Chapter Six: The Proposal:

The rest of my weekend went on just smoothly. I haven’t run into Kaoru for the rest of the day. I kept telling myself it was just a fling between him and me and it was over now. My friends and boyfriend didn’t need to know what happened last night. I was going to bury my drunken one-night stand and never think about it again. I was just going to get on with my life as I normally did. It worked… for a little while. Then, my plan to forget unraveled from there.

It started to crash at dinner time. We all went to this pricey restaurant. Plus, we got dressed up for the evening. I had a slight suspicion that my friends were planning something. We don’t normally go out to any fancy places unless one of them as an announcement to make. So, what good fortune has fallen my friends this evening?

We went out to an Italian restaurant. The American military brought their tastes in waves when they first came here. Some of my people in this country hate. I on the other hand, love it. We get to experience the best of the rest of the world. Sure, the rest of Japan has some of the foreign cruise tucked away in itself, but Okinawa has the best.

While I ate my bread sticks, I happened to look to see Kiku and Hikari giggling to themselves. I raised an eyebrow at them.

“Something funny?” I asked. They went quiet right away. I looked on at them. Suddenly, I felt someone touch my hand. I looked up to see Aki smiling at me. I felt myself blushing. Aki is so beautiful close-up. I felt so guilty for cheating on him. No, can’t think about that now. Cut my losses and move on. What’s done is done. Just leave it in the pass and move on. I smiled back at him. I gently put my hand on his. See, I’m feeling better already! Yes, tonight is going to be fine.

Dinner went through just fine. I ordered the spaghetti alla puttanesca for my entree. Aki wouldn’t let me pay for my meal. He insisted that he pay for everything. This added onto my suspicion that one of them had an announcement to make. I was tempted to ask, but my judgment told me to wait until dessert. Oh, this is so exciting! I force myself to keep calm and wait. In order to do that, I keep eating in joy.

Finally, dessert came around to our table. I ordered tiramisu for my dessert. As I began to dig in, I happened to look up and see my friends and boyfriend watching me, smiling. I just couldn’t hold back anymore. I stopped eating and lowered my fork.

“Okay guys,” I said at last. “What is this all about?” Chika looked at me innocently.

“What do you mean?” she asked. I made a face at her.

“Come on,” I said. “I know you guys. We don’t really get dressed up and go anywhere fancy unless you have some news to tell. So, come on. What is it? What are you guys up to now?” My friends and boyfriend were all quiet at first. A little worry popped in the back of my mind. What if… they found out about Kaoru and me? Nah, that’s ridiculous! So, what is this all about? Aki took me by the hands. I looked at him slightly surprised.

“Aki-kun,” I said. “What is this?” He looked me straight in the eye in a dreamy way.

“Setsuna-chan,” my boyfriend spoke up. “We have been dating high school.” I nodded a little bit.

“Yes,” I agreed.

“And I love you very dearly.”

“I do too.” Aki smiled at me for a moment.

“Wow! This is so hard for me to come out and say this. Whoa!” I looked over at my friends. They were all grinning at us. I could have sworn that I heard a couple of them giggling. Okay, I’m sure that something is big is going to happen. Aki reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. My eyes widened in shook as he opened it up to show me what was inside. Aki presented me with a big, fat diamond on a platinum band. He looked me deep in the eyes of excited joy.

“Setsuna, will you marry me?” that angel purposed. I sat there in shock. Okay, I hadn’t expected this! I looked over at my friends. They all seemed to be expecting me to say yes. Oh, this is rather… intense.

Without thinking I said, “Yes!” Aki glowed as he took the ring out the box and slipped it onto my finger. My fingers all applauded as I sat back in discomfort. Part of me did not really want this yet, but I got swept into this huge jump. Yet, that wasn’t going to be my only problem. But right, I just had grin and bear tonight. We will be going home tomorrow morning and everything will be just fine…