Elegi Of Rose

"Everywhere your name is," he answered with a neutral tone.

Ayu nodded, dropped her bags and walked back to the table she was sitting at earlier. She fumbled for a pen in her shoulder bag, her hands shaking, her tears pooling her eyes. She couldn't cry. It would definitely smudge the papers and he would see it and he would laugh at her.

"I have a pen," he offered his gold Parker pen. How wonderful to stab him with it, she thought. But she was no psychopath so she turned it so the tip appeared and bent over the table, her vision blurred by the tears she was fighting hard not to fall. "You can sit down," he suggested. Really? He thought she should sit down? Could she just stab him with the pen and not go to jail?

"No, I'm..." she cleared her throat while looking hardly at the first page, trying to find her name. "I'm fine," she blurted out rather weakly. She wanted to know what he did to her collage, but she didn't dare ask. He probably threw it away like a flying saucer.

Her hands shook as she moved her hand over her printed name and she pressed the tip on the paper to stop them from shaking.

And then she signed. She had signed numerous documents. She had signed canvases, sketch pads and contracts without shaking. Heck, she signed their wedding documents without a trace of tears! But this, this was different. She blamed her father for a passing second. It was all because of him and his stupid company. She would not be in this pain if he didn't give her away to this man standing beside her, watching her sign her divorce papers.

She let her dark blonde tresses fall from her shoulders so they covered her face. They veiled the hurt and she was glad for that.

You fought the fight, Ayu, and it's okay if you yield, her mind comforted her.

She signed the rest of the papers in haste. Her knees were going to give up on her any moment soon. Her breathing was getting shorter and she had to get away from Roy.

After signing the last piece of paper, she dropped the pen and straightened, her head still bent as she pretended to straighten her coat and looked for the rest of her bags. Then she saw her ring. She tore it off her finger and placed it beside his pen, feeling like she left a great part of herself right on that table. "Goodbye, Roy," she whispered and turned around.

She briskly walked towards her bags and grabbed them.

Leave, that strong voice ordered as a tear finally escaped her eye. Knowing Roy couldn't possibly see, she hastily wiped her eyes clear and held her head high.

She started to walk with a heavy heart, the pang in her chest increasing in intensity.

"Where are you going?" he asked behind her.

How dare he? Shouldn't he be skipping his way back home with those damned freaking papers? "Somewhere," she said over her shoulder and walked on. "But we're not done yet," he followed after her.

"I signed the papers, what else do you want?" It seemed she was more courageous talking with her back facing him, walking away. "Go skip away with your new ankle," she ordered.

He grabbed her hand and whirled her around. "We're not done yet-" his words were left hanging as he received the impact of her bag against his shoulder. She was too pissed and too angry not to hit him with it. "Hey!" he blocked her next attack with an arm. "Why do you always have to hit me?"

"Because I want you to hurt so badly, that's why!" she almost screamed.

He grabbed her other hand to stop her from hitting him once again and looked her in the eyes, "We're not done yet," he repeated.

"Yes, we are. You made sure of that, you moron," she pulled at her hands, but he wouldn't let go. "Let go of me or I swear I'll kick until you'll be using those crutches again!"

"Calm down," he ordered. "I said I'm not done yet, okay?"

"What the hell, Roy, what else do you want-" she stopped in mid-sentence as he went down on his knees. "What the hell are you doing?" she looked around to see if anybody was watching, but it seemed that people were too busy to care. "Just shut the hell up, Yu, and let me propose," he said with etch of irritation.

"People are staring and you're down on your knees. Are you crazy? I signed the damned papers like you want me to so just leave and-" she stopped when his words finally sank in her brain. "What? What did you say?"

Roy grinned up at her and shook his head, "I said, shut the hell up and let me propose properly this time."

"But-"

"No buts, Ayu."

"But why?" she asked anyway.

"Because I want to. I want you to be my wife."

"I was your wife not one minute ago," she corrected. She was at a loss. It felt like everything stopped. The tears, the pain, even the hope. They were all gone.

"Yes, that's true, but that was you being my transient wife," he said. When he saw the look on her face, he sighed. He stood up and continued, "Do you get what I mean?"

"Honestly, no. This is really crazy, Roy. I'm not up for some jokes here, so let me go."

"I'm not joking. I'm seriously proposing to you," he said with amusement.

"You just forced me to sign those damned divorce papers, you moron!"

"So that I can propose to you," he uttered, grabbing her by the shoulder, "so that we can arrange a real wedding together, so that you can choose your own dress, choose any food you like, invite as many people as you want-hell, you can even handle the honeymoon arrangements again," he looked at her with pleading in his blue eyes, swallowed, and continued, "I'm proposing so that we can have a real proposal story to tell everyone, so that we don't have to lie anymore. I'm proposing without some damned contract because I'm in love with you," he finished breathlessly.

Her heart skipped a beat and she wanted to jump with joy. This was the moment she had been dreaming about. He was here, pouring his heart out like a humbled king and she couldn't help but say, "Do you think it's rather late for that?" she asked.

"What?" he asked, shock and irritation showing on his handsome face. "Isn't this what you want or did I get your message wrong?"

"No, you did not, but," she punched him then right on the chest, "you took your precious time!"

"Stop that!" he rubbed his chest and winced. "I was busy with my therapy. As you can see I had my cast off," he explained.

"You having your leg back was way important than getting me back?" she asked, feigning horror. She was actually just getting accustomed to the different emotions getting back inside her system. Joy, happiness, love... everything that came out of Pandora's Box was now coming home and it felt good.

"No, but having to gain back my ability to run after you was way more important. You have this tendency to run off, I understand," he smiled, pulling her close to him. "So, are you going to marry me or not?"

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"We can just tear those damned papers. I don't need to undergo some marriage ritual once again," she pointed out.

He shook his head. "That would be impossible. You have to marry me or do you want me to seek your father for another contract?"

"Whatever," she rolled her eyes as he chuckled and leaned closer. Just when their lips were about to meet, she leaned away from him and said, "Our proposal story didn't include me crying, okay?"

"Sure," he smiled naughtily, "we can just tell them you were crying before I proposed which was true."

She slapped him on the arm, "No, I wasn't!" she lied.

"Yes, you were. I was fighting not to laugh." And he stopped her protests with his lips.

*****

Their family didn't understand why they wanted to get married once again. Well, except her father and Herland. No, they did not bother to tell everyone about the contract because it would only cause so much unnecessary issues. Unlike last time, Ayu had the honor to choose everything for the wedding. She didn't choose The Plaza-she wanted a small wedding with just their close friends and family to witness the little affair. Roy agreed to go back to the Indos and have a beach wedding, only after making her promise that she would not dare ride a boat for some island hopping without him.

A week after his proposal, they flew everyone to the island in Boracay and had their wedding barefooted during dawn, the orange skies showered its own special blessing as-once again-they became husband and wife. Rin came with Ren and Yeyena who still seemed alive and kicking. Henry Bell was still there as Roy's best man, but this time he couldn't even meet Ayu's eyes. She just hoped that Yeyena would be able to tell her everything soon, because honestly, she was nervous for them-and greatly curious.

Anyway, everyone went flying back to New York after the wedding whilst the two newlyweds stayed behind for another honeymoon.

"Well, it was a fun wedding," Roy exhaled loudly, closing his eyes, wrapping his arms around her. They were lying on their bed-the same one they had the first time they were there-still fully clothed, just marveling the fact that finally, they were really married for good.

No contract, no transient stay. Finally, both of them had something permanent-each other.