c0$m0$ eniGm@tic mir@ge: A Proposal

Ananya and Akash had reached a silent understanding that they were made to be together.
However, there had never been a formal proposal. Ananya always shied away from direct mention of any kind of affections. There was something about love that always scared her. Though she loved Akash every bit, but even the subtlest hint of any sort of confession of love made her put on her defenses and she would hurriedly try to change the subject.

The valentine day was approaching near. This time Akash was determined to pour his heart out in front of Ananya and make a proposal to her. He was well aware how difficult it was going to be. Taking Ananya into confidence to give him a patient hearing atleast once, was next to impossible. She would never give in. She would keep changing subjects, or pretend to understand nothing, or sometimes just laugh it off giving Akash least chance to elaborate. But Akash had decided to make it happen this time. If she was adamant, he was determined.

“Flowers and chocolates? No! I anyways , always give her flowers. She won’t take me seriously. A nice dress? Ney! That’s cliché. Her favourite perfume? No! Not suitable for the occasion! Nothing seems to be working for her!”, Akash was thinking, “I have to think something out of the box! Something she can’t run away from. I have to make her listen and for that I think I should first try to set the right atmosphere. I should do something to make her comfortable with the idea of love.”

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Akash opened the door for Ananya. It was her favourite Restaurant. Akash had booked the whole restaurant. They were lead to their table which was beautifully decorated with candles and flowers. There was aroma of fresh roses everywhere. As they took a seat, soft instrumental love songs started playing in the background.

A light flashed on the wall opposite to their table. Ananya could see a blown up collage enclosed in a circle of light. The collage had all their moments, holding hands, pulling each other’s hair, night time ice-cream strolls, their one stop chaiwala on the rainy days, their weird poses and silly expressions. Ananya was observing each picture totally engrossed and Akash was busy watching her. He was smiling at her changing expressions as she went looking on from one picture to another. He could see that he had been successful in making her confront something about her feelings.

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Champagne bottle was placed on their table. Akash opened the bottle and poured it for her. Before she could lift the glass to her mouth, she saw a gold colored message became visible on the glass surface against the effect of champagne. She read on. “The first time I saw you, the child-like innocence of your face, your manners extravagant but graceful indeed, the brightness of your eyes ignorant to anything evil or bad, your smile, everything was captivating about you. I don’t know which precisely was the moment when I fell for you. But now when I have, all my loyalties are booked for you, not only for this lifetime but for the lifetimes to come as well. It has been five years since we know each other, and now I don’t want to spend five minutes without you. These five years have been the best of my life and before you try to escape your own feelings, I want you to have a look at something.”

Everything was in place. The projector and sound system were already put up. The moment she finished reading this, Akash signalled to start the video.

“Their first dance together, Their coffee time chats, An learning cooking from Akash, An scolding Akash, An’s birthday, Akash’s office party, Long drives and their incessant song dedications to each other, An playing with the waves and sand and throwing water at Akash, Akash had captured their five years together perfectly in the video. An was mesmerized to see how beautiful their journey had been and how much more beautiful it could be in the coming years. She had almost tears in her eyes.”

As the video finished, Akash collected courage. He extended his hand, went down on his knees and recited a beautiful poem he had written for her. He then asked her to accompany him for life, to be his wife.

By this time Ananya was totally out of her defenses. She could not escape this time. She only took his hand, lifted him up and only said one word,”Yes!”

The music continued and the two proceeded to the dance floor. That valentine day was the beginning of their happily ever after.