I Will Survive Chapter 7: Album

Time pa.s.sed and on one Sunday when Oliver was out with kids, Lara was cleaning the store room.

She hummed a song while cleaning the dust away. 'There is lot of useless things over here, I'll have to throw them out' ,she thought. With this in mind she opened a cupboard and started segregating things which were of use and which were not of any use.

*After half an hour*

She was cleaning since long and now felt tired. So she decided to sit for a few minutes and take the much needed break. She sat on an old wooden chair. Her eyes landed on an old photo alb.u.m which she found while cleaning. She picked it up not knowing what was in it. She opened it and on the first page a t.i.tle was given to the alb.u.m in bold, beautiful handwriting. The handwriting was a bit childish but she knew very well whose it was. It was Oliver's handwriting.

The t.i.tle read - MY FOREVER LOVE. She turned the page and looked at the photo pasted on it neatly. In the photo there stood a cute little of boy of 5 years offering a piece of the birthday cake to the little girl next to him who opened her mouth wide to eat that whole piece at once and the little boy was laughing with his s.h.i.+ning teeth at the sight he was witnessing.

She was shocked, happy, Senti, and furious at the same time. Shocked to see such a hidden treasure. Happy that he collected all the moments they shared. She felt like crying as her emotions were exploding. And furious that how dare he hide such gem in a storeroom cupboard and not show her after their three years in marriage. She wondered back to past.

*26 years ago*

A shy little 5 years old girl entered the cla.s.sroom. She wore a cute red dress and her long black hairs were tied in tidy pigtails and her dark brown eyes, so big so mesmerizing. Like every other little girl, she had a Barbie bag on her shoulders. The teacher wished her good morning and asked her to introduce herself to everyone. The girl was very nervous and started stuttering "h.e.l.lo every... everyone. My...My name is L...Lara Gomez. And I'm from Al... Alamo".

Everyone said h.e.l.lo in a harmony and the teacher asked her to sit down. Her seat partner faced towards her and greeted her with a good morning. His voice sounded friendly, thought Lara. She turned to face him and saw a boy of her age with tanned skin and dirty blonde hair and his ocean blue eyes were so calming that she couldn't help but just stare into them.

He waved his hand in front of her and chuckled softly. He then introduced himself "Hey! My name is Oliver Romano." He put his hand in front of her and asked "Friends?"

She looked at him for a minute without saying anything and then shaked his hand with a smile and said "Friends. My name is Lara Gomez."

2 months later, Oliver and Lara were best friends, inseparable. They even visited each other's house and night stayed too. Another 5 months later, it was 23 December, Oliver's birthday. She gifted him a handmade card along with beautiful flowers. When Oliver cut his birthday cake he first offered a bite to Lara instead of his own parents. That deep was their friends.h.i.+p, above everything else.