And proof that nightmares end because morning comes.
Heart thumping wildly, Asa turned to the next page. His breathing faltered when he realised it was the same painting he’d accidentally seen from Carmen’s own art journal back when he’d met her.
But, it wasn’t the exact same. The moon wasn’t cracked, and its brilliance against the night sky almost stole his breath away. The sun wasn’t frozen, and the gold that was splashed across the paper seemed to crawl up Asa’s skin. And the flowers. Oh, the flowers were no longer dead, but full of life and rich in every possible colour.
And then his eyes fell on the girl right in the centre of it. She was still torn between both halves of the page, a part of her belonged to the daylight and the other claimed by the darkness. But this time, the girl wasn’t faceless. She had a pair of eyes, a nose, eyebrows, and a mouth. This time, the girl had an identity.
Carmen was telling Asa she’d found herself.
He was about to turn the page, when Carmen’s hand covered his own, stopping him from doing so.
“Later,” she said, tilting her head to the side. “I want to tell you something now.”
Asa closed the journal and placed it on the bedside table, before turning his body around to face her and giving her all his attention. “Sí, mi amor?”
Carmen shuffled closer, lifting her legs and placing them on the bed until her kneecaps were resting on top of Asa’s thighs. “I’m still learning,” she mumbled, and Asa saw a faint blush spread across her cheeks. “So I’m probably going to trip and make a lot of mistakes…but just bear with me.”
Asa’s lips stretched into a smile, curious and amused. “I’m here, Carmen. Just go ahead.”
Carmen inhaled deeply, pressing her lips together before letting out the breath and clearing her throat. And then in a voice as soft as a spring breeze, she spoke to him. “Eres el sol de mi vida.”
The smile was instantly wiped away from Asa’s face, his breath hitching and eyes widening, every single word in both English and Spanish failing him. “You are the sun of my life,” she had said.
“Con sólo escucharte, con sólo mirarte, mi día está complete.” She smiled, running her fingertips along his jawline as she told him that just hearing him and seeing him made her day complete. “Tú enciendes estrellas en mi interior…” He lit up the stars inside her. “Y nadie me mira como tú.”And nobody looked at her the way he does.
She leant forward and brushed her lips against Asa’s, who was stunned into absolute silence. “Te amaré para siempre.” Caressing his cheeks, Carmen promised to love him forever, and she believed she just might.
Asa continued to stare at her, blinking occasionally as his mouth kept opening and closing in an utterly bewildered manner. Again, the mix of emotions flitting across his features was impossible to read, and the silence stretched on.
“Asa?” Carmen laughed gently. “Say something.”
That seemed to snap him out of his trance because within a heartbeat, his hands were cupping her cheeks again, and Asa was kissing her: rough, and hard, and insanely passionate. Carmen’s back hit the bed and Asa hovered over her, not breaking the kiss, craving her taste more than air in that breathless moment. He tilted his head, angling his lips to deepen the kiss, his tongue grazing her bottom lip before slipping into the warmth of her mouth. Carmen’s hands slid up the length of his bare back, her nails digging into his skin as she dragged her fingers upwards and tangled them in the dishevelled locks of his hair.
And then the heated kiss dissolved into a sensitive one, his inability to put into words what he was feeling seeping through his frantic movements into every caress, nibble, and pull of her bottom lip.
Slowly, but eventually, the urgency of the moment melted away, too, and surrendered to the one emotion that bound both their hearts together, the one feeling that worked as a tether between the very core of their beings. It spread through them like the dawn of a new infinity, the beginning of another lifetime, flushing their insides with a warmth so pure, so beautiful that it was heartbreaking and soul-mending at the same time.
It didn’t matter that they were going to different colleges, that they were going to have to work in great distances. Nothing else mattered in that single heartbeat, in that breathless cluster of seconds, but the fact that it was now turning into yet another one of their infinites. Yet another painting to be hung on the walls of the museum Carmen had built in her mind for the boy who was a thousand shades of brown and gold.
They were a forever kind of love, and no amount of distance could take that away.
Carmen laughed breathlessly, the genuinely happy sound startling her for a second. “What’s my name again?” she murmured, closing her eyes for a brief second.
Asa chuckled, the sound reverberating through his chest and seeping through Carmen’s skin, tugging at her heartstrings in the most achingly pleasurable way possible.
“Mi amor,” he whispered, his ragged breaths fanning across Carmen’s skin as he kissed her forehead. “Mi cielo.” A kiss on the bridge of her nose. “Mi sol.” He rested his forehead against her temple before pulling away and gazing intensely into her eyes. “Te amo,” he promised. “Te amo mucho.”
“I love you too, Asa San Román.” She grinned, brushing her thumb across his cheek and seeing the raw emotion flickering in the depths of his eyes. Carmen wanted to keep that look in his eyes forever, to see genuine and heartfelt happiness light up every inch of his face forever. She’d fight for that, she knew she would, and this was a battle
