“Nothing. Just… feels like all my concerns from Eden are coming true.”
“The regret finally caught up to you, huh?”
“I don’t regret us, Theodore. I never have.” She paused. “And they’re not regrets. Just… concerns. They’ve always been concerns.”
I took a breath, letting her words settle between us. “If they’ve been ‘concerns’ this long, maybe we should start calling them what they are.”
She blinked at me. “What’s that?”
“Fears.”
She nodded slowly. “Okay. Well, Ifearwe won’t last much longer if we keep doing long distance.”
And that hit. Because she wasn’t wrong. If I was already turning into a jealous, possessive mess now, what would another three years do to us? Five? Ten?
“…Yeah,” I murmured. “Me too.”
She tucked herself closer, voice small. “What are we gonna do about it?”
I glanced out the sliding glass door, then back at her.
“We’re gonna push it to the back of our heads for now,” I said, lips brushing her hair. “And get some sleep.”
I paused.
“Unless… you don’t mind me taking out some more of my frustration between your legs first.”
Her grin spread slowly as she kissed my chest.
“Not at all,” she whispered. “Vent away.”
In my excitement, I climbed on top of her as she giggled at my eagerness. The soft light pouring through the glass in front of us made her dark skin look almost blue. Like a gem, she shone and stole my focus, as always.
“We’ll teach our kids Spanish,” I said suddenly as I hovered over her. “And Italian.”
Her eyes flicked up to meet mine, a soft smile tugging at her lips. “Really?”
“Really,” I said. “Whatever you want. We’ll do it together.”
She shifted, wrapping her arms around my neck to pull me into a kiss, which I allowed.
“Do you even know Spanish?” she asked in between breaks.
I chuckled. “I understand enough. But I’ll get better. Just like you’ll get better.”
She narrowed her eyes at me, amused. “Better? I’m already the best.”
“Sure, you are,” I said, brushing a curl from her cheek. “Better than me anyway.”
She exhaled through a laugh, burying her face briefly in my chest.
“I want them to know your culture too,” she said. “Even if your mom doesn’t know anything about herself to teach our kids, we’ll pick up the slack. They should learn Korean too.”
“They will,” I said. “They’ll know both sides of where they come from, baby, I promise.”
Her thumb glided along my jaw. “That means a lot to me.”
I kissed her cheek. “And you mean a lot to me.”
