Epilogue
Epologue
One Year Later
Marcus's apartment, our apartment is exactly as chaotic as I made it and exactly as organized as he needs it to be.
Compromise looks good on us.
I'm in the studio working on my latest commission when I hear the door open.
"I'm home!" Marcus calls.
"Studio!"
He appears in the doorway, loosening his tie. A year into consulting and he still wears full suits every day. I find it adorable and ridiculous in equal measure.
"How was Chicago?"
"Exhausting. Productive. I closed the deal." He kisses me, tasting like coffee and airports. "How's the piece coming?"
"Almost done. The Wu Foundation wants it by next week."
"You'll finish. You always do."
He's right. I always do now. Because I'm not working alone anymore.
"Oh, I almost forgot." He pulls an envelope from his bag. "This came for you."
I open it and scream.
"What? What is it?"
"The Berkshire Gallery. They want to do a solo show. Next spring. Full exhibition, international exposure, everything." I jump up and down. "This is huge, Marcus. This is—"
He kisses me to stop my rambling.
"This is what you deserve. What you've always deserved." He spins me around. "My brilliant, talented girlfriend is going to be famous."
"I'm already famous. In very specific art circles."
"Then you'll be more famous."
We celebrate with Thai food and cheap wine on the balcony, watching Thornhill campus in the distance.
"Do you miss it?" I ask. "The university. Legacy Council. All of that?"
"Not even a little." He pulls me close. "I miss the people sometimes. Sebastian, Carter, the guys. But we still see them and what I have now is so much better than anything I had then."
"Even though you're working seventy-hour weeks and living with a messy artist?"
"Especially because of that." He kisses my temple. "You know what I was doing a year ago today?"
"Avoiding me?"
"Avoiding you. Sitting in my dorm, organizing my desk for the third time that week, pretending I was fine." He turns to face me. "I was miserable. Controlled. Calculated. Dead inside."
"And now?"
"Now I'm alive. Messy and uncertain and terrified half the time. But alive." He cups my face. "You did that. You made me brave enough to feel."
"You made yourself brave. I just gave you a reason."
"Best reason I ever had."
We stay on that balcony until late, talking about the future. His career trajectory. My gallery shows. Potential trips abroad. Maybe a dog.
Definitely a dog. I'm wearing him down.
"Whatever happens," Marcus says as we head inside, "whatever chaos comes next, I'm in. Completely. Messily. Forever."
"Forever's a long time for someone who used to calculate every risk."
"Then it's a good thing I stopped calculating and started trusting." He pulls me into bed, tangling our legs together. "This is the best risk I ever took."
"Falling in love with a disaster?"
"Falling in love with you. The brilliant, chaotic, perfectly imperfect you."
"Right back at you, Chen. Right back at you."
Outside, Thornhill campus sleeps. Inside, we're wide awake and planning impossible futures.
Together.
Always together.
THE END