River prided himself on many things—his research on obscure revolutions, his ability to survive tenure-track meetings, his calm in front of one hundred undergrads—but none of those prepared him for being trapped in a car with her while she lied to her mother on speakerphone that everything was alright when it was like fire being harnessed for the first time.
"AHh!!! Someone save me!" He screamed, hands gripping on the steering wheel as car wobbling in the midst a narrow mountain road while a truck was trying to over take them screech to a halt...probably, the driver might be cursing them asher tongue sweetest poison in this world that he had tasted didn't stop laying words on the speaker end of her phone with a jolly smile and on other hand, stroking River's arm like he was a fainting Victorian child.
"Ah no, everything's fine, Mami. He's just feeling lightheaded—you know, altitude and stuff,"
River shot her a look that was at least 60% terror, 40% betrayal.
She patted him again.
He mouthed: I will end you.
"Yeah, we'll be there soon. Don't worry!" she added, syrupy-sweet.
.Beep.
The call ended.
River immediately sagged back into the seat as if the past twenty minutes had aged him a decade.
"You are insufferable," he groaned into his hands. "A literal nightmare. A beautiful, insane little terror with zero regard for my sanity."
She snorted. "I didn't mean to! I just asked when we'd get home—didn't know I'd discover a weakness on the way."
He pointed at her, deeply offended.
"You found my kryptonite using nothing but your fingers."
"I'm… sorry?"
"Liar."
He delivered the driest look in recorded history.
"You're not sorry. You're gleeful. You're smug as hell because you think you've unlocked some secret weapon to torture me with. You know, you like seeing me lose my cool. You're a goddamn menace to society, sunshine."
"Guilty" I laughed
He lets out a low growl—half-amused, half-dangerous—and suddenly reaches over to flick her forehead hard enough to make her yelp with a precision of a blank shooter.
"Laugh all you want," he mutters, "but just remember—I know where you sleep."
Then, with a smirk that promises revenge,
"One day I'll be the one touching your thigh when your mom calls."
She slapped his arm. "Focus on the drive, dummy."
"I am focused," he grumbled, adjusting his grip on the wheel. "Unlike someone who enjoys distracting me."
Before she could answer, her phone buzzed violently against the console—jumping once, twice, like it wanted to hurl itself out of the car.
She flinched. "Who the hell is messaging this early on a weekend?!"
River glanced at the phone like it was a cursed relic. "You got a secret admirer I need to worry about? Or is it your mom again to remind us to bring her some wine?"
She blinked hard. "…You did pack the wine, right?"
He scoffed, flicking his eyes back to the road. "Of course I did. I'm not suicidal."
Another buzz—longer, more insistent.
She groaned and snatched it up, thumb tapping the screen aggressively.
"It's the stupid school group," she muttered with swear. "Why won't the messages load?!"
River clicked his tongue.
"Maybe the universe is telling you to stop doomscrolling and enjoy the Alps," he said in a painfully professorial tone. "Just a thought from your local seventy-year-old man."
She whipped her head toward him, scandalized.
"You talk like you're from my grandfather's era."
River looked personally attacked. "First I'm a nerd, now I'm old. What's next—grandad?"
"And yet...I'd love you in every era," she whispered, with a softness that a mere single sentence sucker-punched him.
His knuckles whitened on the wheel. His jaw flexed. His breath stuttered like she'd just set him on fire with one offhand line.
He went absolutely still—then pretended he wasn't dying.
"You say the craziest things," he muttered, eyes glued to the road for dear life.
But she was still glaring at her phone like it betrayed her.
Screen stuck. Messages frozen. Signals dancing in the no-network-zone. Anxiety climbing her spine.
She let out a frustrated huff—the kind where her shoulders curled in, knee drawn tighter to her chest.
River noticed instantly and without anything the car begin to slow...a point of approaching halt.
A small turn of the wheel.
A soft brake.
A slow pull into the gravel shoulder overlooking the quiet valley.
He lowered his hand from the wheel just long enough to reach over and wrap his fingers around hers—warm, steady, grounding.
"Hey."
She looked up- her eyes hazy, lost in a battle of thought that run so far he felt she was looking into another world, a land of misery.
"What's wrong?"
She swallowed, voice barely there.
"Kai and Jonna.You remember I told them yesterday that you were punishing me by making me 'shop' for 'your wife' to save our asses but now as I'm thinking...this would spiral- my words will spiral. Your students go insane over your private life"
She took a deep breath as she meet his gorgeous eyes before dropping again-
" I don't want rumors. Or accusations can...can--"
Her thumbs worried the edge of her phone.
River's hand tightened around hers.
"Look at me."
She did—reluctant, bracing, those iris- the color of the ebony,
His eyes softened, all heat gone, replaced by a quiet kind of iron.
"This isn't your fault," he said. "You were protecting yourself."
Her breath hitched.
"And I chose this. Us."
His voice dropped, slow and sure.
"If we have to hide, we hide. If they dig? Let them. They'll never find proof."
His thumb brushed her cheek—gentle, reverent, grounding her in place.
"You're not doing anything wrong."
He leaned in until his breath grazed her lips, low enough the wind couldn't overhear.
"If anyone gets too close," he murmured, "I'll hide my wife deeper."
A beat.
"Cabin in the woods. No phones. No students."
He pulled back—smug, beautiful, annoyingly composed—and slid his hand down to lace their fingers as he restarted the car.
In fact, he lifts her fingers to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to her knuckles.
"We have a lot of time to make up for—and a whole goddamn mountain range to immortalize before we get back. So enough worrying, alright?" He flashes her a crooked smile, then a genuine smile rise to her face, that made his heart fluster a bit.
"You were supposed to enjoy the view today," he said. "Not panic over gossip."
"You're right."
She switched to airplane mode. "This thing is now just my camera."
River hummed. "Good girl."
"Seems like finally 'marrying a historian' is catching up to me"
She sighed shaking her head.
He smirked—victorious.
"Now that thing can do one damn job right-capture every second of you laughing in the sun, every stupid face you make when you're trying to look serious for a photo..."
"And when we go back," he continued, casual as sin, "I'm printing every photo of you. Stuffing them in my lecture notes. Let a student find a picture of you mid-sneeze and wonder who the hell this chaotic little woman is who owns the entire damn heart of our beloved Professor River"
"Please," she groaned dropping her head back to the seat's leather, "We cannot afford another rumor."
River sobered immediately.
"You're right. We can't. These pictures stay between us...though, the idea is impressively tempting. "
He tapped her phone.
"No uploads. No tags. Just memories."
"And if anyone asks," he murmured,
"You were just my student who never smiled…
and I was just your professor who never looked twice."
"And only we'll know how beautifully we lied."
She rested her head on his shoulder.
He threaded his fingers through her hair with a low, pleased hum.
"You always do this when you're scared," he whispered. "Leaning into me like I'm shelter."
A beat.
"Keep doing it. I'll never get tired of being your hiding place."
"Smile," she commanded, lifting her phone.
He flinched, scowled—then melted when she grinned.
"That stays buried," River muttered.
A pause.
"…Or maybe print that one too."
She rolled her eyes and begin clicking pictures of the mountains while He watches her from the corner of his eye as sje snap shot after shot—a focus shifting from him to the wild, snow-dusted peaks spilling across the horizon. A small, quiet smile tugs at his lips.
"Finally," he mutters, "using that damn phone for something worthwhile."
Then, after a beat—in low and teasing tone he continued,
"Just don't fall out of the car trying to get some dramatic mountain pose. I'm not dragging your dramatic little ass back up from a ravine just because you wanted 'aesthetic'."
But it didn't have any bit as he slows down slightly… gives her space… lets her have her moment because he knows—this isn't just about photos.
It's about proof.
About memory.
About saying-
We were here. We existed. We loved when whole world was in the dark even in the broadest sunlight.
A fact that was tarnishing...time by time in the real time- as more of the unknown messages erupted from a volcano- a chaos is unraveling- "is it true? Is it true?!"
But...here witnessers of the first ray that break into alps, who were the blinded one? Who...is the person to blame when she turn to capture another view—cheeks pink from the cold, eyes bright with wonder and he murmurs so softly even the wind might miss it-
"Keep clicking, sunshine." ruffling through her burnette hairs that were still somehow damp but in his eyes only shone an impeccable affection.
"I'll keep driving us home."
***
River eases the car to a stop in front of the beautiful navy-blue house, where, the mountains stand still, a beautiful sight of aesthetism that frame the simple house in alps becoming a luxury like nothing else.
And then—she's there, on its white staircase,
Her mother.
Standing at the doorway of that navy-blue house, face bright with warmth, arms already opening like she's been waiting all morning just to hug her daughter. Her scarf flutters in the cold wind, waving like a flag of welcome.
"Mija! Mi amor!" she calls out, voice rich with love.
The girl is already rolling out of the car- half-laughing, half-shouting back before she even realizes it.
"Mami! We made it!" And then she took her in her arm- a collision of emotions, and a shared warmth between one of the most beautiful creation- a mother and daughter.
"Why are you not wearing enough clothes?!" Mom mumbled in my hair before pinching my ear in a painful pang.
"Ouch!...Mami"
"You have come to mountains in the transitioning winters, and in one piece, do you have a death wish?"
"I'm sorry...sorry!"
Inside the car, River exhales—slow, controlled—as if only now letting himself relax. One hand stays on the wheel while the other rubs at his jaw, preparing himself for what comes next.
The mother test.
He glances at her glowing face—alive in a way she rarely is on campus even in this bickering—and something softens behind his eyes.
Then her mother spots him.
Her grin widens and she finally let go of her daughter's ear.
"And my favorite son-in-law! Come here—you too!"
River groans under his breath.
"Here we go… time to pretend I'm the most deserving candidate for their chaotic daughter again" he mutters with a resigning smile.
The lady calls out teasingly, "You both took quite some time!"
River freezes mid-step—just a flicker—then recovers with the practiced charm of a man who has lied to principals, deans, and occasionally himself.
"Traffic," he says smoothly. "Mountain roads after sunrise? Full of tour buses and confused goats."
Then he shoots her a glare—half-annoyed, half-teasing.
"And someone kept making me stop for photos."
Her mother laughs. "Oh please! As if you didn't take ten pictures of that eagle on the cliff!"
"I did not—" he begins, until she levels him with a look.
"…Only five," he mutters, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Mami, where's Gab?"
Her mom chuckles. "Your sister's upstairs sleeping. I swear that girl can sleep through a hurricane. I've never seen someone sleep that hard."
"And Rio? She sleeping with her mom?" the girl asks.
Her mother snorts. "Rio? Sleeping? That child wakes up like she's powered by espresso. No, no. She's been up since five—running laps around the living room, painting the walls with apple juice 'art,' and demanding waffles in three languages."
She leans in and whispers conspiratorially:
"She gets it from either you or maybe from that one uncle who danced on tables at your wedding."
"Oh, uncle Costa, he's fun guy, always tackle River when ever he sees him like River is some kind of pedo and being a police he must tackle the predator before he snatch some kid!" "Thank you for such a vivid painting of such a make-up senerio" added River as he shook her hand off his shoulder,
Then the middle age woman turns to River with a grin.
"She's been asking for 'Unkie Wiver' every five minutes now"
"Not a chance," River laughs, raising both hands. "I'd rather face a roomful of history exams than be her personal jungle gym. Last time I gave her a piggyback ride, she decided to test if I'm edible and bit a chunk out of my shoulder."
"She's a child," sighed martina.
Her mother gasps dramatically.
"Children bite when they're teething! Once you become a father, you'll know what kind of monsters walk this earth!"
River snorts.
"Trust me, I know monsters. I teach hormonal teenagers who had just passed their high-schools."
Then he grins.
"Besides, I make a better 'fun' uncle anyway. I've got the 'cool uncle' vibe down perfectly."
Her mom laughs—loud and full and warm—and reaches over to swat at his arm-
"Oh, please, if you think that's scary...wait until you have a little ones of your own running around. Then you'll be begging for mercy from gods. Hormonal teenagers, They might be hormonal, but they at least sleep! Babies? No way. Babies are just mini terrorists that keep you from sleep until they're ready to conquer your heart. And if you think they're scary with their teeth, you just wait until they start walking and talking. It's a roller coaster ride that you can't exit."
"Aunty!!!!"
A small voice shrieks—and Rio launches herself out of the doorway, nearly tripping, then slamming into her aunt's legs with full force. Martina scoops her up with a laugh.
"You've grown so much! And heavier!"
Rio giggles, grabbing her aunt's nose with sticky fingers.
"I missed you! You were gone for ever. I counted."
River watches the two of them with a soft, almost aching expression. Then he pushes off the car and saunters over.
"All right, princess," he says, ruffling Rio's hair. "Save some love for me. I'm not some chopped liver."
"Words, River," martina warns, handing Rio over.
He throws his hands up in surrender.
"Hey, I said nothing!" he protests innocently, lifting Rio in one arm like she's a little rag doll. "I'm just saying, a guy deserves some attention too."
He makes a big show of pouting, poking his lip out as Rio laughs and pinches it.
"I've been driving for hours," he whines, "I'm exhausted. Can I at least get a hug or something? Some basic human respect?" Rio laughs again, eyes bright with mischief. She reaches out and pinches his lip even harder.
"No hugs for grumpy uncles! You gotta promise snacks first!"
"Mother-in-law"
"Oh, for heaven's sake." She rolls her eyes, but it's all for show. There's a smile at the corner of her lips. "Fine, fine. Unkie Wiver gets his hugs. And Rio, you can have a treat. But no more than two, you hear me? I don't need you bouncing off the walls for the rest of the night like a little gremlin with espresso for blood."
Rio cheers, throwing up her hands in celebration, while River just shoots your mom a smug look—like he's won a great victory. He sets Rio down, crouching down to her eye level with a sly grin.
"All right, princess," he says, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Now, you know what my favorite snack is?"
Rio's eyes widen in anticipation, all mischief and curiosity. She shakes her head quickly, leaning closer to hear his secret."Cookies," he says with a dramatic stage whisper. "And you know what's even better than regular cookies?"
Rio's eyes widen even more, if that's possible—like she can already taste the sweetness.
"Chocolate chip cookies," he continues, drawing the suspense out—right before dramatically announcing—"with sprinkles!" He punctuates the word with a little drumroll motion, like that's the greatest punchline in the world. And Rio just eats it up, clapping her hands with glee.
Before she can explode again, her grandmother calls, "Rio! Let Uncle and Aunty rest. They came a long way."
Rio pouts dramatically. "But I didn't even show him my dragon drawing!"
"You'll see them again soon," her grandmother says, guiding her away.
River mutters, "I was robbed of cookie negotiations."
Inside the house, Rio clutches River's finger like an obedient penguin. River slows his steps automatically so she won't fall. The sight makes the girl giggle softly.
Her mom says, "You both can stay in your room. I'll bring breakfast upstairs."
"I'm not hungry," martina mutters, walking toward the stairs waving an exhaused hand. "I just want to sleep but Someone dragged me awake at dawn like a soldier."
River rolled his eyes.
"You and your damn sleep," and then grumbles fondly, following her as he added- "You'd sleep for a week if you had the chance."
His eyes trace her silhouette, quietly admiring, not in a lewd way, but in a soft admiring way. Like he's committing every part of her to memory.
But she stops halfway up the stairs.
Her gaze is fixed on the wall—lined with photos from her childhood to her wedding.
River follows her gaze, seeing the trail of memories displayed along the hallway walls. There are pictures of baby martina, toothless and grinning, sitting on a horse for her first time. There's one of her on the back of a bike, her face a study in triumph. And then there's the wedding photo…
He studies that one for a long moment, feeling something tug in his chest. There's so much tenderness in her eyes, so much love captured in that single smile—like nothing in the world could possibly be better than the vow she'd just made, so full of light, so full of certainty.
It hits him somewhere deep.
"We look so damn perfect..."
She whispers, barely audible,
"We do...like we are the happiest people on this earth" he said slipping a hand around her waist, but her eyes...unreadable continued to gaze at that frame- the frame with chrysanthemum flowers drawn to it's edge.
"You know, river..."
"Yes, darling?" He asked as his finger slowly run small circles right above her hip girdle.
" I was going to run away. Run away on the day of our wedding."