Sura quickly picked up on it and let out a sigh, "Scared," she responded, "I was very scared."
"Why?" I asked with a raised brow, already guessing what her response would be.
Sura hesitated for a while, her lips trembling as she opened to speak, but she ultimately replied, "Because I felt that you were angry at me and suddenly didn't want to have anything to do with me because I had brought up such a question?"
Stretching my right hand towards her face, I watched her carefully as she flinched the moment my hand grabbed her nose, twisting it lightly as I responded, "What you just said now, will you promise me that you will never come to such a conclusion again?"
Finally realizing that I meant no harm, I watched as her expression softened, and she slowly nodded her head, responding, "If you say so, then I promise that I will never think or come to such a conclusion again."
Although I can't deny that I always found Sura cute whenever she went into her timid character, I knew her response wasn't something that I found appealing.
Wrapping my arm quickly around her shoulders and pulling her close to me, I made her look up as I pointed my other hand to the sky, "Sura, can you count the number of stars in the sky?" I asked, waiting for her response.
"No," Sura responded, shaking her head vigorously.
"Why?" I asked, focusing my attention on her as I awaited her response.
"It's too many..." Sura replied, locking her eyes with me, "There are too many, innumerable for me to count."
"Good," I responded sharply, "Just like the stars, my love for you is innumerable..... never diminishing.... ever plentiful. I will shower you with more than enough love that you will never be able to keep track of. And just when you think you can count my love for you and put it into mere days, I will overwhelm you with a love that is as vast and beautiful as the stars."
I watched as her eyes brightened up, taking in my words, but I wasn't done yet. Pointing my hand downwards, I said, "How about the soil under our feet? Can you fill it all in one clay pot?"
"No," Sura replied, her tone and voice much firmer and confident this time.
"Why?" I asked again.
"It's too much to be contained in one clay pot," she said, staring at me intently as she waited for my response.
"Good, then I guess you'll need an entire field of clay pots to hold all my love for you," I responded with a smile, looking deeply into her eyes. "None of you, not you, or anyone else, would be able to fathom the full extent of my love, because just like the soil beneath our feet, your hearts would be unable to contain it. I want you to understand that neither your doubts nor anyone else's thoughts, can change the love I have for you all. But..."
I paused, taking a deep breath before continuing, "If there ever comes a day when I am unable to make you feel or experience the things I am promising right now, you have my permission to stab out my ears and gouge out my heart. I would rather bleed until I am deaf than hear the woman I wholeheartedly love and have chosen to be my partner doubt her position in my heart or ask me.... 'Orion, do you still love me?'"
Once my words came to an end, I observed as her eyes glistened with moisture, but she quickly shook her head to dispel the tears. "Sorry that I doubted you, Orion?" Sura said, her face glowing with newfound reassurance.
Leaning in for a kiss, our lips met for a few seconds before I pulled back and gently said, "And I am sorry for making you feel that way. I promise it won't happen again."
Just as I was about to wrap my arms around her and pull her close for a hug, someone pulled me into their embrace, their hands firmly wrapping around my head and pushing it into the soft embrace of a pair of abundant milky breasts, encased within a thick layer of fabric.
Already knowing who it was, I used a bit of my strength to push myself out of her grip. And although I was successful, her hands immediately caught my cheeks and her lips trapped my lips with a kiss. Savouring Aunt Greta's kiss, I felt her lips eagerly meld against mine.
I watched as she pulled back, separating her lips from mine before she licked the trail of saliva with her tongue and opened her mouth to speak, her eyes locked with mine.
"Those were the most beautiful words that I have ever heard," Aunt Greta said with a tender smile, trailing a finger down my cheeks. "And most of all, it feels even more beautiful when I know that they were also directed at me." Her words stirred a warm sensation in my heart, and I couldn't help but return her smile.
She then added, "Do you want to hear what else I have to say, Orion? It's a secret, so I don't think you'll be able to hear me mention it ever again."
Looking into her slightly dazed eyes, I nodded eagerly, curious to hear the secret she was about to reveal.
As though she felt my head moving, Aunt Greta broke out of her daze and began to speak, focusing her eyes intently on me, "Right now, even if you were to leave us, Fiona, Ayla, Grandma Celia, Ingrid, Vivian, and the rest of us, would still love you with all our hearts and cherish you as the one person within our hearts, even above the love that we might have for our unborn children because, as you have already mentioned and proved, the love that you have shown us is as innumerable and beautiful as the stars and too much for any of our hearts to contain."
