Page 123 of Our Ex's Wedding
Then she saw it. He wasn’t just on the floor. He was down on one knee, reaching into his jacket.
Her heart stopped, because time had already folded in on itself, as this man, this impossible, wonderful man, looked up at her like she was his entire world.
He pulled out a dark blue box and asked, “Ani, since the moment you crashed into my life—literally falling into my arms—you’ve challenged me, pushed me, and made me want to be better, not just for you but for myself, too. There’s no one in the world like you. No one who sees me the way you do.”
He exhaled, then stared straight into her eyes. “I want to spend the rest of my life trying to be the person you deserve, to love you the way you’ve loved me, and to build a life together that’s as wild and beautiful as you are. You are my one. My forever one. Will you do me the honor of marrying me?”
She hadn’t even looked at whatever was inside the box because she was too focused on Raffi’s smoldering eyes staring into hers with so much love.
“Yes, Raffi jan, yes. Yes,yes. I’m yours. Every day from now until forever.”
She threw her arms around him and he kissed her carefully, still thinking about her makeup, although she didn’t give a damn anymore. She’d just been proposed to. She was going to marry Raffi. This was a dream. This was the most beautiful dream.
She pulled away for a moment and looked in the box. Then she threw her head back. “Raffi! I can’t. That’s too big!”
Raffi smirked. “That’s what—”
“Don’t say ‘That’s what she said’!”
They both giggled. He slid the ring onto her finger. A perfect fit. She watched it shimmer in the low lights of the limo. She may have cried a little.
“It’s fine. It’s lab-grown anyway. Half price, and I love a deal.”
She pushed him playfully. “Stop. This is too much. But goddamn, it’s magnificent.”
He held her and stared at her with so much devotion. “Ani Avakian, my fiancée.”
“Raffi Garabedian, mine,” she said.
A moment later, their car pulled up directly to the theater.
“And now we get to take post-proposal photos on the red carpet.”
“You’re really something, Raff.”
He laid his head against hers and whispered, “This is just the beginning. We have our whole lives together.”
With one more kiss, Raffi opened the door to the dazzling beams of the Fox Bruin Theater, to loud joy and kinetic excitement. Raffi held her hand as she stepped out, and even among the sea of strangers and reporters, she felt entirely safe, powerful, and loved. Ani marveled at how her life had changed so quickly in less than a year. Because of himandbecause of her. Because of them, together.
