⤿ antônio + sarah › @bearytender .
for weeks, the lie had lived behind her teeth. she used the exhausting schedule of her daily athletic drills as a flawless cover, returning home every evening with heavy limbs and deliberate, lingering yawns. she would retreat under the blankets far too early, pulling him down into the dark alongside her under the pretense of sleep, only to lie awake for hours beside his steady breathing. under the soft, blue glow of her phone, her fingers moved across flight schedules, luxury cabin rentals, and private sanctuaries halfway across the globe. he had spent months idly talking about a cabin tucked away in the woods, a place with massive windows and a sweeping view of the treeline. she bought the reservation without hesitation, but the cabin was only the first layer. the real core of the secret. the ultimate destination he had no idea was coming; would require a flight to an entirely different country, leading him straight to an elephant rescue center where he could finally see his favorite animals up close.
planning the execution, however, was where her logic splintered. simply telling him to pack a bag or putting him in the passenger seat felt entirely too ordinary for her taste. she had tried a elaborate surprise months ago by pretending to be deeply angry with him, an experiment that ended disastrously with him quietly breaking down in tears. a sight that broke her heart so completely she swore never to make him sad again. panic, she reasoned with her peculiar brand of reasoning, was an acceptable alternative.
the plan required backup, which was how sam, oliver, and jihoon ended up crammed inside the hallway outside their room, pulling black ski masks over their heads. her instructions had been strict: complete, terrifying silence. toni knew their voices too well, and a single word would blow the entire operation. jihoon and sam were assigned to secure his limbs so he couldn't fight back, while oliver was tasked with slipping the velvet blindfold over his eyes.
the dramatic, silent entrance lasted less than twenty seconds before collapsing into complete chaos. “ i said not too tight, oliver ! ” she hissed in a furious whisper, stepping forward to deliver a sharp kick to oliver's knee as he struggled to pull the knot secure around the back of toni's head.
oliver let out a muffled grunt behind the thick knit fabric of his mask, lifting his hands in surrender while sam and jihoon hauled a thoroughly confused, heavy toni up from the mattress and carried him toward the waiting car outside. sarah hovered frantically over the moving pile of limbs, swatting at jihoon's shoulders whenever his grip on toni’s arms looked even remotely aggressive. as they maneuvered his frame toward the vehicle, she darted ahead, planting her palm flat against the hard edge of the car roof just as his head swung close to the metal so he wouldn't hit it. “ get out of the way, sarah! he's heavy as hell, ” sam grunted through his mask, his voice muffled and thoroughly annoyed as he wrestled with toni's dead weight down.
“ don't call me by my name ! ” she whisper-yelled back, slapping sam's arm. she watched with a tense, hovering energy as sam and oliver shoved a helpless, pajama-clad toni into the back seat, adjusting his position with clumsy haste. exhausted and sweating beneath the wool, sam reached up to yank his mask off, only for sarah to lung across the middle console to grab his wrist. “ don't remove it ! ” she barked softly, her eyes wide with frantic urgency. “ he already knows it's us, you idiot, ” sam muttered, rolling his eyes as he tried to peel the hot fabric from his jaw.
“ no, he doesn't ! right baby ? ” she insisted, dropping her voice into an absurdly low, gravelly register that failed entirely to mask her soft, distinctly feminine tone. she bit down hard on the inside of her cheek to keep a sudden burst of giggles from bursting out.
satisfied that the chaos was somewhat contained, she pushed sam out of the way and scrambled into the driver's seat. oliver slammed the rear door shut, leaning through the open window with a skeptical, deeply concerned expression. “ please don't kill the two of you, ” oliver warned quietly, adjusting his twisted mask. “t he instructor only passed you for your license because he was tired of watching you mix up left and right for three months straight. ” immediately clicking the car into drive and accidentally shifting into reverse first with a loud crunch of the gears before correcting it.
she pulled out of the driveway with erratic caution, her hands gripping the leather steering wheel so tightly her knuckles turned white. the quiet hum of the heater began to fill the cool cabin of the car, cutting through the heavy confusion lingering in the back seat. she glanced into the rearview mirror, catching the ridiculous sight of him sitting there blindfolded in his soft fleece sleepwear. “ is it... is it too cold back there ? ” she asked, maintaining that same hilariously deepened, low voice, though the gentle, worried tilt at the end betrayed her completely.
