New Morning.

She softly traced her fingers on the screen, caressing absentmindedly his hands through it. The only light in the bedroom was coming from that photo she has been staring at for the past who knows how many hours. She remembers that day clearly. Everyone decided to take a trip to the beach for the weekend, taking advantage of the fact that Samuel's house there was big enough to accomodate them all. It was Saturday morning when she woke up before everyone else and decided to watch the sunrise by the seashore. He was already there, taking pictures of the landscape. As she approached, he commenced taking her photograph, making her blush and look away bashfully. They sat on the sand and listened to the soft roar of the seagulls flying around, and as the ruddy sun began to make its appearance, Ellie slowly turned to face Derec only to find him staring back, his lips supporting a slight smile. She frowned her eyebrows at him in a silent question. His answer came in the form of Derec grabbing his camera and standing up to place it a few feet in front of them. She realised he had set the timer ready as he came back to her side in a rush and wrapped an arm around her. “You look so stunning in this lighting”, he whispered right after the camera click sound. “I wanted to register this moment forever.” Ellie found herself searching for his lips in a hesitant but bold kiss. All of her irresolution melted away as soon as she felt Derec responding. They had spent the rest of the morning being silly and getting covered in sand and salty water and taking even sillier pictures of themselves until their bellies complained about the lack of food. This particular photo, the one that has always been her favourite, was one of the few she had snapped herself. Derec had his head tilted up towards the sun that had already set its place in the sky. His eyes were closed and the corners of his mouth were slightly tilted up. He had his hands around himself as if he were hugging the sun back. He looked absolutely beautiful. Ellie simply couldn't help but admiring every trace of him, from his wet dark hair to the bottom of his stomach where the picture ended. She recalls perfectly the way her own stomach did backflips when she put the camera down and waited for him to wake up from his zen state of mind. He blinked slowly and turned to her. His smile got wider. "I love you", he mouthed. She had never felt happier.

She traced her fingers one last time on the spot over his heart before shutting her laptop with a quiet thump. She waited for her eyes to get accustomed to the lack of light in the room and then placed the computer on the bedside table. Blinking back the tears, she looked at the spot by her side at the heavy sleeping figure of Garreth. Nestling under the covers, she did the one thing she would do every night: try to let her mind wander away from thoughts of that morning three years ago.

“I'm so sorry..”, she mouthed. Derec's sweet and full-of-love smile was the last thing she saw before sleep took over.