15 years ago~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The little eight year old boy held the girl’s tiny hands in his and with a serious face asked the girl shyly,

“Will you marry me when we grow up?”

The little girl giggled nervously and tried to pull her hands out of his. After a few moments of tugging back and forth, the little girl’s came free and she quickly grabbed hold of her single ponytail and started pulling her hair hoping to calm her beating heart. She avoided looking at her best friend’s face.

“You mean like…marry like our papa and mama?” The little girl asked her eyes wide. The boy nodded his head and whispered,

“Yup, and that way we get to live together forever and ever.”

The little girl frowned,

“Can’t we be together forever even if we don’t marry?”

“Why? You don’t like me?” The little boy pouted and crossed his arms.

“No, no, I like you. You’re my best friend.” The little girl quickly reassured the boy. The little boy’s face brightened and he took hold of the girl’s hands again. Shyly he patted her head and declared,

“Ariel Lin, I will marry you when we grow up.” The little girl shyly nodded her head in agreement.

“I will marry you too.”

*****************************

Present Day

Plane crashed. Her plane crashed almost two years ago. There were no survivors. Her kisses, her smiles, her voice, the way she tugged her hair when she was nervous, the way she rocked back and forth unconsciously when deep in thoughts.

She was gone…dead. The young husband leaned his head against the airport thick glass and sighed deeply. He was leaving Taiwan forever. He needed to go as far away from Taiwan as possible…away from the memories of her, the smell of her, her scent, her love. He needed to heal his broken heart, to find some kind of peace, some closure or he…he was going to go crazy.

He felt tears welled up in his eyes, for a moment he thought he saw her. Was he hallucinating? Thinking about her every day and night, missing her, needing her…has he gone crazy?

The young husband shook his head, trying to clear his head. No, the girl in a white blouse and jean pant with her arms tightly wrapped around another man was not his wife. It couldn’t be his wife. He was imagining her again, just a figment of his imagination. This wouldn’t be the first time he thought he saw her. The he heard her laughs.

It was the same laugh, a throaty laugh that only belongs to his wife. The barely hidden grin on her face as she lowered her face to kiss the man holding her tightly in his arms. His wife…his wife, Ariel Lin…. No, that woman only resembles his wife. She was not his wife!

Then he heard her voice, it was the same clear voice he heard every day…until the day the doctor pronounced her dead.

“Aaron! Do you want a kiss or not?” The voice asked teasingly.

She pretended to pull out of the man’s hold but then gave him another kiss and laughed again. She glanced up and her eyes met his for a brief moment. The young husband frowned as Ariel looked right through him as if he doesn’t exist. She looked right through him like he was a stranger. But…she was his wife, she belongs to him…no, how could she be alive? The doctor said she was dead.

The young husband heard his plane announced and knew it was time to leave. He walked pass the girl that resemble his wife, forcing his legs to move. He felt a hand on his shoulder. The young man turned around and saw the girl smiling at him. She handed him his plane ticket and said,

“You drop this.”

The young husband took the ticket from her and opened his mouth but could not utter any words. The girl was wearing his wife’s necklace. The necklace he gave his wife 15 years ago when they were both eight years old. The necklace that held the promise of forever.

“Ariel?” He whispered, but the girl was already gone. Frantically he ran and searched all over the airport, but she was gone.

“She’s alive…my wife is alive?”