She thought it was a joke, they would get back to how they used to be, their usual loving self but it was more than 24hrs now and it would only be a matter of a few hours until down and that would be their anniversary. This wasn’t what she wanted to happen between them. She wanted love, peace, happiness, and she wanted to go back to California with a ring, not pain. She sat upright on the sofa she had been lazing on throughout the way, throwing off a snack down to the floor as she picked her phone beside her. She sent him a text for umpteenth time today and when she checked, there was no response from him.
She sent him another text again, she couldn’t afford for midnight to come without them reconciling, ‘Nate, I know what I did was so wrong, can you please reply me? I’m so sorry, Nate. It will be our anniversary in barely an hour, I’m so sorry, Nate.’ She wished he could see her plea or how she had spent her entire day grieving that even when her Mother called, despite her telling her not to call her unless she did that herself, she had no other choice but to pick and she didn’t even have the energy to be rude today. She needed closure and someone to tell her that everything would be back to normal as it was. He would be back to his normal loving self. But then she didn’t have it in her to tell anyone what was happening between her and Nate, they will only make it worse.
Twenty minutes later, as she weakly picked up her phone, she realized that there was still no response and she wanted to cry. It would be only a few minutes until midnight and by god if it happened without a reply from Nate, she didn’t know what she would be able to do. She sent him another text, ‘Nate, if you don’t reply me in the next five minutes I’m coming to your house right away. For goodness sake, I told you I’m sorry!’ And she meant it, she would get a cab and go straight to his house, she didn’t care whether they were fighting or not. She wanted the man she was in love to come back to her and nothing else.
And as she stared at her phone to see the minutes pass, which she had already made up her mind that if they got to five minutes, she would have to look for a cab and go to his place right away. And then at the fourth minute, a reply popped, and she didn’t know when she sat upright and smiled widely at him. ‘Hey Anna, it’s getting to midnight, don’t do anything risky, okay? I’ll call you in the morning.’
Oh god, he cared about her! He didn’t want something bad to happen to her when she went out in the midnight. Nate cared; Nate freaking loved her! She stood up and began making her weird dancing steps, grinning, and making some excited giggles. She sat down with a huge grin on her lips and brought her phone closer to her and typed back a reply to him. ‘Nate, oh god, I love you so much. I’ve planned something for our anniversary tomorrow, I’ll text you the address, please be there by 6pm, okay? I know you have a lot of work to do, please don’t keep me waiting.’ She waited for a reply, but it didn’t come, and by 12am dot, his reply came, which was so short and straight, but it still made her smiled.
‘Okay, let’s meet by 6pm. Happy anniversary to us, my love.’ She let out a chortle and ran toward her bed. She slumped onto it with a loud thud and closed her eyes excitedly. “Happy anniversary to us, Nate. I love you so much!” She screamed, not minding that it was midnight already or someone might hear her and think that she had gone out of her mind already. She was happy, she loved Nate and he loved her as well. And she was certain he was going to propose to her by tomorrow.
When she scrolled through her timeline on twitter, she stumbled upon his tweet. Tweeted only a few seconds ago, ‘I think it’s time I make her mine. Mrs. Clayton would suit her the best.’ No! She was out of breath, this wasn’t happening! She made a screenshot of the tweet and sent it to Maya, while her chest got suffocated by her screams. She kept jumping up and down on her bed as she danced happily. She was going to become his fiancée. How cool did that sound? They had quite a rough night and day from yesterday and today, but it was going to be a very good one by tomorrow!
❦
She woke up the next morning with a wide grin on her face, Nate was going to propose to her. She sat upright on her bed and stared at the sun rising through her glass slide, how she woke up at such an early hour would forever be wonders to her, but she knew it was connected to the fact that she couldn’t keep calm. She stared at her hands and smiled, by the end of today she would have a ring that will tag her as Nate’s fiancée.
She didn’t know when she had slept yesterday, but as she took her phone beside the bed, she saw Maya’s reply. She was equally excited like she had promised she would be if he turned out to be the nice guy Anna had been seeing him ass. ‘Girl, I’m freaking screaming at this. I can’t wait to see how the ring will look on you! Happy anniversary to you and your beloved, my darling, Be your most beautiful self, I’ll call you to see how everything is going, okay?’
She had to book for a makeup artist, a fashion designer and also a hair stylist. It didn’t matter how late it was, she had enough money to do everything she had ever wanted even if it would be done at the last hour. With her grin unwavering from her lips, she dialed Julia’s number, not minding how early it was. “Good morning, Miss Anna,” Her voice sounded so sleepy that Anna nearly felt bad for waking her up, but then she was her assistant and the only one that could take care of all her matters.
“Morning, Julia, I’m sorry I had to wake you up. I think I’m getting proposed to, tonight. I need a makeup artist, a hair stylist, and a fashion designer. I know it’s late to book for the best but do you best and pay them extra, okay? They should be here after noon, we’re meeting up at 6pm. Especially the fashion designer because of fitting, Okay?” She looked across the room at where her gowns and evening dresses hung beautifully and suddenly, none of them suited the occasion, she had to look for a new dress that was simple yet magnificent enough to sweep Nate off his feet.
She heard the shuffle as Julia sat upright, probably. “Yes, ma’am. Oh my god, congratulations, Ma. I’d make sure everything is set before then. Do we need to rent a new car, or the limo will do?” She smiled as she shook her head.
“Mark has always been with my Dad, I think I’d love it if he drives me there with the limo, it’s fine.” They finished talking and after she ended the call, she called the restaurant and ordered for a light breakfast to be delivered to her at noon. She had been smiling all day, she put on the music and put the volume low because he wanted to feel everything. She didn’t want a crazy day; she wanted a cool and warm day that would be filled with so much love.
And just like she had told Julia, they all arrived on time and the fashion designer came with three gowns that will all look good on her and fit the occasion and choosing one was so hard until she called Maya and they chose a light blue one that Anna was certain would enhance her beauty a lot. the hairstylist began her work while the fashion designer went back to her shop to make the perfect fittings and after they were done, the makeup artist was the last to do her job. By 5:30pm, Anna was standing in the elevator while she firmly held her bag as she flew down to the lobby where Mark patiently waited for her.
She was suddenly nervous; she didn’t know how she was supposed to act when Nate showed the ring to her. Should she tell him that she had been expecting it? Or she would act utterly surprised at the ring he presented in front of her? What will he say? ‘I’m sorry for acting the way I did, Anna. Will you marry me?’ And she would stare at him as though it was the most flabbergasting thing she had ever had to deal with in her life. The thought of Nate slipping the ring into her slim finger brought a blush on her cheeks.
She stared down at her fingers after she had sat down on the back of the limo, there was only one ring on her hand. It was the one her Father slipped onto her hand while he was on his death bed, the last gift she had ever gotten from him. It was a diamond ring, the most beautiful one she had ever seen in her life. She had never taken it out of her finger since then, but then she wanted Nate to know that somehow, she had been waiting for him all this while. She slowly took off the ring from her hand and slipped it into her bag with a wide smile, Dad would always be happy with her decision.
And it wasn’t like she was taking it off forever, it was just for tonight.
She wasn’t so nervous until they arrived at the restaurant and before she came out of the limo, she stared at Mark, “I think you can leave, Mark. If there’s need, I’d call you so you can come and pick me.”
“Are you sure you’d be alright, Ma’am?” He asked, he had always been careful with her. Was it because he knew how precious she was to her Dad? And as much as she hated to acknowledge it, she was precious and deeply loved by her both parents. Sometimes she knew that whatever her Mother did was purely out of love and nothing more. Being a single child both sucked and was a good thing as well.
She nodded her head at him and smiled widely, “I’ll be fine, Mark. Nate will be here with me shortly.” She got out of the limo and walked into the restaurant. It wasn’t time yet, and when she saw the table she had reserved for them and was empty, she looked up at the clock and saw that it wasn’t time yet. Maya would be annoyed at her if she knew she had come almost ten minutes before their said time, but then she didn’t have any other excuse. She was both excited and nervous that the only way to calm herself was if she came to the scene early.
She sat down on one of the seats and brought her phone out to buy herself some time. She began to surf through her Instagram, on a bridal page and she kept seeing beautiful bridal dresses and wedding settings that she became indecisive that she began to send all the ones that caught her attention to Julia, knowing so well they would have this conversation in a few months to come and they might need the pictures for better reference.
How would she have her hair styled at the time? Should she let it flow on her shoulders or let it down? Getting married to Nate wasn’t something she would joke with; it was a chance the whole universe gave her, and she had to make a better use of it. She had to make sure that everyone in California knew that she was getting married to the man she loved so much. She didn’t know that so much time had passed while she kept on surfing bridal things and contemplating on the photographers that will cover their wedding until her eyes mistakenly gazed at clock on her iPhone and it was 12 minutes past 7pm. And when she stared at the table, she had taken three cups of orange drink. Where was Nate?