The oven beeped, and the aroma of cookies filled the air. Lin Wanqing put on oven mitts and opened the oven door. The golden cookies were studded with melted chocolate chips, like sprinkles of gold.
"Want to try some?" She handed him a piece, watching him blow on it and take a small bite. "Is it the same as what the Dutch landlady taught you?"
Ah Yu nodded vigorously, cookie crumbs falling onto his chin: "It tastes even better than hers." He suddenly pulled a small box out of his pocket, "I almost forgot about this."
Inside the box lay a pair of silver rings, their design simple, with tiny engravings on the ring faces—one a camera lens, the other a charity logo. Lin Wanqing recalled that when she was browsing a jewelry store last month, she had glanced at similar styles a few times; she hadn't expected him to remember them.
“Let’s have a simple ceremony in the yard when we move into our new home in the spring.” Ah Yu took her hand and slipped a ring with the charity logo onto her ring finger. “We don’t need to invite too many people, just the friends who have been with us through thick and thin.”
Lin Wanqing gazed at the small design on the ring and suddenly recalled that evening in Kenya. They sat in a makeshift classroom, watching the children run in the sunset. Ah Yu suddenly said, "At our wedding, we must invite these children to be flower girls and page boys." At the time, she laughed and said it was too far away, but she secretly made a promise in her heart.
“I want to invite Mary.” She put the ring engraved with a camera lens on his finger, her fingertip touching the thin calluses on his fingertip. “She’s the girl who helped us translate in Congo. She got into university last year and said she wanted to come to China to see the world.”
Ah Yu's eyes lit up: "Then I'll ask Lao Fan, he's the one who lent us the camera in Paris back then. And that elderly Dutch couple, if they'd like to take a long trip."
Suddenly, fireworks exploded outside the window, their dazzling light streaming through the gaps in the curtains, casting flowing colors onto the ceiling. They stood side by side by the window, watching the fireworks bloom in the night sky, still clutching their unfinished cookies.
“Look,” Lin Wanqing pointed to the brightest cluster of fireworks, “doesn’t it look like the aurora borealis in Iceland?”
Ah Yu squeezed her hand, the rings clinking together: "This time next year, we'll see the real Northern Lights in Iceland." He whispered in her ear, "And we'll make mulled wine in the campervan, just like we did in Paris."
The sweet wine in the kitchen was still bubbling, emitting a warm aroma. Lin Wanqing looked at the fireworks rising and falling outside the window and suddenly understood that the so-called expectations for the future were never a perfect destination, but rather composed of these warm promises: the pattern on the ring, the cherry tree in the yard, the aurora borealis in Iceland, and the unchanging light in the eyes of the person beside her.
As the fireworks faded, Ah Yu turned to turn off the stove. Lin Wanqing watched his busy figure in the kitchen and suddenly realized that those once unattainable dreams had long since become tangible realities in their daily interactions. It wasn't about earth-shattering feats, but rather the connection between these small, everyday moments: the drawings they made together, the trees they planted together, and every ordinary day that was cherished.
As the New Year's bells rang, they raised their glasses of sweet wine. Moonlight from the window fell on the rims of the glasses, like scattered silver. Lin Wanqing looked at the smile in Ah Yu's eyes and whispered, "To the future."
"To us." Ah Yu clinked glasses with her, the sound of the glasses clinking was crisp and melodious. "To all the beautiful things that haven't happened yet, but are on their way."
The sweet wine in the glass bubbled with fine foam, like starlight from the entire universe. Warm light from the kitchen enveloped them, laughter from neighbors drifted in from outside, and fireworks continued to bloom in the distance, creating a truly authentic human scene—the so-called future is nothing more than living each ordinary day as a memorable moment with you.
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