Page 94 of The Plan

“It’s a stingray.” When Vid looks over at me, we both share a knowing look and hold each other's gaze, reminiscing. I can’t tell what she’s thinking, but I hope she’s thinking of the good memories.

“I like the happy feet penguins better.” We both give a light laugh at Isa and let her pull our hands to the penguin sculptures.

We finish off the exhibit walking through a rainbow tunnel, and the entire time Vidia is staring at the lights around us, my eyes are glued on her.Please let this go well.

I lead us up a hill, and we can see all of the sculptures from up here. Vid and Isa walk over to the edge and look at all of the different lights. I lay out a blanket from the bag I brought and place all of the pastries out.

“Cupcakes!” Isa skips toward the picnic and stands next to me on the blanket. She puts her hands behind her back and sways back and forth as she watches the sweets. “May I have one?”

“Yes, ma’am.” I hand her one, but she pauses before taking a bite. “No berries. You’re good.” She has the biggest smile on herface as she bites into the chocolate cupcake. I look up at Vidia as she makes her way to us.

“A picnic and a light-up zoo. If Isa wasn’t here, I’d say you planned a date, Gryffindor.” Her voice is laced with a teasing tone, and I bite back a smile.

“Do you want it to be a date?”

She sits in front of me, and her eyes roam all of the sweets, landing on the tres leche. She finally looks up at me when she realizes I’m waiting for an answer and shrugs her shoulders. I don't push her, mainly because I don’t want her to say no.

We talk about nothing in particular as we try all of the different desserts. After a while, the lights in the animal sculptures go out, leaving only a few streetlamps to illuminate the park, and I take that as my cue.

Isa gasps and runs off to the edge of the hill. Vid and I follow after her, and when we reach the edge, I watch Vid as her eyes light up when the people below us light lanterns.

A few of them let their lanterns go, and they float up right in front of us. After a few minutes, there are about a hundred all around us. With where we are on the hill, the lanterns are in our reach.

Vid finally turns to me, and I feel a ping in my chest when I see the smile on her face as she notices the lantern and lighter in my hand.

“You remembered?”

“A promise is a promise.” We hold eye contact, and it's like we’re taken back to four years ago. The day we made it official, she was watching Tangled because it’s apparently her comfort movie.

I hear Vid sniffling, and when I turn to her, there are tears in her eyes. “What's wrong, my love?” She gives me a weak smile and gestures toward the TV.

“He loves her so much, like who takes a girl they just met on a boat ride to see something she’s dreamed of for years?” I’m still confused as to why she’s getting emotional since she said she watched this movie hundreds of times, but I don’t question her.

I pull her in so she’s leaning against my chest as she watches Blondie and the other guy sing about seeing the light. “I’ve always wanted to do that.”

“Sing on a boat?”

“No asshole, the lanterns. Ever since I first watched this movie, I wanted to be Rapunzel and see the floating lights.”

I look down at her, and she’s still watching the movie as if she’s seeing it for the first time. “I’ll take you to see the floating lights.” I lean forward and place a kiss on her forehead. “Promise.”

Keeping my eyes on her, I hand her a lantern and light it. She doesn’t let hers go until mine is lit. Isa doesn’t like the fire, so she watches from a few feet behind us on the blanket.

Together, we hold our lanterns over the edge and slowly let them go. I watch Vidia as she stares at our lanterns floating in front of us. She’s so beautiful. There isn’t too much light out here, but the yellow light from the fire of all of the lanterns illuminates her face, and I can’t take my eyes off her.

“I am so obsessed, oh my God,” she says softly, her eyes still in front of us.

“Yeah, so am I.”

She turns to me, and I just want to pause this moment and keep her in it forever. She looks so happy, like nothing can ruin this moment for her. I hope that's true.

Taking a deep breath, I blurt out the reason I planned this. “I want you to give us another chance.” She looks confused, but I can see the moment it hits her, and I quickly go on. “I still love you, Vidia.”

She goes still, searching my eyes. “Sire—” She shakes her head softly, but I cut her off.

“I know what you’re going to say, okay? You don’t want to get hurt again, but it’ll be different this time.” She looks over at me with a sympathetic look, and I can’t tell if it’s for me or herself.

“I won’t hurt you ever again, I prom—”

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