"GIDEON…"
Tears filled my eyes when he finally stopped in front of me.
"Y-you're here…" I muttered, my voice breaking. I couldn't believe it. Gideon Henry. He was already here. Right in front of me.
I was just praying to see him earlier… but now, he's already in front of me.
"Hi, sweetheart."
Tears finally left my eyes when his familiar voice graced my ears.
Damn. How I missed that voice.
"Hmm, I've been away for half a year and the first thing you'd do is cry in front of me?" he asked, a playful smile plastered on his handsome face.
"It's because I've missed you!" I couldn't help but shout before I threw myself at him.
Gideon caught me and pulled me in a hug. His arms covered my entire body.
"I missed you, sweetheart," Gideon whispered, placing a kiss on top of my head.
I buried my face in his chest. I inhaled his familiar manly scent.
Gideon… Gideon's finally here. Suddenly, I felt at home.
"You've been away for six months," I told him when we finally let go of each other.
I didn't know how long I stayed in his chest before I let him go.
"I see you've been counting the days," he said, cupping my face and gently wiping the tears on my cheeks.
"Six months, two weeks, and one day," I told him, slightly raising my brows. "I've been waiting for so long, Gideon. I thought you'd already forgotten about me. I thought I'm no longer important to you. I thought…" I bit my lower lip. I felt like I would break down if I didn't stop myself.
This is how much I've missed him.
"I made a promise to you, haven't I?" His fingers caressed my face and looked me straight in the eyes.
I missed those blue eyes. I missed the way he looked at me.
"I promised to be back, sweetheart. I promised I'll come back for you. And I intend to keep that promise." He planted a soft kiss on my forehead before looking at me again.
"No matter how many times had passed, I'd never forgotten about you, Bianca. Your face never left my mind for the past six months."
I felt something warm envelop my heart. Just his admission that he had never once forgotten about me was enough to fill my chest with joy. I never thought loving someone could feel like this.
"I've missed you, Gideon…" I said, tears misting my eyes. "I'm happy… I'm happy you're back."
"I missed you so much more, Bianca. So much…" he whispered, closing our small distance from each other and claiming my lips.
"You looked different, Gideon," I commented after the kiss we shared. My eyes roamed around his face… down to his body.
His skin grew darker. It was now the shade of golden brown like he had been used to the heat of the sun. His hair was longer, his hand a little rougher than before…
But he looked more of a warrior now than a businessman.
"Is that… a bad thing?" Gideon asked, his thick eyebrow shot up at me.
"No." I smiled at him. "You're still the same Gideon I fell in love with. You just looked a lot hotter now." I pursed my lips. "What have you done in the past six months? Amelia said you've been to different parts of Africa."
"I've joined missionary groups in Africa. We've done different projects in some countries there." He smiled. "We've provided the poorest communities with electricity, clean water, and taught them how to do farming."
"Farming?" My eyes widened. "You know something about farming?"
He chuckled at my reaction. "I've learned a lot of things about life for the past six months, Bianca."
So that's why his hands went rougher. He had been doing labor work for the past six months that he was gone.
He had spent his six months serving other people as a repentance for the things he had done in the past.
"I'm so proud of you, Gideon," I said, giving him a proud smile. "But I'm glad… you're now back."
"Because I don't think I could spend another week there without you, Bianca."
"How did you know that I'll be here?" I asked, looking around the place. No one was here aside from us two.
He smiled. "I didn't know, Bianca. I didn't expect you to be here. I really came here to visit your parents."
I cocked my brow. "So you wanted to visit my parents' grave before trying to see me first? How long have you been here anyway?"
"Two days, sweetheart."
He caressed my cheek, then he tucked the strand of my hair behind my hair. "You stayed the same… Still beautiful. I hope your feelings for me stay the same, too?"
I rolled my eyes at him, despite the tears that wanted to escape. "Of course, you dumbass. I just told you I missed you, didn't I? We even kissed!"
His arms encircled my waist, pulling me closer to him. I could feel the heat radiating from his body to mime.
"That's a relief. To be honest, I'm scared to go back and find you already with another guy. My heart would surely break, but I wouldn't blame you if that happened. I said you are free to look for someone else–"
"Shut up, Gideon—" I cut him off. I tilted my head and met his eyes. I hoped he could see how much I love him… how much I longed for him… and how much I'm happy right now, now that he's already back to me. "I waited for you, Gideon. I didn't look for anyone else. I remained loyal to you for the past months that we're not together."
My hand reached for his face. "But please, not that you're already here, I hope you won't leave anymore."
"Don't worry, sweetheart. I won't leave again… I promise to stay with you from now on and for the day here forward."
He planted a soft kiss on my forehead, then he slowly removed his arms from me and faced the tombstone in front of us.
"Gideon, what are you doing?" I asked when he couched and knelt on the grass.
"Mr. and Mrs. Hargreeves, I know that after six months, I still don't deserve your daughter. But I love her so much… I love her so much that I don't think I'll ever be happy in this lifetime without her in my life. I know this is selfish, but please allow me to be with your daughter. I promise I'll be a better man every day. I promise to always make her happy. I promise to never hurt her. I promise to respect her. I promise to love her until the last day of my life."
When Gideon stood up and faced me, I was already crying.
"Sweetheart…" Gideon held my hand, he was smiling gently at me, but his eyes… his eyes were bloodshot in tears.
"I know that after all this time, I still don't deserve your love. But I love you so much and the past six months without you have been pure loneliness for me. I don't think I'll be able to achieve happiness in this life if I didn't have you in my life…" He took something from his coat pocket.
My eyes widened when I saw what it was. A ring. A diamond engagement ring.
Gideon held the ring in his hand before his other hand took my left hand. He looked me in the eye and smiled.
A smile that melted my whole being. A smile that hurt my heart in a good way.
"Will you please marry me again?" he asked. "I know I don't deserve you, but I'll be better every day to be the man who deserves you. Marry me again, Bianca. Build a family with me." A tear escaped his eyes. "I promised to be a good husband to you. I promised to take care of you… to be with you always. I promised to never leave you again. I promised to love you every day… until we grow old… until the last days of our lives."
I slowly nodded as tears continued to stream down my face. "I love you, Gideon. Yes, I'll marry you. I wanted to be your wife." I chuckled despite the tears blurring my eyes. "This time, for real."
"You just made me the happiest man right now, sweetheart." He brought his hand to his lips before he carefully slid the ring on my finger.
I tried to look at the ring on my finger, but my blurry eyes were preventing me from seeing how the ring fitted me.
Gideon cupped my face. "I love you so much…" he whispered, before claiming my lips in a slow, longing kiss.