Epilogue

She had a smile on her face long before her eyes opened.

Rose laid in her bed, staring at her ceiling. She was still only half-awake, so she couldn't name the source of her happiness; instead, she just stretched and yawned, preparing herself to get up. She turned her head to look out the window and her smile grew as she saw that it was snowing, even though the sun was peeking out, making the white world outside glitter. Rose's lips formed a grin as she suddenly jumped out of bed. She got dressed and combed her hair, ignoring her hairclip and hair band.

As Rose headed towards the kitchen, the events of the day before were circling around her mind. She had kissed Edward. Not on the cheek or anything, but on the lips. And he… He kissed back.

Rose broke the kiss a few moments later, leaning back and opening her eyes. Edward's bottomless black orbs met hers and the swirl of emotions she saw behind them made her face flush a deep red color.

She felt his arms squeeze around her, a blade sunk in her hair harmlessly.

"Don't leave," he breathed out quietly.

"What are you doing up?"

Rose nearly let go of the glass she's been holding. "Trevor!" she hissed. "Can you not sneak up on me like that?"

Her older brother raised an eyebrow before running his hand through his messy hair. "I didn't sneak up on you. You're just jumpy today."

She sighed, forcing the smile away. "I'm just… tired."

"Carter said you left early."

She poured some apple juice into the glass, not looking at him. "Yeah, I've had enough." She raised the glass to her lips to take a sip.

"You sure you went straight home?"

Rose choked on the juice, struggling to not spit it out. "Jesus, Trev! Where else could I go?" she took a breath that made her cough a little. To be safe, she set the glass down on the counter. "After all, Nina was with you all the time, wasn't she?"

It was his turn to be caught off guard. "Well, we had fun," he shrugged innocently before a teasing smile appeared on his face. "Besides, can you blame her for wanting to spend every minute in my presence?"

Rose rolled her eyes, but chose not to comment. She finished her glass in peace and turned to walk out of the kitchen.

"I'm seeing her."

She stopped in the doorway, her wide eyes set on Trevor. "What?"

"I mean," he corrected himself. "I'll be seeing her later today."

"That's…" Rose smiled unsurely. She wasn't used to her brother announcing the time of his dates, he usually didn't share those kind of information with anyone within their family. It felt rather… nice. "That's great, Trev. Have fun."

He looked back at her and smiled. "Thanks."

Rose was halfway upstairs, when the door opposite Trevor's opened with a bang and her younger brother, Denis, appeared in her way.

"Rose!" he called, jumping from obvious excitement. "Rose! You have to see this!"

"See wha-" she was caught by the wrist and dragged behind the boy to his room. Denis pulled her up to the window and pointed at it. "Look, look!" he pressed, tapping the glass surface. "Isn't it awesome?!"

Her brows furrowed in confusion, Rose took a peek outside. The view from Denis' window, just like hers, was of their garden. There were some trees and bushes there, but at present, everything was bare and white.

Something caught her eye. The faint rays of sunlight made it gleam in various colors. She looked closely and gasped.

"Don't leave," he breathed out quietly.

"I won't," she said, resting her hands on his shoulders. "I promise I'll be here for as long as possible."

"Promise…" Edward uttered quietly, his glazed eyes never leaving hers. Then, slowly, a genuine smile stretched his lips.

In the very middle of their garden, there was a sculpture made of ice. That alone was enough to make her eyes widen, but the gasp came when she recognized the shape of the ice statue.

It was a rose.

"Ha! Told you it's great!" Denis stared at the glittering rose outside with enthusiasm. "It's so beautiful! Who do you think made it?" he looked at his sister, then blinked as he saw her staring at the sculpture with wide eyes. Then, gradually, her eyes went back to their normal size and a delicate smile lit her face up. Denis noted with surprise that she also blushed a little.

"Huh? Rose?"

"I…" that small smile of hers grew bigger. "I'm… Sorry, Denis, but I've got to go somewhere."

"Hey, wait-!"

She was out of the room before he could say anything else.

-

"Rose, honey," Mrs. Wheeler said as she saw her daughter putting on her boots. "What are you doing up so early?"

The girl finished tying the laces and got up to grab the coat. "I'm just going out for a moment," she replied before turning to look at her mother. The woman almost stepped back in shock as she saw the teenager beam. "I'll be back soon!"

Mrs. Wheeler remained frozen even after the door behind Rose closed shut.

-

She was running again, but this time, she was completely at peace.

Rose reached the hill and began to climb up. The grin that had been attached to her face was still there, along with the steadily increasing heartbeats. She had to pause for a moment near the top to catch her breath, and looked down at the small area of Suburbia. Her eyes fell on the graveyard, which was as white as everything around.

'Our story,' she thought as she readied herself to continue running up. 'Will be different.'

She could not wait to see Edward again.

END

Thank you all for the most amazing, encouraging and heart-warming reviews and messages! As I've stated before, I have never expected so much positive feedback on this story, so you can only imagine how I felt while getting that amount of reviews from you. All the Favorite/Alert thing, yeah, that was pretty stunning, too.

I could never ask for better Readers.

Also, as usual; for reviewing the last chapter, I'd like to thank the following:

Linalove, C. Holywell-Black, Raine44354, SeventhSister, Haeronwen, My-Lover-Gren-Gren, IAmYourPhobia, Batman-Luver, Cybernetic Mango, YumKiwiDelicious, The Non-Existing Person, Hachi, WanderingChild96, sassybutt32, JainaZekk621, LittleMissDee and xXxPhoenixXxRisingxXx.

Thank you for reading.