As Ai's heart raced with anticipation, her eyes widened in shock as she watched Jun on his knee with the ring in his hand. A surge of emotions overwheld her as her breath caught in her throat. It was as if the world around her was fading away, leaving only the two of them in a blissful bubble of joy.
Ti seed to stand still as her eyes were lost in his beautiful ones filled with warmth and sincerity. The question he dropped was akin to a lody, dancing in the air and resonating deeply within her soul. The ring scintillating so brightly had the weight of his love, commitnt and loyalty enveloped within it.
At that mont she didn't know why but the agonizing mories of the past flooded in her mind. She couldn't even begin to express the loneliness that was left behind for the rest of her life. The ecstatic reality of her rebirth had brought a vigor in her broken soul, but it all felt like a floating dream which could co crashing at any mont. Even when she t Jun, even as she fell in love with him, even as they started living together, she couldn't suppress that tiny restlessness in her heart that poked holes in her happiness and dream.
But as she witnessed Jun dropping on his knee and asking her hand to be held in his for the rest of her life, the cruel restlessness was gradually diminishing from within her. His gaze and the ring were proof of the happy ending that she had visualized for themselves for a long ti.
A surge of euphoria flooded her being, spreading a radiant smile across her face. Tears welled up in her eyes, glistening with a mixture of surprise, joy, and sheer emotion. She reached out, her trembling hand gently cupping his face, as if confirming the reality of the mont.
Is this really happening…?
In that singular, breathtaking instant, her heart soared with a mixture of gratitude, and the purest form of love. She thanked the heavens over and over again for the second chance that they were blessed with. She didn't believe in the concept of perfection because it was nature's way for an anomaly and imperfection to always reside in everything. But against her own ideology, for the first ti, she felt that this mont was perfect. Their life would be perfect once Jun would slip the ring past her finger.
With each beat of her heart, her mind raced with a whirlwind of thoughts and visions of their happy future. The pain and joy they shared, the ups and downs, the laughter and tears had all converged into this beautiful mont of significance.
In this mont, she knew that this proposal wasn't just about him wearing a ring to her finger. It was an affirmation of their bond that had forged since their deaths in the past life. They had held their hands as they had taken their last breaths and once again, in this life too, they will be beside each other as husband and wife to share their life and death together.
"Is…Is this…" she couldn't hold her voice together from stamring to express the emotions riling in her heart, "... really happening?"
Jun could very well read every last emotion in her irises that were buried deep in her all this ti. He gently squeezed her trembling hand that held his cheek and smiled. "Two hundred percent."
"This is not a dream…?"
"No."
"Are-are you really proposing to ?" At this point, tears were falling as if a dam had broken apart.
"Yes. I am proposing to the weirdest and the craziest woman I ever t in my life without whom I cannot live for a single mont anymore. I want to hold that woman in my embrace for the rest of my life."
"You are an…" she softly gasped, staring at him through her blurry vision, "I had plans to propose to you."
"No, no, no," he shook his head. "I wouldn't let you steal my thunder a second ti. You confessed to . It was only fair that I proposed to you."
"My heart is beating like crazy."
"Yeah that's exactly how I felt at the Summit."
"You proposed to on my birthday…Is this supposed to be the best gift I have ever received?"
"This is just the beginning, Ai. There will be many, many more happy surprises for you."
She sniffled. "You have no right to make my birthday so special by infinite tis when today was already overloaded with tons of happiness for . My heart is not able to handle it…"
"What about you overloading my heart and making Valentine's night so special for ? I had decided that night itself that I would give you the most breathtaking proposal ever," his charming smile reached all up to his eyes. "Will you give this honor?"
Ai laughed through her tears. "Yes…"
As she finally found her voice, a joyous gasp escaped her lips, followed by a resounding echo in the library.
"Yes!"
Her happiness radiated like a sunbeam, illuminating even brighter than the paper lanterns. The book slipped from her hands and dropping to her knees, she flew into his hug and let out a wail of tears and the joy overflowing her heart.
Jun might have been smiling and chuckling before Ai, but only God knew how hard his heart was pounding in his chest. Unknown to her, his hand was ever so slightly shaking which held the ring as he had awaited her answer.
But the mont Ai's Yes echoed loud and clear, he couldn't hold back the wetness from enveloping his eyes. There was a ti in the past where his proposal had left him a lifeti of scar with Shui's rejection. All the expectations, joy and dreams of a happy future with her had amounted to nothing as she tearfully said no. Even though he had no reason to be afraid in this life, a similar sense of restlessness was poking his heart as well as if he was getting pricked by needles.
The trepidation that Ai would reject him too. That he would once again stand at the sa position from where the despair in his life had started. And it was Ai's simple yes that broke light through that fear and darkness once and for all.
He had a ring to put on her finger but before he did that, he simply hugged Ai back who had imdiately flown into his arms. He was the sa as her. He broke down in tears just like her. He hugged her tighter to feel her warmth and inhale her scent. Before he slipped the ring, he wanted this mont to sink in his heart by just sharing a simple but firm embrace. He wanted her Yes to imprint upon his past life's darkness and bid it goodbye forever.
They simply wanted to hug each other, relishing the feeling that they finally got their happy ending they had always wished for.
Reviews
All reviews (0)