I was always told that, sometimes, I should take time to appreciate everything that I have because I could lose it all in a blink of an eye.
Because I never really had anything or anyone in my life that I had held dear to me, I never really took this statement seriously.
But after meeting, falling in love with, and losing Signe Hansen, I now realize that the statement I heard over and over again over the course of so many years is completely true.

It's only been two days since her untimely passing and I already feel so lost. Now that she was gone, the plans that I had set in stone have completely crumbled away. All of the plans that I had of spending countless nights drawing and painting pictures with Signe, taking her out on dinner and movie dates, taking her down to the beach so that we could hear the waves crashing on the shore and the sand between our toes, and cuddling in the comfort of either my or her apartment as we talked quietly amongst ourselves were no longer going to become a reality.

Throughout this forty-eight hour period that felt more like an eternity, I've been doing nothing but helping Signe's parents, who flew down to Ireland in seemingly record time after doctors informed them of their daughter's passing, plan and put together her funeral. Even though I met her parents under circumstances that I never wanted to fathom while Signe was alive, they still seemed like they were extremely nice people. Plus, they seemed like they liked me so that was nice, I suppose.

While Signe's parents continued to plan and put together the funeral, I went over to Signe's apartment since I knew that it would have to be cleaned out at some point. Upon opening the door and stepping inside, I had a vision of Signe and I smiling as we each painted pictures. I then saw myself flicking paint from my paintbrush onto her. Almost immediately after I had done this, she did the same thing to me and soon, we were both covered in paint. Normally, thinking about this would make me smile.
But not now.
I could feel tears forming in my eyes and my entire body growing weak as Signe continued to remain in my mind. After a few moments, I somehow managed to suppress my tears and regain strength in my body. Once I had done so, I took slow and careful steps through Signe's apartment, as if I would break something if I wasn't careful enough. As I was walking around, I took my time admiring all of the paintings that were strewn about her entire apartment. While most of them were finished, there were some that weren't. The saddest part about that is that Signe would never return home to finish them and even if someone attempted to finish what she had started, they couldn't make the same way that she could.
And that was because she was irreplaceable.
From this day forward, I would never meet a girl that was exactly like Signe Hansen.
From this day forward, nothing I did would bring her back, no matter how hard I tried.
It wasn't fair.
She did absolutely nothing to deserve the fate that befell her.
Why did she have to leave me to live my life in this cruel and ugly world?

After I finished looking at all of Signe's drawings and paintings, I went over to her desk, which was located right underneath her window, which in turn gave her a perfect view of the city. I smiled a bit as I admired the view, but my smile faded as quickly as it came as I pictured Signe looking at the same view I was looking at right now as she drew, paying close attention to every single detail as she always had done whenever I would watch her draw.
I felt tears forming in my eyes once more, but I quickly shook my head to avoid them escaping from my eyes, just like I had done last time. After I was sure that the tears were gone, I looked down at Signe's desk to see what she had left behind after she had to go into the hospital for, unbeknownst to even Signe herself, her very last visit. Scattered all around the entire desk were crumbled up pieces of paper that were, upon closer inspection, a bunch of unfinished drawings. Upon seeing what they were, I unfolded every single one of them one by one and smoothed them out on the surface of her desk as best as I could to try and get them in the possible condition that they could be in. After doing so, I noticed something else that was laying in the middle of her desk. I could tell just by glancing at it that it wasn't a drawing. My curiosity was immediately piqued and I set all of the drawings that I decided to take for myself to the side as I sat down in the chair that was right by her desk. The first thing I noticed was that her handwriting, just like her, was beautiful. Everything from the way it flawlessly flowed from one way to another to the way that each letter was formed so beautifully was absolutely perfect. I had never seen handwriting even half as good as hers in the twenty-seven years that I've been alive and my handwriting, which I considered to be decent at best, was horrible compared to hers.
Nonetheless, I managed to pull myself away from admiring her wonderful handwriting and start focusing on what she had written on the several pieces of paper that seemed so out of place from the scraped drawings and cacti that she had laying on her desk. But the fact that it was so out of place from everything else only piqued my curiosity even more and I soon found myself immersed into what Signe had written down.

~~~~~

As I continue to put together my plans to open up and run an art shop, I thought it would be a good idea to take notes as I go along. After all, I'm a very forgetful person and things like these require a lot of planning and organization, which is something that I lack.

First things first, I would like my shop to be located near the sea. Having a seaside view would most likely draw in a lot of customers and, thankfully, I've managed to find an old business that shut down almost eight months ago that's located in the spot that's a picture perfect example of the vision I had in my mind of where I would like the store to be located. By a stroke of good fortune, the owner of the once thriving business has put the building up for sale. Now, if my condition would allow me to do so, I would like to get ahold of the owner and see if he would be willing to sell it to me. To ensure that I would be able to become the new owner of the building, I plan on using as much as my life savings as possible because I've never wanted to have anything so badly in my life.
Also, let me just note that not only is the building in the perfect location, but it's also the perfect size. This fact only makes me want it to be in my possession even more.

Second of all, I would like my shop to have a very quaint appearance feeling to it. I've always like the appearance and feeling of quaint art shops and I want my shop to evoke the same feelings I felt about these types of art shops. Also, while I would like to stick to a quaint theme and make it similar to others I've experienced over the years, I would also like to make it different enough so that it stands out as my own.

Third of all, I would like there to be a spot where people can come in and create their artwork. This spot would also serve as a place where I offer art lessons on certain days of the week at certain times (Which are currently to be determined and I'll edit this part when I figure it out) because giving an art lesson to Sean was fun and I would really like to do it again.

Fourth of all, I would really love to call my art shop "Art From The Heart" because I feel like it has a nice ring to it. Plus, I discovered this quote a while back and it's really inspired me a lot.
"Art is the voice of the heart."
I should definitely draw something that uses this quote because I think it'll inspire so many more people.

As I come up with more ideas for my art shop, they'll continue to be added here. But, for now at least, these are all the things I want to do when it comes to my art shop.

~~~~~

When I finished reading what Signe had written, I put the piece of paper that it was written on to the side and before I had time to process what she had written, I saw that she had made a sketch of what she wanted her art shop to look like on the outside on one piece of paper and a sketch of what she wanted her art shop to look like on the inside on another piece of paper. I studied both of the sketches for a few moments before I set it to the side and began reading what was written on the last piece of paper.

~~~~~

If you're reading this, you're either snooping around in my stuff or I'm dead.

If the former is the case, act like you've never seen this. If you don't, there will be serious consequences. I'm not going to let someone shatter a dream that I've had for so many years. You've been warned. Trust me when I say that karma is a real bitch.

If the latter is the case, you should've known that this was going to happen. The moment I got sick was the moment where I started slowly but surely spiraling towards my demise. My death was inevitable. I had a disease that could never be cured. It was only a matter of time before said disease killed me off.
With that being said, if I wasn't able to achieve my dream before I left this world, the only person I want to carry out my dream is Sean. He's the one that I spent countless hours creating drawings and paintings with and I was actually going to ask him if he wanted to be run my art shop with me both whenever I could actually gather up the courage to ask him and whenever I was given the chance (I really hope that I ended up asking him.)
But, Sean, in the off chance that I didn't get the chance to ask you and I'm already dead, would you please do what I couldn't and open up my art shop? While you absolutely do not have to do it, I would definitely appreciate if you did.

-Signe

~~~~~

Without having a second thought, I grabbed both the scrapped drawings and the stack of papers that outlined Signe's plans for the art shop that she never had the chance to open before I stood up from the chair and began heading back to my apartment. I was now determined to make Signe's dream a reality, especially since she never got the chance to do so. I decided that cleaning out Signe's apartment could wait and that this could not, especially since the building that she had been looking to purchase could be purchased by someone else in an instant.
Also, even though she had left this world behind, she still deserved to be remembered. After all, you aren't truly dead until there's no one left to remember you.

*****

I woke up extremely early the next morning so that I could start setting the plans that Signe had laid out for her art shop into motion. My first priority was purchasing the building that she had wanted to use for her art shop. Thankfully, I didn't have to do any work to figure out the building that she was referring to when she had written out her plan for her art shop because I already knew exactly what she was talking about. The only work that I had to do was finding out how to contact the seller of the building that once housed a thriving business (Which actually was a bakery, a bakery that I used to frequent a couple of months before I met Signe) because Signe hadn't written down an email or phone number I could use to contact the seller. Because of this, I had to do a bit of researching online in order to find both the phone number and email I could use in order to get ahold of the man that was selling the building that Signe desperately wanted for herself.

Just as I was about to dial the man that put the building up for sale's phone number, I heard a knock at my door. Confused as to who would be knocking at my door at almost seven in the morning and why they would be doing so, I put my phone into my pocket and got up to answer the door. After rubbing sleep out of my eyes and letting out a yawn, I opened the door and my jaw nearly dropped to the ground when I saw who was the source of the knocking.
It was Signe.

"N-No way." I shook my head and closed my eyes, expecting her to be gone when I opened them. But when I had opened my eyes after having them closed for a few moments, she was still there. "There's no way that this is real. I'm just dreaming and when I wake up, you won't be standing in the doorway."
Signe gave me a look of confusion. "What on earth are you talking about?"
That voice. It was the voice I knew so well.
The voice that was music to my ears.
The voice I loved hearing so much.
The voice that came from the girl I cared so deeply about.
The voice that came from the girl that, little did I know at the time, came into my life only to flip it upside down in the best way possible.
But I knew better.
The voice, the sight of her standing in my doorway... It was all a dream.
I couldn't allow myself to think otherwise.
After all, I saw the heart monitor and her motionless body lying in that hospital bed.
This all had to be a dream.
Right?

"Isn't it obvious? I'm talking about you!" I practically yelled as I rubbed my face with both of my hands. "You aren't supposed to be standing there! You're supposed to be dead! The doctors told me that you were dead and you had no pulse when I came in to see you! So, with all of that being said, you aren't supposed to be at my doorway right now and when I wake up, you aren't going to be standing there and I'm going to have to return to living my life without you."
Suddenly, Signe grabbed ahold of both of my hands and I felt my heart stop beating in my chest. When her eyes met mine, I was breathless. This all felt so real, but I knew better. My mind was trying to cope with losing the only person that meant everything to me and the only person I'd be willing to put my life on the line if it was what I needed to do in order to protect her. Signe Hansen had died during an emergency surgery two days ago and both the flat line and the long, drawn out beeping of her heart monitor confirmed it.
The Signe Hansen that was currently standing in my doorway and holding my hands was not real.
The Signe Hansen that I came to know and love was long gone from this world and finally free from the pain that she suffered with for almost an entire decade.

"You aren't real." I whispered as I looked down at Signe, who was still holding my hands. "This is just a part of the grieving stage. My mind's making me dream of you to cope with losing you and I'm sure that I'll be waking up soon."
"I can prove to you that you aren't dreaming." Signe whispered back as she slowly released her grip on my hands.
"How the hell-?"
Signe interrupted me before I had the chance to finish my sentence by pressing her lips to mine and wrapping her arms around my neck. I watched as her eyes slowly closed and as her lips slowly curved into a smile. Gradually, my eyes slowly closed as well and I found myself smiling even more than she was. I also found myself wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her close to me.
The feeling of my heart pounding in my chest, the softness of her hair as I ran my fingers through it, the way our breathing instantly became in sync when we pulled away from each other... It all felt so real.
Maybe it was real.
Even though I didn't usually believe in miracles, maybe I could make an exception this time around.

"Do you believe me now?" Signe whispered as tears gleamed in her eyes and as she rested her head on my shoulder. "I wanted to make my presence known sooner, but you definitely wouldn't believed that I was real then. But, at the same time, I didn't want to wait too long because I couldn't bear being away from you." I felt the tears that had been previously glistening in her eyes escape her and land on my shoulder.
It was at that moment that I believed Signe when she said that I wasn't dreaming and that she wasn't something that my mind created because of my grief.
But there was still something that I needed to know.
"Listen, while I'm happy beyond words that you're alive, I have to ask..." I trailed off. "How the hell are you here? I saw the line on your heart monitor. It was flat. Plus, it made that dreaded noise that everyone hates hearing. And the doctors... They told me that you didn't make it."
"Sean, my heart only stopped for a few moments." Signe continued to whisper as tears continued to spill from her eyes. "I was barely clinging onto life when you walked in. While it was tough, I fought hard to stay alive. And the only reason why I fought so hard was because of you. And then you just walked out of the room, leaving me there all alone."
I felt my eyes fill up with tears as my body began to tremble. "I'm so sorry, Signe. If I knew that you were still alive, I wouldn't have left the room. You should've called out to me. If you did that, I would've come back."
"I tried." Hearing her voice crack caused the tears I had been trying so hard to hold back to spill out of my eyes. "My mind knew what I wanted to say, but my voice wouldn't actually let me say it."
I sighed as I wiped away my tears with one hand and ran my fingers through her hair with the other hand. "Can we please just put all of that behind us and appreciate the fact that you're actually here? While I'm still questioning whether or not this is actually a dream, I might as well enjoy the fact that I get to see you and actually hold you in my arms, which is something that I thought I would never get to do ever again. If this is a dream, I don't ever want to wake up."
Signe smiled as she planted a kiss on my cheek. Unfortunately, her smile faded as quickly as it came and she stared down at the ground as she mumbled, "I... I love you, Sean. I know that sounds crazy since we've only known each other for less than a year, but I do. I really don't want to lose you."
I smiled as I placed my hand underneath her chin and gently pulled her head up so that she was looking up at me. "I love you, Signe. I've been wanting to tell you that since Valentine's Day. I actually had a couple of things I planned on giving you before... Well, you know." I paused for a moment. "But I can give it to you now if you want."
Signe smiled brightly. "Yeah, that would be really nice."
I continued to smile as I planted a small kiss on her lip before I grabbed ahold of her hand and led her over to the couch. "Sit down and close your eyes while I get it for you."
"Why do I have to do that?" She asked, laughing as she did what I told her to do.
"Because I want it all to be a surprise." I replied excitedly as I hurried over to my closet, which is where I had to decided to store all of Signe's Valentine's Day gifts because I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of them.
I grabbed the bouquet of a dozen roses, which, much to my surprise, were still in really good condition and I also grabbed was the teddy bear that was holding the red heart. I then took them over to Signe and carefully set them down on her lap.
"Don't open your eyes yet." I warned her as I was setting the roses and the teddy bear down on her lap. "I still have a couple more things."
"Sean, you really didn't have to get me anything." I heard Signe reply as I walked back over to my closet and grabbed the heart-shaped box that had milk-chocolate hearts inside of it, the red heart balloon that had "Happy Valentine's Day!" written big and bold white letters. And last, but certainly not least, I grabbed the letter that I had written to Signe, which was something that I really took my time writing since I had wanted to properly get my feelings across to her. I vividly remember my hand shaking as I wrote the letter and I remember that I erased so many times because even though I was perfectly aware of my feelings and what they were, I still couldn't put the feelings that I felt so intensely into words that didn't sound like a bunch of nonsense. Hell, I still think that my letter is full of nothing but nonsense.

Nonetheless, it was too late to back out on giving my letter to Signe, especially since I thought I would never get to see what I had written and know how I truly felt about her.

"You can open your eyes now." I somehow managed to hide the nervousness in my voice as I set the rest of her gifts down next to her.
Time seemed to move in slow motion as I watched her eyes flutter open and immediately widen when he saw all of the gifts that were surrounding her.
"Sean..." She trailed off, smiling brighter than I've ever seen her smile before. "You didn't have to get me all of these gifts."
"Yeah, I know." I sat down on the ground and watched as her eyes happily scanned over all of the gifts. "But I wanted to. Do you really think that I wasn't going to go all out for my first valentine?"
"There's no way that I was your first valentine." Signe laughed a bit as she placed the teddy bear on her lap. "You probably had some stupid Valentine's Day fling that you aren't telling me about."
I shook my head. "Nope, you're my first ever valentine."
"I can't believe someone like you has never had a valentine." Signe shook her head in disbelief as she ran her thumb over the teddy bear's head. "What's next? You're going to tell me that you've never had a girlfriend?"
"No, I haven't." I trailed off nervously as I reached over and grabbed the letter from Signe's lap and held it up so that she could see it. "But, um, well..." I trailed off again, dead certain that I was blushing so much that my entire face was red, especially since my face felt extremely hot. "Just read this letter that I wrote you. It says what I want to say, especially towards the end."
I bit my lip nervously as I watched Signe carefully tear open the envelope and gingerly pull out the letter. I bit my lip even more as her eyes met mine.
"You wrote a lot." She smiled a bit as she looked down at the letter. "You must've really took your time writing all of this."
"Oh, yeah, I... I spent tons of time writing it." The nervousness I felt was painfully obvious in my voice and it was made even more obvious when I ran my hand through my hair. "You can probably tell just by looking at it, but, I, um, well, I... erased quite a few times."
"You're too cute." Signe chuckled as she briefly ran her fingers through my hair and planted a kiss on my forehead. "You know that, right?"
"M-Me? C-Cute?" I stuttered, feeling absolutely flustered. "N-No way. I'm n-not the c-cute one. Y-You're the c-cute one."
"Whatever you say, cutie." Signe chuckled again as she placed her hand underneath my chin and ran her thumb over my bottom lip before she planted a kiss on my cheek and removed her hand from underneath my chin. "Now, let's see what this letter says."
I placed my hand on the spot on my cheek where Signe had planted a kiss on it as I watched her eyes shift their focus to the letter that was resting on her lap. I watched nervously as her eyes slowly moved across the paper as she read everything I had written to her. As she read the letter, her face was completely emotionless and I hoped that it was because she was extremely focused on taking in the contents of the letter rather than because she wasn't enjoying what I had spent so much time writing to her.

It felt like nearly a thousand years had passed before Signe put down the letter and looked up at me. I struggled to come up with something to say to her, but thankfully, she grabbed ahold of my hands and gently pulled me close to her.
"So, you want me to be your girlfriend, huh?" She whispered, feeling her breath against my ear as she did so.
"Y-Yeah, I mean, t-that would be r-really nice." I mentally facepalmed because all I wanted to do was be able to say a full sentence to her without stuttering, not even once. "B-But, if y-you don't want t-to be m-my girlfriend, that's f-fine. I w-would totally u-understand."
Signe laughed like she thought I was telling a joke rather than being completely serious. "Are you kidding me? Of course I want to be your girlfriend."
"Really?" I asked, feeling a surge of happiness throughout my entire body as I sat up and looked her dead in the eyes.
She nodded as she let go of my hands and wrapped her arms around my neck. "Would I really lie to you? In case you haven't noticed, I'm one of the most honest people that you'll ever meet. I never lie because there's no use in actually doing it. All it ever does is just hurt people."
At that moment, I wrapped my arms around her waist and picked her up so that I was holding her in my arms. I smiled as I tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear before I whispered, "That right there is one of the many reasons why I love you so much."
Signe smiled back as she placed her hands on the sides of my face before she whispered back, "Sean, I get the feeling that only great things await us."

*****

After that fateful day, Signe and I became inseparable.

Signe's parents were just as, if not more, shocked as I was to see that she was alive. Much like I had done, they shed tears. Not that I'm surprised though. I mean, what parent wouldn't cry after finding out that their daughter, whom they thought that they would have to live the rest of their days without, was actually alive?

I'll admit that I was a bit jealous to see that Signe's parents actually loved her and cared about her. My family hardly even batted an eyelash at me and I haven't spoken to any of them since I moved out and I don't plan on it, especially since Signe was back in my life. She was all I needed in order to be happy and now that she was my girlfriend, I planned on doing so many things in order to make her as happy as she made me.

"So, what do you want to do tonight?" Signe asked me as we were cuddling on the couch in her apartment, which was dimly lit by soft pink lights. "While it's nice to just lay with you, I want to get out and do something with you. I've been cooped up doing nothing for a couple of days now because of the surgery."
"Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask you something." When she had brought up the surgery that she had a couple of days ago, it made me remember something that I didn't ask her when she had knocked on my door and revealed to me and everyone else that she was actually alive.
"What is it?" She asked, her eyes meeting mine as she looked up at me.
"Why exactly did you have surgery?" For some reason, I found my voice becoming small when I asked this. Perhaps it was because I figured that her needing surgery meant that her condition was getting worse and I didn't want to hear her say this. "The doctors just told me that you were rushed into emergency surgery when I arrived at the hospital to see you and I didn't ask any more questions after that because I was too worried about you."
"Oh, yeah, that." Much to my surprise, Signe didn't seem upset that I had questioned her about her surgery like I thought she would be. Instead, she sounded happy that I had brought it up. "Well, it'd be better to just show you rather than tell you."

Before I could respond, she got up and started walking around her entire apartment. It took me a few moments for me to realize that she hadn't collapsed or even seemed like she was struggling to walk.
"Wait, so you're saying..."
"I had the surgery to basically cure me!" Signe smiled happily as she walked back over to me. "Do you know how amazing it feels to walk around and not have to worry about collapsing at any given moment?"
I smiled back at her and laughed a bit. "I can't say that I know, but I'm really glad to see you so happy."
Even though I didn't think that it was possible, her smile grew. "See? This is why I asked you what you wanted to do tonight. I wanted to get out experience what it's like to not struggle to walk all of the time and constantly brace myself to collapse at any given moment."
I laughed a bit once more as I stood up and grabbed ahold of both of her hands. "I know the perfect place that we can go." I paused as the smile that I had had on my face moments prior returned. "But it's a surprise until we get there so close your eyes."
"But how am I going to get there if I have my eyes closed?" Signe asked as she did what I told her to do. "I'm going to end up tripping on or running into something at some point."
"Not if I do this." The smile on my face grew as I walked over to her and covered her eyes with my hands.
"How is this going to make it so that I don't run into anything?" Despite the fact that she couldn't see anything, she still tilted her head and looked up at me.
"I'm going to guide you to where we're going and don't worry, I won't mess around and make you run into something."
"Good." She tilted her head back to its normal position. "I would've been really upset with you if you did."
"I could never do that, even if I tried my hardest to do so." I assured her. "I don't like seeing you getting hurt and I especially don't like seeing you in pain."
"So seeing me going in and out of the hospital constantly was..."
"Awful." I finished her sentence for her, knowing exactly what she was going to say. "It was easily one of the worst experiences of my life. It's extremely painful seeing the person you care about go through so much pain and suffering, especially when there's nothing that you can do about it." I felt my hands slowly slip from covering her eyes as tears began forming in my eyes.
"Sean..." Signe looked up at me once more and placed her hand on the side of my face. "All of that is in the past. Instead of focusing on the past, you should focus on the future, especially since you're going to be spending it with me. I know that you were extremely upset because you thought that you were going to have to spend the rest of your life with me, but that's no longer important because I'm here now." She smiled a bit as she ran her thumb over my cheek. "And I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon."
At that moment, I pulled her into a hug and the tears that had been previously forming in my eyes turned into tears of joy as I felt them escape my eyes and roll down my cheeks.
"Do you remember how I said that if all of this was actually a dream, that I don't ever want to wake up?" I asked quietly as I allowed the tears to roll down my cheeks. I didn't bother to wait for her response and instead answered my own question by saying, "Well, if this is all in fact a dream, then I don't want to wake up more than ever."
"You're still questioning whether all of this is a dream?" Signe asked, laughing a bit as she wiped away my tears. "I can assure you that all of this is anything but a dream. I'm one-hundred percent real and you don't have to worry about watching me suddenly disappear and then waking up only to discover that the truth is that I'm still dead and everything that you just experienced was all in your head."
"You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear that." I whispered as I tucked pieces of her hair behind her ear and placed my hands on the sides of her face before I pressed my lips to hers, only pulling away a few moments later because I needed to breathe.
Signe let out a small laugh after I pulled away. "Sean, you're the biggest sweetheart I've ever met. You know that, right?" She spoke quietly as she asked me this.
"Me? No way." I felt my face growing hot as I spoke as quietly as she had a moment prior. "I'm not that much of a sweetheart."
"You can say that all you want, but you'll never be able to convince me otherwise, no matter how hard or how many times you try." Signe laughed as she ruffled my hair. "Now, what were you saying earlier about knowing the perfect place we could go and it being a surprise until we get there?"
"Oh, right!" I had nearly forgotten about that and I was glad that she had given me that reminder. "We can go right now if you're ready."
"Of course I'm ready!" Signe exclaimed excitedly. "I've been ready since you mentioned it."
I couldn't help but let out a laugh as I covered her eyes with my hands once more. "Well, in that case, let's get going then, shall we?"

*****

"We're here!" I exclaimed excitedly as Signe and I arrived at the beach and as I uncovered her eyes.
She let out a gasp once I uncovered her eyes. "Sean... It's so beautiful! Just look at that sunset!" She pointed to the sun, which looked like it was going to sink below the horizon at any given moment.
"I knew you would like it." I grinned as I grabbed ahold of her hand and interlaced her fingers with my own. "I've been wanting to come here with you at this time of day for a little while."
"You should've taken me here sooner." Signe said to me as I began leading her over to the spot where the waves were crashing on the surface. "It's so peaceful when there's no one here. You can actually hear the waves crashing on the surface instead of a bunch of little kids screaming as they run around and chase each other or play around in the water."
"That's exactly why I love coming here at night." I replied as I slowly and carefully sat down in the sand. Once I was sitting down, I let go of Signe's hand and started taking off my shoes.
"What are you doing?" She asked me as she looked over at me, watching me as I took off my shoes.
"Taking off my shoes, duh." I replied, laughing a little as I set them to the side so that they wouldn't get splashed by the waves.
"Yeah, but why are you doing that?" She laughed a little as well.
"Because I like feeling the waves crash onto my feet."
"You're a strange one. You know that, right?" Signe smiled as she began taking off her shoes as well.
"You're calling me strange for taking my shoes off, but yet you're over here doing that same thing." I teased, smiling back at her.
"Hey, I never said that I wasn't strange." She pointed out as she set her shoes down next to mine. "I just said that you were strange."
"Good point." I shrugged as I grabbed ahold of her hand once more, noticing out of the corner of my eye that her nails were painted a dark red color when they had been painted a dark purple color a couple of days before.
"Why the hell do I notice things like this?" I asked myself, accidentally saying it out loud rather than just in my head.
"Did you say something, Sean?" Signe asked me as I allowed our fingers to intertwine.
I sighed and shook my head. "It's not important. I was just muttering to myself about how I noticed something about you. But it's something extremely insignificant and unimportant that I shouldn't have even noticed in the first place because literally no one else on this entire fucking planet would even notice anything remotely like this."
"What is it?" Signe asked, pushing the matter further, just like I thought she would.
I sighed, knowing that she would just keep bothering me about it unless I told her. "Fine. I'll tell you." I let out another sigh. "I noticed that your nails were painted dark red instead of dark purple like they were a couple of days ago." I paused for a moment as I looked down at the sand. "See? I told you that it was stupid."
"You say that as if changing the color of my nails is a bad thing." Signe's tone of voice turned from very gentle to extremely defensive in what seemed and felt like a fraction of a second.
"No, no, I'm not saying that at all." I quickly assured her, not wanting her to get angry. "I was simply saying that I noticed that you painted your nails a different color, that's all."
"Good." Thankfully, Signe immediately calmed down. "Because I thought you were going to end up being one of those guys who controls every single aspect of their girlfriend's life."
"No way." I shook my head as I dug my toes into the sand. "I hate guys who are like that. Hell, I hate people who are like that towards anyone. The way I see it, people can do whatever they want as long as they're not hurting themselves or others."
"Exactly!" Signe agreed. "I couldn't agree more. Let people do what they want. Well, for the most part, at least."
I smiled to myself and let out a happy sigh as I pulled Signe closer to me and wrapped my arm around her. "I should've known from the very beginning that we were going to be perfect for each other."
"Of course we're perfect for each other." I saw Signe smiling out of the corner out of my eye as I felt her rest her head on my shoulder. "We both love art, we both hate our families, and-"
"Wait a minute, you hate your family?" I asked her, so shocked by what she said that I just couldn't wait for her to finish her sentence to question her about this.
Signe nodded and as she did so, I saw hatred in her eyes. It shocked me at first because she was such a kind-hearted person that always kept a smile on her face, even up until the point where everyone thought she met her demise. She honestly didn't seem like she was capable of hating anyone or anything so her family must've done something terrible to make her feel the way she did.
"If you don't mind me asking..." I trailed off, hesitant about asking her. There was a point in my life where I would refuse to talk about why I wasn't exactly fond of my family if anyone questioned me when I told them that that was the case so I fully understood that talking about family issues can be a touchy subject for some people. "Why do you hate your family?"
"I hate my family because they motivated my sister to run away!" The hatred I saw in Signe's eyes grew as she let out a growl. "They acted like they cared when they looked for her by putting up all of these missing posters, organizing all of these search parties, and whatnot, but I know the truth." She didn't even give me a chance to respond before she added, "The truth is that they were doing it all to make everyone think that they cared."
"But why would they go through all of that trouble if they truly didn't care?" I asked, immediately wondering if it was a good idea to even ask this. Ever since Signe made her way back into my life, I've slowly been discovered a side to her that I never knew she had.
And it was a side that I didn't like.
At all.
"Missing posters and search parties seem like a bit too much effort for someone who doesn't truly care about a disappearance." I added, even though I knew that I was probably making her even angrier by saying this. "If they didn't care, they wouldn't have organized the search parties and made missing posters themselves. They would've had other people do it and would've participated in the search parties to make people think that they cared."
Even though I didn't think it was possible, the hatred in Signe's eyes grew once more. She was now at the point where both anger and hatred completely consumed her.
"Hearing you say that makes it clear to me that you don't understand." Signe spoke quietly as she let out a low growl.
I sighed as I turned to face her and grabbed ahold of her hands. "Make me understand then. Explain to me why you think that your parents didn't care about your sister and motivated her to run away."
Signe huffed as she let go of one of my hands and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "As a child, I was pretty sickly. It wasn't really any major. I mostly got allergies, colds, the flu, and the like. Because of this, my parents paid a lot of attention to me and hardly even batted an eyelash at my sister!" Just when I thought that her anger had ceased, it returned. It sounded as if she was affected personally by the lack of attention that her sister received when they were kids. I knew that seeing your siblings mistreated was upsetting, but was it really as upsetting as Signe was making it out to be? I mean, she was making it seem like she was the one that was being ignored and not her sister.
"It wasn't fair, Sean! It just wasn't fair!"
I sighed as I attempted to comfort her by pulling her into a hug, even though I thought she was overreacting. This didn't seem like the Signe I came to know and love over these past few months. Maybe this side of her existed the entire time and I just didn't know until now.
Either way, I didn't like seeing her like this. It didn't feel like the Signe I fell in love with.
"Well, it's a good thing that that's all in the past, huh?" I asked, trying to change the subject. I wanted to talk to her about her dream of opening up an art shop, a dream that, for some strange reason, she never told me about, even though she planned on asking me to help her run it. You would think that, even though she stated that she was scared to ask me to help her run her art shop, she would at least mention her dream at least once or twice.
"Yeah, sure, I guess." Signe sighed as she rolled her eyes. "You can say that all you want, but I'll always hold a grudge."
I allowed a few moments of silence to pass between us before I responded to her, deciding to completely disregard what she said since it was pretty obvious that if we kept talking about how her parents treated her sister when they were younger, she would only get more and more angry.
"So, um, I... I was kinda going through your stuff because, well, you know, everyone thought that you were dead and all so I told your parents that I would go and clean out your apartment and while I was cleaning it out..." I trailed off, hoping that she wouldn't get mad at me when I told her this. "I found the notes that you wrote for the art shop that you wanted to open. And, well, I, um... I read them. And I was wondering if maybe you were still interested in having me help you run it. If you aren't, then I completely understand."
Signe stared at me for a moment, a moment that felt like an eternity. I braced myself for her to yell at me for going through her stuff by closing my eyes and resisting the urge to cover my eyes.
But, much to my surprise, she wasn't mad at all.
Wait a minute, I shouldn't be surprised that she isn't mad.
The Signe I came to know and love wouldn't get mad about something as insignificant as this.
But, then again, the Signe that was sitting next to me right now would get mad about something as insignificant as this.
Even though it probably wasn't the case, I was starting to feel like the surgery had done much more than rid Signe of the disease that plagued her for nearly a decade.
A disease that she said that could never be cured...
And yet, here she was sitting next to me, claiming that the surgery cured her.
Maybe miracles do exist.

"Of course I'm still interested in having you run it!" Signe exclaimed excitedly, all of the anger she was displaying previously disappearing more and more as each moment went by. "Creating art with you was one of the best memories that I have not just with you, but in general. I'd love to make more memories with you as I live out my dream."
I felt a smile form on my face before I wrapped my arms tightly around her and pressed my lips to hers. She immediately reacted by wrapping her arms tightly around my waist and kissing me back. It wasn't until we each desperately needed to breathe that we pulled away from each other.
"Signe, I can't wait to see what the future holds for us."

*****

"Can you believe that this is actually happening right now?" Signe asked me excitedly as she carried supplies that she needed to use in order to decorate her art shop. Although it took us just over a month to do so, we finally managed to claim ownership of the building Signe wanted to use for her art shop. I'll never forget the bright smile I saw on her face when the previous owner handed her the keys to the building and told her that it was officially hers.
That day was probably the happiest I've ever seen her and therefore, it was the day where I was the happiest ever since I met her.
As long as she was happy, I was happy.
"I think the more appropriate question is can you believe that this is happening right now?" I asked, laughing a little.
"No, I certainly can't believe that this is happening right now." Signe replied, laughing a bit as she set all of the supplies down on the ground. "My dream is actually starting to become a reality. Of course I can't believe that this is happening."
I let out a small laugh. "So, what's the first step of transforming this old dump into an art shop?"
"Painting, of course!" Signe exclaimed happily as she took out the buckets of paint and paint brushes she bought a couple of days ago. "I have to paint these walls in order to start making this place my own."
"Do you want me to help you?"
Signe thought for a moment as she began opening the buckets of paint. "Yeah, your assistance would be much appreciated."
I smiled a bit as I walked over to her and bent down so that I could start helping her paint the walls.
"Oh, I didn't mean with painting." Signe looked up at me for a brief moment before she slowly moved the painting supplies away from me.
"What did you mean then?" I asked, feeling extremely confused.
"I meant that you could go down to Starbucks and get me a vanilla latte."
"But you don't even like-"
"It's okay to try new things, Sean!" Signe snapped as she turned her head to face me before she glared me dead in the eyes.
"I know that but you don't have to-"
"Just go and get it for me, would you?" She huffed as she turned her attention back to the paint buckets and the paint brushes. "I already have a lot to do and that vanilla latte is going to get me the energy that I need in order to get everything that I need to get done done."
Realizing that saying anything more would only further anger her, I turned and walked out of the building and started making my way to Starbucks.

What the hell happened to Signe? Ever since she's returned, I've felt like she's becoming more and more like a stranger rather than a girl I got to know and eventually fell in love with.
What went wrong?
And how can I bring the old Signe back?

*****

I returned with Signe's vanilla latte and handed it to her in what I thought was really good time considering the fact that Starbucks always seemed to be busy whenever I went.
But Signe didn't share the same opinion as me.
"It's about damn time you got back!" She quickly took the vanilla latte from my hand when she turned around and saw that I had returned with it. "You took way longer than you should have!"
"You're making it sound like I should've just made your stupid vanilla latte appear right when you asked me!" I snapped, finally unable to sit back and just listen to her outbursts of anger over the littlest of things, especially since she had never acted this way before. "I only took ten minutes at the most to get back here and yet, you're acting like I took an hour!"
"It sure felt like you took an hour." Signe rolled her eyes as she took a sip from her vanilla latte. As she did so, I felt my arm twitch and a strong urge to slap the vanilla latte right from her hand.
I sighed, trying to calm myself down, even if it was only slightly. "You know, you've turned into a completely different person ever since you had that surgery. What the hell happened to the kind, gentle, and caring Signe Hansen that I knew and loved? Because I can tell you right now that I did not fall in love with the Signe I've been seeing this past month. Why are you acting like this? Before the surgery, I never once saw you get angry, especially at the level you've gotten at on several occasions since you had your surgery."
"You know, you keep bringing my surgery up. Do you think that it changed my personality or something?"
"Well, no, of course I don't." I replied. "I know better. Last time I checked, there wasn't a surgery that could completely alter your personality. I just keeping bringing it up because your sudden personality shift happened after you had your surgery."
Signe rolled her eyes again as she continued to drink her vanilla latte. "I'm fine, Sean. I think that your mind still can't properly process that I'm actually alive, even though it's literally been almost a month since I came knocking on your door."
"I mean, I'm not going to deny that." I whispered as my eyes slowly trailed down to the ground. "Sometimes I'll wake up and wonder if you'll suddenly just be gone and I'll find out that the life I've been living with you has been nothing but a dream."'
"Really? You're still worried about that?" Even though I wasn't looking at her, I knew she rolled her eyes like it was unbelievable that I would think such a thing. "I literally did everything in my power to prove to you that I was real. What the hell else do you want me to do to prove to you that you're not dreaming and that you're living in the real world with the girl that your heart yearned for so badly?"
"You don't have to do anything." I whispered, now fearing for what would happen if I continued on saying the wrong thing. Would she leave me?
No, don't you fucking dare think about that. You almost lost her once. Do you really want to lose her for real this time?
"A part of me knows that I'm not dreaming and I'm living my life with you, which is something that I've wanted to do ever since I realized that I was in love with you." I continued to whisper, still fearful of her deciding that she was tired of me and that she didn't want anything to do with me anymore. "But, at the same time, a part of me still thinks that this is all just a dream." Before she had the chance to respond, I added, "But don't worry. I'll convince that part of me that you're real."
Much to my surprise, Signe gave me a soft smile and pulled me into a tight hug, dropping her vanilla latte on the ground in the process. "I love you, Sean. I really do. I know that I've been getting angry over stupid little things lately and I'm sorry about that. I know I shouldn't be making excuses, but the reason that I've been much more irable recently is because I'm really stressed."
"Why are you stressed?" I asked her gently as I entangled my fingers in her hair.
Signe let out a sigh as her green eyes met my blue eyes. "I just want to get this art shop up and running as quickly as possible. I'm so close to finally achieving my dream, but yet so far."
"No, we're so close." I corrected her, grinning slightly. "We're in this together, Signe. You wanted me to run your art shop, didn't you?"
"Y-yeah, of course I did." She blinked as she continued to look up at me. "Why wouldn't I? We have so many wonderful memories of us painting together."
"That's right." I gave her a smile as I nodded. "Now, with that being said, I don't want you to ever think that you're alone in putting together this art shop because you're not. I'm going to help you getting up and running and I'm also going to help you keep it running for many years to come."
A bright smile formed on Signe's face as she rested her head on my chest, directly on the spot where my heart was so that she could hear it beating. Well, I'm assuming so, at least. "I'm so lucky to have you in my life, Sean."
At that moment, I placed my hand underneath her chin and gently tilted her head upwards so that she was looking at me once more. "No, I'm the one who's lucky." I whispered right before I pressed my lips to hers, not pulling away from her until I needed a breath so badly that I had to gasp for air once I finally managed to tear myself away from her lips.
"You're the best." Signe whispered breathlessly as her eyes fluttered open. "Again, I'm really sorry about all of the outbursts that I've been having for a while." She paused for a moment before she asked, "Can you forgive me?"
"Hmm..." I trailed off, smiling a bit. I finished my sentence after what felt like a moment to me and an eternity for Signe (I could tell just by looking at her face that she just wanted me to say whether or not I forgave her), "Yes, I can forgive you. But only on one condition."
"What is it?" She asked, so desperate to the point that a person from a mile away could see how much she wanted my forgiveness.
"You have to go back to the Signe Hansen I fell in love with." I smiled a bit as I placed my hands on her waist. "You know, the Signe Hansen that was kind to everyone, always had a smile on her face, was the shoulder I could cry on when I needed to, always somehow managed to make me laugh and put a smile, and the one who was my inspiration to start drawing and painting." I reached up and tucked pieces of her hair behind her ear. "I miss that Signe. I miss her a lot. And I know that she's somewhere inside of you. She's just hiding behind the Signe you've been for just over a month now. I would really like it if she came out of hiding and banished this Signe to the deepest and darkest parts of you."
Signe smiled back at me and grabbed ahold of my hand, planting a kiss on the top of it after she had done so. "You've got yourself a deal, Sean."
Without a moment's hesitation, I pulled her into a hug and hugged her tighter than I've ever hugged her before. "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. Have I ever told you that?"
Signe shook her head, knowing that she was smiling without having to look down. "No, but you're welcome to tell me as many times as you want."
"Okay." I wrapped an arm around her waist while I ran my fingers through her hair with my free hand. "I'll be sure to tell you so many times that you'll get tired of hearing it."
"I don't think that that'll ever happen." She replied as I planted a small kiss on top of her head.
"Oh, we'll just have to see about that." I let out a small laugh. "In case you couldn't tell by now, I express my affection very openly and very often."
Signe let out a small laugh as well. "I know that. And I'm very much okay with that. I like to know that you care about me."
"Well, I'll be sure that I let you know so much that there isn't a single doubt in your mind over whether or not I care about you." I whispered as I placed my hand on the side of her face and pressed her lips to mine once more, feeling all of the feelings that came with loving someone, from the butterflies in your stomach to your heart pounding in your chest, surging throughout my entire body all at once, giving me a feeling that I've never felt before in the almost three decades that I've lived on this extremely beautiful, but extremely ugly at the same time, planet. It was a feeling that made me feel like I could do anything I set my mind to.
It was a feeling that made me feel like I was on cloud nine.
It was a feeling that made me feel like I was flying and it was nearly impossible to get me back down.
If this what loving someone truly feels like, I want to have this feeling until my dying day.

*****

"Signe, can I ask you something?"
Later that night, I found myself laying in my bed cuddling the girl that meant the world to me close to me. I also found myself holding her tightly like she would leave me if I didn't hold her tightly enough. It was probably due to the fact that I thought that I lost her once and I didn't want to lose her for real.
"Of course you can." She replied like it was stupid of me to ask that question. "You know that you can ask and tell me anything. I don't want either of us to hide anything from each other, Sean. That's how relationships get destroyed."
"I know, I know." I saw that the movie that were watching together had just ended and had started showing the credits so I reached over for the remote and turned both the DVD player and the TV off. "Well, anyway, I wanted to ask you if you would give me the honor of painting a portrait of you."
"You mean like how Jack painted Rose in Titanic?"
"Yes, but without the French girl aspect, the inevitability of death on a ship that was always claimed to be unsinkable, and the promise of never letting go despite the fact that Rose let go of Jack after he died and allowed him to sink to the bottom of the freezing ocean."
Signe laughed. Normally, I would laugh as well, but I didn't this time around. For some reason, her laugh sounded different from how it usually sounded. I couldn't really explain why or how it sounded different, but it certainly felt different to me. It was almost as if the laugh I had just heard belonged to a completely different person, even though I knew that that wasn't the case.
I decided that I was overthinking the entire thing and pushed it to the very back of my mind. After all, the only thing that mattered was Signe and I were living our lives together as a pair that nothing or no one could tear apart.
"Sean, you're a really funny guy. Has anyone ever told you that?"
"Nope, not at all." I shook my head. "I never really had any friends while I was growing up and both my siblings and parents weren't exactly fond of me so all of the people who have ever been in my life have ever even had anything that was even remotely nice, let alone told me that I was funny."
"That's such a shame." Signe replied as she began running her fingers through my hair. "There are so many amazing aspects about you. I really don't see why anyone would ever dislike you."
I felt my face growing hot and I was dead certain that a blush was starting to form on my face if it wasn't there already. "D-Do you really think so?"
Signe smiled and nodded as she planted a small kiss on the top of his nose, causing my face to grow even hotter and the blush on my face to turn a deeper red. "I know so." She then planted a kiss directly onto my blush, causing my face to become so hot that it was a wonder how it wasn't on fire and the blush on my face to turn as red as a tomato. "Now, shall we get started on your portrait of me?"
"Oh, yeah, of course." I let go of her and sat up, glad that she had reminded me of that because I had almost completely forgotten that I had asked her if I could paint a picture of her.
"Where do you want me to sit?" She asked as I stood up with the intent of going into the living room to grab a canvas, a stand for the canvas, my paints, a couple of pencils, and a pencil sharpener so that I could get to work on the painting, especially since I knew that it would take a long time. Hell, it would more than likely end up being the painting that took me the longest to finish.
I looked around the room for a few moments, wondering where I should have her sit. When a few places came to my mind and I was unable to choose between them, I said to Signe, "You know what? Surprise me. I'll grab a chair from downstairs and place it on the spot where you decide that you want to sit."
"Okay, I can do that." She replied excitedly as she stood up and began looking around the room. "I'll have my decision by the time that you get back."

After making two trips upstairs and downstairs in order to transport everything I needed up to my bedroom and getting everything set up so that I can get started on my painting of Signe, I looked over at the Danish girl and asked her, "Do you have your decision of where you want to sit while I paint the portrait of you?"
She nodded as she went over to a spot that was directly in the middle of the room. When she stood there, I was blown away by how beautifully the moonlight reflected off of her and enhanced her beauty (Which I didn't even think was possible because she's beautiful beyond words), making me feel like I was looking at a scene from a movie rather than something from the real world, let alone something that was almost directly a few feet away from me.
"I... I think that you made a really good choice." I whispered breathlessly, unable to take my eyes off of her or even blink for that matter.
Signe looked over and saw the expression that I had on my face and laughed softly as she walked over to me. "I think I did too. The look on your face right now is absolutely priceless." She then took the chair from me and placed it on the spot that she was standing on before she sat down on the chair and ran her fingers through her hair. "Feel free to take all of the time you need. Don't feel like you need to rush. You have all the time in the world. I will sit here until you're completely finished, especially since I fixed up my hair and redid my makeup while you were bringing everything up here."
"You don't need to wear makeup, you know." I said to her as I began sharpening one of the pencils that I had brought up to my room. "You're naturally beautiful."
Even though the only source of light in the room was the moonlight, I could see a small blush form on Signe's face after I said this.
"Well, um, I like wearing makeup to enhance my features." She didn't bother to cover up her blush since she either thought that I couldn't see it or didn't want to ruin her makeup by touching her face. "Plus, it helps me feel like I'm beautiful."
"I'm not going to lie and say that I don't think that you look really lovely when you have makeup on." I said as I finished sharpening the first pencil and placed it down on the stand before I began sharpening the second pencil. "But I'm also not going to lie and say that I think you look even more lovely when you don't have makeup on."
The blush on Signe's face grew as she ran her fingers through her hair. "Just shut up and paint a picture of me, you stupid little green bean." She laughed a little as she looked over at me.
"Green bean, huh?" I smiled a bit as I finished sharpening my second pencil and placed the pencil sharpener down on the bed and kept the pencil in my hand. "That's the nickname that you've chosen for me?"
"Well, yeah." Signe shrugged a bit as she smiled back at me. "You have green hair so of course I'm going to call you green bean."
I rolled my eyes as I continued to smile. "Yeah, okay, whatever. Can you turn your head so that I can start painting?"
"Why, of course." She did as she was told and turned her head so that the moonlight was hitting her perfectly once more. "How does this look?"
"Absolutely perfect." I smiled brightly as I spoke the truth. I still couldn't believe how stunning she looked during this very moment. "Now, don't move. I want to capture every single detail of you perfectly."
"You got it." Signe replied as I began making a sketch of her on the canvas. "Remember, take all the time that you need. Don't rush yourself. Art is something that takes time. Lots and lots of time."
""Art is the voice of the heart."" I murmured the quote that Signe loved so much as I continued to sketch the beautiful Danish girl that was sitting so still in the moonlight and still looking like she was straight out of a scene from a movie. She was a beautiful girl that I was beyond lucky to be able to call my girlfriend.

*****

After a few hours had passed and the moonlight had turned into sunlight, I finally finished my painting of Signe.
While it was nowhere near as good as anything she's ever painted, I was still pretty damn proud of my work. While the real life Signe was much more stunning, I studied every single little detail of the Signe that I had spent hours recreating on my canvas.
"Hey, um, I... I'm done now." I said nervously, wondering if she'll like it while hoping that she would at the same time. "You can come and look at it if you want."
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Signe replied as she eagerly got up from the chair, almost knocking the chair over because of how quickly she got up. She also almost tripped due to the fact that she had been sitting motionless on the chair for a few hours without any breaks in between.
I couldn't help but laugh as I watched as she wobbled over to the canvas, desperately trying to wake up her limbs, which had more than likely fallen asleep due to the fact that she had hardly moved a muscle for the last few hours.

I watched Signe's eyes widen as she studied the painting I had worked on for what felt like days on end. After a few moments of studying it, her lips curved into a smile as she turned her head to face me.
"I love it." I could hear and feel how genuine her statement was. "It's really beautiful. I really don't understand why you didn't start painting and drawing until I came into your life. It's obvious to me that you were born to be an artist."
"D-Do you really think so?" I asked, feeling a blush form on my face.
"I know so." Signe nodded as she grabbed ahold of both of my hands. "I really hope that you decide to pursue something related to art while you're helping me run my art shop because more people need to see your wonderful work."
"Well, I would really like to travel the world and paint things like people and landmarks and sell my creations to people on the streets." I felt my face grow hot as the blush on my face grew deeper. "Art and traveling are my two favorite things ever, besides you of course, so I think that combining the two would be a dream come true."
"That sounds exciting." Signe grinned. Even though I hadn't painted her smile in the picture that I considered to be my best work yet and had instead opted to go for painting her with a serious expression as she looked down at the ground as the moonlight flooded in through the window and illuminated her and the beauty she possessed, I still loved seeing it. Plus, I was considering painting another portrait of her in the future where she would be smiling because her smile was one of my favorite things about her. "Maybe we can take a trip somewhere after we get the art shop up and running."
"Yeah, I would really like that a lot." I smiled brightly, excited at the prospect of traveling the world with my girlfriend.
"Me too, Sean." Signe smiled brightly as well as she planted a kiss on my forehead. "Me too."

*****

"Sean, I'd like to ask you something."
It had been four days since I had painted the picture of Signe that I was beyond proud of and was displayed in Signe's bedroom just above her bed. I was pretty sure that she loved the painting more than I did, which I was one-hundred percent okay with it because the only thing that mattered was that she loved it.
"What is it?" I asked her, raising my eyebrow slightly.
"Since you painted a picture of me, I was wondering if you would allow me to paint a portrait of you." She replied, smiling in eager anticipation as she waited for my response. I could tell just by looking into her eyes that she wanted to paint a picture of me more than anything.
And I wanted her to paint a picture of me more than anything.
"Of course." I smiled back at her as I gave her a nod of approval. "I would be honored to say that Signe Hansen painted a portrait of me."
"Well, I'm honored to say that Sean McLoughlin painted a portrait of me." Signe looked down at the ground as a very tiny blush began to form on her face. "Especially since my art isn't even that great."
"You've got to be kidding me right now." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How the hell could Signe think that she was a terrible artist, especially since there were people in this world who would kill to possess even half of the talent that Signe possessed when it came to art. It was obvious to anyone that had the honor of looking at even one of her paintings or drawings that she was born to be an artist. "Signe, you're a wonderful artist. You possess talent that's beyond words. Saying that your art is beautiful is a huge understatement. Your art is so wonderful that it's unreal. When I look at your art, I feel like I'm looking at a photograph rather than a drawing or a painting. Also, you were my inspiration to fall in love with art in the first place. And guess what?" I didn't bother waiting for her response and added, "You're my inspiration to keep on improving my artwork. I would really love to become as good as you one day and that's been my goal from the very beginning."
A few moments of silence fell between Signe and I before she looked up at me, tears of happiness glistening in her eyes and the biggest smile that I've ever seen on her face. At that moment, she pulled me into a hug and hugged me tighter than she's ever hugged me before. "Sean, I'm so damn lucky to have met and fallen in love with you." She whispered as she looked me dead in the eyes. "Moving to Ireland from Denmark was the best decision that I made in my entire life. If I hadn't ever moved, I don't think I ever would've met you."
I frowned as I began wondering what my life would be if I had never met Signe.
Would I still be desperately trying to figure out what I wanted to do for the rest of my life?
Would I have even thought of trying out anything related to art without Signe giving me an art lesson?
Would I be happy?
All of these questions (And many more as well) raced through my head. Deciding that it wouldn't be the best to try and answer these questions or even think of anything related to what my life would be like right now if I had never met Signe, I responded to her in hopes that she would drop the subject that was currently at hand. "Well, it's a good thing that you moved here, huh?"
She nodded in agreement. "It's an even better thing that I not only moved in the same apartment complex as you, but right across from you." She then added, "You know, sometimes I wonder if that was a coincidence or not."
"Well, some people say that everything happens for a reason." I shrugged a bit. "So, who knows? I certainly don't know. I'm just grateful that I met you in the first place."
"I'm grateful that I met you too." Signe grinned as she planted a kiss on my cheek. "Now, I'm gonna go and get everything that I need in order to paint a portrait of you and while I'm doing that, I want you to pick somewhere to sit while I'm painting."
"Okay, I can do that." I watched as she left her bedroom in order to go and get everything that she needed, only turning my head away from the doorway when she left my sight completely.

As I looked around Signe's bedroom, I noticed that the setting was similar to when I asked her if I could paint her portrait. The moonlight flooding in through the window, the perfect spot to sit in the middle of the room... The similarities were nearly impossible not to notice. The only difference was that we were at her apartment rather than my own.
Not that I had a problem with it, of course. In fact, I thought that it was nice that both Signe's portrait and my own were going to be very similar to each other, especially since I loved the way Signe looked sitting in the moonlight. With that being said, I really hoped that I looked just as good, if not at least half as good, sitting in the moonlight as she did.

*****

"How did I know that you were going to pick that spot?" Signe asked me as she let out a small laugh and began setting up all of her supplies.
"Oh, come on." I let out a small laugh as well. "How could I not pick out that spot? Not only is it a really good spot, but if I sit here, our portraits will be really similar."
"You know what? You're absolutely right." Signe smiled as she placed the chair that she had brought up to her bedroom for me to sit on while she painted on the spot that I was currently standing on. "I never actually thought about that. I'm glad that you pointed it out to me."
I smiled to myself as I sat down in the chair and looked down at the ground for a few moments before I looked up at Signe. All of her attention was focused on me and I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was studying every little detail about me. She had a very small smile on her face as she continued studying me from head to toe.
"You made a good choice too." She said simply before she turned her attention away from me and shifted it to the canvas that was right in front of her. "Now, I want you to sit just like how I was when you painted my portrait. I want to get as close as possible to your painting because I love it so damn much."
I chuckled softly, murmuring a soft "thank you" as I positioned myself so that I was sitting just like Signe was when I had painted my portrait of her four days ago.
"Perfect." I heard her murmur softly to herself. "Just perfect."
After a moment of silence had passed between us, she broke it by speaking up, "Now, don't move a muscle. I want to capture every single detail of you as flawlessly as possible, just like you did with me."
I couldn't help but smile to myself as I followed her instructions, eager to see what the end result was going to be.

*****

By the time Signe finished, I was on the verge of falling asleep.
Somehow, I managed to keep myself occupied during the few hours that she had spent painting by thinking about all of the future plans that I had, everything from my relationship with Signe to the places I wanted to travel to in order to draw and paint various people and locations before selling them to the locals of the particular place. Thinking about all of those things over the last few hours has both excited me and motivated me for the future for the first time in my life. For much of my life, I've always dreaded the future because I never really had anything to be excited about. After all, my childhood was filled with the mundane task of going to school five days a week during the school year and desperately finding ways to entertain myself on weekends and breaks during the school year, especially during summer break. But, for the first time, I actually had things to be excited about. I was going to be spending my future with the girl that I grew more and more certain about wanting to marry her and having her be the mother of my kids one day. Not only that, but I was finally going to see what it was like outside of Ireland. Traveling out of the country is something that I've always wanted to do for as long as I can remember and the fact that that was going to become a reality in the near future excited me.
"Okay, I'm done now." Signe said to me after she finished putting a few final touches on the painting. "You can come over and look at it now."
I eagerly stood up, faceplanting right onto the carpet after I had done so due to the fact that I had been sitting completely still the entire time that Signe was painting. Not only did I faceplant straight onto the carpet, but I also knocked the chair I had been sitting on onto the floor.
Signe erupted into laughter after she saw everything that just happened. "Sean, your art may be very graceful and pristine, but you yourself aren't so graceful."
"Shut up." I laughed as I slowly and carefully stood up, almost tripping again as I walked over to the canvas. "I never claimed to be a graceful person."
"Well, I'll give you that." Signe laughed again as she took a couple of steps away from the canvas so that she could admire her artwork from afar. "Now, come and take a look at my painting. I think that it's the best one that I've ever done."
Unable to go a moment longer without looking at her painting, I glanced at it, expecting to be a truly remarkable piece of artwork.
But it wasn't.
It was... different.
Much different.
And not in a good way either.
It didn't have any of the elements that Signe incorporated into every one of her paintings in order to truly make them her own. In fact, it almost felt like I was looking at an art style evolving backwards, something that I didn't even think was possible. But it definitely felt like I was looking at the artwork of someone who was brand new to painting in the style that Signe painted in, which felt very odd to me.
"So, what do you think?" Hearing her ask that caused me to jump due to the fact that all of my attention was focused on analyzing the painting that was right in front of me.
"I love it." I replied, lying straight through my teeth. Not only was the painting different from what Signe usually painted, but her signature was different too. Rather than being signed in a way that would make even a seasoned calligraphist jealous, it was "signed" by her name just being written in sloppy print. And the print was so sloppy that I felt like I was looking at a four year old who had just finished writing their name for the first time rather than the writing of a twenty-two year old that had the most beautiful handwriting that I've ever seen.

Much to my surprise, Signe actually believed me when I told her that I loved the portrait that she had painted of me. "Really? Oh, I'm so glad to hear that!"
I began wondering if I should just tell Signe the truth about how I truly felt about her painting. If I did, however, she would be crushed and would more than likely start crying. But if I didn't, I would feel extremely guilty for lying.
But, then again, every artist had a painting that wasn't really that great every once in a while.
Maybe this was just one of her not-so-great paintings.

Nonetheless, I decided that it would be best to just keep my thoughts to myself because I didn't want to hurt her feelings.
Besides, I was probably just overthinking everything.
Right?

*****

The next three months both flew by and dragged on at the same time.
They flew by because I spent them with Signe and no matter what we were doing together, time always seemed to pass in a blink of an eye.
But, at the same time, they dragged on because all we did day in and day out was get the art shop ready so that it can be opened up to the public.
I'm not kidding when I say that either.
From the moment Signe opened her eyes in the morning all the way to the moment she closed them at night, all that she was focused on and all that she talked about was her art shop. From listing off everything we needed to get done and/or work on that particular day to making a list of supplies that she needed in order to make her art shop her own, my life revolved around making Signe's dream a reality. I put everything aside, from working on achieving my own dream to working on drawings and paintings, just to make Signe happy and to make her dream come true rather than my own.
Most people would think that I was unhappy doing this for so long, especially if they saw how desperate I was to make my own dreams a reality, but they would be wrong.
Not only was Signe the most important person in my life, but she was also the most important thing in my life and I prioritized her over everything, including my own dreams and needs.
She always came first and she will always come first, especially since Signe adores all of the love and care that I give to her.

But I've recently noticed that while she proudly took in the fact that I put her before myself, she's never once insisted that I didn't need to put her first all of the time (Though I would still do it anyway because of how much I love her) and she's never offered to put me before her. And to me, that seems out of character for her. Not only that, but she's slowly starting to revert back to the impatient, I-will-not-hesitate-to-have-an-outburst-of-anger-if-even-the-smallest-thing-goes-wrong Signe that damn well could've ruined our relationship if I hadn't put a stop to it when I did.

And to top it all off, she's completely changed her art style. Up until when we drew together for the first time since her surgery, her art always gave off an impressionist vibe. But now they give off an expressionist vibe. Now, don't get me wrong, I've heard of artists changing their styles (My art style has actually changed over these past three months and I'm much better than I was before Signe had her surgery and I'm sure as hell better than I was when Signe and I sat down at Starbucks and gave me an art lesson), but there's no way in hell that an art style can undergo the dramatic change that Signe's went through in a matter of just three months. Those sort of changes take years and countless paintings and drawings, not three months and very few paintings and drawings (Signe and I don't draw as much as we like due to the fact that we are extremely busy putting together her art shop).
Something wasn't right. I just knew it.

"Wake up, sleepyhead."
I groaned internally, knowing that Signe was shaking me awake so that we can get started on the tasks that had slowly turned from exciting to mundane due to the fact that her and I have done them for three months straight with hardly any breaks at all. "The sooner you get up, the sooner that we can get started on everything that we need to get done and the sooner that we can get started on everything that we need to get done, the sooner we can open up my art shop and start selling my art."

For once, I didn't procrastinate opening my eyes and sitting up to do my daily morning stretches. I was going to question her about her dramatic art style change because for some strange reason, I had a bad feeling about it. I couldn't explain this feeling or why I felt it, but I knew that questioning her was something that I absolutely needed to do.
"Signe, before we do all of that, we need to talk about something." I made sure that I sounded as serious as possible so that she knew that I wasn't messing around and I wasn't going to tolerate any funny business.
She rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed that I wasn't as eager to get started on all of the plans that she had laid out for today as she was. "What the hell is it? It better be really fucking important because we're so damn close to getting the art shop open that I can practically taste it."
I ignored her tiny outburst and got straight to the point. "How the hell did you art style go from an impressionistic style to an expressionistic style in just a matter of three months when you've hardly drawn or painted anything ever since we painted portraits of each other because you're investing all of your attention into opening up your art shop?" I didn't bother waiting to hear for her response and continued on with my questioning. "I haven't been drawing and painting as much as I like as of late and though my art style has changed, it's nowhere near the change that yours has undergone. Impressionism to Expressionism is a huge fucking jump, especially in three months. I mean, you're drawing and painting in Expressionism like you've done it for your entire life or something."
Signe placed her hands on her hips and glared daggers at me. She was so angry that I was surprised that I couldn't see smoke coming out of her ears. "Sean, I've been drawing and painting for my entire goddamn life! I learned how to draw and paint a little after I started walking." She paused for a moment as she let out a long, frustrated sigh. "With that being said, I've painted and drawn so many things to the point where I can change my style at the drop of a hat like that. You don't understand where I'm coming from when I say changing my style is one of the easiest things to do when you've been doing art for as long as I have."
"You know what? I don't even believe that!" I could feel my anger building more and more as each moment passed by. "You paint as if you're a completely different person!"
Signe's face grew flustered when I said this and my anger, which had been building up more and more had immediately turned into confusion when I saw the expression on her face.
"Why the hell would you even think that?" She immediately wiped the flustered expression off of her face and went back to glaring daggers at me. "What have I done to make you think that I was a completely different person?"
"So many things." I let out a frustrated sigh as I crossed my arms. "So many fucking things."
"Well, we've got time so you better to get listing these things!"
"Oh, so now all of a sudden we have time?!" My anger was building more and more by the second and I was scared that I was going to do something that I would later come to regret. "Not even five minutes ago, you were rushing me to get up because you wanted to continue on working on the art shop and now you're saying that we have plenty of time?!"
"You accusing me of being a completely different person and finding out why you think that so that I can defend myself is much more important than going to work on the art shop!" We were both growing increasingly angry at the other person at an alarming rate and it was only a matter of time before one of us got so angry that we did something that would ultimately end up hurting ourselves or both of us in the end.
"Well, if you must know..." I trailed off, waiting for a moment before I began listing off everything that made me think that I had spent all of this time with someone who wasn't Signe. "You get angry at almost every little thing now, you're extremely impatient, your art style is way different from how it was when I first met you almost a year ago, you're becoming extremely self-obsessed, and you enjoy it when other people are suffering."
Signe let out a laugh that made it sound like she thought everything I had just said was absolutely ridiculous. "Sean, you're so dramatic. I honestly can't even take you seriously right now." She let out another laugh. "What do you want me to do? Prove that I'm actually Signe or something?" She asked me, mocking me as if I was a child asking a really stupid question.
"Actually, yes." I smirked, not allowing myself to be fazed by the way she mocked me and ridiculed me. "It should be laughably easy, Signe." It was my turn to mock her because I had her at a standstill and the way her face turned from pride to being flustered showed this.
"F-Fine!" It was painfully obvious that she was trying her best to still have pride, even though that pride was fading fast. "You better hit me with your best shot then!"
Without even another moment of thought, I asked her, "When you gave me art lessons in Starbucks all those months ago, what were the things you taught me how to draw?"
"Things?!" She was absolutely flustered at this point. She was acting like I had just given her an extremely complicated math problem and asked her to solve it. "She- I taught you how to draw more than one thing?!"
I felt my heart drop into the pit of the stomach with so much force that it was like someone had dropped a boulder onto my stomach. "Did you just say... "she?""
Her eyes widened and after a few moments of being seemingly frozen in time, she let out a sigh and finally spoke, her voice not sounding like the voice I came to know and love. "Fine. I'm guessing you want the truth?"
"Um, of fucking course I want the truth!" I snapped, feeling a rage that I've never felt over the course of my entire life. "You've been lying to me for all of these months! You better fucking talk, bitch!"
"Signe" let out a sigh. "The truth is, which you've figured out by now, I'm not Signe. But, if it makes you feel even slightly better, I'm her identical twin sister. And you know what?" She didn't even bother to wait for my response. "I had to study her behavior very closely in order to pretend I was actually her rather than her older and much better identical twin sister without you finding out for as long as you did."
"You're not much better than her." I let out a low growl, knowing that I was angry that rage could be seen flaring in my eyes. "You're not even remotely close to being on the same level as her. Pretending to be someone that someone else cared for immensely is a really fucking shitty thing to do, especially since I saw her lying dead in her hospital bed."
"Sean, I must make you understand where I'm coming from." Signe's twin sister let out a sigh and crossed her arms. "Do you remember the conversation we had on the beach all those months ago about how I was angry about all of the special treatment that Signe got when her and I were younger because she was sickly?" She paused for a moment before she started speaking again. "Yeah, well, that's why I ran away. But Signe wouldn't tell you that because she wouldn't have figured it out on her own because I never told her the real reason why I left and because she was extremely naive and dumb."
"No, she wasn't!" I snapped, feeling both of my hands curl up into fists. "She was extremely smart, extremely kind, and an amazing artist!"
"She also had an amazing life." Signe's twin sister smiled, but it wasn't the kind of smile that you typically saw. Her smile was sadistic, as if she enjoyed posing as Signe for all of this time. "Which is why, when the opportunity came along, I got rid of her and took the life she lived for myself since I never got the chance to do the things that she did and have all of the fun she did, even when we were growing up together. I had to make her pay somehow." She shrugged like she thought that mercilessly taking away the life of your own twin sister was no big deal. "You know, some people will do anything to get their hands on a ton of money. The second I showed the large sum of cash to the people that were in charge of Signe's care, they were willing to do anything I asked them to do." She paused for a moment, that horrible smile still lingering on her face. "You know, it's not exactly hard to kill someone when they go into surgery. Just eliminate a few vital parts out of the picture and you're good to go, especially if it's in the brain."
"You sadistic bitch!" I resisted the urge to pin her up against the wall and beat her until she begged for me to stop. "How could you do that to your own sister?! She did absolutely wrong! It wasn't her fault that your parents ignored you! You should've taken out all of your pent up anger on your parents, not Signe!"
"Oh, don't worry. I already did." The sadistic smile on her face somehow managed to become even more twisted. "They didn't even scream. I was a bit upset about that at first, but then I realized that it helped me not get caught in the long run."
"You are a horrible person." I whispered angrily, struggling to stop myself from lashing out more and more as each moment passed by. "You killed off your entire family without a second thought."
"Yeah, well, they never gave me a second thought so why would I do that for them?"
At that moment, I couldn't hold back my anger anymore. I allowed myself to unleash it by pinning Signe's twin sister against the wall with all of the strength that I had so that she couldn't escape my grasp.
"I'm going to make you fucking pay for what you've done!" My nails dug so deeply into her wrists that they were now starting to bleed. "You lied to me for all of these by not only pretending to be Signe, but killing her as well! How could you do this to me?! Clearly you don't understand how much she truly meant to me!"
"Of course I knew how much she truly meant to you." Signe's twin sister rolled her eyes like she thought all of this was just one big joke. "It was painfully obvious. A blind person could see how much she truly meant to you."
"If you knew how much she meant to me, then why the hell did you let your selfishness get the best of you and take her away from me?" Tears began spilling from my eyes as my voice began to crack.
She let out a laugh, a laugh that sounded just as twisted and sadistic as she was. "You clearly didn't listen to anything that I said earlier. But another reason I took her from this world was so that I could have you all to myself and so that we could be together forever and ever."
"You are the last person on this entire planet that I want to spend the rest of my life with!" I snapped as I resisted the urge to wrap my hands around her throat. "Especially since you took away the person I might've actually ended up spending the rest of my life with!"
Without waiting for her to respond, I slammed her head against the wall, knocking her unconscious as a result. I released my grip on her and watched her slide down to the ground, her body limp. After a few moments of staring down at her, I picked her up and started taking her to the police station so that she could be put in the place where she belonged.

*****

"Hello, my love. How are you doing today?" I asked softly as I laid the fresh bouquet of red roses down where I laid Signe to rest upon obtaining the knowledge of where her twin sister had hid her body. That sadistic bitch had the nerve to hide it in the freezer along with the bodies of her parents, but that wasn't the most unsettling part.
The most unsettling part of it all was the fact that some parts were missing from all of the bodies and that those missing parts were never found.
Let's just say that I now know why Signe's twin sister hardly ever let me into Signe's apartment after she painted my portrait.

As twisted as the whole situation was, it was pretty amazing how she managed to transport not one, not two, but three dead bodies up to Signe's apartment without anyone ever reporting anything suspicious.
I guess money really does talk.
That, or the witnesses are no longer able to actually talk about what they saw.

"I hope you're doing well." I forced myself to smile as I looked at the headstone that I had spent quite a bit of money on, which I was very happy to do because Signe deserved to have a proper resting place, especially since she was unfairly taken from this beautiful and ugly world. "I brought you some flowers, just like I do every day."

It's been almost a year since Signe's death and ever since the day she's been buried, which was about ten or so months about her death, give or take, I've been buying and bringing a bouquet of red roses because even though she had passed, my love for her hadn't.
And all of the memories I shared with her definitely hadn't passed.

~~~~~

"Hi, are you the new neighbor?" A friendly female voice greeted me when I opened the door. The girl had a bright and genuine smile on her face as her green eyes sparkled. She also had medium-length brown hair and sounded as if she had a Danish accent. She also appeared to be a few years younger than me. "I heard from the other people that live in this building that the new neighbor was moving in today."
"Yeah, that's me." When I spoke, I couldn't help but notice that my Irish accent clashed with her Danish accent. "I'm guessing that you live here too?"
She nodded as she continued to smile. "I actually live right across from you in that apartment right over here." She turned her head away from me and pointed to the apartment that was directly across from mine. As she was pointing, I couldn't help but notice that her arm was trembling very slightly. While I thought that this was quite odd, I decided that I wouldn't say anything about it. Besides, it probably meant very little or nothing at all.
"By the way, my name is Signe." The girl turned her head to face me again before she held out her hand for me to shake. As I was about to shake her hand, I noticed that her arm was trembling very slightly once again. I again decided that I wouldn't say anything because it was more than likely nothing to worry about.
"My name is Sean." I smiled as I shook her hand. As I was shaking her hand, I noticed that her handshake was quite weak. I didn't think anything of this because I had met plenty of people who had weak handshakes and she wasn't going to be the last person I would meet who had a weak handshake. "But most people call me Jack. I don't care if you call me Jack or Sean. Pick your favorite."
"I like Sean." Signe's smile somehow managed to get even bigger. "That's my favorite."
"Well, I like Signe." Her smile was just so contagious that I couldn't help but allow my smile to grow. "I've never heard that name before. I think it's a really beautiful name."
A small blush formed on Signe's face. "R-Really? Y-You think so?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I do."
"You're too kind." The blush on her face grew as she pulled her phone out of her pocket and quickly checked the time. "Well, I better get going. I have some things I have to get done."
"Okay." I was a bit sad that she had to leave. "Will I be seeing you around?"
"Yeah, of course you will." She laughed a bit. "I live right across from you, after all."
"That's true." I laughed a bit as well. "But I was kinda hoping to see you again so that we can talk more and get to know each other beyond our names."
"Oh!" She seemed to be genuinely surprised that I was expressing interest of wanting to get to know her more. "Well, in that case..." She trailed off, seeming to struggle to find the words that she wanted to say. "We can get to know each other more."
"Great." I held back a yawn as I spoke. "I guess I'll see you around then."
"Yep." She turned and began walking back towards her apartment. As she was about to enter her apartment, she turned her head and looked back at me. "See you around Sean."
"See you around Signe."

~~~~~

"Sean?" She asked in surprise after she looked up from the task she was engaging in before I had arrived at Starbucks. "Is that you?"
I nodded. "Yeah, it's me. It's been a while. I think it's been a month since I've last seen you."
"Has it really been that long?" Signe asked, seeming to be genuinely surprised to find out that that much time had passed since we had last seen each other.
"Yeah." I replied. I then paused for a moment. "So, if you don't mind me asking, what have you been up to for the past month?"
"I've been in Denmark." She ran a hand through her hair, which was soaked from the rain. "My family lives up there and I wanted to go and see them."
"How nice." I smiled a bit. "Did you have fun?"
"Yeah, I had a lot of fun actually." She smiled a bit as well.
"I'm glad to hear that." His smile widened and he asked, "Hey, do you mind if I sit down across from you?"
She shook her head. "Not at all."
I continued to smile as I placed the umbrella down next to the empty chair before I sat down across from her. Now that I was sitting across from her, I was able to see what she was so focused on when I had looked over at her.
She was drawing a picture of a bouquet of roses.
"Wow." I breathed out after I admired how beautiful her drawing was. "Signe, your drawing is absolutely beautiful."
"Huh? What?" She stopped drawing as she looked up at me. "No way. My drawing's not beautiful."
"Are you kidding me?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "That drawing is so good that it looks like a real bouquet of roses."
"Now I know that you're just saying things to be nice." I could see a very small blush on her face as she spoke. "You don't have to do that, you know. You can tell me the truth."
"I am telling you the truth." I looked her dead in the eyes and maintained a serious look on my face so that she knew that I was in fact telling the truth. "Signe, I can assure you that I'm not a man who lies. I am a man who only speaks the truth. Now, as a man who only speaks the truth, I'm again going to inform you that your drawing is absolutely beautiful."
Signe covered her cheeks as the blush on her face grew. "Thank you so much. You have no idea how much that means to me."
"It's no problem really." I grinned. "Things that are beautiful deserved to be acknowledged that they are in fact beautiful."
"Okay, you need to stop." Signe laughed. "You're literally turning my face into a tomato."
"I can't help it that I love art so much." I continued to grin. "I also can't help it that you're an amazing artist."
"Sean!" Signe laughed again as she uncovered her face. When she did so, I saw that her blush had turned almost her entire face red. "Look at what you've done! You've turned me into a human tomato."
"Well, it's not the worst thing that I've done." I chuckled. "But, in all seriousness, I admire your skill and talent a lot. I really wish that I could draw. But, alas, I'm merely someone who can barely draw stick figures."
"Well, you know..." Signe trailed off as she flipped to the very next page of her sketchbook, which was a blank page. "No, never mind. You'd say no anyways."
"No, there's something that you want to ask me. Go ahead and ask whatever it is that you want to ask me. You don't have to be nervous about it."
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she said to me, "If you want, I'd be willing to teach you how to draw something. Only if you want to though. You really don't have to."
I immediately got excited by her offer. "Really? Are you serious?"
"Yeah..." She seemed to be genuinely surprised that I was expressing interest in her offer.
"I'd be honored if you could teach me how to draw something." I gave her a genuine smile, the first of its kind since I saw her last.
She returned the genuine smile. "Well, in that case, come over here and we'll begin with our lesson."

~~~~~

"Hey, you don't have to walk in the rain." I informed her as I looked over at her, feeling bad as I watched the rain drench her hair. "Come over here and walk next to me. It's nice and dry underneath this umbrella."
She gave me a small smile as she shook her head. "No, that's okay. I'm perfectly fine walking in the rain."
I then proceeded to move so that I was walking next to her and so that she was underneath the umbrella. "I won't take no for an answer." I smiled.
Signe was about to reply when she suddenly tripped and fell face first down on the ground. I immediately began began helping her up and once she had managed to get back on her feet, I asked her, "Hey, are you okay? That was quite the fall that you just had."
"I'm okay." Signe whispered, sounding as if she was trying harder to convince herself than she was trying to convince me. "I'm just clumsy, that's all."
"Are you sure that you're okay?" I whispered back, stopping in my tracks as I saw her legs were trembling slightly. "Your legs are trembling a little bit."
She nodded. "Yes, I'm okay. Sean, there's no need for you to worry about me. I'm going to be okay. Let's just go back to the apartment building. It's really late."
I reluctantly began walking again. "Listen, if you feel like you're going to fall, just grab onto my arm or something. I don't want you to fall again."
"But... Don't you feel awkward about that?" Signe asked extremely quietly. "I mean, this is only the second time that we're having a conversation since I was in Denmark with my family for an entire month."
I shook my head. "No, I don't feel awkward about it at all."
"Well, in that case..." She trailed off, her voice becoming barely audible. "Can I hold your hand until we get back to my apartment? I keep trembling and I'm almost certain that I'll fall again. But, if you're not okay with it-"
I cut her sentence off by grabbing ahold of her hand. As I did so, I could feel her arms trembling. It was a very slight tremble, but now that she seemed to fall out of absolute nowhere and for no reason at all, I was starting to feel concerned. I suddenly recalled back to the very first day that I had met Signe. I remembered how that her arm had trembled like it was right now when I had asked her where she lived and she had pointed to the apartment that was right across from mine.
"Please don't let go." Signe whispered nervously as she stared down at her feet as she walked slowly, seeming to struggle with every step. "If you let go, I might fall again."
"You have nothing to worry about." I reassured her as I continued to support her while holding my umbrella over our heads. "I'm not going to let you go and I'm certainly not going to let you fall."

~~~~~

"Signe, can I talk to you about something?"
Her smile faded away as well. "Yeah, of course you can. What is it?"
"Come inside." I instructed her, not bothering to wait for her response before I turned and walked towards my couch. I sat down a moment later and Signe followed suit soon after.
"Sean, is there something wrong?" She asked worriedly.
"I'm really hoping not." I whispered, more to myself than to her. "But, at the same time, I'm convinced that there is, in fact, something wrong."
"Why are you mumbling?" Signe asked, her worry increasing.
I sighed before I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Signe, I'm worried about you."
"What?" She seemed to be genuinely surprised when I told her this. "Why?"
"Your frequent collapsing... It isn't normal." I made sure to sound as concerned as I felt. "At first, I thought you were just really clumsy. But now, I think that there's something going on and it isn't something good."
"Sean, you're worried over nothing." I felt my heart start to race when she grabbed ahold of both of my hands and looked me dead in the eyes. Even in my moment of concern for her well-being, I couldn't help but notice that her eyes were so beautiful. They were an emerald green and they suited her so perfectly. "I've been dealing with frequent collapsing for just over a year now. I'm used to it now. Besides, the doctors have told me that there's nothing wrong."
For some reason, I felt like she was lying about the doctors telling her that there was nothing wrong with her. But it seemed like she didn't want to discuss the manner any further, so I decided that I wouldn't press her to tell me any more than what she was comfortable with telling me. Besides, maybe she was right. Maybe I was worried over nothing.

~~~~~

Time slowed down when Signe suddenly collapsed while walking towards my easel. Like I always did whenever this happened, panic swept over me and I quickly rushed over to her. I resisted letting out a scream when I began helping her up and saw blood drip down on the floor. When I saw this, I laid her back down on the floor, making sure that her back was resting on the hardwood floor.
I couldn't resist letting out a gasp when I saw that her entire forehead was covered in blood. Thankfully, even though her eyes were closed, she appeared to still be breathing.
I reached down into my pocket and quickly pulled out my phone, almost dropping it in the process. I shakily dialed 911 and felt my entire body shaking as I told the operator what had happened.

~~~~~

"Oh, are you that guy who's always visiting her?" I heard a voice ask from behind me.
"Yeah, that's me." I turned around to discover that a nurse was standing behind me. "Where is she?"
The nurse let out a sad sigh. "She was just rushed in for emergency surgery."
"What?!" I barely managed to choke out. "I-Is she g-going to b-be okay?"
"It's hard to give a definite answer." The nurse replied, having no emotion in her voice. "We'll just have to see what happens. Only time will tell what her fate will be."

~~~~~

"S-So..." I trailed off, hardly unable to speak. I had a horrible feeling that I already knew what she was going to tell me. If I was correct, then this would be the first time in my life that I'd wish that I was wrong. "W-What's the news?"
The nurse let out an extremely sad sigh and she took a deep breath before she spoke. "She didn't make it through the surgery."
At that moment, I felt like a group of people had teamed up and started beating me up, making sure that they were punching me as hard as they possibly could. I felt my entire body begin to shake and I struggled to not begin crying right then and there. I opened my mouth to speak, but I closed it a moment late when I realized that I had no idea what to say and even if I did, I couldn't get the words out.
"Would you like to go in her room and see her?" The nurse asked quietly in an attempt to fill the awkward silence that plagued us. "I see that you brought some Valentine's Day gifts for her. I think it'd be a good idea if you left those in her room."
"O-Okay." I barely managed to choke out as I forced my trembling body to walk over to where I had put all of Signe's gifts while I was waiting to hear news about her. For the first time, I understood how Signe felt the entire time that I knew her. She truly was strong and brave for dealing with this on a daily basis. She was even stronger and braver for dealing with having to be confined to a wheelchair after she became paralyzed from the waist down. If I had even half of her strength and courage, I could do anything I set my mind to.

~~~~~

"You always insisted that you were fine." I whispered to Signe, not caring that I wouldn't get a response from her. "Even though you were in and out of the hospital so frequently, you stayed strong. That's something that I couldn't do. I worried about you every single day and I was so afraid of losing you. But now, my worst fear has come true and I don't know how to go on without you."
It was at that moment that all my bottled up tears finally spilled out from my eyes.

~~~~~

By the time I had cycled through all of the smiles, laughs, and even tears that Signe and I had experienced together in my mind, I was a sobbing mess. My eyes were bloodshot, my cheeks were red and tear-stained, and my nose was stuffed up, making it harder to breathe. Living without her was extremely difficult, even possible sometimes.
But I powered through not only because I would want her to do the same if I had been the one to pass away first, but because I knew that, wherever she was right now, that was what she wanted.
"I... I know I never got the chance to tell you while you were still here, but I love you." I whispered as I gently ran my thumb over the part of the headstone where her name was beautifully engraved with her own handwriting. It was truly amazing what technology could recreate. "I wish I gathered up the courage to tell you my feelings sooner so that you would know that you were loved before you left this world, even if you didn't feel the same way about me. I'd like to think that you felt the same way about me for my own sanity though, but it's okay if you only ever saw me as a friend." I sighed as I slowly stood up, knowing that I had to get to the art shop, which I had decided to open up and run myself since Signe never got the chance to and I knew that along with owning and running her art shop, the only thing that she wanted was to share her artwork with people, so that I could open it for the day. "I wish you were still here. Even if you were here for just one day, I'd spent that day treating you like a princess and making you feel loved because guess what? You were loved. You may not have been loved by many, but you were loved by me. And sometimes being loved by one person is enough."

At that moment, I forced myself to turn around and walk away, although I turned and walked so slowly that it was painful.
"Signe, there isn't a single thing in this world that I wouldn't give to have you back, even if it was just for one day." I dug my hands into my pockets and began trudging along to the art shop. "I would kill to hug you, kiss you, and hold your hand just one more time. The moments, regardless of whether they were good or bad, that I spent with you were the greatest moments of my life and I really wanted to make so many more memories with you."
But the world doesn't always give you what you want.
Sometimes the world takes something or someone that meant everything to you away with no mercy at all and leaves you in the dust.
Such is the way of life.

*****

I think a lot of people judged me for living the dream of a girl who was long gone now rather than my own.

Yes, it was true that I could've passed the care of the art shop to someone else while I traveled the world so that I could live out my own dream of seeing the world and painting everything and everyone that fascinated me, all while selling my art to people that wanted it.
But I didn't want to.

I was always too paranoid to go through the trouble of hiring people and putting someone in charge of taking care of the art shop while I was gone. I don't know why I felt this way. Perhaps it was because I feared that they would mess with the drawings, steal them, or anything that could potentially spoil Signe's dream for that matter.

As expected, I eventually came to the point where I could no longer sell Signe's artwork because all of it had been sold. I sold everything from her very first piece of artwork, which was, compared to the last piece of artwork, a very poor drawing, to her second to last piece of artwork. Her first piece of artwork was of a cactus and her second to last piece of artwork was of a kitten playing with a ball of yarn.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't bring myself to sell the very last painting that she ever painted.
The very last painting that she painted was of a couple holding hands in the rain with an umbrella over them so that they wouldn't get drenched by the rain.

I think the reason I couldn't sell that painting was because it reminded of the day where Signe and I had walked back to the apartment complex in the rain together in the same manner that the couple in her painting had.

Not only that, but I also couldn't bring myself to sell her drawing of a bouquet of roses. That was because that drawing was the first drawing I had ever seen of hers and it reminded of the day that I started going from not being able to draw stick figures to being able to draw things such as famous landmarks and very realistic portraits of people.
I had Signe to thank for that.
The least I could've done to pay her back for making me into the artist that I am today was live the dream that she so desperately wanted to live, even if she's been gone for fifty years to the date now.
Man, half a century without the girl that you could've gotten down on one knee for and asked the four word question to, the girl that could've been the mother to your kids, and the girl that could've stood by you through thick and thin.

While I wish that things could've gone differently in terms of Signe being murdered at the hands of her own twin sister, I'm happy with the life that I've led up until this point. Even though I never married or had children of my own, I was still happy. I was honored run Art From The Heart, which I still think was such a clever name for the art shop, and mass produce my own paintings and drawings when Signe's inevitably ran out. While I spent a few years wishing that I could just off and travel the world, I now realize that traveling to see what lies beyond the place that you've called home is really only fun when you're surrounded by the one(s) you care about. Because of that, staying in Ireland and leading the life that I ended up leading up until this very day was the best way I could've gone through this wonderful and horrible thing that we call life.

*****

"Are you ready?"
It seemed like such a silly question to me, but a nerve-wracking question to them.
Of course they were hesitant about pulling the plug. It would be ending the life of someone.
But it would also be ending the suffering of someone.
That someone... That someone was me.
"Yes." I nodded to reaffirm the fact that I was one-hundred percent certain about my decision. I was ready.
Ready to see her again.
Ready to hold her in my arms again.
Ready to kiss her again.
Ready to spend time with her, the time that I never got to spend with her in my life.
Ready to stop all of this crying over her.
Ready to stop all of this wishing that she was here.
Ready to be truly happy again for the first time in fifty years.
"A-Alright, if you're sure." I could tell by the shakiness in her voice that she still didn't want to pull the plug. After all, the doctors said that there was hope that my illness would get better, despite the fact that my forgetfulness led me to injure myself to the point that I had to be hospitalized, and I wouldn't end up forgetting her.
But since there was even a slight chance of forgetting her and I felt as if my time was right here and right now, I requested that I be taken off life support on February 14th, 2067, exactly fifty years after Signe passed away.
They didn't want to do it at first.
But then they saw all the emotional pain and hurt in my eyes and decided to follow through with my request.
It probably had something to do with the fact that I was nearly eighty years old now and I imagine that they would've denied my request if I was the once vibrant young man that wanted nothing more than to create his own art.
"I hope that you two reunite."
Those were the very last words that I heard before I closed my eyes and felt myself drift off into what felt like an extremely deep sleep, a sleep that I would never wake from.
Signe, I hope you're ready.
Because I'm finally coming home to you.