Eye Drops (#2)

e p i l o g u e

"Not always eye to eye. But always heart to heart." – Unknown

■ □ ■ □ ■ □ ■ □

Tristan couldn't help but find his gaze unable to tear away from Faith's ever-so-bouncy golden curls as they swished, glamorous as those shampoo commercials, from side to side. As she daintily spun around to face Tristan, a smile was prominent on his face as he teasingly asked, "so, how many more years is it going to take before we can actually, you know, leave?"

Not that he was complaining about the fact that she looked like a gorgeous model, striking dramatic poses in the full length mirror that she had demanded them buy, but they were currently under quite a time limit. Of course, the stereotypical running-late-ness of Christmas Day had induced some pretty late nights for the both of them, frantically hiding presents around the house at 1 am in the morning and making hurried last minute phone calls.

Neither of them minded, of course, but Tristan had truthfully never before gone to such lengths to have a perfect Christmas. It was a peculiar feeling to have so many people to please, and so little time to do so. For the past week, everyone had been busying themselves with Christmas dinner preparations, buying gifts, and making sure to soak in all that Christmas spirit, the same way a sponge soaked up water.

Kind of like SpongeBob SquarePants, he supposed. Then again, SpongeBob constantly soaked up water, since he lived at the bottom of the sea.

During his years at Westerden Optometrist, his father had only strung a few strings of LED lights and placed a creepy-looking Santa on their front desk in a feeble attempt to be festive. Needless to say, Tristan was barely adjusting to Faith's outrageous traditions, but as he watched her glowing beneath the luminescence of several multi-coloured bulbs, he decided that it was worth it.

"Excuse you, Optometristan, but I got this yesterday and I need to relish in its beauty," Faith replied snobbishly as she posed in front of the mirror, reflection imitating every action she made. She hugged the fluffy white collar to her neck and smiled adoringly at the tan material which enveloped her body. "Just because you don't appreciate fashion, doesn't mean I can't!"

Faith supposed that she should have felt bad for dragging Tristan into her frenzied preparations, but she didn't. Oh, come on! He was her husband, her family! Wasn't he basically obliged to celebrate with her? Ever since Tristan had admitted that he had never properly celebrated Christmas, Faith had made it her mission to help him experience it- at least, experience the way Faith did things.

And damn, did she go all out.

"Yeah, Tristan! Get with the times," Emily said mockingly, making her way downstairs. Her wrists were adorned with a set of thin bracelets- they were beautiful, but didn't draw attention. A delicate gold ring, studded with diamonds, was sparkling on her ring finger.

"Jeez, Tristan! Don't you know anything about fashion? Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton, all those brand names," came Fletcher's opinion as he followed his wife down the stairs. As he reached the bottom, he tutted at Tristan. "I'm so disappointed in you!"

"Should I be extremely proud or weirded out that you know who those people are?" Emily asked Fletcher, eyeing him suspiciously.

But she was joking- heck, her whole relationship with Fletcher was based on humor! In fact, even the day Fletcher had knelt down on one knee and presented, not an ice cream ring, but a diamond one, followed by an awkward mumble of, "Sushi-san, will you marry me?" All Emily had done was say "nope," before leaning in and kissing his openly gaping mouth.