https://youtu.be/lHNbdGu_QvI

********************** 

Evan and I have been living together for about 2 months now. My parents didn't want their only daughter living with an unknown guy abroad, but between the extremely high costs of on-campus housing, and the too high rent for the small sharing rooms that I was getting off-campus, this was a way better deal. 

The house was just 1 street away from the back of our university, the rent reasonable and the area safe. Only issue - I had to share it with a man, Evan. Honestly, it was a last moment decision to move in with him here because the roommates for the apartment I had signed up for suddenly backed out, leaving me to anxiously search for a place to live 2 days before I flew. Evan had reached out to me earlier, but I had told him that it would not be possible as I was strictly looking for an all female housing, but then I had to reach out to him, and luckily, he hadn't found a roommate yet. 

My parents are still bugging me to search for another place to live, but between adjusting to this new house and balancing my studies with it, I seriously don't think I have the energy to do the whole moving process again. 

Evan is pretty good too. He knows his boundaries, is very respectful, keeps our shared bathroom clean and takes the trash out on time as well. We both even work on our assignments together and that has benefited both of us. 

**********

"Let's get married! Don't wanna walk alone !!! LET'S GET MARRIIIIIIEDDD!" I sang loudly, as I twirled in the kitchen a little bit, singing my heart out while cooking. The song had stuck in my head after I saw it on Fuller House.

"Okay." Evan stated, standing at the entrance of our kitchen, hands in his pocket, with a straight face.

"What?" I asked confused.

"You said "Let's get married", so I said 'Okay'," He said, shrugging.

We stared at each other for 5 seconds, and then burst out laughing.

He grabbed his water bottle from the fridge, ruffled my hair a bit and I retaliated with pinching his arm and then he left to go back to his room.

That's Evan. He is funny and kind, and always has something to break the ice with. That was the reason I got comfortable so easily with him here. 

***********

We were sitting on the couch, eating the microwaved popcorn that we saved from almost burning. The semester had been pretty hectic, and this one day we had no classes and neither of us signed up for the intersession shifts at work, so we decided to watch Fuller House. 

"Hey Ambar, are you gonna look for another place to live for the next semester?" Evan asked looking at me.

"I don't know.....tsk, my parents want me to, but I don't want to go through the whole process of adjusting to another place, other roommates and another schedule once again." I sighed taking some popcorn. 

"What about Neha and Priya? Weren't you guys talking about looking for a place together?" He asked. 

"I don't know.... Like, they are my friends, and they are Indian too, but being a friend and being a roommate are 2 different things. What about you?"

"Well, Peter has a room at his apartment. But I don't know, he parties a lot. And has a lot of people over all the time. I don't like that."

"Yeah, I know. He is fun, but sometimes a bit too fun." I remarked. 

"Eh, let's just decide by the end of this month so that we can tell Frank."

Frank was our landlord. 

"Yeah, eh, eh.....shh, shh, shhh...it's starting! This is my favourite part!" I exclaimed excitedly, as the dance part of the episode began. It had become a favourite part of this series once I saw it. I would sometimes randomly start watching this as I loved this dance so much. And to Evan's annoyance, I would sometimes force him to watch it with me too. 

"I swear , woman, this is like the 10th time we are watching this!" Evan complained as I shushed him. 

https://youtu.be/HDwJKoGN0mc

************

I twisted my keys as I unlocked the door of the house. It was 11.15 PM and my shift got over about 15 minutes ago. 

"They make you work too late." Evan exclaimed as he saw me come in. 

"Yeah, but they pay me too, so it's fine." I said tired. 

"Aigt, I am heading to sleep. Good night." Evan said, about to leave when I spoke.

"Hey Evan, I think I want to continue here, with you, for the next semester."

His face lit up, "I would like to do that too. I will message Frank the first thing in the morning. But what about your parents? Do you, do you want me to talk to them? Maybe I can try to convince them, you know, I am pretty famous amongst parents as a good kid!" He said, super proud of himself. 

"Nah, I will manage that. You tell Frank."

"Aigt, Good-night!" He said, giving me a high-five.

***********

"Ai! Wait up!" I shouted running up to Evan.

"How was it?" He asked about the exam we just gave.

"I hope I pass, why do they make it so hard?" I questioned frustrated. Today was our last exams and soon, we both will be flying home for the holidays - me to India, and him to LA.

He started walking with me, "I got so frustrated in between, I wanted to tear my paper up and leave in the middle of the - Hey Peter!"

 "Hi Peter!" I said.

"Hey guys, a few of us are going to the bar for a couple of drinks. Do y'all want to join us?"

I don't do drinks. Evan does. He also loves going out with them. He has been trying not to drink out as much after we moved together because I wasn't really comfortable with it. I didn't specifically asked him to do so, but he still made the effort. 

"Umm... you know what, we are really tired," Evan began saying, to my surprise. 

"Yeah, we would just like to go home and relax." I added. I didn't know why Evan was refusing this offer, but I figured I might as well support him. 

"Alright then, I will see you around!" Peter high-fived us and then left. 

We decided to go to an Indian restaurant nearby.

"Why did you not go out with them?" I asked Evan who was chugging down an entire glass of Lassi  in one go. 

With the milk mustache on his upper lips (he looked super cute with it), he answered ,"Well if I had gone out for drinks, I would not have any memories of it, plus a hangover tomorrow. I decided if I go out with you today, not only will I be eating delicious food with my best friend, but I would also be keeping these moments as memories for the future. It's an easy win."

He called me his best friend!

I smiled. I didn't say anything but offered him a tissue for wiping that mustache of his, which he took gleefully. 

***********

"Now, now, now, wait for it. This is my favourite part!" Evan exclaimed as we reached that part of The Office where Michael and the troop dance on Jim and Pam's wedding. 

https://youtu.be/ryxUeWEcUqE

Half-way through the video he spoke , "I know, I know, the dance in the beginning is horrible, but I like the idea of people you love dancing like this at your wedding. And oh, oh, wait, see , now it gets sooo much better!"

Honestly, I already liked this part. I have always liked it. But seeing Evan get excited to see a wedding dance was amusing. Things like this normally happen at Indian weddings. But it was so nice to see Evan get excited for dancing cuz he literally never dances. I have tried to make him dance, but uh-uh, he won't move his legs or hips, just his hands in weird air movements. 

Which is fine. 

Considering he is a pretty shy dude, I liked that he atleast moves his hands in the air for me. 

*************

"You are way too worried about this." Evan comforted me, as we sat in front of my laptop, our grades about to be out anytime now. 

"I need a B or better to keep up my GPA!" I was hella worried. The coursework for this semester was way too heavy, and I knew I should have reduced my work hours, but I needed to make that money to pay the rent, and so I had such a hard time balancing my studies and work. 

"Refresh it," I requested and Evan did so. 

And then the grade came up. B+

I sighed with relief as Evan screamed happily. 

"See, see I told you, you will do great!" He said shaking me and then hugging me tightly. 

I stayed like that, my head on his shoulders, as he went about talking how I have been taking too much stress these past couple of days. 

He was right. The last couple of days have been pretty stressful. And I don't think I would have survived without Evan. 

****************

"I want to see youuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!! You have literally never worn traditional wear here!" I read Evan's message. 

"I will send you the pictures when the wedding photographer sends them, okay?" I wrote. 

"But you can send a selfie!?" 

"Aiiii you are annoying, wait 1 min." 

I sent him a picture that my cousin took. The picture wasn't that bad, but it wasn't that good either. 

He responded with sending a GIF of a man falling on the floor in shock. 

Evan, I tell you. Drama Queen he is. 

********************

It had been almost 2 hours since I landed, and about half and hour since I have been standing here, waiting for my bags to come on the baggage belt. I feel so bad for Evan - he is outside, waiting since an hour for me. 

I almost ran out once I got my bags. Evan was waiting in the waiting area, and as soon as he saw me, he ran towards me. 

I felt a little tingling in my stomach. Maybe it's the plane food. Or maybe I was just so happy seeing him. 

He crushed me with his hug, and I wouldn't complain a bit. 

"I missed you so much!" He said, with the softest look on his face, still holding me.

Then he did something he has never done before. 

He kissed me on my forehead, and then held me tightly, his chin pressed against my head. 

I hugged him tightly. 

I freaking missed him too. 

***********

"So ....um....Lyft sent me this email...." Evan said, a bit worried, a bit confused, showing me his cell phone. 

A moment later I was screaming, squealing, jumping and hugging him. 

"You got the INTERNSHIP!!! FREDERICK SEBASTIAN EVAN YOU GOT THE INTERNSHIP YOU WANTED AHHHHH!!!" 

(Also Evan doesn't like the name his parents gave him so he asks people to call him Evan. I think his name is nice, but anyways.)

"You sure they want me? I think it's a mistake? Maybe they wanted to send it to someone else?" He asked, still unsure. 

"Frederick Sebastian Evan, sit your ass down on this chair!" 

He sat down, and I sat in front of him, kneeling, holding his hands tightly, "Now you listen to me. You are freaking amazing. You wanted to work for Lyft and now see, Lyft wants you! You are an amazingly intelligent, strong, kind and loving man, and Lyft is lucky to have you. You gotta believe it, alright?"

He smiled a little, "You know I will have to move away from you, right? Their campus is like 3 hours from here."

"And that is amazing. You will move to a new place, you will meet new people, and you will work with some brilliant minds. Your career is going to thank you! And as for us, I am always going to be here for you, Evan. Even if we are not physically present side by side."

His eyes became watery as he tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear and whispered, "I hope you get that internship at Deloitte. You deserve it."

"And you know if I do, I will have to move to New York, right? Or maybe they may assign me to their campus here, I don't really know."

"See, that I am fine with. Like, we are in California, and one of us moving to another state, that seems fine. But like, both of us, being in the same state, and still being away, it just, it just makes me sad. Like I would do the 3 hour commute if it means I get to come home to you."

"Evan, no! I know it will be hard in the beginning, but we will manage, I promise. I ain't leaving you. That's for sure. Even if we are on 2 different ends of the continent."

*****************

"Is that it?" Evan asked. 

"I hope so. I just need to put my toiletries tomorrow after my shower."

We had packed up. Things had worked out the way they were supposed to. Evan accepted his internship 3 hours drive from here at Lyft, and I accepted the offer from Deloitte, about five and a half hour flight from here. 

"You hungry?" I asked him. 

"Always." He responded.

We had been packing stuff up since 3 days. The next time we come back to this town would be for our graduation ceremony. So, we packed up for good. 

"So this is our last dinner together for a while." Evan said melancholically.

"Tsk, ai, don't do that thing!" I exclaimed. 

"What thing?"

"The 'Oh, this is the last meal', 'this is our last time doing this, doing that', etc. etc. It just makes it harder." 

"But this is hard!" He retorted. 

"Evan, dear, when we attach the 'this is the last time' tag to things, it just becomes harder. It is not like we will never meet again. As is, you will be taking a lot of my stuff with you as I can't fly with more than 2 bags this time.

And I, I like being hopeful. Hopeful that we will have a meal again soon, hopeful that we might even live together again. 

Adding the 'this is the last time'  line makes it really discouraging, like we don't have a future in which we might meet together. 

And makes me really sad. So don't do that, please?" I explained. 

He smiled a little, "What am I going to do without your optimism?"

"You are going to call me anytime you need my optimism, okay?"

"Okay..."

****************

It had been 3 whole months. 

In New York for me. In California for him. 

We had not met for 3 months. 

But each week we had video called each other, showing our new apartments, our neighbourhoods. Not to mention the tens of pictures we exchange on a regular basis - from weird selfies to beautiful photos of our surroundings. 

It was nice to be in touch with him. 

It would have been better if he was here, but oh well. 

2 more months, and then we meet at graduation!

*******************

"And now all of you say 'GRADUATES!'"

"GRADUATES!!!!!!" We all yelled. All of us. Our whole class. Me and Evan. 

"Hey, come here, we gotta take a picture together! Hey Mom! Can y'all take a photo of us!" 

And then his mom and surprisingly my mom too started taking photos of us. My parents had eased up to him once they met him. It seems they kinda like him too. Which is great! Evan is a great person and I am sure anyone who meets him would love him!

On a completely unrelated side-note, he still doesn't have a girlfriend.

Also he got a full time offer at Lyft. 

Also I got a full time offer at Deloitte.

Him, California. 

Me, New York. 

*****************

"AMBERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR" Evan's message popped up my screen. 

"EVAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNN" I replied back.

"Imma gon call you tonight! Something super important happened omg!" 

"What is it!!!!!?"

"I will tell you over dinner! Gtg to a meeting rn, bye :-* " He responded and went offline. 

Did he get a girlfriend?

I waited anxiously for his phone call. 

I mean, if he did get a girl-friend, that would be awesome. But so suddenly, who would it be? Is he sure he is not rushing into it? I will find out who she is and will definitely know whether she is suitable for him or not from her Instagram or Facebook profile.

My phone lit up with his name. I actually pounced upon it and picked it up. 

"Ambarrrr!!!! How are you!?" He asked gleefully, still in his work clothes. 

"I am good! How are you? And and what is it that you wanted to tell me?"

"Oh, oh I AM COMING TO NEW YORK!"

There were 2 squeals heard - one in New York, another in California. 

"So there's a conference there and my boss wants me to attend it, but the issue is that it is on a Tuesday, and I know it's a working day but..."

"We will manage! We need to meet! Please!" I pleaded half-way through his sentence. 

His eyes softened, his smiled widened, "Yes, we need to meet. We will make sure we meet, okay?"

"I promise." 

"I promise you too."

*******************

My lunch hour just got over at work and I came back to my cubicle when my phone's screen lit up with his name. 

I put in my earphones before I picked his call up cuz we all know how loud Evan is. 

"GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT GUESS WHAT?" He screamed. Thank gawd for the earphones. 

"WHAT?!"

"They changed the date of the conference. It is now on a Friday!"

"Oh my gawd that means you can stay here for the weekend!" 

Ideas started rushing to my mind. The things that we could do. The places that we could go together. 

Together! TOGETHER!

"Yes! They just told me that literally 5 minutes ago, so I really haven't thought much about the place to stay and all -"

"Stay with me. Evan! You are staying with me!"

"Are you sure your parents are going to be fine with it?" He asked sincerely. 

"It will be fine. I promise. Just.... come home, now. Please."

"Only if you promise to make me Pav Bhaji." He said like a little cheat. 

"I will make you so much Pav Bhaji all weekend, and then I will make some more so you can pack it up and take it to California, okay? Now will you please come home, to me!"

He blew a flying kiss, "I will be home soon. I promise."

*****************

We were sitting on the couch, watching Die Hard. Our stomachs were filled with the delicious meal we had prepped, and our hearts were full from the 10 minute long hug that we had as soon as I opened the door for him. 

And then we just plopped down on the couch and decided to watch this movie. Unlike the previous times, we were sitting very close right now. Almost cuddling.

And it didn't feel weird. 

It just felt ... comfortable. Cozy even. 

It felt.... just right. 

********************
"I hope we meet soon." Evan said sincerely, looking me in the eyes, holding my hands tightly. 

"I hope so too, Evan." 

I proceeded to stand on my tip-toes and gave him a peck on his cheeks. He then went ahead and gave me one of his famous bear hugs. 

"I'll miss you." He gave me a quick peck on my forehead, and then turned around to leave swiftly. 

I felt something tug at my heart seeing him get into his cab and go off waving to me. 

****************

"Why are you sitting in the darkuh?" I asked Evan as I sat down for our weekend routine. Every weekend we would sit down, video call each other, and watch a movie/TV show together. That way, even if we are away, we are able to get some quality time together. 

"Yeah, I just felt like being in the dark." 

Something seemed off. 

"Are you okay, Evan?" I asked concerned. 

"Perfectly fine!" He responded cheerily. 

Something is off. 

"Hey, can we just watch that proposal dance video of Fuller House once before we watch the movie? Please, please? Pretty please?!" I pleaded making my best puppy dog eyes.

Evan sighed, and then he smiled, but he had that look on his face that was .. different. 

"Sure, let's do that!"

Trying not to think much about this, I went ahead and played the dance video on my end, and Evan on his.

 I was too engrossed in listening to the song and dancing to it that I hadn't noticed Evan staring at me all along. 

"Hey, what's wrong?! Why are you not watching the video?" I asked, pausing the video. 

"I want to ask you something." He began. 

"Yeah, go ahead." I said, curiously. 

"Umm... so I have been thinking about this a lot, especially after I came back from New York last month. And I was wondering if.... " He trailed off. 

"Wondering what?"

"Let's be together." He stated. 

"Huh-what?"

"Will you be my girlfriend?" He asked me, happiness and nervousness both showing equally in his voice. 

I was stunned. 

He asked me the question that I have been trying to gather the courage for since so many months. 

HE DID IT!

"Hey, you can take your time, there's no hurry." He said calmly.

And then I bursted, "I FREAKING LOVE YOU AND HAVE BEEN MEANING TO ASK YOU OUT SINCE MONTHS BUT I JUST COULDN'T! YES, YES, A HUNDRED TIMES YES EVAN! Yes I would be honoured to be your girlfriend, babe!"

Also I started crying by the end of my sentence. 

He looked at me so softly, my heart melted right there. 

"I wish you were here at this moment." I spoke. 

"Your wish is my command, babe. Gimme a minute. I will see you soon." Saying that, he just hung up the call as I sat there perplexed what he meant by that. 

And then a minute later, the door bell rang. 

*****************

"So I will leave for Japan next week. I am sorry I was not able to come visit you this month." Freddie said softly over the phone.

His company was sending him to Japan for a year long project. We imagined that I would be able to visit him sometime next year.

"It's okay Freddie. I hope we see each other soon. Promise me you will take care of yourself? It gets really cold there."

"I promise. You take care too. Canada gets freaking cold too. I wished they sent me somewhere warm so you could come and visit a warm place atleast."

"Ah, we will go somewhere together." I said.

"Hey, do you remember that day when we were packing up to move from our first house?" He asked.

"I do. We have come such a long way, Freddie."

"6 freaking years. That was 6 freaking years ago. Damn, Ambar."

"Yes, its been a long time since we were in uni."

"Can I tell you something, though?"

"Yeah?"

"These past 6 years, the best years of my life so far, Ambar."

"Mine too, Freddie. Thank you for being in it."

"You remember when I reached out to you for sharing the flat? You down-right said No! Now look, who's girlfriend are ya now, eh? Who are you in loooooove with, eh eh eh?" He teased, snickering as I laughed along.

****************

"So you are in love with our daughter?" Ambar's dad asked me as strictly as a Navy veteran would. 

"Um...yeah, yes Sir. I love her a lot, and would like to marry her. We have been together over 4 years now and I would really like to get your blessing before I propose her." I explained, a sweat dropping down the back of my spine. 

I don't know whether it is just too warm here in India, or maybe Japan is too cold or maybe I am just too damn afraid of her parents. 

Her mom, a sweet friendly lady wearing the beautiful saree that I have always seen her wear, and her dad, with that legit rad mustache, were looking at me, no scratch that, her mom was looking at me, her dad was burning holes virtually through me. 

"Are you going to force her to become a Christian?" Her mom asked softly. 

"No, no absolutely no, I am not a very religious person myself, and I really don't care what our religions are. I respect her religion and she respects mine, but honestly we both aren't too bothered by any of them."

"Hm, that is what Charu's husband said too, and then his mother forced her to convert into Christianity. That is what happens in love marriages." Navy dad growled.

"What about your parents, will your parents be okay with this?" Her mom asked, again very softly. 

"I have talked to them, and they love Ambar. I knew you would be concerned that our religions are different, and I talked to my parents about that too, and honestly, they aren't very religious as well. They love celebrating Diwali with Ambar, and Ambar loves celebrating Christmas with us as well. It is a beautiful balance, I would say."

"So your parents will suddenly not have an issue after marriage that their daughter-in-law is a Hindu and you are a Christian?" Her mom inquired.

"No....umm....we really don't care about religion as much as you would think we do. I know, I can understand where these questions are stemming from - I do know some people who are very narrow-minded, but me, my brother, and my parents are very open and we all love Amber, and we would love to have her be a part of our family. Of course, if you give us the blessing to do so." I had known about Ambar's parents hesitation with our different religions since the time we got together, so I have been preparing for this day, legit from the day I asked her to be my girlfriend. 

I was in it for the long haul since day 1.

"But in your culture divorce is so common too. It is so common to have step-mothers and step-fathers. It is not like that in our culture. How can we be sure that you won't leave her over small issues?" Her mom spoke her concern. 

"I know, statistically divorces are very common in my culture as compared to yours, and Ambar and I have had a discussion and we both feel that this is both a good and a bad thing. My parents have been together for over 45 years, and they have been married for almost 35. My brother and I grew up seeing them and I honestly would like to have a marriage like them. In my entire family we have only had 1 divorce, my cousin, but that was a good thing because her husband was abusive. Both Ambar and I feel that divorce is a good thing in a situation like this. 

But I promise you, I am not leaving Ambar at the smallest argument. We have known each other for 6 years, and been together for 4. And honestly, every morning after I wake up, I look at my wallpaper on my cellphone, it is a photo of her, and I realize how lucky I am to have her. Every single day. I promise you, I will be there with her, and for her, for as long as I live."

"What about the wedding ceremony? Will it be a Hindu one or a Christian one?" Her dad asked with all seriousness.

"That I would like to discuss with Ambar, and of course you guys and my parents as well, but mostly Ambar. I cannot say anything about it without discussing with her first. And of course, that will only happen if you guys give me the green signal to do so..." I said, hoping that they do give me the blessing to live my whole life with their daughter. 

"When are you thinking about marrying her?" Her mom asked.

"Umm, we haven't decided yet. We both don't want to get married yet, we want to wait till we turn atleast 30. So maybe after a year or 2 years. Ambar doesn't know I am here either. Oh, so please, would you mind not telling her that I came here to ask you for your permission? I know she is coming to visit you next month, but I need some time to plan the proposal. So could you keep this under wraps, please?" 

"But why wait so long?" Her dad asked.

"It's something we both are comfortable doing, and as it is our marriage, we would like to take the time to do things our way." I explained.

They both looked at each other for a moment, and then Mr. Sinha held Mrs. Sinha's hand lightly and spoke, "When Ambar comes here next month, why don't you join her too? As is, she is going to visit you first in Japan, and from there she's coming here."

"I would love to, but I can't promise anything. I already took 5 days off to come here and talk to you about marrying her, and my project is transitioning from the initial stage to the secondary stage, and so I need to be there with my team. But I would love to come back here sometime later, if you would like me too."

"You took 5 days off to come here?" Her mom asked curiously.

"Um, yeah, I flew over the weekend, took 1 day for getting over the jet lag and preparing for our conversation, and I thought I should leave enough time to actually try to convince you to let me marry your daughter."

They laughed a little. 

"You thought it would take 5 days for us to be convinced?" Her dad asked.

"Um, not really, I have been preparing for this conversation since a long time now. But I did not want to take it for granted and I thought if needed, like if you need some more time with me, if you have any more questions for me, I should be around to come and meet you if needed. When I leave, I wanted to leave with a definite yes, instead of a maybe. And so I did not want to take a risk and so I took 5 days off. It is not a big deal really, this is a very important matter to me."

"Evan, we have known you as long as Ambar has," Her dad began, "Initially I was apprehensive of my daughter living with a foreign boy, but you turned out to be a good man. Then she told us she liked you, and honestly, we both liked you as well. So it was easy to see our daughter be with this foreign man she met in a foreign country. She talks a lot about you, and if she says yes when you propose, we say yes. You have our blessings to go and ask her if she wants to marry you. But the final decision lies with her."

"You.... you are giving me the go ahead to propose your daughter?" I asked, shocked. 

They both looked at each other and then Mrs Sinha said gleefully, "We are!"

I jumped up and went to hug them. They were surprised by my hug but honestly, if Ambar were here I would have hugged her, but she wasn't , so her closest relatives would do!

******************

I wrapped my arms around her as she snuggled closer to me. I looked at her sleeping form - her beautiful, calm face, her thick, long hair splayed across my arms and half of the bed, her rhythmic breathing  and the slow rise and fall of her chest. I still couldn't believe that she was here, with me, in Japan! She traveled half-way across the world, all for me! 

"I can feel you staring, Freddie." she whispered, her eyes still close.

I chuckled, "Oh yeah, can you feel this?" I asked, kissing her jaw.

"Or this?" I said kissing her forehead as she giggled. 

"Or this?" I asked as I kissed the side of her neck as she giggled and squirmed and tried to tickle me. 

Her laughter echoed in the room as she tried to avoid my kisses and tickle me instead. So far, she was failing miserably. I was holding her as tight as possible, not giving her enough space to move her arms to tickle me. Being a lot taller than her helped me abundantly here. 

Our legs were entangled and so when I tried to get up on my side, I couldn't and plopped down on the bed and she took advantage of this, wiggled herself and sat right up on me, and started tickling me viciously. 

I could barely breath between the laughs and the tickles and a few minutes later, had to call for a time out. 

She laid on me as I wrapped my arms around her, our laughter transcending into a deep, tired sigh. 

She looked at me with love sparkling in her eyes, her hair gently cascading down the side of her face, and in that moment, I recalled once again how lucky I was to have her. A second later, I raised my head up and kissed her.

"I wished you were coming to India, with me. I would have loved to take you around where I grew up." She mumbled softly, and then pecked my lips once again. 

"Babe, I would love to do that too. And I promise you, one day we will." I responded, gently running my fingers along her spine.

She stared at me a moment longer. "I love you, Freddie." She whispered.

You know how people say you get butterflies in your stomach when you see your crush? Fluttering in the heart ? Shivers going down your spine?

I got the same tingles when Ambar told me she loved me the very first time that she did. And I still get the same butterflies in my stomach every time she tells me 'I love you.'

"I love you too, Ambar." I said, tucking her hair behind her ears. 

We fell asleep again, the sound of the raindrops hitting the window glass providing a beautiful and calming background music. 

**********************

I had been wrecking my brains, going through one idea and the next , throwing them out because all of them were useless. 

The fact that Peter proposed to Emma with this huge, grand gesture of a proposal wasn't helping my morals much. 

I know Ambar doesn't like huge proposals, she also doesn't like public proposals. And so it narrowed down to a personal proposal or proposing to her in front of our family and friends. 

And when I went through the flow chart of the ideas for both of them, I swear I began sweating. 

It shouldn't be this hard, should it?

I was going through my YouTube playlists. The playlist Ambar and I made years ago - "Dance and Be Grumpy" ; cuz she loves dancing and I am generally grumpy when it comes to it, was still there, saved in my account. 

'You Belong with me' By Taylor Swift. 

'Love Story' by Taylor Swift.

I swear she loves her way too much. Maybe I can take her to one of her concerts? Hmm... that would be a good proposal? But nah, it would be a public one, and that isn't what Ambar likes anyways. Pfft, trash it. 

'Let's Get Married' by Bleachers, the song she has made me dance to like a 100 times. The song to which I asked her to be my girlfriend. The song on which she was dancing to, when I fell in love with her. 

And many more songs that she and I both loved. 

I was going through each of them when my phone buzzed, "Ai, I'm on my way. :-*"

Ambar came home, complaining about how cold it is here, even though deep down she loves the cold, and then she jumped excitedly when I told her that I made her burgers, and then she ran to take a shower and come back so that we could eat our dinner quickly as we both were very hungry. 

Every now and then my hand would hover over my pocket, the engagement ring safe in the blue box in it, reminding me to think a way to propose her. 

We both were resting on the couch, when Ambar asked me to see my phone. She went to the YouTube playlist, and started playing the songs in it.

"Dance with me, Freddie?" She asked, with the sweetest plea. 

I couldn't say no to that!

As she was dancing, swinging her body, jumping up and down to the beats of the songs, singing loudly, as if proclaiming , "You belong with meeeeee",  while I did the bare minimum, something clicked in my mind. 

There is no better time than now. 

And then 'Love Story' by Taylor Swift started playing, and then Ambar started singing loudly, "Baby just say Yes!"

And I thought - 

There is no better place than here. 

And then she was nearing the final few lines of the song, and considering how many times she has played it, I have to say I am not surprised that I have it memorized by now and so, as Taylor Swift sang 'I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress', I pulled my jumping Ambar close to me, so that she looks into my eyes when I, I sang it too - 

"I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress."

And I think she saw the sincerity in my eyes and knew, that I wasn't just singing. Her eyes were wide with confusion, when I took the box out of my pocket and kneeled, she covered her mouth with her hands in shock. 

And it was as if it was meant to be, or maybe my timing was just right, but as I knelt down, both me and the song sang - 

"It's a love story, baby just say Yes!"

I could see the tears in her eyes, and I lowered the volume of the song as 'Let's Get Married' started and I began, 

"Hey... I was thinking about how to propose to you, about what would be the most memorable, most amazing way to tell you, my favourite human, my favourite person in the whole wide world that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I have been wrecking my brain since the past couple of days, thinking about where to put the camera, which all friends to get involved and what not. 

But nothing felt right, nothing clicked. 

But then, you asked me to dance. To the playlist we have been dancing to since, I don't know, 7 years now?

And then it clicked. It made sense. It felt just right. Everything felt like it was in the most perfect place when we were dancing, and I just thought - This is it! 

This is how I will propose. 

This is how I will tell our kids how their dad proposed to their mom."

Tears were flowing down her face, and mine. But out of so much happiness.

"I ... I just love you, Ambar. I love you so, so much. 

I always told people that 'Love at first sight'  is nothing but a propaganda to sell more and more romance novels in this capitalistic world, and the Universe smirked probably, and maybe the Universe must have whispered, "Just wait for it" and then you walked into my life and so many things that I had thought I knew, so many things that I thought I understood turned upside down when you would force me to dance with you, and sing to Taylor Swift songs with you and oh honey, the number of times you made me fall in love with you over and over again when you would hold my hands everytime we walked.

I just... I have no idea where I am going with this, but I just wanted to tell you - I love you. A lot. You make butterflies go crazy in my stomach, and you make my heart flutter, and you make me want to be a good, good man, a man capable of being worthy of you. 

And I was hoping, that in the past couple of years, I have become the man who is worthy enough to call you his wife, so Ambar, will you marry me?"

And then the Universe aligned once more, as the song and I both sang, at the same time, also because I knew this chorus was coming, cuz of the n number of times I heard and saw Ambar dance to it- 

"Honey, let's get married?!"

By the time I was done with the speech, and Ambar recognized how my speech perfectly aligned with the songs, she was kneeling down too, and then I think both our knees started aching, and we just ended up sitting on the floor.

She was crying. I was crying. 

She held my hands and I think she wanted to say something, but being so overwhelmed, all she did was nod. 

But that was enough for me. 

And then it looked like she thought something for a moment, and then yelled, "Okay!"

I was confused for a moment, and then as she started laughing, it dawned to me. 

And then I started laughing as she yelled-

"OKAY , OKAY, OKAY, OKAY! Let's get married!"

See why I love her?

I remember the next few moments crisply - we hugged, and kissed, and hugged and just sat like that for a long, long time. 

Then we stood up, and she played "Let's get married' once more, and hey, I don't hate this song as much now. It ended up being the song I proposed to her after all. 

And then we danced, this time, more closely, almost hugging each other, gently swaying from side to side, hugging each other, looking into each other's eyes, knowing what the future held for us and the fact that we get to be together - for a lifetime. 

An hour later, she called her parents, and I called mine, and then we broke the news to them together, and then there were more tears shed. 

We went to sleep a tad bit late that night, but still, as we laid down, our hands entwined, our engagement rings shining brightly, I kissed her forehead and she snuggled close to me, both of us falling asleep to the sounds of our heart beats. 

*************

DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN!!!!!! A NEW KAHAANI !!! WHATTT??!!!

HONESTLY this kahaani is like 7000 words long and I hope y'all liked it!!

Also please don't mind if this book turns from 'Kahaani' to 'Here's 52 different ways in which you could propose and the subsequent romantic things you could include in your wedding to make your SO fall in love with you more and more' and 'How to be romantic for dummies' and honestly, honey, I ain't even gonna be mad or worried. 

I hope y'all liked this one!

Lemme know!

Please vote, comment and share!

All my love, 

Inolas.