My Man, Our Man. - by Princess Chronicles

(EPISODE ONE)The sheets were still tangled around our legs when I opened my eyes. For a second, I didn't move.Hours ago, his body had moved against mine with a rhythm that left me breathless, his mouth finding mine between soft, desperate kisses. My voice slipping out before I could swallow it back. His hands pulling me closer as though even an inch between us was too much. Now, the room was quiet. I lay there, listening to Daniel's slow breathing beside me. His arm was beneath my head, the other resting heavily around my waist. His chest rose and fell against my back, his skin still warm against mine. I smiled to myself. I miss my man so much. I turned slowly to face him. His hair was a complete mess. There was a faint crease on his cheek from the pillow, and the tattoo on his left arm disappeared beneath the sheet, reappearing just above his wrist. He opened one eye. “Don't tell me you missed me that much.” I laughed against his chest. Daniel's arm tightened around my waist.“Seven days.” “And?” “And you want to pretend you weren't counting?” I lifted my head and looked at him. “Maybe I wasn't.” He gave me that lazy smile I had known for years. “Liar.” I traced the edge of his tattoo with my fingertip. “You know, you've still never told me what this means.” “You've never stopped asking.”“Because you've never answered.” He smiled. “That makes two things you've been asking me for seven years.” I narrowed my eyes. “What's the second?” He leaned closer.“A ring.” I laughed. “Daniel.” “What?“You're becoming very confident.” “I'm just reminding you that you've been with me for seven years.” “Seven years is a long time.” He kissed the corner of my mouth. “Too long?”I shook my head. “Just long enough to know when you're trying to change the subject.” He laughed, pulled me closer, and kissed me again. For the first time in a week, there was nowhere else I wanted to be. Daniel had been away for work. Seven days of calls that ended too fast for me. Seven nights of sleeping alone. Seven mornings of waking up and reaching across the bed before remembering he wasn't there. Now he was finally back. And somehow, after all this time, I still missed him like a girl who had only just fallen in love. I rested my cheek against his chest. His fingers moved slowly through my hair.“You know what I missed most?”I asked. “What?” “This.” He looked down at me.“Me?”“Your annoying presence.” He laughed. “Liar.” “Your snoring too.”“I don't snore.” “You do.”“I don't.”“You absolutely do.” He started tickling my waist. I screamed, laughing as I tried to escape his hands. “Daniel!” “Take it back.” “Never!” He pulled me closer. For a few minutes, we stayed there, laughing and stealing kisses like we had nowhere else to be. Then his phone buzzed on the bedside table. He reached for it. I watched his expression change.He typed a reply and put the phone down.“Who was that?” “My mother.” I raised an eyebrow. “Your mother texts you this early?"“She has been waiting for tonight.” “Tonight?” He sat up and reached for his shirt. “Dinner.”“With who?”“My family.” I sat up. “Your family?”He nodded. “It's time.”I stared at him.“Time for what?”He looked over his shoulder. “To stop hiding you.” I threw the pillow at him. “Daniel!” He caught it, laughing. “You've been dating me for seven years and you're still shy about meeting my family?”“Your mother has seen me before.” “My mother has seen you twice.” “That's still seeing me.”“My mother thinks you're a myth.” I laughed. Then he walked back to the bed and sat beside me. His expression softened. “I want you there tonight.” Something about the way he said it made my chest tighten. For years, soon had been our favourite word. Soon we'd find a place together. Soon we'd make bigger plans. Soon we'd talk about marriage. Now, for the first time, it felt like soon had finally arrived. I smiled. “Should I dress nicely?” He looked me over. “You always do.”“Daniel.”“Wear something you like.” I smiled again. Maybe this was it. Maybe tonight was the beginning of the part of our story we'd spent years talking about. By seven that evening, I was standing beside him outside his family's house, smoothing down my dress for the fourth time. Daniel noticed.“Nervous?” “A little.” He reached for my hand. “You have nothing to be nervous about.”“You say that because you know them."“And you'll know them soon.”He squeezed my fingers. Then the door opened. His mother appeared first. “Daniel!” She hugged him before turning to me. Her face lit up.“So this is the woman I've been hearing about all these years.” I laughed. “I'm sorry.” She pulled me into a hug. “You're welcome here.” The evening was warmer than I expected. There was food, laughter. Stories about Daniel as a child that he clearly wanted buried forever. His mother teasing him. His uncle asking questions about my work. And every now and then, Daniel would look across the table at me. That look. The one that made me feel like we had our own little language. At some point, his mother brought out an old photo album. I watched Daniel protest immediately. “Mum, please.”She laughed. “You should see him when he was twelve.” “Absolutely not.” Everyone laughed. I watched him smile. For a moment, I imagined another table. Another house. Another evening. Except this time, I was sitting there as his wife. The thought made me smile. Daniel caught me. “What?” “Nothing.” “You're smiling.” “Can't I smile?” “Not like that.” I looked down at my plate. “Eat your food.”He laughed. And I thought: Maybe this is finally happening. We got back to my apartment a little after eleven. Daniel dropped his keys on the table. “I'm going to shower.” “Okay.” He walked slowly into the bathroom. A minute later, his phone lit up on the couch. I wasn't looking for anything. I swear I wasn't. But the screen came alive. A photograph. I picked up the phone. And stopped for a moment. It was my sister. Standing beside Daniel. His arm was around her. They were smiling. I stared at the screen. My stomach tightened. I knew that picture.Or at least, I knew the person in it. I looked toward the bathroom. The shower was running. When Daniel came back into the room, I was still holding his phone. “Daniel?”“Hmm?"I held up the phone. “Have you seen my sister recently?” He didn't even look at me. “No.”I stared at him. Then at the picture again. Because the picture on his phone had been taken three days ago.

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