We had been hiking for almost two hours when Ashley called for a break, immediately flopping down on a nearby rge rock as she did so.

  While she guzzled water from her bottle, everyone else also stopped in their tracks to return to her side. Cody sat down on another rock close to her.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t have gone straight into a day hike,” she said. “What was I thinking when I said yes?”

  He made a sympathetic noise and patted her lightly on the back.

  “I know, right?” I said before sitting on the rock beside her.

  “Because it’s a great idea!” Melissa decred, throwing her hands out so that her arms were spread wide. “Smell the nature around you! Look at that beautiful river beside us! Breathe in air that you can’t get from the gym!”

  Despite the ck of empathy she was showing with regard to our exhaustion, Melissa was right about the lovely sights and smells around us. The gurgling sounds of the shallow stream of the river as it flowed over a wide bed of rocks was soothing and pleasant to the ear. Breathing in rewarded my lungs with fresh air that felt so green and rejuvenating. I loved taking in the sights of all the different trees as we hiked on.

  Both she and Derek were in top form, likely because they kept up with their extremely active lifestyle even in college. I’d heard from them earlier that they went on hiking dates almost once a week.

  Derek dug through his backpack to pull out a bag of trail mix. His movements were agile and sharp, as if he had energy to burn. Although they were sweating the same amount as the rest of us, they were still so peppy that you could never tell that they’d just covered more than four mile’s worth of walking distance.

  “Yeah, Ashley,” he chimed in, opening the bag and pouring some of it out onto his hand. “Bask in the beauty of nature.”

  “You only say that because you guys never get tired!” she mented with a joking gre. “You, Melissa, and Non can’t talk!”

  “Trust me.” Non’s tone was even quieter than usual. “I get tired too.”

  Except for me, everyone seemed blown away by his remark, turning to face him right away. His face was shiny with sweat, and his light green shirt was soaked through with it as well, practically appearing as a dark green shirt at this point. He wiped off the sweat on his brow with the back of his head.

  His stamina was still better than mine, of course, but he now produced a lot more sweat with just a little bit of exercise. The first time I saw him tired, I was fascinated to see yet another side of him I’d never gotten to see before.

  “That is a lot of sweat,” Derek eventually commented.

  “You’re all sweating a lot too.”

  “Yeah, but that’s a lot of sweat for you,” Melissa said. “What happened? I remember you used to not even break a sweat when we pyed basketball together!”

  With a grin, he sat down on a nearby rock and drank from his water bottle.

  “Things change.”

  That made me want to ugh a little, but I forced my lips to keep still. Although the underlying implication seemed to be that he had stopped keeping up with whatever workout schedule he used to have, only Non and I really knew how much things had changed.

  Furthermore, one of the things that was making him—and also me—positively glow with happiness was the fact that things would continue to change. It wasn’t just that his body and appearance would age as time passed. His stamina would improve or decline depending on how much he worked on it.

  That things would change was simply an inherent part of being normal.

  I’d once asked him how he felt about all these ‘cons’ about being normal now. He’d answered that they were all pros for him.

  Thanks to all the luxuriating in the sun that he did on a daily basis, Non was slightly tanned now, a far cry from his appearance in Fairwood.

  I offered some of my gummy worms to him.

  Melissa and Derek stared hard when he ate them.

  As I passed my bag of candy around to everyone else, Derek said, “So now you eat snacks, too?”

  “Yeah, they’re great.”

  “Dude, you should see him eat,” Cody said with widened eyes for emphasis. “His appetite is huge.”

  Ashley nodded her head vigorously. “It is.”

  “It’s no big deal,” Non said. “Don’t I eat about the same amount as you, Cody?”

  “Wow, things really have changed,” Melissa said, sounding wistful. “We really are getting older.”

  Derek shot her an amused gnce while perching himself on his backpack, which he had id on the ground.

  “We’re still young, you know. Do you have to make it sound like you’re having a mid-life crisis?”

  She sighed. Seeing such a somber look on Melissa’s face was strange.

  “I guess I just feel weird since everyone’s changing and I wasn’t even there to see that. I mean, I knew it would happen, but …”

  “That’s life,” Ashley said, massaging her calves with her hands. “But what’s important is that we’ll always be friends, right? Realistically we can’t always be there to witness every change in everyone’s lives.”

  Cody nodded. “As long as we make the effort to stay in touch, that’s all that matters.”

  “Yeah, we’ll always make the effort!” I smiled and threw my arms around Melissa, resisting the urge to wince at the sensation of her warm sweat against my own sweaty body.

  “Aww,” she said, hugging me back. “Thanks. I’ll always make the effort too.”

  For our sixth anniversary, Non made reservations at a reputedly great Italian restaurant in Collegetown.

  He picked me up at the apartment I rented with Ashley.

  “Hi,” he said, fshing me a rge smile when I got into his car. “You look beautiful.”

  I beamed at him. He never failed to make my day.

  “Thanks. You look great, too.”

  ‘Great’ really was an understatement in describing how much of a pull he had on me. It just felt like he got better and better looking every time I looked at him.

  In the three years following his transformation back to normal, Non had continually matured in appearance. He filled out nicely, putting on significant muscle mass on his arms and legs because he trained regurly in the gym. He had really grown into his increasingly strong jawline as well, looking nothing like the fourteen-year-old teenager he used to appear as. Even his smiles were more self-assured and, as a result, more attractive.

  The dark green button down shirt he was wearing this afternoon fitted his muscur but lean physique perfectly, and I couldn’t stop myself from staring.

  After a few seconds of my staring, he asked while still keeping his eyes on the road, “Like what you see?”

  I grinned mischievously. “When do I not?”

  Inside the restaurant, the warm glow of the lighting, accompanied with the cozy-looking furniture, the beautiful stained gss mirrors that lined the walls, and the quiet atmosphere, gave it quite a romantic ambience despite the daytime setting.

  The food was delectable and exactly to both Non’s and my taste. We chatted quietly every now and then but otherwise mostly enjoyed each other’s presence. Then we split the dessert, a deliciously creamy panna cotta.

  As we put on our seatbelts in his car, I asked, “Are we going anywhere else?”

  I’d initially thought to pn this date together, seeing as it was our sixth anniversary, but Non had insisted that I left it to him, asking me to consider it a favor to him. I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially since I didn’t love pnning dates anyway, so I happily left it to him.

  While I was a little surprised that we were having an anniversary lunch instead of a dinner, it wasn’t a big deal.

  “Of course we are,” he said.

  “Where are we going?”

  “It’s a surprise.”

  “You are aware that I can see where you’re driving, right?”

  He snorted. “Why don’t you close your eyes until we arrive at our next destination? I’ll tell you when to open your eyes again.”

  “I refuse!”

  I kept my eyes open the whole way, but it became pretty obvious where we were headed not long after when he took us along a familiar route.

  “We’re going to Taughannock Falls?” I asked in confusion.

  We hadn’t gone there since Non had recovered his ability to enjoy the warmth of sunlight. While our dates there had been nice, it had mostly been out of logistical necessity that they took pce there. We had actually never gone there in the day.

  “I said it’s a surprise.”

  “But … how is this a surprise? I already know where we’re going.”

  He gave me a quick sidelong gnce. “You were surprised to realize that that’s where we’re going, weren’t you?”

  “Oh, fine. Keep your secrets.”

  “It’s not a secret,” he corrected. “It’s a surprise.”

  Smiling, I rolled my eyes.

  “Fine. But I’m not really dressed to go hiking.”

  I gestured at my dress and heels.

  “We won’t need to walk that far. But I have an extra set of clothes and shoes in the car that you can change into if you want to be more comfortable.”

  This time, I was shocked into silence at the extent of his preparations.

  ———

  After he parked the car, I started looking for the aforementioned set of clothes and shoes. Before I could do so, however, he held out his hand to stop me.

  “Wait. I want to give you your present first.”

  “Oh. Here?” I stopped. “Sure.”

  He cleared his throat. “Before I give it to you, I need you to turn around first.”

  “Um … okay.”

  I turned around in my seat.

  “And close your eyes, please. I can see them open in the window reflection.”

  I closed them, wondering what all the fuss was about.

  Then I heard a slight rustling sound before something cold and delicately light touched my colrbones.

  My eyes flew open.

  In the reflection of his car window, I could see him working to fasten the neckce to its csp. The pendant itself was made out of thin metal bent into a strange yet familiar shape.

  While Non fiddled with the csp, I stared at that oddly familiar shape. What was it?

  Then I gasped in recognition.

  “It’s the Ursa Major consteltion!”

  No wonder there were little dots connected to each other like that. It was because of the inverted reflection that I didn’t realize sooner. Besides, it was still bright outside, so the window reflection wasn’t very strong.

  “Correct. But you don’t need to shout, Chelsea,” he said dryly. “We aren’t in a game show. There, I’m done.”

  The only thing that kept me from getting huffy at his teasing was the fact that he had just presented me with the sweetest gift ever.

  I bent my head down to peer at the neckce resting on my cvicles. The pendant was attached to the chain itself. Both of them were rose gold in color. I could visualize Non thinking hard about what to get me, eventually settling on something that he thought I would like.

  “Thank you. I love it.”

  “Happy sixth anniversary,” he said with a gentle smile.

  I touched the tip of the pendant with my fingers. “It reminds me of all those times we sneaked out of school to go stargazing.”

  Even his bright green eyes were smiling.

  He leaned over and kissed me. “Good, because that’s the point.”

  Almost in a daze from his sweet lips, I smiled contentedly when he pulled away.

  “Do you want to get changed? I can cover the car windows.”

  “Hang on! I have to give you my present too, since you already gave me yours!”

  “You don’t need to give it to me right now, you know …”

  “No, I have to! Wait a minute …” Pulling up the paper bag I’d brought with me today, I grabbed the gift-wrapped box from it. “Happy anniversary!”

  “Thanks, Chelsea.”

  Non’s little smile whenever I gave him presents was always unbearably endearing. His appreciation was written all over his face.

  “Can I unwrap it now?”

  “Yeah!”

  Lately, he had been talking about getting a watch, so I wanted to beat him to it and get him one myself. I had picked out one with a leather strap and a dark green face, because I felt like it would really bring out the color of his eyes.

  The reason he had said he wanted one in the first pce was just so he wouldn’t have to check his phone for the time. While I was accustomed to doing that, I could appreciate that he simply didn’t use his phone as much as I did. Unless he was texting me, he rarely touched his phone nowadays. I’d been really happy when I first bought it, hoping that he’d find it both nice and practical.

  When Non opened the box, he looked pleasantly surprised.

  “You got me a watch! It looks great.”

  “Do you want to try it on?”

  He gazed at me for a couple of seconds before presenting his wrist to me. “Will you do the honors?”

  I chuckled a little then grabbed the box. “Sure.”

  I liked that we were taking turns putting on our gifts for each other.

  The watch looked great on his wrist, just like I’d envisioned. He always looked cool, but he looked even cooler now.

  “It suits you!” I decred, patting his forearm.

  “Gd to hear it.” He turned his wrist around, examining the watch as he did so. “I think it’s really nice. Thanks again, Chelsea.”

  Hearing that he liked my gift, I cheered and hugged him.

  “Okay! I’m ready to change now.”

  He opened the car trunk and brought to me a paper bag that contained a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants in the style that I normally wore. The tags were still on them, but he quickly cut them off with his Swiss Army knife.

  I narrowed my eyes at the sneakers that he passed to me. Those were the ones I always wore to the gym. They were worn and battered in the exact pces mine were.

  “Hey, aren’t these mine?”

  “I asked Ashley for some help,” he admitted.

  Then he got out some huge tarp that was wide enough to cover up all the windows of his car.

  I goggled at him. “You really got everything ready!”

  “It’s our anniversary,” was his response.

  He waited outside the car to make sure that the tarp stayed on top of the car.

  After I got changed, he led me to the waterfall that we’d been to before. It really did have a different feel to it during the day. Previously, I couldn’t even get a good look at anything since we came here only after the sun had set. In the light of the day, the greenery was bathed in the warm sun rays, and the rough cliff walls that surrounded the waterfall were prominent for all to see. My ears welcomed the calming sound of rushing waters.

  He let go of my hand and rummaged in his backpack for something.

  “Not that I mind hiking a little,” I said, “but is there a reason you chose this pce for our anniversary? We haven’t been here in forever.”

  “Yes, this.”

  And then Non got down on one knee and held up what was unmistakably a velvet ring box. He popped it open, and a small round diamond ring sparkled up at me.

  Time slowed down and my heart rate sped up as he opened his mouth.

  “Chelsea,” he said. “Before you came along in my life, I never thought that I would ever have a friend, let alone one who would become the love of my life. Before you, I never thought I could ever trust anyone like this again. But you’ve stayed my side despite all the challenges we’ve faced, and we’ve overcome them all together. You have already given me more than I could ever imagine, and I thank you for that.

  “I know we’re still young, but we always talk about how we want to be with each other forever. I already know that there is only one person I will ever want to spend the rest of my life with, and that person is you. I love everything about you, even the slightly annoying parts.

  “I love the way you scrunch your face and protest whenever I tease you. I love the way your eyes look so intense and serious when you’re concentrating on your work. I love the way you smile so brightly every time you see a cute dog trotting down the street.

  “I love the way you smile even more brightly when I pay you a compliment, and then all I want to do is compliment you more. I love how you always make time to communicate with me whenever there’s an issue or something we need to work on. I love how you can be so pyful but so serious when you need to be.

  “I even almost love the way you think it’s cute how ticklish I am, and I am more than willing to accept and try to love the way you try to sneak tickles and think you’re being stealthy about it. That’s part of what makes you adorable, and I wouldn’t give that up for anything.”

  My choked ugh came out half-mangled.

  “I know I’m not perfect, and that no one is perfect. But what’s important is that we’re perfect together, and I believe that we are. I have faith now that no matter what life throws at us in the future, we will be able to face it together, and there is nothing I want more than to have you by my side for every life milestone in our future. And if you allow it, it goes without saying that I will also always be by your side and in your corner. Your troubles will be my troubles, and your joy will be my joy. I want to share everything in life with you.

  “Earlier, you asked why I chose this pce for our anniversary. We used to have most of our dates in the forest at night because there wasn’t much choice. Even when we came here, it was always at night when you couldn’t see or enjoy much of anything. But now, I’m proposing to you here where we’re both seeing, hearing, and experiencing the same thing together. I want this to be representative of our new season in life—our future will be as bright as the sun shining over us right now.

  “It can be a long engagement, but I just want you to know how serious I am about wanting to spend the rest of my life with you.

  “Chelsea Arnold, will you marry me?”

  I sniffled, trying to hold back my tears. I had covered my mouth with both hands in shock without even realizing. My heart was beating so fast that I could almost hear it in my ears.

  “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you! I love you too!”

  The serious expression he had kept on this entire time melted away into visible relief and joy. Standing up, he took the ring out of the box and slid it onto my left ring finger. It fit perfectly.

  Seeing the diamond glitter on my finger as I tilted my hand at different angles felt surreal.

  I was engaged now.

  He scooped me up in a tight embrace, burying his face in my hair. I hugged him back as tightly as I could, too.

  “Thank you for pnning all this,” I said. “That was the most beautiful speech I’ve ever heard.”

  “That’s good. I worked hard on that speech.”

  “Did you memorize all that?”

  “It was worth it. You’re worth it.”

  This was unbelievably amazing. The thought that he had to have spent so much time and effort pnning everything, making sure he had everything he needed, had me choking up again. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.

  I kissed him, savoring the familiar feel of his mouth against mine.

  “You are worth it,” I said. “I’m going to have to work really hard on my wedding vows. I’m going to blow you away too!”

  He let out a loud ugh.

  “This was a really great idea,” I said, giving our surroundings a sweeping gnce. “Coming to this pce, I mean. The only thing that would’ve made it better was having our family and friends around.”

  After a short pause, he asked, “You would’ve preferred it if our friends were here?”

  “I mean, you knew I was always going to say yes, right? Hey—what’s with that shocked look? I was always going to say yes! Do you think I just say that I want to be with you forever just for fun?”

  “Not that you’d say that for fun, but if you got caught up in the moment … ”

  “Well, it was as ‘in the moment’ for me as it was for you!”

  “Then not at all, I guess. That feels pretty good to hear.”

  “Anyway, since it would be more of just making it official and a celebratory thing, it would be nice to have them around! They could even take pictures for us. But it doesn’t matter! What’s more important is that you’re comfortable—huh?”

  Non had set his hands on my shoulders. He stared at me with a slowly widening grin.

  “Great minds really do think alike,” he said.

  I just waited for his expnation.

  “Can I tell you something? They’re actually hiding somewhere behind us.”

  “Huh?!”

  Cupping his hands around his mouth, he hollered, “Guys, come on out!”

  Within seconds, Ashley and Cody came shuffling out from behind a small partition on the viewing ptform we were all standing on, clearly having been crouching behind it the entire time.

  “Congratutions!” Ashley squealed, dashing right towards us and enveloping the both of us in a bear hug. “I’m so happy for you two!”

  I squeezed her back and cried, “Thank you!”

  While it was surprising that they’d suddenly popped up, I was ultimately gd for their presence because I wanted them around for this. Although I wasn’t the kind of person to prefer a public proposal, I did like the idea of being surrounded by the people who cared about us when I got engaged.

  “Thanks for all your help, guys,” Non said. “I really appreciate it.”

  “Congratutions to you two!” Cody’s smile was broad as he patted Non on the back and gave me a brief hug. “That was a really moving speech.”

  “I got some really good pictures,” Ashley told me. “I’ll show you ter!”

  “Yeah, I want to see them!”

  “I’m sorry for not telling you,” Non said, “but I wanted to surprise you but still get some photos of my proposal.”

  I shook my head. “No, it was a great pn! Too bad I couldn’t learn about it beforehand.”

  “We’ll hold an engagement party,” Non promised. “We’ll celebrate with all our family and friends.”

  I was practically giddy with joy. I couldn’t wait to share this news with everyone. “Okay.”

  “Do you guys want to take any pictures here? I can take them,” Cody offered, lifting the camera in his hands.

  In the end, Non accompanied me back to the car so that I could change back into my dress for the impromptu photoshoot. I kept my sneakers on, though.

  It was when Ashley was taking photos of us from a different angle that she asked, “What did you mean when you said that you had most of your dates in the forest? What forest? Do you mean here?”

  “Well … about that …”

  THE END

  LotteStarburst