This is a bonus epilogue that takes place one year after the main story. Haven’t read Bluebird day yet? You can read it here.
One year later
David
A quick shot of pain registers on my face just as my vision goes dark for a brief second. Cold snow slides down my cheeks, and the sound of my cousins cackling can be heard in the background.
As soon as I brush the remaining snow from my eyes, I’m glaring their way. Terry is laughing so hard he’s bent forward and clutching his stomach. He’s probably the bastard who threw the snowball in my face, too.
He isn’t laughing for long before he’s also hit in the face, and with his already bent posture, the force sends him toppling backwards on his ass.
My other cousins shift their focus from me to Terry as their laughter continues. Terry legit growls and throws snow towards them, which has him chasing them as they run away.
Meanwhile, I turn to my savior. “My knight,” I say with a loving sigh and pull him into a sweet kiss.
A year later, and it still feels like the first time Jensen and I kissed. Sparks. Magic. But even better is knowing I can one hundred percent trust this person with my heart. That the person holding me is someone who’ll catch me if I fall—or at the very least, take a tumble along with me.
Which is exactly what happens now.
Another snowball hits me in the back of my head. The shock of the impact jolts me forward and has me tripping Jensen until we’re both horizontal. Jensen lands on his back with his arms wrapped in a protective circle around me.
The sound of my idiotic cousins howling with laughter can be heard in the background. “You assholes!” I yell, but my anger falls on deaf ears as they’re already running off. I turn back to Jensen with an exasperated sigh. “It’s moments like these when I can see why our parents still call us ‘kids’.”
Jensen chuckles, and there’s a sparkle in his eyes when he asks, “You want to run after them and get revenge, don’t you?”
“My pride is on the line,” I grumble and turn my puppy eyes to him.
“Should I help you redeem it then?” he teases.
I press a loud smooch on his lips. “This is why I love you. You understand what’s at stake here.”
Jensen chuckles as he stands, then helps me up too. He takes a step closer to press our fronts together. “Is that the only reason you love me?” he asks without any heat behind the question. There’s only the twinkle I love so much in those green eyes of his.
My lips quirk up into a smile. My pointer finger taps my bottom lip as if in contemplation. “I can think of one or two more reasons.”
Jensen’s loud laugh is music to my ears. The gentle kiss he plops onto my forehead makes my heart pound, but what really makes it go in double time is when he bends over, grabs a fistful of snow, and turns it into the perfect snowball.
“Time to win back my baby’s honor,” he says with a quick wink and then shoots off running towards my cousins.
Screams and shouts ensue as my cousins scramble to avoid Jensen. It’s the most romantic sound I’ve ever heard.
It’s not the fact that he’s willing to uphold my honor that makes my heart skip a beat. It’s the fact that he doesn’t make me feel stupid about my feelings. Whether it’s my desire for petty revenge against my cousins or the way I need to love on him when he gets back from one of his trips, Jensen takes it all in stride like it’s the most normal thing in the world.
There’s no forcing involved whatsoever, because Jensen’s firmly riding on the same path of life as I am. And I wish to stay on this path with Jensen for the rest of our days.
I thumb the box-shaped lump nestled inside my pocket and my heart beats harder but not in an uncomfortable way. I’m filled with excitement at what lies in the future, because unlike with my previous relationship, I know Jensen is with me every step of the way.
“David!”
I turn my head toward Jensen’s call and he’s waving a hand over his head. He’s armed with another snowball and a triumphant grin on his lips.
The sun behind him settles around him like a halo. He’s the most beautiful fucking thing I’ve ever seen.
Before he can even call me over, my feet move and I’m running to him. His face splits in a giant grin and his arms spread to catch me. He’s holding me as tightly as I am him, and I know that in these arms, I’m safe.
Jensen
The parents retreated to the basement as soon as we arrived. I secretly think their desire to return to this ski lodge for the holidays is purely so they can continue their amateur gambling ring.
The two families have gotten close in the past year with frequent get togethers to have dinner, which I think is just an excuse so they can play mahjong afterwards. I would be worried about my mothers newfound gambling addictions, except they only play for pennies.
David tells me it’s not the money they care about. They just want to gossip and have a way to keep track of their wins. Either way, I’m just happy his parents and mine get along so well. Especially since I’m hoping to make us official families very soon.
“I had to threaten to hide their mahjong tiles, but the parents are finishing up their last game and coming up soon. We’re all set to go,” Dahlia tells me with a thumbs up.
She moves a little more cautiously now that she’s showing. Their little bundle of joy will be here in a few months. Griffin is hovering protectively behind her as if he’s unwilling to let her out of his sight for a single second.
Her words have my nerves rising. There’s a hint of unease, but I’m mostly filled with excitement.
“Everything’s gonna be great, little bro!” My brother Emmett gives me a hard smack on my back. I’m not small by any means, but the force he uses has me stumbling forward a couple steps.
He’s much more relaxed than the last time we were here at the lodge. I think now that the secret of his move is out and his youngest was safely born a few months ago, he’s back to his usual boisterous self.
Helena is here too with her partner, Ruby. She’s beaming at me. I know she’s excited for this next stage in my life, but she’s also glowing with her own happiness.
Since they’ve met at the lodge last year, she and Ruby have been attached at the hip. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Helena this settled.
A year ago, I might have thought settled wasn’t something positive. It meant being stuck in one place. An end to my adventures.
But a year with David and I can’t think of anything I want more than being settled with him. Despite having moved back to the states, I still travel plenty for work, and those trips still end up becoming mini vacations where I ultimately end up at a slope.
I might not be traveling as much as I used to, but I don’t miss being out on the road all the time as much as I thought I would. Perhaps I’m not checking off the boxes on my bucket list as quickly as before, but the tradeoffs are well worth it, in my opinion.
I get to see my family a lot more often than a quick meal a couple times a year now. My mothers are always stopping by, saying they’re making up for all the years I was away. And Helena comes around our place so often, you’d think it was her home, not ours. I do love seeing her, though I suspect she comes over to mainly hang out with David, not me. David, Dahlia, and Helena have really become the three musketeers ever since returning home from the ski trip last year.
While Emmett moved an hour away, he still returns to the city with the kids often enough that I’m not getting surprised by how much they’ve grown every time I see them now.
All that to say is, I’m very satisfied with my current life, and I can only think of one thing that can make it even more perfect.
Dahlia opens the tiny red velvet box. The others voice their excitement, but I’m silent. My eyes are only on the gold ring snuggled inside the box. I reach out for it and gently brush my finger over the cool ring before snapping the box shut.
Helena’s hand lands on my shoulder. “I can’t believe you’re going to get engaged before me,” she says with a pout.
I haven’t even popped the question yet I’m already giddy at the idea of us being engaged. “We don’t know if he’ll even say yes,” I reply. The words are mostly to rein in my own expectations.
Dahlia pats my other shoulder. “He will.” Confidence fills her words, and she gives me a mysterious smile that gives me pause. Before I can ask, David’s running over with his snowboard in hand. I quickly hide the box in my hand and slip it into my pocket.
David’s steps slow when he notices everyone around me. He gives them a questioning look, but I grab his hand and drag him away to a line before he gets suspicious.
My hearts pounding inside my chest as we wait in line for the ski lift, and when we reach the front, the attendant gives me an inconspicuous nod before helping us inside and closing the door.
David looks out the window to the people who were waiting in line behind us. “I wonder why the attendant didn’t let more people on?”
I don’t tell him that I’d made previous arrangements to get us to ride up the gondola alone. I pull him to sit and tuck him into my arm instead. “Do you remember when we got stuck up here last year?”
He does a dramatic shiver before nestling closer into me. “Don’t jinx us! I don’t want to get stuck again and end up with another fear boner!”
I give him a pointed look that has him pushing himself to sit up straight. “What? It’s a real thing!” He crosses his arms and pouts.
I laugh and unhook his arms. Taking off my gloves, I find his hands and do the same for him. His expression tells me he’s confused by my action, but I only twine our fingers together.
“I think that’s when I knew.”
“Knew what?” he asks. His eyelashes flutter as he finds my eyes.
The outside world stops, and the only thing that exists is David and me inside this gondola. I brush the flyaway strands of hair away from his face. “That I loved you.”
His lips stretch. “But we weren’t even together yet. Not really.”
I smile too. “I know, but that didn’t stop me from loving you. From knowing that you were someone special. Someone, who if I was lucky enough to have, would change my entire life.”
“And has it? Has your life changed?” he asks in a teasing tone.
“It has,” I reply seriously. “Everything has changed for the better. I’m surrounded by friends and family, and I didn’t have to sacrifice my hobbies. Best of all, I have you.”
Tears well up in David’s eyes. “I love you,” he murmurs.
I bring his left hand to my lips to kiss the back of it. “I love you too. I love the life we created together, but I can think of one thing that’ll make it even better.”
David’s eyes go round when I slide off the seat and drop on one knee.
“I didn’t think I’d be anyone’s forever, but you changed that for me. Now, I can’t see a future without you in it. I want to wait in all the lines with you—”
“I don’t—”
I give him a pointed look that has him leaving the rest of the sentence unfinished. The unshed tears in his eyes sparkle as he lets out a resigned sigh. One day I’ll finally get him to admit his line-loving ways.
“I want to be the best freaking uncles in the world together. Most of all, I want the honor of being your husband. So, David Liu, will you marry me?”
There’s a beat of silence that’s probably filled with the sound of my pounding heart. Another second without a reply goes by and I’m sweating. There’s no doubt David loves me, but maybe my proposal is too premature? Maybe he’s not ready to get married yet, and I can’t blame him for that.
I’m about to close the box and tell him we can discuss this again later, but then David slides off the seat too. His hand slips into his pocket and a small box that’s roughly around the same size as the one I’m holding appears.
I stare at it in shock, then my gaze moves up to David’s and we both laugh. The tears are thick in his eyes now, which probably mirrors me.
“You beat me to the punch,” he says, his voice wobbly. He grabs my left hand, slips the cool ring over my ring finger, then presses a kiss over the ring. “The answer is obviously yes.”
He holds out his hand for me, and with shaky fingers, I pinch the ring from the box I’m holding, almost dropping it on the ground in the process, and slide it home onto David’s finger.
We both look down at our combined hands. The rings catch the light and sparkle, but no matter how beautiful they are, my gaze drifts back up to David’s face. The man who started out as my fake boyfriend and is now my fiancé. Even with tears streaming down his face, he’s the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.
David smiles, which makes me smile. Our lips find each other in a kiss that lights my soul on fire.
Happiness bubbles inside of me so fiercely that I can’t stop the laugh from escaping my lip. David laughs too, but neither of us stops kissing.
We’re two idiots, laughing as we kiss for who knows how long. Good thing we’re all alone in this gondola…until the door opens and we’re suddenly not alone anymore.
There stands our family, looking at us with beaming smiles on their faces. They pull us out of the ski lift and into their embrace. David and I get passed around like we’re the pennies they exchange during their mahjong games.
Congratulations fill the air and loud cheers come from Terry. Amid all the noise, David’s hand finds mine again.
Life really couldn’t get better than this.
Thank you for reading Bluebird Day! I’m gonna miss these boys and their crazy family soooo much! I might revisit them in the future, so we’ll see 😉 Until then, please consider leaving a review if you loved their story <3
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