Wow, he looks so thoughtful, the sales associate thought as she watched the way Ray was looking at the goods in the store. Rarely had she seen a man with such charisma like him. His pretty blue eyes were inspecting everything carefully, giving him a mysterious look that made him incredibly attractive. Not only that, but his calmness was also something special. The way he was just silently standing there while deep in his thoughts, it had the power to steal any woman's heart in a second.
Little did she know it was just how he looked on the outside, because on the inside, he was actually in panic mode.
How long he had been stand here, he had no idea, but he was sure he wouldn't be leaving any time soon, as it would take him at least half an hour more to make the final decision. He had gone window-shopping for a few days, yet he still wasn't sure what to buy. Who knew shopping this kind of thing would be so difficult, even after hours of research. There were so many factors to consider and it was seriously messing with his head.
Seemingly able to see his hesitance, the sales associate approached him when she had finished talking to other customers. "Hello, is there anything I can do to help you?"
"Ah, yes." Ray looked up and returned her smile. "If you don't mind, could you please give me some advice on what to buy?"
"Certainly, sir." She smiled once more as she slightly nodded her head. "May I ask who you're buying this for?"
"I'm buying this for my, uh, girlfriend." He decided to lie so that he wouldn't have to explain his sexuality and make the conversation complicated. He proceeded to tell her what occasion this item was for, and she beamed with excitement upon hearing what he had just said.
"I'm sure she'll be delighted. Now, to start off, do you know what her preference is?"
"Well, I believe she likes simple stuff," Ray replied as he held his chin, averting his gaze in the process. The reason he was able to give his answer so quickly was that he had already thought about it ahead of time. He knew his partner's preference would surely come into play, and in order to figure out what his boyfriend was usually drawn to, he had spent days thinking back about all the time they had spent together ever since they started dating.
Happy with his definite answer, the sales associate turned her body slightly as she gestured her hand to her right. "Then I'll take you to see the simple designs we have here. Please, follow me, sir."
__________
Ray was difficult to understand. He had always been difficult to understand and would forever be, but this was stressing Matt out more than he would like to acknowledge.
In the past week, Ray had been strangely secretive about what he did and where he went. Of course, Matt wasn't that type of crazy and obsessed man who demanded to know his boyfriend's every move. In fact, they both had always respected each other's privacy. However, what was beginning to drive Matt crazy, even though he was unwilling to admit it, was Ray's behaviors.
During the five years they had been together, never had Ray seemed so nervous whenever he came home and saw Matt greeting him at the door. Sometimes, when he was seen getting ready to go somewhere, he would appear to be very anxious while he normally had no problem telling Matt where he was heading. At first, Matt didn't think much about it until Ray started to act more and more skeptically. Literally just the night before, when Matt surprised him with a midnight snack while he was working, he could hear Ray panicking from the way he stuttered before telling him to come in. He almost looked suspicious, even though Matt had tried to convince himself that he was overreacting thousands of times already.
However, putting that aside, it was only at this moment that Matt suddenly realized how much time had flown by. It seemed like it was only yesterday that Matt was still a sophomore working as a barista and worrying about his crush on his professor. Now, here he was, five years into his relationship with that very professor and working as a biotechnologist, which was the career he had dreamt of pursuing since high school.
If that wasn't great enough, he got to have his own pet dog! Due to the fact that his dorm didn't allow pets, he had been eager to get a dog as soon as he graduated, and Ray granted his wish without waiting for him to ask for one. That man was a person full of surprise, because Lucky, the cute little dog that was sitting on his laps, was actually a birthday gift from Ray himself. The moment he received a Pomeranian puppy on his twenty-second birthday, he had found himself beaming in ecstasy. It turned out Ray had remembered how Matt had mentioned his love for Pomeranians after they saw one while walking on the streets. Till this day, Matt was still shocked by how attentive Ray was to trivial details like that.
Speak of the devil, there Ray was, closing the door behind him after returning home from God knows where, and Matt turned his head back to greet Ray like usual. He had made up his mind to forget about Ray's weird behaviors for now, but what Ray did next piqued his curiosity once more, making him knit his eyebrows. Upon seeing Matt sitting there on the couch, Ray, in lightning speed, stuffed a small package into his bag before trying to remain as calm as possible.
Had Matt not held himself back, he would have pressed his boyfriend on what that mysterious package was.
What Ray had just done was too questionable for Matt to ignore. Really, Matt wouldn't have cared if Ray had just walked past him without trying to hide that package. What was about that thing that made Ray so secretive? Matt was absolutely tempted to just interrogate Ray right there and then, but again, he did his best not to do it. He was rational enough to know that it wouldn't do any good, and that he could potentially appear nosy to Ray.
It's his personal belonging, I shouldn't stick my nose into his business, those were the words Matt had repeated in his head over and over again in an attempt to forget about it, but it had been proven to be futile. As each day went by, he just got more and more curious about what this whole thing was about, and along with his growing worries, doubts started to show up in his mind.
There had never been a time when he thought he would come to doubt his partner, but here he was, imagining the worst case scenarios that could happen to their relationship. Had Matt done something wrong and accidentally upset Ray? Was there anything that caused Ray to think that their relationship wouldn't work out? Was he planning on doing something about it? Truthfully, Matt never wished to think about them, but they just kept on appearing and forcing him to ponder them. What should he even do in this situation? The most obvious answer was to talk it through with Ray and clear things up, but he felt afraid to do so, though the reason was still unknown. Just like that, three days went by quickly, but it felt like ages to Matt due to the unresolved problems that had been torturing him.
Tonight was no exception. Right after dinner, Ray had hurriedly headed to his office, saying that he had some urgent work that needed to be completed as soon as possible. Matt didn't mind doing the dishes by himself, but he couldn't help wondering what Ray was up to now. His question was, once again, left unanswered, so he just chose to continue with what he was doing and watch TV right after he had finished cleaning up. He was fortunate enough to find some good shows that could help steer his mind away from the troubling situation at hand, so an hour quickly flew by. He only realized how much time had passed when he glanced at the clock on the wall.
Sighing, he turned off the TV and decided that some sleep might clear his mind. With Lucky following him, he walked upstairs and went straight to the bedroom, successfully suppressing the urge to knock on Ray's office to ask if he needed anything else. Walking into the dark room, he was too tired to care about anything else other than the bed itself, so he was completely unaware of the string lights hanging all over the walls. Only when they suddenly lit up did he realize that they were there.
On closer inspection, along with photos of him and Ray, being hung on the strings were cute little latte art cutouts in various designs. And were they rose petals that were scattered all over the floor and on the bed? Still in a frozen state, he was startled when he heard the sound of the door closing behind him. He turned his head back to see Ray standing there with his hand on the door handle. Had he been hiding in the room the whole time?
"Ray...?" His voice almost sounded like a whisper because of how small it was. "Aren't you supposed to be working?"
"Well, I was, just not in my office," Ray replied with a small laugh, though in his voice was a hint of nervousness which Matt wondered about. But all questions left Matt's head as soon as he saw Ray walking torwards him with a serious yet affectionate look in his eyes.
Before Matt could ask the other man anything, Ray had taken a hold of his hands. The way his hands were shaking could be felt, but Matt paid it no mind, because Ray began to speak again in a quiet and warm voice that never failed to melt Matt's heart.
"Matt..." Ray said as he looked straight into Matt's eyes. "Do you remember the mysterious wish I told you about on my twenty-ninth birthday?"
Seeing the confusion that was written all over his partner's face, Ray chuckled before repeating the wish in question. "J'ai envie de passer le restant de mes jours avec toi."
Something clicked in Matt's head almost immediately, making him exclaim out loud. "Oh, I remember it now!"
"Do you want to know what it means?"
Instead of replying to Ray, Matt took another brief look around the room before giving the other man a very unimpressed look. "Did you seriously set up this whole thing just for a translation?"
Unable to hold back a grin, Ray glanced away for a few seconds before giving Matt his answer. "Well, I guess you can put it that way."
"Dear god," Matt mumbled, his face having the look of someone who was in pure disbelief. "Alright, what does that mean then?"
Instead of laughing, Ray just smiled tenderly. He leaned in closer until their foreheads were almost touching, seemingly as a way to make sure that his partner heard every single word he was about to say.
"It means 'I want to spend the rest of my life with you'."
It was indeed a very sweet thing to say to your beloved, and Matt blushed because of how unexpectedly sentimental their conversation had become. But just as he was trying to find something to say, his eyes widened as a realization hit him. String lights with photos of them, rose petals spread all over the bedroom, romantic words... This combination was definitely aâ
"Matt..."
Before Matt could finish his line of thought, Ray had already gone down on one knee with a small black box in his hand. Not wasting a single second, Ray proceeded to open it, revealing a gold ring with a small diamond in the middle.
"Will you make my wish come true?"
The world around Matt seemed to have frozen. At this moment, only Ray and the ring existed in his eyes, and he found himself at a loss for words. Just like the diamond, Ray's eyes were gleaming under the illuminating light and his gaze was full of love, hopes and dreams. Matt wanted to say yesâhe could even say yes a million times if that need ever cameâbut he was struggling to speak due to the happiness that was overwhelming him. The rush of emotions soon became too much, causing him to burst into tears.
"Y-Yes... Yes, I will."
Matt managed to speak at last, his sobs filling the room as Ray pulled him into an embrace, not minding that Matt's tears were staining his shirt. Without breaking the hug, Matt brought up one hand to wipe away his tears.
"I'm sorry, I'm, I'm just... so happy..."
"You don't need to apologize." Ray ran his hand through Matt's golden locks and gave him a kiss on the forehead. "I'm happy as well, happy that you said yes."
"So, in the past few days, you'd been secretly going out to..."
"Yes, to buy the ring and the decorations," Ray replied right away as he knew what Matt was thinking. "And those nights I stayed up late, I was doing research, thinking about what ring to buy and how to surprise you."
"I'm sorry, Ray... I'm sorry for doubting you," Matt mumbled as he rested his head on Ray's shoulder, his hands gripping the other's shirt. "I, I even thought you were going to b-break up with me."
A chuckle was heard from Ray as he placed one of his hands on the back of his neck. "Well, I can't blame you. I did look suspicious. But..."
Ray stopped to hold Matt's hand again, gripping it in a tender way before looking at Matt with a warm gaze. "But I'd never think of breaking up with you. Before you came into my life, I used to think I'd be fine on my own, but now, I seriously can't imagine my life without you. I don't think I'd ever be able to find someone better than you. If we hadn't met, I'm sure I would've still been single, because you're the only one for me. So, thank you for staying by my side."
Matt was speechless, his mouth slightly agape, but a smile soon made its way up to his face before he wrapped his arms around Ray's neck and letting Ray capture his lips with his own.
Lucky was just silently sitting there, watching his humans with attentive eyes as Ray slipped the ring onto Matt's finger before they gave each other another long and affectionate kiss, the warmth of their love filling their hearts with a fuzzy feeling.