Ariel – The "lion of God", an angel of protection
We sat there for a while, locked in each other’s embrace, smiling to ourselves as we enjoyed the illuminated view around us. More than that, we were savoring the moment that we were finally together again… here in our garden where we first met and fell in love.
We came a long way from the first day we sat on this bench. I was just waking up from my nightmares then. Hunter couldn’t even see the beauty of the world before him. But now… my nightmares were far from haunting me. And Hunter was whole again. He could see not just the lights that surrounded us… he could see me… and he loved me the same way he did when he couldn’t see how I really looked like.
“Will your transplant last forever?” I asked, worried about what his answer would be.
He sighed. “Nothing lasts forever, angel,” he replied. Then he smiled at me. “Well, maybe except for us.”
“How long then?” I asked again looking into his eyes.
He touched my cheek gently. “Maybe fifteen, twenty years. Give or take.”
“In twenty years you will only be thirty-eight.” I could feel panic creeping through me.
“I can do it again. I will do it again,” he said, squeezing my hand, giving me reassurance. “I already signed up for it. I wouldn’t want to miss seeing our children grow up, would I?”
I smiled at that thought. What he said was not just a reply to my question; it was a statement that held so many promises that I knew he would keep.
He tilted my chin up so I could look at him. “I’m not leaving you anymore, angel.”
I nodded, my chest felt heavy with intense emotions… intense feelings of love for this boy.
“Promise?” I asked in a tearful voice.
He leaned forward and kissed my lips. “I promise,” he said. “Now, you have to make me a promise too.”
I nodded. “Anything.”
He took a deep breath. “Since I’m a little bit short of time in seeing the beauty of the life we will make together, will you promise to give us an early start?”
I drew my brows together. “What do you mean an early start?”
He smiled. “I mean start a life as early as possible. You know… get married, make a family, get pregnant… earlier than the other couples would normally do.”
I looked at him thoughtfully. “It depends. What’s your timeline?”
He smiled at me wistfully. “Maybe after college.”
“That early?”
“Earlier if possible,” he said. “I was lucky this operation was highly successful. I would do it again for sure. But just in case the second one doesn’t work out… then it’s still okay. I have seen your face and would remember it for as long as I live. I would like to see and remember the faces of our kids too. I would be there for them fully, completely… for as long as I could… before my world gets coated in darkness again.”
“Oh, Hunter…”
Tears welled up in my eyes. My heart felt heavy as I imagined how that would feel like for him.
He hugged me. “Ssshh…” he whispered. “Corneal transplant operations are highly successful. During the first year and a couple of months after, rejection episodes might occur. I didn’t immediately come back for you until I was so sure that this was a success.
“I wanted to be sure I could be with you, be capable of taking care of you until the next transplant is necessary. And even if the second one does not work out the way we want it to, I wouldn’t care anymore. You would have already shown me the best things in life. And I know even if I couldn’t see you, I would still get to hold you in my arms, kiss you… love you. We’ve been there before, angel. Haven’t I made you happy in the past? Back when I was still blind?”
“Very,” I sobbed against his chest. “It didn’t matter that you couldn’t see. You have always made me feel safe, made me feel happy.” I wrapped my arms around his neck. “I promise you… you would have the best memories of your life for the next twenty years, Hunter. If it’s God’s will that the light switches off in your world again, I would make sure you would have enough memories to keep you happy. And even then, I would never leave you. I would keep giving you happy memories for as long as I’m alive.”
“Thank you, angel,” he whispered against my ear. “So, is it a yes? Do you agree to start our life together early then?”
“Yes, Hunter,” I said. “As soon as you think we’re ready. I will say yes as soon as you ask me.”
He hugged me tightly. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, angel. Because I am quite tempted to ask you right now.”
I laughed. I pulled away from him and stared into his eyes. “I also said as soon as we’re ready, remember?”
“Ah, you said, as soon as I think we’re ready. Who says we’re not ready now?”
“Hunter… we’re only eighteen. We have to get jobs. Yes, we’ll be great parents. But we need to find means to support the kids, remember? We have to make sure we can give them a good life.”
He stared at me for a moment and then he chuckled, “You don’t know me very well, do you?”
I blinked back at him, trying to understand what he was trying to say. Then I remembered, Hunter Vaughn was a rich kid. But that was not really the point, was it?
I shook my head. “I know you’re loaded. But money runs out, Hunter.”
“Depends on how you manage it. When I turned eighteen, I gained access to my trust funds and my inheritance. I already have a house here—the lake house—and I have my mother’s estate in Jacksonville. I have investments here and there that gains very lucrative interests.”
“That’s not the point, Hunter,” I argued gently. “How are you going to teach your kids the value of money if you only know how to spend it and not earn it?”
“Well, we are going to teach our kids how to earn and save money from an early age. They’ll be just fine.”
“They ought to be,” I said. “I would never hesitate to tell them how my life had been like, so they’ll know how privileged they are.”
He smiled at me. “Do that. Make them proud.” He leaned forward and kissed my lips again.
Then suddenly, he turned serious and nervous at the same time.
“Is everything alright?” I asked.
He nodded. Then he pulled away from me and reached out for the necklace he was wearing. He took it off and took the ring pendants out. I remembered seeing him wear these pendant rings when he carried me on the beach. I had been curious about it but didn’t want to ask.
“I’m not proposing now,” he said nervously. “But I want to give you this ring. To remind you that someday… I promise… I will.”
My mind went blank for a whole minute as I stared at the ring in Hunter’s hand. It had a diamond in the center, surrounded by an intricate carving design that got me curious the first time I saw it.
Hunter took my hand and slipped the ring on my finger. It was only then that I recovered from my shock. I finally made out the design of the ring. The two-carat diamond center was surrounded by smaller diamonds that make out the shape of wings—like angel wings.
Then he showed me the matching ring. It had a thicker band. The pattern revealed a sword with a small round diamond on its hilt.
“This ring is mine. A symbol of my promise to always protect you… take care of you… guard you,” he said in a solemn voice. He placed the ring on his finger and then he raised his eyes to look into mine and added, “Like a guardian angel.”
I bit my lower lip to keep from whimpering. The design on his ring was a sword, and it reminded me of the weapons the archangels carried in their hands.
“Say something, angel,” he said nervously.
“Hunter… it’s...”
“Beautiful?” he supplied for me.
I leaned forward to kiss him. And just when my lips were a breath away from his, I whispered, “Empyreal.” And then I kissed him.
He hugged me tighter as he deepened the kiss. Then he leaned his forehead against mine as he breathed in the scent of me. “Empyreal. I like that word,” he whispered. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
He gently tore himself from me “Come on,” he said. “You must be hungry. It’s technically our first date since I came back. I wouldn’t want you to think that I was starving you.”
I laughed. “I’m not hungry. But since you asked, I’m suddenly craving for burgers.”
I stood up on my feet and pulled Hunter up. He put an arm around my shoulders and we headed out of the garden.
When we reached the parking lot, he led me to the black Porsche, which I first thought was Chaise’s.
“This is yours?”
He nodded.
I looked at the hood again and saw the long dent caused by a sharp army knife.
“You didn’t get it fixed.”
He shook his head. “It reminded me of that night. Figured I may need proof someday that it was me who saved you.”
“Chaise had the same car, you know? He stopped driving it to school after that night. I figured it was because he was having it fixed.”
He opened the door of the passenger seat for me. “I’m really beginning to hate the guy’s luck.”
I laughed. “Well, even with his luck, he didn’t get me to fall for him, did he?”
Hunter grinned at me menacingly. “That wasn’t his luck. That was purely my charm.”
I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Oh, there it is!” Pointing a finger at him.
He stared back at me blankly. “What?”
“Your inflated head. I was beginning to wonder if you lost it along the way.”
He laughed and couldn’t help leaning forward to give me a smack on the lips. “I almost forgot that one of the things that attracted me to you was your sense of humor.”
“That’s because you spent ninety-nine percent of your time being angry at me since you got back.”
“I wasn’t just angry,” he admitted. “I was jealous—crazy jealous!”
“Next time you decide to be jealous, get your facts straight first, okay?”
He raised a hand to his side, swearing like a boy scout. “Ma’am, yes, ma’am.”
Hunter drove around the city. It was only when he parked in front of Burger Inn that I realized where we were. I was reluctant to get down from the car and he noticed it.
“You said you were craving for burgers,” he pointed out.
“Yes, I did. But half of the population of Leighton High is probably there,” I argued.
Hunter grinned. “Then there’s no better place to make an announcement, is there?”
He rounded the car and opened the door for me. That was new to me. I realized that I only had been in a car with Chaise and he never opened the car door for me. I’m not saying something’s wrong with that. But I guess Hunter was more old-school than Chaise was. And I prefer old-school any day.
“What announcement?” I asked as soon as I got down from the car.
His eyes gleamed as he gave me a mischievous smile. “That the prettiest girl in the campus is now officially off-limits.”
“Who me? No, I’m not…” I started but he silenced me with a kiss.
“You are,” he said. “Why do you think I punched Don Winston in the first place?”
“Because he poured ketchup all over me?”
“And he didn’t just do that to embarrass you. Guys have different ways of expressing a crush, angel. Winston’s brain was just tiny. He hadn’t graduated from kindergarten tactics yet.”
“Seriously?” I asked in shock.
“Seriously. And since you played in that concert, the list of guys I would threaten to stay away from you has increased ten-folds.”
“Lie!”
“I wish it was,” he muttered under his breath.
He took my hand in his and intertwined our fingers. As he opened the doors to Burger Inn, he raised our hands to his lips and gave my fingers a kiss, deliberately letting everybody see.