5 years later
What's better than spending Sunday at your parents house and having barbeque in their backyard?
Sam doing all the work. That's much better.
"Daddy.. I can't find my shoe."
I look down at my two year old little girl, pouting her lips in sheer sadness with a wide frown on her face. I squat down so that I can look at her properly.
"Lydia.. You know Mummy's gonna be angry if you lost your pink princess shoe. Again."
"I didn't lose it! Nathan stole it." She crosses her arms in front of her chest and pouts even more. I internally chuckle. She always does this; misplaces her belongings and then blames it on her older brother so that he can get a scolding. Even though he's three years older than her.
Nathan comes running and abruptly stops beside me. "I didn't steal it!"
I can sense the initiation of a war about to take place, but our attention is diverted to Suzanna calling out, "Lydia! I think I found your missing shoe."
Without wasting another second, Lydia darts away with a huge grin on her face.
"I promise I didn't hide it." Nathan says with a nasty frown on his face; one that only appears when he's trying to defend himself from his sister's devious plans.
"Oh, I know that buddy." I try and comb his dishevelled hair with my fingers. "She just tends to do that."
"Why does she always do it?"
"Because.. Girls can be crazy sometimes."
"Is that so?" The voice comes from behind me and I bite my lip to try and hide the busted look on my face. Nathan covers his mouth as he giggles and whispers, "You're busted."
He runs away and I slowly get up, my lips curved up in a smile. I turn around and see Romana standing with her hands on her hips and her eyebrows raised in challenge.
"Well.." I snake my arms around her waist and gently pull her close.
"Is that what you're teaching our son? That girls are crazy?"
"I have to. He'd strangle Lydia otherwise."
She starts laughing and my heart instantly flutters at the sound. "May I inform you Mrs. Tyler Chase.."
"Please do." She prompts.
"..That you look very pretty in pink."
She wraps her arms around my neck. "This is the tenth time you've told me this since morning."
"And yet, you're still blushing."
She smiles shyly and nervously ducks her head. She's always like this; every time I compliment her, she turns into a tomato. And I love it. I absolutely love the fact that my wife gets shy when I'm around her.
Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, I lean my forehead against hers and gently stroke her forearms.
"You're so beautiful.." I whisper to her before kissing her softly. Her hands leave my neck and travel to rest on my chest. I could keep kissing her. The way our lips move in sync against each other every time we kiss is something that I'll never get used to.
"Hey, Romeo! Wanna leave Juliet and help me with the food here?"
Sam's annoying remark makes me detach my lips from her and I inwardly groan. But before I can make my way towards him, I hear Dad say, "I got it!"
He turns his head to wink at me and goes over to help Sam. I smirk and quickly grab Romana's hands. "Now.. Where were we..?"
But before I can continue kissing her again, the kids start screaming and hitting each other. I don't have to take a second glance to know that it's not my kids that are pulling each others hair out. It's the twins. Sam and Zanna's twins. And as if there wasn't much S in Sam and Suzanna, they named their kids Sadie and Sean.
An abundance of the letter S.
I perfectly remember how Sam was dying with anxiety when he had to propose Zanna. His plan was quite simple; put the ring in the glass full of champagne and propose when it'll come in her mouth and she'll take it out to examine.
But things didn't go according to plan. The ring was indeed ingested by her while she was drinking, but she swallowed it. It just slipped from her tongue before she could even notice. Naturally, she choked. Her entire face turned red and then purple and slowly to blue as she kept choking while Sam held her from behind and put pressure on her stomach. I actually thought she was gonna die.
Fortunately, she ejected the ring out. The ring fell on the floor and bounced a couple of times as she just stood there gasping for air. When she did finally spot the ring, she turned around and slapped Sam. I swear, I had a very hard time controlling my laughter in that moment. Then she hit him on the chest some more before hugging him and mumbling a "yes", much to Sam's relief.
Me? I had almost the same proposal technique. But instead of putting the ring in a champagne glass, I kept it in Nathan's empty milk bottle. Romana had went to the kitchen to retrieve the bottle, and came out with the ring in her hand and a very confused expression on her face.
"Romana.. We've known each other since a while now. I've been with you in your happiest and your saddest times. You've been there for me whenever I needed you to. And I couldn't ask for more. But I am. I'm asking for more. Because I want to be officially yours and to make you officially mine. I want to go to sleep next to you and wake up next to you. I want to be there for Nathan whenever he needs me to. I want him to consider me his father.
"So will you do me this honour of saying 'yes' and agreeing to be my wife for as long as we shall live?"
I smile as the whole speech plays in my head. It seems like just yesterday that I had proposed to her. She couldn't stop crying. She was so overwhelmed that she invented a new Niagara Falls. But she did say yes. And I couldn't be more happier.
"What're you thinking?" Romana's soft voice interrupts my thoughts and I slowly turn her around so that her back is pressed against my chest and my arms are wrapped around her stomach.
"I'm thinking.. About.. How.. People fall in love in mysterious ways.."
"Hey..!" She elbows me. "You just copied Ed Sheeran."
I chuckle and bury my face in her hair, inhaling her scent in. She doesn't say anything further, just stands there quietly with me as I close my eyes and let my thoughts wander again.
I read somewhere that the faces you see in your dreams are the ones you've already seen before. But I also know this that sometimes the mind contorts the faces and mixes in features from different faces when it can't remember the actual face.
I don't know if I've ever seen or met a girl with Cassandra's face. I mean, I don't even remember her face anymore. I don't know how my mind developed the ability to weave such an intricate and powerful dream for me.
The whole dream has faded, with only some small glimpses left as a reminder that I indeed have a life changing dream.
Sometimes it's not always about doing the right thing or the wrong thing. Sometimes it's not always about who you are and what you can be. Sometimes it's not about always being the best you can be. But sometimes, it's about the little things in life, the journey of it all; that moulds you and makes you who you are.
It was like a journey for me. One which taught me to love and forgive and accept.
Everyone says not to let go of your dreams. And I couldn't agree more. I'm not saying that I'm stuck on the idea of Casaandra. No. I'm completely over the fact that I once loved her, because now I have my beautiful family whom I can't even imagine life without.
I didn't let go of what she taught me in that dream. I didn't let go of the man I transformed into in that dream. I didn't let go of the actual reason why I had that dream in the first place.
May it be a scenario from your subconscious mind, or may it be a desire or goal that you yearn to achieve; do not let go of it. Do not give up. Because I'm telling you, your dreams can sometimes bring out a part of you that you didn't know existed. Dreams can introduce you to a new world.
You see, we have our share of happiness and sadness in this world. There is not one person on the face of this Earth who's been completely happy or completely sad. Same goes for you. You'll have a combination of both; if you can embrace happiness and love life, then you should have the audacity to accept sadness and try your best to not let it control your life.
And as I watch my two lovely kids play with my two God children, my parents and my two best friends trying to cook and control and my arms wrapped around my wife, I couldn't be more grateful for everything that I achieved in life because it is everything that I dreamed of. I can simply say that I am in a state of sheer happiness.
I didn't let go of my dream. Don't let go of yours.
---------- The End ----------