fragments → garmau • mcd au

[34] the question

"Garroth, this is $134, are you sure you can pay?" Aphmau looks at me, and I nod reassuringly.

"Yes, Aphmau. I'm sure." I say, and open the small black wallet that I had in my hands, previously in the other pocket with my phone, not with the necklace.

I dig through my notes and pull out a hundred dollar note, three ten dollar notes and two two dollar notes. I place them on the bill plate, and the waiter looks pretty pissed that he has to make sure that the amount I took out was defitnitely $134.

He started mumbling to himself as he picked up the notes and briskly scanned through them, then unclipped the receipts from the bill plate and passed them to me.

I took them and folded them, stuffing them into my wallet.

"Do you wanna go home now?" Aphmau asked, and I almost nodded before remembering the necklace I had in the velvet box in my pocket.

"Uh, n-no. I-I wanna take you somewhere." I say, and she smiles. I did, as a matter of fact. When we were walking here, I saw a few blocks down the road a pier, where I thought would be suitable to ask her. It was pretty there, as you could see the endless ocean water and the glimmer of the moon high in the sky.

"Okay then! Let's go."

•••

"Tell me something about yourself you've never told anyone else." Aphmau kicked at the water playfully, her flats beside her while she was barefoot and dampening her feet.

"My middle name is Ro'meave." I say, and she smiles.

"Mine is Jessica." She says, and I nod.

"You never told me your last name, you know." I point out, and Aphmau looks at me.

"It's Phoenix." She smiles sweetly, and I feel like I could swim forever in her hazel brown eyes as I gaze into them, watchin as they glisten against the moonlight.

"Aphmau Jessica Phoenix, I like it." I say, and Aphmau places her head on my shoulder.

"Garroth Ro'meave O'khasis, I like it too." She plays around with my hands for a bit, before finally lacing her fingers with mine.

"Did you know your parents?" I ask, and Aphmau gently shakes her head.

"I'm a descendant of Lady Irene, but I never knew my parents. It was just my sister and I growing up in a small orphanage outside of town. She's 26 now, we're eight years apart. She had Levin and Malachi then... You know the rest." Aphmau shrugs, nuzzling her head deeper into my neck.

"Do you remember your mom?" Aphmau asks, and a lump grows in my throat, but I blink back the forming tears.

"She had long blonde hair, and striking blue eyes. My fathertold me to treat pretty ladies nicely, because my mother was a pretty lady and he treated her wonderfully." I chuckle at the memory, but it quickly fades from my mind as the memories of confusion and funerals come to my mind instead.

"She sounds lovely." Aphmau says, and I nod.

"She was. She was very lovely." I smile at the memories.

"You think she would have liked me?" Aphmau asked, and a chuckle escapes my lips.

"Aphmau, she would have loved you." I smile, thinking of how my mother would have reacted.

"Garroth, this is wonderful!"

"She's such a lovely young woman, you've got yourself a keeper, young man."

I wipe away a tear that threatened to fall out, remembering a certain talk very vividly.

One that's moral I live up to, even till this very day.

"Take care of the girl you love next time Garroth, because that'll be your job. Make sure she takes care of you too."

"But Daddy says men are supposed to be the strong ones and the protectors."

"Well, yes darling. But you see, we're all human, and we all need to be protected by the harsh nature of this world by the people we hold dear to us, because sometimes it all gets a bit too much and we need someone to help us through in tough times."

"Why is the world so mean Mommy?"

"Because there are nasty people out there. You aren't going to be a nasty one when you grow up, right?"

"Yes Mommy."

"And why?"

"Because Mommy wants me to be happy and healthy, and find someone I really really love and take care of them, and being nasty will drive people away from me and I won't be happy."

"Very right, Garroth."

"Mommy?"

"Hm?"

"Why do we need love?"

"Think of your feelings; your emotions like a glass bottle. That glass bottle is protecting your heart. Are you imagining that right now?"

"Yes Mommy."

"When that bottle gets full of sadness and anger and negativity, it shatters, sending sharp pieces of glass everywhere. And when that happens, the heart which the bottle was protecting is now vulnerable, and the emotions and everything are everywhere."

"That sounds sad and painful."

"It is, my dear. And when this happens, we call it 'breaking down'. It doesn't feel good to be around people who don't care or love you when you break down, let alone be alone."

"Okay."

"But when someone we love is there, they light up the world and take away the pain."

"So they're like a really big bandage mixed with an umbrella that I really really like?"

"Exactly like a really big bandage mixed with an umbrella that you really really like."

I wipe away yet another forming tear, the sounds of the night comforting, the wind brushing across my skin gently.

"Aph?" I ask, and she looks up at me in response.

"I-I want to give you something." I say, and she sits up properly. I nervously take out the box from my pocket with one trembling hand, and she tilts her head in confusion when she sees it.

I open it and she gasps, tears brimming the edges of her eyes.

"Aphmau, w-w-will you b-be my g-g-girlfriend?" I stammer, and she nods happily, throwing her arms around my neck and hugging me tightly.

"I love you so much Garroth."

"I-I-I love you too Aphmau." I say, and she pulls away. I take out the necklace from the box and stand up, walking behind her and putting it on her.

I clip it together and she looks down, admiring the necklace.

"It's beautiful Garroth." She smiles, and I smile at her being so happy.

"Not as beautiful as you." I mumble, and she blushes.

We sit there holding hands and losing track of time, and I heard a very familiar voice ring in my head.

"She will take away the pain."