You can elevate your experience by also listening to songs I added to this story's playlist! Full Playlist on bio💖

The song that matches this Chapter's vibe:

"I don't want you to get too cold."

https://youtu.be/6qkgVgjN188