“You can come out now, sweetheart.”
His eyes opened—they can finally open—one soft lid after the other. The brunette’s sugary croon was soothing enough to let him raise a limb, a finger to carefully poke the plane of wood in front of him. Despite the distance, his mother’s voice still sweetly tickled his ears, like candy, and just like his favorite pie. Like nothing happened.
There was a tiny creak; an eerie one that quietly yelled each and every one of her mistake that deprives her of sleep every night. A wobbly breath followed the noise, and then the noise soon became a child.
“Come here, please.”
Aiden did his best, he really did. Yet his mouth forcibly sobbed—just once. Once turned into twice, and then into a crumbling I’m so sorry, mama. His lungs ached, while his heart burned, and his tears cloaked the new bruises on her neck, but they sadly couldn’t hide the blue patch making her cheek swell. It almost felt like a crime to accept her embrace, since he didn’t get to do anything about it, what could an eight year old do about it, but she was still kissing his forehead and threading her fingers into his locks with the warmth of her throat against his cries.
“Oh, hun,” She whispered, the sound so heartbreakingly frail, “It’ll be over soon.”
The child’s eyes shut close in denial, because he’s got enough of confections and he knew better. He inhaled the faint rosemary fixed all over her stained blouse, letting the scent suffocate him to get his senses stranded by the shores of an afternoon dream, wherein her head was the tree, the sound of the waves were her voice, the sand were her arms and–
“Look baby, it’s snowing again.”
Aiden blinked, being awakened from his reverie. It was his fiancée who dissolved the vague cloud shrouding over his wit, who made him realize the sky was actually gray beyond the lavish boundaries of the Arendelle Residence.
The duo was sitting on the sofa near the windows, as Claire was propped up on Elsa’s lap, her little arms wrapped around her mother’s neck. The older blonde was too busy smothering her daughter’s face with kisses, as she adored her favorite small person without a word.
Elsa caught his watchful gaze and her smile widened. She motioned for him to come closer, patting the vacant space next to her. Shyly, he walked over to where she wanted him, his own smile still minimal in form.
“Papa, please tell mama to stop,” Claire whines, still quite stuck around her mother’s embrace.
“Your mama just loves you very much, she couldn’t control the way she wants to show you,” Aiden chuckled, ruffling her hair. Elsa beamed at him, grateful for his explanation, before turning back to press another kiss on Claire’s cheek, “See? Even your papa understands. You’re my baby.”
“Can I have a boyfriend like Bella does?”
Elsa mocked an overly dramatic gasp, a hand squeezed to her chest whilst her expression looked mortified. She knew the child was merely influenced by the little innocent trend around her class at preschool, so why not educate her about it a little. “No sweetie, boyfriends are for grown-ups.”
“But why does Bella have one?”
“Oh, Bella just doesn’t know much about them yet,” Elsa mused, taken aback by the four year old’s question, “Guess what’s going to happen instead though, darling.”
“What’s going to happen, mama?” Claire curiously asked.
“You’re going to be a Nun.”
Aiden finally snorted and bursted into a heap of laughter, hearing his fiancée follow his reaction likewise while a frowning Claire didn’t seem to find her mother’s expense amusing.
Seeing the little girl’s adorably furrowed brows gently stopped Elsa from chuckling, “Shh, no no Claire-bear, Mama was just joking. You can have one. Not right now, sweetie—maybe when you’re older. But that’s still a very long time,” She nuzzled Claire’s face, “Just be with mama for now, baby. Okay?”
“Okay,” Claire smiled.
“Good girl,” Elsa pecked her forehead, “Run along and play for a while, Claire-bear. Your Papa and I need to talk.”
Claire nodded meekly, toddling off. The child knew every crevice of the mansion like the back of her palm, so Elsa was assured enough to let her go to her room by her own.
Elsa exhales softly, not looking at Aiden directly yet. She liked how he would take his sweet time to properly greet her once they’re alone. Aiden’s arm snaked around her body to cup her waist, allowing her to bask in the fact that this man once didn’t believe that he deserved her, but he does, and she helped him realized that.
She decided to torture him a bit more, as she remained faced over his opposite direction, wanting to know what he was going to do about it.
She didn’t expect him to make her heart melt, however. While Elsa just realized this was a new gesture of his, his hand made its way down to hers, guiding her fingers to intertwine with his own. That’s when he used that opportunity to pull her between his arms, his other hand occupied with caressing the smooth skin of her cheek. She could just fall asleep to the sensation he brought her, and wherever else could she find this?
Him?
“Oh, darling,” He breathed deeply, brushing a chaste kiss against her hair, “I’m so sorry I left this morning without a note. I had to quickly get Cyra to the vet, since I remembered I made an appointment a week ago.”
“Love, it’s alright–”
“No it isn’t,” Aiden frowned, sighing. “I walked out on you after the engagement party fiasco and now I did it again without saying any word. I promise you, darl, this is the last time that’s happening.”
“Aw, Aiden,” Elsa kissed his nose. “It’s okay, I’m telling you. But you leave for urgent purposes, so there’s absolutely nothing to apologize for. I missed you, though,” She admitted, before dropping her voice into a low and flirtatious whisper, “And we missed some morning delight today.”
“We did, didn’t we?” Aiden huskily agrees, “Think you are up for an evening one?”
“J'aimerais une routine du soir, plus que tout,” Elsa smirks, “Tu peux m'emmener jusqu'à ce que je ne puisse plus marcher pendant des semaines.”
“Woah there, sis, y’all aren’t the only ones who can speak French here,” An equally smug redhead piped in, the intruding sound of her heels breaking the couple apart, “You have to learn some more Norwegian, Aiden. Gosh, you gotta hear what she says about you all the ti–”
“ANNA!”
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
There are many things you can find in a facade.
Like hazy fairy lights.
Conversations.
People.
And the absence of faux pas. But beyond all that framework, they’re the genuinely smiling foreground. The playing string music was too fuzzy for them to hear, as William fervently looked on Lou—all Alicia’s in the world forgotten—who played with the spinning chair’s buttons to create a silly little world of their own; where he could actually twirl her around, where this wasn’t one of those rare times where the muscles of his face were pulling the corner of his lips upwards, and where he was happy.
“Do you know something, Clark?”
Aiden’s eyes eagerly latched on to the murmuring television, appreciating the blissful ‘Me Before You’ scene etched on the screen. He liked the book better, yet the cinematic dialogues were more than enough to let a few tears breach his resistance.
Every muscle of his felt loose and lazy, and his back was reclined against the headboard, the running movie the only source of light among the drab darkness in the room which splattered a dim, chromatic glow all over his face.
“You are pretty much the only thing that makes me want to get up in the morning.”
His nostrils suddenly fed on the aroma of bubbles and bathsoap. The left of the bed slowly sank, due to the gentle weight shifting the duvet. Elsa crawled next to his presence on the mattress, her gaze towards his own warm and giddy. Aiden instinctively pulled her closer whilst he brushed a kiss on her cheek, letting her play with the light dusting of hair scattered across his bare, chiseled chest.
“You’re always so happy to see me, love—as if it’s the first time you have,” He thought aloud, his voice tucked in an undertone, “I don’t even smile as much when I see myself in the mirror.”
Her forehead crinkled, creating her trademark pair of worry-lines which were situated by each edge of her knitted brows. “Why not?”
“Nothing like that, darling. I’m just happier with you. There is just something, and a lot to learn about serendipitously finding someone to love that you’d completely forget what despising yourself was like,” Aiden whispers, his lower lip grazing her ear, “I don’t think I’ll be able to love myself more than I love you. Is that okay?”
That was by default—loving someone more than you do yourself. But her eyes crept closer, traced him harder, and while her soul explored his own, like hands relishing the feel of gold, perhaps his devotion towards her heart and her well-being mirrored something a lot more flawless than... she couldn’t even find the right words.
He always made her speechless. The good kind.
So the blonde didn’t reply right away, as she busied herself by dragging his arms to cocoon her body. His skin felt warm—just so, so perfect, it delayed her response for more than a minute. She looked up at him, peeking teasingly behind a brawny muscle of his left arm, before finding him staring back at her with the same playful expression.
Elsa pressed her smile against his own, her hand tentatively toying with the side of his face. Her fingers scraped the thin stubble by its lower region, “Just shaved, darling?”
“Apparently my fiancée is not a very big fan of facial hair,” Aiden answers, removing her hand from where it was exploring his cheek and brought it to wrap around his neck, “No whiskers for a lifetime for me.”
Elsa chuckles and pressed their foreheads together, nodding, “None of those for you.”
“So... About how..” Aiden trails off. He noticed that she has situated herself on his lap, and that she’s wearing his shirt, one of those he leaves in her wardrobe whenever she insists he stay for a little more, for a little while, for five more minutes—and he’d wake up the following day with the sun emphasizing her presence, snug and warm next to his.
“You’re alright, love.” Elsa gently answers, “If you really can’t help it.”
“I really can’t, fortunately,” Aiden lifts her chin, making sure to caress the soft curve of her face before he leaned in and captured her lips on his. Elsa broke their exchange a little too early than usual, because normally she would be the one who would deepen it.
It made him worried.
Her lips spaced away from his; just a few inches.
“But I’m not as... Different, Aiden.”
“Elaborate?” Aiden sheepishly asks.
“Look at you, darling. You’re one of a kind, and you think so uniquely and beautifully it’s one of the things why I am just so smitten,” Elsa admitted nervously, “I’m not like it.”
“Darl,” He begins, squeezing her against him to make sure she would listen, “You are everything but ordinary. You are very much perfect as you are, and your thoughts are just as gorgeous. You understand the most complicated people, and you treasure those you find. You’re so savvy, and I especially love your confidence,” He grinned once he saw the growing blush heating up her cheeks, “The way your hips would sway whenever you walk, or stride. How you acknowledge what you are capable of, but you are still humble.”
Elsa’s eyes watered, but she kept quiet, allowing Aiden to continue.
“Your hair,” He tenderly twirls a lock of it around a finger, “Don’t even listen to that friend of yours. It doesn’t make you look older, because it’s perfect, it’s fine. It brings out the pretty blues of your eyes more. You didn’t look like a twig back then, you were just a little distant with your appetite. You worked very hard to have what you look today. I’m telling you all this because,”
Aiden planted a kiss upon her knuckles, his thumb swiping off the tear nearly rolling off the upper regions of her face. Elsa exhales at this, her breath shaky whilst she took his hand in hers to trap it there, hoping he wouldn’t remove it.
“Please listen to me, darl. I don’t want you to go through what I went through. You are Elisabeth, my Elisabeth...” Aiden read her eyes and kept his hand under hers, knowing it would sooth her more, “And I’m going to make sure you’ll wake up and fall asleep with a smile.”
“And you wonder why I’m always so happy to see you,” Elsa grins, not too widely, but it counted—since her tears have dried. She looked up at him, drinking in how his own body dwarfed her petite form. Their relationship was growing more intimate, and she wouldn’t have it in any other way.
After a few more moments of complete and utter silence, Aiden relaxed and lied down, his fiancée secured on top of him. Pulling down the covers over them, he plays with her hair as his consciousness began to wilt.
“I love you so much, my darling,” Elsa murmurs on top of him, her eyes only half-open.
Aiden managed to recover some of his energy, and he instantly replies.
“I love you too. Elisabeth.”
Elsa drowsily smiles upon his response. Cozying up against the comfort of his body heat, she enters dreamscape.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Beyond leather, whiskey and some turbulence, the afternoon sky was hazy, dyed with the lighter shade of periwinkle that occasionally softens when a cloud drifts by. His stare was poured all into the wing of the plane, his mind focused elsewhere.
“I’m very proud of you, darling.”
That’s when he finally turned her way—his lips desperately chasing for her liquor tainted breath, his gaze landing on the soft blueberry layers of her irises—he turned to her, nowhere else but her. The fragrance of the new bath soap she probably used this morning clouded his senses with immense vanilla, welcoming him to a dream.
She always looked like one.
Aiden smiles at her; with his eyes. He liked how she takes pride in her appearance, as she should, with the way she dresses daily. Today was no exception, as the curvy shape of her body further accentuated the pencil dress she donned. Her dress’s deep neckline however, could only remind Aiden of his fiancée’s bolder side, but everything, every little bit of what makes an Elsa,
He hopes each piece would be a dream he’d see all the time.
“Thank you, love. Though I do feel quite nervous,” Aiden truthfully admits, “No–not quite. I am awfully anxious. I’ve seen him, on papers, and billboards. But I barely know what he’s like. He isn’t even vague, just... Just plain nothing.”
“Oh, darling,” Elsa murmurs, squeezing his hand, “In a few hours, you’ll finally get to meet him. And he’s going to love you. I believe he’s already aware of your achievements, but I like to think he’s going to be very happy to know his son.”
Aiden looked at her, convinced enough. “I.. does he even like my name?”
“Well I mean, I do think your name is fetching. I say it all the time,” Elsa winked, “Especially every night.”
“It’s one of the most common names in the world,” Aiden blandly says.
“Not the person owning it, though,” Elsa defensively says, “Love, I know Uncle Pierre. He’s met you, and he liked you. He must have been so happy to learn you’re his son. Anyone would be happy to learn about you.”
“Y-you really think so?” Aiden smiled weakly, trying to sound confident.
Elsa softly sighs—unagitated, but determined. The blonde placed her head against his chest, inching closer to his collar so the proximity would allow her to feel the timely departure of his breaths.
“You’re... Like the sea, darling.”
“The sea?”
“I was first drawn to the sand,” She stroked his cheek, slowly, letting the contact between her fingertips and his face gently sink, “Soon, I gained affection for the water. Then before I know it, I’m craving the tides. Because it’s the first time in my life I’m actually happy to be lost in the middle of something...”
Elsa plants a lingering kiss on his cheek.
“Or someone.”
Aiden closes his eyes, enjoying the fluttering sensation of her lips next to his skin. If it weren’t for her affectionate indication, Aiden would have forgotten she was actually talking about him. Her words reached him like prose, hypnotizing him effortlessly to believe her, as she always does.
Disliking how the armrest between them limited their proximity, Elsa unbuckles her seatbelt and situated herself on his lap. Aiden wraps her in an embrace, appreciating how much she treasured his presence.
“Love?” Aiden whispers.
“Mmh, darling?” Elsa breathes in between the kisses she trailed down from his jaw to his neck. “Yes?”
“I have a surprise for you,” He says with a grin, joining their lips in a quick kiss.
Elsa smiles at him excitedly, “Really?”
“I’ll let you find out soon,” Aiden promised, “I’m quite uncertain on how much you’ll like it. It’s an opportunity I’ve been wanting to give you every time I see you cry, to cheer you up. Consider it as my pre-wedding gift to you.”
“How mysterious of you, love,” Elsa playfully taps her chin, “I can think of a couple of things of what it can be, but knowing you and your overgiving self it might be far more than what I am imagining.”
Aiden kissed the knuckles of her hand, “Don’t guess. The suspense is nice sometimes.”
“How?” Elsa laughed.
“The suspense gave me you,” Aiden taps her nose, “A precious twenty-four-year-old Norwegian woman who can’t resist rereading romantic chapters and has a heart so big she can fit a restless French-American in it.”
“Hm, true. I guess I can trust it just this once,” Elsa winked, “You’re welcome to tell me what it is anytime. Soon, most preferably.”
“Of course,” Aiden chuckled.
“Mama, are we there yet?”
Elsa instantly tore herself away from Aiden and returned to her own seat. Elsa quickly blew him a kiss and turned to Claire who just came from Kai’s supervision.
“Not yet, baby doll. We still have a long time before we reach your Papa’s papa.”
“Ooh. Papa has a papa?” Claire gaped in wonder.
Elsa pulled the child on her lap, concentrating on braiding the four-year-old’s hair. She remembered the time the mounds of sandy curls on her daughter’s head were mere tufts of an infant, “Yes, sweetie. He’s going to meet him later.”
“Are you excited then, papa?”
“Thoroughly frightened but yes, munchkin,” Aiden tapped the girl’s nose, “Just hoping my Papa’s going to like me.”
“I love you tons, so I think your Papa’s going to like you a lot too.”
“You tell him, Claire-bear,” Elsa cheers.
To be continued
on the next chapter...