Our World, and the universe between us

It's been 7 years since I left my uncle's hospital. The incident outside my house was still unforgettable and since then I got my life back.

That night, my parents, my uncle, my friends, and even you, saw me floating in the air. Tatum carried me but they still couldn't see him. Unfortunately, it's not the same miracle that they witnessed.

Although not all of them believed me right that instant, they eventually accepted Tatum as real.

Well, I still remembered how Sarah screamed accusing me as a liar. That it's only a trick. She opposed me so bad. Really, who could prepare a trick like that on the day they left a mental hospital?

Joy shouted excitedly. She kept asking if it's all real. That she's not dreaming. Well, she's just being herself. On the other hand, Marcy just stared at me. Her mouth hung open. I thought I saw a little bit guilt in her eyes. She's really the smartest of the four of us.

My mom went weak on her knees and fell into my dad's chest. My dad didn't say a thing. Only his eyes were getting bigger and bigger. My uncle? He kept wiping his eyes. It's like doing that would change what he just saw.

And you, Dr. Miller. The sweet doctor who got me back home. You showed me your biggest smile yet. You breathed in relief and I bet you couldn't wait to tell Sam and Norah about it. Thankfully I told them first myself. You shouldn't steal my spotlight in front of my newfound best friends.

I went to the hospital the next day with Tatum. My dad took me there while Tatum rode his own vehicle following me. It was exciting because I could show Tatum was there with me openly in front of my dad.

He apologised to me that morning before giving me a ride. I forgave him immediately of course. I was too happy to hold a grudge.

Once I was alone with Sam and Norah, I told Tatum to lift me again which he gladly did. Sam and Norah couldn't help but smiled and jumped around so excited. They're really happy for me. I also introduced Tatum to my best friends for life through the camera. He got a good feeling towards them and that made me so much happier.

Actually, I also couldn't believe that moment. There were a lot of things that I couldn't believe.

First of all, I couldn't believe I didn't think of that kind of way to proof Tatum's existence. No one else could see him but we could touch each other. It's so simple but maybe because it's too simple that I didn't think of it. The situation was too complex and I didn't have time to relax and calm myself down properly.

Second, I couldn't believe that everyone finally believed me. That I could change their minds. I gave up but it suddenly just happened. I really should thank Tatum for that. I acknowledged him as being smarter than me. He would tease me about that night whenever I looked down on him jokingly.

Last but not least, I couldn't believe Tatum thought of that. It's his first and last gamble and I was so glad he won.

I still remembered what he said back then. "Am I real enough now?" I nodded happily at his question.

"That's great. I don't know what I should do if I turned out not real. If you're not real. I really don't want to leave you," he confessed and planted a kiss on my forehead.

Since then, I tried my best to make up of my stupidity. I almost gave him up and I felt guilty about it. Tatum didn't blame me even once but I reflected a lot. I know that in relationship there are always more than one person. In my case, there's Tatum and I.

Although we live in different worlds, relationship is the same. I can't make a decision for him or for us. I can only make a decision for myself. Then I still need to talk it out with him properly before we can make the final decision together.

I also know how much we love each other because of that incident. I can say that incident gave us proof of our love. Proof that love can conquer everything. We could abandon everything for love.

Yes. When people love each other, they can abandon everything just for the sake of love. But because they love each other that they won't let the other abandon everything.

I decided to let him go because I couldn't let Tatum abandon his life. And he also wouldn't let me abandon my life. He wouldn't let me suffer just so we could be together.

The difference between my decision and his was significant though. I was the one who ran away. I gave up. But he told me straight on. He told me his resolution and reasons while I just told him to give up. That night, he's the one who thought me about love.

And today, we will begin a new life together. We're about to get married to each other.

None of us know how long we'll stay together. He could just disappear during our vows. But we don't care about it anymore. We know we love each other. The people I love know about our love. The people he loves also know about us. That's more than enough.

Finally I also found a great artist to draw Tatum's face just from my description. He's a really good painter and we became good friend. He even painted me a wedding picture of Tatum and I. That's his surprise for us.

Marcy and Joy got really jealous once they saw the picture Eric drew. I told them my boyfriend was really beautiful. They understood why I wouldn't fall for Brendan and felt stupid for setting me up with the most popular guy in school.

Talking about Brendan, he finally got himself a girlfriend. Sarah.

Once they got together, I kinda understood why Sarah betrayed me. Well, after the incident, Sarah didn't hang out with us anymore. Not like I was still upset. And it might sound pitiful for her, but she did hang out with Brendan a lot.

I understood her but we just became friends again once we're both in college. She broke up with Brendan and somehow we talked again. I even cheered her up when that happened.

My mom and dad already gave up on having a grandchild. I told them I could adopt but they asked me to think about it some more. Although I could always proof I'm not crazy with Tatum's help, we prefer to keep it a secret.

Just close friends and family know about my secret. That's more than enough already.

Back to my wedding. It's not really a big one because I just invited a few people to my home. They can't even see the groom so I decided to have a small gathering. Just some foods and drinks for my guests. Tatum also prepared the gathering himself in his world.

We didn't fight at all during our wedding preparation because we literally prepare it ourselves. And he loved every wedding dress I tried on so we're good.

It's really a simple wedding. We'll just exchange our love vows. The guests will be the witness. We'll even put the wedding rings ourselves. But the happiness will be more than the grand wedding of my childhood dream.

The invitation is for 6 pm but my guests already started to arrive at 5 in our home. It's not the haunted house where he lived before. We finally got ourselves a new home.

Finding a perfect home for us wasn't easy at all. We must looked for the same spot in two worlds. We built it from scratch so the design would be the same. It should be the exact replica. That's why we monitored the progress everyday ourselves. We might look bossy but who cares. It's for our future.

The first guest for me is of course my parents. To be honest, they're still not 100% sure about me marrying Tatum. But they don't dare to mess with my life anymore. They are still feeling guilty for locking me up in the facility. I guess it's all for the best after all.

Tatum's parents is also the first guest in his world. Well, parents are parents. They really like me and I love them so much. They're just so different with mine that it's easier to love them. They care about Tatum so much although they didn't know much about love. I guess love is just natural feeling for someone. I'm relief Tatum feels it for me.

The next one is Mist. She finds love herself and I'm happy for her. She's better to have as a sister than a fiancee for sure.

Sam is the one coming next. She comes with her whole family. They all know about my situation and they're all loving it. Sam and her husband is a big fan of romance so my story is just like a breath of fresh air for them. Their children are smart ones so they are good with keeping secret. I love them so much.

"Is there anything I can help you with the preparation?" Sam asks once she arrives. Typical Sam.

"Everything's ready, Sam. You're a guest here."

She's still acting as my mother. So in total, I feel like I have three moms. Not that I hate it. In fact, I'm loving it. They love me in their own ways so I feel blessed even more.

Sam's close with my real mom as well so my mom just snatches her from me. Of course I let them be.

Marcy, Joy, and Sarah come together. They don't bring their boyfriend because they don't talk about my situation unless they're already their husbands. They decided it themselves. Besides, they won't like it when their boyfriends thought they're crazy.

Anyway, Tatum's colleague come at the same time as Norah and Eric. Yup, they're dating and that's how I met Eric. She finally finds her own happiness and I'm glad for her. Eric is really nice and trust me, they belong together.

Norah hugs me as soon as she arrives. "I miss you so much."

This girl never ceases to amaze me with her love for me. After she left the hospital, I asked her to live with me. I didn't want her to live with her father if that only made her worse. I let them meet each other so it's not like I snatched her away. They're still family to each other.

I just tried to protect Norah and she loves the idea. She said that's the best idea from me.

She began to live with me and even went to college with me. We're just like sisters and she loves it so much.

"We just met yesterday, Norah," I hug her back.

"But I still miss you. I can't believe today you'll be someone's wife."

"Nothing's changed. I'm still the same me."

"I know. You know I like Tatum. He must looks so amazingly handsome today," she starts to look around but we both know she won't see the groom.

I chuckle a bit. "Of course he is. He's always handsome."

While I talk with Norah, you come. You're still single and I bet it's because you're a workaholic. You really cares about your patient and that's your strength.

"Finally this day comes," you greet me.

"Yes. Finally," I smile so big that you're sure I'm happy.

"I'm really happy for you. Thank you for inviting me."

"What are you saying doctor. There's no way I forget you. I'm really grateful to you. You made it possible for me to meet him again after all."

You force a smile on you face. "I wish I could help you more. I almost led you to make a wrong decision. If he's not there…"

I know where you're going so I intercept. "Dr. Miller. My decision back then wasn't your fault at all. I was just naive and weak. But thanks to you I can get stronger. That's why I can get through all these years. Please don't feel guilty anymore. Even my uncle is okay now."

"But it was my job. I should help you but I almost ruined your life."

I have a surprise for you but I will just tell you. I can't believe you're still feeling bad about 7 years ago. "You know what? I wrote a book about my experience. I hope you can feel better once you read it."

"A book?"

"Hmm. It's to show how grateful I am to you, Sam, and Norah. I really do. You may not feel like you did much. You may feel like you almost ruined my future. But you're not."

You want to say something but I won't let you. "Just hear me out. If you want to compare yourself to the other two, you are different.

"I'm mostly thankful to Norah. Perhaps it's because our situation's a bit similar. She gave me courage to be different. She made me feel understood. She reminded me of the real me. She wouldn't let me be someone I'm not. And she's the realest best friend I could ask for.

And Sam. You know I felt left out and betrayed by my family. She's the one who gave me the warmth of a family when I felt like I'd been abandoned by my own. She supported me and gave me strength just like a family supposed to do that time. She accepted me for me and she loves me unconditionally ever since. That's why I didn't feel alone in this world.

Then there's you. I knew you're a good doctor. I didn't want to trust you but I really did have a good feeling from you. I believe you really could help me to leave that place and you did. Because of you, I saw how people could still listen and try to understand."

I stop for a while to catch my breath. "I know being a doctor, you probably listened to me while making your assessment. But you're still listening to me. You really listened. And you fought for me. For my future. You're not on their side. You're not even on your side. You're really on my side because you're my doctor. That's why I'm always grateful to you. I'm grateful because I don't hate people thanks to you."

"I don't really know what to say. But I learnt a lot from treating you back then. Just like you said. As a doctor, I can only listen and stand on my patient's side. They're the one who will fight against the world. I can't fight it for them. I just need to be the safe place for them to lean on," you finally smile to me.

"And I'm also thankful for your questions back then. That's how I started to think about my future. I knew what I needed to face and that's why I'm more ready to face the world once I got my courage back. You showed me reality and it's not all that pleasant. But I have Tatum who always gives me courage to face every harsh reality."

You tap my head a little so you won't ruin my hairdo. "Well, you don't know how glad I am that he's real. If you did leave him, I'm not sure you'll find happiness again. And I would feel responsible for that for the rest of my life."

"But, Dr. Miller. Didn't you want to make me admit he's not real? I mean, from your perspective as a doctor, you're supposed to make me realise he's not real."

"That's my job, right?" you laugh a little. "To be honest, I planned on dealing with that problem with more counselling session since I knew he's not harmful. In fact, from your story, I knew he meant so much for you. It would be bad for you if I forced you to deny him. I just tried to get you back into reality first because you're about to abandon this reality. We could always deal with the question wether he's real or not later. I was really afraid for your future. You're still young and I could see you're bright. I didn't want you to give up on your future because of him."

Listening to you like this, I finally understand what you did for me. You really cared about me. Every words you said were meant for me. You had no hidden agenda. In your eyes, I was just a person who's lost and you showed me the light.

"That's so like you."

We both smile reminiscing those time. It's not filled with good feelings but when we look back now, that time taught us a lot of precious things.

"Tina," Tatum calls me. "It's time."

"That's right. Let's get the main even started," I talk to Tatum and you understand what's going on right away.

I walk to the centre of the room with Tatum's hand on mine. He insisted I wear a wedding dress although it's an odd wedding. So I chose a simple one to make me move easier. Just a long white sparkly dress with golden embroidery.

He's wearing a white coat from his world. There's more layer since his world is colder. There's not much difference with his daily look. Either way, he's the most handsome groom in the whole universe for me.

We take out a few papers we prepared beforehand and begin the joyful event. We give signal to each other to start.

"Thank you for coming here today," we talk at the same time to our guests. We already prepared the same speech to begin the wedding.

"In this joyful day, I will bind my true love with my most beloved person. We found our love in an unpredictable place. We didn't know how hard for us to be together. How many rules and walls we needed to knock down to arrive to this day. We don't even know how long we'll stay together. But our love is forever. Our love is eternity. Our love conquers the distant and space. Now it will also conquer time."

All of our guests clap their hands. They are all happy for us. I feel like we're truly being loved and accepted. I believe that this is the right thing to do whatever the consequences will be.

"Now, for the vow. Tatum will starts first."

Tatum smiles warmly to me and grabs both of my hands. "Tina, my one and only love. You taught me about love. You showed me love. And you give me a chance to feel love. Just like you once said, love makes my life more beautiful. You make my life full of happiness. You give a new meaning to my life. And for that I will forever love you. My love will forever be yours."

"Tatum, my one and only true love. I taught you about love but you're the one who showed me love. You give me the best present which is love itself. You let me found myself and be true to myself. You are the courage for me to be myself. You saved me who almost gave up. You proved to me that love can conquer everything. And for that I will forever love you. My love will forever be yours."

I look at Norah who's ready with my ring. I put the silver wedding ring into my ring finger slowly. Giving Tatum time to put his fingers on top of mine to slide the ring into its rightful place. Once the ring settled down on my finger, Tatum sees it and smile.

He puts in his ring next. I help him sliding the ring further into his ring finger just like the way he did. I finally see it placed perfectly on his finger. I told him about the ring and showed him the design. He really managed to make the same one as mine.

We stare into each other's eyes and just like that we forget about the other guests. We smile happily and he slowly grabs my neck and pulls me closer for a kiss. It's the sweet and gentle kiss like always. It's filled with our love and today it feels more special because our bond is getting stronger than ever.

I stay in his embrace and he whispers to my ear gently.

"No matter what happen in the future, I will always be with you. This is our home. This is our world."