Love Always Wins| ✓

32|° meet cute

THE HORN of the car sounds from outside and Hope rushes towards it, Alice in tow.

She stumbles out the door and the gate unconcerned about her step. The wide grin on her face is an indication of just how much she has missed the people she's running to.

The black Premio stands outside, waiting to be granted entrance. As Hope rushes to the passenger's side of the car, the door opens and he stumbles out, running towards her, his arms spread out.

A throaty chuckle escapes Hope when he tackles her, barely coming up to her thighs. She ruffles his curls which have been growing. He looses his hold on her as she crouches down and takes him into another hug.

"I missed you, baby!" She sighs into his neck.

"I miss you, mommy," Nate replies as they both draw back from the hug.

She brings up her fingers, almost hesitantly and places on them on his face. She traces his features reverently, committing every change on his face to memory. It has almost been a year since she saw him last, save the random pictures of him that her mom sends her.

He looks about half an inch taller than she last remembers. His gaze darts around in curiosity, holding that innocence that has always been refreshing to see. He doesn't seem to have Collins' brown eyes or her black ones. His are kind of like an in between, a blend between two colors of almost similar shades which somehow yields a completely different shade. Under the sun, his eyes are the lightest browns she's ever seen — golden even — but in the dark, they appear even darker than her own.

Oh how she's missed him. Her chest clenches as her fingers continue to brush his face. She stares at his childlike wonder and she stores this memory of him in her heart as she comes to the same conclusion that she loves this boy to the moon and beyond, to the nothingness that coats the space and to the depths of the black holes themselves. She could be swallowed by a black hole, she could be disintegrated into nothing but space dust and one thing that would remain is her constant love for Nate. It will always be there. It will never fade.

If you, being a man, can love to such an extent, just imagine the love I have for you. Imagine the extent of my love for humanity. The voice whispers to her and her throat clenches, as if just understanding a fraction of God's love for her —because even in all the extremes and depths that she loves Nate, her love for him doesn't even begin to match a drop in the ocean of Love that God has welled up for every single person.

"Aunt Ali?" Nate turns to Alice while wiggling out of Hope's hold and making a beeline for Alice at the same time that a tear slips down Hope's cheek.

This tear is an insignia of love. A token of gratitude. An expression of an emotion too deep, too intense for mere words, and Hope lets it trail down her face, still crouched in her initial position, until it reaches her lips and she tastes the saltiness of it. She then wipes it away and stands, searching out her mom. Her mom, it turns out, already drove through the gate and is no longer in the car.

Hope enters the house, where she finds her mom seated on the sofa, an empty glass of water in front of her. She looks up at Hope and smiles.

"Refill this for me, honey." She says.

Hope smiles and takes the glass from her. She then walks to the dispenser and refills the glass of water. She gives it back to her mom, and she leans down, placing a kiss on her mom's cheek. Her mom pats her lightly on the arm.

As she stares at her mom, she finds so many thoughts swirling inside her like a tornado. She wants to laugh, smile, cry, dance and hug her all at the same time and so she finds herself looking at her mother through the childlike lens that she has tried so much to outgrow these past months. She realizes that she's okay with it though. Because Hope can grow up however much she likes but to her mother, she wants to remain a child.