After Jerry was found guilty for hiding stories from us, especially Nathalie, Nathalie dumped him. I’d decided to forgive him, though, since he, in a way, did help me save Liam by providing some information that I should know in time. Liam had felt the same too and thought that we should help him get Nathalie back. But it would only be if he asked for our help.
We didn’t have to wait for long. Jerry was serious about Nathalie. In just a few days’ time, Jerry was literally begging us in the living room for help. We had told him both Nathalie’s secret and weakness; about what she liked, what she would fall for, and what she couldn’t resist. Fantasy stuff. Didn’t know how Jerry had gotten the money and how he had managed to pull it off, he took Nathalie to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a place where Nathalie had wanted to go for a very long time. Nathalie had passed Jerry after the trip and decided to give him another chance. Ever since, Nathalie was always at our place.
It wasn’t only her. Olivia too, of course. Ever since she was officially together with Samuel, she had come to our place more often than usual. In fact, she was always here whenever Nathalie was here. Wait, no. Whenever Samuel was here. I had asked them to just move in, but Nathalie had smacked my head, saying that girls wouldn’t so easily give up their vaginas like how I had done for Liam and Liam for me. Except, ours weren’t vaginas.
Samuel had finally submitted his final year project. He was free as hell now and had decided to pick up tennis, wanting to do something together with Olivia, he had said. Believe me, it was funny seeing him try to play sports when he had been averting to even jog or swim with Liam and me all the while. But Olivia, already like a coach, had coached him like a pro. After a week, Samuel could play like a casual player already. As expected from the smartest guy in school. I still had to say, though, he looked damn odd in singlet and sweatpants.
Duncan finally moved on from me. He even had gotten himself a cute guy—I approved—called Zac. He had found him through an online dating app and they shared the same fetish. He had started posting photos of them together and even changed his status on social media to “in a relationship”. He must be happy with him. We used to say that we should at least meet once a week, perhaps in school, but I seemed to be forgotten already. I could understand, though. It was a big change for him, and as a friend, I was truly happy for him.
Daisy and Joanna were finally caught by the police. I wasn’t sure what would happen to them, but Samuel said they would probably be charged with second-degree attempted murder. I didn’t bother to find out more, simply because I wasn’t interested. Their futures were no longer of my concern.
Max and Theo, on the other hand, had become the happiest couple alive. Theo was damn lucky to have him. They had flown around the world, honeymooning at their dream places one place after another. Our Instagrams were flooded by their pictures all the time. And Theo didn’t have to spend a single shit. All he had to do was just give his butt to his husband whenever it was needed. They had even sent us their before and after sex pictures in our group chat that we’d invited them. We had regretted almost immediately—nah, just saying. Olivia loved them.
Oh yeah, something odd had happened two weeks ago. When I was checking my bank account, I realized that the account suddenly had fifty thousand extra dollars. I’d called the bank to check if it was an error. But, nope. Someone really had third-party transferred the money to me. However, the bank was unable to reveal any information as the transfer was made anonymously. Liam had suggested that it must be my parents. “It must be. I’m sure they still love you, babe,” he had said. A few days later, Mom had sent me a text.
Can we have a meal together, Eth? Just you and me.
I smiled. Perhaps, this would be a great opportunity to start working on getting back my parents. Liam had encouraged me to go. Though he wasn’t invited, and we both had known it would be a bad idea bringing him with me, Liam had still come along. He had feared for my heart in case something bad happened. He had never shown up in front of Mom, of course. He read in the car and visited the shops near the restaurant, unseen.
* * *
“Are you sure about this?” I asked Liam. We were standing in front of the best tattoo parlor—according to Liam’s research—in town. “Once done, it is permanent.”
“Babe,” Liam said. He sounded almost like he was offended. “We’re already engaged. What’s more to worry about?” He pulled me in straightaway.
Halfway before reaching the counter, he realized why I was asking. “Wait, babe.” He stopped walking. “Are you scared?”
I looked away. Busted.
Liam laughed. “You’re not afraid of death, yet you’re afraid of this?”
He was wrong. I looked back at him. “I’m afraid of death, babe,” I argued. “I’m afraid that you’ll be dead.”
Liam’s laughter stopped. He could tell that I was serious. He smiled. “Thanks, babe,” he said and kissed me on the face. “Look. If you don’t want to, we’ll go home, okay?”
“I want to,” I said, almost too quickly.
Liam tried to read me. To read whether what I said was really what I wanted. “You sure?”
“I really want to, babe,” I assured him. “Let’s just get on with it.”
Liam nodded twice. “Okay, babe. You’ll like the design, I promise,” he said and brought me to the counter.
The tattoo artist showed us the final design of the tattoo that Liam had requested. It was a minimalist dragon tattoo design, with blue paint as the background. I immediately recognized the dragon was the River God. There were two of them. Both of them were identical except one was facing left and one was facing right. Both of them were drawn in S shape. Inside the top curve of the S, one of the dragons had E, while the other had L, representing our initials. I fell in love with them immediately.
When the tattoo artist stencilled the artwork on our wrists, I realized the dragons weren’t just S-shaped. Both the S, when Liam’s wrist and mine were put side by side together, especially on a flat surface, formed a heart shape. The letters E and L were in the heart.
“It’s so beautifully drawn, Ju,” I told the tattoo artist.
“It’s not my work,” Ju admitted. “He drew it. You didn’t know?”
I gasped and covered my mouth with my other hand. I cried. How could he…
I’d never been more proud to show off something. I’d never been more proud to show off him. People in school started staring at us again, looking at our freshly inked tattoos when we were holding hands. And like Liam, I didn’t care.
Love should never be hidden. It should be shared with all people no matter the gender or status.
Love should always be out, proud, and tall. It should never be a thing to be ashamed of nor denied.
Love is what everyone should cherish and treasure most.
Love is what made the world beautiful.
Love is why, despite all harshness, we still walked strong on earth.
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
My name is Randy Tiergan—well, sort of. The first question I get whenever I introduce myself is ‘why Tiergan?’. It has a meaning of course, just like every character in my books. But I won’t just spoil it for you. If you’re that curious, then you gotta put some effort and find out :D!
When I first started writing, I write because I want to do things that I couldn’t do in real life. Today, I write because I want to experience things that I couldn’t experience in real life.
Unfortunately, I can’t tell you much about myself. All I can say is, I can be a fun person to be with. But some may find me boring, depending on the type of person you are. If you want to find out more, just connect with me! I always get in touch with whoever touches me, I promise.
Thank you for reading my book and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did ^^!
CONNECT WITH RANDY:
Website: www.randytiergan.com (coming soon)
Facebook Profile: facebook.com/randyxtiergan
; Facebook Page: facebook.com/randytierganbooks
Twitter: twitter.com/randytiergan
A Monster's Love Page 33