Chapter 63: Chapter 63

LXIII

I hear Axel laughing behind me as he picks up Wolfie and runs after me.

I walk into the house and Oscar and Evan are nowhere to be seen as I walk into the kitchen, looking for chocolate of any kind. I look into all the cupboards and any possible places where it could be, but I find no trace whatsoever.

Axel is leaning against the counter, smirking and watching me while still holding our puppy in his strong, tattooed hands and petting him; a great contrast between how rough Axel is and how soft the puppy looks.

"Oh, come on. Tell me where it is, I know it's somewhere close." I urge him but he shakes his head at me.

"No, everything at its time."

I groan. "Don't do this to me."

But he doesn't say anything.

"You know, I suddenly became really hungry." I begin and he narrows his eyes at me.

"It won't work, Sophie."

"I'm not kidding! Are you going to let your girlfriend starve?" I press and a grin appears on his face.

"Well, they have pasta I think-"

"No, I want chocolate." I interrupt him.

"It doesn't work that way, chocolate isn't a proper meal and if you're hungry you need an actual meal." he explains.

"Well, I want chocolate."

"No."

I huff and glare at him, putting my hands on my hips. "You're annoying."

He puts his finger on my nose. "You're cute."

"What's the point of the notes anyway?" I ask, feeling slightly annoyed that he won't give me the next note.

He shrugs. "I wanted to do something special for your birthday."

"Did you write it?" I ask and he snorts.

"Fuck no, you know I'm shit at writing. I found it in my Erin Hanson collection a while ago and it reminded me of you."

"Oh." I say. It's really nice to hear that he's been thinking of me in the early days, like I had of him.

"Oh, here you two are! We've looked everywhere for you, don't go running away on us like that!" Oscar appears and scolds us.

"Sorry." I give him an apologetic smile and he sighs.

"Oh, now. Don't give me that look. I'm not really that mad." he says and goes to hug me again, this time Axel glares at him.

"I think you've hugged her enough for today, Oscar." he says and lets Wolfie on the ground so he can come by my side.

"Shush, Axie. I can hug her all I want." he winks at me and Evan appears in the kitchen with us. They begin to make pasta and time turns around quite quickly while we chat and laugh as Oscar tells us embarassing moments of Axel.

The pasta is ready in less than half an hour and it's absolutely delicious, I can see that food won't be much of a problem while we're here. By now, I am quite tempted to google "Erin Hanson", but the idea of ruining Axel's small surprises stops me.

His idea is really romantic and I love him even more for it; it shows how much he cares for me. Not any man would think of doing something like this. It's times like these that make all the bad things irrelevant for a few moments and remind me that he's really worth it.

And I'm going to go and ruin it all. I feel horrible about moving and I feel even worse about not telling him yet, he deserves to know. I'm going to tell him today.

But won't that ruin your holiday?

I stop for a moment at that thought.

No, no buts, Sophie. You'll tell him tonight.

Foul singing brings me out of my thoughts and the three boys singing Happy birthday come in holding a big chocolate cake with a lot of candles on it.

I start to laugh when I see Axel's slightly uncomfortable expression, Oscar's huge grin and Evan's small smile.

They place the cake on the table in front of me.

"Make a wish, sweetie!" Oscar excaims.

I wish my love doesn't go to waste. I wish and blow the candles, making them cheer.

"The note! It's somewhere in the cake!" I suddenly exclaim and Oscar and Evan give me weird looks. "Note?"

"Yes, he's been leaving me notes and the next one is supposed to be in my favourite food! Now, let's eat this quickly!" I urge them and they look a bit confused but get on with eating it anyway while Axel's grinning at me.

We eat the cake, piece by piece, and with every piece my hope lessens. Axel helps us eat, too, and thank God because he eats just about four pieces, leaving two for Oscar, two for Evan and two for me.

There is no cake left after our attack on it, and just as I begin to feel like a fool, I see that the plastic which cake stood on, is made of two pieces, and I quickly take them apart, letting out a breath when I see another small white note with Axel's writing on the middle of it.

Greedily, I take it in my hands.

And I'd see it in her eyes,

That they were deeper than a well,

She was a whole library of stories,

That I'd beg of her to tell

I turn the note around.

Your favourite music

I snap my head up and look at Oscar.

"Do you have a Coldplay CD?"

He nods and points with his finger to the stereo player at the corner of his room.

I have no idea when and how Axel planned all of this, but I don't think too much of it as I reach for the Coldplay DC and open it, finding another note inside.

When she spoke to me I'd listen,

To the adventures of her mind,

For it there's such a thing as magic,

Then it was somehing she could find

I turn it around again to find myself slightly disappointed.

Your favourite time

How the hell could he hide a note in my favourite time?

I huff. I guess I'll just have to wait till nightfall.