Quote of the day : The past will always remain in the past, so let us now think of our present, and look to our future.

____ONE YEAR LATER____

"Surprise!"

He nearly jumped out of his skin at the shout and sudden light that glowed through his house. He looked around to see smiling faces of his family and friends, how the hell did they manage to plan a surprise without him getting a whiff of it?

"Happy birthday!" They all chorused again. He smiled with outmost joy and happiness at the kind gesture, he was indeed happy and grateful.

"Thank you all, thank you so much," he said sending an appreciative look to everyone present, there were made up of, his father, Nora, Davis, Chloe, and almost every living employee from 'Marshall enterprises.'

"You should thank this two ladies," his father said pointing to Nora, and Chloe as he made his way towards their group. "They are the masterminds."

"Woah, I was the director of the whole thing." You can already guessed that it was Davis who said this.

"I'm thanking everyone of you," he said smiling at his friend's stupidity.

"Well then, let the party commence, the celebrant is here!" Davis yelled and soft music filled the air, resulting in a sound of joy from everyone present.

He looked at how they had managed to change his lounge into a party hall, it almost looked like he was in a different place. There were tables of twos, threes, and the most, fours. The whole place was decorated almost like it was a wedding reception, every single guest present was either in a suit or dinner dress. There were three long decorated tables that had several kind of food on them at the corner of the room. At another spot two tables had been set aside to house presents and bouquets, and there were lots of them, most of the presents were arranged neatly on the floor because of little space on the tables. There was a huge screen on a sort of stage that had his picture, and on it was written, 'Gregory Kane Marshall,' he need not ask to know who brought the idea. He must really say they outdid themselves. Chandeliers decorated the whole place, and if you must know he had no Chandeliers till yesterday. He should have suspected this when his father asked for the sole ownership of his lounge, funny.

He went over to his father, hugging him. "I can't believe you're twenty seven, you my son are a man."

"Thanks Dad." And yes, he started calling him Dad because he now felt close enough to do so, for some reason saying father always felt so distant to him.

"Where is my hug?" Nora said from his side. He smiled at her and pulled her into a hug also, ruffling her dark mane. "I will withdraw my birthday wish if you don't stop scattering my hair, do you know how long it took to style it?"

"Really, all I see is corncobs," he said chuckling. This resulted in a series of punches from her, she never changes.

"Greg, you need to stop teasing your sister," his father said giving him a gentle glare. "Let me go attend to our guests, once you are done Greg you need to give a speech."

"What speech?" And his father already left before he could complete the question, he looked to Davis and Chloe. "Thanks so much Chloe."

"You're welcome." She smiled brilliantly.

"Where is my thanks?" Davis asked. He was actually going to thank him before, but now he would just have the joy of keeping his gratitude.

"In my pocket, snatch it." He deadpanned, and earned a laugh from both Nora and Chloe, leaving Davis with an angry glare.

"Well Nora, what do you say we go join the party." Chloe said.

"Of Course," Nora said grabbing hold of Chloe's hand and they both went directly to the food stand.

He turned to his best friend he was now spotting a smile, he smiled at him in return. And Davis knew that he didn't need to say anything, he was aware of how grateful he was.

"Well birthday guy, you happen to have a lot of admirers," Davis said pointing to the gift stand, where several presents laid, and several bouquets.

"Lucky me," he said with a smile and walked over to the table. He glanced at the present and was fascinated by how much they were, he focused his attentions on the bouquets and wondered what he was supposed to do with this amount of flowers. Glancing through the flowers his eyes stopped on a particular one.

It was a very rare flower, he didn't know the type, but the flowers stood out to him because the color was auburn. Auburn reminded him of a particular auburn haired girl, his heart filled with longing at the thought of her. He really missed her, this past year had thought him a lot, at the beginning he was still conflicted with his feelings towards her, but as time passed on all other feelings except love, and longing dissipated. He wanted to see her so had, no longer did he remember anything that had to do with what she had done at the thought of her, instead whenever he thought of her now he only remembered the good times. He remembered her smile, her sass, he remembered how cute she was when angry, and he remembered how much he loved her, and she him.

Manner of things a year can change in a person, he had began to enquire about her for a month now, and still nothing. He really wished to see her, to tell her he had forgiven her and no longer think of the past.

He was about turning his gaze from the captivating flower when his eyes fell on the card written on it, he picked up the bouquet and read the card.

Happy birthday Gregggy!

Greggy! Greggy! Greggy!

That was all he saw, only one person ever called him Greggy, and that was Ashley, could it be that she was there? He glanced around searching for Chloe, he knew she would Know if she had been here. He saw that Chloe was still at the food stand with Nora, he stormed towards her and grabbed hold of her hand.

"Where is she?" He asked.

"She? Who?" Chloe asked looking utterly clueless, and Nora was looking at him like he was crazy.

"Ashley, where is she?" He asked again.

"Greg, are you okay?" Chloe asked with concern. Nora was also spotting the same look of concern, but he needed none of that, he just needed to see Ashley. "Did you forget that she left last year, she's been gone for over a year."

"She is here," he said shocking the both of them.

"Here?" Chloe asked her face lighting up.

"Do you mean it?" Nora asked.

"Or, was here. I don't know, I have a flower from her." He said raising the bouquet up to their notice.

"It could be from anyone Greg, just because it is auburn..." Chloe started but he interrupted her.

"It says Greggy, only Ashley calls me Greggy." He looked at them, they both gave him a look of disbelief, but he ignored it. "I'm going to find her, she could still be here."

"Okay, I and Nora would check inside, you can go check the grounds." Chloe said dragging Nora away.

He took up speed, bouquet in hand, he ran out of the lounge, and then out of the house. He started by Checking the front part of the house thinking she might be making her way out, he searched and came to nothing. He searched all over again, and still naught, after several turns of searching he soon gave up.

He pulled at his tie vigorously, feeling very frustrated at everything and everyone. He started walking the grounds and soon enough he found himself in the garden and there he saw her, dressed in a plaid black and white pants, and a black shirt. He knew she was the one, her auburn curls fell across her back, damn, it has grown longer. Back against him she seemed to be in deep thought, he walked carefully towards her, when he got close enough to her he called her name.

"Ashley."

"Greg," she called , turning back slowly, and he met with those hazel eyes again, eyes that he had longed for. He did the only thing he could do then, dropped the bouquet and pulled her into a hug. She naturally melted into him, he breath in her scent, not wanting to forget it.

"I missed you Ashley."

_____________________

She stared at the night sky, stars were exceptionally scarce in New York, back in Egypt she had always enjoyed staring at the stars. It always filled her with warmth. She couldn't believe she was back in New York, and she couldn't believe that seated beside her on the grass was Greg. She had only come there with the hope of seeing all of them from afar, especially Greg, but he found her before she could leave.

She remembered how he had hugged her, and said he missed her, there was no longer any hard feelings in his eyes for her, and she was grateful for that. As for her, she missed him greatly, the past year had been really though, she had eventually gotten rid of her nightmares. Only one remained, she couldn't erase Greg's eyes, lately all she sees were his green eyes, not filled with hatred, but with love. So she had hoped that maybe he might be able to gaze at her that way again, that was why she had come back. But one thing had remained constant though, that guilty burden of hers, and right now it weighed on her mind.

She stared at him, ever since they had sat down he hadn't said anything, he looked to be in deep thoughts. She just wished he would say something, and her wish actually came true.

"This past year I've had a lot of time to think, and one thing I realized is that forgiving was the easiest thing to do after letting go of all anger. I'm happy to say that I Greg, I have forgiven you for everything."

Tears sprang to her eyes at the feeing of relieve that washed through her, she felt that constant burden of guilt get off her chest. It was as though all she needed all along was his forgiveness, the one year gap was definitely worth it, it was. She cried because she knew that now she could live without any burden, she could live freely and think of her future. Three years was long enough to go about feeling that way.

"Thank you Greg, thank you," she said sniffing.

"You don't have to cry anymore, Ashley," Greg said placing a hand on her shoulder, and how she wished it would stay there. Did that wish come true? No. He took his hand off and gave her a smile, "now we can both let go of the past and focus on our future." She really longed to hear him add together at the end of that sentence, but he didn't.

She shouldn't be too greedy, he had forgiven her against all odds, that should be enough. Who knows he might have a woman whom he was already planing his future with, one year was long enough to stop loving someone, especially someone you'd love to hate.

She saw Greg stand up and her heart sank deeper, it was time to leave, time to say goodbyes. She looked down quickly to wipe at the tear that once again slipped out of her eyes.

"Ashley." She heard him call her name with impatience. That must mean it was time to go, she looked up and was almost poked in the eye with how close his palm was. His hand was stretched out to her, with a loving smile on his face. "Don't you think its about time you get up from the past." He cocked a brow at her.

She blushed profusely and placed her hand in his. He raised her up gently and steadied her at his front, she was now looking up at his smiling face. She tried hard to steady her erratic heart to no avail, she began to wonder what Greg was going to do. He soon answered her question when he dipped his hand into his pocket and brought it out fisted, he raised whatever was in his hand up at her face and she found herself staring into a circle.

She stood there dumbfounded, it took a long time for her to realize that what he was showing her was in fact a ring, an engagement ring. Why was he showing it to her? Was it to show her what she had once lost, or what?

He placed the ring between his thumb and middle finger, so now she was comfortably staring into the ring.

"Wanna strike a deal?" He asked with mischief.

"What deal?" She asked with a heavy voice.

He smiled nervously before he spoke, "if you dip your ring finger into this hole..." He shook the ring before her eyes as if she wasn't seeing enough, "...that means you will have to stay with me, by my side till when we are both gray and old. By then we would have several grandkids playing around, and happily we will both die." He finished this with a smile.

She stood there confused trying to process what he just said, after a while she only came to one conclusion. "Are you trying to propose to me now?"

"Is it working?" He asked instead, bringing back memories of when he had asked her out. She burst out laughing, staring into his eyes. Like, who the hell proposes that way?

"You still haven't changed, have you?" She asked between laughter.

"Well, you can't blame me, its my first proposal," he said. He shook the ring again, "so what do you say, it could be my last also depending on your answer. And do not worry yourself thinking I do not love you, one thing I was never able to do was to stop loving you." Her heart swelled with love as he said this. He shook the ring again saying, "so, with me, future?"

She smiled at him, the first one that really came from her heart for a year now. "Future," she said and dipped her ring finger into the ring. "I love you Greg."

"I know."

He pulled her closer to him and planted his lips on hers, now she knew and was sure that no matter what the future holds, she was ready to face it with him, by her side.

In all her storm of guilt and love, only one feeling sustained, and that was her love for this man.

The end.

Let me say this first, if you were here from the beginning to the end, I send to you an hearty congratulations and a huge thank you.

Lots of love from Mary Aden.