New beginings

Fast-forward to a few months later, where Nathan and I were settling in nicely in our beautiful house, located in the center of the city where we were both closer to work and our families. It was a versatile family home, with a distinct touch of harmony in a secure and quiet neighborhood. The interior was huge and elegant, consisting of 4 bedrooms, 3 en-suite bathrooms, a spacious lounge/dining area with a built-in fireplace and a perfect study for when we're working from home. Modern kitchen with a granite finish leading to an open patio outside. I loved everything about it, more especially after Violet helped with the interior designs of the rooms just how we loved them to be.

The view from upstairs was always beautiful, specifically at night where the different city lights would shine from a distance and somehow brighten up the sky. During the day our backyard garden and swimming pool were the real highlight of our house, coming home back home to Nathan and Missy was what I looked forward to everyday.

“Hey Liv”, Anna knocked on my office door already walking in and pulled a chair for herself to sit on. “Do you have a minute?”

“Yeah babe, what's up?”, I quickly pushed the paperwork I was drowning in aside, being really happy she stopped by cause it meant I could give myself a break

“I was thinking we should get our nails done today after work, what do you think?”

“You know how I am after getting my nails done Ann, it feels weird, and I end up bitting at them or taking them off completely”, I huffed out a sigh

“Well that's okay, it's only for today though”

“What's happening today?”, I quirked up an eyebrow and her eyes started lurking around

“Anna?”

“I thought we could pamper ourselves today you know?”, she covered up her stutter with a nervous laugh. “We've never had a girls' day out since Mia was born, and I can do with some today, please have mercy on me”

“Well, if you put it like that then I guess we can do it, only because I love you so much”, I said, and she grinned widely at me

“Great, meet me at my desk exactly at knockoff time”, she quickly stood to her feet, to my disappointment

“Wait, don't you have office tea to spill this morning? Because I know you know something”, I'd do or say anything to for her to keep me company a little longer.

She grasped offensively. “Olivia Davis! Do I look like a gossip to you?; whereby I hear and see things around the office and immediately fill you in?”

“I mean...yeeaahh?”, I shrugged uneasily, grinning nervously at her, and she hummed a little

“Well I mean you're not wrong, but you could at least not give me the credit for it”, she stared blankly at me before turning on her feet, flipping her hair dramatically to the side while walking out. “Meet you in the kitchen in twenty minutes for our coffee break”

I laughed, knowing I was going to be filled on all the juicy office gossip. “Say less”

My phone chimed with a call notification from Tristan while we were still at the salon getting our nails done, and it hasn't been that long since I've had them on, but I could already see myself without them

“Hey”

“Hey Liv”, his voice was beaming with excitement. “Where are you?”

“I'm at the nail salon with Ann”

“Are you almost done?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Good, we're going shopping at the mall after that”

I laughed a little. “Shopping? You hate shopping”

“Today I'm willing to make an exception”, he said and my eyebrows knitted up in confusion, looking over at Anna because she said something similar back at the office. Where are they planning something?

“Why? What's happening today?”, I asked curiously, and he cleared his throat akwardly.

“Uh, nothing”, he coughed out. “I have some free time, so I figured we could spend time together, retail therapy or whatever you girls call it”

“Yeah, I'm not buying it”, I switched to my threatening voice. “What's going on?”

“I'll tell you when I see you. Meet me at the West gate entrance in thirty, okay?”

“Okay, I guess”

“Coolios then”

“Coolios”

Arriving at the mall, Tristan was literally dragging me from boutique to boutique for a dress and some shoes. He was paying, so I can't say I was complaining. He insisted I stay in this designer spaghetti strap black dress I had put on and we both agreed it suited me quite nicely, in matched with nude ankle strap heels. When I asked him why, he said the outfit looked so good on me, and so he didn't feel the need for me to take it off, and so I didn't.

When I thought that was over, I was getting my hair and make up done so that I was dolled up for tonight. Every time I glanced over at him, he was on his phone almost all the time texting someone and I just thought it was Eleanor, a girl he met on one of the functions he was catering at and they quicky became friends. If you asked me, I think they could make a pretty cute couple. I've met Eleanor a couple of times, and she was actually sweet, beautiful and smart, plus they both had a lot in common, so I didn't see the harm in trying. Tristan quickly diminished that idea, claiming that him and Eleanor were just really good friends, but I think we all know how this just friends route can end up, right? *wink wink*

“So when can we double-date?”, I turned to ask him as he was sitting next to me, and he finally looked up at me, switching his phone off to put it back into his pocket

“What do you mean?”

“You, me, Nathan and Eleanor”, I said, and he did a mini eye roll

“We've been through this”

“But you're the one on the phone the entire time, clearly something is going on between you guys”, I wiggled my eyebrows at me, and he heaved a sigh

“Like I said, Eleanor and I are friends. She's not the one I'm texting, I'm talking to my stuff in the group about an event we're catering for tonight”

“Okay while we're on that, what's happening tonight?”

“Nothing much on my side except the event I have to cater for, what about you?”, he shrugged his shoulders, looking away from my piercing stare

“Cut the bullshit”, I said firmly, and he started cracking up. “Just tell me what's going on”

“I don't know what you want me to say”

“Why are you doing this? The makeover and everything else cause the last time I checked it wasn't my birthday”

“I wasn't aware I can only spoil you only on your birthday-”

“Tristan”

He took one look at me to know that this time I was really serious, jokes aside. I needed to know what was going on.

“Okay okay. I wasn't gonna to tell you this because it was supposed to be a surprise but,” he sat up on his chair. “Nathan is throwing a surprise house warming party at your place tonight”

“A surprise housewarming party? Really?”, I laughed a little. “Is that even a thing?”

“Seems like it, so I need you to act surprised when we all show up to celebrate with you guys tonight, okay?”

“Psshh, I can do that”, I waved my hand at him. “I just didn't think he would want to make it a surprise for me even though we talked about it a few days after moving in”

“Yeah, we just wanted you to look beautiful you know?”

“That's really sweet of you but I would still look presentable though in my work clothes because I could have just changed into something at home”

“Tonight really important Liv, you have to look the part”

“All done”, the hairstylist announced happily after he was done with my hair and I thanked him, looking at the final result on the mirror to see that cascading waves really looked good on me

A message notification from Nathan lit up my screen and I opened it to see he just sent me coordinates to a location I wasn't familiar with, another message beeped in shortly after

Walking me to my car, Tristan held the car door open for me. “There you go MiLady”

“Do you know where this place is?”, I showed him the text I got from Nathan, and he copied it and pasted on the GPS app I had on my phone

“There you go”, he gave me my phone back, and I frowned a little noticing the location had no street name

“How am I supposed to get here though? I won't find this place”

“You will, trust me”

“Do you know anything about this?”, I rose my eyebrow at him, and he shrugged his shoulders

“Maybe it's a dinner spot? I can't really say”, he said, and I hummed in response while getting in the car and I closed the door for me. “I'll see you at the party later on then”

“Okay”

“Okay”, he tapped on the top of the car, motioning I to be on my way and I rolled my window down before turning the ignition on, and he literally jogged back to peek through the window

“Do me a favor and act genuinely surprised okay? Nathan can't know you knew”

“Your secret is safe with me”

After driving around the routes the GPS directed me in for like 20 more minutes than the estimated time, I gave up and finally decided to call Nathan

"Baby?"

“Hey, I think the location you sent me is wrong”

“No it's not”, he laughed. “I can literally see your car right now”

“You can?”, I stared looking around. “Well I can't see you”

“I'm coming to get you, stay there”

“Okay”

Within minutes, there was a knock on the window and I smiled at the sight of him nicely dressed in a fitted velvet suit that hugged around his body perfectly as he opened the door for me

“Okay, now I'm convinced that I forgot a date or am I missing something?”, I laughed as he helped me out and closed the door behind me and I locked it

“I don't think you are”, he opened his hands for a hug and I threw my arms around him for a quick, tight hug

“You look beautiful”, he leaned to kiss my cheek and I gushed red

“Thank you”, I kept my arms around him. “What are we doing here?”

“Do you know what today is?”, he raised an eyebrow, his eyes daring towards mine and I paused to think about it a second

“It's not not your birthday, definitely not mine and also not our anniversary, so I'm guessing it's just a normal date night Friday?”, I said, and he chuckled a little, taking me by the hand, and we started walking besides each other

“Maybe if we get nearer enough you'll remember”, we passed by the taco caravan, a part of me felt like I knew where this was, reminding me of a similar scenario

“I think I know what today is?”

“You do?”, he asked as we stopped by the bench we sat at the night we met

“This is where we were sitting, eating taco's the night we met”

“This is where we also kissed for the first time”, he paused for a second to rephrase. “Actually you kissed me”

“Funny because I remember it being the other way around actually, you kissed me”

He laughed. “You were making it hard for me not to”

“You haven't actually answered me on why we are here”

“This is where it all began, Bella”, the second he said those words, a gazillion of yellow and white balloons started floating into the sky, and I was taken a bit as I looked around us, captured into view of seeing them widely scattering above us. I was pretty chuffed up because they were both my favorite colors, then suddenly these LED twinkle lights brightened around the trees that were near us and I grasped in surprise at how beautiful it looked.

“Babe, are you seeing this-”, I turned around to see he had gone down on one knee, presenting me with a heart shaped diamond ring. I could tell it was custom designed because I've never seen one like it before, it was beyond stunning.

“Oh my goodness”, I grasped in disbelief covering my mouth with both my hands as I stood in front of him, seeing his eyes sparkling as he looked up at me

“Olivia Davis, as cliché as it's going to sound, the truth is I fell in love with you the moment I laid my eyes on you. My whole world changed ever since the time you came into my life, bringing along with you utmost happiness and peace, words won't even begin to explain to you just how much you mean to me. Here I am before you, asking you to please let me change your last name to mine, because I want you forever”, a smile played on his lips.

“Will you marry me?”

As much as I could barely suppress my shocked excitement, I had to, and I kept quiet for a second, showing no expression on my face and I could see he was getting worried as his eyebrows arched a little

“Your silence is worrying Liv”, he laughed nervously. “Do you need time to think about it?”

“No, I'm sorry. I'm just a little shocked that's all”, I breathed out a sob laugh I've been holding in the second he started talking and his lips tugged up in a little smile.

“So, what do you say?”, he drew a sharp breath before gulping down hard. “Will you marry me?”

“Of course yes, I'll marry you”, I jumped around a little, and he sighed relieved, chuckling a little as he lowered his head a little like he was making a short silent prayer before he took my hand in his and slipped the ring onto my finger before pulling himself to his feet to claim his lips with mine

“Thank you”, he picked me up in a hug and spun us around for a while, holding me tight in his arms before setting me down again

“I love you, okay?”, he grabbed my face in his hands, wiping the tears that were beginning to stream down my face and I gave a little nod

“I love you too, just as much”