Every time he buys a gift for his own girlfriend, he gets shot down.

Hands her an expensive set of perfume. "Return it."

Gives her an outfit he had his cousin help him choose for her. "I don't like it."

Takes her out and tells her to choose something that she likes. "There's nothing I need."

One day, Van Ness brings Victoria to his parents place for dinner. It's cold out and his mom reprimands him for not having Victoria wrapped up properly enough to fight the cold, to which Van Ness frowns helplessly because he's never been able to tell Victoria what to or not to do before in their relationship.

Dinner is pleasant, as per usual, and Victoria gets along with Van Ness's family just as nicely as she always has over the course of their dating. Van Ness doesn't even have to help Victoria fill her own dish because his parents have taken the job from him, and Victoria eats everything well, not forgetting the compliment the deliciousness of the food and smiling and laughing along to jokes she might not even understand.

As they are preparing to leave, his mom then takes Victoria by the hand and drags Victoria into Van Ness's room. "Here, wear this scarf," Mrs. Wu tells her with a warm and gentle smile. "We don't want you catching a cold!"

Van Ness watches as his mother wraps his old scarf around Victoria's neck-- not missing a second of the beautiful smile that stretches across the canvas of his girlfriend's face. From then on, Van Ness notices that Victoria wears that very scarf every time she goes out, with or without him.

"If you wanted something of mine so much, all you had to do was ask," he teases one night, laughing as she enters their shared flat from the darkness of the outside world.

Victoria sticks her tongue out at him and slips past him into their room. He follows after her and leans against the frame of their door, watching as she carefully unwraps the scarf and places it into the drawer beside her bed.

"I'll buy you another one," he says, "I've had that one since elementary, it's too old; my mom forced me to learn how to knit when I was younger, so it's poorly made anyways."

"I like it," Victoria argues. "I don't need a new one."

What she doesn't say, though, is that Victoria has a reason for liking this scarf in particular; it is because the scarf is a part of his past that Victoria was never able to participate in-- it is a part of him that she hadn't known. Van Ness, understanding her better than anyone else, just chuckles and hugs her from behind, whispering against her ear.

"That scarf is a part of my past. You are my present. Why don't we make something else of our future?"

Victoria scrunches up her nose. "What do you mean?"

He frees one hand and reaches into his back pocket, pulling out a small jewelry box. He isn't exactly good with his words, which is why he always resorts to buying gifts for Victoria, so he doesn't know exactly what to say to propose to her. Bringing the box in front of her, he opens it with his chin resting on her small shoulder.

Inside sits a perfectly reflective diamond ring.

"I'm still waiting for someone to take the title of Mrs. Wu," he forces himself to say, chewing on his lip nervously. When he attempts to take out the ring, Victoria halts him by wrapping her hands around his and closing the box.

"Wait."

"You don't want to?" Van Ness furrows his eyebrows, feeling his heart drop.

Victoria shakes her head, nods, and then shakes her head again. Van Ness takes a step back, looking at her with confusion. "I don't like that ring," she says.

"Is that an excuse?" He wonders aloud.

"No!" She says flusteredly. "I mean, look!" After her exclamation, Victoria walks over to the drawer and pulls out his old scarf again. Van Ness is only more perplexed by her action. Victoria sighs.

"You want a scarf instead of a ring?" Van Ness asks with a raised brow.

Victoria chuckles, rolling her eyes.

"You want me to... make a ring?" Van Ness chances.

Finally, Victoria grins.

"How do I do that?!" Van Ness splurts out. "I've never made a ring before!"

"I want you to design one," Victoria answers, "a custom made one; a ring that only you and I will have."

Van Ness sighs. "But... I'm not creative."

"I know," Victoria deadpans, "you even have to ask your colleagues and cousins for ideas when you buy me gifts."

"...is that why you didn't want any of them?" He asks.

Victoria shrugs.

"You should have just told me," Van Ness argues. "I was wondering why you never accept anything I give you..."

"Well, now you know, so don't propose to me again until you have a ring that I'll want," Victoria pouts at him. She makes way to the dressing room, placing the scarf into her drawer neatly again. She's always had an advantage over her boyfriend but tonight, Van Ness decided, wouldn't be the same.

"Hey!"

Van Ness wraps his arms around her waist from behind and lifts her, walking her back towards their bed. "I don't care!" He says in a childish tone. "You're going to accept my proposal tonight and I'll make up for the ring later!"

"That's cheating!" Victoria protests, prying at his arms but laughing all the same.

He sits her down on the edge of the bed and lowers himself onto one knee, hands holding hers in her lap. He says, "You have to accept me right now, or else it just won't feel right."

Smiling, Victoria leans foreward and presses her forehead against his, hands cupping his cheek. "Did you ever really think I was going to say no?"

"No," Van Ness replies honestly, "but I'm not taking that chance."

Because Victoria always had the upper hand, but not this night. Tonight, Van Ness will be the one holding leverage-- he will be the one with say.

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A/N: Written and tailored just for Nyxsohari (because who else could come up with such crazy couples, haha)! You guys should check out her works, too~ she's got a couple of Victoria related stories sitting around and they're really good!! ♥Xue