The two spent fifteen minutes and much effort trying to locate all four bottles. The bottlenecks were all stuffed with corks that blocked the rain and moisture from damaging the contents within.
Someone even suggested the idea of placing desiccants in the bottles, so ultimately, all the papers were preserved perfectly without even at single sign of mold.
Holding the four bottles in his hands, Jonathan: smiled. “Let’s go and clean them up nicely before opening them. I can’t believe it’s been almost thirteen years!”
Madilyn nodded with a faint smile on her face as an unusual emotion consumed her. It felt as if she were brought back to her youthful days many years ago.
They found a water tap near the field and used it to wash away the excess mud on the bottles before wiping them dry. Then, they returned to their camping site.
“Which one is yours?” Madilyn peered at the transparent bottles. The colored papers each of them used were vastly different. There were purple, blue, pink, and white ones. She guessed that the white paper belonged to him because judging from his past character, he probably wouldn’t like anything fancy.
“Then, does the pink one belongs to Elektra?” A thought struck Madilyn. Jonathan smiled as he nodded. “Yes. That belongs to Elektra, indeed. But then, I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to pry into their secrets. So, I think we should keep it for them and pass it to them when we see them.”
Madilyn gave it some thought and eventually agreed to it. Prying into others’ privacy without their permission wasn’t ethical at all. Jonathan placed the other bottles onto the ground except for the one with the blue paper. “We can open mine. This blue one belongs to me.”
He recalled past memories and began. mumbling, “Lucian and James joined us too, but they refused to write their wishes. The white one belongs to James, but I’m not sure if he had written anything. We’ll open it with him. some other day.”
Blue? It represents depression, rationality, and hope. I think these characteristics match well with the emotions Jonathan felt back then.
Seeing how excited Madilyn was, Jonathan removed the cork and smiled shyly. “To be honest, I’ve forgotten what my wish was. I can’t remember much because it’s been so long.”
“I know, right? That’s why I can’t wait to see what’s in there! I’m so curious!” Madilyn didn’t bother to keep her eagerness in check and immediately reached out to take the paper as soon as Jonathan removed it from the bottle.
“Here. You can have a look first.” Jonathan handed her the blue paper. She carefully opened the paper which was folded neatly into a simple square before using her phone’s torchlight to make out the words on it. The words read: Madilyn, will you be my girlfriend?
She was promptly dumbstruck. Upon scanning the words on the paper, she stood frozen in place and was at a complete loss for words. Thinking her eyes had deceived her, she read the sentence again to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.
I’m pretty sure I didn’t read it wrong! That’s exactly what’s written on it! But why? In shock and disbelief, Madilyn lifted her head to look at Jonathan, using the torchlight to shine on his face.
“This can’t be real. Jonathan, this is…” she stuttered, wondering whether she was imagining things, and that was when she saw the mischievous smile on Jonathan’s face.
Did he plan this since the start? Was he acting all along? This is all just a lie, right? He even said the bottles were buried years ago. I bet he buried them only hours ago!
Madilyn took a long time to recover from the shock as a look of joy slowly replaced her surprised expression. I can’t believe he confessed his love to me in such a romantic way!
Elation filled her to the brim, and tears began welling in her eyes as she was so ecstatic she almost couldn’t contain herself.
“Madilyn, is that a yes?” Jonathan’s gaze was as tender as the moonlight that showered. down on Earth that night..
Madilyn nodded fervently. She replied, “Yes. Yes!”
