Kris - Epilogue

A drop of water roll down the window you were standing in front of, making you snap out from your little walk down memory lane as you smiled – could you actually believe you were standing here, in this room, with everything on your shoulders at the moment?

No. Not really.

You couldn’t grasp onto this situation fully – it was overwhelming, in fact.

It seems like only yesterday when you got the clarification from Kris of why you got abducted – or kidnapped, to be more precise. Of course you remember it vaguely but it wasn’t so detailed like how Kris had explained to you until he ran out of breath; and how he cut everything short because he wanted you to rest first. He had mentioned something about the enemy asking for Kris to step down from the throne so that the spot for King would be empty but Kris being the one who would never listen to what the enemy wants, he had rejected what the enemy had suggested, leaving the enemy no choice but to taking the one thing that meant a lot to Kris.

You.

The enemy was rather another sibling who Kris had but was never talked about much.

Kris’s brother left the family, building his own castle with his people who wanted power and richness without needing to follow the right procedures, thus bringing down the Wu’s family name to the extend where Kris’s father, the current king, had banned for Kris’s brother to ever return.

That only made Kris’s brother retaliation expand by tenfold – it made him rage for the throne as king even more that he knew the only way was to get Kris to step down from the throne when the time arrives. With that, he was rather determined to get the throne to the extend that once he was informed that you were Kris’s partner, that was his gold ticket way in.

Kris was this close to giving up his title as King, ready to pass it to his brother just for your safety but as soon as Tao and Kris’s men were quick enough to analyze the floor plan of the castle, it was time to execute the plan that Kris had thought up last minute, hastily acting according to what he thought would work.

Even though the plan didn’t work as planned, he did manage to get you out of the castle along with most of his men retreating safely – you could say the plan worked out fine.

Except the part where you got injured…

You nearly flinched when arms s around your waist, his presence itself had invaded your personal space; not that you mind or anything…

“My beautiful queen, what are you doing up so early?” His husky voice echoed from behind you, making you smile before you looked over your shoulder where he greeted you with a heavenly smile – he looked so handsome despite just waking up.

“I-I’m not the queen yet…” You mumbled quietly, your palms smoothening over his bare arms. His chest rumbled, a sign he was laughing as he lightly kissed your cheek, “Soon you’ll be…” One of his hands moved to hold onto yours where his thumb brushed over the ring on your ring finger – he was twisting your ring around, making it obvious that he had proposed already – and that you had accepted.

If your memory didn’t fail you, you could remember it like it happened just a while ago – a moment so heart-stopping that you didn’t know how to react to it at first.

As your eyes glanced down to the ring around your finger, you smiled.

You had remembered everything clearly.

He brought you to the garden once again, to where the two of you would have your usual meetings there but this time, something felt a bit off at that moment when he brought you there. He held onto your hand as how he would, lacing his hands with yours as he walked with you quietly under the beautiful night sky. “Wow…” You could almost hear yourself saying it as you looked up to the sky that very night.

Suddenly there were so many stars above you, as if God sprinkled glitter everywhere to make you amazed.

Kris smiled upon seeing you being distracted by the stars, that you didn’t see where he was leading you to because the moment you had faced front, Kris was nowhere in sight. You remembered looking around for him, calling his name out multiple times but he would not show up. It got darker as the seconds went by, making you grip onto your own arms as you looked around nervously; you were scared, again.

You were afraid of being captured again that you didn’t know what to do.

If you were to run, you’d possibly fall in the dark.

And if you didn’t…

There was just no way out, to you.

You tried calling for Kris again, and this time it worked the moment you could see a light flashing at your way. You squinted your eyes, trying to make up what it was but the moment you did, it only left you gaping as the tree in front of you, the tree you’d sit by whenever you waited for Kris, the tree that you were sitting under during your first kiss with Kris – that very special tree was lighted up with fairy lights that dangled from that tree together with the other trees surrounding it – as if it was creating a pathway for you to walk towards.

On the ground you could merely see the petals of roses, directing you to walk forward and that was exactly what you did.

You took small yet careful steps, still not believing this as you walked slowly – your heart was beating so fast.

It was in that second when suddenly Kris appeared out of nowhere from behind of a tree, a rose in his hands as he walked towards you as well. You blinked at him, a small frown where you were confused.

What happened to just a little time in the garden before heading to bed?

“K-Kris, what’s going on…?” Your voice was soft, but it was enough to keep his courage going as he smiled down on you when he reached in front of you.

He handed you the rose with a genuine smile, not answering your question just yet.

“For you, mei li…”

You managed to smile, hands trembling as you took the rose in your hands, “Kris…?”

He hushed you, a hand cupping your cheek where he silenced you just like that, “I have something to say. Are you listening?”

You gulped, gripping onto the rose where you nodded twice shyly. He grinned at you, flashing that pair of eyes that sparkled at you dashingly, his beautiful smile as he dipped down to lightly kiss your nose before he walked around you, standing behind you where he held onto your shoulders.

He had turned your body to make you face the tree, where your eyes got glossy just staring at it; indeed this place was a magical place to you.

It’s the place where you and Kris fell in love together; and it grew as the days went by regardless whether you two could come to this place often or not.

It was your definition of heaven, here, with Kris.

“Not too long ago, I’ve come to realize that I’ve fallen in love with a maiden. Well, the words not too long ago would be such a big lie considering I’ve been… somewhat attracted to her… a lot.”

You wanted to look over your shoulder, but something told you not to as you remained staring at the tree. Kris then tilted your body until you were staring at the back door gate – it made you widen your eyes. “And on a regular night where she was out to throw the rubbish as usual, I was there to keep watch – I was afraid that something would happen to her that I kept out guarding every night.”

That’s when you gasped.

He… was watching over you this whole time?

“K-Kris…”

“I know it seemed a bit wrong but, I couldn’t help myself. I was too afraid anything would happen to her that I wanted to protect her, even if I was far away. I managed to come out from the castle walls first, hiding behind the trees nearby where I could see her coming out clearly. The moment those men had come to harass her – I knew that was my chance to show that all these while of me coming out late at night to ensure her safety was finally good for something. And need I say, mei li, I have never felt happier from the moment you trusted me like that.”

You were simply out of words whereas… he had so much more to say as he diverted your vision away from the back door gate, making you look at the same tree you were staring at earlier.

“Not too long after that, I’ve realized that, she’s got me hooked and by hook or crook, she was the one for me.”

He tilted your body until your eyes looked at the bench that you sat on when you first shared a kiss with Kris… That one kiss that silently created this link between the two of you. It still succeeds on sending shivers down your spine just thinking about it.

“And it definitely didn’t help when days ever since I was granted to kiss her; after a while of wishing I could, I finally got to kiss the woman I truly fell in love with – I couldn’t contain my feelings on that day that I couldn’t sleep for nearly three hours just thinking about it before I fell asleep.”

You… too? Your mind thought – you experienced the same thing he did on that very night.

Just what was going on?

He turned your body around to face him where he smiled at you – he still had a few more words to spare.

“You have no idea how much you’ve changed me, mei li. You have no idea how much nights of sleep I’ve lost just thinking about you – what you’re doing, how you’re feeling; how do you feel about me when I’m away from you – when I long to touch you and see you; I wonder all of that so much until I’m on the brink of losing my mind but the moment I hear your voice in my mind, I picture your face in my head – everything falls into place again.” His hand cupped your cheek, “No one has ever made me feel that way before and… I don’t know how to thank you for that.”

You shook your head, reaching up to lap your hand over his whilst your other hand held onto the rose, “I-I should be the one saying that, Kris. You’ve shown me so much; made me feel the things that no one else has ever made me feel. You’ve allowed me to experience the amount of happiness that I would need to gather in years on my own but it was possible with you in such a short amount of time. I’ve never been so happy in my life and… I owe it all to you.”

He shook his head this time, gripping onto your hand where he held onto it tight before he lowered it down.

And that wasn’t the only thing he lowered down.

He got on one knee as he held onto your hands.

“No, mei li.” His hands let go of yours where he reached into his pocket, pulling out a tiny object that you could only make up as a ring the moment he lifted it up for you to see clearly – it was indeed a ring.

“I owe it all to you.” He whispered, his hands reaching for your hand, smiling up to you where he held onto the ring.

You gasped, your eyes blinking down on him with evident shock written all over your face.

Definitely, you didn’t see it coming.

At all.

“K-Kris…”

“I want to make you happy, mei li. Just like how you make me as the days go by. We have our arguments, and we do fight every now and then but from the moment I’ve announced to the whole kingdom that you’re mine to keep and that I will love you forevermore, I meant it. I meant every word I said when I announced to my people that I love you and I have never been so sure about anything before in my life. You said you’d allow me to take care of you as long as I took things slow but, I think it’s the right time for me to ask you this question.”

He brought your hand close to his lips, planting a kiss on the back of your hand as he murmured on your skin, “Marry me, mei li.”

“There is no other woman for me; no other woman that I’d rather let be the mother of my child if it isn’t you.”

It felt as if time stood still, leaving you with just Kris to be alive at the moment; this felt so surreal – yet so right. Was this the happiness your parents told you about? Because if this isn’t the happiness they were referring to, you wouldn’t know what else that could make you happier than this.

So this is what it feels like.

You felt as if there was nothing else to say but ‘yes’ – but you still struggled to say it from the tears welling in your eyes as you only managed to nod a little.

He gasped at you, blinking at you as you nodded firmer this time, your lips finally uttering sincerely, “Y-Yes! I’ll marry you!”

Kris couldn’t help but just smile as he stared at your expression, the way you looked at the ring on your finger made his heart leaped – you appreciated this so much as well as he did. He saw how you didn’t even hear him calling you out; or even noticed how he was staring for a while now.

He was tempted to know what was going on in that beautiful mind of yours but he held back that urge as to continue staring at you – he could do this forever.

He saw how your eyes blinked at the ring, how you used your other hand to take over his spot in just touching the ring, feeling the ring on your finger to confirm that it was truly there – indeed, it was.

When he could feel that it was about time he’d reel you back into reality, “Mei li…” He cooed quietly, his lips latched to your neck where he kissed you delicately; you looked just like an angel with this white gown, your hair swept to one side whereas he only had a simple wool shirt along with a pair of briefs in the color of white.

“Don’t escape to your imagination and leave me here alone…” He kissed your neck again when you jerked up in his arms, looking over your shoulder where you could roughly see him a little – he smiled at you as he lifted his chin from your neck, lightly reaching over to kiss your lips once before turning you around to look down on you – you still gave him the butterflies whenever you looked at him like that.

“What are you thinking about, mei li?” He asked in a hushed voice, in such a warm manner as well as he smiled down on you.

You shook your head with a small smile, “N-Nothing…”

He chuckled, finding a good reason to laugh at your flustered state – your cheeks were blushing now as his hands cupped your cheeks, “Oh really, nothing?”

You nodded your head.

He brushed his thumbs on your cheeks, still smiling on how red they were, “Is that why you’re blushing like a cherry right now?”

You huffed, turning away from him where you escaped to the bed, crawling underneath the sheets, “Kris!”

He snickered, turning around to see that you were now curled up on the bed like a little child – how cute you were definitely made his heart flutter. “Mei li, I was just playing around. Come out from there.”

You shook your body, staying hidden, “No.”

He walked towards the bed, standing at the end where he looked down on how obvious you were on the bed, there was no way you could hide like that. “Please?”

Your body shook again.

You nearly had the shock of your life when you felt weight pressing down on you – Kris was literally trying to lie down on top of you with the blanket being the only barrier. It felt like you were going to suffocate to death just letting him lay his weight on you.

You held in a gasp when he proceeded to lay his whole body on top of yours, you could feel his head on top of yours whereas his legs started to lightly tap on yours, nudging you.

“Are you really that strong?” He questioned, baffled that you haven’t squirmed your way out yet but it’s not that you didn’t want to – you couldn’t!

He was on you so directly that if he didn’t move within a minute or two, you’d run out of breath.

Thank the Lord and heavens that he had decided to get off you quick, yanking down the blanket where he could see you were actually lying down on your stomach – so he was pressing his weight on you with your stomach feeling all that pressure with your lungs. You coughed the moment he pulled down the blanket, managing to inhale a full breath of air with your face turning red – if he hadn’t get off you, God knows what would’ve happen.

“Oh god.” He breathed out, sitting down by the bed where he helped you sit up, making you lean against him as he your back, “W-Was I too heavy for you?” He questioned, causing you to slightly nod as you inhaled and exhaled; you were never so thankful to breathe before.

He frowned, shaking his head as he mumbled sadly, “I’m sorry, mei li. I-I was just…”

You shook your head, waving at him, “The next time I’m running instead.”

He couldn’t help but chuckle – you were never the kind to hold grudges against him even though he knew that women could make this into an argument; you were never like that.

All the more reasons why he fell in love with you.

You were just… you.

“If I was pregnant, and you did that – then it’s a whole different story.” You managed to joke quietly but all he gave you was a silent respond. You turned to look at him as his hands were on your waist, your hand raking through his hair to get his attention, “W-What are you thinking about?”

He grinned at you, “You’re willing to have my child?”

You blinked at him abruptly – of course you were… you love him so much that you’d do anything.

Having a child isn’t a question – it would be a blessing; something so blissful and happy to share with him.

To have his child… it would mean so much to you.

And to him, it would be meaningful as well.

“O-Of course I am…”

He made you lie down on the bed, your eyes blinking at him as his hands still held you by your waist, “Well, my queen. Shall we make a prince?”