Through the next places as she went by the library and found the pages written with Jun's heartfelt words, she couldn't grasp the extent of surprise that he had planned for her. Which came as a blow of a shock for her when she stared at the crescent swing just some distance away from the window. There was a page lying inside the swing.
A soft melody began to swirl in the air and, taken aback, she turned and saw Jun offering his hand for a dance with a smile, "Shall I teach you how to dance?"
She blushed as she clearly remembered the night of the wedding anniversary banquet. That evening had marked the night that made them grow more intimate than ever before.
She placed her hand in his with Jun kissing the back of it. He circled his arm around her waist and the entire space in the library became their dance floor. As he turned and moved the steps, Ai followed him with sync. Their rhythms matched with their warm breaths as they closely held each other.
"I see my student has certainly improved a lot," he chuckled, arching his brow.
Ai was filled with a sense of pride. "I am a quick learner."
"That's true without a doubt…" As he twirled her around his finger, he pulled her body closer to his until their faces were just inches apart. "You have demonstrated your quick learning in bed too quite a number of times~ I must say you are very talented."
The proximity heated her neck all up to her cheeks. She wanted to escape from his passionate gaze scanning her with scrutiny, but he grabbed her hand effortlessly and picked her in his arms.
"Let me go! I still have to read and add the page to my book," she complained in an attempt to run away.
But his villainous laughter rang all the way as he walked back. "I am taking you just there."
He placed her inside the crescent swing just beside the letter and climbed on top of her.
"W-What are you doing…?" She asked with her throat going dry.
"How mean Ai. I know that you remember that that night was a pretty important night for us, right?"
The redness reached all till her head now. "Don't say misleading things. We had only…" she whispered under her breath, "made out…"
"A pretty passionate makeout, wasn't it?" He teasingly asked.
"I-I have to read what's written on the next page!"
He waved his hand. "Don't bother. I will give you a live demonstration of my feelings right here just like that night. I am sure I will be able to portray it more clearly than my words on a page."
"I d-don't need so much clarity…"
"I think you do~"
Even though Ai wanted to, there was just no space in the confined crescent swing to push him away. Not that she could gather any strength in her hands either as Jun's lips found his way to drop kisses on shoulder and neck. The air inside turned hotter and mistier and the gasps and moans grew louder as he left light traces of his bite marks on her half naked body.
She was completely at Jun's mercy, and it was only until he saw how Ai's face was flushed with satisfaction that he let her go. Breathless and gasping, Jun let her out of the swing with her lips looking too redder than before.
"Y-you are a horrible person…" she sniffled as she straightened up the messed up creases on her dress.
Jun snorted. "And who was it that was pulling this horrible person's head to kiss her more?"
She blushed even more furiously. "That's just your misunderstanding! I was very well-behaved."
"Uh-huh. We will get to see that soon."
The next parts of their journey involved a short but painful separation when Ai had left his condo. It brought tears to her eyes as she read them. But a smile encased her lips, reading about the day Jun learned about her identity as MissImperfectlyFine and also stayed the night in her house. The chocolate day when Ai had made chocolates for Jun with a crying Nian's help.
This time, it was Jun who prepared a box of chocolates just for Ai. As he fed her one piece, she exclaimed with delight. "Delicious!"
She gobbled up all the chocolates from the entire box in no time. The sweetness from those chocolates in her mouth left a tingling smile on her lips.
It was then that the big night which marked the beginning of Ai's career and their relationship became the next chapter of their story.
The eve of Valentine's Day.
To celebrate that event, Jun had arranged for a small stage in between two rows of bookshelves and decorated the area close to how the Summit was organized that night. That entire space made Ai relive as if she once again back at the Summit stage. The shine and luster of this place radiated more brilliantly than all the other ones where Ai got the previous pages as if marking how special the night was to them.
The paper lanterns cast their lights on the center of the stage. There was a mic with a page attached to it. Ai eagerly hopped towards the stage to grab it.
'Congratulations MissImperfectlyFine for winning the Authors' Summit. The day that marked the beginning of the ending of the tragedy that killed your writing career in your past life. As I listened to you on stage, I couldn't be more proud of you. You swept the audience off its feet with your story and me…with your confession.
I never had imagined that your story would be the mirror to reflect your feelings for me. And as it did, it washed away every last doubt I had in my heart. I chased after you to give my answer. I chased after you to tell you how important you were to me just how I was to you. I chased after you to kiss you and make you mine forever.
But the thing I kept in my heart was that I won't let you win again. The next time, it would be sweeping you off your feet and making your heart tremble with happiness like you had made mine.'
There was a PS at the end.
PS - Look down, Ai.
Ai blinked and moved her gaze away from the letter and as soon as the page left her sight, the one that greeted her made her mind go completely blank.
On the stage, Jun kneeled before her on one knee, holding a small box in his hand with the diamond on the ring shimmering like the infinite stars in the night sky.
His dark brown eyes peered into her light brown ones and with every ounce of love and sincerity, he asked, "Will you marry me, Ai?"
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