ZACHARY'S POV
"Sir, which bouquet would you like?" Shopkeeper asked, smiling politely at me.
I scanned his shop for few seconds before my eyes fell on the white roses. September's face appeared back in my head and automatically a smile touched my lips. Those roses seem calm and beautiful just like my Angel.
"Pack twenty five white roses." I replied.
He nodded.
The shopkeeper was an old man, mostly in his mid sixties or so. His wrinkled eyes were shining bright when I asked for white ones. Never in my life, I imagined that this day would come when I will feel this weird sensation in my stomach while purchasing flowers for my wife.
"Young man, would you mind if I ask you something?" He asked.
I arched up my eyebrows and shook my head.
"Are these for someone special?"
I looked at him and don't know how I had an urge to smile shamelessly but I held myself from doing so.
"Yes. For my wife."
"Are you going to propose her?"He asked, further.
If I was a month old Zachary, his continuous question might have pissed me but now, there was nothing to be irritate about. Instead I felt happy to answer anything about my September.
"Probably."
"I see." He cracked a lighthearted laugh and looked at his wedding ring on his finger.
I pursued my lips together and wondered that what could be his story? And after a very long, I was curious.
So I did something to feed my curiosity. I asked him about the ring. "If you wouldn't mind, I would like to know the story behind your smile that appeared after watching your wedding ring."
He searched something in my eyes before nodding his head. "I wouldn't mind."
He then asked me to come inside his shop whose back door opens to his house. I sat on the couch which was quite comfortable. I ran my eyes around and my jaw dropped in surprise. All four walls of his room were pasted with the pictures of him and I guess his wife. The room was scented due to flowers and the glass window was put open through which settling sun was quite visible. Everything was so mesmerizing and soothing as if, heaven was at my door.
"Tea or coffee?" He asked.
"Tea would be fine."
He went to his kitchen and returned back with two cups of tea and one salted pastry.
"I met her when I was seventeen. Too young to know about love but since then, I have loved her more than my own breath. She was this beautiful, rich, sophisticated girl and I, well, I was just a lost soul high, wasting my life. One night she was returning from someplace and I happened to be her driver's son. I went with my father and there I found my baby. She was in this beautiful red dress and at her first sight, my heart melt. But it wasn't love at first sight for her but she was kind to me, way more kind than anyone in her family." He spoke in one breath.
I smiled at his excitement and it was as if I could picture him and his wife living their life happily ever after. I wish I was also this lucky to grow old with September, I wish.
"We spent time, we fell in love, we laughed, we lived and then one day, we married." He took a sip of tea and stared at his wedding pictures on the wall.
"I must say, you're lucky that you both fell in love. It's good to know that endings can also be beautiful." I whispered.
He hummed back in response but this time, he wasn't smiling.
"But then one day, I lost her in an accident." He added.
I stilled. For a second, I felt bile rising up to my throat and suddenly the happy feeling was long gone.
"I lost her just a year after our marriage."
"I...I...don't know what to say." I whispered.
He took another sip of his tea and shrugged his shoulders. "You're Zachary Wilson, aren't you?"
My eyes snapped in his direction, I licked my dried lips and cracked a hollow laugh. "You know me? Yet you aren't scared of me?"
He shook his head and gave me a half smile. "The second you asked for flowers, I knew that you wouldn't kill me."
Oh. Okay.
"I am surprised that you aren't scared."
After Chris and September, he is the only person who isn't scared even after being aware of my reality. Zachary Wilson; the fucking criminal who loves nothing but blood.
Correction. Zachary Wilson; loved Blood.
"I am not and why would I be? The least you could is to kill me and I am no longer scared of death." He replied, throwing a wink at me.
I scratched the back of my neck and looked everywhere but him.
"Don't you despise me?" I asked.
"My wife used to say that you couldn't be in love unless you're blessed and blessing is very pure, my son." He smiled, patting my shoulders.
I scurried my eyebrows in confusion but decided to not say a thing. This conversation feels too good and this all seems very strange to me.
"When you're in love, you're pure." He added.
I laughed. Pure? I've killed more people than I could remember. I am anything but pure.
"I am a sin."
"But the woman you love is pure, right?" He pointed.
Without a doubt, I nodded. "But she doesn't loves me and I guess she will never."
He stood up and offered me a weak smile. "I love my wife even though she isn't with me."
And now, it was my turn to smile. Even though, I felt bad for him but from the shine in his eyes, I can say that he was proud to love his wife even in her absence.
"I guess, I should leave."
"Sure. It was great to meet The Zachary Wilson."
I laughed at his sarcasm and after picking up the flowers, I went out.
***
"Hey." I whispered.
She parted her eyelids and passed me a little sleepy smile. Her face brightens up and quickly she stood up. "Hello."
I took a good minute to admire her. She's beautiful. Just one sight of her face and I couldn't stop myself from smiling over and over again.
"Come." I took her hands into mine and we went on the balcony.
Balcony. Its been my favorite place since I fell in love with her.
She licked her lips in confusion and looked around and in seconds, her lips curled up in amusement. She looked at me and gasped. "Wow."
I admired her face lighted up like all the angels up from the heaven have showered their spark on her. The invisible radiant of her is everything I can die for.
"Do you like it?" I asked, nervously.
She nodded and twirled around like a happy child. "You did all this for me?" She asked, still in daze.
"Only for you."
I exhaled a breath and ran my eyes around. It took four hours for me to set up everything. I never knew that these star lights or whatever the fuck they are called could be this mesmerizing. Grace told me that women often tend to like all these little things. I never knew about love but whenever I think about my September, I want to give her everything that will light up the smile on her face. Be it little things like decorating my balcony with some stupid sparkling lights, perfumed candles in the sky full of bright sky or leaving her for her own good, I will do everything for her.
I scratched the back of my head and went on my knees and offered her the white roses that I had brought for her. She looked at me then at flowers and again back to me. She blinked thrice before a sweet blush crept on her cheek.
"White roses?" She whispered, slightly tilting her head and catching her breath in the process.
I shrugged my shoulders unable to say anything else. It was Grace who asked me to went on my knees and offer her flowers. All I can ask for her to like the things I've planned for her.
My heart started thumping louder realizing that now it was my turn to say all the things which I've been rehearsing for so long.
I closed my eyes shut and exhaled a deep breath to ignite my already broken confidence.
"Don't stop me in the middle, just listen what I've to say. Okay?" I asked to which she hummed in response.
I pushed the saliva down my throat and forced a smile but instead my chest became heavy with pain and guilt.
"When I went to buy flowers for you, there I met an old man. He was very kind and gentle to me and told me about his wife whom he loved with all his heart but she died in a road accident just after a year of their marriage. I never knew until today that we humans need our partners most in old age. Time is the biggest of all, fuck time is everything, even it can change the course of river. I don't know about our future but I can promise you that till the day you want me to I will look after you. We had a past September to which you're completely oblivious and I wish I had a chance to forget everything too but the things I had done were not something I can be proud of instead if you know the reality, you will despise me from the bottom of your heart. I know, I am not making any sense to you but hold on, can we start over? All I am asking from you to smile and believe in me. I promise I will die if you say and I...I don't know September, I just want to make you happy. Tell me whatever you want, I promise to fulfill all your wishes. I want us."
I said and soon my voice started to betray me.
I smiled through sweat in my eyes and once again gathered enough courage to continue. "I want us to grow old together, just me by your side and trying my best to put a smile on your face. But then again, I don't deserve it. All I deserve is today when you're unaware of the things I done. That's why, September, can we start over? Let's forget everything for awhile, let's forget that we're married. Let's have a fresh start and know each other like we're still in our teenage years. Let's celebrate our lives not as you being my wife and me being your husband but by being each other's September and Zach. So, princess, would you like to be my girlfriend?"
I held my breath for hear reply but nothing came from her side. It was a pure silence that engulfed us. I looked at her but she was not. She had her eyes closed as if she was trying to recall something.
I waited. I waited for her to say something and when she did, my heart was about to forget it's beat.
"I remember everything, Zach."