Is this destiny?

Sarah kissed his shoulder, and repeated the question: "What do you have there?"

Aiden's mind went blank. It took him some time for his brain to reset and resume function. 'What? Did she see it?!! Of course, she did… Shit!!!'

He slowly turned to face Sarah and saw her deep green eyes blink at him curiously. His mind was on a loop, 'Shit! … Shit! … So much planning went down the drain… Shit!'

A minute or two earlier, Sarah woke up and saw Aiden sitting next to the bed. Her first thought was that he fell in his sleep because it didn't seem that he is wearing any clothes… but that would be strange, he never fell of the bed before. Then she saw him move slightly and guessed that he is thinking about something. She inched closer with intention to kiss him out of his thoughts. When she approached, she saw him hold a small teal box and move it between tips of his fingers… almost nervously.

When he turned around after she announced her presence, she confirmed: he is nervous. Why would he be this nervous? Did something happen? 'Relax, don't overreact and jump to conclusions. Listen to what he has to say… Analyze…'

Aiden turned his body toward the bed, facing Sarah, sitting on his knees while placing the teal box on the floor, on his right. His mind was racing: 'She saw it, what will I say? How can I get out of this without causing a misunderstanding? I planned for evening, during dinner, but it seems I need to do this earlier…'

Aiden slowly lifted his gaze and his eyes locked on hers. He cleared his throat nervously and held her hands in his as he spoke: "Sarah, my love… Before I met you, I had a feeling I don't belong no matter where I was. Meeting you was like finding my place, my purpose in this world. Since we are together, I was never lonely. You showed me the meaning of trust. You showed me that world has colors. You showed me that it's OK to be myself…. You tore apart my ego and when it got assembled back, I started referring to myself as 'we', including you as part of my existence… My every thought includes you. My world revolves around you. Because I love you. Desperately, absolutely, unconditionally. I love you. I want to hold you, and kiss you, make you blush, make you smile, watch you while you sleep, go to bed with you and wake up with you every day. And I hope you will let me do that for the rest of my life." Aiden paused, trying to catch his breath. His heart was pounding in his throat and he thought that he is about hyperventilate. He knew he will be nervous, but this is much worse than what he expected.

Sarah looked at his expectant eyes full of love while he spoke, and then glanced at his hand seeing that sometimes while he spoke he reached down and now he is holding a teal jewelry box which is cradling in its fold a ring with three princess cut diamonds, one large in the middle, and two a bit smaller ones surrounding the large stone.

She blinked few times and then her eyes darted from his face to the ring, and back to his face. Sarah could see that he is nervous, and suddenly she was nervous as well.

Due to Aiden's long pause, Sarah assumed that he finished, so she had to clarify: "Are you asking me to marry you… right now…?"

"No…", he responded.

Sarah's eyebrow shoot up. He is naked, well, both of them are, but she is wrapped in the bedsheet. Ignoring the naked part, he is on his knees, confessing his love and holding obviously an engagement ring. If this is not a proposal, what is it?

Just when she was about to voice her observation, she heard him continue.

"I am asking you if you will marry me… later…"

Sarah was not sure if she should laugh or cry. Her body chose to laugh.

"Pft!", she burst into laugh. "Silly… who gets married right away?" She stopped laughing when she saw his mood darken. It was not a good time for jokes.

He waited for her to calm down. "Well?", he squinted as if he is bracing himself for an impact.

"OK.", she casually said.

He frowned slightly, not sure what that 'OK' means. It took him few seconds to ask: "OK, what?"

"I will marry you, later.", she smiled.

"Oh!", he exclaimed while his face lit up and his arms extended pulling her down in his lap. He was actually surprised that it went so… smoothly. Well, not exactly, but considering the circumstances and that the person he proposed to is Sarah, it went quite smoothly. He was mentally prepared that she will be shocked for a long time, or even reject him saying that it's too soon, and several other scenarios as well. Seeing that it didn't go that way, but she accepted, made him elated.

On the other side, he had a different plan, something super-romantic, and this is a far cry from that. But she said 'yes', and that is all that counts. He does not want to ruin the mood by complaining how it didn't go according to his plan. The end goal is achieved, that should be enough.

Aiden took Sarah's left hand and moved the promise ring to her right.

He took the engagement ring and slid it on her left ring finger.

Aiden looked Sarah in the eyes and said: "I promise to take good care of you, forever…", he sealed that promise with a kiss on the engagement ring. He nudged her nose with his and embraced her tightly.

"We will take care of each other.", she whispered.

They wanted to cuddle more, but both of them were hungry. They went to the bathroom and freshened up quickly. When they reached downstairs, dining table was filled with variety of dishes.

After eating their fill, they decided to go and take a walk in the jungle. The sun was high, jungle provided shade, and Sarah wanted to try to get at least one bird to stand on her hand.

They walked through the jungle and Sarah was not successful to make any bird stand on her hand. More than once she narrowly escaped sharp beaks of birds which were getting annoyed with Sarah's persistence. Eventually, she gave up. But she promised to try again tomorrow, because today the birds are cranky. Aiden admired her high spirits even after so many failures.

Sarah and Aiden walked further and reached the lake with gazebo. Weather was nice and they ended up going for a swim. Sarah was reluctant, but Aiden promised that when they get back, there will be towels waiting for them, so they can dry off and dress up… It was not the first time, so Sarah was not so shy going skinny dipping.

During the swim, Sarah was very cautious of her engagement ring, she was afraid that it will fall off her finger, because diamonds provided resistance as she moved her arms. Luckily, ring was fitting well, so it was only a matter of her getting used to it.

When Sarah and Aiden returned to the villa, they decided to have drinks at the poolside bar. Thinking of the poolside, Sarah was concerned that if they swim in the pool, she might lose her engagement ring, so she kept it in the teal box, on her bedside table.

They both had 'True love' cocktails and held hands while chatting. As much as they wanted to talk and act as usual, it was undeniable that the tension between them is much stronger since they got engaged. Both of them were suppressing urges to jump on each other. While they were in the jungle, they were walking, swimming, moving around and that provided distraction. But now they are sitting close to each other, and besides sweet beverages there was nothing to keep them off from one another. It didn't take long for them to cave in to their desires and start making out in the pool.. Aiden carried Sarah into the bedroom and no amount of air conditioning was enough to cool off the heat between them.