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 overwhelmed 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.
Time seemed 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 melody, dancing in the air and resonating deeply within her soul. The ring scintillating so brightly had the weight of his love, commitment and loyalty enveloped within it.
At that moment she didn't know why but the agonizing memories 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 come crashing at any moment. Even when she met 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 time.
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 moment.
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 time, she felt that this moment 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 moment of significance.
In this moment, 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 stammering 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 time. 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 me?" 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 met in my life without whom I cannot live for a single moment anymore. I want to hold that woman in my embrace for the rest of my life."
"You are mean…" 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 time. You confessed to me. 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 me 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 times when today was already overloaded with tons of happiness for me. My heart is not able to handle it…"
"What about you overloading my heart and making Valentine's night so special for me? 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 me 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 moment Ai's Yes echoed loud and clear, he couldn't hold back the wetness from enveloping his eyes. There was a time in the past where his proposal had left him a lifetime 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 same 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 immediately flown into his arms. He was the same 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 moment 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.
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