PROPOSAL SPECIAL - Every Road Led To You
Adrian's POV
I had practiced the speech for months.In the shower.During late-night drives.Inside empty boardrooms after meetings ended.Standing alone in my office overlooking Manhattan.I knew every sentence.
Every pause.
Every word.
The second I looked into Lia's eyes...I forgot all of it.
—
She stood only a few feet away.Sunlight filtered through the glass ceiling above us, wrapping everything in a soft golden glow.White roses surrounded us.A gentle breeze slipped through the open greenhouse doors.
The entire world felt impossibly still.Lia tilted her head slightly.Concern flickered across her face.
"Adrian?"
The way she said my name always undid me.Not because it was beautiful.Because it sounded like home.
I laughed quietly.
Mostly at myself.
"I had a speech."
Her eyebrows lifted.
"A very good one."
"I believe you."
"I practiced it."
That made her smile.
"I know you did."
I shook my head.
"I don't remember a single word."
She laughed softly.The sound echoed gently around the greenhouse.
God.
I loved that laugh.
"I don't need a perfect speech."
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"I just need you."
The words settled somewhere deep inside my chest.Every ounce of nervousness disappeared.Because suddenly...I wasn't trying to deliver a perfect proposal.I was simply talking to the woman I loved.
—
I stepped closer.Close enough to take both of her hands in mine.They were warm.Slightly trembling.Mine probably were too.
"I spent most of my life believing I was meant to be alone."
The confession came easier than I expected.
"I thought love was something people like me weren't supposed to have."
Lia's eyes softened immediately.
"So I buried myself in work."
I smiled faintly.
"I collected buildings."
Companies.
Awards.
Success.
"I thought if I had enough power..."
I looked down for a brief moment.
"...I wouldn't notice how lonely I was."
Silence surrounded us.Comfortable silence.The kind only Lia ever created.
"Then I met you."
A tear escaped the corner of her eye.
She didn't wipe it away.
Neither did I.
"You walked into my life wearing an oversized sweater."
She laughed through her tears.
"And somehow..."
I smiled.
"...you ruined every plan I had."
Another laugh.
Softer this time.
"I stopped measuring my life by business deals."
"I started measuring it by your smiles."
"By your laughter."
"By whether you made it home safely."
My voice caught briefly.
"I didn't understand what was happening to me."
"I only knew that every version of my future somehow included you."
I took a slow breath.
"The first time you held my hand..."
"I didn't want to let go."
"The first time you smiled because of me..."
"I wanted to spend the rest of my life earning that smile."
"The first time you told me you loved me..."
I laughed quietly.
"I honestly forgot how to breathe."
She squeezed my hands.
Tighter.
"I don't promise to be perfect."
"I won't always know the right thing to say."
"I'll make mistakes."
"I'll annoy you."
She smiled.
"You already do."
I laughed.
"I know."
"But I promise..."
My voice became quieter.
"...that you'll never wonder if you're loved."
"Not for one second."
"I promise to choose you."
"On ordinary Tuesdays."
"On difficult Fridays."
"When life is beautiful."
"When life hurts."
"When we're laughing."
"When we're scared."
"I'll choose you."
"Every single day."
I slowly released one of her hands.Reached into my jacket.And finally—after carrying it for what felt like forever—held the velvet box in my palm.Lia's eyes widened.Immediately.She looked from the ring.Back to me.Then back again.
"Oh..."
The whisper almost disappeared beneath the breeze.
I smiled.
"You once asked me when I knew."
She nodded slowly.
"I never answered properly."
I lowered myself onto one knee.Not because tradition demanded it.Because nothing else felt worthy of this moment.Lia covered her mouth.Fresh tears spilled freely now.The small velvet box opened.The diamond caught the afternoon sunlight.
Simple.
Elegant.
Exactly like her.
"I knew the day I realized home wasn't a place anymore."
"It was wherever you were."
"I knew when your happiness became more important than my own."
"I knew when I stopped imagining tomorrow without you."
"And I knew..."
I looked directly into her eyes.
"...that if I was lucky enough to grow old with anyone..."
"I wanted it to be you."
Always you.Only you.The entire greenhouse seemed to disappear.There was only Lia.
Only us.
Only this.
"Lia Valencia..."
My voice trembled for the first time in years.A feeling I welcomed.Because it meant this mattered.
"You are the greatest blessing my life has ever known."
"You turned loneliness into peace."
"You turned a house into a home."
"You turned me into someone capable of loving without fear."
"I don't want a future that doesn't have you in it."
"So..."
I took one slow breath.Then asked the question I'd been carrying in my heart long before I ever carried the ring.
"My love..."
"Will you marry me?"
—
For one heartbeat...She simply stared.Tears streamed down her cheeks.Her lips parted.Closed again.She laughed.Cried harder.Shook her head in complete disbelief.
Then dropped to her knees in front of me.Without caring about the dress.Without caring about anything except us.She cupped my face with both hands.
"You really practiced a speech?"
I laughed through my own tears.
"For months."
"And you forgot it?"
"The second I saw you."
She smiled.The same smile that had changed my life years ago.The same smile I wanted to wake up beside for the rest of my life.Then, with tears shining in her eyes and happiness written across every inch of her face, she whispered the only answer I had ever hoped to hear.
"Yes."
A tiny pause.
Then she laughed again.
"Yes, Adrian."
Another tear slipped down her cheek.
"Yes."
"As many times as you need to hear it."
"I'll marry you."
Relief crashed over me so suddenly I nearly forgot to breathe.My hands trembled as I slipped the ring onto her finger.It fit perfectly.As if it had always belonged there.I stood, pulling her gently into my arms.She wrapped her arms around my neck without hesitation.
We laughed.
We cried.
And beneath the afternoon sunlight, surrounded by white roses and every promise we had yet to live...I kissed my fiancée for the first time.Not as the woman I loved.But as the woman who had just agreed to spend forever with me.
And in that moment...I realized forever didn't begin on our wedding day.
It began the instant she said yes.