Bound by Tension
Epilogue

~ 10 YEARS LATER~

~ IMOGEN~

"Mom, I feel like a really big boy now." Tristan said, flexing his biceps.

I burst into laughter. "I guess you should."

"When are we going to Aunt Lila's, I miss Indy so much."

"Didn't you see Indy last week?"

"Yes, to give her a pre-birthday gift but today is her birthday, I can't wait to give her her original birthday gift. And did you know she's now in the first grade?" "Yes, I know that, Tristan."

"Can you believe that? She's such a child." He shook his head while I laughed again. "When are we leaving?"

"Very soon, after your father returns."

"Okay, I'll start getting ready. I love you, Mom." He kissed my forehead. "No, I'm not cute, I'm a man that just loves his parents." He smirked, then left the room.

I was grinning from ear to ear at how adorable our son was.

Today was Lila and Kade's 10th year wedding anniversary, and their daughter, Indy's 7th birthday.

Lila and Kade had tried so hard to be pregnant till after three years of their marriage before they had Indy who had been and was still the greatest joy of their lives. Lila had given birth to her on their 3rd Wedding anniversary. They were unable

to have any more children while Hames and I didn't have any more children either because I insisted on not having more till he finally gave up on it. Amanda and Tyler had also gotten married five years ago but she was still insisting that they had no children at all because she didn't want them. And... my smile was replaced with sadness... today also made it exactly 10 years since poor Nikita died.

After figuring out she had driven so fast to have been with me, the guilt was on my neck for such a long time and thinking about it still caused me grief.

Poor Nikita didn't deserve to die at all, she was having all the happiness she deserved in this world but just to be with me, and because of brake failure, she lost her life. Rob dealt with her death difficulty and remained single and depressed till four years ago when he finally gave someone a chance in his life again and got married to her, Kate.

"You look so lost in your thoughts, my sweetheart." Hames said, walking into the room and dropped his suitcase on the bed, sauntering to me.

"Hey, how are you?" I smiled, rising to my feet to give him a kiss.

"I'm sorry for being late." He wrapped his arms around my waist while my arms went around his neck.

"Are you ready to leave?"

"Uh... I guess I..." he trailed off, smiling. "I don't think I am."

"You don't have to think so, you just have to go. Freshen up,"

He turned me around, resting his jaw on my shoulder. "I can't ever stop loving you. It's been more than thirteen years I've loved you and my love for you has never reduced a single day, it keeps growing and it forever will." He kissed the crook of my neck. His kisses always made a shiver flow down my spine, they still felt so new and different every time. The beautiful sparks I felt in my stomach at his touch, they were still present every time he touched me. "Hames, do you know I love you so much?"

"I love you too, my extremely beautiful wife." He kissed my cheek.

***

The Driver pulled over in front of Lila and Kade's mansion.

Tristan was the first to rush out of the car, not even waiting for anyone to open the car door for us.

"This boy," I chuckled.

Hames also chuckled then we got out of the car too.

Tristan had stopped running to hug Indy who was standing by the door with her parents.

Hames and I walked over to them, grinning.

"Hey,"

"Imogen!" Lila pulled me into a very tight hug.

Kade also gave Hames a brotherly hug.

"Happy Wedding Anniversary!" Hames and I exclaimed after pulling away from their hugs.

"Thank you so much."

"10 years of being together? Wow, it's such an amazing thing."

"Yes, and Indy..."

Kade was interrupted by Indy and Tristan bursting into laughter over something either of them might have said.

After noticing we were gazing at them, they stopped laughing and stood like soldiers or like they had just been caught committing a crime. They slowly waved at us simultaneously like it was planned. It was funny so all four of us laughed.

"These two." Lila chuckled.

"By the way, since your Anniversary celebration is not until tonight, your gift will wait till then."

"Right now, it's for Nikita," Kade added.

Hearing her name always sent a weird feeling into my body, and it always made me feel so sad that she was gone because of me.

"Stop feeling bad, Imogen. It's a remembrance for her." Hames wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

"It's been 10 years since she left for heaven, a better place for her." Lila smiled.

"I know, but I just can't help but feel so bad. She could've been happy, her child would have been so big now."

"Mom is crying about Aunt Nikita again, right?" Tristan asked.

I didn't even realize I was crying.

"Uh... n-"I immediately started wiping my tears.

"Aunt Lila always says she's in a better place." He and Indy walked to stand in front of me.

"Yes. You know we don't like seeing you crying, it hurts us." Indy flashed me a smile.

"Yes, it definitely does. We're the children, not you, stop crying."

They pulled me into a joint hug. Believe me when I say it was such an amazing feeling to have both my children (yes, Indy was like a daughter to us as well as Tristan was to them) hugging me at once. "Thank you so much. I love you both."

"We love you too."

"This is cute but we have to leave. Mom said she'll be there too." Lila said.

"Grandma is coming too?" They asked in unison, letting go of me.

"Yes, she is." Lila chuckled.

"Wow," Tristan smirked. He was always mostly smirking than smiling.

"What are we still waiting for? Let's get going." Indy urged.

"Yeah, we should." Kade held both of them then led us to the family bus.

After we were all settled in the bus with everything we needed, the bus started off.

While chatting on different topics with Indy and Tristan laughing at every word they said, the drive lasted for more than two hours till we finally arrived at Nikita's grave.

Nikita's accident had been so terrible, It had been so difficult to place her dead body into the coffin to bury her. I had cried my eyes out and also passed away multiple times. Most of the crying had been done by Rob. He had stayed in her grave for five days till his friend, Craig, and his mother, came to take him away. I know, creepy.

We all got out of the car and placed our bunches of flowers on her grave, adding to the flowers of the previous years. It had been ten years but her grave was always taken care of through everyone of us, it was always renovated. Mia arrived after a few minutes and Tristan and Indy hugged her quietly.

Everyone was given enough time to pass our messages to Nikita, letting her know how much she meant to us, how she was still close to our hearts, even in her death.

My eyes were swollen with tears as I passed my message to her. I had been the closest person to her so her death hurt me more than everyone else here. I had remained friends with her and was her biggest support no matter how crazily terrible everyone else might've claimed she had been. Nikita had always been an amazing friend to me and I loved her so much.

Hames stood behind me, rubbing my back when my crying was becoming excessive. Thinking about how she was when she was buried, the blood, the broken body, the glasses from the car piercing her, everything was making me cry even

more.

If only she hadn't bothered to come to me, if only she had stayed with Rob after he had proposed to her, if only the car hadn't had a brake failure, nothing terrible would've happened to her.

We had decided to light candles beside her grave.

The ceremonial aspect of her death anniversary continued when Rob arrived with his wife, Kate, and 3-year-old twin daughters.

"It's so nice to meet you all here." He smiled at us, having a bunch of beautiful flowers with him.

"Hi, Rob." We waved at him.

We didn't really have such a strong relationship with them because it hadn't formed well enough before Nikita passed away. We only met one another on this day, Nikita's death anniversary every year, or at most, four times in a year. "Uh... I'll assume that you're all... uh..." he trailed off, speaking in a very quiet voice, "done with the ceremony for her de" he lowered his head. "Not to offend anyone but if you're done, I'd really like some time alone here..." he glanced at Nikita's grave, quickly wiping a tear that rolled from his eyes.

"Sure, no problem." I spoke on behalf of everyone. We were actually done here and it was time to leave for Kade and Lila's wedding anniversary as well as Indy's birthday celebration.

"Thank you so much." He forced a smile.

We all started to leave and surprisingly, including Kate and her children were leaving.

"So..." Kate started, walking beside me. "Nikita was very..." she trailed off, glancing back at him. "It's true you can't forget your first true love." She chortled sadly.

"I guess so." Hames replied.

"I understand that it's... he must miss her a lot but sometimes, it makes me feel weird. Rob said he only married me because Nikita appeared to him to let him know that he had to move on and get married to me since I was kinda desperate." She chuckled again. "Don't get me wrong, he loves me and I love him too but it's still so hard for him to forget about her completely, even after 10 years."

"I understand him. If it were me, I'd have died if I ever lost Imogen." Hames spoke. "If he loves her as much as I love Imogen then he must be struggling so hard living without her. I wouldn't even be alive, I can't imagine it." He squirmed. Kate and I stared at him weirdly.

"No, no, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you're dying or anything, I'm just "

I chuckled.

"You're just expressing yourself, I understand. He makes me feel like I'm forcing myself for this marriage to work, he clearly still loves Nikita more than he loves me. I'm like his second wife." She chuckled again, stylishly wiping her tears and stopped in her tracks.

We stopped too. "You shouldn't feel that way." I rested my hand on her back. "I'm certain he loves you. His wounds are still healing. Death is the most painful experience, it's so hard to lose the ones you love. My parents death was so hard for me, my very special maid's death and my best friend, Nikita's death. It's the tragedy of life, those people can't ever return, you never see them again."

"I know it's painful but..." she lowered her head to wipe her tears, sobbing. "I understand Rob is still pained-"

"I'm sure he loves you. I also have another very best friend, Lila. I love Lila so much, but I still can't forget Nikita. Rob loves you but he's also unable to forget Nikita. Don't worry too much, everything will be fine." I hugged her. "Thank you so much, Imogen."

"Don't overthink it," Hames added. "He'll be perfectly fine."

We had to leave for the bus after waving them farewell.

***

Finally, the happy moment had returned.

There was dancing and happiness in the air.

Trisha, Kade's cousins, and his very annoyingly grumpy Dad, Luke, had arrived here, as well as other people;

Everyone was having fun, dancing, laughing, till the music stopped then the spotlight was on the couple on the stage, Kade and Lila.

"I really appreciate every one of you for being here tonight for this special occasion." Kade started. "I'm grateful for all of your support and love.

"I want to use this as a special means to appreciate my wife. We got married 10 years ago. It was so sudden because we were trying to escape my father from separating us by reminding me of a contract marriage." He glanced at his father who only rolled his eyes while everyone else chuckled.

"Lila has always been my light, my source of happiness, my joy. A billion words can't describe how amazing she is because she is more than everything to me. The moment she opened my eyes to see what true love meant, my life has always been filled with colors. I never knew what love was called until she defined it to me without saying any words. All through these ten years, she has always been my greatest support, my sweetheart, my best gift, my love, my queen, always with me through good times and bad times, and I have never regretted getting married to her for any second at all in these ten years. You've given us our greatest gift, our beautiful daughter, Indy, on this same day. Lila Ricardo, you have always been my light and my pride, you are my joy, and you'll forever be. Happy 10 Years Wedding Anniversary to us."

The whole crowd, including me, cheered and clapped.

Lila, whose eyes were leaking so much tears as she had been wiping them through his speech, lowered her head.

He had to raise her head by her chin to give her a kiss.

The cheering increased from everyone with screams and 'awws'

They shared a very long kiss till it ended and he wiped her tears.

Indy was called to the stage as well.

Tristan wanted to go to them but it wasn't time yet so he was still making jokes with me and Hames.

After a while, we were all called for our speech to the couple then we took a lot of pictures together.

After about three more hours of taking pictures, attending to guests, and many more activities, the party was finally over then we returned to Kade and Lila's mansion for the special gifts.

Trisha, Luke, Kade's cousin and Mia spent a little longer before they left while Hames, Tristan, and I still stayed a little longer.

We had given gifts to Kade, Lila and Indy but Indy and Tristan insisted that their gift for Kade and Lila had to be the last one so we were all waiting for them in the living room.

They came from down the stairs with a blanket covering whatever it was they were holding I assumed was the gift.

"I'm definitely curious to know what your gift is." Hames said.

"Yeah, me too." Kade added.

Tristan took off the blanket, revealing a very confusing painting. It looked like drawings of persons with different lines but it was still very confusing to understand. "Uh... what's this?" Lila asked.

"I told you they wouldn't understand, but you wouldn't let me draw it." Tristan rolled his eyes at Indy.

"Shut up, they'll understand if you let me explain. You always think you can do everything perfectly fine because you're handsome." She rolled her eyes too.

"Duh. Do you think this looks comes with nothing? I'm the one with the good brain here so..." he brushed his silky black hair with his fingers.

"Oh, and I don't-"

"It's okay, stop arguing." Kade interfered.

"Will one of you just explain your gift?" Lila sighed. "I'm so tired and need to get some sleep."

"Fine, she'll explain." Tristan folded his arms across his chest.

"Thank you!" She sighed. "Mom, this is you, and this is Dad." She pointed at two weird drawings and I had to stop myself from laughing. There was no way that looked like Kade or Lila. "I know you want to laugh, you can do that. The drawing isn't so important, it's simply the meaning that's important."

"It isn't important because she's terrible at drawing." Tristan added.

"Tristan, keep quiet and let her explain." I scolded.

"Thank you, Aunt Imogen." She smiled at me. "And this is Aunt Imogen and second Dad, as I always call him." She flashed a grin at Hames which he returned.

"Yes, my princess." He chuckled.

"And this is Tristan and this is me." She pointed at the next two drawings below. The point of this gift is that we understand that Mom still wants to have children but she can't so Tristan and I thought that since we love each other so much, we'll get married when we grow up, and you'll definitely have more children." She pointed at the remaining drawing underneath those ones. "We'll have a lot of children for you." She winked. Our eyes widened.

"That's... I certainly don't know what to say." Lila said with a smile.

"Yes, we'll get married. Wouldn't it be so nice? Right Mom, right Dad?" Tristan winked at us.

"Come here, you two." She hugged both of them together. "That's so thoughtful of you. I love you both."

"So you like our gift?" Indy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, definitely." Kade chuckled.

"Okay, bye. Let's get going, future husband," Indy beamed, holding Tristan's hand.

"Yes, my future wife." He said then we all burst into laughter before then they walked out of sight.

"I definitely wasn't the only one who saw and heard that?" Hames asked.

"Definitely not." Lila said, placing the drawing on the center table.

"It'd be so lovely and would be my greatest joy for them to get married when they grow up." I smiled.

"Yes, it'd be amazing." Lila grinned.

"So... we should arrange their marriage?" I asked.

"Yes, we'll officially be a family." Kade smirked.

"Lila has always been my sister and still is, then she'll be my son's mother-in-law, and we'll have the same grandchildren. Wow, so amazing!"

"The same goes for me and Kade." Hames chuckled.

"So it's a deal! Indy and Tristan will get married. We should probably sign a contract so no one backs out from this." Lila added, laughing.

***

"Finally, I can rest again." I sat beside Hames after my night routine. "I'm so happy for Kade and Lila. They look so perfect, all three of them." I rested my head on Hames' shoulder.

"Yes, just like us. We're also very perfect with our son." He started tracing lines on my arm with his fingers. "Imogen, I also appreciate you. You've always been with me through good and bad times as well. I could've never asked for a better wife than you and I love you very much." He held my waist.

"I love you too, Hames. You and Tristan are my best gift, I can never stop loving you both. Watching Tristan grow up with you is the happiest thing of my life."

"I was feeling so bad for marrying you when you hadn't loved me at first but now, I'm glad I made that decision."

"Me too, I'm glad you made the decision."

"I love you so much, my love, and I'll forever love you."

"I love you too, my baby daddy." I chuckled and connected our lips for a long and passionate kiss with the one I called my husband, someone I was never going to stop loving.

THE END!