Loving You

Chapter 47 - Akshara - The Proposal

3 Weeks Later

3 months. It had been exactly 3 months till the date when Abhimanyu and I had met. I had been a bartender, working my regular closing bartending shift at Phoenix Bar & Grill when I had come across a very drunk and very heartbroken patron.

Abhimanyu Birla.

From the moment our fates had intertwined, everything had fallen into place. I had dropped him home —not knowing if I'd ever see him again only to find out he was going to be my boss.

But our love had prevailed. It had been a bumpy ride. We had our share of ups and downs but in the end, it had always been just him and me. Us.

I cleared my throat and thanked the Uber driver as I got out of the car and looked up at the sign for Phoenix Bar & Grill.

Date night.

At the exact same place where we met. 3 months ago.

Did Abhimanyu remember?

No of course not! How would he? He got better —more important things on his mind than to remember when we met.

It was just a coincidence that our date night fell on exactly same date as our first meet.

When Abhimanyu had texted me earlier this morning telling me to come to Phoenix, by 8, for a moment I had carried the hope that he somehow remembered. But then it dawned on me that this was our weekly date night and it was his turn to chose.

Due to our busy schedules, or well Abhimanyu's busy schedule, we had decided to take one day out of the busy and just go out for a date night. Movies, dinner, clubbing, cafes —anything.

And we took alternating turns choosing where to go. This week was Abhimanyu's turn to choose.

I looked around in the parking lot to see Abhimanyu's car but couldn't locate it anywhere. Maybe he had taken Uber from work.

But the stranger part was that for a Friday night, the parking lot of Phoenix looked pretty vacant. Strange indeed.

Not thinking too much of it, I took a deep breath and opened the door to the restaurant, stepping inside.

Once inside I adjusted my dark red side slit floor length gown in place and smoothened out the crinkles of the thin straps. As I walked further into the restaurant, I noticed the entire place was dimly lit, making it hard to make out anything.

Except for a pathway lit with candles. And that's when my heel dug into a bed of red roses. I looked down around me in surprise as my heartbeat quickened. I followed the candidly lit pathway and the red rose'd carpet wherever it took me.

Looking around I found the entire restaurant to be empty. Vacant. Except for the bar. Where the pathway ended. There was a man turned around, his back towards me —just as I tried to turn down my excitement.

I knew exactly who it was. I couldn't help contain the smile that had taken over my face.

"Hi. Can I place a drink order?" I questioned, hesitantly, excitedly. Ecstatic.

"Of course madam. What would you like to have?" The bartender turned around to reveal himself to be exactly who I was expecting.

"Abhimanyu. What are you doing here? Alone? Where is everybody?!" I asked.

"I booked the entire restaurant for tonight." He stated casually, shrugging his shoulders.

"But why?" I asked.

I don't know what I expected to hear. What exactly I wanted to hear. Did I want him to tell me he did this for our 3 month anniversary? Yes.

"So I could do this." He replied, walking around out of the bar so he was standing right in front of me, wearing a black suit with a silky black shirt and a red tie which matched perfectly with my red dress.