Kai and Aria continued their breakfast as they chatted idly about random topics. Somehow, even after one month had passed, they still found themselves as eager to talk to each other if not even more eager than before.
Their stories and anecdotes never ended, especially Aria's stories which she had tons of. She loved telling them to Kai and getting his reaction. Most of them were related to her life before she met him, how she had to spend her time training brutally, and that she only found solace in the piano she had in her room.
She never found the opportunity to play the piano for Kai but she was very much determined to play it for him and that opportunity came when they finally ran away to this forest where Kai was able to buy a piano for her.
After that, she was able to freely play the piano for him and Kai loved to listen to her notes as he relaxed. It was so beautiful and heavenly that he could only be impressed at it. Aria was a genius when it came to music, no doubt about it.
Especially her voice which was akin to an angelical melody. She could easily sway emotions using her voice and invoke emotions even in the coldest hearts. Let alone Kai who adored Aria greatly, every song she performed to him was akin to an emotional rollercoaster for him.
'Does she perhaps want to pursue music as a career?' Kai thought to himself as he sipped his coffee while staring at Aria who carefreely enjoyed her cereal while humming happily.
Kai had already planned for their future so far ahead and put into consideration every variable possible he could think of. If everything worked perfectly, they would be able to move to a quiet city, live together and finish their studies, perhaps get normal jobs, and then get married, have kids, and grow old together.
Just thinking about it, Kai felt his heart beating faster and a mysterious feeling filling his heart. But, he knew that he couldn't just be too optimistic since Aria also had her desires and goals that he didn't want to stop because he simply wanted to have a quiet life with her. One of those potential goals was a music career.
He already knew that Aria wanted to dive deeper into the world of music and Kai wasn't against it at all since he wanted to see Aria achieve her dreams while he supported her from the shadows.
For him, her goals are his and her desires are his, so whatever she does, he would feel happy as much as she does. As for him, he really had no such great ambitions like music so he simply decided to be the pillar that Aria could rely on whenever she needed it.
'I will make all her dreams come true.' He thought to himself.
"Kai?" Hearing his beloved's voice, he looked up from his coffee and smiled slightly.
"Did you finish?"
"Yes! Thanks for the meal!"
"Good. Now, time to sleep."
"Ok!"
Kai stood up and picked up the dishes before he quickly washed them and then returned to Aria who still sitting on her chair, not moving.
"What's wrong? Come on, time to sleep." He said.
"Mm… I have one thing I didn't tell you about, Kai." Aria fidgeted as she spoke with hesitance.
"What is it?" Kai raised an eyebrow in confusion as he crouched down to listen to Aria from up close.
"Mmm, you did say before that I shouldn't carelessly use the internet, right?" She said.
"Yes, I did. Why are you mentioning that?"
Since their house was in the heart of the forest, they were far away from any service. So, to fix that problem, Kai simply tweaked their devices so that their range of connection would expand thousands of times.
That invention took a lot of work from him but it was still very much flawed. Because of such expansion, the security of their network isn't as tightly sealed as he would normally like it to be. Kai knew that his father was probably still searching for them so Kai had to make sure they didn't use the internet carelessly or they could be found.
"Well… I actually bought something from the internet a few days ago."
"... You did?" Kai was confused as to when and how she did it.
"Yes, actually, when we visited the city a few days ago to buy groceries, I was able to receive it. But, I didn't want to tell you since I wanted it to be a surprise."
"Aria…"
"I'm sorry! I just couldn't stop myself! I wanted it so much!" She started making excuses.
"Sigh, what is this thing?" Kai asked as he facepalmed gently.
He still didn't get angry since he still wanted to see for himself what this thing was. But, he was certain that Aria wasn't running away from some scolding for her dumb idea.
"Wait a second." Saying that, Aria stood up and slowly walked toward her bag which was in her room. Kai carefully walked beside her as he helped her whenever she was going to hit a wall or a piece of furniture.
"This is it!" Pulling out a small object, Kai blinked in confusion.
"A camera?"
"Not any camera! It's an instant camera!"
"An instant camera? That's what you wanted?"
"Yeah! I mean, think about it. In the future, since we will be together forever I just wanted to capture these memories we will create."
"..."
"Is it… a bad idea?"
"Sigh." Without responding, Kai gently grabbed Aria's face before he squeezed her cheeks.
"Wa…" The girl tried to speak but Kai didn't let her.
"That was reckless, Aria. We could've been found because of that."
Aria looked down with a sad expression. But, Kai's next words gave her great hope.
"But, since nothing happened. I will forgive you as long as you promise that you won't do this again without telling me, okay?" He said.
"Mmm… I won't. Thank, hick, you… I love you, Kai!" Jumping into his arms, Kai hugged her back with a small, relaxed smile.
'I really can't get angry with her.' He thought to himself.
So, as he patted her on the head, he used his other hand to wipe her tears.
"Well, since you bought it, let's take a picture with it. What do you think?"
"Yes!"
"Good, so stop crying." He said.
"Mmm…"
After that, the two of them exited the house. The beauty of the nature around them was a perfect place to take a picture together. The green grass and luscious forest, the beautiful sun casting its light on the world, and the chirping of the birds. This was heaven, untouched by human hands.
The two of them chose a good place to sit down before he set down the camera on the other side facing them.
"Smile, Kai!" Aria said before a light flashed and the camera captured the moment.
After that, Kai picked it up and waited for the picture to be produced. When it came out, he took a look at it.
"So! What does it look like?" Aria asked.
"Hmm, it's… Well, I guess it's not bad." He said.
The picture was certainly visible and Kai could even considered to be nice. But, the fact that Aria couldn't see it made him feel a stinging pain in his heart. From time to time, he thinks about the fact that Aria never saw his face before.
Although he knew that their love for each other transcends mere visuals like appearance and looks. But, he still would want her to actually stare into his eyes and see him just like how he sees her.
"Kai?"
Aria seemed to notice the shift in his emotions which made her call for his name concernedly.
"Hm? Oh, it's nothing. Well, here, you can keep it for now." He said as he gave her the picture.
Aria received it with a complicated expression before she grabbed Kai's hand.
"Is it because… I can't see the picture?" She asked.
"... Huh? N-"
"Please don't hide it. I know. You're blaming yourself for thinking that it's unfortunate for me not to see you. But, don't think that way, Kai. Just feeling your warmth and touch is already more than enough for me. I don't see you, but I can feel you and that's more important to me than anything else."
Hearing her words, Kai realized that Aria was most likely even more eager to see his face. He never considered her feelings in this matter and how much she felt sad that she could and possibly would never be able to see his face in her life.
He wasn't the only one who thought about it. Aria most likely thought about it even more than him.
"While it may remain unachieved, I still have hope that one day… Perhaps sooner than we expect I might be able to open my eyes and see you. One day, I'm sure I will be able to put down this red cloth that you gave me and look at you." Aria declared.