Chapter 373 Promise
Dyon held Ri tightly against himself. He was so large, and she seemed so small, that he nearly engulfed her as he rested his chin on her head.
Ri felt safe in Dyon’s arms, especially when she felt his hand rest on her belly protectively, streaming in his aurora and celestial will as he began to speak.
“Can you imagine what it would feel like, to love someone with your everything. To have your whole world be their smile. And yet having their smile never be the one you once knew?
How would you feel if the eyes I look at you with, suddenly became the very same eyes I looked at everyone with? If the gaze I gave you was as nonchalant as the gaze I gave to any other stranger?
What if I no longer called you my little feu glace, not because I didn’t want to, but simply because I forgot?”
Ri listened quietly, trying to understand the meaning behind Dyon’s words.
“To me, and you, that hopefully feels like a distant dream. Something that would never happen,” Dyon slid his chin down from the top or Ri’s head to rest his cheek against hers, silently enjoying the sound of her breathing slowly calming as he streamed more celestial will into her.
“But, sometimes people aren’t so lucky.
In the human world, there’s a story of a woman who was once diagnosed with acute amnesia. Because of this, she could never again form new memories that lasted through a night of sleep. She was forever stuck, having lost the last few years of her life, while never being able to forge a new life for herself.” Dyon tightened his grip on Ri’s small figure as though he too was scared she’d disappear.
“However, maybe the truly sad part, is that the part of her memory that she lost included the love of her life.
She would walk around her house, seeing pictures of a man she thought of as nothing more than a stranger. His voice was new to her. His smile was foreign. Even his jokes no longer made her laugh the same way.
The emptiness in her life hadn’t just affected her.
The man she had once loved had to watch her no longer look at him with the same eyes. No longer smile at him the same way. He had to watch any progress he made be completely washed away with a single night of rest.”
Ri trembled. That sounded absolutely horrible. Not only would this man never again feel like warmth of the woman he loved, he had to live knowing that she’d forever feel empty… As though something was missing that she’d never be able to replace.
“Eventually, the woman one day reached a breaking point. She could no longer stand being in a house with a stranger, so, she made him leave. Casting him out of her life entirely. And the worst part? The next day, she didn’t remember what she had done. She went on not knowing what she was missing.”
Dyon sighed.
“However, what the woman didn’t know, was that the man visited her everyday.
Despite having the past few years of her memory erased, the woman remembered her childhood and teenage years very well. And in that period of her life, she loved going to a café that was nearby.
So, everyday, without fail, she left to go to this café. Sometimes it was in the morning. Sometimes it was in the afternoon. And sometimes it was in the evening. But, without fail, everyday, she would go.
And everyday, the man she used to love would go to that café and wait.
Without the pressure of him being her husband looming over her, the woman was a lot more relaxed. Without knowing it, this woman spoke with this man everyday. And everyday, she would fall in love with him again.
The man proved everyday, again and again, that he was perfect for her. And every night, she would fall asleep thinking of him, hoping that she would remember who he was tomorrow. But, without fail, she would forget him every morning.”
Dyon’s cheeks twitched as he felt a stream of tears from Ri. His heart was saddened, but he had to continue with the story.
“This was how they spent the rest of their lives. The woman never recovered from her disease. She never woke up remembering the man that had loved her with his everything. And yet, because of this disease, she died not even ten years later, leaving the man alone to live the rest of his life.
On the man’s death bed, he wrote into his will to publish a book, and in that book, he wrote about what he had said the day he vowed to spend his life with this woman.
On the day of their wedding, before her family and friends, and before his own as well, he had sworn to remind her why she loved him each and everyday till death do them part.
And when he wrote about what he was most proud of in his life, it was the fact that he had kept that promise to her very last breath.”
“You idiot.” Ri wiped tears from her eyes, hitting Dyon’s thigh with her small fist.
“I want you to know Ri. I can’t prove it to you now. But, to your last breath. Even if you don’t know that I’m here. I will be.
My loyalty to you will never be something you have to worry about. How much I love you is never something you have to worry about.
Even if I have to deal with you kicking me out of our house. Even if I have to deal with sitting in a café for hours waiting to catch a glimpse of your smile. Even if I have to make you fall in love with me again everyday for the rest of your life. I’ll do it.”
Dyon’s hand made a final movement of Ri’s belly pulling out a dense blackness and crushing it in his hand before turning Ri around to face him.
“This is my promise to you.”