🐾

I slowly and silently went out of my room so Dane wouldn't be able to hear me.

I went downstairs and went to the living room where I saw Andrea still sitting on her rocking chair.

"Hey Andrea," I tell her.

Without directly looking at me, Andrea smiles and says back, "Hello Hunter, is there a problem?"

"Ah, no. There's no problem at all," I tell her. Then I took a chair and sat beside her, "And didn't I tell you that you can just call me Damien now?"

Andrea continues to smile as she says, "But Hunter is cuter."

I laugh and just nod my head in defeat, "Then Hunter it is," I say, and then suddenly, we became silently awkward.

I took a deep breath and rested my elbow on top of my thighs. Then I took a deep breath and got ready to say something to Andrea. But before I could say anything, Andrea suddenly asks, "Aren't you here to ask me something?"

I quickly look at her with shock. Then I awkwardly laugh and say, "How'd you know?"

"I might be practically blind, but I could sense that you're nervous about something," Andrea says.

I nod my head and finally look at her, "Yeah, I am going to ask you something."

"And that must be?" she asks.

I take and deep breath and got ready, "I've been thinking for a while, and I've planned it for weeks. And I think...n-no...I'm sure...that I'm ready to marry Dane."

Andrea doesn't say anything, so I continued, "At first I wanted to secure our future before doing anything else. I wanted to stand in my own feet, which was why as soon as I got back to Dane; I immediately wanted to start the business that I have been planning. But then, we had this fight, and at that moment I knew that if I don't put Dane first, I might end up losing him."

I paused for a while as I remembered the time Dane walked away from me at our apartment.

I took a deep breath again and looked back at Andrea, "So I planned this trip. I talked to his family first, and I really wanted to personally ask you ask you about it because you're the only family Dane has left."

I grab both of Andrea's hand and held it, "With a pure heart Andrea...may I have your grandson's hand?" I finally ask her.

The whole living room was silent.

Andrea doesn't say anything so I started feeling a lot more nervous than I was earlier.

"Andrea?" I called out. Just to make sure she actually didn't fall asleep on me.

"So you're ready for marriage," she finally says.

I gulp and nod my head, "Yes," I say.

"Is Day ready too?" she asks next.

I took a deep breath and answered, "I think he is. I proposed to him before, and I think he's a little anxious now because we haven't talked about it again yet."

Andrea doesn't say anything again, but then, she squeezes my hand.

"You know what Hunter? I've seen you since you were young. Hael brought you here, and whenever we talk, we also end up talking about Day. At those moments I knew that, even when my grandson haven't even met you yet, you have already given your heart to him."

I stare at Andrea, not sure what to say after hearing what she just said.

"But others will discriminate you. They'll judge you and look at you weirdly like you're some kind of alien. But, as I always say, love is love. If you two are ready for marriage, then go ahead and marry. As long as you love each other, that marriage will surely last for a lifetime," Andrea adds, suddenly making me teary.

She then smiles and finally says, "You have been like my grandson Hunter, and there is nothing that I could ask from you except this..."

Andrea lets go of my hand, then, she pats my head like a kid and says, "Take good care of Dane for me...okay?"

I look at her, a tear finally falling out of my eyes, "Andrea..."

"I give you my blessing...Damien Nicholas Collins."

*****

I was sweating, and my cheeks were aching like crazy.

I bought yellow balloons but stupidly forgot to buy a freakin' pump. So I ended up manually blowing them one by one.

I placed one of my supposed 'clues' inside one of the balloons, and then placed them all inside a box.

I took my phone out and looked through my checklist. Flowers, done. Balloons, done. The very clever clues, done. Tables and chair for the beach lunch, done. I talked to the waitress at the diner and ordered the food. AND I managed to talk to some of the locals and told them about my plans as well. And I finished all that in just a few hours.

I took my towel and dried my self up.

"I practically did a workout," I say as I stare at the sweat in my body.

"Oh shit...the most important part!" I say as I immediately went to the bed. Under the bed, I took out a small red box, and inside the red box was none other than the most important item for tomorrow.

"The ring," I say as I opened it to check it for the last time.

"Perfect," I say as I stared at the ring.

This ring cost me about half a million dollars. I had to customize it too because I didn't want to give Dane just any ring.

The paw print is a cute touch; it's like a symbol of our first meeting.

Honestly I wanted to put a Band-Aid inside instead and prank Dane and just give him the ring afterwards, but I thought that it's better to have a serious mood when I ask him the "Will you marry me again" question.

All I have to do now is fix the setup on the beach tomorrow. I have to leave early in the morning and tell Wilma and Andrea to stall Dane for me too.

"Okay, everything's ready for tomorrow. I just hope I don't fucking screw it up," I say as I placed the box of balloons inside a cabinet so Day wouldn't see them yet.

Well, I just hope they don't pop.

"Wait? Should I wear a suit?" I suddenly ask myself.

I was about to close the cabinet to check my bag if I managed to bring my suit, but then I suddenly saw another box.

"What's this?" I ask as I looked at what was inside.

My eyes widened from shock when I saw all kinds of sex toys inside.

"No fucking way," I say as I continued to check the toys. And as I was checking it, a sudden idea suddenly popped into my head.

"Hael you perverted bastard. You actually did something right this time."

"Day! Day dinner is ready!" I suddenly heard Wilma shout from outside my room. So I immediately placed the box back and closed the cabinet.

Someone knocks on the door. I took a deep breath and tried to act normal as I immediately opened the door.

The person who knocked was none other than the love of my life, Dane.

"Dinner's ready?" I ask him.

Dane looks at me weirdly. Then he looks at me from head to toe and says, "What the hell did you do?"

"Planning my re-proposal for you," I thought to myself. But I smiled and answered instead, "I was exercising."