Happiness is a Myth

Chapter 50

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Link's heart was beating a mile a minute.

He has never been this nervous before.

Ever since the grand meltdown he had at work, people around have slowly started letting go of control so he can regain it. He found himself more happy, more proactive with the things happening in his life.

The only thing he feels like he hasn't really set his foot into was his relationship with Gabby. She picked him, asked him out first, said I love you and blatantly declared her ownership over him. He hasn't done much to show her that he's in it too except let her do what she wants.

That wasn't fair to her.

He might not be ready for a long-term commitment but he is falling in love with her.

She deserves to know that.

Gabby is not very expressive with her emotions as Link is. She was more of an 'action' kinda gal and he needed to speak her love language. It took a lot of thinking to come up with something to show her how much she means to him and honestly, this is the best he could do given that she monitors him day and night as his guard.

He watched with dread as she slowly leafed through the filled out portion of the album without any outward reaction and he felt like maybe.. this wasn't a good idea? It took a lot to convince Dax to print still frames of every Saturday breakfast date they had so he could fill out this album. They don't have any official photos of them together so he had to be creative.

He found himself babbling words to justify his gift: "I.. I wanted to give you something, but I know you don't like jewelry or girly stuff so I thought.. Since you told me that you never had any photos of your family and friends.. Maybe we can start filling this one out together.. I dunno.. I thought you might like it.. I had to bribe Dax to get me these photos from the surveillance cameras.. I know they're not good quality.. But.."

When she did not respond, still staring at the photos, Link whispered in doubt: "You don't like it?"

Before he had a chance to doubt himself more, Gabby charged, grabbing him and pulling him into a kiss.

Their first official kiss.

He melted her heart so she took his breath away.

It took a few seconds for Link to understand what was going on and reciprocate. It's been a while since anyone kissed him like that.

For someone dubbed the "Iron woman", the kiss was gentle, filled with love and left no room for doubt.

Link found himself reaching for her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. He sensed her smile through the kiss and felt butterflies dance in his stomach.

The magical moment was cut short when Rhett shouted: "Ew! Get a room!"

They both leaned back as a small laughter bubbled up between them. Gabby placed small kisses down his neck while Link turned to playfully glare at his friends: "I LITERALLY OWN THIS WHOLE BLOCK! YOU GET A ROOM!"

He looks at his girlfriend's sparkly eyes and asks one last time: "So.. you like it?"

She wasn't sure if he was asking about the gift or the kiss. It didn't matter because the answer was the same: "It's the best thing that's ever happened to me after meeting you."

Link's face almost melted off from how hard he was blushing. Rhett finally reached them as Gabby let go of Link. Rhett sang in a teasing voice: "Gabby and Link sitting in a tree.."