I sat up with my jaw dropped down to the ground. “Is that an engagement ring?”

“I didn’t think it was going to be that much of a surprise,” he smiled.

“KC, I’m just about to leave for dinner, you wanna…come…?” Elena, my roommate, obviously saw Gerald down on one knee and in our private moment, knowing exactly what was going on. “Oh…my…gosh,” she pronounced every syllable carefully. “I should really learn to knock…to my own dorm…just in case people are proposing…to my roommate who she hasn’t introduced yet.”

I took that opening as a chance to put things on hold. I stood up and grabbed Elena’s hand. “Ge, this is Elena. Elena, this is my boyfriends, Gerald.” I couldn’t meet his gaze, though I felt it longing for mine.

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you. KC can’t stop talking about you. It feels like I’ve known for those two years, except she never mentioned the way you look.” Elena said, tilting her head to the side.

Jealousy raged through me when I saw him smiling at her. I grabbed his hand in mine and went by his side. “Elena, weren’t you just leaving for dinner? Gerald and I have some things to talk about.” But everything inside me wanted to crawl into a hole and avoid the conversation until I was 30.

Elena smiled and winked, “Right. The engagement. Well, when I come home, tell me all about it. I’m a er for weddings. Nice to meet you, Gerald.” She spun around in her poodle skirt and left the dorm smiling.

I turned to face him with an obvious annoyed expression.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” He raised his hands up in the air.

“Don’t you wish you still had your magical powers?” I said, walking, patting his chest on my way back to the balcony.

He followed me a couple of seconds later. “Okay, so I’m the bad guy? I proposed to you, and then you introduce me as your boyfriend. It’s not like I was flirting with her. She was speaking to me…nicely.”

I scoffed, “I’m not speaking to you nicely? Ge, we haven’t seen each other in two years, and I open up to you about the way that I felt when we were apart, and you decide to get a ring out and ask me to marry you? What is wrong with that picture?”

“That’s the exact reason why I did it!” He smiled. “Baby, you told me how much you were suffering when we were apart. I’m giving you a chance to never feel that way again.” He walked to me and put his hands on my waist. “You don’t think I’ve been suffering too? Call Chris. I was just as pathetic as he was when he was love sick. I didn’t kiss any girls and make men want to beat my , but I became “love’s ” – His words, not mine,” he reminded me. “Look, I wanted to marry you since the first moment I asked you to be mine, and on prom I gave you that promise ring,” he pointed to my finger. “I warned you this day would come.” He teased lightly. He leaned against the railing, and held me in front of him. “And you wanted to be with forever, so what’s the difference between then and now?”

The deep breath I took didn’t help like I thought it would. “We are.” I answered. “I just thought this would happen like later in life, not two years later. Some time far from that.” This was harder than I thought it’d be. Well, if I was totally honest, never in my mind would I be saying no to Gerald. “Ge, I don’t want any of this to put a rift between us. I love you,” I said, taking his hand and drawing little circles on the back of his hand. “I love you more every time I think about you.” I laughed. “I’m confusing you, aren’t I?” My voice quivered, thinking this was going to end soon because of my lack of answer.

Gerald sighed, “Confused, yes. Angry? I’ll get back to you.” He smiled, and squeezed my hand. “You tell me you love me, yet you don’t want to spend the rest of your life with me? Look at our past, Kim. We have been through so much in our relationship; more than what anyone should ever go through. Doesn’t that show you what we’re capable of?” He used his finger to make me face him.

I shared my smile. “You’re very persuasive, Mr. Anderson. I guess marriage does seem like the appropriate next step. And it’s not that I don’t ever want to marry you. I just thought that this day would come when we’d be older…way older.”

He chuckled and pulled me against him. I knew he was over his sour mood, which let mine subside also. I didn’t even know why I was so upset. “Think about it,” he whispered against my hair sending chills. “Big church. White, beautiful gown. Walking down the aisle, seeing me in my tailored suit.” His lips roamed to my right ear lobe, and I closed my eyes in pleasure. “The huge reception. Dancing. Cutting our 5-tiered cake.”

“6-tiered cake,” I corrected joining him in his reverie.

“6-tiered cake,” he repeated. “And what kind of bouquet would you like, my future bride?”

“Hm…” I intertwined my fingers with his. “Red roses? With white calla lilies. Pink peonies with…”

Ge laughed, “I’m not made out of green paper with dollar signs,” he joked.

“You asked,” I defended. “So what else is on your high bargain to make me marry you?”

He nibbled on my neck and a moan escaped my lips. “Our honeymoon.”

“Mm…keep talking,” I urged.

“Barefoot on the beach, hand holding.” His hands rubbed my arms up and down, and his lips just roamed everywhere on my skin. He was the only one who ever did this to me; he was the only one who ever made my skin go up in flames. “Spending days in the water, nights locked in our resort suite with candles everywhere.” His voice made me want to see his face, and the moment it did, he devoured my lips. “Doing this…and maybe more,” he laughed.

Before answering, I allowed him to ravish me. Two years without this? I wondered how I ever survived. I turned around to give him more access; to give me more access.

“Go Kim! Woo! Get her, man!”

Gerald pulled away, and saw the guys next door on their balcony gawking at us. “Maybe we should go inside,” he said taking my hand.

“I never knew how disgusting college guys could be,” he collapsed onto my bed.

“That coming from a newly graduated college guy?” I went to my fridge and threw him a can of beer. “So you’re saying you didn’t act like that when your roommate came in with a girl?”

He shook his head, “Private apartment, remember?” He pointed to himself. Ge looked to his side and saw a picture of the two of us on my nightstand. “That’s my favourite picture.” It was one of our first pictures we took when we became official. He kissing my cheek, and I made a weird face at the camera. On each corner of the frame was one petal that I kept in memory. “It showed how romantic and mature I was. And how young and naïve you were.”

“Shut up,” I said sitting in front of him. “You love me.”

“Enough to want to marry you.” We were back to that now.

I took a breath and nodded. “Okay. Can you answer a question for me? Why now? You just got out of college. I’m still in college. We’re 21 slash 22 years old. And everyone knows that younger couples who decide to marry have a higher chance of getting a divorce than those who wait.”

“Ah!” He nodded. “That’s what you’re worried about; being another statistic?” He cornered me with his body. “Baby, you’re it.” He said. “You’re THE one; the only one. And it’s not like we’d be getting married the second I put this on your finger. I just want you to know that it is going to happen. Either next year, the next five years; even the next ten years, it is going to happen.” He shrugged. “And maybe it’ll give me some security to know you’re not getting bored of me.” He smiled, “You have to know that you not answering me is taking a serious blow on my ego.”

I looked down on my empty ring finger. “But I don’t want you to say yes until you’re one hundred percent sure.”

I knew that this would happen one day. It just came a little sooner than expected. “The wedding can wait?” I needed confirmation, knowing my parents would flip.

“The date’ll be up to you.” He said.

A sigh escaped my mouth and I smiled. “I absolutely loathe your persuasive skills.”

He laughed “Better get used to it, Mrs. Anderson.” Ge took out the ring and slipped on my finger. And at that particular second, I was engaged. “Now how about a little honeymoon preview to celebrate this occasion?” He leaned in and kissed that exact soft spot on my neck where he knew I’d give in.