Chapter 34

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*Anna's POV*

When I woke up this morning I was relived just knowing that I was getting away.

I laid in my bed for a few more minutes before deciding to drag myself out of the familiar warmth. I tugged on a pair of dark jeans and put on a light pink sweater. I pulled my hair back into a long braid, it reached almost half-way down my back. I really am in need of a trim now that I think about it.

The decision was between caramel or French vanilla flavored coffee. I went with French vanilla and the scent filled the room soon after. I leaned back against the marble counter and closed my eyes. Relief flooded through me when my coffe was done, and I turned on the radio in the kitchen.

An old Jimi Hendrix song came on and I felt content, finally.

I still had about an hour to kill before Shelby would be here and nobody was home, as usual.

For the next hour I'd just lounged around, skimming through an old book of my mother's.

My peace was interrupted by a knock at the door, my heart beat quickened and I secretly hoped it was Niall.

I ran over to the door and swung it open.

There stood Niall, holding a black box.

"Sweetheart... Please hear me out." The blood in my veins sang, all because Niall was here.

I took a step to the side and let him in. He sat down on one of the leather chairs in my living room and I sat on the couch across from him. I couldn't help but let my eyes wonder to the black box and I knew what would be in it.

"I can't keep doing this. Being without you, I mean. There is no other girl for me, if I searched for a million years just to find someone like you, that would be a million years of my life wasted." My eyes started to fill with tears, hearing the words leave his mouth.

"I'll go completely insane if I can't have you in my life. You make me feel like everything will work out in the end, there's hope for the world when you're with me, Anna." He noticed that my eyes kept wandering to the black box that he was holding out. "And this is your Christmas present, I didn't really get a chance to give it to you in the middle of all of this."

He walked over to the couch that I was sitting on and took a seat right next to me. He opened the box and what I saw was a ring.

It was a thick silver band with a blood-red garnet in the center, my birthstone. I was hesitant to slip the ring onto my finger and Niall took notice of that.

"It's okay, I don't expect you to wear it. But just turn it over."

I picked the metallic piece of jewelry up and looked at the underside of it. There I found a small inscription that was engraved into the silver.

"Today

Tomorrow

Always"

"Anna, I love you more than I did before. I realize what it's like to lose you and I can't let that happen again, I won't be able to live with myself knowing I've hurt you."

I couldn't bear to look up at him. I heard a car horn outside honk, signaling that Shelby is here.

The tears streaming down my face were whiped away by Niall's thumbs as he cupped my face with his hands. I finally brought my eyes up to his and uttered the simple words that I've been dying to say.

"I love you." His eyes filled with hope and I grabbed onto his face. As I brought my lips to his I could feel all of the pain and hurt and tears begin to slowly disappear.

Niall's lips moved around mine and his tongue slipped into my mouth, I threaded my fingers through his hair and brought him closer to me.

The car outside honked again and I pulled away from him.

"I have to go..." He looked confused and I ran up to my room to grab my bag. When I came back downstairs, Niall was standing by the door.

"Wait." He grabbed my arm right as I was about to run out the door.

"I want you to wear it." Niall slipped the ring onto my right ring-finger before I could even think of how to protest. It really was beautiful. I grabbed his neck and pulled his face down to mine, kissing him softly.

He buried his face in my hair, hugging me tight. "Bye, sweetheart." He sighed into my hair.

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