Ivy💎
It was just like every other morning. The sun came in through the thin curtains, making me wake early. My alarm had rung earlier in the morning but I had turned it off. I stared at the ceiling for a while longer this morning, as happiness overwhelmed me.
I turned to my side to face my sleeping boyfriend, Nathaniel. His face was as peaceful as the morning sun. I smiled and placed a kiss on his forehead as I did every morning.
Today was the day. The day he would propose.
How do I know that?
Because I knew him inside and out. Nathaniel was always so bad at keeping secrets, not that he would tell me, but his expressions and body language would always give him away. It didn't help that he also shared his location with me in case of emergencies.
And I happened to look one fateful afternoon when I realized he was in a jewelry shop.
Of course, I thought nothing of it when I saw his location. But my idiotic cute boyfriend had to keep the ring in the top drawer where he kept his ties.
Though he did lock the drawer by the next day, and I said nothing of it. I pretended like I didn't notice.
And how did I know tonight was the night?
Well, it was our anniversary, and he did say to dress nice. He had reserved 'someplace special' for us according to him.
I grabbed my phone to check my notifications. There was one, an ad for sales on a dress. I dropped my phone and got out of bed to make us rolled omelet for breakfast. The cat sat on the counter and stared at me as I watched, its beady eyes piercing through me as if it saw something I could not.
But cats.
Dramatic little creatures.
"Down, mittens," I cautioned it. "You're not allowed on the counter."
As if it understood me, it flicked its tail and leapt down, then strutted away to the hallway when Nathan appeared.
"Hey, buddy," he greeted as he passed the cat. Mittens acknowledged him with a meow.
Nathan came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, same routine every morning. It gave me butterflies.
"Good morning, baby," he murmured, placing a kiss behind my ear.
"Morning," I smiled as I flipped the omelet in the pan, humming tunes to myself.
"You're in a good mood," Nathaniel said as he moved away from me, setting the table.
"Shouldn't I be?" I laughed. "It's our anniversary. Three years since we've been together."
"Remember when you didn't want me?" he teased and I blushed.
I remembered it all too well. Nathaniel had relentlessly chased me for a year before I agreed to give him a trial, and look at us now. In love and thriving.
"You know," he said as he grabbed the forks from the drawers. "I almost forgot our anniversary."
"Liar," I muttered under my breath.
"Is that so?" I said out loud.
He didn't respond, he only smiled.
I was nervous, and excited. Today was a big day after all.
We ate, bathed, dressed up and left for our different work places.
Nathaniel was into finance while I was a school teacher. The income wasn't much, but I loved teaching children dearly. I'd had several thoughts of starting a family with Nathaniel one day, and thanks to his awaiting proposal, that day may come sooner than I expected.
"Good morning, Miss Peters," one of my students, Mary, beamed.
Soon to be Mrs. Wheeler.
I said in my mind.
"Morning, Mary." I smiled at her as I slipped into my seat at the corner of the classroom.
As the children came in, chattering and making lovely noises, I found myself imagining how magical it would be, the moment Nathan asks me to marry him. The tears of joy that would streak down from my face.
Oh, I was simply elated.
The day passed by in a blur and before I knew it, it was recess.
I checked my phone and there were no messages from Nathan. That was odd.
He always texted me, no matter how busy he was.
I chuckled.
He's certainly spending a lot of time on the proposal.
I didn't receive a message from Nathan until it was close to the end of the school day.
I'm sorry, babe. You would have to come to the restaurant on your own. I will send an uber to pick you up so be ready by 7.
Knowing Nathan, I figured he was probably a bundle of nerves. I smiled and typed a reply.
Okay. You're certainly putting your all into our three years anniversary dinner. It's almost like you want to propose or something.
It was a joke, of course. I hit send with a smile on my face and went about the rest of the lectures with anticipation.
When school finally closed, I rushed home. I had only four hours to prepare for possibly the biggest day of my life.
So far.
I quickly took a shower, washed, blow dried and styled my hair, brought out the outfit I'd bought for the day, and did my makeup.
By the time I was done, it was a minute to 7.
My phone buzzed at just the right time. I did my last minute touch ups then left my apartment. Like Nathaniel said, an uber was waiting outside for me. I got in and spotted mittens seated at the window, staring at the vehicle as it drove off. With me in it.
On the way to the restaurant, I rehearsed my reactions, my answers and the way I would say yes without losing my composure too much.
The restaurant was elegant as it came into view, the driver stopped right in front of the entrance. He wished me a good evening as I exited the vehicle. I smoothed my dress and walked inside. A waitress approached me with a bright smile.
"Good evening. Reservation name?" she asked with a professional smile plastered on her face.
"Wheeler," I said as my heart fluttered.
Soon, that would be my name too.
She smiled and led me into the restaurant. I noticed that there was no one else in there apart from the very handsome looking man near the window.
That handsome looking man was none other than my Nathaniel Wheeler.
He stood up, clearing his throat nervously as I approached him with a smile.
"Reserving the whole restaurant? That's new, Mr. Wheeler," I teased.
He rubbed the back of his neck. "I wanted tonight to be special."
He pulled out a seat for me and I took it, then he went to his own seat.
"Wow," he whispered. "You look… wow.."
I chuckled. No matter how many times this man saw me, he was always taken aback by me. I didn't consider myself drop dead gorgeous, but Nathan made me feel like no other woman in the world could compare.
And that made me happy.
"You look as wonderful as a cherry blossom in spring," he said breathlessly.
"Thank you," I replied with a small blush.
The evening went well, we talked about our lives, how we met, how far we've come. I genuinely enjoyed my evening.
Then the lights dimmed, and I knew it was time. Even though I'd already rehearsed how I would react, I couldn't stop the tears from flowing as Nathan got up from his seat, and got on one knee right in front of me.
The waiters and waitresses stepped forward, capturing the beautiful moment when my boyfriend was proposing to me near the tall windows overlooking the city.
"Ivy, baby," he started, sounding nervous. "You and I, we're different. You're too good for me, and most days, I wonder why you're still with me. For someone like you, someone as wonderful as you are, you deserve the whole world. But I'm too weak to give you the whole world. All I can offer you is my whole world."
He took a deep breath, as he removed the ring from his pocket. I placed my hand over my mouth as the tears flowed freely, ruining my mascara and possibly, my makeup.
"Ivy Catherine Peters, will you make me the happiest man on earth by allowing me the opportunity to love you the way you're to be loved. Will you accept me as your husband?"
"Yes!" I screamed and lunged at him, enveloping him in a very tight hug.
Claps, cheers and confetti rained down around us. I was laughing and crying at the same time as he slid the ring into my finger. It fit perfectly.
Just like us.
"I love you," he whispered.
I cried. "I love you too…"
Then I saw him. He was clapping with a sad expression on his face.
"Alex?" I whispered, my previous emotions were completely forgotten.
Nathan noticed my change in expression and followed my gaze.
Alex was my childhood sweetheart and my first love. He was my first… everything.
"Why are you here?" I asked, confused. His outfit, he was wearing the uniform the servers were wearing.
Why was he here? Why? Why?
Nathaniel furrowed his brows as he looked between us.
"Let's go home," he said quietly.
The excitement on the servers' faces was also gone as the mood had taken a complete turn in an instant.
My eyes were fixed on Alex as Nathan led me out of the restaurant. The drive back home was silent.
Once we got into the apartment, Nathan finally spoke.
"What happened back there?"
I sank onto the couch. My happiness has been replaced with confusion.
Why was Alex in the country? How long had he been back? Why didn't he seek me out? Why didn't he come back to me?
"Ivy," Nathan called out and I jolted from my thoughts.
"Huh?"
"What's wrong with you? You're out of it."
I looked down at my finger, the ring that was such a source of joy to me just barely an hour ago now felt suffocating.
With this piece of jewelry on my finger, there would be no hope for me and Alex to even try and rekindle what we had.
I looked up at Nathaniel who was seated on the couch with me, staring at me with worry.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'm sorry, Nathan."
"What?" he asked confused.
I got to my feet, removed the ring from my finger and placed it on the couch.
"I can't marry you, Nathan," I said shakily. "I'm sorry."
"What?" Nathaniel's face twisted with shock, disbelief, confusion. Practically everything you can name. It was as if he was feeling all those emotions at once.
"I'm sorry," I repeated.
"What the fuck, Ivy? You're throwing this away because of him?"
"I'm sorry."
I turned to the door. I wasn't thinking straight. All I knew was that I wanted to see Alex. I had to see him. That was the only thing on my mind.
So imagine my shock when I felt something hard collide with my head just as I was inches away from the door.
There was no pain at first, but there was an annoying ringing sound and impaired vision.
I collapsed onto the floor facing the ceiling and Nathan rushed to hover over me.
I looked at his eyes. They were nothing like anything I'd ever seen.
Had I ever seen him so full of hate and anger?
He held a flower vase over his head, and with a twisted emotion on his face, he struck me once. The ringing got worse, and so did my vision.
But I felt numb, the pain just wasn't coming.
He raised the vase over his head again, this time, it was stained with blood. That was my blood.
He struck me again, and again, each time, the vase got more stained. I opened my mouth to say something but no words came. I just didn't have the strength.
The vase crushed my skull, I couldn't hear it but I could feel it. Over and over and over again.
I could feel my consciousness begin to fade. The only thing that kept me grounded was the ringing in my ears and slowly, even that began to fade.
Until darkness swallowed everything.
.
.
.
I woke up to the sound of my screams. It was a guttural, piercing shriek that was accompanied with my body convulsing. Nathan was holding me in his arms but all I wanted to do was escape him.
When I finally calmed down, I looked around, it was our bedroom, the way it'd always been.
"Are you okay? Did you have a nightmare?" Nathaniel walked in with a glass of water.
A nightmare. That was what it was.
I grabbed the glass from Nathaniel and gulped its contents. I was visibly shaking and touching my head like I was expecting a hole there.
But there was nothing. I still had my face intact, my loving boyfriend, my blood free home.
It was a nightmare.
I grabbed my phone to check the time.
5:17 a.m.
And then I saw it, right underneath the time was the date.
25th of June.
It was our anniversary date.
I stared at it for a while, then realized that I must've eaten something bad.
"Why would I have that kind of nightmare on my anniversary?" I muttered to myself.
Then the notification came. My phone pinged and I stared it, my blood ran cold.
It was the same ad I'd seen in my 'nightmare.'"