Aria felt like the whole world had paused and time had stopped moving, she could not believe this was really happening, he was really on his knee, proposing marriage to Susan.
The moment she says yes and he puts that ring on her, then she would have lost him forever. Rosie’s words came ringing in her head that moment, the threat of losing Oliver forever.
“No, I can’t do this,” she muttered to herself subconsciously.
“Wait!” she suddenly yelled, just as Susan was about to give a reply. Everyone turned to face her.
Oliver could see the fear in her eyes, he was relieved to know that she stopped him, now he prayed silently for her to say what he wanted to hear from her.
Aria came closer to them. “Can I borrow Oliver for a few minutes?” she asked softly while staring at him.
Susan believed that the question was directed to her, but even before she could reply, Aria took Oliver by the arm and dragged him away from them in a hurry.
“Wow… easy ma’am, you are gonna hurt me,” Oliver whined while she dragged him but she didn’t seem to care.
She kept moving till they were out of the field and at the back of a statue. From where they stood, they were out of the other’s sight. She suddenly stopped and let go of his arm roughly.
“Ouch… that hurt!” Oliver yelled.
“And you deserve it! What were you doing?” Aria yelled with anger visible on her face.
“Um… Proposing, was I not doing it right? I knew it, I should have gone with the right knee,” Oliver replied in a sputter of words.
“No!! I don’t care which knee you used, I mean that you shouldn’t be proposing to her, why were you doing that?” Aria scolded.
“I still don’t get it, I am single and she is single, I was just moving on,” Oliver said softly.
Aria sighed and hit her palm on her face, “Well you don’t have to do that, you don’t have to be so close to her, you shouldn’t grow any feelings for her, you don’t have to propose to her, you don’t have to move on!” she yelled, feeling frustrated with his pretense and ignorance.
“And why shouldn’t I do that? Why should I not be with someone else? Why should I not move on?” he queried.
“Because I love you!!” she yelled and the both froze.
They were both silent, staring at each other. Oliver then smiled, he had been waiting to hear her say that for ages. He caressed her cheeks with his palm and then he hugged her tight.
“What took you so long?” he muttered softly to her ears. “I have missed being married to you, Aria… a part of me had been missing ever since the day you stepped out of my life and I was willing to do anything to get you back.
I know I have made some really bad choices in life, I know I have made some horrible mistakes and hurt you in a lot of ways, but I have never stopped loving you, Aria. I am very sorry for all the pain you had to pass through because of me. I have had to live with the guilt of our failed relationship for the past seven years and it’s a burden that only you can lift.
So Arianna McQueen, please do me the honor of being my wife, I mean for the second time,” he said and chuckled.
Aria was already shedding tears, she covered half of her face with her palm, strong emotions written all over her face.
Then he went down on a knee and raised the ring. “Would you make me the happiest man on earth by accepting this ring? Make me whole again, along with our family, make everything right and complete, will you marry me? Forever this time around… I…”
“You talk a lot Mr. Gomez, put the ring on my finger already,” she said while cleaning off the tears on her face with the other hand.
Oliver chuckled and she giggled, then he took her left hand and slid it into her fourth finger. “Am I doing it right?” he asked and looked up.
“I don’t care Mr. Gomez, your love is all that matters to me,” she replied with a chuckle. She helped Oliver get up and kissed him deeply immediately.
“Wow… that was hot,” he said with a smile and she giggled.
“Now go and tell your dear friend that this marriage between you two can’t work,” she said in a stern voice and Oliver chuckled. “What is so funny? Go and do it, tell her that you can’t marry her because I am still here,” she ordered.
“Relax Aria, I was never really going to get married to her,” Oliver confessed.
“What? But you just proposed to her and judging from the excitement on her face, I can tell that she was about to say yes,” Aria replied.
“I know, but that was the plan, we wanted you to believe that we would get married, that is the only way that you would have listened to your heart and did what was right.”
“Oh, so it was all an act,” Aria said softly.
Oliver was surprised that she took it lightly, he expected a different reaction. “Yeah, you can say that.” He replied.
Aria was silent for a while, and then she hit him hard on the chest and he yelled. “What was that for?”
“That was for playing with my emotions numerous times in one week, do you know how you made me feel, you scared the life out of me!!” she yelled.
“Fine, I am sorry… I didn’t know what else to do.”
“What if I hadn’t stopped you two?” Aria queried curiously. “Would you have gone ahead and married her?”
“Well, my gut feeling told me that you would stop us, I was certain that you would. But if you had not stopped us, then Susan would have said yes and we would proceed with the act, we would decide to get married along with Sammy and Rosie. I am certain that you would have stopped us before we got married, even if it’s at the altar, but you would never watch me get married to another woman.” Oliver said confidently
Aria smiled. “I love you Mr. Gomez.”
“I love you honey bunny,” he replied and then hugged her again. “Come on, let’s go and meet the others.” He said, with a smile tugged on his lips.
To be continued!!