You're it, you're my person.
Brad McCarthy
"Ava!"
"One minute," she yells. I look at the clock on the wall and sigh. "We will be late if you don't hurry up."
"I know—I know. . ." She says, stumbling into the living room.
Placing a kiss on my lips, "I'm sorry."
"It's okay, let's go." I hold her hand and start walking towards the door with our luggage. We have rented a car in this new city. For our honeymoon, we decided to come to Canada. I open the door for Ava. I go over to my side to see her opening my door from inside.
"I love you." She smiles widely.
"I love you too." I close the door and put on the seatbelt. The weather was good. The roads weren't bustling with people. Ava connected her phone and played a Spanish song. She has been listening to the song on a loop.
"I can't control my excitement," Ava says, bobbing her head.
"Don't control."
"Haha." She starts singing the lyrics and does her cute dance. I place my hand on her thigh and drive. "Did we reach?"
"No, we will in six minutes," I say, looking at the map. I slow down the car and look for the parking sign.
"Did you call him?" Ava asks.
"Yeah, he is waiting at the front desk," I tell her, pulling the luggage out. We walked to the front desk. The place was occupied, and tourists were waiting with their luggage.
"How may I help you, sir and ma'am?" The front desk lady asks.
"I'm looking for Mr Dasani; I have a booking done, and he is our guide."
"Just a moment, sir, I will call Mr Dasani." Ava and I stand there as the lady calls Mr Dasani. "There are many people," Ava said.
"Yeah."
"Mr and Mrs McCarthy." I turn my head and see a tall man wearing casual clothes. He smiles genuinely as he walks towards us.
"Hello," Ava greets the man.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. McCarthy. I'm Rahul Dasani. I will be your guide for the day. Later at the end of the evening, I will take you to your respective cabin."
"Hello, Mr Dasani." We talked about the activities before following him to do our first activity.
We put on our jackets and gloves, "I'm nervous and excited."
"This is my first time," I say, looking at the snow and other standing people.
"Same—We won't fall, right?" She asked.
"We won't, Rahul will be there."
We are here to do dog sledging for the first time. I'm not even sure why I agreed with Ava when she said she wanted to do dog sledging after watching videos on YouTube.
"It will take another fifteen minutes. They are taking the dogs out and getting them ready," Rahul said. We have left the luggage in the luggage room.
"Sure." We looked around to see the dogs and the guides who were helping the dogs. I don't know if I'm sure about it. I took my time observing other people who were doing it.
"Ava. . ."
"Yeah?"
"Are you sure about it? I don't think I'm ready to do this." Ava looked at me. "Look at those dogs; the guides may say they are barking because they are excited. But, pulling our weights along with the sledge weight will be tough."
I take a breath. "I don't want to torture them. I wasn't sure what you said about this, but looking at it personally— I can't do it." I hold Ava's gaze. She gave a nod while Rahul returned to where we were standing. The dogs were barking non-stop.
"They are barking loudly."
"They bark because they are excited about the run; you don't have to worry. They are friendly," Rahul said. I shook my head. "I— I'm not sure as well. I thought it was a fun activity, but it's not anymore."
I hold her hand. "You don't want to do this?"
"Yeah, I guess I made the wrong decision. We can do the skiing, but not this, please." I gave her a nod. I turn to Rahul. "Rahul. . ."
*
"They are so beautiful!" Ava yells in happiness.
"Awe, the sky is marvellous, Brad! I love this."
"Yes, the northern lights are beautiful."
I hugged her from behind, enjoying the Aurora borealis. I know Ava always wanted to see the northern lights. I remember her asking Vincent and her parents to take her to the northern lights.
"I always wanted to see northern lights when I first saw them in our geography textbook," Ava said.
"But how did you know I wanted to see northern lights?" She asks, turning around in my arms. I looked down at her. Her nose and cheeks turned red because of the slight cold.
"You used to ask your parents, and I heard it."
"Awe, you listen to everything I say, but you didn't dare to talk to me."
"I still can't believe that you loved me for years. I used to look at you and crush on you, but you never realised that," she adds, tracing her thumb on my wedding ring. I chuckle, kissing her red nose. We sit down on the chairs arranged for us along with our dinner.
"Click my pictures," Ava says, handing her camera.
I clicked her pictures while she posed, and then it was my turn to pose while she clicked. We put the timer on and clicked together.
"What about our luggage?" Ava asked as I cut the steak for her. "It is in the cabin. They dropped our luggage and keys."
"Good."
"This tastes delicious," Ava says as I feed the steak.
We talk about our day and the dogs. "Try this," I say, placing the chicken kebab on her plate.
I gaze at Ava's ring. I feel happiness rushing inside me as the ring shines in the moonlight. That is a wonderful sight to see. I look at my ring. I still can't believe I'm a married man.
Never imagined that I would be marrying Ava. I believed I would marry one day but didn't expect that one day to be this year.
"What ya thinking?"
"Our marriage." She smiles, showing her ring.
"It feels surreal, right?"
"Yes."
"Poppy shared an article. Our wedding is the wedding of the month," she says.
"I saw it when you read the message in the morning," I reply, finishing the wine.
"Are you the one who permitted to post our wedding pictures?"
"It was Mack's idea, and he shared the pictures with the media."
"Haha, I knew it, but he wouldn't dare to share without your permission, right."
I smile shaking my head, I want everyone to know that I'm married to Ava. So, I permitted Mack to share the wedding photos. Our wedding was private as I didn't want it to be exclusive.
I was happy with the people who were present at the wedding. I only wanted those people who were genuinely happy for our happiness. I didn't want to invite those people from my professional life who were toxic.
"Noah, Tom and Robert were the ones who got major popularity from our wedding photos. I heard they became a hot topic in their school and on social media for their looks," she says.
"Didn't know that."
We spoke about random things and the funny incidents at the reception. I laughed along with her, remembering the speeches.
*
I trace my finger on her soft skin. The light is shining on her. I smile when she makes a noise before turning to the other side.
I look around the cabin before looking back at her. I couldn't sleep after our intense sex, and Ava dozed off. I sigh, laying back and looking at the wooden ceiling. I don't know how much time has passed.
"Can't sleep?" I turn my head to see her yawning.
"Yeah, why did you wake up?"
"I don't know, I woke up."
"What time is it?" She asks, throwing her leg at me. I look at the digital clock on the nightstand.
"Three in the morning," I say, facing her. She leans over, kissing my lips. I wrap my hand around her neck, pulling her closer.
She moans, getting on top of me. We pull away, I look at her as she settles down on me pushing her wavy hair back.
I hold her hips. She starts tracing her finger on my chest with her eyes fixed on mine. She takes my hand and places it on her chest.
"I love you. . ." I whisper gently, massaging her chest.
"I love you."