"Don't you ever scare me like that again, T'Challa or so help me," Tendai says as the two gaze at the stars. It had become Tendai's favorite thing to do.
"I won't, I wont, I promise," T'Challa reassures her gently. "Was it rough?"
Tendai nods, "Extremely. It was like everyone had a break down everyday. You have no idea how hard it was being here without you, even if it was just a short period of time. Especially for Shuri. She tried not to show it, but I remember going to the lab, and she was crying her eyes out. You mean so much to her, T'Challa. I don't even think you understand that, at times."
T'Challa bits the inside of his cheek. Even when he was dead, he felt like his mind was still alive. He knew things in Wakanda had to have been chaotic.
"I don't," T'Challa says. "But, neither does she. She is my pride and joy, a huge part of my world. I don't know what I would do if something happened to her."
Tendai smiles, "I love your relationship with her."
"I love ours," T'Challa replies to her. She blushes heavily.
"That brings on my question," Tendai starts. "What are we, T'Challa? We've done this and that, yet we have no label, not that we need one, but, oh my, I'm rambling, but you get the idea."
"We are whatever you want us to be."
"I want us to be real. Not a front, not something that stays for a minute then disappears. I want us to be together for the long run. I am dedicated to you, T'Challa," Tendai tells him, as she looks into his eyes.
T'Challa smiles slyly, "Then that brings on my question," he says.
Tendai nods.
"Its been two, three months, but I don't care. I feel something with you that I haven't felt with anyone else, and it's a cliche feeling, but sometimes those are the best ones.
"Over the course of time, I have come to a conclusion that you are the one that I want to spend my last days with. You are such a beautiful person, inside and out, and you've changed me for the better."
Tendai begins to get a bit flustered as he pauses. She watches ad his hand finds its way into his jacket pocket.
The velvet box captures her attention. But, when it pops open, Tendai gasps and her hand flies over her mouth.
"Will you marry me?"
It is the same ring that she saw at the market, the same one she was dying to get, the same one she wanted someone to get for her, that someone being him.
Not able to even utter the words, Tendai nods. Her hands are shaking and her heart is racing. Her dream has finally come true.
She gets to marry a man that had accepted her for who she is, and loves her for what she has to offer, even if it wasn't much.
Finally, she says, "Yes, I will marry you."
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