————
Seagulls sang in the air with the melody of the ocean from a distance. The serene salt water gently splash onto the sandy shore creating beautiful waves.
The cool breeze blows along every so often as Yue Ling's hair follow in pursuit. Her bare feet takes each step, sinking into the soft sand. Each time the wave covers the shore, it erases her footprint.
However, when the wave returns to the ocean, a set of larger footprint would replaces her's.
Lu Tian follows behind his wife. He didn't walk too close to her or too far. His eyes stare at her and the her at this moment was one deeply engraved in his heart.
If he can, he would like to walk behind her everyday. To know that she is always within his sight and he won't lose her.
To let her know that her footprints guided him to her…
"Tian…"
Yue Ling calls his name as she turns to face the man. Her bluish green eyes stare into his dark ones and she felt like the happiest woman in the world. The way he looks at her was enough to let her know how he feels.
Taking small steps, she walks to him and she reach her hand out. Her fingers interlock with his and she smiles at the man. Moving to stand side by side with him, they continue their walk on the beach.
Lu Tian glance down at the woman and he faintly smile. He couldn't help but feel like the happiest man in the world…
Never in his life has he felt this way towards someone. Growing up, he never got closed to the opposite sex or let them near him. However… he met her…
Not once does he regret seeing her on the plane or purposely letting her bump into him at the airport…
If he can do it over, he would, but better…
"You know… my parents met here…"
Yue Ling's sudden voice brought Lu Tian out of his thoughts. He looks at her then to the ocean. He did not answer, but nod his head.
Her parents… he hasn't met them…
"Growing up, others often made fun of me, because I didn't look like everyone else…"
Lu Tian's brows furrow at his wife's words. Turning his gaze from the ocean to his wife, he stare into her bluish green eyes. To him, her eyes were the most mesmerizing eyes he's ever seen.
"You know, my Hal-abeoji and Yeye were the best of friends. They were the reason how my parents met. My mother from a Chinese family and my father from a Korean and American family."
Turning to look at the man next to her, Yue Ling's lip curls into a bright smile. Lifting her hand, she points to her eyes.
"As you can guess, I inherited my father's eyes."
Looking ahead, Yue Ling continues her words.
"My mother loves my father's eyes. She once told me that my father had hated the color of his eyes, until she told him she loved them."
Talking about her parents, Yue Ling faintly smiles. How she misses her parents so much…..
"My father knew the hardship of growing up in a place where you were different, so he would always tell me to love my eyes. He said, no matter how much others speak ill of me, I must remember that I have the most beautifulest eyes."
Lu Tian frown at Yue Ling's words. Just who was it that gave his wife a hard time? Who said her eyes were not beautiful? If he finds out who it is, he'll make sure that person wish they were ever born.
"No matter what others said about me, I didn't care. I knew I wasn't alone, because I had my father and mother who loved me the most. Having them by my side everyday was the greatest feeling.. But…."
Yue Ling stops in her steps and turn to face the ocean. The waves brush against her as it sinks her feet into the sand.
"When I turned ten years old, the two people who meant the world to me were taken away…."
Lu Tian gaze at his wife. He could see the pain her eyes. It was as if she was staring through the ocean to somewhere far. Feeling that same tightness in his heart, he tightens his hand holding hers.
She was only a child…..
"When my parents left this world, my Yeye asked me to live with him, but I couldn't bring myself to leave my hal-abeoji… my father was his only child. During the time, my Yeye still had my nai nai and as my Hal-abeoji's only family, I chose to stay with him."
Yue Ling's expression was calm as she spoke each words, but to Lu Tian, he knew it was hard. Having to speak of one's tragic past is the most painful.
"People called me a curse for my parents death… And like a curse, my hal-abeoji also left this world…"
She lower her head and smiled faintly.
"The people I thought were my close relatives wanted my family's inheritance… If they couldn't bring death to me, they would try to get close to use me…"
Hearing that people wanted to kill her, anger rouse inside Lu Tian's heart. How dare those people treat her like that? She lost her family and yet, they wanted her dead…
Oblivious to the man's mind, Yue Ling continues to tell him her past.
"Before I knew it, I gave up on the word love and strove to live…. I cut everyone out of my life, except those from my maternal family… however, I couldn't bring them into this mess, so I started to keep my distance from them…"
"Is that when you met Shin?"
Lu Tian asks as he turn to look at Yue Ling. He didn't like that he wasn't her first love, like how she is to him, but… it was her past and if she's willing to tell him, then he will listen.
Looking at him, Yue Ling nod her head. She doesn't want to tell him about Shin, because it's not fair to him in having to hear about her ex, but… he is the man she loves now and she wants him know, so there won't be any misunderstandings.
"I met Shin when I was 15… He was a teenage boy full of life. Whoever met him would want to befriend him. He was the kind of person who brought happiness to those around him and didn't care about what others thought of him."
Turning her head from the ocean, she looks to the mountain cliff. The mountain that holds Shin's monument….
"But… behind his cheerful smile was a boy with a weak heart…."
Her words fell as the wind blows.
"Even though he was told his heart could stop in any moment, that didn't stop him from reaching his dream…. He taught me what it felt to know love again… he promised to always be with me… and for ten years, he did…"
Her eyes turned moist, as the tears she had thought she shed when she visit Shin's grave makes its way again.
"Like a curse placed upon me, fate decided to play a joke on us and took him away on our wedding day…"
Staring at the woman he loves, Lu Tian did not speak a word, but continued to listen to her. His mind could not help but wonder to the way she is…
The her, who was so different from the her at this moment…
If they had never met, would she have continued to hold everything in?
Would things have been different?
Yue Ling held her tears from falling and turn to look at the handsome man. She smiled faintly with a sigh.
"Like a curse, everyone beside me always end up leaving….."
Seeing her pained expression and her teary eyes, Lu Tian's brow creased together. Taking a step forward, he closed the gap between them. He loosened his hand holding hers and wrap it around her waist as his other hand held her cheek.
His dark eyes never once leaving her bluish green ones.
"If you are a curse, then you are my curse. Be it now or the future, I will shoulder everything for you. Never will I leave you."
She stare into his eyes as he stare deeply into her's. Lifting her hand, she place her palm on the back of his hand. Slightly tilting her head, she close her eyes and feels the warmth from his palm.
Like a tightly locked locket suddenly unlocked, everything opened. The tears she had tried to hold in makes it way down her cheeks.
Her tears were not for Shin, but for the way Lu Tian shows his love to her…
If she never met him, where would life had taken her…..
Would she have continued to hold everything in?
Lu Tian felt like someone had stabbed his heart seeing his wife cry. Gazing down at her, he wipes her tears with his thumb. Lowering his head, he place a kiss on her wet eyes, then her lips. Pulling away, he wraps both his arms around her and hugged her closer to his heart.
"Let me be your strength…."
Feeling the warmth of the man she loves, Yue Ling wrap her arms around his waist. However, when she heard his words, more tears fell making her cry her heart out.
Only god knows how much she's near the end of her strength…..
—————
