Wishes and Decisions

Andrew stood up and walked to her. It was as if he was in some sort of a trance. He cupped her cheeks and looked into her eyes. His own eyes were filled with tears and he kissed her forehead. She wiped his tears with her thumbs as she cupped his face. They joined their foreheads together as they both cried tears of happiness from seeing each other after so long.

He came out of his trance and asked her "what are you doing here? Why did you come?" 

She just smiled and said "do I need any reason to see you? It's my birth right to see you whenever I want." 

He couldn't help but chuckle. "I see" and went close to her face. His breath on her neck sent shivers down her spine. He whispered "and this is my right, to come near to you" huskily in her ear. Rose blushed so hard that she could have been mistaken for a tomato at that point.

"Andy" she called him.

Andrew closed his eyes in ecstasy. He was hearing this name from her mouth after so long that he couldn't control himself and hugged her. They burst out crying and fell to their knees still hugging each other as if there was no tomorrow. "Do you know how much I missed you" he said in between sobs. 

"I missed you as well," she replied. 

After a while, they were sitting on the couch, Andrew holding Rose in his arms. They talked about the happenings of the previous few years when they were away from each other. "I'm so confused, Rose. I don't know what to do. I always feel like I'm stuck in the middle of everything and there's no way out of this." 

"Sshh. Don't worry, now I'm back and we'll solve this together" she reassured him. "By the way, I'm a lawyer now." 

He smiled and said "of course you are and I am so proud of you." 

She then decided to tell him the news she had gotten a few hours ago. "I got my first case." 

"You did? I'm so happy, I always wanted to see you fight a case in court. "What's it about?" 

Rose smiled at his enthusiasm. It seemed to her that it was not her but he who had just gotten his first case. "It's from a woman. She claims that her husband sexually abuses her."

"How I wish I could see you." 

"Then come. I can get you inside.” 

"You can? Then I'm definitely coming. No one can stop me from seeing my Rose fight and win her first case" he declared.

She blushed as she heard him say "my Rose". How she wanted everyone to say she was his.

Andy was confused, scared and happy all at the same time after seeing her. His brain told him that this was all a bad idea and warned him of the consequences of their actions. His heart however wanted to stay with her. He wanted nothing more than this. “Oh God, please help me. I don’t know what to do but I just can’t run away from my feelings anymore. I need to be with her. I can’t keep pushing her away from me.”

When Andrew went home that day, everyone noticed that his face had a different kind of glow. A glow that was never seen since five years ago when she left. After dinner Kevin, Aria, Ryan, Sara, Saoirse and Fia went to his room. They saw him sitting on his couch with his eyes closed and blushing. He was also smiling and this somewhat confirmed their suspicions about what must have happened. 

Kevin asked "what did Rose say?" 

Andrew who was in his dream world, answered "she got her first case and she asked me to go and see her fight, I'm so excited" without thinking. 

"You met Rose, our sister in law?" asked Sara, Saoirse and Fia excitedly. 

Andrew who was still lost in the thoughts of his love dreamily said "she hasn't become your sister in law yet". 

"Not yet but she soon will be."

Ryan added "and very soon by the looks of everything."

Andrew who came back to reality and realised what he just said, started panicking. "No no I didn't meet her, I was just pretending. I was imagining what I would do if I saw her." 

"Andrew, it's fine, you don't have to pretend. We all know you can't live without her and you shouldn't have to stay away from her when she doesn't have any fault in any of this" assured Aria. Andrew breathed a sigh of relief and smiled again.

“I feel guilty though. What I’m doing will cause problems if our dads get to know. I know that none of us want to continue this rivalry but we can’t do anything. When will all of this stop?”

Kevin said "you don't need to feel guilty. You are not wrong, they are."

Ryan sat down next to him. “Bro, we know that it’s not going to stop unless we do something. Maybe Rose and you can convince them that what they’re doing is wrong and ruining all of our lives in the process.”

Andrew nodded and asked “do you guys remember when we all used to celebrate together? Everything used to be so fun and enjoyable two years ago. All our celebrations feel so incomplete now.”

“I agree with Andrew,” Aria said. 

"Not just celebrations. We all used to be at each other's houses, playing together all day without any fear. Ahh I miss those days" Saoire said, lost in past memories of times when everything was fine.

“Why don’t we do something to stop this wretched rivalry that has spoiled all our happiness? suggested Sara.

Andrew looked at her thoughtfully and decided something in his mind.