"Hello?"

I say with a lump in my throat as the receiver picks up after the third ring.

It was hard to swallow the desperation, I hope it didn't show.

There was a moment of silence and I stopped in my tracks, just as I was about to cross the pedestrian, to lift my head.

Men, women, the elderly, the children. Everyone around me is running around in all sorts of directions. 

Just three blocks from where I stood, I could hear the faint sound of the alarm that never stopped ringing since the news broke fifteen minutes ago. 

The incredible words of the news anchor for her final broadcast still ring clear in my head.

"NASA reports that the comets are expected to make impact all over the world in less than two hours."

I let out a shaky breath.

I've been running since then, back to the place where I feel the safest.

"I'm here."

Home.

How I could still break into a smile even with the world ending is beyond me.

Sue me. I can't help it. It's a reflex at this point whenever I hear my favorite voice.

I looked at the traffic lights again. Twenty more seconds before the cars stop. 

"Have you seen the news?"

I asked. A little breathless from all the running and the awful feeling creeping out from the pit of my stomach. 

I suddenly felt hot and I wanted to retch but I held it in. I can't. Not yet.

There was a long beat before she answered in a smaller voice that remained calm.

"Yes."

I did not want to waste any more seconds of the little time I had left. I had to fill these seconds with something.

"What are you doing?" 

"I'm cooking." 

She says from the other line and true enough, I could hear the clanging of bowls and the distinct sound of the pan as it hits the stove. 

This woman. I chuckled despite the onset of what appeared to be a panic attack. 

The world is about to turn into ruins and there she is, preparing a meal. 

Fourteen seconds.

"What are you cooking?" 

I wanted to cling to our last chance of normalcy. 

There was a shift in her tone when she replied. A little more cheerful.

"Your favorite."

That did it.

You know that feeling when you're at a rollercoaster's peak and it drops? Or when you learned that you passed the most important examination of your life? When you catch your crush looking at you.

I tried to navigate through my memories to the moment I felt these exact feelings. 

Then it hit me. 

When she first told me she loved me. It felt exactly the same.

Ten seconds.

It was the longest stoplight of my life. 

I wanted to shout at everyone to just stop and give way. To let me go home peacefully. As if I was the only one about to lose her life to those stupid space rocks.

If only I could teleport. 

I used up all of my luck on earth when I met her. How did I land a girl like her? 

She is the kindest person I've ever met. The light to my darkest days. She is a star.

My own personal sun. 

I am her planet without a doubt. There's no question. 

My world revolves around her. Her dreams become my dreams, but she also helps me find my own. She makes my life wobble, spin and move. 

The realization that she is a heavenly being and I'm a mere human lucky enough to be loved by her has left me speechless.

My silence must have worried her.

"Are you okay?" 

The calm was gone, replaced by fear I knew she was doing her best to keep. 

It was only a matter of time before our emotions caught up on the surface. It was as inevitable as the world ending. 

"Y-yes. I'm on my way home." 

Five seconds.

"I'll be here. Come home to me. We’ll be okay"

Of course, my love. How could I not when there's my favorite meal and my favorite person waiting for me? 

I will sell my soul to the devil for an eternity in this mundane.

There's no place I'd rather be.

"I love you."

I say, in case I don't make it. 

"Say it again to me when you come home?"

My lips lift up on their own. How could I deny her that? 

The light finally turned green but before I ran to the love of my life, I had to let her know. 

"I will."