A Lifetime With You by Athrhteera

our sparks back and we were heading towards the right track.

| couldn't help myself smile at Matteo.

It was foolish ofto think I could live a life without him. | was miserable when | left and the moment we were

back together, everything changed.

| felt like a different person, a better person. Every t| saw the smile plastered on his face or the way his eyes

lit up whenever we talked, | knew he loved me. | was not in the position to question if it was real or not because

through it all, it was real.

"One scrambled eggs and toast for my love," he said before servinga plate.

| smiled as I looked down at the meal, loving how he managed to add on

"Thank you, Matteo. Ceat with me," | replied.

syrup in the shape of a small heart.

He joined by sitting beside me, waiting forto give him a bite. It was nothing odd for us to feed each other-it

was one of our ways to show we cared for each other. As soon as | tasted the scrambled eggs and toast, my

tastebud went crazy and I. immediately fell in love again.

Matteo had never failed to impresswith his cooking skills, he could make different meals without looking at

the recipe and the outcwas perfect.

"This tastes really good." | muttered, continuing to take another bite.

He laughed before pinching my nose playfully, "I'm glad you like it."

"Like it? | love it."

"Good." He caressed the side of my face.

| continued to eat the meal as Matteo stared at me. | did occasionally glanced at him but he didn't seem to be

bothered if he was caught staring. As a matter of fact, he just smiled at me. The look on his face showed as if he

was in awe but what could possibly make him feel that way?

| drank water once | was full, glancing a few times at my husband.

"Are you okay?" | asked, slowly grabbing his hand.

He nodded, smiling. "Why do you ask?"

""You won't stop staring at me,"

"You're too beautiful. Besides, it's not wrong to stare at my wife.

"It's not but the look on your face," | stopped talking.

"What about it?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

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"It's like you're thinking about something. Like you're actually deep in thoughts."

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Matteo grabbed my hand before kissing the back of it a few times, showing admiration. | had always loved it

whenever he kissed my hand because | knew, it was one of his ways to showhow much he lovedhe had

never failed to show me. "I'm not... I'm just admiring you," he replied.

We continued to look at each other for a few seconds before he leaned in, kissing my forehead. | had never

wondered if he was acting different because he had always been this way, as affectionate but | couldn't help

myself to feel as if something was wrong.

Matteo, my husband, was a man of secrets. He had his own secrets to hide and | had never judged that because

I knew | had my own secrets, too. Even though we were married and we had promised a long lifettogether, it

didn't mean we had to fully share our pasts. It was enough to know we wanted a future together.

"Matteo..." | breathed, looking into his brown eyes when he pulled back.

"Yes, baby? What's wrong?"

I shook my head, "Nothing. | just want to admire you next,"

We both chuckled.

"Take your tbut I'm not as pretty as you," he replied.

"No way. Have | been a fool all this time?" | joked.

"Sorry to disappoint."

We continued to laugh as he went in to kiss my cheeks, leavingsmiling.

It all happened again, the butterflies in my stomach whenever | felt this way. My cheeks were heating up and my

lips couldn't stop smiling, all because of a man. All because of a man named Matteo. He madefeel happy

every single time.

"I have a plan for us today. Nothing too tiring though," he spoke.

""What is it?"

"| was thinking of watching a movie with you this afternoon and order in for lunch. Then, we can watch another

movie before going out for a stroll at the park. What do you think?"

I nodded a few times, "That sounds like a perfect date."

"A whole day of cuddling on the sofa. Sounds too good to be true."

That afternoon, we did as planned. We were cuddled and snuggled close to each other as we enjoyed the movie

on the flat screen. It was a horror movie and | had used Matteo's hands as a shield to protect myself from

watching-l had expected him to not be scared but every ta jumpscare con the screen, he screamed

| laughed it off because | found that to be hilarious.

We were enjoying popcorn as we watched the movie, a comfortable blanket covering our bodies. We had turned

on the air-conditioner as well to make sure we were cozy.

We had ordered salad and sandwich for lunch. Matteo helped to feedonce the food arrived until we were

both full, we couldn't finish it anymore. We had laid on the sofa again to watch another movie but thirty-minutes

into the movie, | had fallen asleep.

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| could feel Matteo rubbing my back as | snuggled close to him, makingmore comfortable.

| had only woken up when the movie ended.

| turned to look beside me, seeing Matteo sound asleep as well. He had leftto use his hand as a pillow to

hug-I had always loved to watch him sleep. He looked calm and at peace, as if every problem had left his body.

Whenever | was awake before him, | took my tto run my finger softly against his skin, trying to trail his

features.

| had my favourite moments with him, when he slept and when he smiled. Those two moments were unbeatable

because he was only being himself. However, | loved every moment and every part of him but something was

just different whenever he wasn't looking. As | pulled my hand away, he moved in his sleep.

| waited for a little while as he opened his eyes, looking at me. A smile immediately appeared on his face before

leaning in to kiss my cheek, snuggling close. We were inseparable at this point but | wasn't complaining, | loved

the moments we could enjoy with each other without having to worry about our daily responsibilities.

"Hi, beautiful." He said, caressing my face.

"Hi, sleepyhead."

"You were the one who fell asleep," he replied.

"And you fell asleep, too."

"It was nice watching you sleep. | couldn't help but join you,"

| chuckled, "You're well rested already."

"Mm, you want to go to the park now?"

"Yes, please!" | grinned, feeling excited.

"Let's get changed," he said.

Once we had finished changing into different clothes, we were in the car and heading towards the park near our

house. The drive to the park was about fifteen minutes and we enjoyed a couple of different music on the way

there.

| could see couples and families enjoying their walks. Speople were jogging with their dogs and others were

just sitting around. It felt nice to get sfresh air after being trapped.

Matteo held my hand as we walked down the path.

We were slow and careful, afraid if | could hurt my ribs. However, | seemed to be doing alright but we took

breaks in between. We hadn't been able to enjoy a walk in the park ever since | was pregnant because we were

too busy so it was nice to finally experience it all again.

Matteo and | were sitting on the bench, watching the sunset.

I leaned in, resting my head on his shoulder.

"It's really nice out here," | muttered.

"We should do it again sometimes," he replied.

"We should. We have all the tin the world, too."

Then, he went silent. | leaned back to look at his face but my eyebrows furrowed when | saw his reaction-he

wasn't smiling

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or anything, he was just staring at the sunset and frozen in his place. He blinked a few times and | saw his eyes

getting teary. "Matteo... what's wrong? Did | say something wrong?" | grabbed his hand.

He shook his head, "No, no. You didn't say anything wrong."

"Are you crying?"

He turned to look atas he smiled but he couldn't hide the tears in his eyes. | watched him as he grabbed my

face, caressing my cheeks. The warmth of his hands had spreaded to my face which leftfeeling at ease but |

couldn't ignore the look on his face or the reason behind those tears.

"I'm not crying, Alena."

"But, your eyes..."

"Baby, I'm fine."

"Don't lie to me, Matteo."

"I'm not lying. Don't worry about it, okay?"

We enjoyed a few more minutes at the bench before we decided to go home. The drive hwas quiet and

neither of us wanted to turn on the music-I couldn't stop thinking about him at the park but | decided to leave it

for awhile. | didn't want to push him.

Once we reached home, Matteo went straight to the kitchen while | went to the living room.

I sat in silence for a few minutes until I heard the doorbell.

As | stood up to make it to the door, Matteo had already grabbed my hand to stop me. My eyebrows furrowed in

confusion but before | could ask him, the doorbell rang again. This time, it was accompanied with a knock on the

door.

My eyes wandered to the glass window and | saw a few men stepping out of their cars.

However, two familiar figures had caught my attention.

It was Alexei and Papa.

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