5 years later.
Wendy's P.O.V
"What is inside?"
"Honey, the key to finding out is to open the present." My mom lightheartedly said sarcastically.
It was Christmas evening and everyone had just finished opening all their presents. It was now my turn.
I unwrapped my present and discovered a brand new laptop inside.
I have been begging my parents for a new one and finally, I got it. I was ecstatic.
My old laptop was getting pretty slow and as I was now a college student, I couldn't afford to have a slow laptop.
In the midst of thanking my parents for the laptop, I decided to thank them for also giving me life. Since my country didn't celebrate Thanksgiving, we usually reflected back on our blessings over the years on Christmas.
I thought back to the past few years and became filled with emotions when I thought about how my parents have been my strength throughout everything, especially after Tyler left.
Life was hard. Life was unbearable.
It was horrible knowing that I was not good enough for someone to stay for.
It was shattering to see someone you loved more than you loved yourself walk out of your life and throw away everything you two had ever had.
Everything he had said the day before he left made sense. I was just too blind and trusting of him to see it.
It had hurt me to know that Tyler didn't trust me enough to tell me how unfulfilled he was feeling.
It scared me that if Tyler could keep from me something he felt so strongly about that he had to run away in order to achieve it, what more was he keeping from me.
Eventually I got over it. I got over him.
It took me a few years but finally, I was over him.
It didn't feel like my throat was closing up everytime somebody mentioned Tyler anymore.
It didn't feel like a stab to my heart everytime memories of him and I made a flashback slideshow in my mind.
My legs didn't feel numb everytime I walked or drove past his house anymore.
My blood didn't boil with anger everytime I thought about what I went through because of him anymore.
I was over him. Finally.
I was free. And, I could be happy again.
So I moved on with my life.
I could finally remove the ring he had placed into my finger and move on with my life.
My family headed to the sitting room to have Christmas dinner.
My mom, as always, outdid herself and that's one of the reasons I gained back a bit of weight.
My mom's food is always scrumptious and I always want seconds. I'm not as big as I was before but I'm a little chubby now.
As everyone praised my mom for her delicious food, the doorbell rang.
"Is anyone expecting visitors?" My dad asked.
We all shook our heads in denial.
I got up and went to see who was at the door.
To my surprise, it was our neighbour's son who lives about four houses away.
He also happened to be my boyfriend.
I slammed the door behind me in panic and dragged Duke and I away from my house.
I hadn't told my parents about him yet. I was waiting for the right time.
"What are you doing here?" I whisper-shouted at him.
"I came to wish my baby a Merry Christmas." He smirked.
He was smirking because he knew damn well that he had already wished me a Merry Christmas in the morning.
I was about to shout at him when he pulled me towards him and smashed his lips against mine in an attempt to shut me up.
It always worked.
Everytime I got angry at him for pulling stupid stunts like this, he would always pout his irresistible pink lips or just smash them right into mine.
Sometimes he would flick over his dark, black hair over his brown eyes and clinch his jaw 'cause he knew how that massively turned me on.
I would normally lose my train of thought after he did that.
"You need to go now Duke. I'll call you later." I reluctantly unwrapped myself from his embrace.
He did his infamous pout and it took all that is within me not to succumb to him.
"That face is not going to work this time," I covered my eyes with my hands. "Because my eyes cannot see it."
He chuckled before saying, "You're too adorable for your own good. See you later babe."
He walked away with booming confidence.
I went inside the house and prayed that no one would ask who was at the door.
"Who was at the door?" My mom asked.
"It was no one." I quickly dismissed her question.
"Does that no one go by the name of Duke?" She asked with a smirk.
I almost toppled over the plate.
Just as I was about to think of an response to that, the doorbell rang again.
Saved by the bell.
I got up and went to answer the door.
If it's Duke again, I swear to the heavens and hells that I will punch him in the face.
"Duke, what do you -"
I stopped my sentence dead in it's track when I discovered it wasn't Duke.
It was the boy who broke my soul a few years ago.
I didn't realise that I was still holding the fork I was eating with in my hand until it fell from my grasp.
For a long time, my body stood rigid in shock.
I couldn't believe my eyes.
I closed my eyes and shook my head.
This must be a dream. Or an hallucination. Or a very sick but convincing prank. But, Tyler is not standing in front of me right now.
I reopened my eyes, expecting to see nothing but the darkness of the evening.
But instead, he was still standing there.
It wasn't a dream.
It wasn't a hallucination.
It was real.
He was here.
He came back.
"T-Tyler?"
"Merry Christmas Wendy."
I felt like every organ in me was failing to operate.
"H-How?"
He smiled. "It's a Christmas miracle."
I would have given everything a few years ago to see that smile again.
After I had gotten over my shock, I let him in the house because he didn't have a home anymore.
His mom moved away two years ago and no one knows where she went.
My dad was obviously angry at Tyler and refused to let him stay in our house.
My mom talked to my dad and after a lot of convincing and reasoning, he let him stay though he was still unhappy.
My mom wasn't angry at Tyler because she was all about forgiveness. She is the one that helped me heal by guiding me on forgiving Tyler.
That is why it was easy for me to let him stay in our house.
Tyler had grown. He was completely different physically and mentally.
He was taller. Longer, curly hair. A defined jaw. A stumble across his face. Piercings on his lip and brow.
He was definitely more attractive.
His personality was also different.
He seldom talked.
He seldom smiled.
He seldom laughed.
After about a month of him living with us, I accidently saw something that took my breath away.
I had forgotten to knock and barged into Tyler's room.
I found him shirtless. But it wasn't his abs that took my breath away.
It was what was written on them.
On Tyler's stomach was a big tattoo of my name.
It was written in cursive font and under it was the words, "Forever yours, forever mine."
Those were the exact words inside the promise ring he gave me.
I was stunned.
I was speechless.
He quickly faced the other way and threw on a shirt.
"What's up?" He asked casually.
Noticing how I was still astonished, he spoke again.
"I don't know why you're so surprised." He shrugged. "You know how much I love you."
My heartbeat accelerated at the fact that he didn't say 'loved' as in past tense. He said 'love', as in present tense.
"When d-did you do this?"
"I don't remember. Sometime whilst I was gone."
"Oh." I said.
"I never forgot about you." He said as he sat on his bed and opened his laptop. "Did you want something?"
Hypnotised is the word I would use to describe me at that exact moment.
Ever since Tyler came back, we never spoke about his time away. We never held a conversation at all.
I only spoke to him when I told him breakfast, lunch or dinner was ready.
He always avoided me.
This was the first time either than when he first arrived, that we spoke more than 5 words to each other.
"Lunch is ready." I softly said, still a little dazed.
He politely smiled before diverting his attention to his laptop.
I took that as my cue to leave.
Just as I was about to close his door, I heard him say, "Wendy wait."
I froze because I didn't expect him to call me back.
He came up to me at the door and smiled again.
"Thank you Wendy. For everything."
"Oh," I hadn't expected him to say that. "It's my pleasure, Tyler."
For a moment, he stared at me.
"This is why, after 5 years, I'm still madly in love with you." He shook his head before walking past me.
It was at that moment that I realised that though the old Tyler was gone, the new Tyler wasn't so bad either.
Which is probably why I was falling inlove with him all over again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE END
A/N: Thank you all so much for reading this book 'till the end.
Lots of love.
PS: If you have any questions, you can leave them in the comment section after voting, and I will make sure to answer every single one of them xoxo.