"Another day to live is another day to fall," was what my index finger drew on the marble bathroom wall of my bedroom, imagining the wall to be a clean white sheet of paper, thirsty for my wretched wisdom.

The strong pressure of the shower felt fantastically good and nourishing. The temperature was just right in the middle — not too cold or too hot, just how I liked it. It was illuminating to drown myself in its drops, even when I couldn't possibly drown myself in the shower, standing up.

I had this strange belief that the longer you stay in the shower, the cleaner your soul will be once you get out. Evidently, this thinking remained intact in my mind for more reasons than I could count.

Whilst the warm water continued to drip from on top of me, I closed my eyes and got a few inches closer to my fears. It was dreadful — the ability to take something as precious as pure love for granted. And more truthfully, it was odd — to be in the receiving end of that powerful ball of warmth. The world knew I was not worthy of love more than anything, but it mocked me, avoided my insanity, and still handed to me all the things I will never be ready for in this lifetime.

To straighten things out, the world simply didn't care whether the person whom it was planning to give love to was deserving. Its generosity was what would destroy it from inside out. At some point, I needed to break free. Bearing the pain would only shatter what will always remain broken.

"Avery?" Eric knocked on the door. "Are you nearly finished?"

When I heard him call my name, my epiphany was cut short. Turning off the shower, I asked, "Uh, I still might take a while. Why, is there anything wrong?"

"Nothing — I, uh, just want to show you something." I heard him shut the wardrobe. "We're going somewhere."

"Where? Don't you have work or something?" I slowly stepped out of the bathtub and removed my robe from the hanger. Strapped in my bathrobe, eager to know where Eric was planning to take me, I squeezed my soaked hair with both of my hands to get the water out. "Okay, I'm done," I said.

As I went outside of the bathroom, Eric was smiling more than he usually did. He was so thrilled about something, though I did not know particularly of the reason behind, his dimples came out of nonexistence.

It reminded me of the time when we were kids, none of his pranks on me succeeded. When I was at the brink of being victimized by one of his pathetic pranks, he would act weird — really unlikely of him to do, and then he'd be too obvious.

Observing what I recalled his prank game face, his cheeks were blushing when I noticed he was hiding something from behind — something big, plastic, and noisy.

"You're ridiculously happy," I said, feeling suspicious of his strange behavior, "you're planning something, aren't you? What is it? Eric, you know how —"

"You've never changed. You still didn't like surprises." He pointed at the wardrobe, signaling me to open it and to take a look.

When I walked towards the wardrobe and opened it with little expectations in mind, a beautiful mustard yellow puff sleeve sundress surprised my eyes with its elegance. "Oh my Gosh, it's lovely! Eric, this is —"

"Uh-uh, that's not all," he said, handing to me a bouquet of good old-fashioned hydrangeas. "That's for you."

All of a sudden, my heart felt like it grew a dozen times bigger. To be honest, I never liked surprises, but I did like being showed with simple gestures of affection. "W-wh-what is all this?" I took the bouquet with gentle movements, trying not to look too anticipated.

"Just a little something. Nothing you're not used to," Eric said, his eyes sparkling at the sight of me happy like it was a box in his to-do list he could now tick a checkmark on, "now, hurry and get changed. We have a long day ahead of us. Let's not waste any time."

Eric excitedly left the room, giving me time to wear the dress he bought for me and appreciate what seems like the chance he was asking from me last night. Knowing Eric, he had always been a hard worker. When he wanted something, he did everything he could to make anything, even the impossible, to come alive.

Once I had finished getting dressed, I walked down the stairs, with the huge bouquet of fresh hydrangeas in my recently-manicured fingertips. Although not yet reaching on the last staircase, I called for one of the handmaids, telling them to gently the flowers inside one of our finest vases.

"You look...like your usual self," Eric paused and looked down, moving his jaw without any compelling reason, "...but happier. Absolutely mesmerizing." His voice was firm and convincing, and I sort of believed him.

Then he broke eye contact. He walked towards the main doors where his head of security was standing, and then said something near to Max's ear. Eric's voice was too quiet, I could barely hear anything.

Opening the door, he turned back to face me. "You coming?"

"Hold on. Aren't you going to call the chauffeur?" I asked, quickly getting my purse from the couch.

"Nah, I figured he could use a day off once in a while. Besides, I want this day to be special, just for the two of us."

Eric and I went outside of the mansion and into our once spacious and now almost-full car garage. There rested a great number of automobiles, and it was quite a long walk until we reached the car he wanted to drive in.
He pressed one of the buttons attached to his car keys, and then one of his many Lamborghinis — his favorite, beeped twice in response.

"Alright, you better not crash the car. I don't want to die young," I said, getting myself comfortable in the cushion of the front seat.

"It hurts when you doubt me, you know?" He turned on the engine and listened to the satisfying sound of the engine revving. He sticked out his index finger pressed on his slightly-closed lips telling me to keep quiet so I'd hear the sound as well. "Missed you, baby," he muttered, putting both of his hands on the steering wheel.

"I missed you too," he said, looking at me with a grin on his face. "If I still hadn't made it perfectly clear, I apologize. But I'm confident that you know I'd never do anything to hurt you." He got closer to me and buckled my seatbelt.

"Whatever," I said, quickly shutting him down to avoid further unnecessary enchanting moments, "you sure did love to talk too much. Where are we going anyway?"

"Oh you'll love where we're going," Eric answered, glancing at me with a grin on his face as he fastened his seatbelt. "You once told me you wished you lived there forever."

Eric backed the car out of the garage. We hit the road and I couldn't stop showing signs of doubt to his face even if there wasn't anything fundamentally wrong with his driving.

Several minutes later, we made passed the border of Vichtrone Avenue and the huge group of towering seventy-story edifices that lived by for many years. These and the numerous pristine amenities in the avenue bad goodbye at us.

It took almost the entire morning, but we made it to the destination Eric wished to go to, alive and well. "We're here," he said.

All I could say was, "You thought I wished I lived in an empty, desolate land?"

"Come on, Avery. Open your eyes. Are you sure you don't see anything else?"

"No, no, not exact—" My eyes were in the hunt for something out of this world. All of Eric's efforts had given me unrealistic expectations to scavenge in this vast, barren nothingness. Hope was on the edge of getting crushed when I found a big chunk of my childhood probably of the same age as me. "My treehouse!" I exclaimed.

Although, not anymore in exact shape and form as it was before, a gorgeous, modernized treehouse still stood firm in the right corner of the vast land. The mere sight of it ignited a million matches inside my heart, and the memories it bore were the flames. Everything ugly and beautiful about this wooden fort in front of me raced to my mind, swifter than a blink of an eye, and so came the childhood dream that once promised love in the distant future.

Eric and I used to climb up and down the rusty, old ladder and stay inside the house for hours, playing pirate and watching movies. He had built it for me, so I wouldn't look for someplace else what he could bring to me in a snap of a finger.

"Oh my God...It definitely has changed a lot," I said, looking above. After not seeing it for a couple of years, I was under the impression of not being able to see it again. Still at awe, I touched the trunk of the tree and let out a deep sigh. "But the memories still feel like yesterday."

"It was a challenge to keep this alive. So many eyes were on this property, but not only that, nature interfered. Strong rain and wind destroyed most of it. Those pesky termites and a bunch of other bugs hallowed the roof and the stairs, and almost every inch of wood they could munch and made it their home," he said, resting both arms on his waist. There was a pause. "I'm sorry if it didn't look like the way you remembered. I've had the architect set up modern installations to make it last longer."

"I remembered I badly wanted to go to this Safari with my friends but mom didn't let me. And it was almost my birthday, and — you...surprised me with my own treehouse," I said, still couldn't believe the treehouse still existed up to today.

"I used to be your everything, Avery. You would call me at any time of the day, even for the littlest and childish reasons. You needed me, and I needed you too. But since that Nathan came into the picture, I no longer felt like you needed me," he said, "Nathan took my place in your life. And now I'm going to take it back."

"I — I had no idea you felt that way. B-but wh-why would you think Nathan replaced you or something? You two are different."

"Oh really?" Eric scoffed. "We both love you, and we both are waiting for you to pick either one of us. That is if there is even a choice." He opened the car door and took out a picnic basket. Walking towards the stairs, he said, "You just want to stand there all day, or are you coming up?"

He climbed up and I followed him slowly. Eric was right, the treehouse wouldn't have survived if it weren't for his intervention. I never thought he still found a way to slip into his busy schedule some time to fix and rebuild this treehouse.

"Eric, you see — Nate is the kind of guy who —"

"I can be as ordinary as you want me to be," he said, laying out the picnic rug.

"No, you can't," I sighed, helping him take out the food inside the basket. "It's just not you. You were born into this."

"Not necessarily." He interrupted. "I wasn't spoiled as a kid, Avery. Sure, I wanted a comfortable life, but I've worked very hard to make that happen. Out of all people, you knew that."

"Yeah, you worked so hard you cried when you lost at basically anything. You treated everything like your life depended on it."

"Because it did. Your life depends on everything you do. If you act stupid, then you get a stupid result. It's that simple."

"I — I don't think that's how that works all the time," I said, taking a big bite out of the apple.

"Hey, we never talked about your ex, uh, her name was Daphne, right?" I asked. "So, what happened?"

"As I told you before, she couldn't handle all the drama." Eric took the beignets out of the basket.

"Can you elaborate further?"

"Let's just say, she wasn't the one."

"How could you say that, like, too soon?" I asked, taking another bite. "You broke up, big deal? If fate decides you two will be together, then you will be."

Eric chuckled. "You believe in that shit? Fate is for hopeless fools who have no idea about love. Love doesn't work because you rely on some higher power to keep your relationship alive. Love works because you make it work. You give, you risk, and you sacrifice. In the end, it's either you get hurt or be happy for the rest of your life but while carrying pain."

"Okayyy, Mr. Love Doctor. Sorry to rain on your parade, but I don't think you're the man I should be seeking love advice from."

"Of course you don't, because you don't need love advice. You're in good hands with me." I rolled my eyes right after what he claimed. "On the contrary, I am perfectly in good hands with myself," I said.

"I used to be your hero. And I used to save you so many times," Eric added.

"See, that's the problem. Every time you look at me, you think I always need saving. And the worst part is, you think I need you to save me all the damn time," I said, crossing my arms. "Why do you do that?"

"I'm saving you from yourself."

"From myself? What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're holding onto something fragile, Avery. You put your faith in the wrong places. I'm just trying to save you from the heartache."

"I— honestly don't know what you're talking about, Eric," I said.

Having relived past traditions, we talked and talked for how many hours over healthy snacks and beverages. I wished he brought with him some booze for us to drink too.

Truth be told, we had a good time together. The whole time while being with him reminded me of the reasons why he became so dear to me. Ignoring the obvious reasons, Eric never failed to make me feel like I was the greatest thing that ever happened to him. And he made me feel that way ever since we were introduced to one other.

"If it's alright with you, Eric, I'd like to sleep at my apartment tonight," I said.

"Yeah...yeah, sure. Whatever you need." He didn't seem too happy about it, though, but he was kind enough to respect my wishes.

As he continued to munch on sweets, I thanked him for all that he had done for me today, and in return, he was grateful for the chance. I knew in my gut Eric was anticipating more of what he had in mind to happen today, but I wasn't sure how exactly he wanted this day to end.

As the day began to sleep, Eric drove me to my apartment in Taleauve Boulevard, as what I've requested. Before I opened the car door, I gave him a quick kiss on his cheek, looked into his eyes, and mouthed, "Thank you."

He rolled down the car window and said, "Ju—just call me when you need anything." The smile on his face never wore off.

"Sure." I waved goodbye as he drove away.