Chosen

Chapter Nineteen

              ~Arabella's POV~
     It's been a couple days since I got back to the castle and it couldn't be better. Adrian and I have been on several dates, and it's been amazing. I'm in my room with my maids, playing a card game. It's been so nice to be able to see them again.
     "He was moping around everywhere he went, he looked so broken. He didn't go on any dates and only really spoke to his family, your family, or Marley. The only times he would talk to Marley was to get help on how to find you. He talked to your family so he could find out how to get you back. It was actually really sad to watch him like that. He was finally so happy when he found you, he came back to the castle only to pack a bag and tell his family where he was going. And he sent all the girls home immediately." Ariel is telling me what Adrian was like while I was gone, they were all laughing at the memories, I smiled, but guilt floods through me. It's all my fault that he was so sad. But I push the feelings away and remember that Adrian had sent me home, this wasn't my fault. I don't blame him either, he was upset, it got a little out of hand. We're together now, that's all that matters. A knock sounds through the room and I get up the answer the door. Adrian is standing on the other side, smiling.
     "Man, I've missed that." I furrow my eyebrows in confusion.
     "You've missed what?" He laughs and smiles, pulling me into a hug. I relax into his arms, relishing in the feeling.
     "You answering your door instead of maids, you're the only one that does that and I love it. I always love seeing your face when the door opens." He looks into the room at the three girls sitting at the table. "No offense to you." They laugh and shake their heads.
     "We wouldn't expect anything less, Your Highness." He laughs and nods his head.
     "Is it ok if I steal Ara away for the rest of the day?" They all nod and he turns to me.
     "Is it ok if I steal you away?" I smile and laugh.
     "Always." He smiles and grabs my hand, pulling me out of the room and into the hall. My door closes and he pulls me into him, pressing his lips to mine in a sweet kiss. I smile and pull back a few moments later. "So what did you want to do?" He smiles.
     "I just wanted to be with you. We can do anything you want." I smile and start thinking.
     "Why don't we go back to the lake and have a picnic?" He smiles.
     "That sounds perfect. Let's go get some food, then." He takes my hand and we start to walk down the hall. Today is going to be a good day.
~Adrian's POV~
     Today is the day. Today is the day I'm going to propose to Arabella. How do I do it? I think hard for a couple minutes. Then it hits me. I'll go ask her to spend the day with me, let her pick what we do, then, at the end of the day, I'll propose. I just hope she says yes. I take a deep breath. Calm down, you're going to make her suspicious. She'll be surprised, that's for sure. I hope she likes the ring.
I think it suits her perfectly. When I first saw it, I just knew that it was going to be the ring I would propose with. I take a deep breath and walk out of my room, and down the stairs to hers. I knock on the door and wait for a maid to answer. Then I remember that her maids never answer the door, it's always her. Proving my memory right, the door opens and Arabella is standing there, a smile on her face. I've missed seeing her right when the door opens.
"Man, I've missed that." Her face scrunches up in adorable confusion.
"You've missed what?" I laugh and smile, grabbing her arm gently and pulling her to me. I can feel fear relax in my arms and smile, hugging her tighter, relishing in the feeling of holding her in my arms.
"You answering the door instead of a maid, you're the only one that does it and I love it. I always love seeing your face when the door opens." I look inside the room to see her maids sitting at a table, watching us with amused smiles. "No offense to you." They all laugh and shake their heads.
"We wouldn't expect anything less, Your Highness." I laugh and nod my head.
"Is it ok if I steal Ara for the rest of the day?" They all nod, and I turn to Ara, smiling. "Is it ok if I steal you away?" She laughs and smiles. My breath catches in my throat as I take in her beauty.
"Always." I smile and pull her out of her room and into the hall. As soon as her door opens, I pull her to me, pressing my lips to hers in a sweet kiss. After a couple minutes of kissing, I feel Ara smile and she pulls back. "So what did you want to do?" I smile.
"I just want to be with you. We can do anything you want." She smiles and thinks for a minute.
"Why don't we go back to the lake and have a picnic?" I smile at her.
"That sounds perfect. Let's go get some food, then." I grab her hand and we start to walk down the stairs and to the kitchen. Today is going to be a good day.
It takes up about 20 minutes to get all the food and then walk down to the lake. We talk to entire way down, never a moment of silence between us. We talk about everything that happened while Ara was back at her home.
"Ariel was telling me about you moping around the castle while I was gone." She jokes, smiling over at me. I shake my head and playfully glare at her.
"Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Make fun of my misery." Her smile drops at my words and I can see guilt flash in her eyes before she looks away. No, she can't feel guilty about that. I stop walking and pull on her arm to get her to face me. She looks at the ground. I put my fingers under her chin and lift her face up until she's looking at me.
"I'm so sorry, Adrian." She whispers, her voice cracking at the end. It breaks my heart to see her like this. I shake my head.
"You have absolutely no reason to be sorry, Arabella. None of that was your fault." She looks at the ground for a second, before lifting her head so that her sad eyes meet mine.
"But I didn't forgive you when you showed up at the diner. I was so happy to see you, but I couldn't get the image of you telling me to leave out of my head. I couldn't let myself forgive you. And what good did that do? I was almost killed. You were almost killed! And it was all my fault! If I would've forgiven you, we could've come back to the castle sooner and none of that would've happened. It's my fault, Adrian." Does she actually feel like that? She looks back at the ground.
"Arabella." She lifts her head a little, meeting my eyes. There are unshed tears in her eyes. I pull her to me, hugging her tightly, with every ounce of love in my body. "None of that was your fault, it was Calum. If we had come home sooner, he would've showed up there instead. Either way, he would've showed up. But that was not your fault, none of it." I say, passion behind every word I speak. I feel her nod against my chest.
"Ok." She whispers. We sit in silence for a few minutes, I hug her tightly to my chest, never wanting her to leave. But she pulls back and smiles sheepishly at me. "Should we get on with that picnic then?" I smile lovingly at her.
"Yeah. Come on, let's go." I grab her hand and we walk the rest of the way to the lake. The rest of the day goes smoothly. We eat and talk, laughing. By the time we start to pack everything up, it's dark. I take a deep breath. It's time. I feel my pocket and the shape of the ring box. I look at Arabella, who is busy folding the blanket up and trying to get it to fit into the bag we brought. I take a minute to just look at her. She is so beautiful. I can't believe I have her in my life. What did I do to deserve her?
~Arabella's POV~
I look up from the blanket I'm trying to fit into the bag and meet the loving stare of Adrian. How long has he been staring at me?
"What?" I ask, quietly, wanting to know why he's staring at me. He gets up and walks over to me, pulling me up from my position on the sand. He smiles at me lovingly. He's never acted like this before.
"What did I ever do to deserve you?" He say, quietly, pushing a strand of hair that had been pushed to my face behind my ear.
"You were you." I say just as quietly. He leans forward and kisses me lovingly.
"It has to be something else. You are so amazing I can't even begin to imagine what I did to deserve someone like you." I smile lovingly at him.
"I love you, Adrian. I fell in love with you because of who you are. You aren't what some people think princes are like. You're sweet and kind and loving and caring. You aren't anything like what they thought you'd be like." He smiles.
"I love you, Arabella. And that's why I want to do this." He gets down on his knees and pull out a small, velvet box from his pocket. My heart stops as a smile grows on my face. "Arabella, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me and I don't ever want to lose you again. I want to have children with you, grow old together, rule the kingdom together. I love your. Will you give me the greatest pleasure by becoming my wife?" I'm speachless, with a huge smile on my face. My heart is beating out of my chest as I stare at him. I finally regain my voice and start to nod my head.
"Yes! I would love to become your wife, Adrian. I love you so much!" A smile breaks out on his face as he stands up, pulling my into a hug and spinning me around. I laugh as he puts me down. He opens the box he was holding and I gasp. The most beautiful ring in sitting in it. It's gold, with three gorgeous diamonds sitting in the middle of it.

Adrian takes my hand and slides the ring on my left ring finger. I smile, it's perfect.
"It's gorgeous, Adrian." I look up at him in awe. He's staring at me with the most loving expression I have ever seen.
"Just like you." His voice is completely serious, no amount of playfulness or teasing. I smile and stand on the tips of my toes and press my lips against his in the most passionate kiss I have ever had. This has been the best day of my life. I'm getting married to the love of my life. I smile, bursting with happiness.
After the kiss, we started the journey back to the castle, both of us unable to get rid of the smiles on our faces. He walk me to my door and kisses me one more time before opening the door for me and saying goodnight. I walk in with a smile still on my face and meet the smiling faces of my maids.
"You look extremely happy tonight." Ariel says, looking amused. I smile at them, and show them my hand. Once they see what's on my finger, they all scream in happiness. I laugh and start to scream with them. I'm getting married!
~Adrian's POV~
I laugh as I walk down, listening to the screaming coming from Ara's room. No doubt that her maids saw the ring. I hear Arabella's voice join them and laugh even harder. I can't seem to get rid of the smile on my face. She said yes. I sigh in happiness as I walk up the stairs to my room. Best. Day. Ever. I open my door and see my mother standing there, looking at the pictures I have on my walls. She hears me and turns, smiling.
"Hey mom, what are you doing here?" I ask, smiling at her.
"Just wanted to talk. I got here a couple minutes ago and you weren't here, so I assumed you were with Ara." She smiles when she says her name. Her and Ara had gotten really close during her stay. I'm happy that she gets along with my family. My dad loves her. And Evalyn already treats her like a sister. "So I decided to wait for you and saw these pictures. Does Arabella know that you have these pictures of her?" I smile and shake my head.
"No, I was going to put them all together, with pictures of us and her family and you guys too, and give it to her on her birthday." Her birthday is coming up soon, so I thought it would be the perfect gift.
"I think she'll love it. How is she doing?" I smile. She already treats her like a daughter.
"She's doing great." I pause for a minute. "I proposed." Her eyes widen as she waits for me to go on. "She said yes." She squeals in happiness and rushes forward to hug me.
"I'm so happy for you! Oh, your father and sister will be so happy! They both love her so much!" I smile and hug her back.
"I'm glad." She pulls back and smiles at me.
"I'll talk to her tomorrow and we can start planning the wedding." I smile and nod. "Well you better get to bed then, because you're helping us plan it. Everything except for the dress and makeup and stuff like that. Goodnight, son, I'm so proud of you." She kisses my cheek and walks out of my room quickly. She's probably going to tell dad and Evalyn. I laugh quietly as I get ready for bed.
I stare at the ceiling as I lay in bed, thinking about everything that happened today. We went on a date, had a great day, and got engaged. A smile makes it way onto my face again. I'm getting married!

Oh my gosh. I was so freaking happy when I wrote this chapter!!! I felt like I was in Arabella's place and I was the one getting engaged!!! I hope you like it as much as I do! Please vote/comment! Tell me what you're favorite part was! Its sad to say that Chosen is almost over :( But I was thinking about a second book. I'm not sure of the details yet,or if I'm even going to do it. Tell me what you think! And please go check out The End is Near, it would mean a lot! And if you want to, and if you have written any books, comment the title and I can check them out! I'll give you some feedback if you want! Love you all! <3