When We Were Young (JACHAELA AU)

-Chapter 4-

I walked out of my bedroom to a trail of roses leading to the living room. Before following the path, I went to the bathroom and got ready for my day. I put on a little brown dress with my Coach heels, a gift from Jared. I curled my hair and did my makeup.

Jared and I planned to go to a fancy brunch today and then we'd decide what else to do from there. All I knew was that I wanted to be with him at all times. I followed the trail into the living room. He really outdid himself.

The living room had a bunch of rose petals scattered around it. Looking closer, I saw pictures of him and me everywhere, highlighting some of our best moments. On the couch were a ton of wrapped gifts while on the wall were gold balloons that spelled out; "Happy Birthday, My Love."

I was so taken aback by all the beautiful things he had done for me that I teared up. Nobody had ever done such a thing for me. I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist.  "Happy Birthday, Mi Amor." I turned around and kissed him repeatedly. "Thank you, Thank you so much," I said in his arms.

"No need to thank me, Beautiful. Can you please open your gifts?" I sat on the couch and grabbed the present closest to me. I unwrapped the pink wrapping paper to reveal a box. On the inside, there was a custom song plaque with a picture of both of us with the song "More than Words". Our song. "This is so cute, I love it." I smiled at him while poking out my bottom lip.

"That's nothing, wait until you get my last one." I was intrigued and wondered what it would be. I continued opening my gifts to reveal a star map, a heated blanket because he said "He knew how cold I get in the winter", New headphones for my runs, a few books, a necklace with his initial on it then he showed me he had a chain with my initial on it, shoes, and some skincare. 

"J, this is so much. Thank you for everything." He took a little box out of his pocket and sat next to me on the couch. "Mick, with this promise ring, I promise to forever be by your side and be the best boyfriend I can be to you. I love you forever and I'll do everything in my power to someday turn this ring into an engagement ring."

He placed the gold ring with diamonds on my finger and saw a tear stream down my cheek. "Does that freak you out?" He said, clearly worried. "No baby, of course not." I jumped into his arms and kissed him. "Thank you so so much," I said to him as he grabbed my hand. "Anything for you. Now she we get going? We have a brunch to get to." We stood up and headed downstairs to his car.

He opened and closed my door then headed to his side. I played music on the way there and he grabbed my hand and held it the whole way. We arrived at the brunch spot and headed to our reserved room. "Suprise!" Both of our families jumped out of their chairs. The twins ran towards me and clung to my legs.

I was in complete shock with my mouth still wide open. "I knew how much you'd like to have your family with you." He and I went to greet my family and I watched as he hugged my mom. She absolutely loved him, she's told me a few times how much she loved him. They shared such a special connection.

We laughed and talked, I opened the gifts from my family and everyone ate. While we were talking about the twins, Grace looked at me then at my hand, and gasped. "You got engaged and didn't tell us?" Everyone turned to me. "No of course not! It's a promise ring."

"How did I get so lucky with Jared for my baby girl?" My mom smiled and put her arm around Jared. "Don't cry, Mick, You cry too much." He said to make us all laugh. "You too, Grace."

"Too late," Grace said before me.

We all said goodbye later and parted ways. Jared and I got in the car and I grabbed his hand again. "My mom was right." He looked me in the eyes, confused. "We did get lucky, primarily me but thank you so much for all of this."

"I love you." He kissed me then focused on the traffic. All I could focus on was him. I knew shifting that focus off of him would be difficult so I didn't.

I stayed there, holding on to the fragments of the moment.

Authors Note: I'm sorry this chapter is so short. The next chapter is a lot to take in emotionally.