THETREE.

´After this holiday you´re never gonna wanna let me go, you know that, right?´ Nina says with a smile on her face.
´We´ll see about that then, dollface,´ Carlos winks at her.
´I mean it, and you know it,´ she says, seriously but also teasing.
´I know,´ Carlos says, and he starts laughing.
They walk to the car. ´I´ll take you places you have never seen before,´ he says as he opens the door for her.
´Which are?´ Nina asks him. He laughs again.
´You´ll see, girl,´ is all he says. ´Now, tell me, what would you like to see first?´ he asks Nina absent mindedly.
´The best,´ she replies. He thinks for a while and then looks at her.
´Ok.´ He starts the car and when he stops the car again after an about two hour drive, he says: ´There you go. The best of the best. For you.´
´Where are we?´ Nina asks.
´My spot. Get out of the car.´
Nina opens the door and steps out. ´Oh my..´ she says.
´I know. It´s the best, isn´t it?´ Carlos says.
But all Nina can say is: ´Oh my.. This truly is beautiful.´ She runs her hand through her hair and rests it on her mouth.
´It is,´ Carlos agrees. ´Hey, I want to ask you something..´
´Wait a minute,´ Nina interrupts him. ´I just want to do something.´ She looks around her and sees a couple of trees standing. She finds the on closest to the edge. She walks up to the ree and climbs it. Carlos watches from beneath. ´What are you doing?´ he yells up the tree.
´Nothing,´ Nina yells down.
Carlos climbs up the ree as well. ´God, the view is even nicer from up here.´
´Look,´ Nina says proudly, with a pocket knife in her hand.
´Oh..´ Carlos looks at the name Nina carved in one of the branches of the tree they were sitting in.
"Carinho," it said. "Sweetheart."
´I love you, Nina.´
´I love you too,´ Nina smiles at Carlos, her "carinho".
´Give me the pocket knife for a sec,´ he says, looking at the view.
10 minutes later, Carlos rubs the branch he just carved in. ´There you go,´ he says, and he grins. Nina looks at Carlos and shakes her head. ´Why don´t you look at it, Nina? It took me 10 freaking minutes!´
´I´m scared,´ Nina says.
´Come here then,´ Carlos grabs her hand and says: ´Close your eyes.´
Nina closes her eyes. Carlos runs her fingers across the latters he just carved.
W..I..L..L..Y..O..U..M..A..
´Yes. Yes, yes, yes!!´ Nina exclamates. ´Give me my knife back, please,´ she says with her blue eyes wide open again. ´Give it,´ she giggles. Then, she starts carving right under Carlos´ proposal. With her tongue a little bit out of her mouth, Nina carefully carves out a single word of seven characters. ´Done. Let´s go.´
Carlos shrugs and climbs down. He holds Nina´s hand as he helps her get down as well. Before she gets into the car, he pulls her back and kisses her. They stumble back to the tree. Carlos tries to see what Nina wrote before they descended, but she keeps him from it by kissing him.
They make love under the tree and as they lay in the shade, in each other´s arms, Nina traces ten characters across Carlos´ chest.
F..O..R..E..V..E..R..
She looks at Carlos and whispers in his ear: ´Forever.´