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Ethan's POV

"How was your day?"

"Not bad. I went to Davie's to see his fiancée. Oh my God, she's so pretty."

I smirked. "It's always the pretty girls who say that other girls are pretty. Never the average girl."

"I'm not sure. Besides all girls are pretty."

I shrugged. We were sitting on the couch, with my hand around her shoulder. It was very cold outside and she was the best at catching a cold.

"How's work today? Plan H?"

"Didn't go to Plan H today. Remote work almost took my life away."

She smiled. "What's it you're thinking about?"

She shook her head and refused to utter a word. Immediately I lifted her onto me and began to tickle her.

"Stop!"

She pinched my arm, which made me wince.

"Ow. If you don't tell me what that's about, we're turning off the fireplace."

She didn't like turning it off.

"I don't mind."

The buzzing of my phone interrupted the moment. The caller was unknown to me so I put the call on loudspeaker.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Ethan."

"Hey there. May I know who's at the other end of the line?"

"It's Shawna."

"Oh, Shawna. Sorry, I couldn't recognize your voice. It's been a long time."

"Yeah."

"So, what's the deal?"

Emily wanted to adjust to her seat on the couch but I pulled her back. She faked a frown.

"Just called to say hi. You know, it's been a long time since we left school. Mum's sick. Dad was fired because he spent most of his time at the hospital. It's been tough on me."

"I'm so sorry. I can imagine how hard it must be. Where do you work now?"

"At a café. I'm a bartender."

"Mind if we grab a drink sometime? I mean, it's been a long time."

"Sure," I felt her smile. "That'll be great. My shift ends tomorrow at 6 p.m. so let's say 7 p.m."

"Awesome. You mind me coming with my fiancée?"

Emilia shot me a glare. I shrugged.

"You have a fiancée?"

"Yeah. Wife."

She slapped my arm.

"I would love to see her."

"Tomorrow it is, then." She dropped.

"Whew. That was good."

"Good to talk to her?"

"Good to tell her I had a wife. I felt like I was sitting on clouds."

She sounded rather jealous.

"You want us to get married?"

"That's not how to propose."

"You want me to propose to you?" I was serious now. Every nerve of me wanted to do it. "Because nothing can stop me from proposing to marry you. I have the ring. Right in my pocket."

She laughed. "That's a lie."

I managed to reach the pocket of my pair of shorts and fished out the ring. When I put it in front of her face, she cupped her mouth with her hand.