Until we meet again...

Chapter 24

“Good morning girls.” I said, as I woke up, even though I didn’t know when I fell asleep.

“Good morning.” They said back.

“How do you feel now?” I asked Lena.

“Better now. I slept well.” She answered.

“Good.” I said, briefly.

“Let’s get outta bed, girls. I’m famished.” Sarah suggested.

“Yeah me too.” Lena agreed.

         We got dressed, and made ourselves ready to go down. It’s good that for moments I get to forget about Ethan.

“So, aren’t you going to see him today too?” Lena asked.

…or not. Actually, even the girls couldn’t go without mentioning him.

“I don’t know…we didn’t set anything up.” I said, without looking at her face, trying to avoid that talk.

“Really? What happened?” She couldn’t let go.

“Nothing. Why would anything happen?”

“I don’t know. But you used to go out every day.  Anyway, it’s none of my business.” She clarified.

“Yeah. Shall we go?” I snapped, not wanting to go any further in that conversation.

         We left the room, and went down to have breakfast with the other guys. Then, we decided to go shopping, convincing the guys to go with us even though it didn’t seem to be their perfect plan. We had a lot of fun shopping, we bought clothes, shoes, as well as some presents for our families. After that, we went to a close restaurant to have lunch. It is true that I enjoyed my time with them. Yet, it didn’t stop me from looking at my phone every ten minutes to check if there was any call or text from him. But…nothing. There was nothing.

Maybe he is busy! Maybe he’s caught into something. I tried to convince myself. Or maybe, he doesn’t want to see you or talk to you anymore! My inner voice decided to speak up, and make it worse for me. I tried to shake all these ideas out of my head, joining the others in their talk.

         Later in the afternoon, Sarah suggested to go on a boat trip. Once there, she asked me to get in the boat first. I did as I was told. But once I jumped in, she unleashed the boat making it move away from the shore. I didn’t understand what was going on exactly. I turned to the rower asking him to stop.

“Hey, my friends are still there. You need to stop.” I said.

He looked up so I could recognize him. Oh My God, it’s Ethan! Will someone explain to me what’s happening here?

“Ethan, what are you doing here?” I asked.

“Happy to see me?” He smirked at me.

I looked back at girls who were waving at me. Only then, I got the trick.

“Wow, as I can see, you decided to team up with my friends against me.”

“For you, not against you.” He clarified, always in his playful tune.

I looked away, took a heavy breath then looked back at him.

“You didn’t call.” I blamed.

“I was busy. You know, people like me aren’t always free.” He said, smugly.

“Oh really? Well I wonder what you are doing here now. I’m sure you have plenty of important things you’d rather be doing.” I sat.

“Probably. But I wouldn’t like to miss this boat ride with you.” He winked and smiled confidentially.

“Ah, I see.” I replied briefly, conserving my tune. “So, what are we doing now exactly?”

“Are you mad at me?” He asked.

“Why would I be mad at you?”

“I don’t know. I’m asking you.” 

“No, don’t worry, I’m not mad at you. Actually, there’s no reason for me to be mad at you.”

“Cool.” He said, satisfied.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“What question?”

“What..are..we..doing..now?” I repeated.

“Ah, well as you can see, we are on a boat trip.” He teased, narrowing his eyes.

I rolled my eyes, and secretly smiled. God! I can’t be mad at him.

At that time, he stopped the boat, after he made sure we were far away from the shore.

“Actually, I brought you here, because I wanted to be with you, away from everything else.” He said, enthusiastically.

I froze as I heard those words coming out of his mouth. And I didn’t know how to respond. Did he just say that he wants to be with me? Only me? And why would he say that? I didn’t say anything back. And I’m sure my facial expression mirrored my surprise.

“I know that you might find this a little bit unusual. But honestly, during the past few days I spent with you, you made me feel something I never felt before. And I’m sure as hell that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, I want to be with you.” He added.

My expression was unfathomable, that was literally unexpected. I kept silent because I had no idea what to say.

“With you, everything was different. Even the little things became interesting. Only with you I came to realize that it doesn’t matter where you are, but it is who you are with that counts. And with you… with you, I wanted to dilate every day, because I wanted to spend more time with you. So I don’t know if this is the right time, but it never felt more right than it does right now…” He took a small box from his pocket, “…With you, I finally feel that I found what I always wanted, and I’m not ready to let go of it. I love you, Marie. And I want to spend every minute for the rest of my life with you. Marry me, please.” He opened the box which contained a beautiful diamond ring.

Did he just propose to me? Oh My God! Yes, he did. He just asked me to marry him, to spend the rest of my life with him. Is this even real? Or am I dreaming? Seriously, someone needs to replay that scene for me. Because I still don’t believe that this has just happened.