Cannes | H.S

Enchanted

Layla

"Where exactly do you plan on taking me?" He asks, sitting in the driver's seat of the classic black convertible we decided to rent for our current stay.

It's a new day and a new beginning. After making progress with him yesterday, I hope to continue that trend more and more. He remains dressed casually but effortlessly beautiful in white trousers and a red Hawaiian button up shirt. Shades on, stress mode off. I shut the car door behind me, turning to face those curious eyes. "It's a surprise Harry Styles, now just drive."

He presses his lips together, evergreen eyes trailing down onto me as I meet his determined gaze. "You're full of surprises recently, little darling."

"Well, I learned from the best. Drive."

He leans forward, placing a nice kiss on my cheek that brings an unexpected flush onto my face. Even after all this time he still makes me blush. He spots my reaction, smiling in response. "You look really pretty in yellow," he says.

The fitting summer dress was deemed appropriate for today as I found it in the dreary pits of my suitcase. I thank him for the compliment, stealing the pair of shades that rest around the collar of his shirt. I place them on, raising a brow as he watches me quietly.

"Do you like it?"

"I love it. You're golden today Layla, like the sun."

My heart practically melts at those words, yet my lack of confidence in receiving such genuine compliments forces me to sigh, returning back to my precious declaration. "Drive now, don't get any ideas," I tell him.

"No?" He asks, bringing the engine to life.

"Absolutely not."

"We'll just have to see then," he answers, giving me a cheeky wink before taking us out on the road.

The weather here is absolutely magnificent and freeing in every sense possible. My hair flows through the wind carelessly as I tilt my bead back, allowing the sun to continue to touch my skin. The smell of the ocean is intoxicating as we drive past it this morning, witnessing many out, trying to catch those mighty waves. The sound of an infamous song catches my attention as he raises the volume on the speaker, humming along to the lyrics for the first time in days.

"Forever and ever, you'll stay in my heart and I will love you. Forever and ever, we never will part. Oh, how I'll love you. To live without you would only mean heartbreak for me. I say a little prayer for you..."

I guide him along with the correct directions, loving to catch him in this natural and blissful state. He takes my hand in his own, one hand on the wheel. "My mum used to sing this song to me when I was little," he says sheepishly.

"It's beautiful."

"Hmm. Reminds me of you." When I shake my head inevitably, he chuckles at my answer, bringing my hand to his mouth to place a steady kiss. "You remind me of a lot of things Layla."

"All good things I hope."

"The best. I see you in the sun when it begins to rise all tall and strong. I see you in the little blue birds who sound so soft, but fly so high. You taste like sugar and peaches—like the summer. And you smell like, like fresh flowers in bloom..."

I'm in awe of this man and the way his wonderful mind works as he sits before me, describing myself in ways that I didn't deem possible in the past. Before I met him.

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"How...how do you see me that way? I just don't understand..."