Chapter 1

Xian West P.O.V.

"Love, I am here in front of your house." parking my car in front of my girlfriend's house. 

"Okay Love, I will just change my clothes and redo my makeup, just wait for me there." I heard from the other line, her voice was somewhat weak as she is not holding her phone. 

"Yes, Love, take your time, just call me if you're done, Love you" I turn off the engine of the car as I am sure that it will take her a while to prepare. 

"Ok, Love. love you too, bye" she hung up the call. 

~ ~ ~

I have just graduated from college today, the course that I have taken is Bachelor of Arts in Business Management. My girlfriend whom I was talking to earlier also graduated today and also graduated in a Fashion Design course. 

Her name is Ayesha Hansley, and we have been together for almost five years now. 

"You can do it Xi, she will accept your wedding proposal." I am nervous right now as I am planning to propose to Ayesha. 

Others may think that it is still too early, that we have just graduated and we should be prioritizing our career during this stage but I beg to disagree. 

I want to settle down now, I think that we are ready to take our relationship to the next level now. 

As I still can not help but feel nervous and is starting to overthink, I dialed my best friend's number; Ace Pierce. 

"Bro, how is the situation there? Is everything ready? Have you double-checked everything? Will she accept my proposal" I can not sit still in my place as nervousness is eating my whole system, I cannot help but bombard Ace with the questions that are running in my head since earlier

"Wait! Wait! Wait! Bro, relax! Everything is set here, you do not need to worry about anything here, I already double-checked it, and I assure you that nothing will go wrong, okay? breathe in, breathe out, calm your mind bro" as I repeatedly inhaled and exhaled air as Ace instructed me to do, my system started calming down. 

"Sorry, bro. I just can not help but worry, I just don't want any mistakes to happen now, I want this night to be perfect and memorable, we planned this for months I don't want all our efforts go to waste." I started to panic again as my worries and nervousness returned to my body. 

"Bro, Relax okay, nothing will go wrong and everything will be perfect, now, what I want you to do is to calm down and patiently wait for your girlfriend. Do not let her notice that you're nervous, she will get suspicious." He reminded me repeatedly, I know that what he is telling me is right, but I just can't help it, proposing, getting engaged, and eventually getting married is a big decision in life, it can easily change the course of our lives, I am just worried that Ayesha may still be not ready for something like this. 

I am not doubting her love for me, I know that she loves me as much as I love her. What I am worried about is that she may not want to settle down now, come on, we just graduated from college, and she may still want to enjoy her life and start her own career. 

"God, please give this night to me, just this night" I prayed to God, hoping God would grant me my wish. 

As I was fidgeting in my seat, continuously tapping my fingers on my steering wheel, and drowning in the flood of my thoughts, I was suddenly awakened by the knocking on my car window. 

I turned around to see who it was. It was Ayesha, My dear girlfriend. Looking at her, all I can think is that she really is perfect. If I were to rate her look out of one hundred points, I would confidently say that she is 97 points. 

She is wearing a white sleeveless dress, paired with a simple black belt and a pair of white five-inch stilettos. 

"Hi Love, sorry if I make you wait long" 

She descended the car as soon as I opened the car door. She leaned forward to give me a peck on the cheeks. 

"It is nothing, Love, you don't need to apologize." I fixed her seatbelt for her. 

I started the engine and started my car. It is almost seven in the evening now, and our appointment is at eight. We still have more than an hour, so I am just driving slowly as we still have more than an hour from an appointment in the restaurant. 

"By the way Love, you look stunning" She turned her head to look at the window but I already saw her blushing cheeks. 

I chuckled, grinning from ear to ear.  this is one of the things that still did not change in her since the first time I saw her; she always blushes whenever I complimented her. 

"Thanks, Love." She shyly said, still not turning her head in my direction, she just watched the road. 

We decided to have a dinner date for celebrating our graduation today, and also because I am planning to propose to her tonight. 

Right, I forgot to congratulate her earlier during the graduation ceremony, well in my defense, our seats were far apart from each other as we are from different colleges, and we did not even meet there. 

The only time I saw her was when she got up on stage. 

"Congratulations, Love. We made it." I reached for her hand, I put it in my lap and intertwined my fingers with her. 

"Congratulations too, Love. Yeah, we made it, despite the fact that our parents are against our decisions to take the courses that we want." She faced me and said emotionally. 

She looked at our intertwined hands, she put her free hand on top of it; she sandwiched my hand with hers. 

"Yeah, at first I was worried that I might not make it because this is the first decision that I have made myself, because growing up, it is always my parents making that for me. But look at me, I made it, with you Love, I wouldn't have made it without you, Thanks Love, for everything" I turned to her and kissed the back of her hand. 

"No, Love. We wouldn't have made it without each other, you were also the one who was always there for me, my emotional support. You know that we are just the same, my mom also does not support me taking fashion design. So thank you too, Love." I saw her looking at me, her eyes full of love and gratitude. 

"Enough with this topic Love, you're just gonna make me cry. It will ruin my makeup, it took me an hour to make this. " She said as she simply wiped the tears that has built up in her eyes. 

"So, what is your plan now, Love? I know that your parents are against you starting your own business so where will you get funds as your start-up capital." She started. 

"I have my savings throughout the years, and also Ace, we will be business partners. We decided to start our own investment company, actually, we have already registered it." I answered absentmindedly. 

We may have been couples for years now, but we have not actually talked about topics like this. 

We always talk about the present, enjoying our moments together. This is the first time that we talked about our future and I do not have good feelings about this. 

"What about you, Love?" I asked her back as I turned to look at her, waiting for her answer. 

"Me? Love, I plan to continue my studies in Paris, actually my flight is tomorrow morning." Nervousness is evident in her voice as she looked at me, she already knows how I will react. 

"WHAT??!!!" I turned at her with disbelief written on my face. 

"You are actually leaving the country tomorrow and you are just telling me this now!?" I can't help but raise my voice at her, I can't believe her.

"Love, please listen to me okay, I'm sorry I forgot to tell you, it's just that it is Mom that wants me to go there and she is the one who arranged everything, I just got to know last week that tomorrow is my flight" she squeezed my hand trying to calm me down. 

"You forgot?! Ayesha, I am your boyfriend, do I not have the right to be the first to know about this?!" Driven by emotion I stepped to the accelerator fourther causing our speed to increase. 

"Love, please calm down, I just got excited because mom finally supports me in my dream to become a fashion designer, that is running in my head for days because at first, I can't believe it, that was all I was thinking that everything was thrown at the back of my head. That's why I forgot to tell you." tears started rolling down in her eyes, her voice filled with pleading. She started panicking as our speed continues to increase. 

"Love, please slow down, I'm scared."

Her makeup is ruined by her tears as she kept crying and panicking in her seat. 

I ignored her, I don't want to talk to her now, I have not calmed down yet, I don't know what I may have said if I continue our conversation with me being driven by anger, and I don't want our night to be completely ruined. 

God, I just wished for this night to be perfect, just this night, is it that hard!?

I overtake some of the cars as I keep speeding up wanting to get to our destination faster. 

After a few minutes I started to calm down so I faced Ayesha, but just as I was about to speak my sight was blocked by a blinding light.