HC: after their wedding in Colorado, Bianca and Kiana retreat to Hawaii for their honeymoon—far away from the cameras, producers, and social media buzz that followed The One finale. despite the rating for the show soaring (especially after Kiana was announced as the new host) and the support almost positively overwhelming them, they were looking forward to a place where they could be away from it all. so finally, after weeks of stressfully preparing everything down to the tiniest detail—choosing between different shades of dresses (that frankly, looked too similar to Kiana but Amy insisted were not alike), flowers to adorn the tables that had to be switched after realizing Mr. Hong was allergic to them, and dealing with their mother's clashing ideas—they finally are allowed to rest, and just be together.
in Hawaii, the two spend their mornings walking on sunlit trails, refusing to let go of each other's hands even as the warmth rises and their hands feel sticky. their afternoons are tangled up in ocean breezes and soft laughter, intertwined in towels on the beach that still feel too heavy in the heat, with ice cream staining their lips and sand trailing from their spines to their hair (something they'll later regret).
every time they go on a walk, Kiana picks up small stones—smooth ones, heart-shaped ones, tiny ones one would easily overlook if you weren’t looking down—anything that feels special. Bianca notices, but doesn’t ask— which does not stop her from teasing her by calling her “my little penguin”.
one morning, Kiana wakes Bianca early with a smile that makes her wife want to forget the world and hide in their blankets and trace the lines and curves of her face until it’s all she knows, all she remembers. Kiana brings her to a quiet cliffside that overlooks the water and definitely wakes Bianca up, who, despite having woken up just recently, is somehow still faster than Kiana. they walk down a quiet path, their only companions the birds that are slowly rising as well, spreading their wings just as Kiana’s smile is. the sky bleeds from pink into blue, from night into day, illuminating the esplanade and the two lovers. the cliffs are bathed in light, softly opening through the clouds, as if carefully wanting to take a look at the couple, holding its breath as they held each other. the waves are crashing far below, and there, tucked into a patch of soft moss, is Kiana’s surprise.
seven stones, spelling out, I love you. each rock is different. one is shaped like a heart. another has tiny gold flecks in it. one has a chipped corner, just like Kiana’s favorite mug at home that she refuses to throw away. some are hand painted, Kiana's shaky hands leaving messy lines, reminding her of the time she tried to apply Bianca's eyeliner while sitting on her lap—a battle lost from the beginning, she thinks with a grin.
there she takes her wife's hand and says, “Bianca, sweetheart, you proposed with a ring, but I wanted to propose with something that feels like you. you climb rocks, so I brought you some.” she drops to a knee, and adds with a laugh that Bianca wishes she could bottle up and squeeze whenever they're apart and be entangled in, “…and this is an extra rock I got as a deal”. she holds out a silver ring, engraved with a wave curling around the band, the way Bianca's name is wrapped around her heart.
Bianca doesn’t laugh. she tries to. her lips part for a joke, but her eyes are already full of tears. her wife, her beautiful love, the lighthouse of her life, is proposing to her. Kiana’s eyes soften as she adds, “you chose me and I chose you, but I want to remind you that I do so actively. that I’ll never take it for granted, and that I’ll spend the rest of my life bettering myself so I can be even the tiniest drop perfect as you are.”. Bianca drops to her knees, cupping Kiana’s cheeks like she’s made of moonlight and stardust, and she might as well be, with her soft brown eyes that catch the sunlight—as if the sun's given kisses can't help but too be ensnared by her mere existence. “of course,” she whispers, her voice breaking. “of course I’ll say yes again. every time. in every life.” she tastes Kiana's smile on her lips as her wife pulls her in. it’s soft, like laughter held back in the night, like love that’s been waiting for the right moment to spill over, like the kind of happiness one dreams of but is too scared to ask for. it steals the breath from Bianca’s lungs. she leans in again, chasing it, kissing her like she’s memorizing every curve of her mouth and perhaps she is, but the good thing is that she's got a lifetime worth of kisses to study her properly.
the rocks stay behind, hidden like a secret shrine on the cliff, awaiting the next eyes and sweet words to fall on them. at first Kiana is confused, but Bianca kisses her forehead and says they’re not taking them because they’re leaving them there, for luck, for love. for anyone else who might need a little reminder that real love doesn’t need an audience. for anyone who has found The One.
