The rain kept falling, as though the sky had finally spilled all the hurt and tenderness it could no longer hold.
Vivian looked at the hand held out before her, at Greg kneeling on one knee in the rain. Water ran down the contours of his face, but his gaze was clearer and more resolute than ever.
She slowly reached out, only to hesitate halfway. Could she really still stay by his side as she was?
But just as she tried to draw her hand back, Greg caught it firmly in his warm palm.
"I won't let you pull away from me on your own again."
Greg stood and slipped an arm around Vivian's waist.
That warmth spread from their touching skin all the way to her heart, making it tremble.
She had never been this close to any other man-close enough to count the tiny raindrops clinging to Greg's eyelashes.
"I remember you leading me through our first dance when we were little."
Greg spoke softly, his lips almost brushing her ear, his breath caressing her cold skin:
"But this time, leave it to me."
Before Vivian could answer, Greg took her hand and slowly began to turn with her.
There was no music here, no audience, no magnificent dance floor. Only the rain striking the ground for accompaniment, the dim glow of streetlights for illumination, and the two of them.
At first, Vivian was as stiff as a marionette, unsure where to put her hands or feet.
But as Greg guided her through turns, forward and back, their steps sending little splashes through the puddles, she gradually found a rhythm that belonged to them alone.
Raindrops fell around them, blooming into tiny crystal flowers.
The cold Vivian unconsciously released froze the rain into tiny ice crystals that melted