AUTHOR'S P.O.V
Days had gone as usual where the two of them showed each others love. Arthur had learnt from his mistake that his wife has become very important in his life, and had also learnt to share everything with her.
It was Sunday morning but Arthur had to go to the office to take care of some work. Thea took this chance to go to her home school house, and stop by for grocery shopping.
"Hey, Thea," Alisha, her secretary, greeted her as she arrived at her parents' old house. "Haven't seen you in a while"
Thea gave her a side hug. "Hey, how have you been, Alisha?"
Alisha was the one who takes care of the home school now. She's one of Thea's close friends, they have known each others for years and Thea trusted her to run the home school.
"I've been great, I just got engaged 2 days ago" she said excitedly, showing her her engagement ring.
"That's brilliant, congratulations!"
"Thank you, Thea! What about you? How's life?"
So much happened in her life the past few months. It was definitely a roller coaster of emotions. But that's how life goes.
Thea spent the next few hours observing the house, looking through documents, and stuff. She also decided to clean her parents' bedroom and rearranged some stuff. She felt happy to be in her old house again, though it brought her memories of her parents.
She was sitting on the bed and looked around the room. She had to admit she had missed her parents a lot. It's been a while since she last visited their resting home.
Perhaps she should visit them on the way home.
After bidding her goodbye to Alisha, she left the house and was ready to go to a shopping center, when someone stood at the front gate of the house. It was not just someone, it was someone whom she knew well enough for years.
"Tony?"
To say that she was surprised was an understatement. She couldn't believe her eyes. She saw him again, after all these years. She was even surprised how much he had changed. He has matured enough and grew way taller than she remembered. But the warmth and the caring she used to see in his eyes are still there, and she knew her bestfriend is still the same. And just like the old times, they went to hug each others.
"It's been a while, huh?" Tony smiled as he hugged her, feeling happy to meet his old bestfriend again.
It was Thea who pulled away first. "Oh my God, it's really you! How.. what, what are you doing here?"
Words can't describe how happy she is to meet her old bestfriend. Despite everything that happened between the two of them, Thea was glad to finally meet him again.
"I'm back in town, dad is ill so I'm staying here until he gets better"
"Oh, what happened?"
"He had a stroke"
"I'm sorry to hear that"
Thea could still remember Ethan, Tony's dad. She has met him quite often, back when both her and Tony were still in high school. Ethan used to invite her and Celine for BBQ party in their garden.
"I came here 3 days ago but your house looked different, I thought you had moved and sold the house"
Thea shook her head. "Well, actually I did renovated the house but it's still mine. It's a home school house now, just so you know"
"Really? Since when?"
"It's been running for a few months now. The house has been empty for years so I thought it'd be the best to turn it into a home school"
"Wait, don't your parents live here? Where are they now?"
That took her off for a few seconds. Tony clearly doesn't know that her parents had passed away 3 years ago. He had moved away way before Thea's parents passed away, and Thea didn't have his number to contact him about it.
"Tony, my parents passed away 3 years ago"
Tony hitched his breath as she told him the news. It was indeed a shocking news to him. His heart crushed to hear it from her. He was pretty closed to Thea's parents, especially her father. The two of them used to watch football match together, even Alfred looked out for Tony like his own son.
Thea could see that the news hit him hard. She knew how closed he was with her parents. They were the greatest bestfriends after all. Her parents loved Tony like their own son too.
"I'm so sorry," his voice broke. "Can you tell me what happened?"
Thea nodded her head. "I'm going to the cemetary, come with me, I'll tell you what happened"
He nodded his head instantly. Both of them went to visit the cemetary. Tony went rigid as he saw the tombstones, he couldn't believe that they were gone. Thea told him how they died, it was hard for him to hear it from her, he was silent the whole time. He was still trying to recover from the news. He was heartbroken, for losing them. Felt angry, to himself, for not knowing it sooner, for not being there for Thea when she lost them.
After a while, they left the cemetary and went to the nearest cafe to have lunch together. Both of them were lost in a conversation about their lives, mostly catching up on what has been going on. Tony apologized to her, once again, for leaving her to California, many years ago. Thea was no longer upset with him, as she is now already happy with Arthur.
"You're married?!" Tony was surprised to find out that Thea is already married. "Wow, how long have you been married?"
"Almost 2 years," she answered as she sipped her cup of tea. "What about you?"
"I was engaged once, but we broke it off. You can say that I'm single now"
"What happened?"
He shrugged. "She cheated"
She frowned as he said that. "I'm so sorry. You deserve better"
"It's fine, that was 2 years ago, I've moved on now. Anyway, who is this unlucky man?"
She chuckled and hit his arm playfully. "Shut up. His name is Arthur by the way"
"I can't believe you're married now, I've missed all those years, huh?" He felt sad, knowing that he wasn't there in his bestfriend's happiest day. He regretted leaving her and just cut off their friendship. He was too focused on his study that he forgot about his bestfriend.
Thea could see in his eyes that he was upset about it. "Hey, I didn't blame you for leaving. You were chasing your dreams, I would never stop you"
He let out a sigh as he looked at her. "Still, I wish I never change my number and text you instead. I was gone for years and basically ruined our friendship"
"Tony, that was years ago. Sure I was upset that you didn't even bother to contact me, but you're still my bestfriend, I won't ever change that. All that matters now that I finally met you again"
If Arthur never came into her life, Thea would have still had feelings for Tony. She probably would have still waiting for him. But she is happily married with Arthur now, and she loves him so much.
When Tony came back to England 2 weeks ago, the first thing that came to his mind is meeting his bestfriend, that he left 6 years ago. Their last meeting was awkward, Thea being in love with him and him didn't have the same feeling to her. Tony has always loved Thea, but he just couldn't see her more than his bestfriend.
It was so tough for him to tell her that he didn't love her that way 6 years ago, and it was definitely hard for him to leave her too. Hence why he was being a coward not to contact her after moving to the States. He felt that he already ruined their friendship that day.
But both of them are adults now. Thea had explained to him that she no longer has 'that' feeling to him, and she had pushed past the past and all she wants is to rebond their friendship again, which Tony happily accepted it. He was glad that Thea had forgiven him, and wanted to be his bestfriend again.
It was no longer awkward between them. The two of them had talked about their issues and both happy as they finally got to reunite again.
Arthur was definitely not happy that he had to go to his office, on Sunday, instead of spending the weekend with his wife. But he had to leave to take care of some work, or rather.. some problems.
He had been in the worst mood today. Not only that he had to spend the weekend in the office instead of in his home, he also had to deal with the fact that one of his crazy old flings sent out their picture together, back to 4 years ago, all for money. Arthur's IT team had tried to delete and block the picture but it's all over the internet.
He feared that Thea has seen the picture and thought that he cheated on her. He had tried to call her but she never answered the call, made him even worried that she really has seen the picture.
"All done, Boss. It takes a lot of effort but we managed to permanently delete the picture from the internet," one of the IT team told him after a while. "You don't have to worry about it, it leaked only for about 2 hours"
"Anything can happen in 2 hours," Arthur said stressfully and slammed the paper on the table. "Still, I owe you big time. Thank you for the help"
"No problem, Boss. I'm just doing my job"
He went home afterwards, massaging his head as headache started to kick in. He speed up to his home, wanting to meet his wife as soon as possible and explain to her about the picture, if she has seen it. Hopefully she has not.
When he got home, he went straight to their bedroom only to find it empty. He looked everywhere around the house but Thea was nowhere to be seen. He went back to the bedroom and tried to call her number once again, but it was switched off. Feeling helpless, he threw his phone on the bed and went to the balcony. He took a deep breath, trying to get rid of the stress from today.
Suddenly he saw a car stopped by the fence, then a man got off the car, followed by he thought was a woman. When the woman slightly tilt her head, Arthur recognized her immediately. He tried to look at the man but he didn't look familiar to him. Frowning, he wondered who is the man and why is he with his wife. It looked like the both of them were talking, then Arthur saw his wife, laughing at something the man said to her. Suddenly he felt jealous. Jealous to see his wife laughing with another man, whom he doesn't know about.
"If you are free sometime, you are welcome to visit my parents. I'm sure they have missed you a lot" Tony said as he walked with her to the front gate.
"I would love to," she smiled and instantly thinking about Melissa and Ethan, Arthur's parents. "Anyway, thank you for driving me back home, and for coming with me to visit my parents. I'm glad you decided to come back"
Tony nodded his head, actually relieved to have met his bestfriend again. They bid their goodbye and Thea went inside the house. She dropped the grocery in the kitchen and went upstairs to the bedroom only to find Arthur standing on the balcony.
The sound of the bedroom door opened made him turn to face her. Despite the stress and having the worst mood, Arthur actually felt happy to see his wife.
"Hey, you're back" was the first thing Thea said when she saw him. She placed her purse on the table and walked to him. "How's work?"
"Quite stressing actually," he took her hand in his. "Please tell me you didn't see it"
That confused her. "See what?"
"The picture"
"What picture?"
Arthur let out a relief sigh. "Thank God. I was worried that you had seen it, but now that you haven't, I'm gonna explain to you about it"
Arthur took his phone that he tossed on the bed, scrolled through the screenshot of the picture that had been leaked on the internet and showed her the picture. Thea sat down on the bed beside him and listened to his explanation. She was quiet the whole time, just listening to her husband whilst sometimes glancing at the picture.
Arthur couldn't comprehend her expression, whether she was angry or not. He only hoped she didn't misunderstand the whole thing.
"Darling? Please say something" he begged, as Thea was quiet the whole time.
Thea glanced at him then back to the picture. "Damn, you did really have one crazy ex girlfriend, huh?"
"She's not my ex girlfriend, we were never dating"
"Still, you had a thing back then. Anyway she's a beaut"
Arthur shook his head. "No, you're the most beautiful one"
That made her chuckled. "Thanks. Anyway you don't have to worry about it, I can already tell it's an old picture, everyone can too"
Thea had no problem with the picture. She could already tell it was an old picture and there's nothing to worry about. The picture already exist way before she even met him. She trusts her husband that he won't cheat, especially that he has showed her love and affection.
"I was worried that you'd think that I cheated on you," he let out a relief sigh and pulled his wife closer to him. "I'd have gone mental"
She laughed. "I'd punch the woman who stole my husband from me if that happened, also I'd give you a permanent bruise too"
It was clearly a joke. Thea could never hurt people like that.
"Well shit, would you really do that?"
"Maybe," she grinned then she turned serious. "But if it really happened, if one day you decide to break my trust, I warn you.. you won't ever see me again"
Arthur could see that she was serious about it. She made sure that he got the message, that once he decided to break her trust, she would leave.
"Then you don't have to worry about it, my heart belongs to yours only," he assured her, kissing her forehead. "Anyway, who was the guy you were with earlier?"
"Oh you saw him? That's Tony, my bestfriend I once told you about"
Arthur was trying to remember the name. "The guy you fell in love with?"
"Loved," she corrected him. "It was just a high school love"
"Hhmm," he mumbled underneath her. "Who are you in love with now?"
"Let's see," she pretended to think. "There's this man whom I love so much. He makes me the happiest girl alive, despite everything that used to happen to us I'm forever grateful that I met him"
Arthur couldn't help but smiled as she described him. "Sounds like a decent man"
Thea nodded her head in agreement. "He is. But sometimes he acts like a child, sometimes I feel like I'm his mum, but I still love him though"
He chuckled. "Sure. And this man.. does he have a name?"
"Hhmm I think his name goes by the name of the Weasleys' father"
"Who's Weasley?"
"No way, you don't know the Weasleys? Ron Weasley?" She asked him, which he replied by shaking his head. "Oh my God, Arthur, we can't be friends"
"Friends? We are already married" he said as the matter of fact. "Who are they anyway?"
"They are the characters from Harry Potter! Please tell me you watch Harry Potter"
"I did, I knew Harry Potter but I just don't know who is who except Harry himself and his giant bestfriend"
She gasped dramatically. "Giant bestfriend? Please don't disrespect Hagrid like that"
He shrugged. "Woman, I don't watch film so often so excuse my lack of knowledge of some movie characters"
"That explains things, well then you never know the name of the man I love"
"No, wait, it's got to be Arthur, isn't it?"
"Nah it's actually Remus"
"Remus?!"
That made her burst in laugh. "I'm just kidding! And you were right, it's Arthur"
"Hhmm so you love me, huh?"
"I do, that's the thing, husband"
Arthur has always loved to hear that his wife loves him, it's his favorite words to hear from her. "Well then you must know that I love my wife so much too"
"Really?"
He nodded his head then proceed to give her kisses on her cheek. "I love you, I love you, I love you"
Once again, Thea was blown away by the love she received from the husband. Once again, she felt so lucky to have him as her husband. And once again, Arthur has showed her how much he appreciates and loves her.