Between the Lies

40| Epilogue

I think it surprised all of us to see how emotional we were. Vanessa was most definitely crying on her last day at work. Davidson seemed pretty sad to watch us go, but he said it felt bittersweet. 

"I always pictured you both leaving together like this," he said to me. "You came here together and you're leaving together yet your relationship is so different now. Take care of her. Take care of each other. And come visit every once in a while, hmm?" 

"We will. We'll visit every time we're in New York," I replied. 

"All the best, kiddo. Have fun." 

From there, we took the next step. Leaving our apartments. Vanessa and I both bought an apartment, splitting the cost between us. We couldn't be paying regular rent if we wouldn't be here for months at a time, so we bought a bigger apartment. Together. And we moved in. 

We spent only a few weeks settling there and planning our first trip together. Paris. Vanessa had never seen the city and coincidentally, my mother had a show coming up, so that was our excuse. 

Theo and Blue were, unfortunately, handed over to Octavia and Roman. But on the bright side, we visit them pretty often. Vanessa misses her parents a lot more than she used to and she doesn't pass on any chance to go see them. 

We've taken a few trips together now, some lasting longer than others. Our trip to Paris lasted two weeks. Two weeks of coffee at pretty cafés, the Eiffel Tower, art exhibitions, museums, and so much more. After that, we flew back to New York, rested for three weeks, which we spent finally decorating and organizing our apartment. 

Then we booked a flight to London. We were in London for two weeks, exploring the city. Riding double-decker buses, riding the London eye, going to museums. We did it all. A few of Vanessa's college friends happened to be there too who got back in touch with her, so we all met a few times as well. 

Then we came back to New York and rested for four weeks, during which we discussed our finances for the next trip, visited the office a few times like we did every time we came back home, and we also bought more things for the apartment. 

Next, we went on a trip to Hong Kong. Vanessa was determined to go to Disneyland, claiming it was the best one and she had gone once as a kid. That trip was ten days. From Hong Kong, we went to Florida and stayed with her parents for three weeks and then from there to Colombia. On this trip, her parents had joined us. Vanessa's grandparents still lived in Colombia and so did quite a few of her cousins, so we had stayed with them. It was a big trip for us, I was meeting her entire family and I had a lot of people to impress. Yet somehow, she was more nervous than I was. 

From Colombia, we went to New York, stuck up all our new pictures on the fridge, and then spent almost all our days lying in bed together, shopping together, decorating the apartment some more, and living together like we were always destined to. 

By then, we figured this was the best way to travel. One trip, one city for every month. A new destination every month and then periods in between to rest, be together in our New York apartment, visit the office, and visit her family. 

Now, our latest city to strike off the list is Venice. We spent the last three weeks in Venice, living life like citizens. That's the whole point of spending more than a week in these cities. Living in them like we belong here, experiencing all the different cultures, and seeing all the buzzing spots every day until our hearts' content.