Chapter 212: Will You Marry Me?

As she stepped through the grand double doors, darkness enveloped her, like entering a mysterious castle.

However, the minute the doors closed behind her, the place was suddenly illuminated, though not every part of the room, as the light fell on herself like a spotlight, making her stand out in what she felt was a large space.

As the lights came on, she was momentarily shocked; however, she smiled slightly, knowing it was Tristan’s preparation.

Moments later, another spotlight illuminated a spot nearby, revealing a charming platform adorned with a basket of red roses, creating a romantic ambiance.

Celine walked forward, coming to stand before the platform, the lights shining down on her, following her every move. Stuck inside the roses was a pink note. Celine’s hands trailed over the petals of the roses, feeling their softness in her hands before she slowly picked up the note, a flowery fragrance emitting from it.

She slowly opened the note, reading the beautiful words written on it, a smile coming to her lips.

~Like the shining rays of the morning sunlight, she walked into my life, and since that moment, I could only see the light.~

The gentle words warmed her heart, and she re-read them before folding the note and clutching it. Soon, another spotlight flickered on, revealing a second platform just ahead, with an even larger basket of roses.

Holding the first note, Celine approached the second platform. The roses seemed to have a different fragrance, but just like the other one, there was a note sticking out of the roses.

Celine slowly pulled out the note from among the stash of roses, opening it to find the same beautiful writing on it, however with different words:

~I had repeatedly denied it in the past, but the best day of my life was the day I set my eyes on you walking down the aisle, and the best mistake you ever made was accidentally stumbling into my hotel suite, because it showed me the most beautiful moments of my life. It brought you to me, and gave me the greatest gift I could ever ask for—Leo and Leah.~

Reading those words, her smile widened. The words made her recall those moments and how she had felt back then when she had accidentally stumbled into what she had first thought was a worker’s quarters, until she found herself in a high-class suite.

That day, she had defied Ian’s incessant threats and, at the very last minute, ran out of the wedding hall. It had been an extremely close moment. That was the biggest and most important decision of her life, one that, had she gone through with it, she probably would have been living the most miserable life one could ever imagine by now, stuck in a loveless marriage with a hopeless scumbag.

So he was right. She used to think that the greatest mistake she had ever made was agreeing and almost getting married to Ian, but the best mistake she ever made was stumbling into his suite by accident. It had indeed been a mistake. If she had known there was someone there, she never would have gone there, not to mention if she had known it was someone’s suite. However, that little accident had given her the greatest joy of her life—her children.

As soon as she finished reading that note, another spotlight came on again, this time not surprising her as much as the others. She curiously strode towards the third platform, with an even bigger basket of roses, and an even larger note on it.

Celine was expecting to open it and find a longer line of words; however, the moment she opened it, she was met with a few words, but they were equally as warm and heart-touching as the last ones…

~You’re my always, you’re my forever, you’re my sunshine, my best times, my reality, you are everything to me, and I’d choose you in a hundred lifetimes and every forever to come.~

Her eyes moistened as she read those words, her heart softening deeply, a myriad of emotions swelling within it. If it were in the past, she wouldn’t believe these words were written by Tristan himself, perhaps she had done a good job softening him and showing him what romance should actually be like.

All of a sudden, another light came on; however, this time it wasn’t on a rose-covered platform with a basket of roses and a fragrant note, but on a few people at the side holding musical instruments. Soon, the place was filled with the soft sounds of a romantic melody that melted her heart.

Along with that came the echoes of a familiar voice; however, she couldn’t tell which direction it was coming from.

“To have and to hold. In sickness and in health, till death do us apart.”

She could hear Tristan’s voice saying these words, but other than the few spotlights, she couldn’t see him. His voice reverberated, echoing throughout. She couldn’t tell where he was, but she felt eager to see him, so she looked around.

“These are words I once said to you, Celine, though under pretense. Deep inside my heart, I meant every word, every single word.”

His voice held deep emotion—love, warmth, and appreciation. Those had been the vows he’d spoken when they were forced to get married at the Rowena islands.

She could tell he cherished her, and more than anything, she now knew she meant the world to him.

With tears in her eyes, Celine smiled brightly, the tears of joy sliding down her cheeks.

Just as she was wondering where he was, her heart eager to see him, another spotlight turned on. This time, on a large platform up ahead of her, stood Tristan himself—the person she had been so anxious to see.

He looked beyond handsome in a dark suit, his hair swept back, his hazel eyes showing all the different emotions he had long hidden in his heart. This time, they weren’t hidden, they were vivid, evident for her to see.

“Five years ago, I left you, like a coward frightened of my growing feelings for you. Five years later, you returned, stealing my heart once again at the very first sight…”

He slowly stepped down from the platform, approaching her one step after the other. “…I wanted you, but more than that, I needed you. I forced myself to ignore you, but no matter how hard I tried… my heart still yearned for you. I had always had a bad impression of love. I told myself it didn’t exist, that it was just a mere illusion, but somewhere inside, I knew those emotions I was feeling had a name—I just didn’t want to accept it…”

More tears trailed down her cheeks. She remembered the moments she had also forced herself to forget her feelings for him. They had both been afraid—him of his feelings, her of giving in and getting hurt. The fear of pain was human, and the stronger the feelings, the more one feared, for the gravity of those feelings would lead one to fear the deep pain it could cause.

“…but believe me, Celine, I couldn’t ignore you, and with every moment I turned my back on you, I realized even more how deep my feelings for you were. I didn’t realize when you became my heart, my soul, my breath, my pain, and my cure…”

She smiled through her tears as he got closer to her.

“…Celine, I never thought I’d ever say this to anyone…anyone at all in my life, but meeting you was the best thing that has ever happened to me, the very best, and loving you is the best part of it. I love you…” He said, now being just a few steps away from her.

He came to stand right in front of her, and she looked up at him, her blue eyes bright and glistening under the spotlight, with clear tears in them. “…With all my heart. And here I am, taking the step to do the one thing I would have never expected myself to do in this lifetime, but… I want to spend every moment of my life with you, every waking moment.”

He raised his hands, gently wiping the tears on her cheeks with his thumbs. She closed her eyes to savour the familiar warmth of his touch before opening them again, gazing into his deep eyes. Her heart was filled with an immeasurable amount of joy. Love was capable of that, only true love. The only source of joy one could find was in the beautiful moments spent with the one the heart chooses.

“I want you to be the first person I see every morning when I wake up, and every night as I close my eyes to sleep. I want to build an even bigger family with you, along with Leo and Leah, to grow old by your side, to watch our children grow and parent them side by side, together until our breaths cease.”

He removed his hands from her face, holding both her hands in his, her palms soft and small inside his own.

She gazed at him as he dropped to one knee. He released her hands, pulled out a stunning red box from his pocket, and smiled up at her, endless warmth in his gaze just for her.

With her all the pain he’d ever experienced in his whole life dissolved. He wanted to give her all the best things in the world, wanted the whole world to know that she was his.

He slowly opened the box to reveal a glistening large diamond sitting atop a lovely ring. This time, he wanted to do it right. Ask for her hand, watch her walk down the aisle to him and marry her if she would have him.

His eyes glistened ever so slightly as he said,

“Celine Roberts… This is not just me asking you to spend the rest of your life with me, this is me asking you to spend this and every other lifetime with me, to have and to hold, through the dark, beautiful, painful, and joyful moments, until our very last breaths…

Will you marry me?”

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