~1 1/2 years later~

Jongin watched the back of Taemin's head as the boy gazed out the taxi window at the rain. They were on their way to meet Sehun and his boyfriend for dinner, and the rain, as well as the distance to the restaurant had forced them to take a cab, despite the fact that they'd probably get there faster on foot. Taemin turned to face him.

"We're going to be late." He seemed distracted as he said it, only half-focused on what he was saying.

"Probably." Jongin agreed. "I'll text Sehun." 

Taemin went back to looking out the window. Jongin frowned. This was weird.

"You're awfully quiet, Tae." Jongin said. Taemin turned back around to face him. His eyes were dark and anxious, and his voice nearly above a whisper when he spoke,

"I just don't like this part of town. Something bad happened to me here."

Even now, Taemin still couldn't say it in regular conversation. 

"So this is where it happened?"

Taemin nodded. 

"Near here, yeah."

"Do you want to just go home, then? We could reschedule and go somewhere different, I'm sure Sehun would understand."

"No, no. It's okay. I just need to get past the next couple blocks and I think I'll be fine. Everything is too familiar here."

"Okay." Jongin leaned in and kissed Taemin's forehead. "You know you're safe, right? That was a long time ago, nothing will ever hurt you here again."

"I know. I love you Jongin, thank you." Taemin still wore an expression of anxiety, but Jongin knew he would be alright. 

"I love you too. We'll be out of here before you know it." 

Taemin nodded absentmindedly.

"Can you distract me?"

"Of course," Jongin pulled out his cellphone and opened the calendar app, showing it to Taemin. He pointed to his screen. "So I was thinking about August or September? Maybe sometime in that last week of August..."

*****

They stepped out of the taxi and into the cool April rain. Jongin rested his hand on the small of Taemin's back as they began walking, ushering him into the restaurant. He knew Taemin was almost entirely steady on his own feet now--with some help from his cane of course--but Jongin's habit of hovering around him still lingered, and likely wasn't going to disappear anytime soon. 

Inside, the restaurant was warm and bright, a welcome change from the chilly and bleak world outside. Jongin glanced around, not seeing Sehun at first, but quickly noticing him after he began to wave at them. They headed over to the restaurant booth, sliding into the seat across from Sehun and his boyfriend, Luhan. 

"Hey," Taemin said. "Sorry we're late, but you know how traffic here is." 

Sehun waved a hand in dismissal.

"It's fine, it's fine. So...tell us everything! When did it happen? Who proposed to who? This is so exciting--"

"--Oh my god!" Luhan interrupted his boyfriend, grabbing Taemin's left hand and holding it out for Sehun to see. "Look at that!" 

"Oh!" Sehun admired the silver band on Taemin's ring finger. After a moment, he looked up at Taemin and Jongin, grinning. "So how'd he do it?"

They looked at each other, smiling in amusement at their friends' excitement. 

"Well," Taemin began. "He didn't really... I mean he did, but it wasn't some big thing or anything you might expect."

Jongin smiled sheepishly. In hindsight, maybe the way he'd proposed could've been a little more romantic.

"Yesterday morning, when we were still in bed--I literally had just woken up--Jongin just rolls over and is like, 'Let's get married'. And me still being half-asleep, I told him that I wouldn't marry him unless he actually proposed. So he pops the question, just like that. He didn't even have a ring." Taemin chuckled. "So naturally, I said yes. We went out and got a ring that afternoon."

"No, you didn't say yes," Jongin corrected Taemin. "You said 'of course'."

"Same thing." Taemin rolled his eyes, smiling affectionately.

"And," Jongin addded, "In my defense, I was waiting to propose on his birthday, which is why I didn't have a ring. I was still looking...but then I got kind of impatient." He could feel himself start to blush.

Sehun laughed. 

"That's very...Jongin, honestly. I can't even say the way he proposed is surprising in the slightest."

"We're so happy for you guys." Luhan said warmly. "Do you have any idea when the wedding's gonna be?"

"Well I mean, we just got engaged yesterday, but I know Taemin wants to wait until he doesn't need his cane anymore. Which shouldn't be too far from now, honestly, but it'll be at least a few months." Jongin found his fiancé's hand under the table and laced their fingers together.

"I'm really hoping for a summer wedding, but if it happens in fall or winter it's fine too. I'll just be happy to be getting married." Taemin squeezed Jongin's hand. They exchanged a glance, each making note of the joy in the other's eyes. 

They were so in love. 

*****

Jongin couldn't sleep. Something was nagging at him. He rolled onto his back, shoving a hand through his hair. He just couldn't stop thinking. What if he'd done the wrong thing? What if Taemin wasn't happy with his proposal? What if--

From beside him, Taemin shifted. 

"Jongin?"

He turned to look at his fiancé. His eyes were cracked open, blinking sleepily at him. Jongin froze.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"

"It's kind of hard to sleep when you're constantly tossing and turning right next to me. What's up? You haven't done this in a long time."

Jongin sighed. 

"Do you think I should've proposed to you differently? Like, are you disappointed or anything? I know it was kind of lame..."

Taemin propped himself up on an elbow, suddenly very awake.

"No, Jongin. Absolutely not," He shook his head emphatically. "It was perfect. Yeah, it wasn't 'the normal way to propose' or something like that, but I loved it. That's what you were worried about? I said yes, didn't I?"

Though Taemin's tone was serious, Jongin could tell he was smiling as he finished speaking.

"You said 'of course'." Jongin said, letting himself smile too.

"Even better. I don't think I would've wanted us to get engaged any other way. It was perfect just as it was." 

"I'm glad. I love you so much, you know that?"

"I know. I love you too." Taemin lay back down. "C'mere, I'm cold now." 

Jongin laughed, scooting close to Taemin and wrapping an arm around his waist.

"Better?"

Taemin nodded.

"Goodnight, Jongin."

"Goodnight, Tae."

His worries now gone, Jongin was able to quickly fall asleep. As he was drifting off, he thought of how lucky he'd been to find Taemin. Two and a half years ago, Jongin had thought he'd never be happy again. But now, here he was, in love again--and not only that, he was engaged. He couldn't wait to spend the rest of his life with Taemin. They'd been through so much together, and finally, after all the pain, they were both getting their happy ending. 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N

I can't believe this is my last ever author's note for Anew!! This is crazy...

Thank you so much to all my lovely readers for your support, I don't think I could have finished this fic without you. I really loved reading every one of your comments and seeing your reactions to each chapter. <3

While I'm here, I guess I should let you know that now that this is finished, I'm going to be starting a new fic, called Love Is So Nice. It's an OnHo fic and it's going to be super cute with minimal angst, so check that out if you're interested. 

I think I said all of the super emotional stuff in my author's note on the last chapter, so I'll spare everyone from all that again here, haha. It's a really bittersweet moment for me, seeing this fic come to an end, but that's life, right? I'm glad I decided to finish this, and even more glad that I had such patient readers who were willing to wait for so long. Thank you all again. 

For the last time, thanks for reading!

-H <3

(P.S. If I'm being completely honest, I might "return" to Anew again in the future to write a couple more alternate POV chapters, because writing from Taemin's perspective was really fun, and I really think I'm going to miss this fic. So possibly look out for those!)