Chastity

Fourteen-year-old Helia carefully wrote the words on paper with gentle strokes. His eyes squinted as he struggled at writing with the moon's silver light as his only lamp.

Earlier that day, Helia's eyes had been stuck on his dad who hunched over in his patio. After minutes of wondering what caused the deep frown on his father's lips, Helia finally gathered the courage to ask.

"Dad, what's that matter?" he spoke over the cries of the cicadas.

His dad let out a breath of air through his nostrils, straightening back. "Helia," he began before he suddenly changed his mind, "No. Nevermind. This is between me and your mom."

He narrowed his eyes. "There is no need to hide things from me. I'm old enough."

"Alright then. Come and sit across from me." His finger pointed to the chair across from him. Helia did as he told and waited for the explanation to begin. After a moment silence, his dad spoke, "I'm being haunted."

Helia worriedly frowned. "By what? We can—"

"No. It is not what you think. I'm being haunted by my past Helia," he interrupted before heaving a sigh. "When I was younger, I was a terrible player. In the summer, I hooked up with so many girls that I would have a different girl in my bed every night.

"I finally changed my ways when I met your mom. Your mom knew about my past yet she accepted me with open arms. She loved me when I couldn't even love myself, and, for that, I am always grateful. However, whenever I am in bed with her, I can't help but feel guilty. When I make love to her, my mind cycles through that various girls I slept with in the past. It involuntarily starts comparing their body to hers." He swallowed as his lip trembled. "This is my biggest regret."

Helia could only stare in sympathy.

Later that night, Helia couldn't fall asleep. The words he heard from his father still loudly resonated in his mind. When he couldn't endure it any longer, Helia sat down at his desk and began writing a letter to his future wife.

ººº

Despite his aloof exterior, Helia's mind was plagued with anticipation. It was at times like these when Helia's mind could not rest no matter how fatigued his body was from the wedding ceremony earlier that day. It didn't matter how long his spent in his daily meditations. In the end, the single thought of Flora derailed his concentration.

She has always been able to entrap his mind. At first sight, Helia knew that he was captured. Something about her set her apart from all the other fairies. She was captivating with her breathtaking, verdant eyes, luscious hair, and nimble limbs.

But her beauty wasn't what made her so unique. It was her heart. He knew he confirmed his suspicions after she pointed out the meaning in his sketch. No one else could. Only her. Only she grasped its meaning.

From then on, his interest only escalated. Helia soon learned that she was timid yet friendly, gentle yet stubborn, sincere yet mysterious. Their interests matched. From hobbies, like hiking, to political views on war, they agreed on almost anything.

At first he was suspicious.

Was this woman real?

How could his ideal woman possibly exist?

Perhaps it was all a vivid dream, and then one day he'll awake and find himself in a bed. He had never expected for her to appear in front of him. No, he wasn't greedy or hopeful enough to expect that. But fate decided to be benevolent and granted him the epitome of a woman.

He grew more passionate as the relationship progress. Helia started worrying about the most trivial things like…his hair. Hair that looked like dark silk.

Then Riven mindlessly asked, "So when you are going to chop that curtain? At this rate some poor dude is going to hit on you. Then he'll discover that you have no boobs."

Helia worried whether Flora's though the same. So he finally cut his hair.

And now, here he was on their wedding night. His feelings for her have not changed since he met her. The flame has not died. If anything, it's grown into unbearable blaze.

He feared that he would overwhelm Flora. What if he messed up and tainted the fairy's precious memory?

Control yourself, Helia chided. He drew in a deep breath through his nostril and exhaled heavily through his mouth. The tension in his body dissipated. However, the moment he heard the shower stop, the anxiousness returned along with his fantasies.

Standing up from his armchair, Helia did a quick double check of everything. He wanted the night that she would remember for the rest of her life to be perfect.

The red wine was placed off the center on the glass coffee table along with two champagne glasses.

Flora's favorite CD out of the whole 100 Sounds of Nature collection sat in the stereo. He had to thank Musa for gifting him the gargantuan collection a few years back.

Then for the final touch, the lights were dimmed to a soft glow.

Perfect. Just like he wanted.

Then it suddenly occurred to him.

The letter.

He went over to his luggage and shuffled through his bag's front pocket for his wedding gift. His fingers grazed the corner of an enveloped, drawing it out from the pocket carefully. Helia frowned when he saw the wrinkles on the sides and tried his best to rub them flat before he placed the envelope on the black bed stand.

He should have kept the envelope in better condition and stored it with more care. After all, this was his wedding gift to Flora. But considering his inability to stay organized, he knew the effort would prove worthless either way. Perhaps messiness was a common trait in all artistic souls, he thought in amusement.

His eyes traveled to the bed where a hardback book laid on the bed with its pages open. Was Flora reading it? Out of curiosity, he peered at the pages and discovered that it was a romantic novel. Since there was nothing else to quench his boredom, his eyes continued to scan the pages before they halted at a line of dialogue.

"I believe soulmates exist."

Helia chuckled. Soulmates, huh? Did they really exist? The foolish, idealistic side of him used hoped they did.

The sound of the bathroom door opening jerked his attention away. Flora glided out with her pale pink bathrobe hugging her curves and her hair wrapped into a towel turban. All the makeup had been washed off, but if anything, she looked even more beautiful with bare skin which had tinted glow from the hot water.

"Helia, you can go in now. The bathroom is empty."

"Alright."

As Helia passed her on his way to the restroom, he caught a whiff of her floral shampoo. His hands wanted to reach out and bury themselves in her hair. He wanted to allow his eyes stare at its shine, the way it faded from the color of brown sugar to chestnut when rubbed between fingers. He was going crazy.

Helia forced himself under the showerhead, relaxing his muscles as the steaming water beat against his face. Ten minutes later, he came out feeling fresh and raw.

"Flora, I'm—"

Suddenly he halted. His mind processed the situation in front of him with surprise. Flora sat on the bed, her fingers trembling as it griped the sides of a letter—his letter. Then her head lifted. She stared straight at me with an indecipherable look in her eyes that looked shocked as if she was on the verge of tears. Her eyes glazed, the letter fluttered onto the bedspread, and her hands flew to her mouth.

"Flora!" Helia worriedly cried in alarm as he rushed over to Flora's side, taking her hands in his. "What happened?" He rubbed away a stream of tears rolling down her cheek. "Sorry Flora," he repeated. "I didn't mean to…" Helia brought her close and buried her face in his chest, hoping that the gesture would quell the crying.

What did he do wrong? Where did he go wrong? Helia's intent in giving her the letter wasn't to sever their relationship. It was to inform her. It was supposed to be a present, not a method of inflicting pain.

"N-No," she stammered and pushed him away to his bewilderment.

He watched in confusion as she crawled to the other side of the bed and slipped her hands underneath the pillow. A moment later, she extracted an envelope. Helia immediately recognized it the seal that he had seen years before on another one of her letters—a bright fuchsia flower.

The corners of his lips curled up into a nostalgic smile. That day he had wanted to find a warm spot to meditate in alone so he could let the voice of the forest envelope him, so when the sound of soft gasp disrupted his concentration, he inwardly frowned.

But then his eyes fell upon a surprised nature fairy who scrambled to gather her books from the ground. All of his dissatisfaction lifted, replaced with wonder.

He bent down and picked up an envelope. An envelope that looked just like the one that was currently in Flora's hands.

"Here."

Flora nervously held it out. Helia immediately opened it with care and unfolded the letter it held. Brows lifted in shock when he checked the date.

It was dated the exact same day he wrote his letter.

He quickly continued down the letter, eager to read the message.

Dear My Future Husband,

As I write this, I do not know where you are right now or what you are doing. I don't even know who you are. I don't know what memories we will share in the future, but I do know that I will love you with all my heart. I do know that if you are currently reading these words, you are my most precious person.

That is what I want you know about the important decision I have made today. I want you to know that on this day, I, Flora of Linphea, have promised to save my chastity for you till our wedding night. I want you to know that because I care about you, I believe that you deserve the best.

By the time you read this, you have probably grown to become an irreplaceable person in my life, so I would like to take the time to thank you. Thank you for loving me generously. Thank you for allowing me to love you. Thank you for caring for me. Thank you for giving me happiness. I'm grateful for everything you've done for me and will do for me in the future. I am truly blessed.

Love,
Flora

Helia swallowed hard and took a good look at Flora who was now brimming with emotion.

"Eight years ago, on the day you wrote that letter telling me that you swore to stay chaste for your future wife, I also sat down and wrote that letter in your hands," she began in a trembling voice. More tears streamed down her flushed cheeks. "I have never regretted it."

Helia's fingers reached for the towel, unraveling it. Her hair fell like a cascade of caramel, and he finally gave into his temptation to bury his hands in it.

Helia stared into her eyes, glistening with tears, and then, involuntarily, his lips lightly kissed the corner of one of them and traveled downwards, slowly lining his jawline with delicate kisses. When they finally reached a pair of supple lips, they smiled in contentment and tenderly claimed them.

Then he remembered.

"The wine and music," he breathed to Flora. But she shook her head and coyly smiled.

"The lights," she whispered in his ear.

Helia grinned at her rarely seen boldness, briefly jumping out of bed to turn the lights off. When he got back into bed, he wrapped his wife in his arms and did not let her go for the entire night.

If soulmates existed, then this beautiful woman in his arms was his.

A/N: So here you go. One sappy FloraxHelia oneshot to-go ma'am (or sir). I had fun romanticiszing Flora.

Renachi