They were the only two in the café, sitting anxiously across from one another. A shared pot of tea--peppermint, his favorite for once--was over steeping between them. There was no eye contact, despite her furtive glances at his features. He just stared down, unmoving. Thinking. Thinking about everything.
Or maybe about nothing at all.
The café was cold and quiet. She didn’t like it; she didn't want to be there. The last fight had ended their relationship--for good, she had sworn. She was a traveller. Between the experiences she’s already lived and the sights that still awaited her, she refused to be tied down. He proposed to her, knowing his life was here, knowing he wouldn’t leave, knowing it would mean an end to her life as a traveller if--
“Are--are you ok?”
She hadn’t realized she started to shake. She brushed away his hand, his concern. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Can we just...” Awkward silence. “Get this over with?” More awkward silence, and now she felt like the “bitch” ex. Bitch or not, his eyes held hers for a moment. He could tell she was lying, he could always tell.
“I...I want to say I’m sorry. I proposed in a situation that was unfair to you. I know that it isn’t fair to ask you to stay here. Hell, you’re leaving in a week. What were you even supposed to say?” He shook his head, but she remained silent at his pause, lips pressed tightly together. “I wanted to get tea so I could tell you that I really, honestly, truly, do want you to marry me. There’s no one else I’d rather be with and nowhere else I’d rather be--beside you is my favorite place in the world.”
He paused again, but instead of staying silent, words bubbled out out her mouth and hissed with indignation. “Have you ever seen the sunrise over a conquered mountain? Have you ever felt the wind tug at your clothes on the top of the Empire state building? Have you seen cherry blossom trees in the hundreds, all in full bloom, and walked beneath their branches? Have you been to the amphitheater of Delphi, and seen the entire world stretch beneath your fingertips?” She trampled over his next words, glaring imperiously across the table. “I know you haven’t. I know you haven’t lived, and that you have no right to say that beside me is your favorite place in the world.” She stood, intent on leaving, but he called her name weakly. What caught her attention was what followed.
“I quit my job, love. I mean, I took a different one, one that I can do from a laptop, anywhere with wifi. I want to live, I want to have the right to say I know my favorite place in the world. And I want to do it with you.”
He gently returned her ring, and it never left her finger--wherever they went.
