To Love, Once Again

Chapter 1

A fire crackled in the fireplace, lighting up the tapestries that hung on the walls. Flames flickered and danced, casting their faint glow further past the tapestries to the young couple who stood in the center of the room.

The man held a young woman in his arms tightly, and the unwilling woman shuddered in his grasp.

Her eyes are tightly closed, faint tears glittering on her lashes as she turns her face away from the man.

"Sera"

"Sera......"

"..Sera......"

Hot lips pressed to her ear, saying her name over and over. The man utters her name, chanting the one word in low tones, almost worshipful in the way he savors the sound.

He kisses her hair, her neck, her forehead, her cheek. He tastes the salty tears that quiver like beads of glass on her lashes. His face is twisted in pain, the agony in his heart making it hard for him to take a breath. He only wanted to breathe in her scent. Only her.

Nothing else.

A young infant laid in the crib by them, sweetly sleeping with fingers curled and tucked under its cheek.

Candles dotted the room, being lit up by the maids that quietly moved as to not disturb their King and Queen. Their soft skirts swished against the floor, which they tried to mute by lifting their skirts and stepping lightly.

All the while, their King hugged his Queen, kissing her hair, her cheeks, her eyes. He cradles her face in his large hands as he gazed deep into her eyes, in a desperate, searching way.

The King who was a huge, hulking man, seemed smaller, wilted somehow. His desperation was palpable in the way he begged her to stay, like she was the very air he breathed.

The maids slowly closed the door as they left the room.

They could hear their mistress sigh as the man uttered over and over "Don't leave me...Stay with me..Please"

The long war had finally ended. There was no longer any need for a outsider Queen like Sera anymore. She had done her duty, and stood by the young prince as his father had died, watched him grow in to a leader, and borne him a child.

It was now time for her to go home.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sera sighed. Today was the last day of classes. Finally, she could graduate and move on with her life. The boring classes, silent classmates, and lecturing teachers would all be behind her.

Closing her laptop and putting her notebook in her bag, she looked forward to going home. Her family had prepared a graduation dinner, a small affair, where they would celebrate Sera's new chapter in life. Pop had been so excited. "Sera, I'm gonna look for the best cake! How many candles should I get? Should I get blue candles to go with the grad theme? Maybe-" Pop had gone on and on, while her mother smiled.

"I wonder what he would have thought..I finally finished uni.." The thought popped into Sera's head. The sun was setting, and the purple sky left a hazy glow over the city below it. The dusky purple-blue hue looked like his eyes when they lit up, every time their eyes met.

Breaking out of her reverie, Sera realized she had already reached the school gates. "Goodbye Uni. May we ever never meet again" Sera looked up and waved at the gate, and turned around to walk out. The first year had been fun, and she had made lots of new friends. They kept in touch with her of course, but over the years, their busy schedules had caused all of them to fade, leaving behind only the memories in her phone.

There was more to that, though. Her friends weren't the only ones who had changed. Sera had changed. Especially after her first year of university, she had come back from summer vacation, and her friends constantly told her with surprise how different she had become over the break. More mature, more elegant, somehow.

The new image was a big hit with her friends, but Sera didn't have the mind to appreciate any of it. Too many things had happened. The new Sera who went to class everyday, mingling with the young men and women who laughed and joked around with each other, was quiet. What was different was that even when quiet, people took notice of her. When they saw the girl with her long, flowing hair, an archaic smile on her face, they felt drawn to her. Before the vacation, Sera was just one girl of the many. Now girls began to come to her for relationship advice, asking to be her friend. Boys too, would ask her out, sending her texts and leaving little notes where she sat.  The Sera then, who wallowed in her hurt, didn't even notice the special treatment she was getting. She rejected all of them. Even if it was in a different world, she was a married woman, with a child. To see the young boys who blushed and stammered trying to talk to her was like watching young puppies barking and jumping. Puppies are cute, but no one marries a puppy.

Maybe, just for old times' sake, she should contact them, she wondered. Walking in the direction of her home, she scrolled through her contacts, reminiscing the small memories she had made with each friend. It had seemed like so long ago, when they had gone out to watch movies, play at amusement parks, and celebrate birthdays.  Maybe it was time for her to put herself out there, act like she did when she first entered uni. Fun, nonchalant, uncaring of the consequences.

She did her best not to think about him. He was always there, in the back of her mind, a large presence that affected her, a broken piece of her that called out for him.

So she focused on what was before her. On the bustling city, the notifications on her phone. Anything except what she left behind.