Reiner watched as Charm waltz away through a heavily secured door towards the back of her shop. His eyes glanced over to the clock once again before he sighed. He clearly underestimated the task of picking out the perfect ring for Natalia. With how things were unfolding, Reiner didn’t exactly have the time to figure all the details out in advance.
“I’m back! Take a look at this,” Charm announced proudly.
Reiner looked down at a big shiny diamond that Charm held out towards him in a small black leather box. For some strange reason, the stone looked different from the rest, and he felt like it was what he was looking for. Was it Charm’s genius at the work that she does or perhaps he was just being illogical about all of this, he didn’t quite know.
“It’s perfect, isn’t it? Pair this stone with this classic yet timeless setting here in platinum and boom! It’s the perfect ring for your perfect bride,” Charm said confident before thrusting a platinum ring in Reiner’s face.
Reiner was speechless as he stared back and forth from the loose stone to the platinum ring as he imagined the stone fitted on it. He hated to admit it, but Charm was right, it does look perfect. Reiner was frankly amazed at how Charm could pick something like this out for him so easily.
“I guess this is the most expensive stone that you have…” Reiner said teasingly.
“Are you kidding me? This is nothing and stop acting like you weren’t born on a mountain of gold,” Charm snapped.
“It’s very beautiful. Thank you, Charm,” Reiner said with a smile.
“You’re welcomed. I look forward to meeting her. Please introduce her to all of us at the class reunion or something, ok?” Charm requested sweetly.
“Sure…” Reiner mumbled in reply.
“You better invite me to your wedding…” Charm said without backing down.
“If we end up having one…” he muttered softly as if speaking to himself.
“What did you say?” Charm asked loudly as she strained her ears to hear.
“Nothing. Thank you…” Reiner quickly replied.
“This is the setting that I’ve chosen. I have it in stock in all sizes, I just need to get one of my craftsmen to mount the stone on. It won’t take long. Now, the ring size, please?” Charm asked with a bright smile.
“Umm…” Reiner mumbled as he looked unsure.
“Seriously…?” Charm asked in disbelief.
Reiner just smiled sheepishly at her as Charm rolled her eyes up towards the ceiling.
…
I stared at Reiner as my entire face and lips felt numb from shock. My body wouldn’t move, and it felt like time had frozen. I was beyond stunned and I didn’t know how to react. My mind couldn’t process his words and a part of me didn’t believe that I even heard him right.
The cool wind blew against my face and my body shivered a little from the slight cold. My hair blew in front of my face, but I couldn’t move my hand to whip it away. The sun was fast dipping below the horizon. We will miss the sunset at this rate, but I couldn’t care less about that right now.
My heart beat so fast and hard in my chest that I could hear the sound of it beating ringing in my ears. Reiner was silent as he waited for my response while I couldn’t make a single sound.
What did he just say? It’s not possible…
“Wait. What did you…just say?” I asked after partially recovering from my initial shock.
Somehow, I got my voice to work again. With substantial effort, I forced out the question that had been on my mind.
“I told you to listen carefully,” Reiner said with a hint of complaint.
I was listening. Well, I thought that I was listening carefully.
“No…it can’t be. Say it again…please…” I begged him in a small voice.
“No. I already told you that I’m only going to say it once,” Reiner refused stubbornly.
“It can’t be…” I murmured, still finding hard to believe that he proposed to me just now.
“Your answer?” he asked as he looked deeply into my eyes.
People say that when you know, you just know. I have never truly understood that saying until just now. They were right, I couldn’t explain it no matter how hard I tried. I had no idea why I felt that way but, in that moment, I was so absolutely certain. Everything felt so right. Every weight on my chest and my shoulders felt light. I didn’t even need to think with my head or feel with my heart to know that it was right.
You just know…
I’m going to cry. Shit.
I never knew that I could feel this happy. What is wrong with me?
“Yes, let’s get married. I really want to be yours…forever…” I replied clearly.
It was like my answer eased his worry and Reiner smiled at me. Did he honestly think that there was a chance that I would not accept his proposal? Even after I’ve been chasing him all this time?
Reiner pulled me into a tight hug, and I could feel the heat of his body against mine. The warmth of his palm against the small of my back as he pressed me even closer against him. His other hand held the back of my head and stroked my long hair. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply as I tired to capture everything about this moment in my mind and in my heart. Just when my eyelids slid closed, warm tears flowed down my cheeks.
If we end up having children and if they end up having children of their own, I’ll tell all of them about how shamelessly I had to chase Reiner just to get him to propose to me. It wasn’t easy for us to get to this point, but I was beyond thrilled that we made it here. I hugged Reiner back tightly as if I was scared that he would change his mind and try to escape from me again.
After being locked in each other’s loving embrace for a long while, Reiner finally relaxed his hold on me just enough for him to look down into my face. I stared up at him before a smile curved my lips. Getting up on my tiptoes, I placed a sweet kiss on his lips.
–To be continued…