Chapter 183 Fun Time

Chapter 183 Fun Time

She looked through the windshield again. Families streamed through the entrance. Children held balloons almost as large as themselves. The giant Ferris wheel slowly turned against the bright blue sky. The roller coaster roared overhead. The entire amusement park buzzed with laughter.

"You brought me here?"

Nathan nodded. "I figured after everything we've been through." He smiled softly. "We deserved one day without hospitals, exams or police stations."

For several seconds, Amelia simply looked at him.

Then she smiled. The kind of smile that reached every corner of her face.

"I've never been to an amusement park."

Nathan blinked. "You've never?"

She shook her head. "My parents always promised we'd go.".She laughed quietly. "Something always came up."

Nathan reached for her hand. "Then today..." He intertwined his fingers with hers. "We're fixing that."

The moment they stepped through the entrance. Amelia stopped walking. There was simply too much to look at. Bright rides,.food stalls, music, games, and cotton candy floating through the air.

Nathan watched her take everything in. "You look like one of the kids."

She pointed toward the carousel. "They have horses."

Nathan laughed. "I can see that."

"And look at that." She pointed somewhere else.

"And that."

Nathan smiled to himself. He hadn't seen her this excited in weeks. Maybe months.

She suddenly turned back toward him. "What do we do first?"

Nathan pretended to think. "I was going to suggest something calm."

He pointed toward the Ferris wheel. "But judging by your face."

She grabbed his wrist.

"We're riding everything."

An hour later, Nathan regretted every life decision that had led him onto the tallest roller coaster in the park.

The ride climbed slowly toward its highest point.

Click. Click. Click.

Amelia looked down. "Oh."

Nathan swallowed. "I've made a terrible mistake."

She looked at him. "I thought hockey players weren't scared."

"I'm not scared."

The coaster reached the top.

"I'm deeply concerned."

Amelia burst into laughter.

The ride dropped. Nathan shouted something that sounded suspiciously like a prayer.

Amelia laughed so hard tears streamed down her face.

By the time they climbed off, Nathan looked personally offended.

"I'd like everyone to know..." He pointed accusingly at the roller coaster. "That gravity behaved aggressively."

Amelia couldn't stop laughing. "You screamed."

"I did not."

"You absolutely did."

"I was communicating."

"With who?"

Nathan thought for a moment. "Whoever was listening."

They wandered from one attraction to another. They competed at basketball shooting games.

Nathan confidently announced he would win.

Amelia quietly scored three baskets before he managed one.

He stared at the hoop. "It's defective."

She folded her arms proudly. "It recognized talent."

Nathan bought her a giant teddy bear anyway. "You lost."

"I know."

"Then why are you giving me the prize?"

He smiled. "Because seeing you happy feels better than winning."

For a brief second, Amelia forgot how to answer.

They shared cotton candy while walking through the park. Nathan tore off a small piece.

Before he could eat it, Amelia reached over and stole it.

He stared at her. "You just committed theft."

She smiled innocently. "It was delicious."

Nathan leaned closer. "I'll remember this betrayal."

She laughed. "You'll survive."

"I've survived worse." He reached toward her face. "Hold still."

She frowned. "What?"

He gently brushed his thumb across the corner of her lips. "A little sugar."

The movement lasted barely a second. Yet it somehow stole every remaining word from Amelia.

Nathan smiled. "There."

She cleared her throat. "Thank you."

He noticed the blush spreading across her cheeks. He wisely chose not to mention it.

As afternoon faded toward evening, they climbed aboard the Ferris wheel. Unlike the noisy rides below, this one moved slowly and peacefully.

Their cabin rose higher and higher until the entire amusement park stretched beneath them like a sea of lights.

The city shimmered beyond it. The sun hovered low across the horizon, painting everything in shades of orange and gold.

Neither of them spoke for a while.

Nathan rested one arm along the back of the seat.

Amelia leaned slightly toward the window. "It's beautiful."

Nathan looked at her instead of the view. "It really is."

She turned and their eyes met.

She smiled. "You weren't talking about the sunset."

"No." His voice was quiet. "I wasn't."

A comfortable silence settled between them.

The Ferris wheel reached its highest point. Everything below suddenly felt very far away.

Nathan finally spoke again. "When I asked you that night if you'd be my girlfriend." He smiled gently. "I meant every word."

Amelia lowered her eyes. "I know."

"I'm still waiting."

"I know."

"There isn't a deadline."

She laughed softly. "I know that too."

Nathan nodded. "I just wanted you to know..."

He reached for her hand. "Your answer isn't changing."

She looked at their fingers intertwined once again.

"You make waiting sound very easy."

"It isn't." He smiled honestly. "But some people are worth waiting for."

Amelia felt her chest tighten. She leaned her head gently against his shoulder. Neither of them moved.

The Ferris wheel began its slow descent. The lights below glowed brighter as evening settled over the park.

Nathan rested his cheek lightly against the top of her head. He didn't speak again.

Sometimes, the quiet moments carried far more meaning than the loud ones ever could. And somewhere beneath the glowing lights of the amusement park, two people who had started as strangers pretending to be in love found themselves standing closer than either of them had ever imagined.

Even if only one of them had said the words aloud, their hearts had already begun telling the same story.

The Ferris wheel had almost completed another slow circle before either of them spoke again.

Nathan sat beside Amelia with one arm resting along the back of the seat, his eyes fixed on the city beyond the park.

Amelia kept turning the bouquet of daisies in her hands. She had thanked him for the flowers three different times already.

She still could not stop touching them.

Nathan noticed. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "You've counted those petals at least twenty times."

Amelia looked down at the flowers and laughed softly. "I have not."

"You definitely have."

"I was admiring them."

"I believe you."

She glanced sideways. "No, you don't."

Nathan chuckled.

"Not even a little."

Silence settled between them again. It was the kind of silence that only existed between people who had spent enough time together that words were not always necessary.

Nathan broke the silence first.

"You've been thinking."

Amelia looked away instead of looking at him.

"I have." Her voice was calm. "So much that it's becoming exhausting."

She rested the bouquet carefully across her lap, absentmindedly brushing her fingers over the petals.

"When I told you it was too early..." She paused, searching for the right words. "That wasn't me turning you down."

A faint smile touched her lips before fading again.

"It was fear." She drew in a slow breath. "When we first met, I honestly believed you were every warning my parents had ever given me wrapped into one person."

A small laugh escaped her.

"You were charming without trying.You always seemed surrounded by girls.You flirted so effortlessly that I wondered if you even noticed you were doing it.The whole campus had a story about you."

She shook her head gently. “To me, you looked like someone who loved attention." Someone who never stayed in one place long enough to build something real."

Her fingers tightened slightly around the bouquet.