Now Is The Time

Epilogue

We are inside a plane. I am sitting in the window seat and Su-chan is next to me, while Moa is two seats in front of us. I look out the window as the plane takes off and starts to soar above the clouds. Outside is a sea of clouds, one of my favourite views. Right now it is still a bit dark and difficult to see the clouds clearly, but you can tell that they are there.

"You owe me big." I hear Su-chan say and I turn my head. Moa is standing near her with hands folded as if in prayer, her eyes silently pleading. Su-chan then gets up from her seat and Moa slides in her place, thanking her.

"Seriously, you guys owe me big time," Su-chan says as she leaves for Moa's seat.

Moa grins at me as she gets settled in. "What's up, beautiful?"

I know she's doing an impersonation of someone I don't know, but it still makes me immensely happy to hear her call me that. I can't help but smile.

"Just enjoying the view," I motion towards the window.

She strains her neck and moves closer to look outside. It has gotten a bit lighter and the clouds are now easier to see.

"Oh, wow. I always feel like I'm in some new planet everytime I see a sea of clouds like this," she says looking at the view.

She is close enough to me so I turn my head just a little and place a quick kiss on her cheek. She looks at me and gives me a dimpled smile, leaning back into her seat.

"I know what you mean. It's nothing like anything we see down on the ground. It has an ethereal feel to it, right?"

"Exactly. So if you were to choose, what would you pick as your favourite view?"

"Well, much as I like this one, I suppose I'll have to pick the view of the city at night when driving around as my absolute favourite. What about you?"

"Hmmm...I'd say my favourite is this one. It feels clean and pure. It's basically a view of heaven, or at least the closest to the real thing we'll ever see in this life, I think. Why do you like yours better?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe it's because it feels real and tangible, like it's alive. It reaffirms life in me, I guess."

"So basically the difference between our choices is heaven and earth, huh?"

"That's kind of a huge difference."

"Yeah. I guess... But if you think about it, heaven and earth may be polar opposites, but they complement each other."

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it. If earth wasn't there, heaven would just be heaven, just a place, and just like that earth would just be earth if heaven wasn't there. Their difference makes them whole."

"I see. So heaven is heaven because earth is earth, and earth is earth because heaven is heaven, right?"

"Right, in a nutshell. They go together. Also, everytime heaven looks down, earth will be there and everytime earth looks up, heaven will be there."

"If you picture them in your head, it seems like they're flying off together, together towards forever. That's kind of romantic, huh?"

"Very."

A moment passes in silence.

"Feels familiar."

"Huh?"

"It's kind of like with us, I feel. Like how earth makes heaven 'heaven' and vice versa, I feel you've come to make me 'me'. But it goes a bit deeper for us because I've come to feel that it is now impossible for 'me' to exist without 'you'."

"I think I understand what you're saying. Part of one whole, intertwined so closely together that where the single individual begins or ends doesn't exist anymore... is how I see it."

"Yes. It's like, if you disappeared, then there wouldn't be me anymore. The me would have disappeared along with you and whatever remains would be something else entirely, not me anymore."

Just then the sun comes up. We watch the sight together in silence, our hands in each others'. The sunrise is beautiful. The sea of clouds below us is magnificent. I turn to look at her beside me and she meets my gaze. She flashes me a dazzling smile. Now this, this is way more beautiful and magnificent than any other view there is to see.

"So will you do the same with me?"

"Do what?"

"Fly off into forever with me?"

"It's what I'm doing right now, isn't it?"

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